Short answer. GoDaddy's appraisal (GoValue) is a free, fast estimate, and since its 2026 rebuild it can show values up to 1 million USD. It still shows no comparable sales next to the figure. The alternative to use when real money is about to move is a comps search: SoldComparables shows up to 50 scored sales per search with price, date, venue and a source link, splits wholesale from retail, and prints no value when no real comps exist.
Most people land here after the same moment. GoDaddy said a name is worth 8,400 USD, or 240,000 USD, and now you have to decide whether to pay that, ask for it, or ignore it. A number with nothing behind it is hard to act on and even harder to defend to the other side of a deal. That is the gap this page is about.
What the GoDaddy appraisal gives you today
GoDaddy rebuilt its GoValue model and rolled it out across GoDaddy search in August and September 2026, with Afternic next and the GoValue API and Auctions listed for the fourth quarter. Based on GoDaddy's own announcement and the trade press that covered it, the tool currently gives you:
- One estimated value in USD for a name, free to check on GoDaddy's site with a daily limit.
- A cap of 1 million USD. Names above that show as "$1,000,000+". The old model stopped at 25,000 USD.
- A language model reading the name for meaning, brand potential, scarcity, how the words are used on the web and market trends such as interest in .ai.
- No comparable sales next to the figure yet. GoDaddy says it plans to add them in Auctions and Afternic.
GoDaddy's own wording is fair: the appraisal "can help inform a decision, but it cannot guarantee what a particular buyer will pay." Our article on GoDaddy domain appraisal accuracy covers the rebuild and where the number is most and least reliable.
Why one number is the wrong tool for a price
A domain does not have one value. It has a wholesale level, which is what investors pay each other at auctions, and a retail level, which is what a company that needs the exact name pays. The two are often five or ten times apart. The chart above shows it with names from our records that first sold at a GoDaddy auction and later sold again: daira.com went for 2,425 USD at GoDaddy in February 2024 and 55,000 USD on Atom.com two years later. leasedomains.com went the other way, from 80,000 USD to 1,141 USD.
Ask what a correct GoDaddy appraisal of daira.com would have been in 2024. If you were bidding against investors, about 2,400 USD was the market. If you were a company that wanted the brand, 55,000 USD turned out to be the price. A single figure has to pick one of those buyers for you, and it does not tell you which one it picked. Comps split by venue do.
How SoldComparables builds the value
Every estimate starts from 128,867 recorded domain sales between 2021-05-28 and 2026-05-28, each from a public sales report and each at least 1,000 USD. GoDaddy is the largest single venue in that data, next to Afternic, Sedo, Atom.com, DropCatch, NameJet, Dynadot and others. Every sale links to the report it came from. We do not invent sales.
For your name, the search finds semantically similar sold names, so a name built on "pay" also finds sales built on "wallet" or "checkout". Each comp gets a relevance score from 0 to 100 and up to three plain reasons it was picked. The result is a low, likely and high value, wholesale and retail apart, a confidence level and a short rationale that names the comps by price and date.
When fewer than three good comps exist, the range widens and confidence drops. When no comparable sale above 1,000 USD exists, you see that plainly and no figure is printed. It is a data-backed estimate, not a certified appraisal and not a promise of a sale price. The methodology page has the full rules.
GoDaddy appraisal vs SoldComparables comparison
| GoDaddy appraisal (GoValue) | SoldComparables | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free per name, daily limit | Pro 49 USD a month, Investor 149, Broker 399, roughly half billed yearly |
| Output | One estimated value | Low, likely and high value, wholesale and retail apart |
| Evidence shown | None yet, comps planned for Auctions and Afternic | Up to 50 comps per search, each with price, date, venue and source link |
| Value cap | 1 million USD | No cap, the range follows the comps |
| Names with no resale market | Still get a number | Flagged, no figure printed |
| Confidence | Not shown | High, medium or low, based on how many good comps exist |
| Lists | Bulk valuations listed for Q4 2026 through Domain Academy | 200 names per list on Investor, 1,000 on Broker, CSV export |
| Shareable report | No | PDF report, white label PDF and API on Broker |
| Who runs it | The registrar that also sells names, auctions and a broker service | A data tool with no inventory to sell |
The last row is not an accusation. GoDaddy runs the largest aftermarket in the business, and a free appraisal is useful marketing for it. It simply means a buyer about to spend thousands may want a second view from a source with no names of its own on the shelf.
When to use which
GoDaddy fits a quick first read while you browse, ranking a list of names roughly against each other, or a sanity check on a name you were going to drop anyway. It is free, and that is worth using.
SoldComparables fits the moments where the number becomes money:
- Buying a name for your company, before you make an opening offer or pay a broker fee to approach the owner.
- Setting a buy now price, so it sits inside the range similar names actually sold for.
- Answering an inbound offer with sales the buyer can open and check.
- Capping an auction bid at the wholesale level instead of a retail style estimate.
- Repricing or culling a portfolio, where the bulk domain appraisal list runs up to 200 names at once on Investor.
If you are listing on GoDaddy's marketplace, the net price matters as much as the gross. Our breakdown of Afternic commission rates shows how to gross a price up for the 15 to 30 percent fee.
Check the comps before you pay or price
You can try a search without an account: one search a day shows three comps and the estimate range. After you sign up you get one full report with every comp and the rationale. There is no free plan, and paid plans start at 49 USD a month.
Weighing other tools too? See the Atom domain appraisal alternative, the EstiBot alternative, the Sedo domain appraisal alternative and our test of the best domain appraisal tool for investors. Plans and limits are on the pricing page.