Namecheap Hosting Review

The Namecheap hosting company, best known as a domain registrar in its early stages, started in 2000 by providing domain registration and services to the public. They evolved to offer more services such as web hosting services, security services, WordPress management, and 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. So what type of web hosting service can you expect?

Getting Started With Namecheap

To get started, go to the Namecheap website.

When the window opens, you can see this colorful homepage. From the home tabs, you'll 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 & 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 package. Clicking the Hosting tab takes me to the following page.

I like the way they divide their web hosting plans 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 hosting servers and lots of server resources

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 is the following: username, password, your name, and your email address. Many hosting companies require credit card information but not Namecheap; you won't have to input your credit card info just yet.

The sign-up process took less than a minute to complete. A welcome message will be sent to your email account. When I tried signing in to my account from another device, it sent me another email with 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, account management, shopping cart, and account information tabs 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, 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 had to choose another one. The second one I chose 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 regarding 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 the order after payment. Afterward, make sure to verify your contact information like email and contact number, then choose a two-factor authentication method.

Services Tabs

These are the tabs found on the upper portion of the dashboard: 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 satisfies you regarding the digital business hosting provider.

Account Management Tabs

• The Dashboard tab shows your account homepage. This is the first thing you see when logging in to your account.
• The Expiring/ Expired tab shows your purchased status. Here, you'll find the domain, products, DNS & security attached, the status of their validity, expiration date, and the renewal price. There's also a View Cart button.
• The Domain List tab will show all the domains you managed under the Namecheap domain management and the hosting service.
• The Hosting list shows all your Namecheap hosting plans.
• The Private Email tab shows all email management services if you purchased a plan.
• The SSL Certificates tab shows your certificate purchases. It takes time to install after 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 are no apps yet, but you can easily purchase and install them 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 hosting companies offer cPanel alongside their web hosting plans. It has different sections that are arranged accordingly based on function. The cPanel also provides general information and account statistics.

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

Exclusive for the Namecheap Customers

This section contains the services and tools included in 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, & Ruby, contact the Namecheap support team, access the Knowledgebase, backup codes, or 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 more. You can also manage the professional Spam Filter from here.

Files

From this section, you can access all your files through the file manager & directory, view usage & 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. With these tools, you can also connect your database to the website.

Domain

This is the part of the control panel where you can manage all domains, assign aliases, add-ons, subdomains, redirects, and more. The domain management and the Namecheap domain registrar FAQ can be found here as well.

Metrics

The Metrics tab has the tools to help you identify how the website is doing. It shows the visitors, the complete stats, the access logs, bandwidth, resource usage, and more. Errors are also displayed here.

Security

This section is vital for website management. This is where you can manage all security details for your hosting account such as SSH key management, two-factor authentication setup, generation, viewing, and deletion of SSL certificates, and more.

Software

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

Advanced

In this section, you can manage web cache and indexes, cron jobs that 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 the cPanel dashboard into dark, light, or retro.

Namecheap Website Builder

Buying a web hosting plan from the Namecheap web host gives you access to a website builder such as Canva, WordPress, and Web Builder. All these give you access to create a professional-looking website with themes that are easy to use, even for beginners.

Apps Installer

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

WordPress Themes

When you install the WordPress website manager using the Softaculous App Installer, you can choose from many different themes, from various categories. Creating a website from scratch is also possible. WordPress plans offered by Namecheap are cheaper than with other web hosting providers and allow for easy migration.

Namecheap Customer Support

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

Live Chat Support

The button for live chat support is located at the bottom of every Namecheap site. When I clicked the button, this is what I received.

No support was readily available. I hadn't encountered this issue with other hosting providers so it was slightly concerning, however, it could very well be possible that they receive a very high number of support tickets and inquiries.

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, your support pin is needed. You can find the support pin tab when you click your account name in the upper-left portion of the dashboard.

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

I tried Live Chat support again after several hours. Unfortunately, no one came back to me. Guess there's no priority support to be found here.

Buyer’s Guide For Namecheap

Plans and Pricing

Shared Hosting Plans

Namecheap's hosting packs under this category include Stellar, Stellar Plus, and Stellar Business.

• Stellar starts at $0.82/month for the first year and renews at $2.88. This shared hosting plan comes with a free domain name, 3 websites, 20GB of SSD, and free CDN.
• Stellar Plus starts at $1.49/ month and renews 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 renews 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 hosting plan allows you to buy plans and sell them to your clients. The plan includes Nebula, Galaxy Expert, and Universe Pro.

• Nebula starts and renews at $19.88/month with 25 cPanel accounts 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/month with 10 GB SSD of disk space and support for 50k visitors /month.
• EasyWP Turbo starts and renews at $7.88/month with disk space of 50GB SSD Storage, support for 200k visitors /month, more CPU and RAM, Free CDN, and SSL.
• EasyWP Supersonic starts and renews at $11.88/month with 100GB SSD storage, support for 500K visitors/ month, more CPU and RAM, 99.99% uptime guarantee, free CDN, and SSL.

All website hosting accounts come with the following benefits:

• Easily connects any domain to your WordPress site
• One-click backup and restore
• Free access to Namecheap's CDN
• Access files through SFTP, to ensure safety and security
• 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 packages offer two choices for users to choose from.

• Pulsar 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 Desk 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 on one machine or server. There are three dedicated server plans to choose from.

• Xeon E3-1230 v6 starts 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 traffic
• Reliable data centers located in the US
• 24/7 Customer Support

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

From there, you can see the plan features, email features, database 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.

Check out Namecheap's different hosting plans & current deals here.

Server Speed

Server speed plays an important role in making sure that visitors have a smooth and quick experience using your website.

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 threats from cybercriminals. That is why it is important to choose a hosting company that takes safety and security seriously. To answer this demand of utmost security, Namecheap 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 activity. FastVPN allows you to download confidential & sensitive files, shop, and pay online without worrying that your information will be leaked.

In addition, FastVPN allows you to access international websites & 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 for the first month and renews at $5.88 per month.

Domain Privacy Protection (Withheld for Privacy)

Namecheap partnered 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. This privacy option is free for 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 having domain privacy protection and not having it:

Note: Due to some regulations, this Domain Privacy cannot be used in some domains such as .uk,.us, .paris, .sg, and others. 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 access to the fastest DNS servers that get 100% uptime. As such, your website will be online 100% of the time.

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 certifications issued to websites depending on the level of protection and security features. Having an SSL certificate on your site assures users that the information they shared with you is safe and secured, thus increasing the trust between visitors and your site.

Buying an SSL certificate from Namecheap is easy. You can find more information about each certificate before you decide if it is what you need for your site.

After purchasing it, you'll need to activate, install, and then manage it in your account dashboard. These certificates come with a site seal that can be added 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 the SSL certificate offers use 128- and 256-bit encryption; the community standard for data protection. Namecheap guarantees that when you buy certificates from them and their partner - Comodo CA - they are safe, secured, and affordable.

Two-Factor Authentication

This security feature offers an additional layer of protection for your account for free. You can choose from three different 2FA methods: using a specialized USB or NFC device that contains your encryptions, using another device that regularly changes passwords, or 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 websites 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
• Low prices
• Free trial for WordPress Hosting
• Cheaper renewal rate compared to others
• 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. Namecheap offers are pretty good and don't cost a lot, but some features are locked behind higher prices.

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

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