Namecheap presents a number of the best web hosting options for these on a decent funds. It supplies very competitively priced shared internet hosting, superior devoted servers, and all the pieces in between.
Namecheap review: Snapshot
You shouldn’t anticipate too many superior options should you determine to make use of Namecheap. It does include a neat web site builder, the Softaculous one-click installer, a built-in CDN (content material supply community), and computerized backups, however there’s little else price noting.
Competitors resembling Hostinger, which presents similarly-priced internet hosting, and GoDaddy—slightly dearer—include a a lot better vary of instruments. For instance, Hostinger is understood for its glorious security measures, which is one thing that Namecheap doesn’t actually give attention to.
As our Namecheap review reveals, although, it’s a stable internet hosting supplier that pulls folks due to its low costs. Really, you may be doing effectively to search out comparable internet hosting options for a lower cost.
Score: 4/5
Read on for our full and detailed review
Namecheap’s opponents
| Namecheap | Hostinger | GoDaddy | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Score | 4/5 | 4/5 | 4/5 |
| Pros | – Some of the bottom costs we’ve seen – cPanel management panel – Highly configurable VPS options | – Excellent safety throughout the board – Neat hPanel management panel – Leading funds internet hosting options | – Wide choice of internet hosting options – Decent reside chat and telephone help – Linux and Windows choices |
| Cons | – Limited superior instruments or options – Very poor shared internet hosting efficiency | – High-end choices are successfully absent – Storage and bandwidth are restricted | – At the costly finish of the spectrum – Performance is common at finest |
| Verdict | Namecheap sits proper up alongside the most cost effective internet hosts on this planet, however it does fall down on the efficiency entrance. | Although it lacks high-end choices, Hostinger stays a transparent chief on this planet of funds webhosting. | Despite providing a variety of internet hosting merchandise, GoDaddy’s underpowered plans and pretty excessive costs are slightly regarding. |
| View offers | Visit site | Visit site | Visit site |
Key options
Unfortunately, Namecheap is way from essentially the most superior webhosting supplier we’ve used. It lacks sure instruments and administration options. There are nonetheless a couple of issues price outlining, although.
For one, Namecheap presents the Softaculous one-click installer, which allows you to set up a spread of scripts with minimal effort. These embody WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and numerous different common apps.
Users may also profit from the enticing computerized backup device. This is offered with all plans besides the most cost effective shared internet hosting possibility, and it allows you to schedule computerized backups in your web site and all of its information and information.
Namecheap: key options and highlights
There’s a free web site builder included with all shared internet hosting plans. This is slightly primary, however it incorporates a drag-and-drop editor, greater than 200 intuitive templates, and the flexibility to import your current web site for modifying. You also can add ecommerce fee gateways and multi-lingual help, amongst different issues.
The Supersonic content material supply community (CDN) is one other neat characteristic. This is designed that can assist you ship your content material as quick as doable by loading it from a close-by CDN server fairly than your internet hosting server. All shared plans include free entry to the Supersonic CDN, which incorporates primary DDoS safety and as much as 50GB of site visitors per thirty days. Premium plans are additionally out there for these with extra site visitors.
What’s new?
Namecheap supplies primary details about product and software program updates through its native weblog. Here, you can find a spread of various kinds of content material, together with the aforementioned updates, informational articles, and crowd pleasing information from throughout the online.
Unfortunately, nevertheless, the newest product replace is from February 2020, which implies that it may very well be fairly outdated already. It additionally didn’t present an entire lot of knowledge. Two-factor authentication was added for personal electronic mail accounts, and .membership domains have been launched through the corporate’s area registration portal.
On the entire, Namecheap is a good and widely-used internet hosting supplier that we anticipate to stay on the forefront of the internet hosting {industry} going forwards. It doesn’t provide a lot in the way in which of superior instruments or options, however it stays a fantastic possibility for many who need bare-bones internet hosting with out the entire bells and whistles.
Pricing
Namecheap presents a spread of area registration and webhosting companies, together with shared, reseller, VPS, WordPress, and devoted server internet hosting. There are three shared hosting subscription options, with costs starting from $1.18 to $4.80 a month for an annual plan ($2.88 to $8.88 with month-to-month funds).
Reseller plans begin from $17.88 a month, WordPress hosting ranges from $3.88 to $11.88 a month (with month-to-month funds), and VPS solutions start at $6.88 a month. Or, it’s possible you’ll wish to go for a high-end dedicated server, with costs right here beginning at $48.88 a month.
It’s additionally price noting that first-time Namecheap customers will profit from a 30-day money-back guarantee on chosen plans.
| Plan sort/characteristic | Stellar | Stellar Plus | Stellar Business |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost per thirty days | $2.88 | $4.88 | $8.88 |
| Cost per yr | $1.18* | $1.98* | $4.80* |
| Websites | 3 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Unmetered Bandwidth | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Storage | 20GB | Unmetered | 50GB (on Cloud) |
| Free area | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
*This worth solely applies to the primary yr of your subscription, and renewal costs might be considerably larger.
Testing Namecheap
In order to comprehensively examine Namecheap to the competitors, we analyzed a sequence of its options and instruments to see the way it carried out. This included making a WordPress web site with its built-in web site builder, checking its server response occasions, and seeing how easy it was to arrange an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates.
How do you create a WordPress web site with Namecheap?
After signing up for a brand new Namecheap subscription, it is possible for you to to begin creating a brand new web site. However, this could be a little complicated, particularly should you don’t have lots of internet growth expertise.
There are not any computerized web site creation processes or prompts, and you will want to go to your cPanel management panel to get began. WordPress or one other content material administration system (CMS) might be put in by the Softaculous one-click installer.
Here, you’ll have entry to plenty of configuration choices. You can set your web site’s title, description, and admin login particulars. Add a theme, if you need, and hit the “Install” button. Installation took no various seconds for us, and we have been then capable of begin constructing our new web site by the WordPress.org CMS.
Of course, you could possibly use an alternate CMS if WordPress doesn’t fit your wants. Popular choices resembling Joomla and Drupal can be found, together with numerous area of interest and lesser-known selections.
How does Namecheap carry out?
To take a look at the efficiency of Namecheap’s primary shared internet hosting plans, we used Uptime.com to observe a take a look at web site for every week. This delivered an uptime determine of 100%, which is superb. However, the common server response occasions have been regarding.
For our Namecheap web site, these ranged from a excessive 625ms to a really excessive 1.55s, with a mean of 718ms. This is roughly double what we might contemplate aggressive, as most shared hosts sit within the 200ms to 400ms vary.
We additionally examined the velocity of our easy web site constructed on Namecheap’s shared internet hosting. According to Dotcom-Tools’ Website Speed Test, the common web page load velocity was 1.9s, which is horrible.
However, Namecheap should still be quick sufficient for many who are searching for a funds internet hosting supplier. You will wrestle to search out anybody cheaper, and the efficiency metrics might be acceptable for some.
How straightforward is it to arrange an SSL certificates?
The native Namecheap SSL device can be utilized to put in a brand new SSL certificates in your area. This might be accessed through your cPanel management panel, and is intuitive and beginner-friendly.
However, the Namecheap SSL device can solely be used so as to add an SSL certificates that’s been bought through Namecheap. Third-party certificates aren’t supported, which might make issues slightly tough if you wish to add one.
To use a third-party certificates, you will want to put in it manually. This isn’t a straightforward course of, however at the very least Namecheap presents first rate documentation that can assist you out.
The competitors
Namecheap presents a number of the most cost-effective shared internet hosting options on this planet, however don’t anticipate something too fancy should you determine to make use of it. It does include a cPanel management panel, which has change into the {industry} customary, together with a free area and a set of streamlined one-click installations.
Prices for a Namecheap internet hosting plan begin from an industry-leading $1.18 a month. And 24/7 reside chat and on-line ticket help can be found for these with points.
Hostinger presents equally priced internet hosting options, with its most cost-effective shared plan coming in at simply $1.39 a month. However, this worth is simply out there with a four-year subscription, and it’ll enhance considerably for shorter subscription phrases and on renewal.
On prime of this, Hostinger boasts an intuitive, beginner-friendly hPanel management panel, which is arguably higher than the favored cPanel. Both reside chat and on-line ticketing can be found whenever you want technical help, and one-click installations can be utilized for greater than 100 totally different functions. Read our complete Hostinger review to study extra.
Meanwhile, GoDaddy is barely dearer, however it presents a fantastic choice of totally different internet hosting choices. Its most cost-effective shared internet hosting is available in at $5.95 a month, however its higher-end choices are fairly competitively priced.
Like Namecheap, GoDaddy presents a cPanel management panel and a free area. Take benefit of the Installatron one-click installer, and attain out to the help workforce through reside chat or telephone whenever you need assistance. Our GoDaddy web hosting review provides extra element on what we manufactured from the online host’s companies.
| Product | Namecheap | Hostinger | GoDaddy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Control panel | cPanel | hPanel | cPanel |
| Free area | Yes, with limitations | Yes, with an improve | Yes |
| One-click set up | Yes, greater than 100 functions | Yes, greater than 100 functions | Yes, greater than 150 functions |
| Support | 24/7/365 reside chat and on-line ticketing | 24/7/365 reside chat and on-line ticketing | Live chat and 24/7 telephone |
| Basic plan | $1.18 a month | $1.39 a month | $5.95 a month |
The verdict
At the top of the day, the primary factor that Namecheap is understood for is its rock-bottom costs. If funds is your essential concern, it sits alongside Hostinger as probably the greatest internet hosting suppliers on this planet.
For lower than a few {dollars} per thirty days, you’ll have entry to a primary web site builder, computerized backups, a built-in CDN, and the Softaculous one-click installer. Unfortunately, although, many superior options are missing or fully absent.
On prime of this, Namecheap’s efficiency is a priority. The 100% uptime determine was glorious, however the gradual web page load speeds and lengthy server response occasions might be deal-breakers for many individuals.
Installing a brand new SSL certificates can be fairly tough should you don’t buy a premium possibility from Namecheap itself. Starting a brand new WordPress web site was fairly straightforward, although, which was good to see. And in case you have hassle, the 24/7 reside chat and on-line ticketing help is greater than sufficient.
If you’re on a decent funds and worth is your precedence, Namecheap needs to be proper up there together with your prime selections. For many, although, the corporate’s poor efficiency and restricted options will merely be an excessive amount of to miss.
