Few brands live up to their name quite as well as Namecheap.
With .com domains starting at $5.98 for the first year (and free WHOIS privacy for life), it’s one of the cheapest places to get a domain name. Namecheap also offers a wide range of hosting, email, marketing, business formation, and security tools–covering everything you could ever need for a website.
But just because you can get everything in one place, doesn’t mean you should. We wholeheartedly recommend Namecheap as a domain registrar, but have some hesitations about its other products.
Read on to learn why.
The Gist of Namecheap in Less than Five Minutes
First and foremost, Namecheap is a domain registrar. That’s what it started with way back in 2000. Everything else came later in the hopes that you’ll decide to bundle everything together. However, we don’t recommend that for most people. It’s fine for the first year if you want to take advantage of the free domain name you usually get with hosting.
But it’s best to move your domain somewhere else after that. Namecheap is a great place to move your domains if this where you’re at right now.
Not only will it make your life easier if you ever decide to switch hosts, you’ll also save money as most hosting providers charge significantly more than domain registrars.
After your free year is up, you’re basically paying the hosting company a premium for convenience.
Plus, high-quality, cheap web hosting isn’t as rare as it used to be–the savings you get by hosting your site with Namecheap aren’t nearly as significant as they used to be. You can get a much better balance of price, usability, customer service, and scalability with Hostinger, Bluehost, or HostGator (see all of our top hosting recommendations, here).
Those three hosts also offer email, basic marketing tools, and essential security features, too. So, there’s really no need to get them from Namecheap unless there’s something specific you need.
With that said, Namecheap is a great place to buy domain names.
It’s cheap, easy, fast, and bare bones, which is exactly what we prefer. In fact, we have all of our domain names through Namecheap.
So, if that’s all you need, it’s a solid option.
Namecheap: The Good and The Bad
Just about everything Namecheap offers is cheap. From hosting that starts at less than $2 per month to free business incorporation (plus state fees), .com domains that start at $5.98 for the first year, and complimentary WHOIS privacy for every domain.
But just because something is cheap (or free) doesn’t mean it’s worth it. Here’s a closer look at what we like and don’t like about Namecheap and its products.
The Good
Trusted brand: Namecheap has been around for over 20 years and is no stranger to the world of domains and websites. With over two million hosting customers under its wing, Namecheap is doing something right.
Free WHOIS privacy protection: Every domain name includes compilatory masking of your personal details. When you buy a domain without this, your own address and phone number because public information. With WHOIS privacy, your personal details are replaced with Namecheap’s details to keep your personal life private. Other domain registrars and hosting providers charge anywhere from $10 to $20 per year for this.
.com domains for $5.98: This is a great deal, especially if you want to save a few dollars. Most other providers take at least $8 or more out of your pocket today. While you’ll pay a few dollars more when it’s time to renew, Namecheap offers some of the lowest introductory pricing around.
Other extensions are also cheap: .org starts at $7.48 per year and .co starts at $10.98 per year. These are just a few examples–most (if not all) of Namecheap’s domains are cheaper than its competitors.
Register a domain for up to five years: If you register your domain for half a decade, you won’t have to worry about it expiring or being charged again in 365 days. This is a surefire way to make sure no one else can snatch it up, and you don’t have to worry about remembering to renew.
Handshake domains: Namecheap is one of the only providers to offer peer-to-peer domain name transfers built entirely on blockchain. This includes domain extensions you don’t normally see, like .p, .api, .oo, .creator, and more. If you’re a fan of privacy, security, and a decentralized internet, handshake domains can be a strong, albeit unique, option.
Namecheap Market: This is where you can search domains that the current owner is hoping to sell. While these are usually more expensive than buying a new domain, you might find some gems you wouldn’t be able to get otherwise.
Domain auctions: Some sellers prefer to put their domain names up for auction instead of selling them or letting them expire for someone else to buy. Namecheap makes it easy to place domains up for auction, bid on current auctions, sort them, filter them, and find the best deals. There are over 350,000 domains available to bid on (at the time of writing), so there are plenty of options if this is appealing to you.
You can pay with crypto: Most providers don’t let you do this, so it’s an interesting option if that’s something you’re into.
Free marketing tools: You can create logos, design business cards, use the business name generator, create unique text characters, and use a basic graphic design tool (similar to Canva) with five million images, three million icons, and dozens of free templates–all for free. While most of these aren’t that great, it won’t hurt (or cost anything) to play around with them.
Wide range of premium SSL certificates: If you need an advanced SSL certificate (most folks don’t), Namecheap offers Comodo, wildcard, multi-domain, organization validated, and extended validated certs. These range in price from $5.99 per year to $117.99 per year.
Strong security suite: Namecheap has a massive range of security tools, including a VPN (that’s very affordable), 2FA, cyber insurance, PremiumDNS, anti-spam protection, and emergency repairs for hacked websites. If you have specialized security needs, one of these may be a good fit for you.
Very cheap hosting plans: From shared and WordPress to reseller, VPS, and dedicated servers, all of Namecheap’s hosting options are cheaper than most other hosting providers. If saving money is your top priority, it may be worth it for you. If you can swing a few extra dollars, though, we still recommend going with Hostinger (our favorite), Bluehost, or HostGator instead.
Free domain with hosting: Like other hosting providers, Namecheap will give you a free domain name for the first year if you purchase a hosting plan.
Complimentary website migrations: Many hosts charge a lot of money for professional site migrations. While you can migrate your site on your own for free, there’s a lot that can go wrong. Namecheap offers pro migrations within 24 hours (and no more than 15 minutes of downtime).
Massive range of dedicated server configurations: There are nearly 80 different dedicated servers to choose from. This is a massive list compared to other hosting providers. If you’re interested in dedicated servers and want to get granular on your hardware, CPUs, RAM, and disk space capacity, Namecheap gives you a very wide variety.
Simple Account Management: You don’t need to be a developer or have any technical experience to use Namecheap. It’s beginner-friendly with its simple and intuitive interface. You’ll be able to manage everything without having to go through extensive training.
Moneyback guarantee (hosting only): Not happy with your Namecheap hosting experience? No problem. You can get your money back within 30 days. However, the price of your free domain name (f you opted for one) will be deducted from the amount you get back, which is a bummer.
The Bad
Unreliable customer support: Namecheap’s knowledge base is an excellent resource. Topics include everything from domain names and hosting to email and SSL certificates. They also offer how-to videos for a wide range of tasks. If you can’t find your answer, things will get tricky.
Namecheap used to offer phone support (which is something we consider crucial for hosting services). But they no longer do. Now, you’re stuck using live chat which can be a frustrating experience to say the least. You’ll be connected with someone right away, but it’s not uncommon to wait 15 minutes or longer in between each exchange. A few of the times we’ve reached out, the chat ended without an answer. This is the main reason we don’t recommend Namecheap for hosting.
Cheapest hosting plans are limited: At a glance, the plans may seem comparable to others, but there are a few things that stand out (in a not good way). First, the free SSL certificate you’ll get is only free for the first year. On top of that, you only get 20 GB of storage space (Hostinger gives you 100 GB), there are no complimentary WordPress tools, and the setup process is challenging at best. If you’ve never built a website before or aren’t familiar with cPanel, you’ll likely struggle for a bit.
Once you get to the plans and types of hosting that aren’t as limited, you’re paying the same prices as you would with a much better hosting provider.
The website builder isn’t great: Today, website builders are everywhere. Just about every host offers one with its hosting services. However, Namecheap’s isn’t that good. It’s frustratingly limited if you want to do any sort of customizing, especially when compared to Hostinger or Bluehost.
Lack of focus: It’s clear that Namecheap isn’t focused on its hosting products. It’s newest offerings are marketing tools and security solutions. Rather than focusing on making their hosting great, they’re adding new products left and right. True hosting providers spend most of their time figuring out how to offer more value within their hosting services rather than charging extra for additional products.
You can get far better hosting for nearly the same price: This is perhaps our biggest gripe with Namecheap’s hosting services. It prides itself on being cheap, which is fine. But you can pay $1 more per month and get a far superior experience from a hosting company that’s actually focused on hosting.
Namecheap Plans and Pricing
Now it’s time to explore all the different products, plans, and packages Namecheap offers.
Namecheap Hosting
There’s a wide range of hosting options to choose from, including shared, WordPress, reseller, VPS, and dedicated servers. The cheapest (shared and WordPress) start at $1.58 per month, making Namecheap one of the cheapest hosting providers on the market.
You can continue to scale at the shared level without breaking the bank. For $0.70 more per month, you can upgrade for extra storage, unlimited websites, unlimited mailboxes, and automatic backups. The most expensive shared hosting plan is $4.48 per month, which is cheaper than some entry-level hosting plans. While these plans are cheap, you can get much better hosting for a dollar and change more per month from Hostinger, Bluehost, or HostGator.
Namecheap’s reseller hosting ranges from $17.88 to $55.88 per month, letting you turn around and sell their hosting to your clients and customers for a profit.
All reseller plans include:
- Ability to manage from cPanel
- Unmetered bandwidth
- Unlimited domains/subdomains
- WMH control
- Account management tools
- High-powered reseller servers
VPS hosting starts at $6.88 per month, which is far cheaper than you’ll find with most other VPS plans.
However, these are unmanaged so you’re responsible for choosing an operating system, installing a control panel, and managing everything on your own. Alternatively, you can purchase Webuzo, Interworx, or cPanel control panels plus some basic managed services from Namecheap for an added cost.
To add cPanel and full management, you’re looking at an extra $35 per month–at this point, it’s no longer all that cheap compared to other VPS packages.
Namecheap’s massive range of dedicated servers starts at $49.88 per month. Like all of its other hosting options, this is significantly cheaper than most other providers. Like its VPS packages, you’ll need to pay extra if you want to purchase a control panel and managed services.
Expanding Your Knowledge: Namecheap
Comparing The Best Web Hosting Services
Namecheap is a great place to transfer existing domains, buy new domains, leverage peer-to-peer domain transfers, purchase existing domains, and bid on domains up for auction. In terms of web hosting, it’s cheap but far from the best.
We prefer Hostinger, Bluehost, or HostGator but you can see all of our top web hosting picks here.
