Summary
GoDaddy reported first quarter fiscal 2026 results on April 30, 2026. Revenue reached $1.27 billion, up 6.1% from the prior-year quarter. Operating income climbed 25.6% to $310.5 million. Operating margin expanded to 24.5%, up 3.8 percentage points. Net income slipped 2.2% to $214.6 million. Diluted earnings per share rose 6.0% to $1.60. The net income decline contrasts with the operating profit gain. The prior-year quarter included a one-time tax benefit, which the company said was non-recurring and non-cash. That tax item, along with a higher tax provision this year, weighed on the bottom line.
The quarter showed solid momentum in the company's subscription businesses. Applications and Commerce revenue grew 12% year-over-year. Core Platform revenue grew 3%. Total bookings were $1.5 billion, up 3% on a reported basis and 2% in constant currency. Normalized EBITDA was $413.5 million, up 13% year-over-year, with a 33% margin. Free cash flow reached $473.6 million, up 15%. Operating cash flow was $471.5 million, up 16.5%. Capital expenditures were $4.6 million, up 27.8%. Deferred revenue, current portion only, stood at $2.49 billion, up 6.2% from the prior-year quarter. Remaining performance obligations were $3.45 billion, up 5.7%. Total customers reached 20.4 million, up 13 thousand since December 31, 2025. Domains under management were 81,391 thousand.
GoDaddy's AI initiatives are gaining traction. The Airo AI Builder delivered a multi-million dollar annualized bookings run rate within weeks of its beta launch. In April, the company announced partnerships with LegalZoom and Cloudflare. These partnerships advance Agent Name Service with real-world use cases. Non-GoDaddy agents in ANS now number in the thousands. Management reaffirmed its full-year 2026 revenue guidance of $5.195 billion to $5.275 billion, representing 6% growth at the midpoint. For the second quarter ending June 30, 2026, revenue guidance is $1.285 billion to $1.305 billion, also 6% growth at the midpoint. The company expects second quarter and full year A&C revenue growth in the low double-digits and Core revenue growth in the low single-digits. Second quarter NEBITDA margin is expected to be approximately 33%. The full-year NEBITDA margin target is over 33%. Full-year free cash flow target is approximately $1.8 billion, versus $1.6 billion generated in 2025. GoDaddy repurchased 3.0 million shares for $279.7 million in the quarter. The company had $998.6 million available under its revolver as of March 31, 2026.
Risks remain. The filing lists an unpredictable market, fluctuations in financial and operating results, and the company's rate of growth. Service interruptions, dependence on payment card networks, and cyberattacks could disrupt operations. GoDaddy must continue to innovate and gain customer acceptance of new products, including generative and agentic AI. Managing growth, maintaining partnerships, and hiring and retaining employees are also cited. Competition, regulatory and legal developments, privacy concerns, and macroeconomic conditions add pressure. Geopolitical tensions, interest rates, and inflation are additional factors. The company also notes execution of share repurchases as a risk. On the cost side, marketing and advertising expenses declined due to timing of discretionary spend. General and administrative expenses also decreased. Depreciation and amortization dropped. These reductions helped operating margin expansion. However, the provision for income taxes increased sharply, reflecting the prior-year tax benefit and higher pretax income. The company's debt covenants restrict certain actions, though it remained in compliance. The quarter showed durable revenue growth, strong cash generation, and margin expansion, but net income faced a tough comparison.
Forecast
Reported figures
GAAP, from SEC filings| Metric | Q1 FY2026 | Q4 FY2025 | QoQ | Q1 FY2025 | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.27B | $1.27B | -0.5% | $1.19B | +6.1% |
| General & administrative | $91.0M | $103.6M | -12.2% | $97.1M | -6.3% |
| Total operating expenses | $956.4M | $956.9M | -0.1% | $947.0M | +1.0% |
| Operating income (loss) | $310.5M | $317.0M | -2.1% | $247.3M | +25.6% |
| Operating margin | 24.5% | 24.9% | -0.4 pp | 20.7% | +3.8 pp |
| Net income (loss) | $214.6M | $245.1M | -12.4% | $219.5M | -2.2% |
| Net margin | 16.9% | 19.2% | -2.3 pp | 18.4% | -1.4 pp |
| Diluted EPS | $1.60 | $1.74 | -$0.14 | — | — |
| Customers | 2,025 | — | — | 7 | +28828.6% |
Risks
Risk factors materially expand AI and agentic AI risks, including GoDaddy's Airo agentic solution, potential unintended or unauthorized actions, hallucinations, IP infringement, privacy and regulatory scrutiny. MD&A also cites marketing to promote AI-native solutions including Airo.
The filing warns that AI-based tools and changing customer behavior could reduce demand for domain names, websites and hosting, including if users shift to apps or AI tools to locate content. It also notes AI website creation may alter customer expectations and increase pricing pressure.
GoDaddy faces intensifying competition, including niche point solutions and broader providers, with commoditization in website creation and hosting. Competitors may have greater resources or offer low or no cost services, and AI capabilities are a key competitive battleground.
A substantial portion of cloud infrastructure is provisioned through AWS, and termination or disruption of AWS services could interrupt the platform and customer access. MD&A reports technology and development expenses rose 3.8% in Q1 2026 partly from a $4.5 million increase in public cloud cost.
The filing says GoDaddy has experienced an increase in social engineering attacks and unauthorized access to certain systems, and threat actors may use AI to exploit vulnerabilities. A material incident could cause data loss, business disruption, substantial costs and reputational harm.
GoDaddy Payments exposes the company to merchant fraud, chargebacks, payment card network fines, holdbacks and potential suspension of processing services. Risk management programs may not detect all illegitimate transactions as larger sellers use the platform.
GoDaddy relies on key partners such as Microsoft for email and productivity tools, and on other providers for security, business formation and payments. Termination or adverse changes by a key partner could require customer transitions, increase costs or cause service disruptions.
International revenue was approximately 33% of total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2025, and MD&A reports international revenue of $415.9 million in Q1 2026, up 7.0%. The filing cites geopolitical, tariff, trade and regulatory risks across international operations.
GoDaddy has changed and expects to continue changing pricing models and price points, which could cause loss, decrease or slowing of total customers or total bookings. Competitor discounts and price sensitivity among small and medium-sized businesses add pressure.
The provision for income taxes increased $66.8 million in Q1 2026, driven by a one-time $34.6 million uncertain tax position benefit in Q1 2025 and higher income before income taxes. Net income decreased 2.2% in Q1 2026 even as operating income increased 25.6%.
Marketing and advertising expenses decreased 7.8% in Q1 2026 due to timing of discretionary advertising spend, while the filing says marketing efforts may require significant expense and may not be successful. GoDaddy needs to promote AI-native solutions including Airo.
GoDaddy has Credit Facility and Senior Notes debt, with covenants restricting dividends, acquisitions and other actions. Interest expense was $37.8 million in Q1 2026, up 1.6%, and leverage could divert cash flow from operations.
SaaS KPIs
All quarters →Total bookings
Free cash flow
Average revenue per user (ARPU)
NEBITDA margin
Annualized recurring revenue
Summary, forecast, risks and KPIs are extracted from GoDaddy Inc.'s SEC filings for Q1 FY2026 (10-Q / 10-K and the 8-K earnings release); GAAP figures in the summary are checked against the reported XBRL data. They can contain errors; the filings are authoritative. Processed Oct 1, 2026.