Namecheap Hosting Review

The Namecheap hosting company, best known as a domain registrar in its early stages, started in 2000 by providing domain services to the public. They evolved to offer more services like web hosting service, security services, managed WordPress, and many more.

They are committed to making the digital future better for its users with three data centers located in the US, UK, and EU.

Right now, there are over 1700 Namecheapers scattered across the globe, with over 13 million domains under its management and an overall satisfaction rate of 4.7 out of 5 based on over 2 million reviews.

This hosting company is certainly not new to the market. It is quite older than most hosting companies and domain registrars.

Getting Started With Namecheap

To start, go to the Namecheap website.

When the windows opened, you can see this colorful homepage. From the home tabs, you can see the services offered, sign up and sign in tabs, promos, and more.

You can choose from an array of services: buying a domain name by using a domain name generator, website hosting and managed WordPress hosting options, shared hosting, VPS hosting, cloud hosting, dedicated servers hosting, professional emails, SSL certificates for security, and applications to boost your site.

Click the Home tab to see more about their offers.

For this review, I chose to try their shared hosting plan. When I click the Hosting tab, I was brought to this page.

I like the way they segregate their website hosting plan by the user's level of experience. Here you can see options for the:

• Online beginner -ideal for setting up your personal website or blog
• Small business-for solo entrepreneurs or web developers
• Large businesses -excellent for a website with so much traffic that it requires very high performance

I signed up for an account under shared hosting to see how the account management works in their actual dashboard.

All you have to input are the following: username, password, your name, and your email address. Unlike other web host sites, I noticed that you do not have to input any card details while signing up.

The sign-up process took less than a minute to complete. You will receive a welcome message sent to your email account. When I tried signing in to my account from another device, it sent me another email for a verification code.

Using and Managing Your Website on Namecheap

After the sign-up process, you will be redirected to your account dashboard. You can find the services tab, the account management tab, the shopping cart, and account information here. Here is the screen I was greeted with.

I clicked the Hosting tab and chose online beginner plans. I choose the Stellar Web Hosting plan because it is good for personal use and not to mention that it is cheaper than the rest of the plans.

It can host up to three websites where I can use my own CMS. I can also access a website builder, application, and email solution.

Next, I will need to choose a domain name, so I am directed to this page where I can register a new one or use an existing one from other web hosts.

The first domain name I input was taken, so I have to choose another one. It offers a lot of domain names for you to choose from. The second one I choose was accepted, so I added it to my hosting plan then added it to my cart. My assigned data center is from the US.

Here, I can customize my order according to the length of subscription, renewal, security, and email. I did not enable the PremiumDNS for now. Once you are done reviewing your order, you can click the confirm button to proceed to payment.

Here, you have to input your account contact information, Whois Account information, and payment method (VISA, MasterCard, or Paypal) before you check out.

You will receive the receipt of your order after payment. You can go back to your dashboard, make sure you will verify your contact information like e-mail and contact number, then choose a two-factor authentication method.

Services Tabs

These are the tabs found on the upper portion of your dashboard. It has all the services offered by Namecheap. It includes Domain, Hosting, WordPress, Email, Apps, Security, Transfer, and Help Center.

The Domains, Hosting, WordPress, Emails, Security, Transfer tabs will redirect site visitors to the page containing the plans, prices, features, freebies, FAQs, and disclaimers. You can browse each plan to see what you are looking for in your digital business hosting provider.

Account Management Tabs

• The Dashboard tab shows your account homepage. This is the first thing you see when you log in to your Namecheap account.
• The Expiring/ Expired tab shows your purchased status. You can see here the domain and the products, DNS and security attached, the status of their validity, expiration date, and the renewal price. You can also see here a button to view your cart if you want to see your purchase details.
• The Domain List tab will show all the domains you managed under the Namecheap domain management services.
• The Hosting list shows all your Namecheap hosting plans.
• The Private Email tab shows all email management services if you purchase a plan.
• The SSL Certificates tab shows your certificate purchases. It takes time to install after your payment, so you have to wait before it is validated.

• The Apps tab shows all the applications you can buy or install for free. Since my account is new, there is no app yet, but you can easily purchase from within your dashboard. Apps include site builder, WordPress, Google Workspace, and many more. I downloaded a Namecheap website uptime monitoring app because it's free.
• The Profile tab has your personal, security, and billing information.

We are now ready to check out the Namecheap control panel!

Namecheap CPanel

A control panel or cPanel is used to manage your website. It is a web hosting control panel software developed by cPanel, LLC, which provides a graphical interface and automation tools designed to simplify hosting a website. Many web hosting providers offer cPanel alongside their web hosting plans. It has different sections that are arranged accordingly based on its function. You can also see the general information and the statistics of your account.

You can access your cPanel by going to the Hosting List tab in your dashboard and then clicking the Go To cPanel.

Exclusive for the Namecheap Customers

This section contains the services and tools that are offered by the Namecheap web hosting plan. Here, you can integrate Google Apps to your website; download apps from Softaculous App Installer; create web applications using Python, Nodejs, and Ruby; contact the Namecheap support team, access the Knowledgebase, backup codes, and build a website.

Emails

In this section, you can manage all your email accounts, create an automated response, track email delivery, manage calendar and contacts, see email disk usage, filter emails, and many more services. You can also manage your professional Spam Filter from here. You can purchase professional email account plans from Namecheap.

Files

From this section, you can access all your files through your file manager and directory, view usage and storage, backup files, manage Git Version Control, and more.

Databases

In this section, you can manage your database using phpMyAdmin and create a database using MySQL. You can also use these tools to connect your database to your website.

Domain

This is the part of your control panel where you can manage all your domains, assign aliases, add-ons, subdomains, redirects, many more. You can also find here the domain FAQs, which could help you in understanding how domain management works.

Metrics

Metrics show the tools that help you identify how your website is doing. It shows the visitors, the complete stats, the log of all accesses, bandwidth, resource usage, and many more. You can also see here if you have any errors on your site.

Security

This section is vital for your website management. This is where you can manage all security details for your hosting account. Here, you can manage SSH keys, set up your two-factor authentication method, generate, view, delete SSL certificates, and many more.

Software

This section shows the software that we can use to improve our website. Here, you can use Python, Ruby, Nodejs, etc. You can also manage your WordPress site, install PHP PEAR packages, and many more.

Advanced

In this section, you can manage web cache and indexes, cron jobs to allow you to automate certain commands, view error pages, and scan for viruses.

Preferences

In this section, you can see features that involve your cPanel account password, security, contact information, and language. You can also change the style of your cPanel dashboard into dark, light, or retro.

Namecheap Website Builder

Buying a web hosting plan from Namecheap gives you access to a website builder like Canva, WordPress, and Web Builder. All these give you access to professional-looking website themes which are easy to use, even for beginners.

Apps Installer

From within your Namecheap cPanel, you can use the Softaculous App Installer to download apps. You can choose from a wide list of applications, including blogs, portals/CMS, Forums, image galleries, Wikis, Social Networking, ad management, calendars, gaming, emails, project management, e-commerce, and many more.

WordPress Themes

When you install WordPress website manager using the Softaculous App Installer, you can choose from the different themes from different categories. You can also choose to start from a blank one if you opt for that. WordPress hosting plans offered by Namecheap are also cheaper and allow for easy migration, with many other features other than templates and plug-ins.

Namecheap Customer Support

Namecheap advertised 24/7 customer support for its user, so I put it on a test.

Live Chat Support

You can find a button for live chat support at the bottom of every Namecheap site. When I clicked the button, this is what I received.

No support was readily available.

Submit a Ticket

Another option was to get help from the Submit a Ticket feature. I submitted a ticket about having issues with my app.

When submitting a ticket, you need to input your support pin. You can see the support pin tab when you click your account name on the upper left portion of your dashboard.

I received an email about my request right after I submit, but no real help was actually given.

I tried Live Chat support again after several hours, but I received the same result.

Buyer’s Guide For Namecheap

Plans and Pricing

Shared Hosting Plans

Hosting packages under this category include Stellar, Stellar Plus, and Stellar Business.

• Stellar starts at $ 0.82 /month on the first year and renewals at $2.88. This shared hosting plan comes with a free domain name, 3 websites, 20GB of SSD, free CDN.
• Stellar Plus starts at $1.49/ month and renewals at 4.88. It comes with a free domain name, unlimited websites, unmetered SSD, free CDN, and AutoBackup
• Stellar Business starts at $4.80 and renewals at $8.88. It comes with a free domain name, unlimited website hosting, 50 GB SSD, free CDN, AutoBackup, and Cloud Storage

All shared hosting plans include these benefits from Namecheap:

• Unmetered bandwidth
• Free website builder
• Domain name and privacy protection
• Free automatic SSL installation
• Free Supersonic CDN
• Free website migration

Reseller Hosting Plan

This plan allows you to buy hosting plans and sell them to your clients. The plan includes Nebula, Galaxy Expert, and Univers Pro.

• Nebula starts and renews at $19.88/month with 25 cPanel account and 30 GB SSD inclusion.
• Galaxy Expert starts and renews at $36.88/month with 100 cPanel accounts and 90 GB SSD disk space.
• Universe Pro starts and renews at $54.88 /month with 150 cPanel accounts and 150 GB SSD disk space.

All reseller plans include the following benefits:

• Unmetered bandwidth
• Free cPanel/ WHM
• 30-day money-back guarantee

WordPress Hosting

This hosting plan offers 30 days free trial with no commitment Using EasyWP.

• EasyWP Starter starts and renews at $3.88 with 10 GB SSD of disk space and 50k visitors /month.
• EasyWP Turbo starts and renews at $7.88 with disk space of 50GB SSD Storage, 200k visitors /month, more CPU and RAM, Free CDN, and SSL.
• EasyWPSupersonic starts and renews at $11.88 with 100GB SSD storage, 500K visitors/ month, more CPU and RAM, 99.99% uptime guarantee, free CDN, and SSL.

All website hosting account comes with the following benefits:

• Easily connects any domain to your WordPress site
• One-click back up and restore
• Free access to Namecheap's CDN
• Access files through SFTP, making sure it's safe and secure
• Can use maintenance mode if not yet ready to make your site live
• An easy-to-use dashboard to manage WordPress
• Professional, private, and secured emails accounts

VPS Hosting Services

Namecheap's VPS hosting plans offer two choices for users to choose from.

• Pulstar starts at $6.88/month and renews at $11.8. It comes with 2 CPU cores, 2 GB RAM, 40 GB SSD RAID 10, and 1000 GB Bandwidth.
• Quasar starts at $12.88/month and renews at $19.88. It comes with 4 CPU cores. 6GB RAM, 120 GB SSD RAID 10, and 3000 GB Bandwidth.

These two plans also have the following:

• Full root access and Operating System (OS) selection
• Own choice for Server Management
• Free website transfer to VPS and Namecheap hosting
• 30-day money-back guarantee
• Completely customizable
• SSD storage for faster website speed, performance, and loading rate
• Hardware and software firewalls with an internal security package to keep your hosting safe and secure
• 24/7 Live Chat and Help Disk to offer support in your hosting needs

Dedicated Hosting Plan

A dedicated server is a physical server where all of your data and resources are hosted in one machine or server. There are three dedicated server plans to choose from.

• Xeon E3-1230 v6 starts at $45.88 and renews at $45.88. It comes with 4 cores, 8GB DDR4, 500 GB HDD, 100 TB/month Bandwidth
• Xeon E-2236 starts at $78.88/month and renews at $98.88/month. It comes with 6 cores, 32 GB DDR4, two 480 GB SSD, and 100 TB/month Bandwidth
• Dual Xeon Silver 4208 starts at $169.88 and renews at $212.88. It comes with dual 8 cores, 64 GB DDR4, two 2 TB NVMe, 500 GB Backup storage, unmetered bandwidth

For this plan, servers are categorized according to level:

• Entry Level for high traffic websites, smaller applications, and resellers
• Medium level for databases, applications, and large resellers
• Advanced level for multi-user apps, large databases, SaaS
• Outlet refers to clearance /legacy servers

You can also enjoy the following features:

• Free migration with no hidden fees
• Airtight server security
• Optimized for heavy traffics
• Reliable data centers located in the US
• 24/7 Customer Support

A detailed table of all hosting plan features can be browsed on their website.

From there, you can see the plan features, email features, databases features, server features, control panel features, statistics /web stats, scripts, support features, and pricing.

Some hosting packages also differ in price from one center to another. Cloud storage is only supported in the UK data center.

Server Speed

Server speed plays an important role in making sure that your website is of good quality. Websites that are taking time to load are actually very annoying on the part of the users.

The Namecheap hosting review conducted by Hosting Tribunal shows that the average loading speed is 0.68s and the average uptime of 99.98%.

Security and Backups

Going online puts your site and its user at serious risk by the threats from cybercriminals. That is why it is important to choose a hosting company that takes safety and security with the highest regard. Someone you trust with you and your customer's sensitive information. To answer this demand of utmost security, Namecheap's offers the following security services:

FastVPN

FastVPN hides your IP address so no one can see your real location and stops anyone from tracking and stealing your password over wifi. It will not collect, track, or share any of your browsing activities. So it allows you to download confidential and sensitive files, shop, and pay online without worrying that your information will be leaked. In addition, FastVPN allows you to access international websites and watch international shows, sports, and TVs with unlimited bandwidth and speed. Plus, it works on any of your devices. Namecheap offers a plan for this that is 100% off on the first month and renews at $5.88 per month.

Domain Privacy Protection (Withheld for Privacy)

Namecheap partners with Withheld for Privacy to offer free lifetime protection for your domain. It keeps the domain owner's contact information out of a public database. Whois database keeps your contact information when you register a domain, and it is accessible to anyone, anywhere. This privacy option is offered for free to every domain registration and domain transfer. Since your information is not available, it prevents marketing firms, spammers, and online fraudsters from reaching your inbox.

Here is a comparison between with domain privacy and without:

Note: Due to some regulations, this Domain Privacy cannot be used in some domains like .uk,.us, .paris, .sg, and many more. Make sure to check the complete list of domain names from their website to see if your domain is eligible.

PremiumDNS

Namecheap also offers a PremiumDNS plan that starts at $4.88/yr and renews at $9.98. It is an advanced DNS for websites that allows you to access the fastest DNS servers and get 100% uptime. It makes sure that your website is 100% online. It comes with DNS Security Extensions to prevent attacks that could affect your website's performance. You can use your PremiumDNS to protect your account even if you are using a different hosting provider. Unlike the basic DNS service, PremiumDNS offers faster performance, maximum site availability, and better security.

Free SSL Certificate

An SSL certificate verifies the security level of the website. There are different types of SSL certification issued to a website depending on the level of protection and security features. Having an SSL certificate on your site assures the users that the information they shared with you is safe and secured, thus increasing the trust between your user and your site.

Buying an SSL certificate from Namecheap is easy. They also provided information for each certificate so you can decide if it is what you need for your site.

After your purchase, you need to activate it, install it, then manage it in your account dashboard. SSL certificate comes with a site seal you can add to your site as proof of the certification issued. This is what most experienced web users are looking for in a site.

When buying an SSL certificate from Namecheap, they also offer customer service from their support team. Most of this SSL certificate offers used 256- and 128-bit encryption, which is also the community standard for data protection. Namecheap assures that when you buy certificates from them and their partner, Comodo CA, they are safe, secured, and affordable but of good quality.

Two-Factor Authentication

This security feature offers an additional layer of protection to your account for free. You can choose from three different 2FA methods: using a specialized USB or NFC device that contained your encryptions, using another device that regularly changed passwords, and lastly, using a mobile phone to secure your account.

Features of Namecheap Hosting Plan

• Free SSL certificates-for security
• cPanel -for web management
• Great average uptime of 99.98%
• Built-in website maker
• Softaculous App Installer -for easy and fast app installation
• Free hosting migration - free transfer from other hosting providers
• Easy WordPress Hosting
• Two-Factor -Authentication - for an extra layer of security
• Free applications
• 30 -day money-back guarantee
• Domain Privacy-hides your information from public databases
• phpMyAdmin and MySQL Databases
• Backup manager
• Virus Scanner
• Google Workspace Integration and Google Analytics compatible
• Hotlink protection -prevents your other website from linking to your file
• Leech Protection -prevent brute -force attacks
• Python, Node. js, and Ruby supported

Pros

In addition to the features stated above, I observe some advantages in using Namecheap hosting services.

• Straightforward and quick signup process
• Lots of payment options to choose from, including online payment
• You can choose to pay monthly, yearly, or every 2 years
• Great account management and website management dashboards
• Hosting plans arranged by experience level
• Tabular comparison of features between hosting packages
• Excellent Stats report
• User-friendly prices
• Free trial for WordPress Hosting
• Cheaper renewals rate compared to other
• The cheapest plan offers 3 websites to host
• Free domains for some plans

Cons

• Customer support is not instant
• Most security features are paid
• Low review rating from different hosting reviews
• Few data centers
• No SEO marketing features

Final Thoughts

All in all, after the research conducted and personal experiences, Namecheap is a decent hosting provider and domain registrar.

If you are looking for a web host with excellent features and offers more than one website hosting for a lower price, then this is what you are looking for.

Just be prepared for the possibility that you could not get instant customer support.

I hope this Namecheap hosting review helped you on your web hosting journey!