Namecheap was founded in 2000 as a platform for domain name registration. In 18 years, they grew into a large venue with more than three million customers and extended their services with domain and full web hosting packages.
Also, Namecheap provides SSL certificates, privacy protection services, website-building apps, and other useful tools you need to run a website. In our Namecheap review, you will learn about the speed, features, security, and pros and cons of Namecheap hosting. Let’s start.
Namecheap Review: Everything You Need to Know for SEO
The mission of Namecheap is to provide all users with budget-friendly hosting packages filled with a variety of free add-ons. If you are on a tight budget and need a hosting provider with good uptime and unbeatable security, think of Namecheap. Let’s take a look at its advantages and disadvantages first.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
|
Free domain and website migration
99,97% uptime
30-day money-back guarantee
Unmetered bandwidth on the cheapest plan
Free SSL certificate
50 MySQL databases
Backups twice a week
|
No phone support
Little support in Spanish
14 days to wait if you want for money back
Mail accounts can not exceed 2GB
|
Namecheap Hosting In Brief
| Characteristic | Information |
|---|---|
| Uptime guarantee | 99,97% |
| Server response time | 458 ms |
| Support options | Live chat, tickets submissions |
| Hosting plans | Shared, WordPress, Reseller, VPS, Dedicated |
| CMSs | WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Magento |
| Features | Storage limits, Control panel integration, File management, Bandwidth allowance, Database support, Email hosting, Security tools |
| Server locations | USA, United Kingdom |
| Starting price | $1,58/month |
When to Use Namecheap
The most significant advantage of Namecheap is its low prices on all hosting packages. If you are just starting your business and need a simple yet performative web platform, Namecheap is a great option. One more advantage of the provider is that they don’t bother you with unnecessary upsells or annoying ads. If your business is too big for the current package, you can always upgrade it easily.
They offer a seamless user experience and a neat interface, so finding any information you need will be fast and easy. Read our Namecheap hosting review to learn more about its performance and speed tests.
When Not to Use Namecheap
According to other Namecheap reviews, their customer support could be much better. You can get a quick answer via live chat. However, if you need to resolve some more severe issues, you have to submit a ticket and wait (sometimes for several days) for your problem solution. Also, if you need a lot of space in the webmail, Namecheap may not be the best choice as their webmail size is limited.
Performance
Namecheap has the following characteristics that improve its performance: SSD hardware, 99.97% uptime guarantee, and custom-built cache manager. When it comes to shared hosting, Namecheap provides evenly-distributed server loads, which means your website will be stable regardless of your virtual neighbor activity.
Namecheap Hosting Speed Test Results
Namecheap’s average response time is slower than the average in the industry. Take a look at the following data that shows the loading time according to different tests.
| Test | Average Loading Time |
|---|---|
| Pingdom test | 435 ms |
| PageSpeed Insights (Google) | 427 ms |
So, Namecheap is below the average when it comes to hosting speed metrics. Keep this in mind if you need a website that performs fast.
Uptime Guarantee
Namecheap provides a monthly uptime guarantee, and if it fails at meeting its promises, users will receive service cycle prolongation for the time their service was unreachable.
However, keep in mind the following limitations that do not apply to the money-back guarantee agreement:
- DDoS or similar attacks on the servers,
- third-party software failure,
- users maxing resource container,
- issues resulting from errors or omissions by users,
- interruptions caused by users from custom scripting, coding or the installation of third-party applications,
- network conditions across the internet (outside of the Namecheap’s network), such as between user’s ISP and their data center, firewall blocks/bans, browser or DNS caching issues,
- outages related to the reliability of specific programming environments, etc.
Server Response Time
To check out the Namecheap performance in different locations, we have used a speed checker tool, Bitcatcha.
According to Google, the average response time should be under 200 ms for websites that want to provide excellent user experience and improve their search engine rankings. According to the table above, the Namecheap average response time is perfect. Don’t worry–your users will not leave your website because of the slow page loading time.
Namecheap Site Migration
Free site migration goes with all Namecheap shared hosting plans. The first step is to confirm your current provider and the number of sites you want to move. Then you should provide your old hosting account credentials. The support will check your account and suggest the best option.
The host guarantees a full cPanel migration time of less than 24 hours with up to 15 minutes of downtime. Note that migration is ensured only for WordPress sites and cPanel-based accounts.
If you are not satisfied with your transfer, the provider will credit your account with the cost of the first purchase of shared hosting.
Types, Features, and Pricing
Namecheap provides very budget-friendly hosting packages with various features that come for free, as we’ve already mentioned. Let’s review the types of hosting packages Namecheap offers in very detail. All the Namecheap hosting reviews focus on the accessibility of all the packages and their low prices, and we agree with them as well.
Shared Hosting
All shared hosting plans include the following free features: unmetered bandwidth, free website builder, domain name and privacy protection, free automatic SSL installation, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Besides, you get such shared hosting features as 50 free PositiveSSL certificates for one year, which are automatically set up, cPanel to have full control over your website, 24/7 live chat support, and personalized email service with threats and viruses protection.
WordPress Hosting
All Namecheap hosting plans include 1 WordPress website, under 90 seconds installation, Namecheap cloud hosting, seamless scalability, speed, support for any domain name provider, easy-to-use dashboard, easy backups and restores, and SFTP and database access.
With WordPress, you get the freedom to customize your website and build any features your business needs. Namecheap provides you with a single dashboard where you can create backups, change your domain name, and access your files through SFTP.
Reseller Hosting
All reseller hosting plans include the following benefits: unmetered bandwidth, free CPanel, 30-day money-back guarantee. You also get a cPanel to manage everything from one place, WHM control, account management tools, state-of-the-art technology Juniper/CISCO network for running high-powered reseller servers as Dell PowerEdge with 56 core Xeon CPUs, 256GB+ RAM, and RAID 6 Pure SSD.
VPS Hosting
Namecheap has 2 VPS hosting packages that include the following freebies: full root access and Operating System (OS) selection, your choice of Server Management, highest security standards, free to transfer existing websites, and VPS to Namecheap.
You also get complete customization depending on your technical knowledge level, server backups, and top-level security, Solid State Drive (SSD) storage that wins in performance compared to traditional Hard Disk Drives (HDD), and server management support.
Dedicated Servers
One thing we couldn’t omit in our Namecheap web hosting review is a dedicated server. A server that is entirely yours – no need to share it with others. It is what you can quickly get with Namecheap for a low price. Your Dedicated Server will be hosted in the renowned PhoenixNAP datacenter, located in the US.
From enterprise-level processors to ECC memory – you can rely on Namecheap. You can choose from Entry, Medium, or Advanced levels depending on your business needs.
Ready to choose your plan?
Go to Namecheap hostingSecurity
Namecheap uses a variety of ways to handle its security and keep it on a high level. They use the best hardware and software firewalls, protect your site from attacks with the help of the Leech Protect security tool with the help of which you can set the maximum number of logins, and also Namecheap creates its backups of your website.
Also, Namecheap provides virus scanners, hotlink protection, and SSL certificates. They regularly test and improve their security measures. The Whoisguard technology the Namecheap uses hides your name, address, email, and contact number to stop hackers and spammers from accessing your personal data.
Support
If something goes wrong, you can always contact Namecheap in the following ways: 24/7 support, e-mails, a comprehensive knowledge base, and a forum. Unfortunately, you can not contact Namecheap via forms on their website or phone.
Namecheap Hosting Quick Facts
Here are some quick facts about Namecheap gathered from different Namecheap com reviews you should know.
| Fact | Information |
|---|---|
| Free features | Unmetered bandwidth; Free website builder; The domain name and privacy protection; Free automatic; SSL installation; 30-day money-back guarantee |
| Control Panel | CPanel |
| Email accounts | Unlimited |
| Bandwidth | Unlimited |
| SSD | Unmetered |
| Hidden fees and clauses | Unmetered disk space is offered only with the Ultimate package |
Namecheap Hosting Review: Do We Recommend It?
Yes, we do recommend it in our Namecheap com review. They have many cheap plans and do not gouge their customers on domain renewal costs.
We would also like to give a round of applause to their free feature – Whois Guard. It means that you won’t get any annoying emails and phone calls when you register a domain. Also, their improved uptime and speed results make them a reliable hosting that is worth your attention.
Ready to choose your plan?
Go to NamecheapNamecheap Hosting Alternatives
If you have read a lot of Namecheap web hosting reviews but haven’t found the features you need, think of the following hosting providers:
- Siteground – works well for e-commerce and provides top speeds and excellent support.
- InMotion is famous for its top-notch VPS hosting packages;
- Bluehost provides excellent WordPress options;
- GreenGeeks provides shared VPS and WordPress hosting for a fair price.
