What Is GoDaddy?

Date First Published: 25th May 2022

Topic: Computer Networking

Topic: Internet Organisations

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty Level: 5/10

Learn more about what GoDaddy is in this article.

GoDaddy, originally called Jomax Technologies, is a domain registrar that provides domain name registration services, web hosting, SSL certificates, and a website builder. It was founded in 1997 by Bob Parsons and is based in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. As of now, GoDaddy has over 20 million customers, 84 million registered domains, and over 9000 employees. It is one of the ICANN-accredited domain registrars and in April 2005, it became the largest ICANN-accredited domain registrar on the internet.

Features of GoDaddy

The features of GoDaddy are:

• Free website builder which includes a click and drag interface and responsive design to build a website without any knowledge of markup or programming languages.
• Paid email plans.
• Simple management of domain names in the control panel with options to alter DNS records and change where the domain name points to.
• Auto-renew feature for domain names, where the domain name automatically renews before its expiration date and charges the registrant.
• Free domain name privacy protection for every domain name registered with them.
• Hosting plans (Shared hosting, WordPress Hosting, Reseller hosting, Email hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated hosting).
• Support for a wide range of TLDs.
• Transfer out and transfer in features. This allows domain names to be transferred from another domain registrar to GoDaddy or from GoDaddy to another domain registrar.
• Auto-renew feature for domain names, where the domain name automatically renews before its expiration date and charges the registrant.
• SSL certificate to encrypt communications between browsers and web servers.

History

In 1997, GoDaddy was founded by Bob Parsons in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. Bob Parsons had sold his financial software service company to Intuit for 65 million USD in 1994 before founding GoDaddy. In 1997, he launched Jomax Technologies, which was named after a road in Phoenix Arizona. Later, it became GoDaddy Group Inc.

In 1999, employees at Jomax Technologies made a decision to change the name of the company. One employee suggested ‘Big Daddy’, but that domain name had already been registered. In response, Bob Parson’s reply was ‘How about GoDaddy?’. That domain name was available for registration and he bought it. In February 2006, the company name was officially changed to GoDaddy.

In 2011, GoDaddy received an investment from investment companies, KKR, Silver Lake, and Technology Crossover Ventures. Until April 2021, the company was based in Scottsdale, Arizona. It then moved to Tempe, Arizona.

In January 2020, the company logo was changed. Originally, the GoDaddy logo was a cartoon man with sunglasses and messy hair. The logo was changed to a heart-shaped design that spells the word ‘GO’.