If you’re looking for affordable website hosting backed by customer support and impressive uptime, you’ll find all of those components in Namecheap. Both a domain registration and a website hosting provider, Namecheap also offers private email plans.
While it has some of the most affordable web hosting plans available, it does have some downfalls. Still, Namecheap is a practical option with the features to support you whether you’re just starting out with your first site or are looking for specialized VPN hosting.
Namecheap Pros and Cons
Pros
- Guaranteed uptime
- Many plan options
- Offers EasyWP
- 24/7 customer support
Cons
- No phone support
- Charge for SSL certificates
- Questionable speeds
How Namecheap Compares to Top Web Hosting Providers
As a budget web hosting provider, Namecheap has plenty of competition.
Namecheap offers a variety of plans and functionality that can support both the beginning website owner with little technical knowledge to the more advanced techie looking for full control over their hosting. In terms of pricing, Namecheap is on par with platforms like DreamHost and Hostinger. Hostinger offers slightly better value than Namecheap, especially if you’ve chosen a Namecheap plan that doesn’t include a free SSL certificate.
Other factors, like a 99.99% uptime and 24/7 customer support, are the same between Namecheap and Hostinger.
If you’re looking for the all-around best web hosting provider, then Bluehost needs to be at the top of your list. Its shared hosting is incredibly affordable, while 24/7 support is available by both phone and live chat. Analytics and SEO tools make it easier to get the most out of your site.
And if it’s superior customer service you’re after, then consider SiteGround. While its plan prices do increase after their introductory periods, SiteGround has fabulous customer reviews. All of its shared hosting plans encompass WordPress, and their ultra-fast servers ensure your site loads quickly and reliably.
Namecheap Uptime
When choosing a website host, it’s essential to consider the uptime that the provider delivers. Downtime can cost you sales, lose you visitors, and means that you could miss out on important leads.
Namecheap offers impressive uptime guarantees, though those guarantees depend on the account type. Reseller and VPS accounts are guaranteed to have 99.9% monthly uptime. Its shared, business, and dedicated server accounts are backed by a 100% uptime guarantee.
Namecheap also stands behind these guarantees, offering a service cycle extension in exchange for service outages. Customers receive one full day of hosting for each hour of downtime exceeding the agreement in their plans. Namecheap will provide up to one month of free hosting per year via this policy.
While the free hosting won’t replace lost sales, business, or leads, it does indicate that Namecheap is motivated to avoid downtime.
Namecheap Security
After investing so much work into a site, it’s equally as important to invest in keeping that site secure and protected. Namecheap offers an impressive array of security solutions.
Namecheap customers receive many of these security features free of charge. Two-factor authentication with U2F, TOTP, and OneTouch is provided for free to maximize account protection and customer data.
Every domain registration or transfer also includes one year of the WhoisGuard privacy protection service. This service keeps your information out of the Whois database, so you don’t receive annoying spam calls and emails.
SSL certificates can help to protect customers against identity theft, and Namecheap offers SSL certificates starting at $4.88 per year. SSL certificates are included for free for one year with shared hosting plans.
If you’re looking for additional security, you’ll find plenty of options with Namecheap. Its VPN service can let you work securely when you’re on public WiFi, so you can maintain your privacy while browsing or gaming.
And its PremiumDNS feature works with any domain and delivers faster DNS performance. Designed for businesses, it closes security gaps and helps to prevent attacks so your site stays online and you stay in business.
Namecheap Speed
Fast speeds are essential in keeping visitors on your website and in delivering a quality user experience. While there are many adjustments you can make to maximize your site’s speed, you’ll always be somewhat dependent on your host’s speed.
Namecheap states that it uses the “latest and fastest” Dell and Supermicro web servers. SSD drives are protected with RAID, and each server is equipped with at least 16 Intel Xeon CPU cores and 64 GB of Ram to increase capacity and enhance performance.
Namecheap references placing a “lighter load” on its computers to give your site “breathing room” during busy times, but customer reviews suggest that while Namecheap speeds are decent, they aren’t the fastest ones you’ll find.
You’ll need to consider how much this might impact your site. A large, complex site filled with interactive elements or videos might see a significant decrease in performance when hosted by Namecheap. A smaller, more basic site without so many elements might perform just fine.
Namecheap Plan Options
The same hosting plan doesn’t work for all businesses. If you’re just starting out with a brand-new website and are expecting a few hundred visitors a month, you won’t need the same plan that a well-established business with multiple sites and more than 50,000 visitors a month needs.
Namecheap offers an assortment of plans to help you find just what you need without creating so many options that things get overwhelming. Pricing is upfront and easily understood, and Namecheap will even suggest appropriate plans based on whether you’re an online beginner, a small business, or a large business.
Because the hosting plans clearly outline how many monthly visitors they’ll support and how much storage comes with each plan, you’ll know exactly what you’re getting. Discounts are available on services for your first year’s worth of services for most plans.
Namecheap Customer Service
Namecheap offers multiple support options. The Help Center offers a robust collection of guides, blogs, how-to videos, and other detailed information about the Namecheap products. FAQs and step-by-step instructions are also sorted by product, ensuring you can quickly find the information you need.
The Help Center also houses the Namecheap status updates. These updates detail server maintenance details so site owners can monitor site performance and stay informed about completed and upcoming changes.
Customers who need additional support can submit a ticket or use Namecheap’s live chat function. Namecheap offers 24/7 customer support, but the apparent lack of phone support could make addressing urgent issues difficult.
Namecheap Migration
Migrating a site to a new host can be an overwhelming process when you haven’t done it before, but a good hosting provider will be able to help you through the process. A great provider will take care of just about everything for you.
That’s where Namecheap stands out. This hosting provider will perform the entire site migration for you. You’ll need to provide Namecheap with your hosting account credentials, allowing support team members to log in and migrate your site over. The credentials that you send through a support ticket are protected by SSL encryption.
Namecheap guarantees that your site will be migrated within 24 hours and that it will experience no more than 15 minutes of downtime. This guarantee and precise timeline let you plan ahead and schedule the migration for a time when you know you’ll have lower traffic. Namecheap offers a credit equal to your first shared hosting purchase if this guarantee isn’t met.
All Namecheap hosting migration is free.
Namecheap Shared Hosting
Shared hosting is one of the most common types of website hosting. With a shared hosting plan, your site will use the same server as many other sites, and you’ll get part of the server’s computing capabilities.
Namecheap offers three shared hosting plans that all include a free website builder, unmetered bandwidth, and domain name and privacy protection. These plans are backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee.
All shared hosting plans include 50 free PositiveSSL certificates for one year, and they’re automatically installed, saving you time and ensuring your site is ready to go. The cPanel puts you in control of your website, ideal for building and customizing your site. cPanel is one of the most popular control panels, so you or your web developer may already be familiar with it.
Namecheap WordPress Hosting
If you’re looking to get a WordPress site up and running quickly, Namecheap might be the way to go. Namecheap uses EasyWP so you can bypass the cPanel, creating a new site, or managing all of your WordPress sites from this single dashboard. EasyWP makes it easy to access your files, perform a one-click backup and one-click restore, and easily connect any domain.
According to Namecheap, its WordPress speeds are three times faster than standard WordPress speeds you’ll experience with traditional shared hosting options.
Namecheap’s three WordPress plans are suitable for many different site owners. The EasyWP Starter plan includes 10 GB of storage and supports 50,000 visitors a month, so it’s plenty powerful for startup businesses. The upper tier, the EasyWP Supersonic plan, delivers 100 GB of storage and supports 500,000 visitors a month. It also includes a free SSL certificate, so you’ll have everything you need to support your business website.
Namecheap Reseller Hosting
Namecheap’s reseller hosting is available in three packages, each one delivering a free cPanel account, and unmetered bandwidth. Plans are also backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee.
The cPanel dashboard allows you to manage everything about your site. Reseller accounts can add unlimited domains and subdomains, and the unmetered bandwidth is ideal for those heavy-traffic days or seasons.
Namecheap also offers a suite of customization tools. White-label marketing tools let you truly customize your site to your needs, while the WHMCS can automate and streamline your billing and support.
Namecheap VPS Hosting
Similar to shared hosting, with VPS hosting, you’ll share one server with other users. But VPS hosting is closer to dedicated hosting since you have access to a separate disk partition and certain computing resources.
Namecheap offers two VPS hosting plans that allow you to choose your server management, that allow you to transfer existing websites to Namecheap, and that feature top security. You’ll also have root access and will be able to select your operating system.
If you have technical experience, you can fully customize your VPS and can install a cPanel if you wish. Solid State Drive storage is fash and leads to increased website speed and performance. Hardware and software firewalls help to keep your data safe, and the servers are backed up routinely.
Namecheap Domain Registration
In addition to its website hosting services, Namecheap also offers domain registration services that can help you to start a brand-new site.
Customers who already have an idea of what they want their domain to be can use the traditional search function to find available and related domains. Namecheap offers upfront pricing about its domain registration, renewal, and transfer rates, so customers can compare options at a glance and decide what’s right for them.
Namecheap’s bulk domain name search option delivers even more options, and is ideal for businesses who may be trying to identify relevant domains, who are trying to keep similar domains out of competitors’ hands, or who are in the business of buying and selling domains.
The bulk domain name search lets you enter up to 5,000 terms at once for a single search. This helpful tool increases your search power and can help you discover new domain ideas and opportunities. You can upload keywords in a convenient spreadsheet and be looking at your search results in seconds.
Namecheap offers several other perks that make its domain registration services stand out. An all-in-one package option bundles together a free domain with web hosting. Monthly coupons available right on the site offer discounts on domain registration and transfer. Customers with more than 50 active domains on Namecheap can join the VIP Rewards Club to get discounts on domains. Namecheap even maintains a search option that identifies 99-cent domain names for customers looking for a bargain.
With many different domain purchase options and helpful tools like the bulk domain name search and the 99-cent domain name search, Namecheap is an excellent option if you’re looking to buy additional domains.
Namecheap Email
An email address that features your business domain puts a professional touch on all of your correspondence, and Namecheap offers three ad-free private email plans. Each plan includes a custom domain-based email, two-factor authentication, anti-spam protection, and more.
Web-based email browser support makes it easy to access your email, and the Pro and Ultimate plans include full mobile sync support so you can check your email on the go.
Namecheap offers a free two-month trial for private email plans.
Namecheap offers some of the lowest rates that you’ll find for website hosting. Thanks to its domain registration and email services, it can function as a full-service platform for your business, keeping your domain, website, and email centralized on one platform.
While Namecheap stands out with its clear pricing and wide array of plan options, its lack of phone customer service and the cost of its SSL certificates are strikes against the company. If you want to save money with your web hosting, Namecheap is worth considering.
Many of its plans are backed by 30-day money-back guarantees, so you can feel confident in giving Namecheap a try.
