Namecheap Review

Namecheap Pros and Cons

Namecheap is a well-established hosting company and can be a good solution for the right customers. These pros and cons should give you a clear picture of what you can expect so you know if it’s the right option for your websites.

What we like about Namecheap

• Established company: Namecheap has been in business for over 20 years and is well-positioned to continue to operate successfully long into the future.
• Very popular: With about a million websites under its care, nobody can argue with the popularity of this company’s services.
• Diverse hosting options: You can sign up for anything from a basic shared server to dedicated servers, with several options. No matter what type of hosting you need, the chances are Namecheap has it.
• No hidden costs: In addition to being affordable, I appreciate Namecheap’s extremely clear pricing. They don’t try to upsell you or hit you with hidden charges, which is a common tactic in the hosting industry.

What fell flat

• Delayed customer support responses: While the technical support team is staffed 24/7, I have found that they do not always respond to requests for help very quickly. Fortunately, this company has a good knowledge base that you can use anytime.
• Location issues: Namecheap data centers are located only in the U.S. (Phoenix, AZ), the U.K. (Nottingham), and the Netherlands (Amsterdam). This can be very limiting. Also, if you want to choose one of the European data centers, you need to pay $1 extra per month.
• Inconsistent uptime: While Namecheap has an excellent uptime guarantee, it doesn’t always meet its goals. Many months, Namecheap is up 100% of the time, but then in others it dips well below the industry standard of 99.9%.

Whoishostingthis.com’s Editorial Review

Nobody will ever claim that Namecheap is the best web hosting company on the market. But Namecheap has really found the sweet spot between being budget friendly while still having fairly good services. If you find yourself in need of a good hosting company at a great price, I have no problem recommending Namecheap.

See how we review web hosting providers.

Solid state drives (SSDs) for storage

When it comes to web hosting, a few things are as important as site loading speed. While many factors contribute to the overall load speed, few are more impactful than the hard drive where the data is stored. That is why I love the fact that Namecheap provides solid-state drives on all of the hosting packages that it offers.

Solid-state drives are far faster than traditional spinning disk drives and can perform many more operations per second. Using SSDs with hosting will provide a performance boost. Still, the benefits will be especially apparent on sites that get a lot of visitors or those that have a lot of elements on the page, such as e-commerce websites.

Great uptime guarantee

If you sign up for a reseller or VPS hosting package with Namecheap, you will get a 100% uptime guarantee. If you choose shared hosting, WordPress hosting, or dedicated servers, you get a 99.9% uptime guarantee. Both are at or above the industry standard for uptime and reliability.

I was skeptical of the impossible 100% uptime guarantee, but Namecheap generally avoids downtime and provides a bill credit when uptime levels fall below the guarantee.

In any calendar month, every hour of downtime past the stated uptime guarantee will earn you a full day’s payment credit. If you have a VPS hosting package with a 100% uptime guarantee, for example, and your site is down due to an issue with hosting for an hour, you’ll get a free hosting day.

Affordable pricing for shared and VPS

Namecheap’s shared and VPS hosting prices are competitive, though the prices for WordPress hosting and dedicated servers are not that great. Namecheap may target users signing up for inexpensive shared hosting who then upgrade later to the more costly options. If you need WordPress hosting or dedicated servers, I recommend going to other companies.

Excellent domain name registration and management

Namecheap started off as a domain name registrar, which is still its main service with an impressive 17 million+ domain names registered for its customers. The fact that it sells domains at a significant discount compared to other providers makes Namecheap a very attractive option for many people.

Free SSL certificate included and installed

All Namecheap hosting packages come with a free shared SSL certificate. This is important as it will not only keep the data transferred to and from your site protected but will also lend trust to the page.

Additionally, Namecheap will install your SSL certificate. While SSL installs are common in the web hosting industry, it is nice to see that it is done even by this discount hosting provider.

Compare Namecheap Alternatives

Namecheap is one of the best discount hosting providers. The great prices for shared and VPS hosting and fairly high quality of services make it an excellent choice for those who need to see great value in the hosting they use. Of course, Namecheap won’t be able to outperform high-end hosting companies.

See how Namecheap compares to all the top web hosting companies or compare it to its closest alternatives below.

How We Reviewed Namecheap

I test web hosts based on the following factors:

• Plan value: What plans are available, and do they offer a good value?
• Ease of use: Is the dashboard easy to navigate?
• Support: How fast can you get help when needed, and is support genuinely helpful?
• Features: What features does the host offer, and how do they compare to similar competitors?
• Security: Does the host offer SSL certificates, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack protection, backup services, and scans for viruses and malware?
• Speed and uptime: Does the provider offer a fast, stable environment for your website? How does it perform in tests, and what kind of servers does the hosting company use?
• Recent improvements: What has the host done lately to update its technology and services?

Learn more about our review methodology.