![GoDaddy's own website-builder graphic - a browser window and the GoDaddy wordmark - representing the customer account data this policy covers]()
If a lawyer or a law-enforcement agency wants to know who is behind a domain or an account, GoDaddy publishes a page telling them exactly how to ask. It is written for them, and it is worth reading as the customer.
Two numbers stand out, and they point in opposite directions. GoDaddy charges the requester Rs. 7,075.48 an hour for research and Rs. 23.59 a page for copies - published in rupees on its India site. And it reserves the right to charge you, the customer, an unpublished administration fee on the card you have on file, for the handling of someone else's subpoena. Set against that, it will not hand over your email contents even under a court order, and it will normally tell you before it hands over anything at all.
📅 Update log:
23 Oct 2026: first published. Every quotation, figure and address read from GoDaddy's published subpoena policy at godaddy.com/en-in/legal/agreements/subpoena-policy on 23 October 2026, from India, logged out. The rupee cost figures are those displayed on the en-in page on that date and appear to be converted from US dollars; they may move with the exchange rate. Nothing was purchased and GoDaddy was not contacted.
What this policy is
GoDaddy publishes a page telling lawyers and law enforcement how to obtain a customer's identity or account information, what it will and will not hand over, and what it charges for doing so. It is written for the people making the request.
It is worth reading as the customer. It is the clearest statement GoDaddy gives of what happens to your account data when somebody comes looking for it — including the fact that you may be billed for the handling, and that you normally get a chance to go to court first.
We read it on 23 October 2026 from GoDaddy's India site. Everything below is quoted from that text.
The published cost schedule
| Item | What GoDaddy charges | Who pays |
|---|
| Research | Rs. 7,075.48 per hour | Billed to the party submitting the subpoena |
| Copies | Rs. 23.59 per page | Billed to the party submitting the subpoena |
| Federal Express | Cost as billed | Pass-through |
| Administration fee | Amount not published | Charged to the CUSTOMER, on "the Payment Method the customer has on file" |
| Payment terms | 30 days from receipt of GoDaddy's invoice | Cheques payable to GoDaddy.com, LLC |
Two of those rows are worth separating. The research and per-page rates are charged to the party submitting the subpoena, and the India page quotes them in rupees — Rs. 7,075.48 an hour and Rs. 23.59 a page. The administration fee is different: it is charged to the customer, on the card already on file, and its amount is not published anywhere on the page.
What actually happens, step by step
| Stage | What the policy says |
|---|
| 1. A valid subpoena is served | By fax, mail or personal service on GoDaddy.com, LLC at 100 S. Mill Ave, Suite 1600, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA. Criminal matters: requester must be a member of the law enforcement community. |
| 2. GoDaddy notifies you | "Upon the receipt of a valid civil subpoena, GoDaddy will promptly notify the customer whose information is sought via e-mail or U.S. mail." |
| 3. You get a window to fight it | "If the circumstances do not amount to an emergency, GoDaddy will not immediately produce the customer information… and will provide the customer an opportunity to move to quash the subpoena in court." |
| 4. GoDaddy may bill you for the trouble | "GoDaddy reserves the right to charge an administration fee to the customer by charging the Payment Method the customer has on file." |
| 5. Email content is not produced | The ECPA "prohibits… producing the contents of electronic communications, even pursuant to subpoena or court order, except in limited circumstances". And GoDaddy's "e-mail servers do not retain deleted or sent e-mail". |
| 6. What is produced is stamped CONFIDENTIAL | Access limited to the parties, their agents and the court; not to be filed publicly without a sealing attempt; usable only in that action; and destroyed within 60 days of final disposition. |
The practical takeaway is unglamorous: keep your account contact details current. The notice that someone has subpoenaed your data goes by email or US mail to what your account says — and the window to move to quash only helps if the notice reaches you.
The part that protects you most
It is easy to read a page like this as bad news, so it is worth being clear about which parts run in the customer's favour. Three do.
First, informal requests get nothing. The policy opens by saying GoDaddy's privacy policy "prohibits the release of customer or account information without express permission from the customer, except when required by law… or to comply with legal process properly served". A letter asking nicely is not enough.
Second, email contents are off the table. Citing the ECPA, GoDaddy says it will not produce the contents of electronic communications even under a court order, except in limited circumstances — and that its servers do not retain deleted or sent mail in any case.
Third, you are told, and you get to object. Absent an emergency, GoDaddy will not immediately produce the information and will give you the opportunity to move to quash. Not every provider does this, and it is the single most useful sentence on the page.
And what is produced is not free to circulate
- Documents GoDaddy produces are stamped CONFIDENTIAL and must be given confidential treatment by everyone who sees them.
- Access is limited to the parties in the underlying action, their agents, and the court and its personnel.
- They must not be filed in the public record without a reasonable attempt to file under seal — and the party must ask the court for a sealing order. If the court refuses, they may be filed normally.
- They may not be used for any other purpose than prosecuting or defending that action.
- They must be destroyed within sixty (60) days of the final disposition of the action, and the submitting party is responsible for making sure everyone who received them complies.
What this page does not tell you
This is a reading of a published policy, and it is not legal advice. Every quotation, figure and address on this page was read from GoDaddy's own subpoena policy at godaddy.com/en-in/legal/agreements/subpoena-policy on 23 October 2026, from India, logged out. Nothing was purchased, no account was opened, no subpoena was served and GoDaddy was not contacted. We are not lawyers. If you are facing or bringing legal process, take proper advice - nothing here tells you whether a subpoena is valid, how to quash one, or what an Indian court order would achieve against a US company.
We cannot tell you how any of it works in practice. We have not been notified of a subpoena, have not been charged the administration fee and have not seen an invoice. How promptly notice actually arrives, how often the administration fee is applied, and what it amounts to are all unknown to us - the policy says GoDaddy "reserves the right" to charge it, which is not the same as saying it routinely does.
The rupee figures are the ones GoDaddy's India page displayed on the date we read it. They look like converted US-dollar rates, so they may move with the exchange rate or be revised without notice. Only the research rate is time-based, so no total can be inferred from them.
Nothing here says GoDaddy's policy is improper or unusual. Charging a requester for compliance costs, requiring formal legal process, declining to produce message contents under the ECPA and notifying the customer before producing anything are all ordinary - and in the last two cases, protective. Our purpose is to put an India-facing reader in front of the document, with the numbers it publishes.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does it cost to subpoena GoDaddy for customer records?
GoDaddy publishes the schedule, and on its India site it is quoted in rupees. Read on 23 October 2026: Research at Rs. 7,075.48 per hour, Copies at Rs. 23.59 per page, and Federal Express at "cost as billed". GoDaddy charges the person or entity submitting the subpoena, and "payment must be made within thirty (30) days from the date of receipt of the GoDaddy invoice", with cheques payable to GoDaddy.com, LLC. Note that only the hourly research rate is time-based, so the total depends entirely on how long the request takes to answer - the published figures set a rate, not a price.
Will GoDaddy tell me if someone subpoenas my account data?
Yes, for civil subpoenas, and it also gives you a chance to stop it. The policy says that "upon the receipt of a valid civil subpoena, GoDaddy will promptly notify the customer whose information is sought via e-mail or U.S. mail". More usefully: "If the circumstances do not amount to an emergency, GoDaddy will not immediately produce the customer information sought… and will provide the customer an opportunity to move to quash the subpoena in court." Two limits worth knowing. The policy frames this around civil subpoenas; it does not make the same promise for criminal matters, where the requester must be law enforcement. And the emergency carve-out is GoDaddy's to assess. Keep the email address and postal address on your account current - the notice goes where your account says to send it.
Can GoDaddy charge me when someone else subpoenas my data?
It reserves the right to, yes. The policy states: "GoDaddy reserves the right to charge an administration fee to the customer by charging the Payment Method the customer has on file with GoDaddy." That sentence sits directly after the one about notifying you and letting you move to quash - so the fee attaches to the handling of a subpoena aimed at your data, brought by somebody else. The amount is not published, unlike the researcher and per-page rates charged to the requester, and we have not been charged one, so we cannot tell you what it comes to in practice. "Reserves the right" is not the same as "will", and this may well be a clause GoDaddy rarely uses - but it is in the policy and a customer would not guess it was there.
Can a subpoena get the contents of my GoDaddy email?
GoDaddy says it will not produce email content at all. Its policy cites the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. §2701 et seq., which "prohibits an electronic communications service provider from producing the contents of electronic communications, even pursuant to subpoena or court order, except in limited circumstances". There is a second, more practical point in the same paragraph: "GoDaddy's e-mail servers do not retain deleted or sent e-mail." GoDaddy also "reserves the right to request a copy of the complaint and any supporting documentation" showing how the email address relates to the litigation. Account and identity information is a different matter from message contents - the policy is about who can obtain which, and the protection described here is specific to contents.
Where does a GoDaddy subpoena have to be served from India?
Arizona. There is no Indian service address in this policy. GoDaddy "is headquartered in Tempe, Arizona and all subpoenas should be served at that location", with the postal address given as Compliance Department, GoDaddy.com, LLC, 100 S. Mill Ave Suite 1600, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA, or by fax. For an Indian customer or an Indian litigant that means the whole mechanism - service, any motion to quash, the confidentiality undertakings - sits in a United States court process, which is consistent with GoDaddy's Data Processing Addendum naming no Indian law or regulator. This page is not legal advice and we are not lawyers; how an Indian court order would be handled is not something this policy addresses and not something we can answer.
Prices & codes last verified: October 23, 2026
Every quotation, figure and address on this page was read from GoDaddy's own published subpoena policy at godaddy.com/en-in/legal/agreements/subpoena-policy on 23 October 2026, from India, as a logged-out visitor. Nothing was purchased, no account was opened, no subpoena was served and GoDaddy was not contacted. This page is a reading of a published policy and is not legal advice: we are not lawyers, and nothing here tells you whether any subpoena is valid, how to move to quash one, or what effect an Indian court order would have on a US company. The rupee cost figures are those the en-in page displayed on the date above and appear to be converted from US-dollar rates, so they may change with the exchange rate or be revised without notice; only the research charge is time-based, so no total can be inferred from them. The administration fee charged to customers is not quantified anywhere on the policy page, we have not been charged one, and the policy says GoDaddy "reserves the right" to charge it, which is not a statement that it routinely does. Nothing here asserts that GoDaddy's policy is improper or unusual - requiring formal legal process, billing a requester for compliance costs, declining to produce message contents under the ECPA and notifying the customer before producing anything are ordinary practices, and the last two are protective of customers. Terms can change without notice; read the live policy before relying on it. Zoutons may earn a commission on purchases made through links on this page, which never affects what we report.
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