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Namecheap Hosting Review: Great For Domains But Here’s What We Didn’t Like
Namecheap is best known as a domain name registrar, but they also offer cheap web hosting. Before you sign up with them you should read our Namecheap hosting review and find out if their hosting is any good, or if they should stick with domain names. Visit Namecheap.com
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Most people know of Namecheap as a domain registration and management service, but they also offer web hosting services. Founded in 2000, Namecheap began by offering value-priced domains and excellent customer service. Today, they have over 3 million clients and manage over 11 million domains.
In addition to domains and full web hosting packages, Namecheap sells SSL certificates, privacy protection services, and more. Because Namecheap thinks that an Internet presence for all is a necessity, they provide affordable access to everything you need to run a website.
Namecheap’s hosting plans offer fast, reliable service with a 100% uptime guarantee. If you need to build a new site, you can easily do so using one of Namecheap’s many site-building apps. If you have an existing website, Namecheap will move it for you for free.
In addition to a solid knowledge base, you can consult if you need help, Namecheap offers 24/7 chat support. You can also submit tickets for review.
NameCheap was founded by Richard Kirkendall in 2000. He believed that average internet users deserved to have exceptional service and economically-priced domain names. Today, the company has more than eleven million customers and hosts over three million domain names.
Namecheap doesn’t believe that it’s a luxury to have domains, websites and hosting packages. They believe it’s a necessity. They also believe it’s something that should be accessible to all, not just people who know how to write code and play around with advanced dashboard features.
Namecheap’s mission is to provide all users with unbeatable service levels, first-class support and the most secure data protection possible. Customers don’t get overwhelmed with upsells they don’t need or unnecessary advertising. The company’s key values are: to be honest, friendly, straightforward and helpful at all times.
If you're in the market for a new web hosting provider, be sure to check out our user reviews, our A-Z hosting guide and our top three popular hosting picks:
Namecheap hosting comes complete with a number of distinct features. Below we will take a look at some of the main features included with this host.
100% uptime service level agreement (SLA). (You’ll receive credits if this isn’t achieved.)
Namecheap uses the latest server technology from brands like Dell, HP, and Supermicro.
Every component has multiple redundancies, whether it’s the power source, the network card or the high speed of the servers.
Pages load extremely fast, a necessity for any business.
cPanel is used. This is the most commonly used control panel in the world and it makes life easier for users.
The Softaculous installer enables you to use WordPress or other apps with just a few clicks. You can update and maintain your applications with great ease.
Easy to upgrade your hosting package if your business grows too big for the current package.
All of their shared hosting plans have unmetered bandwidth.
Twice a week backups for all plans, plus autobackup for free with Stellar Plus and Stellar Business.
100+ single click apps.
Single contact point for billing and support.
No contracts.
Free migration of sites from other hosting providers
Free email accounts with all hosting plans — 30 email accounts for Stellar, unlimited email acounts for Stellar Plus and Stellar Business.
Looking for a great hosting deal? You can currently save big on Namecheap plans. Use this discount link to get the deal. You’ll also get a 30-day money-back guarantee.
What Benefits Does Namecheap Provide to Small Businesses?
Here’s a concise overview of some of the benefits that Namecheap may provide for a small business.
Have a website?
Free migration for current sites. Daily backups. “Softaculous” library of 400+ apps to add functionality to your site.
Need a website fast?
EasyWP gets you a WordPress site in 30 seconds. Other site builders available include Weebly, Canvas, and Strikingly. Or, use the free website builder Namecheap offers for free with all shared hosting plans.
Speed
SSD (solid-state drive) storage, Cloud (Stellar Business plans).
Domains
Purchase or sell a domain, transfer, domain privacy.
Marketing
Online ad manager service runs PPC ads for you. Landing page included. Add marketing features to your site via a “Softaculous” library of 400+ apps.
WordPress
EasyWP gets you a WordPress site in 30 seconds. Managed WP hosting takes care of software updates, security monitoring, and backups. Platform optimized for speed and performance.
In addition to domain names, Namecheap also provides web hosting.
How is Security Handled?
Below is a list of the ways in which security is handled by Namecheap hosting services.
Use of best hardware and software firewalls and a highly technical in-house security system.
“Leech Protect” allows you to set the maximum number of logins that can occur in a 2-hour period. Protects your site from brute force attacks.
Namecheap regularly creates its own backups of your site, which you can request a copy of if necessary.
“CodeGuard” — this add-on service provides monitoring, backup, and restoration services.
Virus scanners are included
Hotlink protection is provided
Namecheap constantly tests their defensive measures and tweaks where necessary.
SSL certificates are available to ensure the security of your sites. SSL certificates help protect your sensitive data (including credit card information) from being stolen.
DNSSEC is provided via Namecheap’s PremiumDNS service.
WhoisGuard hides your name, address, email, and contact number. This stops hackers, spammers and marketing companies from contacting you or accessing your precious data. All someone can see is that your domain is already hosted but that’s all. Namecheap provides free WhoisGuard Privacy Protection for life. However, not all domain extensions are covered by WhoisGuard so check yours before moving forward.
Hosting Types and Plans
Namecheap offers a variety of hosting types and plans, starting with shared hosting.
Shared Hosting
3 plans to choose from.
Up to 3 websites on the smallest plan where most only offer 1 site and unlimited on the biggest plan.
Sub-domains range from 30 – unlimited.
All plans have unlimited bandwidth.
Plenty of autoresponders, databases, email accounts and email forwarding accounts, depending on your plan choice.
A healthy amount of disc space.
A long list of other features that easily compare to other providers.
You get everything the shared plans offer and a lot more as well.
All plans are easy to upgrade/downgrade when necessary.
You get higher priority support service, receiving answers ahead of people on shared plans.
VPS plans hosted on the lightning-fast networks in Phoenix, Arizona so page speeds are unbelievably quick, often faster than dedicated servers provided by other hosting companies.
Either one or just a few customers use the same server under these plans. This means there are enormous stability and performance benefits and no downtime (as guaranteed by Namecheap).
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We think the following plans will suit the majority of our visitor's needs.
Choose to self-manage, half-manage or have Namecheap fully manage your server for you. If you manage it yourself, you: can choose the operating system, have reboot access, root access and the ability to do reinstalls on the server.
If you have it fully managed for you, you only have Reseller access to the server configurations that are handled by the technical staff at Namecheap.
You get everything available in the shared and VPS plans but some quantities may be bigger. These plans are ideal for sites with a lot of site traffic.
You have your own server so you can choose to do it all yourself or have Namecheap manage it for you.
Prices to suit all budgets.
Reseller Plans
You can earn passive income through a Reseller plan and selling plans to your customer base and other people you know.
Disk space depends on which of the three plans you choose, while unmetered bandwidth comes with all plans.
Anonymous name servers so nobody will know you’re reselling services.
Full priority support is available to help with every aspect of the process.
Unlimited domains and sub-domains.
Softaculous: Improve Your Website With Ease
One of the perks of a Namecheap shared plan is access to Softaculous, a tool that allows you to easily install software to extend the features and functionality of your website.
You can access the Softaculous tool via the administrative area of your control panel.
Hundreds of Apps to Extend Your Site’s Functionality
You can think of it as an app store. Through it you get access to hundreds of apps, enabling you to easily add discussion forums, blogs, photo galleries, media players, and so on, to your Namecheap-hosted website.
What Can I Install With Softaculous?
Some of the things you can install with Softaculous include:
Wikis
Blogs and micro-blogs
Social networking features
Ad management
Online calendars (useful for events and bookings)
Web-based games
Email services
Polls, surveys, and analytics
E-commerce software and tools, like PrestaShop and Magento
Customer support tools to serve your online customers, like live chat
Educational software platforms like Moodle
Portals and CMS tools like Open Real Estate, Drupal, WordPress, Joomla
For developers: frameworks like Laravel, Bootstrap, CodeIgniter, and Cake PHP
Essentially, if there’s something you want to be added to your website, there’s likely to be a Softaculous script that installs it with ease.
For a busy small business owner, Softaculous makes website management quicker and simpler.
Domains: What Does Namecheap Offer?
As we have mentioned (as its name implies), Namecheap is a major domain registrar. One of its biggest competitors is GoDaddy.
When it comes time to register a domain name, who should you go with?
Personalized Service
Namecheap is a smaller company, so you’re likely to get a more personalized, customer-oriented approach. GoDaddy, on the other hand, is a massive company that offers a wide variety of services — if you want to have all of your website-related services under the umbrella of one company, GoDaddy is for you.
Domain Privacy Protection
When you purchase and register a domain name, your personal information, such as an address, email, phone numbers, is (by default) listed in the public WHOIS directory and accessible to anyone. You can, however, purchase what’s called domain privacy protection. This hides your personal information and lists alternate details instead — typically, you will see information for your domain registrar instead, but the specifics may vary.
We recommend that small businesses opt for domain privacy. Some of the benefits include protecting your personal information from being used in identity theft schemes and preventing your email from being targeted for unwanted spam/solicitations.
Namecheap provides WhoIsGuard privacy for free for the life of the website.
DNS Hosting
Namecheap (and many other registrars) offer DNS hosting with each domain sold, but if you have a registered domain that does not include DNS hosting, you can purchase this service from Namecheap.
DNS hosting is, in short, the service that “translates” your domain name into the unique IP address for your website. Essentially, the larger your DNS network, the faster this can happen, leading to faster page load times for your website.
Looking for a great hosting deal? You can currently save big on Namecheap plans. Use this discount link to get the deal. You’ll also get a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Namecheap offers two DNS hosting services: the FreeDNS and premium DNS hosting.
FreeDNS is secure, reliable, and geographically-dispersed. It comes with an easy-to-use management console, and all users get 24/7 customer support. It can be used as the primary DNS hosting service, but you could also use it as a backup to your existing DNS hosting.
Namecheap’s premium DNS hosting, however, is for those who want to minimize downtime. PremiumDNS offers a 100% service level agreement for DNS resolution, which is useful especially for businesses, where downtime leads to lost profits.
Need Web Hosting?
If you're in the market for a new web hosting provider, be sure to check out our user reviews, our A-Z hosting guide and our top three popular hosting picks:
The Namecheap Marketplace is a platform that you can use to resell domain names.
Generally, you are required to pay upfront for an extended contract (usually one year or more) when purchasing a domain name. If you decide that you no longer want your domain name, you are stuck with it until your contract expires and you choose to not renew it.
However, with the Namecheap Marketplace, you can resell your domain names before your contract is up. The Marketplace operates on a fixed-price model. You list your domain, as well as the price you want to charge.
Buyers peruse the marketplace and purchase the domain names in which they’re interested the way they’d purchase any other domain name.
Namecheap charges sellers a flat 10% fee for each domain sold through the Marketplace.
In addition to being able to offload domain names you no longer want, you might be able to purchase a domain name that has otherwise been purchased already. Finding unique domains gets harder and harder as more and more people create websites, so the Marketplace is a good option for those who are having trouble finding a unique option that reflects their business and brand.
Customer Support and Help
If something were to go wrong with your hosting package then there are a number of ways that you can contact the Namecheap support team and/or get help. These are as follows:
If you decide that Namecheap isn’t the right hosting service for you then you are entitled to a money-back guarantee. Here are some points to remember:
30 day money-back guarantee.
Shared plans have 100% uptime.
All other plans “only” have 99.9% uptime.
Sales of all extra add-ons such as server management, dedicated IP address and licenses are non-refundable.
What are the Pros and Cons of Namecheap?
Is web hosting from Namecheap any good? There are lots of pros and cons to weigh up when considering buying hosting from Namecheap.
Pros
A well-known brand that has been around for 20 years.
Free and fast migration from other hosting providers.
Backups on a daily basis.
Choose the largest shared plan and backup is twice per day and also weekly.
Quick registration and setup process.
Lots of TLDs available with varying extensions.
No upsells when you sign up.
Cons
Setting up SSL certificates is difficult and often needs help.
Some aspects of the dashboard are hard to find.
No phone support.
Intrigued by Namecheap?
Now is a good time to sign up. We’ve secured a deep discount for our readers. Just use this special link to get the deal. Remember: you’ll get a 30-day money-back guarantee. So why not give them a try?
Summary
Namecheap has a lot of useful features. It’s critical that you read all the terms and conditions (TAC) before signing up as there are some details you may need to weigh up. As you only have a 30-day money-back guarantee, be extra diligent in analyzing everything before making your choice.
Have some more questions about Namecheap? Here are a few frequently asked questions. Let us know if you have a question that isn’t answered here. We’d be delighted to help you find the answer.
What are Namecheap DNS servers?
Your domain name is created to be easily read. An example of a domain name is example.com. The Domain name system (DNS) is a protocol used to link a number to your domain name. That number is called an Internet Protocol (IP) address. The IP address can be used to locate and track technical resources related to hosting your site.
Domain name servers are a core part of the Domain Name System (DNS). Nameservers are used to define your domain’s current DNS provider.
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We think the following plans will suit the majority of our visitor's needs.
Namecheap PremiumDNS is a low-cost option to provide a 100% uptime guarantee for your DNS service. It includes DNSSEC (DNS Security Extensions), a security technology that protects your domain name from malicious actors who attempt to redirect site visitors to an “imposter” site.
The Domain Name System (DNS) is the hidden technology that translates your IP address (a number) into the readable domain name associated with your site. For example, your IP address might be 73.181.19.237 but what site visitors see is your domain name, e.g. blogging.com
What is Namecheap’s Wildcard Redirect?
Namecheap’s wildcard redirect allows you to create a single redirect for all non-existent subdomains on your site. For example, if during a site redesign you decide to do away with some of the subdomains on your site, you only have to create one single redirect to route them all to the home page or another section of your site.
Namecheap Plans and Prices
Namecheap offers a range of reliable and affordable hosting solutions; from shared hosting and VPS hosting to dedicated servers. Here below is an overview of their plans and current price list. For the latest and most up-to-date prices visit Namecheap’s website.
People share their opinions about companies on Twitter each and every day. We monitor tweets about Namecheap and apply a sentiment analysis algorithm that classifies these tweets as positive or negative. Every review is from a real person. We use this information and output an approval rating score, which is based on real people, positive and negative, opinions about Namecheap on Twitter.
Namecheap Review on Twitter
We monitor tweets about Namecheap and apply sentiment analysis to classify tweets as positive or negative. This allows us to output an approval rating score, which is based on real people, positive and negative, opinions about Namecheap on Twitter. Namecheap approval rating score is 57%. This is based on a total of 2695 tweets that mention Namecheap on Twitter. There are 1530 mentions that share a positive sentiment and 1165 mentions that express a negative sentiment. Find out more about how it works.
Namecheap Rating
57% Score
Namecheap vs Competitor Ratings
All reviews: 2695
|
Positive: 1530
|
Negative: 1165
Berrak Sarikaya @BerrakBiz
I'm already obsessed with @Namecheap's support team. Thanks for the recommendation, @nschneble!
Jelle Smet @smetj
Kudos to @Namecheap for their helpful and knowledgeable support team, service offering and management console. 1 word #awesome #dns
Fit for Legacy @fit4legacy
Loving the @Namecheap benefit from @founderscard
Pierre @_Pierre_
@Namecheap it would be great if you’d allow MFA with google authenticator/Authy/LastPass Authenticator, please! 🙂
Pierre @_Pierre_
@Namecheap it would be great if you’d allow MFA with google authenticator/Authy/LastPass Authenticator, please! 🙂
oscar guti @oscarmguti
@Namecheap I came with a big problem and you guys solve it, I will tweet this for sure, awesome service! 7 years be…
J. Gallardo @JGallardo2600
@Namecheap the Android app is so buggy that it's not even worth keeping on my phone.
Pierre @_Pierre_
@Namecheap it would be great if you’d allow MFA with google authenticator/Authy/LastPass Authenticator, please! 🙂
oscar guti @oscarmguti
@Namecheap I came with a big problem and you guys solve it, I will tweet this for sure, awesome service! 7 years be…
J. Gallardo @JGallardo2600
@Namecheap the Android app is so buggy that it's not even worth keeping on my phone.
Max Tannahill @maxtannahill
@Namecheap great - thanks
Michael Bobarev @michaelbobarev
@Namecheap #inlife 🙂
BeastFox @NotBeastFox
@Namecheap That's awesome! Not in college yet though!
Lenny LeBrun @LennyLeBrun
@Namecheap Doesn't apply to high schools?
Gaming Masters @OfficialGMYT
@Namecheap But you understand the point. Locked out of an account and the domain is now lost and stuck on your landing page...
Looking for a great hosting deal? You can currently save big on Namecheap plans. Use this 
