Is GoDaddy website security worth it?

One of the most frequent questions that I get from my client, especially those who use Godaddy as a hosting service is this, what do you think about Godaddy’s website security pack? is godaddy website security worth it?

Therefore, I decided to create a blog post about this question to better explain every aspect of my following answer:

Godaddy website security pack is one of the best options for clients that already use Godaddy’s hosting services without having technical IT knowledge and who want to enhance the security of their website.

Before we start digging deeper in this subject, I would like to say something about godaddy. Godaddy hosting services is one of the bests in the market and I have personally used it multiple times. However, some of their proposed services might be discussed in terms of price and service quality.

One more thing, the review I am doing here is 100% honest, and it is based on my own experience with the company’s services. I even do not recommend this pack for medium, and big companies. I will also make a price comparison, as this is one of the most frustrating parts of this pack based on what you will pay for a year.

Now let’s analyze every part of this package to better see the pros and cons of every proposed service. However, I will only focus on the Premium package to get a full view of the package elements.

Pros and cons of godaddy website security

Godaddy website security vs Sucuri functionalities

SSL certification

I would like to start talking about the SSL certification offered in this pack as this is one of the most important and needed elements. An SSL certification is a must-have component in every website. it is something needed even for the SEO part, as Google starts taking it as a characteristic for ranking websites. In addition, it is also a way to tell your clients that you care about their safety.

Now the SSL certification is given as part of the whole packet. However, if you want to get it from outside you could buy an SSL certification for only 3.98$ a year

CDN

CDN or the Content delivery network is also one of the most important elements of the website. well 5 years ago it wasn’t that important, but now it is. The importance of such a service comes from the fact that website loading speed starts becoming a ranking factor on google. In addition, due to the increase of DDOS attacks, having a CDN is becoming crucial to protect your website against those attacks.

Now also this CDN service is given as part of the package starting from the advanced package. However, if you are just starting you could use cloudflare CDN to get some very good results compared to godaddy and FOR FREE

Security monitoring

Security monitoring is one of the services that I usually recommend my clients to use it. Maybe you will not notice the importance of this service now as you are just starting your website. However, when you will find a vulnerability in your app that you cannot fix it as quickly as it should be, then this service will be critical to the safety of your business to monitor possible future attacks.

Now in security monitoring, I usually recommend Sucuri’s service as I have personally used it with many clients and I can tell you that they are really good especially when it comes to blacklisting fixing service.

The security monitoring system is included in all the service packages, starting from the standard offer. Unfortunately, this service does not give you a lot of information about what is happening in like a black box. Therefore, Personally and as a cybersecurity expert, I am not a fan of blackbox systems.

You can get the same security functionalities if you use sucuri and the price for one year is 299$ a year, compared to 359$ for the professional package of godaddy.

Blacklist monitoring

Blacklisting monitoring service is also very important, as it could save you a lot of money if your website got blacklisted. I have written a detailed blog post about this problem and what leads to it here.

Now for the price sucuri still the best option as it offers the same service with a much less price per year.

Malware scanning

Malware scanning is also a good service to have in your system especially if you give your users the ability to upload files to the app. This functionality performs a malware scan and removal every day which is a good thing. However, both service providers (sucuri and godaddy website security) offer the same functionality.

Now which one is the most effective, to be honest, this is something I really don’t know about it as scientific experimentation must be performed against both of them to ensure which one is the best. I’ve noticed that both of them remove some kind of malware but who do not detect and remove what … is something I am not sure about for now.

Secure backup

Secure backup is one of the most important and the first security element you should think of when you start analyzing and securing your website. making a backup is a very important and must-do task for an administrator. In addition, these backup tasks must be performed periodically and with a period that correlates with the amount of data you receive/store per minute. Moreover, the backup data generated must be correct and easily implemented at any moment.

That’s why, this task cannot be performed manually, and a good tool is needed. Therefore, I personally would go for a GoDaddy backup system as they know their system better than me and could intervene at any moment if something wrong happens.