Namecheap Review: One of The Best Web Hosting Platforms

Are you interested in building your own website and considering Namecheap as your hosting and domain provider?

Namecheap is a renowned company that specializes in domain registration and web hosting services. It has established itself as a trusted and reliable player in the website industry, offering competitive pricing that is hard to beat.

In this review, we will get into the various aspects of Namecheap’s offerings, including its features, performance, and affordability. We will also compare it with other competitors in the market to provide you with an unbiased assessment.

What Is Namecheap?

Established in the year 2000, Namecheap is a reputable company renowned for its dependable web hosting and domain registration services. With a diverse range of hosting plans tailored to cater to various requirements and budgets, they have become a popular choice among website owners.

Namecheap offers an extensive selection of hosting options, including shared, reseller, VPS, and dedicated hosting. They also provide specialized plans specifically designed for WordPress hosting, ensuring a seamless experience in setting up and managing WordPress websites.

In addition to their hosting services, Namecheap presents an array of features and addons to enhance your website and promote your business. These offerings encompass site builders, business email solutions, social media management tools, brand-building resources, and even a logo maker.

One factor that sets Namecheap apart and contributes to its global appeal is its commitment to transparency. They refrain from imposing hidden charges and avoid unnecessary upselling during the website setup process. This transparent approach instills trust among customers and ensures a hassle-free experience.

For beginners who may have limited knowledge of web hosting requirements, Namecheap stands as a reliable and trustworthy company that enables them to establish an online presence without breaking the bank.

Who Is Namecheap For?

Namecheap stands out as an ideal choice for individuals seeking to establish a website at affordable rates. However, it’s important to note that Namecheap goes beyond catering to individuals; they have meticulously crafted plans suitable for bloggers, small businesses, startups, online stores, and even large corporations.

One of the key advantages of Namecheap is their highly competitive renewal rates, applicable to both domain registrations and hosting plans. This means that you can create an online presence or run a small website without having to bear excessive annual expenses, making Namecheap an attractive option for cost-conscious individuals and businesses.

Moreover, Namecheap goes the extra mile by including valuable features at no additional cost. These include a free SSL certificate, free CDN (Content Delivery Network) for enhanced website performance, and free domain privacy. These offerings, which are often presented as paid addons by other web hosts, further contribute to Namecheap’s appeal.

Now, let’s get more into of what Namecheap’s has to offe to gain a deeper understanding of their services.

Namecheap Features

1. Namecheap Domain Registrar

Namecheap has successfully managed over 8 million domain names, encompassing a wide array of Top Level Domain (TLD) extensions. This includes popular choices like .com, .net, .org, .co, .co.uk, .dev, and many more. Additionally, Namecheap offers country-specific TLDs (ccTLDs) such as .us, .ca, .in, and .uk, enabling users to establish a localized online presence.

The user-friendly domain search bar provided by Namecheap simplifies the process of finding your desired domain name. With just a few clicks, you can input your preferred domain name, and Namecheap will present you with search results spanning over 400 extensions.

When it comes to pricing, Namecheap offers competitive rates, with domain names starting as low as $0.99 for the first year. Also, when you purchase a web hosting plan, you have the opportunity to acquire a domain name for free.

What sets Namecheap apart is its transparent approach to renewal rates. Unlike many domain registrars that lure customers with exceptionally low introductory prices and subsequently impose significant renewal fees, Namecheap maintains slightly higher renewal rates. Additionally, they display the renewal cost upfront during the purchase process, ensuring transparency and informed decision-making.

If you already have a domain registered with another provider, Namecheap offers a seamless transfer process at a nominal cost. Notably, any remaining time on your domain registration is preserved during the transfer. Namecheap’s migration process is smooth and efficient, minimizing downtime. Typically, the transfer process is completed within a timeframe ranging from 30 minutes to 6 days.

With Namecheap, you can confidently manage your domain names, benefit from favorable renewal rates, and experience hassle-free domain transfers.

2. Namecheap Web Hosting

Namecheap presents dependable, secure, and hassle-free solutions for web hosting. Their services are of the highest quality, all while costing significantly less than their competitors.

Rest assured that your website is in safe hands with Namecheap, as they boast a robust infrastructure equipped with top-tier security measures. Your site will reside on a secure server, ensuring peace of mind.

With data centers located in the US, UK, and EU, Namecheap offers widespread coverage. While hosting plans include the US data center at no additional cost, the UK and EU data centers incur a monthly fee of $1.

Namecheap also provides reliable and functional backups that are readily available for restoration when needed.

As an added bonus, Namecheap guarantees 100% uptime for their hosting services. They diligently monitor websites every 5 minutes to ensure continuous operation, and you can conveniently access the performance data through your dashboard.

In the event of any issues, their support team is readily available to assist and resolve them promptly.

One of the standout features of Namecheap is the flexibility in their plans. You have the option to choose between monthly, quarterly, and yearly plans, setting them apart from other web hosts that typically require a minimum 12-month commitment.

Namecheap offers a diverse range of hosting plans, including:

1. Shared Hosting
2. WordPress Hosting
3. Reseller Hosting
4. VPS Hosting
5. Dedicated Hosting

In the following sections, we will provide comprehensive details about each plan, including its features and associated costs.

Let’s Start With Shared Hosting

Shared Hosting is an excellent and affordable option for getting your website online quickly. Designed for beginners and entry-level websites, it offers cost-effective solutions.

These plans are budget-friendly because multiple websites are hosted on a single physical server, with each user allocated limited resources such as database, disk space, CPU, and RAM.

Ideal for startups, small businesses, and personal websites, you can begin your web presence for as low as $1.58 per month.

Namecheap offers four shared hosting plans:

1. Stellar: Starting at $1.98/month for the first year, it renews at $3.88. This plan includes a free domain name, 3 websites, and 20GB SSD storage.
2. Popular: Starting at $2.98/month for the first year, it renews at $5.88. This plan includes a free domain name, unlimited websites, unlimited subdomains, unmetered SSD storage, and autobackup.
3. Stellar Business: Starting at $4.98/month for the first year, it renews at $9.88. This plan includes everything in the Popular plan, along with 50GB SSD storage, autobackup, and cloud storage.

Every shared hosting plan comes with unmetered bandwidth, a free website builder, domain name, privacy protection, website migration, and automatic SSL installation. Additionally, you have the freedom to create as many subdomains as you require.

Namecheap also provides the convenient Softaculous App installer, which allows you to install popular applications such as WordPress, Drupal, Magento, and Zen Cart with just one click.

To enhance your website’s performance, Namecheap offers a complimentary Supersonic CDN, ensuring faster loading times.

It’s worth noting that caching plugins can also be utilized to optimize your site’s speed.

Moving on to WordPress Hosting.

Namecheap’s WordPress Hosting is a fast and cost-effective managed solution designed for users who prefer not to handle website maintenance tasks.

With EasyWP, you can set up your website in under 2 minutes.

Managed WordPress Hosting is specifically tailored for WordPress, eliminating the need for manual maintenance. Namecheap auto-installs WordPress and takes care of security, backups, and updates.

Compared to Shared Hosting, Managed Hosting offers distinct advantages. In Shared Hosting, resources are shared among multiple websites, which can lead to downtime if other sites experience high traffic. Managed Hosting ensures that your website remains unaffected by such incidents.

Namecheap provides three Managed WordPress plans:

1. EasyWP Starter: Priced at $34.88/year (renews at $48.88/year), this plan allows up to 50,000 visitors per month and includes 10GB SSD storage.
2. EasyWP Turbo: Priced at $58.88/year (renews at $94.88/year), this plan allows up to 200,000 visitors per month and includes 50GB SSD storage. It offers 1.5x more CPU and RAM, free CDN, and SSL.
3. EasyWP Supersonic: Priced at $68.88/year (renews at $114.88/year), this plan allows up to 500,000 visitors per month and includes 100GB SSD storage. It offers 2x more CPU and RAM, free CDN, SSL, and guarantees 99.99% uptime.

The WordPress hosting plan allows you to host one WordPress website on Namecheap’s Cloud server. Although you won’t have access to cPanel, you will have an intuitive dashboard to manage your site, along with backup, SFTP, and database access.

Namecheap offers a 30-day free trial, allowing you to experience their services without any commitment.

Let’s Now Explore Reseller Hosting

Reseller Hosting is a type of web hosting that enables you to purchase hosting resources from a provider at wholesale rates and resell them to your clients, creating your own branded hosting service. This option is popular among web developers, web design firms, and entrepreneurs, offering the freedom to customize pricing structures for the hosting plans you offer.

Namecheap offers three Reseller Hosting plans:

1. Nebula: Priced at $19.88/month, this plan includes 25 cPanel accounts and 30GB SSD storage.
2. Galaxy Expert: Priced at $39.88/month, this plan includes 100 cPanel accounts and 90GB SSD storage.
3. Universe Pro: Priced at $58.88/month, this plan includes 150 cPanel accounts, 150GB SSD storage, and WHMCS starter (Web Host Manager Complete Solution).

All reseller hosting plans come with unmetered bandwidth, free cPanel/WHM, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Moving On To VPS Hosting

VPS Hosting provides greater control and flexibility for your business needs. In this hosting type, a physical server is divided into multiple virtual servers, each with its own operating system and allocated share of resources.

Unlike shared servers, VPS hosting ensures your website resides in an isolated section that can be individually rebooted.

If you require more resources than what shared hosting offers but prefer not to invest in a dedicated hosting plan, VPS Hosting is the ideal choice.

Namecheap offers three VPS hosting options:

1. Pulsar: Priced at $9.88/month, this plan includes 2 CPU cores, 2GB RAM, 40GB SSD RAID 10, and 1,000 GB bandwidth.
2. Quasar: Priced at $15.88/month, this plan includes 4 CPU cores, 6GB RAM, 120GB SSD RAID 10, and 3,000 GB bandwidth.
3. Magnetar: Priced at $28.88, this plan includes 8 CPU cores, 12GB RAM, 240 GB SSD RAID 10, and 6,000 GB bandwidth.

With VPS hosting, you receive full root access and the ability to choose your operating system. Additionally, you can select your preferred server management option.

Namecheap allows free transfer of existing websites and VPS hosting to their platform.

Lastly, Dedicated Hosting

Dedicated Server Hosting provides exclusive access to all available server resources. It is recommended for individuals with technical expertise who are comfortable managing and configuring servers with root access.

Dedicated Hosting is ideal for high-traffic websites, business applications, content streaming, podcasting, machine learning, big data, storage, infrastructure virtualization, and game servers.

Namecheap offers three Dedicated Hosting plans:

1. Xeon E3-1230 v5: Priced at $47.88/month (renews at $60.88/year), this plan includes 4 cores @ 3.4GHz, 8GB DDR4, 240GB SSD, and 100 TB/month bandwidth.
2. Xeon E3-1275 v6: Priced at $17.88/month, this plan includes 4 cores @ 3.8GHz, 15GB DDR4, 2 x 1 TB HDD, and 100 TB/month bandwidth.
3. Dual Xeon Gold 5218: Priced at $298.88/month, this plan includes Dual 16 cores @ 2.3GHz, 128GB DDR4, 4 x 1 TB NVMe, 500 GB backup storage, and unmetered bandwidth.

Namecheap’s Dedicated Servers offer top-tier performance to elevate your business operations.

We have now covered the range of web hosting options provided by Namecheap. In the next section, we will delve into two crucial aspects of website operations: security and backups.

3. Namecheap Security & Backup

Similar to the real world, the online space carries its fair share of risks, including identity theft, hacking, viruses, and other threats. Consequently, ensuring the security of your website becomes paramount. Namecheap recognizes the significance of security and adheres to best practices in this regard. Additionally, they offer various security add-ons to further enhance protection.

Namecheap provides several domain security features:

1. Fast VPN: Enjoy a speedy VPN service that safeguards all your devices at affordable prices. By using this functionality, you can conceal your IP address, ensuring privacy, data protection, and secure browsing, especially on public Wi-Fi networks.
2. Domain Privacy: With every domain registration, Namecheap includes domain privacy, which shields the owner’s contact information from being publicly accessible through the Whois database.
3. PremiumDNS: Namecheap’s PremiumDNS service delivers a secure and globally accessible premium DNS infrastructure, resulting in improved uptime and performance. It also provides defense against distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and other DNS-related threats. Remarkably, PremiumDNS is available at an annual cost of less than $5.
4. SSL Certificates: Namecheap offers a range of SSL certificates to safeguard your website and its users against identity theft and data breaches. You can choose from basic to comprehensive validation options for a single site or multiple sites.

In addition to these security features, Namecheap offers robust Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) options, including U2F, TOTP, and OneTouch, all provided free of charge. These measures ensure the utmost security for your account.

Now let’s shift our focus to backups. Namecheap understands the importance of data backups and includes automatic backup features with most of their web hosting plans. These backups are integrated into your hosting package, providing an added layer of data protection.

Namecheap also performs regular server data backups on a frequency of every 3 to 7 days. In the unfortunate event of data loss, they make every effort to recover your valuable information.

In the next section, we will explore the features and offerings provided by Namecheap to assist you in the growth of your website.

4. Namecheap Apps & Marketing

In addition to its web hosting and domain services, Namecheap provides a variety of marketing tools and applications to support the establishment and growth of your website or online business.

1. Professional Business Email

Namecheap offers the option to create professional business email addresses starting at an affordable price of just $0.87 per month (equivalent to $10.42 per year). By opting for this service, you can have an email address that aligns with your website brand and domain name. Rather than using generic addresses like ava@gmail.com, you can have an address like ava@mydomain.com, which adds a more professional touch.

With Namecheap’s professional business email, you receive one free mailbox along with 5GB of space for emails and 2GB for file storage. Additionally, the service includes anti-spam protection to ensure that your inbox remains free from unwanted messages.

If you require additional email accounts, you have the flexibility to add them at a cost of $0.66 per month. Moreover, Namecheap offers higher-tier plans that provide increased storage space, mobile support, and access to built-in document creation tools such as docs, sheets, and presentations.

If you manage multiple alias emails, such as contact@mydomain.com and support@mydomain.com, Namecheap allows you to consolidate and unify these inboxes into a single location. This streamlines your email marketing and support processes, making them more efficient and manageable.

All of Namecheap’s email plans come with a free 60-day trial period, and no payment details are required during this trial. After the trial period, you have the option to upgrade to a paid plan that best suits your needs.

2. App Marketplace

Namecheap offers an extensive app marketplace that grants you access to a wide range of applications designed to support and enhance your online business ventures.

Within the app marketplace, you can find popular tools such as Google Workspace, Site Maker, Relate, and Weebly, among others. These tools can be easily subscribed to and managed directly from your Namecheap account panel, providing a seamless and centralized experience.

If you have a Namecheap domain, once you have purchased an app from the marketplace, Namecheap takes care of the setup process for you, ensuring a hassle-free integration.

By utilizing Namecheap’s marketing tools and app marketplace, you can leverage various resources to optimize your online presence and drive the growth of your business.

Namecheap Customer Support

Namecheap boasts a customer-oriented support team that is dedicated to providing assistance round the clock, ensuring that you can always find solutions to any challenges you may encounter. Whether you prefer real-time interaction or need to report an issue, Namecheap offers two convenient options: live chat and ticket submission directly on their website.

For comprehensive self-help resources, Namecheap’s help center is a valuable asset. It grants you access to a vast knowledge base, informative guides, insightful blog articles, and instructive how-to videos. By exploring these resources, you can acquire valuable information, tips, and step-by-step instructions to navigate various aspects of web hosting and domain management.

Additionally, Namecheap keeps you informed about the current status of their services. You can conveniently check the status through their website, ensuring transparency and allowing you to stay updated on any potential disruptions or maintenance activities.

Wrap Up

Namecheap emerges as a reliable and comprehensive solution for all your web hosting and domain needs. With a wide array of hosting plans, that include, shared hosting, WordPress hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting, and dedicated hosting, they cater to diverse requirements and budgets. Their commitment to security is evident through features such as domain security addons, SSL certificates, and robust backup systems.

Namecheap goes beyond the basics by offering additional services to support your online endeavors. From professional business email addresses that align with your brand to an app marketplace where you can access a range of powerful tools, they empower you to establish and grow your online presence effectively.

Namecheap’s dedication to customer satisfaction is exemplified by their responsive 24/7 support team and comprehensive help center. Whether you seek immediate assistance or prefer to explore self-help resources, Namecheap ensures that you have the necessary support at your fingertips.