NameCheap is a name you’ve probably heard of due to it being a domain name registrar – it is one of the best in the world – however, you may not know that they are a web hosting provider too.
Founded back in 2000, over the last 2 decades they have racked up millions of users, mainly for their domain name services, which includes over seven million domains under their belt.
But what are their web hosting services like? Do they live up to the standards they’ve set as a domain registrar?
Let’s take a wholesome look at Namecheap’s domain name registration and web hosting services, and weigh them out.
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1. Pros of Using NameCheap
Choosing a web hosting provider is a difficult decision. Often there are hidden costs and features that, unbeknownst to you, are not available due to the plan you’re on.
We paid attention to these when looking at the pros of Namecheap, which led to some pleasant surprises such as Shared Hosting, WordPress Hosting, E-Commerce Hosting, and more.
1.1. Free Domain & Migration
Namecheap offers free domain registrations, however, this only applies to ‘.website’ domains, unfortunately.
But if you sign up for Namecheap’s hosting services, you receive a domain name for free. The hosting plan is also fairly cheap for the first year.
Another thing is that if you already have a domain with another domain registrar, you are able to migrate your website to their service, something that they will help you with.
This is also a free perk of their service and is quite beneficial if the rest of what they offer meets your needs.
2. Decent Page Load Speed Time
The second most important criteria when choosing a hosting service is page loading time. It has been directly correlated with user bounce rate and can influence your SEO.
When a new user visits your website, they need to be satisfied with the speed at which it loads, if it takes too long they will just leave.
Namecheap had an average loading time speed of 687ms over the last 24 months on its cheapest plan. It is a bit further away from other affordable, popular hosting services such as HostGator and Bluehost.
But it is still on par with industry standards.
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1.3. 30-day Money-Back Guarantee
The service also comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, giving you peace of mind that if you don’t like what you’re paying for, then you can always get your money back.
1.4. Great Value for Money
Firstly, Namecheap does offer unlimited bandwidth regardless of which plan you are on. This includes the cheapest plan too which is almost unheard of.
In addition, you also get the regular features that you would probably expect from a more expensive plan such as WordPress, cPanel, etc.
On top of unlimited bandwidth, you get 20GB of storage which, granted, is not groundbreaking, but it is an acceptable amount
if you only have a few websites and for the price you pay. And, it comes with a free website builder and privacy protection.
1.5. SSL Certificate
The web hosting service supports up to three websites, and that is better than what its competitors offer, and you also get a free positive SSL certificate for a full year.
But, this is where one of the caveats we mentioned comes in. You will pay 50% of the full price for year two, but then you will have to pay extra for the coming years after that.
1.6. Ease of Use
The Namecheap control panel is incredibly easy to use. It is clean, clutter-free, yet it also displays a bunch of useful info to you.
Navigating through the options is smooth and seamless, and product management is straightforward.
You also get direct access to everything, whether that is domain management, billing, or hosting management, all a few clicks away.
1.7. Backups
Namecheap also mentions that it will offer backups two times a week, which is very reasonable.
In an age where data loss can be a huge problem, especially for a firm that operates digitally, a routinely scheduled backup of two times a week is a great plus.
However, it should be noted that if you read the fine print, they say that this is not always guaranteed.
1.8. Excellent Third-Party Reviews
Getting a view of the experience from existing customers is always a good idea and for the most part, Namecheap has received positive reviews.
For example, on Shopper Reviewed they have a rating of 4.7-stars based on over a million reviews, which is very respectable.
Having said all that, there are some glaring downsides to using NameCheap.
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2. Cons of Using Namecheap
When looking for a new web host, generally there are three main categories to look at:
- Uptime: Can it keep my site up, or ‘live’, for the majority of the time?
- Speed: Does it offer a good, fast experience for my users?
- Support: If things go wrong, can they help me solve the problem?
Unfortunately, Namecheap didn’t perform amazingly well in two of these categories. Whilst it didn’t necessarily perform badly, it wasn’t great. Let’s delve deeper.
2.1. Uptime fluctuation
Namecheap is notorious for providing uptime which is described as ‘excellent’ or ‘flawless’ during its first month, which coincidentally, is also the length of the period for the money-back guarantee.
After the first month, things get noticeably less satisfying. As we mentioned, it’s not bad, it’s just not amazing.
The average uptime never gets below 99.50%, but it did get close a few times. The following graphic shows the fluctuations between uptime rates:
2.2. Customer Support
The service does have live chat customer support and they do reply rather quickly. In addition to this, staff will also transfer you to someone who is more knowledgeable if they are unable to help you.
But, there are many reports, and experiences, of the ‘more knowledgeable’ member, simply giving you links to other guides and not being helpful.
However there are also reports that they received adequate customer service, so it may just be human error.
Having said that, Namecheap has a very detailed and in-depth FAQ, and chances are you will be able to find what you’re looking for in there.
2.3. WordPress Support
We mentioned earlier that Namecheap provides WordPress hosting, which is great, but the ‘EasyWP’ – as it’s called – is underwhelming when it comes to the features it offers.
It doesn’t come with a smart updating system, staging environment, bundled plugins, or other slightly advanced features that you might expect, or want.
However, the infrastructure is good, EasyWP runs on a cloud platform and it is claimed, by Namecheap, to be 3 times faster than traditional shared hosting.
Besides the lack of advanced features, it is objectively an option that should suffice your basic needs.
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3. Namecheap Hosting Plans and Pricing
For once the name ‘Namecheap’ is not false advertising, it really is quite cheap. In fact, their prices are perfect for a personal website or a small business.
Let’s take a look at their offers.
3.1. Shared Hosting
Their shared hosting services offer three plans: Stellar, Stellar Plus, and Stellar Business
The Stellar plan, at €2.58/month, is fairly cheap. Better yet, for the first year, you will get a 50% discount. The Stellar Plus plan is the most popular amongst the shared hosting options. In addition to the regular
Stellar plan, it also offers unlimited disk space, it supports an unlimited number of websites. It comes in at €2.18/month.
Lastly, the Stellar Business plan which comes in at €3.97/month offers all of the above, plus e-commerce compatibility and 50GB of SSD disk space.
The SSL Certificate will have to be purchased separately on all of the shared hosting plans, however, so keep that in mind.
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3.2. WordPress Hosting
Like shared hosting, WordPress hosting comes in three different plans.
As we discussed earlier in this review, the cheapest plan is quite underwhelming when it comes to advanced features. But, considering you pay €3.47/month for it, it’s not entirely bad.
As you progress through the plans, you will receive increased storage capacity (10GB, 50GB, 100GB), and increased support for a larger number of website visitors per month (50,000, 200,000, 500,000).
Moreover, you will receive an SSL certificate, a 30-day money-back guarantee, one-click backups, and also a pre-installed WordPress.
3.3. Reseller Hosting
There is also the Reseller Hosting plans for the people who want to create a large number of websites or even start their very own hosting company.
Once again, this option also comes with three options.
Starting at 25cPanel accounts and 30GB SSD with the Nebula plan, Galaxy Expert will provide you with 100 cPanel Accounts and 90GB SSD, and Universe Pro will give you 200 cPanel accounts, 150GB SSD, and WHMCS Starter.
All plans have unlimited bandwidth, a 30-day money-back guarantee, free cPanel, and also privacy protection, and a free website domain name.
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Final Thoughts
There you have it, a review of the pros and cons of using Namecheap. Whilst it is renowned for its domain name registration services, it’s web hosting services seem to fit the bill if you are not looking for anything ground-breaking.
For the price you pay, you get a respectable service that will do the job if you are using it for a small business or a personal website.
If you have the capital to pay extra, then you’ll be satisfied with the extra storage space, features, and more, that the service can provide.
If you don’t have the capital though, make sure you make use of the Black Friday & Cyber Monday codes for up to 99% off!
We hope this review helped you make a decision on which web hosting solution to go for!
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