Few brands live up to their name quite as well as Namecheap. You can usually get a domain name at a great price. The company started as a domain registrar in 2000, and its success led Namecheap to add on other services.
Today, the company has over 11 million customers and hosts over three million domain names. They are definitely doing something right.
While some companies make their money off upsells, Namecheap prides itself that it does not use the upsell tactic to make money. Instead, they work to provide affordable pricing plans that give you what you need, hence the name Namecheap.
Compare Namecheap to The Best Web Hosting Services
Getting a good deal on web hosting isn’t as rare as it used to be, so the savings you get by going with Namecheap aren’t quite as dramatic as a few years back. If you just need a domain name, Namecheap can make sense, but for hosting we recommend:
- Hostinger – Best web hosting for most users
- SiteGround – Best for keeping uptime above 99.99%
- HostGator – Best for scaling your small business easily
- DreamHost – Best pay-as-you-go web hosting
- Bluehost – Best drag-and-drop page builder for beginners
- InMotion Hosting – Best price for hosting two websites on one plan
- Nexcess – Best for experienced WordPress users
- A2 Hosting – Most dependable web hosting for European and Asian audiences
Just because Namecheap didn’t make our list does not mean that it’s not a good solution for your hosting needs. Hosting needs vary from person to person, and Namecheap may have exactly what you need. It is worth learning more about, at least. And that is why we are digging deeper into Namecheap to show you how it compares to others.
See our top picks here, and read below for our thoughts on Namecheap
Namecheap: The Good and The Bad
Let’s take the plunge into Namecheap’s pros and cons so that you can determine whether its pros give you what you need and if the cons aren’t deal-breakers.
The Good
Trusted Brand: Namecheap has been around for over 20 years and is no stranger to the world of hosting. With over three million hosting customers under its wing, Namecheap is doing something right. You can trust that over the years, they have worked out a lot of kinks and today have a generally good product.
Good Uptime: An uptime you can rely on is an absolute necessity. A high uptime percentage means less downtime for your website. And downtime is something you don’t want. The more time your site spends offline, the more customers you will lose.
That’s why we love Namecheap’s 100% service level agreement for uptime. If an uptime of 100% isn’t achieved, you get your money back. Now that’s customer service. Namecheap can offer this because they have a history of strong uptime. There have been some minor dips in the past, but nothing catastrophic and nothing that didn’t get it oh-so-close to the 100% mark. Currently, the average uptime sits at 99.97%, which is pretty darn close to perfect.
And, keep in mind that if your uptime isn’t perfect, Namecheap will pay for it.
Free Domain and Migration: If you have your website hosted with another provider but aren’t happy with the services, Namecheap makes it cheap and easy to switch over to their plans. They are so cheap, in fact, that they charge you nothing. Yes, that’s right; Namecheap offers free migration of your site from other hosting providers.
What they also provide for free is a domain with the purchase of a plan. This makes sense since domains are their specialty. But we love a good freebie, especially when it’s something we will actually use.
Money-Back Guarantee: Not happy with your Namecheap experience? No problem. If you decide within 30 days of starting your services that you don’t like what is going on, Namecheap will refund you.
That means you have an entire month to take your Namecheap plan for a test run. If you’re not happy at the end of that run, you can switch to another plan option or get your money back.
Great Basic Plan: If you’ve ever searched for web hosting before, you likely know that the basic plans with nearly any provider give the bare minimum. They serve as a great starting place for those who are new to websites, but if you need much more out of your hosting than just a place to park your website, the bare minimum plans may not be enough.
However, that is not the case when it comes to Namecheap. Don’t let the name fool you because, even though their basic plan is cheap (we are talking pocket-change-just-over-a-dollar cheap), they offer a lot more than most of their competitors.
With Namecheap’s bare minimum plan, you get unmetered bandwidth. This is a rarity that you will enjoy as your site starts to grow. In addition to that, you also get a free SSL certificate for the first year. (As is the case with most free SSL certificate offerings, the first year is free, and every year after that, you have to pay. Namecheap does the same.)
But one of the things we love is that you get free backups twice a week. Other providers offer only free backup once a week, so twice a week is a big bonus. Backups are crucial because you don’t know when something may go wrong during an update that could potentially bring your entire site down.
But it doesn’t stop there. You also get not one, not two, but three websites with the basic plan. This is a huge step up from the single website hosting that most services provide with their cheapest plan. If you want to run both a business and a personal site, you’ll love this perk.
On top of all this, you get a whopping 50 email addresses, too. Most providers only give you one, and some don’t give you any, so 50 is a huge bonus.
And one more thing: you also get 50 MySQL databases, whereas most providers offer far less than that.
Quick Load Time: No one wants to hear the Jeopardy theme song while they sit and wait for a website to load. If a website takes more than 3-4 seconds to load, there is almost a 100% guarantee that those people will abort the mission and head to another website.
According to Google, a website should load in less than three seconds in this day and age. However, you should aim for less.
Namecheap makes Google’s number attainable. Their average page speed is 458 ms, which passes the test with flying colors. And it seems that the speeds with this provider continue to get faster.
The Bad
Unreliable Customer Support: Namecheap has a great resource called the Knowledgebase that is the place to head if you have problems that you think maybe common and experienced by others in your shoes.
Topics include everything from SSL certificates to email service.
They also offer how-to videos that walk you through all sorts of questions and provide solid answers.
However, if you cannot find what you’re looking for in either Knowledgebase or the how-to videos, things may get a bit tricky.
Namecheap has live chats that are quick to respond at first, but the support does not stay strong when the questions start coming out. The amount of time it takes to get questions answered in the chat is more than we are comfortable with.
You also have the option to submit a ticket for any questions or concerns, but that won’t warrant a quick response. And phone support doesn’t exist with Namecheap, so don’t even try to search for a number to call.
Namecheap Pricing and Options
Now it’s time to explore all the different package options with Namecheap. And there are plenty to choose from. Whether you are just starting on a website and are looking for something basic for personal use, or you are a company looking to build a high-traffic website you can rely on, Namecheap has something for you.
Namecheap Shared Hosting
We are feeling pretty stellar about the shared hosting plans Namecheap offers. True to its name, they are indeed cheap and offer a great deal more than other basic shared hosting plans, as mentioned above.
Stellar. This is the lowest level of plan with Namecheap, but you get a lot. Included are 20 GB SSD, three websites, a free domain name (for the first year), and free CDN. This package is priced at $1.58/month, billed annually.
Stellar Plus. This package comes with unlimited SSD, unlimited websites, auto-backup, free domain name, free CDN, and more. You’ll pay $2.68/month for this when billed annually.
Stellar Business. For those looking to start a small website for their business, this may be right for you. You get 50 GB SSD, unlimited websites, auto-backup, cloud storage, free domain name, free CDN, and more. Pricing for this starts at $4.80/month when billed annually.
On top of the above, all shared hosting plans get a free website builder, domain name, privacy protection, free SSL certificate, free SSL installation, cPanel, email service, and 24/7 support.
Namecheap Reseller Hosting
Reseller hosting is a great way to earn some passive income. You can purchase a reseller plan from Namecheap and then sell plans to people you know, such as friends or customers.
Nebula. This is the cheapest reseller hosting plan and comes with 30 GB SSD and 25 cPanel accounts that you can sell to others. This plan will cost you $17.88/month, billed annually.
Galaxy Expert. The next level of reseller hosting will give you 90 GB SSD and 100 cPanel accounts to sell. This is priced at $33.88/month, billed annually.
Universe Pro. If you’re looking to do some serious reselling, this plan may be the right one for you. It comes with 150 GB SSD and 150 cPanel accounts. It will cost you $51.88/month, billed annually.
Each of the reseller plans also include the following:
- Ability to manage from cPanel
- Unmetered bandwidth
- Unlimited domains/subdomains
- WMH control
- Account management tools
- High-powered reseller servers
Namecheap WordPress Hosting
If you’re planning to use WordPress, these hosting plans are for you.
EasyWP Starter. This is great for your first WordPress website. This plan gives you 10 GB SSD and 50,000 visitors per month for $22.88/month, billed annually.
EasyWP Turbo. Want to grow your WordPress site? Try this plan that gives you 50 GB SSD, 1.5 times more CPU, 1.5 times more RAM, free SSL, free CDN, and 200,00 monthly visitors for $34.44/month, billed annually.
EasyWP Supersonic. If you want to scale your website to its maximum, this plan may be right for you. You get 100 GB SSD, two times more CPU, twice the RAM, a 99.99% uptime guarantee, free SSL, free CDN, and 500,000 monthly visitors for $49.88/month, billed annually.
VPS Hosting
For more control and flexibility with your website, VPS hosting plans are a great option.
Pulsar. This popular VPS hosting plan gets you two CPU cores, 2 GB RAM, 40 GGB SSD RAID 10, and 1000 GB bandwidth. It is priced at $7.88/month, billed annually.
Quasar. This plan is a great value and gets you four CPU cores, 6 GB RAM, 120 GB SSD RAID 10, and 3000 GB bandwidth. It is priced at $13.88/month, billed annually.
Dedicated Hosting
If you need your own servers to have free reign over what you do, then a dedicated hosting plan is something you should look into.
The different plans within the dedicated server plan offer some great options, depending on your specific needs. Once you get to this level of hosting, it is a good idea to connect with a Namecheap agent and see if you can get more information before making such a big purchase. As you can see, the plans range from over $600/month to over $1,100/month.
A dedicated server comes with many benefits for your website and company and may be just what you need.
Expanding Your Knowledge: Namecheap
Comparing The Best Web Hosting Services
When you are considering Namecheap for your web hosting and learning the pros and cons of this provider, it is also important to note that there are other options. Our guide will help you learn more about the available alternatives. Check out the best web hosting services guide here.
Though Namecheap did not make it on our list of top web hosting services, it is a good provider worth looking further into. They provide great value, especially the low-level plans that offer a great deal more than many of their competitors. With many pros and not many cons, this is a service that may give you just what you need.
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