Namecheap is known as one of the best affordable and reliable domain name registrars. One of the largest in the market, too. However, that’s not all – Namecheap also offers web hosting services. Quite a large variety of different hosting types and for very low prices.

While many enjoy Namecheap’s domain registration services, its hosting reviews are quite mixed.

Some users are very happy with low hosting prices, knowledgeable customer support, and a reasonable security package. At the same time, Namecheap’s performance is quite poor, which makes it undesirable to many.

To help you make an informed decision, we set up a website on Namecheap to test it out. In this Namecheap review, you’ll learn about everything from features and security to performance tests, pricing, and more.

⭐ Rating:	3.6★★★★☆
💵 Price:	From $1.58/month
📑 Uptime guarantee:	100%
⚙️ Hosting types:	Shared, WordPress, VPS, reseller, and dedicated hosting
🌎 Server locations:	The US, the UK, and EU
👨‍💻 24/7 live support:	Yes
🔥 Coupons:	Namecheap coupon 70% OFF

Pros and cons of Namecheap

Things we like

• Very affordable prices at $1.58
• Easy to use cPanel interface
• Free SSL and domain are included
• Reliable customer support

Things we don’t like

• Unreliable performance
• Lack of transparency in terms of security
• Poor response time results

Namecheap pricing

Namecheap is one of the cheapest hosting providers out there. Its cheapest shared hosting plan comes for $1.58/month. Other options include reasonably priced WordPress, VPS hosting, reseller, and dedicated server hosting.

Hosting type	Best for
Shared hosting	If you’re looking for ease of use. A great option for beginners. Get Namecheap, now 70% OFF
WordPress hosting	Cheap web hosting option for WordPress websites.
VPS hosting	Medium businesses or online stores. A slightly more advanced option.
Reseller hosting	A great choice for web developers or web design firms.
Dedicated hosting	Big websites and online stores. Very advanced option, where the entire server is dedicated to you.

It’s good to know that the provider has many options, and all of them are fairly cheaply priced. However, shared hosting is what we’ll be focusing on in this review as it’s usually the most popular option among the general public.

For shared hosting, Namecheap has 3 plans, all of which come with unmetered bandwidth, free domain registration and privacy protection, access to a free website builder, and a free SSL certificate.

Of course, all plans have plenty of differences, too:

	Stellar	Stellar Plus	Stellar Business
Price	$1.58/month	$2.28/month	$4.48/month
Websites	3	Unlimited	Unlimited
Storage	20 GB SSD	Unlimited	50GB SSD
Email accounts	Free (up to 30 accounts)	Unlimited	Unlimited
Bandwidth	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
Hosted domains	3	Unlimited	Unlimited
Backups	Yes (weekly)	2 times/week and auto-backup	2 times/week and auto-backup
cPanel	✅	✅	✅
Website builder	✅	✅	✅

All of Namecheap’s plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee. This means you won’t have to instantly commit for the longest term. Here are all the things you need to know before getting a NameCheap subscription:

• There’s a 30-day money-back guarantee.
• Refunds are not applicable if you pay with cryptocurrency.
• In case of subscription refunding, the standard price of the free domain name that you received and registered will be deducted from the amount.
• Services are not eligible for more than one refund.

Even though the initial payment is very nicely priced, the renewal price is double that. But that’s nothing unusual, in fact, that’s one of the lowest rates we’ve seen.

• Check out all available Namecheap promo codes to get the best deal!

Overall, Namecheap is called cheap for a reason. The cheapest prices are less than 2 dollars and you get 30 days to decide whether the service is for you.

Namecheap hosting management – is it easy to use?

Namecheap makes everything straightforward – it’s effortless to use both as a domain registrar and a hosting service. It uses a very common mix of native account management panel and cPanel. Both of them are very intuitive and functional, so you won’t have any trouble figuring it out.

Getting started with Namecheap

The native Namecheap’s dashboard is pretty simple, and everything you need is easily accessible. It mostly works as navigation to reach cPanel or your owned domain management tools. Also, this is where you contact support.

This dashboard is where you can manage your domain list, hosting, emails, and other tools or apps. We found it very intuitive as everything is lined up neatly in the left-side navigation bar.

What we also found interesting is that Namecheap offers migration services for free. We even found that on their site, they state that if they don’t do it in 24 hours, you get one year of service for free.

Namecheap control panel review

Namecheap uses the typical cPanel. There are no tweaks, no flashy skins, no nothing. It’s basically a naked cPanel. However, it’s common knowledge that even without the flashy skins, cPanel is easy to use. Whether you’re an experienced user or a beginner, you need no Codex to decipher cPanel.

All the most needed settings can be easily found in the cPanel as it’s really well organized.

So, what will you be using cPanel for?

• WordPress installation. For all application installations, Namecheap uses the standard Softaculous app installer. You can find all Softaculous installations at the bottom of your cPanel under the Software category.
• Activating SSL certificate. Namecheap uses its own tool called Namecheap SSL, which didn’t work during our tests, leaving us to contact customer support.
• Setting up a professional email address. For that, you’ll need to find the Email category and use the Email Accounts module. Very straightforward process, but this email service will only be good for sending a few messages. As the reputation is shared with the whole shared hosting server on which your site is hosted, you might be flagged as spam.
• Other standard web hosting management tasks such as database management, accessing file manager, creating subdomains, and so on.

We liked the fact that cPanel is very organized and you can find everything on the main window. However, we’ve encountered much more user-friendly alternatives, such as Hostinger’s hPanel, which is more suitable for first-time hosting users. Unlike Namecheap, Hostinger’s panel includes explanations or recommendations under many buttons or sections. This makes the learning process even more effortless.

Namecheap website builder

No matter which type of hosting plan you purchase, Namecheap grants you access to a drag-and-drop website builder. This allows you to not only host your site but also build one with a single subscription.

Starting from templates, you shouldn’t expect very modern designs. There are over 200 templates available for different niches and topics, but they lack originality and won’t make your site stand out.

Meanwhile, the editor works like a drag-and-drop one. You can add different widgets, including image galleries, a blog, forms, payment buttons, and so on. However, the editor is quite restrictive, so you won’t have much design flexibility.

The editor is functional and easy to use. But it’s also quite old school. Hostinger’s website builder allows much more flexibility and has over 130 templates that are professionally crafted by designers. So if a high-quality website builder is a high priority for you, consider examining Hostinger plans.

Namecheap also offers a paid website builder that creates the site for you. It’s called Visual and all you need to do is answer a few of its questions, choose a color scheme and that’s it. You get a website designed for you and can further edit your site from there. So you can definitely craft a decent-looking website in no time.

Overall, Namecheap is very easy to use. It wants to satisfy both veterans and newbies, and we have to say that it succeeds. With a clean dashboard and cPanel, this provider removed all challenges from every hosting-related process. The website builder is also simple and intuitive yet quite restrictive and old-fashioned.

Namecheap design features

Namecheap has quite a few design features in its app market. For example, there’s a free logo and a paid business card maker.

In terms of the logo maker, we found that it doesn’t even begin to compare to what a professional logo designer can do. You’re asked to give preferences on font style and color scheme, choose an icon, and you get a logo.

The choices are very generic, but that’s what you can expect from a free tool. In fact, very few “logo makers” even allow you to download the files if you don’t pay a hefty price.

The business card maker, on the other hand, is not free. You’ll have to pay $18.88 for 100 business cards. It’s not expensive, but it won’t look as if they have been made by a professional designer either.

To create a business card, you have to do pretty much the same thing as when designing a logo. There are a few pre-designed templates, and you can play around with a few elements. The good news is that the shipping is free in 50 countries on all continents, so you have that going for you, which is nice.

The bottom line is that Namecheap’s design features are not something extraordinary. However, we found them useful for webmasters who are trying to create a brand. Plus, if you don’t have the resources to pay a designer, or you’re just experimenting with some ideas, Namecheap is a good alternative in that manner.

Performance – is Namecheap fast?

Namecheap’s performance isn’t widely approved by other reviewers, so we put it to a test to find it out ourselves. We held multiple performance-oriented tests and examined Namecheap’s reliability, speed, and traffic handling capabilities with our own fully-built site. We performed all tests on a page performance monitoring tool called GTMetrix for two weeks. Continue reading to find all of the results.

Namecheap uptime and response time

In terms of Namecheap uptime, during the testing period, the site had 16 outages, which resulted in 31 minutes of downtime. This left Namecheap’s uptime at an all-time low of 99.82%.

An uptime like that is a below average result, especially considering that Namecheap has a 100% SLA uptime guarantee.

According to Namecheap’s terms of service, you may receive up to one month of free hosting if the customer support agents confirm that there was indeed a downtime.

Moving on to the response time, GTMetrix showed an average of 1.05 seconds. Considering that the shared hosting market’s average is around 600ms, Namecheap’s result is disappointing. Such providers as Hostinger average at 511ms, while Bluehost even reaches 361ms. So there are certainly more reliable providers in terms of performance.

Namecheap speed

Namecheap has servers in the US, UK, and Netherlands. During our tests, we hosted our site in the US data center. So there’s no surprise that the best results were in the US. The Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) was 912ms.

The hosting market has definitely seen better, but it’s not the worst either. For example, Hostinger’s LCP was only 479ms – this ensures even better performance for people around the world. Meanwhile, Bluehost showed an even worse result than Namecheap’s – 920ms. So we can say that Namecheap’s performance is rather average.

Like all other performance tests, we tested the LCP of Namecheap with GTMetrix. Naturally, the further we went from the origin server, the more the LCP increased. In the UK, the LCP was a whopping 1.4s, while India shot up to 2.1s. So the results from other locations are not shocking and much expected.

LCP is important because it’s one of the measures Google takes into account when ranking websites on the search result page. And as long as the time is under 2.5s, your chances to rank higher are greater. Or at least you will not lose chances to rank at all.

So when you take that into consideration, Namecheap is doing pretty okay. No gold medal, but still.

Good To Know

Namecheap offers 3 data center locations – the US, EU (Amsterdam), and the UK only. So you can choose according to where your audience resides. However, if you’d like to host your website in the UK or EU, Namecheap applies an extra fee of $1.00/month.

When testing a fully built site, the LCP was 2.3s, which is pretty borderline. A tight fit to squeeze into the suggested 2.5s for sure.

With a fully built website, LCP isn’t the only measure you should be concerned with. You should also pay attention to the Fully Loaded Time, which in this case is 2.7 seconds. Simply put, it could be better. Site visitors don’t really feel the difference in loading time between 1-2.5 seconds. However, anything above 3 seconds adds to the bounce-off rates.

Overall, while 2.7 seconds is not ideal for a fully loaded time, it’s not disastrous either. And while the LCP isn’t impressive either, you shouldn’t have much trouble if the data center is close to your audience.

Namecheap stress testing

To begin with, we’ve sent 50 virtual visitors to our site. 50 visitors is quite a big number – they are on the website at the same time, sending numerous requests to it. This puts a lot of pressure on, which could possibly slow down the server or overwhelm it entirely.

And it looks like 50 visitors were just a tad bit too much for Namecheap to handle. Although the response time (blue line) was great, quite a lot of requests have failed. 440 of them, to be precise, as indicated by the bumpy red line.

While 50 visitors didn’t work out, we were curious to know how many Namecheap can handle. So we decreased the number of visitors by five and ran the test again until we succeeded.

The first pass we got was with 30 visitors.

The result isn’t too bad – 30 is still a relatively big number. If the site gets 30 visitors each minute for a month, that’s some decent traffic. Usually, that’s what you can expect from a popular local blog or small business website.

Although we must note, even though Namecheap did pass the test, there are still 83 requests that have failed. Also, the response time went slightly crazy at the end. All of that could mean that this is just about the maximum pressure the provider can handle.

All in all, Namecheap is pretty lacking when it comes to performance. The provider promised 100% uptime and then delivered only 99.82% is just as sad. If it promised 99.9%, we wouldn’t be this upset. It’s the arrogance that bothered us. Moreover, the loading speed and the maximum handled traffic on the site was nothing to be amazed over.

Namecheap security

Security is one of the most important factors to consider when looking for the best hosting provider. Here’s what Namecheap offers in terms of safety:

• Free Positive SSL with one-click activation is available – we activated the SSL in a matter of seconds, so it’s perfect if you’re rushing to get your site up and running.
• WHOIS Domain Privacy Protection – free for all clients who are getting a domain name from Namecheap. It protects your personal privacy, prevents spam, identity theft, and unwanted solicitation.
• DDoS protection – basic DDoS protection through Supersonic CDN is free, but you have to turn it on yourself.
• Firewall – ModSecurity is the basic traffic filtering option that NameCheap offers. If you’d like more protection, an advanced Web Application Firewall is available through Supersonic CDN paid version.
• Automatic backups – the Stellar plan offers backups twice a week, but that is not guaranteed. Stellar Plus and Stellar Business come with daily automatic backups. For these plans, you’re given access to 6 daily, 3 weekly, and 11 monthly backups. It’s up to you which one you choose.
• Two-factor authentication – Namecheap allows you to use U2F or TOTP authentication methods. While the former uses USB or NFC devices, the latter lets you choose from Google Authenticator, Authy, LastPass Authenticator, and more.

We found that Namecheap offers all the essentials needed for strong security. From backups in case you lose your data, to DDoS protection which is useful for So you’re guaranteed that your website is always secured with the highest standards.

Will Namecheap customer support help me?

	Namecheap
24/7 live chat	✅
Email	❌
Ticketing system	✅
Phone line	❌
Knowledge base	✅

Namecheap has multiple customer support options available. For starters, if you’re in need of quick help, you can make use of the 24/7 live chat option or ticketing system. There’s no phone or email support, but the round-the-clock live chat option makes up for it.

Speaking of the live chat, we found that it doesn’t take more than a couple of minutes for agents to respond. We tried contacting Namecheap regarding our issue when trying to activate the SSL certificate. The agent was very helpful and jumped to solve the problem right away. He kept us informed on what the issue was and what he was doing to fix it.

So our experience with customer support was very good. The agent was very kind and helpful, and the issue got resolved in very little time.

Alongside the live chat option, Namecheap has a very detailed knowledge base. There we found articles and guides with many step-by-step instructions, which come in handy if you’re a beginner.

Overall, we found that Namecheap’s customer support is great. The live chat experience was positive and professional, while the knowledge base had loads of information suitable for beginners.

Namecheap video review

Namecheap review – the final verdict

Throughout this review, we found that Namecheap is a decent hosting service with its upsides and places to improve. The subscriptions are very cheap yet they’re not as filled with resources as some other providers, like Hostinger. Namecheap offers excellent security measures yet lacks storage and has a low website allowance with the cheapest plan as well as terrible performance. Here are all of the findings summed up:

Feature	3.6★★★★☆	Cheap and easy-to-use hosting
Pricing	★★★★☆	The cheapest shared hosting plan costs you $1.58/month if you go for a 2-year subscription. The plans are pretty inclusive, considering the affordable price you’re paying. However, renewal fees will double.
Ease of Use	★★★★☆	Namecheap uses a basic cPanel version. It doesn’t have a custom skin, but it’s intuitive and functional. The web builder is also highly intuitive, but it can get quite restrictive.
Performance	★★★☆☆	Performance is where Namecheap fails miserably. The 99.82% uptime was way below the guaranteed 100%, and the average response time of 1.05s speaks for itself. The loading speed wasn’t too bad, but it left something to be desired. However, Namecheap handled relatively big traffic.
Security	★★★☆☆	It includes security features, like SSL certificates, DDoS protection, backups, and domain privacy in its plans, but they are on the more basic side. The backups are slightly questionable with the Stellar plan because the provider does not guarantee they’ll be taken. Stellar Plus and Stellar Business do come with guaranteed auto-backups.
Support	★★★★☆	The customer support was close to flawless. It only has a live chat and ticketing system, but they’re fast and efficient. The knowledge base is extensive, and the resource center can teach you pretty much anything about online presence.

So who do we recommend Namecheap to?

We’d only recommend Namecheap for a small personal blog and definitely not one that you are planning to monetize. Also, it might be good for testing your skills in website creation. It’s cheap and easy for personal stuff, but performance is lagging behind. Better use it for cheap domains – that’s what the provider is really good at.

Looking to earn passive income in the web hosting niche? The Namecheap affiliate program offers a lucrative opportunity for individuals and businesses to earn commissions by promoting their reputable web hosting services. With a competitive commission structure and a wide range of marketing resources, affiliates can easily monetize their traffic and convert referrals into revenue.

Whether you’re a blogger, social media influencer, or website owner, partnering with Namecheap as an affiliate can help you boost your earnings and expand your online presence. Joining their affiliate program is simple and free, making it an accessible option for anyone looking to capitalize on the growing demand for web hosting services.

The Namecheap Affiliate Program Details and Commission Rates

The Namecheap affiliate program is known for its competitive commission rates and generous cookie durations, making it a top choice for Web Hosting bloggers.

Program Categories:

• High-Paying
• Web Hosting

Commission Rate:

• 35% Per Sale

Cookie Duration:

• 90 days

How to Become a Namecheap Affiliate

1. Join the Affiliate Program and Get Your Namecheap Affiliate Link

The first thing you need to do become a Namecheap influencer is sign up for their affiliate program.

Their application will require some basic information about your business and your audience. Follow the instructions to complete and submit your application.

After you submit your application, it will typically take a few days for Namecheap to approve or deny your application.

Once you’re accepted, you’ll be granted access to your affiliate dashboard, where you can find and copy your unique affiliate referral link.

2. Add Your Referral Link to Relevant Content

You can start monetizing your content right away by adding your Namecheap link directly to your blog posts. (If you don’t know, here’s how to add affiliate links to your blog.)

Simply find content where Namecheap will fit your audience’s needs.

Next, find the most relevant part of the post, and add your link with optimized anchor text.

Then all you have to do is keep creating content and wait for your audience to click your links. When they make purchases, you’ll earn 35% per sale.

Tips to Succeed in the Namecheap Affiliate Program

Optimize Your Offers and Earn More with Lasso

After you’ve added a few affiliate links to your content and started earning commissions, you should look for ways to increase your affiliate revenue.

You can do this by adding great product displays, comparison tables, and CTA buttons to your blog posts.

The easiest way to increase your affiliate income and monetize your site with Namecheap is by using Lasso.

Our Favorite

Namecheap

Namecheap is what the name says on the tin. Beyond good prices, they make registering, hosting, and managing domains for yourself or others easy and affordable.

With Lasso, you’ll have a link management dashboard, so you can see every post on your site with Namecheap links.

You can also create stunning no-code affiliate Displays, Grids, and Tables. Those will increase your clicks and help you earn more money from your existing content.

Create Engaging Content Around Namecheap

When it comes to affiliate marketing, content is king. To successfully promote Namecheap products, it’s important to create content that not only attracts your audience but also engages them. Here’s how:

1. Understand your audience: Know your readers’ hobbies, their passions, and their pain points. This understanding will help you create content that resonates with them and solves their problems.
2. Showcase the products: Use high-quality images and videos to showcase Namecheap products. If possible, puchase and use the products yourself. This will help you write with more authority and prove to your audience you know what you’re talking about.
3. Share personal experiences: People often connect more with personal experiences. Share your own stories about using Namecheap. Talk about how the products solved your problems or fit your needs, and explain how they will do the same for your readers.
4. Provide value: Offering reviews, advice, or how-to guides related to Namecheap’s affiliate offers. This not only promotes the products but also positions you as an authority in your niche.
5. Engage with your audience: Encourage your audience to leave comments, ask questions, or share their own experiences with Namecheap. This can foster a sense of community and increase engagement on your posts.

TIP: The more engaging and valuable your content is, the more likely it is that your audience will trust your recommendations and click on your Namecheap affiliate links. Our product review template will ensure your content grabs reader’s attention.

Analyzing and Understanding Your Affiliate Data with Namecheap

Success in affiliate marketing largely depends on your ability to understand and analyze your affiliate data effectively. Doing so allows you to see what’s working, what’s not, and where you can make improvements to increase your earnings.

Namecheap provides data on your referrals, conversions, and earnings, but to get a more comprehensive view, consider using a third-party tool like Lasso Performance. It integrates with all your affiliate programs, including Namecheap, and provides valuable insights into your performance.

Here’s how you can use Performance to analyze and understand your Namecheap affiliate data:

1. Track Your Performance: Track all your affiliate links in one place. It gives you detailed information about click-through rates, conversions, and overall earnings.
2. Understand Your Earnings: Easily see which of your content is generating the most earnings. This helps you understand what type of content resonates most with your audience and leads to conversions.
3. Identify Opportunities for Improvement: Identify underperforming content and optimize it for better results. Maybe a post needs better keyword targeting, or perhaps an affiliate link would be more effective in a different location.
4. Optimize Your Strategy: Lasso Performance not only helps you understand your current performance but also informs your future strategies. By understanding what’s working, you can replicate successful strategies in future content.
5. Automate Reporting: The tool provides automated reporting, saving you time and effort in gathering and analyzing data manually.

TIP: The more you understand about your performance, the better you can tailor your approach to maximize your earnings with the Namecheap Affiliate Program.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Namecheap Affiliate Program?

This is the program Namecheap uses to pay people and companies that promote their products. When you make a sale for Namecheap, they will send you a commission for the sale of that product.

How can I join the Namecheap Affiliate Program?

You can join the Namecheap affiliate program by filling out their application: https://www.namecheap.com/affiliates/?utm_source=getlasso

What is the commission rate for Namecheap affiliates?

The commission rate for Namecheap affiliates is 35% Per Sale. This means that for each sale made through your unique affiliate link, you will earn 35% Per Sale in commission.

This rate applies to all products, making it a lucrative opportunity for those who effectively promote Namecheap products to their audience.

What happens if a customer returns a product I referred?

In almost every case that means your commission for the Namecheap sale will get reversed. This may not be the case if you negotiate your contract with them. This can typically be done after consistent sales are proven.

What if I don’t have a website?

If you don’t have a website, it will be difficult to be a successful Namecheap affiliate.

You can get affiliate marketing traffic from social media or email marketing, but it’s more difficult to break through the noise with those channels.

My recommendation is that you learn how to start a high-paying blog, sign up for Lasso, and create a real affiliate marketing business.

Fast and Easy to Use, Perfect for Beginners and Basic Websites

Namecheap is widely known for its discounted domain names, but like many other registrars, it has also branched out into hosting. Are the hosting solutions on par with the best of the best the internet has to offer? I signed up to find out.

Namecheap has been in the business since 2000 and has over 10 million active domains registered. Its website hosting plans cover most hosting types and include shared, managed WordPress, VPS (virtual private server) machines, dedicated servers, and even private email hosting. All services are available in English.

Now, while it’s extremely tempting to purchase your domain name and hosting plan from the same provider, you should be wary of doing so. An all-in-one solution simplifies everything – from management to support and billing – but a jack of all trades is (usually) a master of none.

Laughing in the face of danger, I took the risk upon myself and signed up for managed WordPress hosting. To my surprise, I found a managed WordPress platform like few others, seamlessly designed and providing a fantastic user experience.

Still, does that ease of use come at the cost of features? Can the service really answer advanced needs, or will you find yourself limited and unable to grow? Well, read on and see for yourself!

4.6

FEATURES

Great Basic Features, but Also Serious Limitations

Namecheap provides powerhouse VPS and dedicated servers, but we’ll focus on the shared hosting side of things. Shared hosting is the simplest, cheapest form of hosting, and in my opinion, there’s no better place to start.

With Namecheap, shared hosting includes three subcategories: Regular shared hosting, reseller hosting, and managed WordPress hosting provided through Namecheap’s proprietary platform – EasyWP. EasyWP is a WordPress-only cloud-based plan and can’t be used with any other CMS (content management system). Regular shared hosting, on the other hand, lets you install any CMS through the use of Softaculous.

In terms of storage space and bandwidth, the basic EasyWP plan, Starter, has 10 GB SSD storage and allows for 50,000 monthly visitors. The mid-level plan, Turbo, comes with 50 GB of SSD space and about 200,000 monthly visitors. The most advanced plan, Supersonic, has 100 GB of space and about 500,000 monthly visitors.

This “monthly visitors” metric is confusing, as bandwidth is usually measured in GBs. I tried to get an answer from support, but they kept claiming that there’s really a “visitor counter” working in the background. Either way, your site will have a lot of room to grow.

On to regular shared hosting, which includes a free domain on annual plans. The basic Stellar plan has 20 GB of SSD space, the second plan has unlimited space, and the last one is capped at 50 GB. Bandwidth is unmetered for all three.

You must be thinking – how come the mid-tier plan comes with more space than the most advanced one? According to Namecheap, it has something to do with “premium support” and “extra caching” being offered on the Stellar Business plan. Personally, I don’t think these “upgrages” are worth the cost – you’re better off saving some money and going with the plan that offers unlimited storage.

Anyway, let’s go deeper, into features that can make or break your site.

Free EasyWP Platform Tools, Including One-Click Backups

We’ll go over the EasyWP interface in the Ease of Use section, and there’s a lot to say about it. For now, you need to realize that it’s a replacement for the cPanel hosting management panel. It’s not as complex and advanced in its offerings, but it does provide a few cool options.

The first one is backups. A one-click tool allows you to instantly back up your entire site, and you’ll be able to easily restore it in the future if needed. If you want to download the site files and/or database to your local machine, it can also be done.

Pre-Installed EasyWP Plugin With Caching Optimization

There are a lot of plugins that end up being installed on a WordPress website, with caching and optimization plugins being some of the most sought-after ones. There are dozens of available options, so it’s easy to get lost.

That’s why I was extremely happy with Namecheap’s EasyWP plugin. It comes pre-installed with your WordPress installation and includes many of the speed-boosting options you’d otherwise be searching for.

It provides three levels of advanced caching – a technique used to create temporary copies of your site’s pages and data. As a result, your server will be more efficient and your visitors will enjoy faster loading times. If you want to clear the cache, just click:

Now, the weird thing is that Namecheap also blocks many other plugins that it has deemed to be “unnecessary” or “potentially harmful.” Even if you want to install a different caching plugin, you won’t be able to do so.

It’s convenience at the cost of freedom, I guess. Anyway, the regular shared hosting plans include neither the plugins nor the limitations, and you’re free to choose whatever option you like best.

Free SSL Certificate, but Only With Pricier Plans

I’ll tell you, there’s always something funny going on with the SSLs. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, an SSL (secure sockets layer) is a security certificate that proves the authenticity of your website and protects your visitors’ data. It’s that little padlock to the left of your address bar.

If you want to rank well on Google, give your visitors peace of mind, and accept payments on your site – you need an SSL.

Some hosts charge extra for it, trying to get a few extra bucks out of you. Others give you a free SSL that is free anyway, such as Let’s Encrypt. But not Namecheap, which throws in a free paid PositiveSSL SSL certificate from Sectigo. That is, unless you purchase the basic plan, which does not include such an extra.

For whatever reason, Namecheap does provide SSLs with all regular shared hosting plans. Get it? If you choose the more expensive managed platform, EasyWP Starter plan, you’ll have less security than with the cheaper Stellar shared hosting plan – unless you pay even more.

Namecheap Features at a Glance

Free domain name?	✔ (shared hosting, not EasyWP)
Free SSL?	✔ (except EasyWP Starter plan)
Money-back guarantee	30 days
Uptime guarantee	99.9-100%
Data centers	1 in the US, 1 in Europe, and 1 in the UK

4.7

EASE OF USE

What Can Be Done Is Super Easy to Do

I mentioned that Namecheap’s EasyWP is easy, but that’s an understatement. The whole process, from signup till WordPress, is lightning fast and requires almost nothing out of you. The management dashboard is streamlined to perfection, and everything is a one-click joy.

But… it doesn’t really contain everything. It’s actually limited to a few actions you can one-click your way through, and no others. These include deleting your website, connecting a Namecheap domain, uploading an SSL, backups, SFTP access, and database access.

What about everything that’s so easy to do with cPanel, like setting up DNS (Domain Name System) configurations, email accounts and mailboxes, subdomains, a browser file manager, logs, and timed tasks? These options just don’t exist.

And that’s the major tradeoff with EasyWP. The things that you can do are ridiculously easy to do. The rest is impossible.

Anyway, let’s see how it all looks:

Creating a New Account with Namecheap

Signup involves selecting your plan, signing up, and entering payment details. You’ll be asked for your personal details – nothing special – and after paying you’ll immediately be directed to creating your website:

Connecting a Domain and Installing WordPress

If you already have a domain, you can connect it now. If not, feel free to use the EasyWP subdomain for now and change it later. You can also purchase or select a free Namecheap domain name (depending on your hosting plan).

With general shared Namecheap hosting plans, .fun, .online, .press, .store, .space, .tech, .pw, .host, .site, .website, .agency, .center, .digital, .live, .studio, .cloud, .shop domain extensions are free and (on Stellar Plus & Business plans only) .com, .biz, .co extensions are discounted.

After entering your desired website name and choosing a username and password, your new WordPress installation will be ready to proceed:

And that’s it. Everything is installed, and you’ll be redirected to your EasyWP dashboard. Connecting your domain is obviously done from the Domains tab. Because I already had a domain registered with Namecheap, it appeared in the dropdown menu.

Select your domain, press Change, and the process will start. It shouldn’t take longer than half an hour, and mine was connected in less than five minutes. You can find a detailed description of the domain and WordPress installation process (including one problem I encountered) with Namecheap.

Using the EasyWP Dashboard

The EasyWP dashboard is definitely a top ease-of-use feature – but maybe a little too much so. Use the dashboard’s tabs to easily navigate between the different options. To enter your WordPress administrator panel, for example, just click WP Admin on the upper right corner:

Now, I want to reiterate: I’ve never seen such an easy-to-use WordPress platform. It’s just not possible to go wrong, and the few advanced features available are foolproof.

If this is all you need, I can’t recommend it enough. If you require even a single thing that’s not available here, opt for regular shared hosting instead. It comes with cPanel, and while it’s a few steps up in terms of complexity, it’s a much fuller hosting experience.

If you want to enable SFTP access, all you need to do is enter the Files & Database and activate the option:

Simplified SFTP Access

Another fantastic EasyWP tool is the database and SFTP access. By default, you won’t have any accounts for these options, but by using the EasyWP dashboard, you can easily create temporary or permanent logins.

If you want to enable SFTP access, all you need to do is enter the Files & Database and activate the option:

While you may be used to just getting your FTP details off cPanel and logging into your website’s folders and files, there’s a huge risk involved in doing things this way: FTP is neither secured nor encrypted, and using it leaves you vulnerable to malicious hackers who can get access to your account.

SFTP, on the other hand, poses no such risk. It usually requires a longer and quite tedious process to be set up, which is why many choose to skip it. Namecheap’s EasyWP goes the extra mile, providing SFTP out the box.

A Free Website Builder

On EasyWP plans, it’s easy to utilize WordPress to design and customize a unique website. Namecheap’s general shared hosting plans work similarly, so long as you’re using WordPress. But what if you aren’t? Luckily, Namecheap’s shared hosting plans include free access to its proprietary website builder.

So, you can create and fine-tune your own site for next to nothing. With templates, drag-and-drop elements, and a code-free UI, you can also do so with little coding or design knowledge.

4.9

PERFORMANCE

Blazing Fast and Extremely Reliable

So my EasyWP was super easy to set up, and it’s packed with some great features – while also limited in terms of advanced possibilities. That’s all ok. In the end, I got a working WordPress website in about a minute and a half. It’s time to take it for a drive.

Our rigorous testing process includes running a test site and monitoring its performance using a number of tools, including GTmetrix, UptimeRobot, and Sucuri Load Time Tester. Here are the results!

In my tests, my Namecheap-hosted test site scored a typical fully loaded speed of 0.6 seconds – not bad, at all! Its uptime scored a little less impressively at just 99.2%, but this is still a satisfactory result.

Sucuri Load Time Tester

I started by using Sucuri Load Time Tester to check my page loading speeds across the globe:

Vavoom! Without any optimization whatsoever, my test website got an A+ performance grade and is in the green almost all over the globe! 

It is a bare-bones WordPress installation, containing only the Twenty Nineteen theme and boosted by EasyWP’s caching, but this is impressive. From the US and South America to Europe and even Singapore, everything in the green!

After uploading pictures and content to your website, it will be slower, but this is one of the best starting points I’ve seen for shared hosting. Unless your audience is located in East Asia, I’d say you’re good to go.

GTmetrix

Let’s see what GTmetrix has to say about our website:

I don’t know what to say – the people at Namecheap are doing their job. All server optimizations have been done beforehand, the caching plugin is working overtime, and the only points off are for the lack of a CDN (content delivery network).

If we can just add a CDN, we’d have a perfect score! But… we can’t. EasyWP simply doesn’t support CDN networks.

And still, this level of performance deserves a special mention. I researched Namecheap’s server infrastructure and only managed to find allusions to the ever-mysterious “cloud.” I asked support for clarification and found out that this specific cloud hovers over Phoenix, Arizona.

Apparently, shared hosting, private email servers, VPS, and dedicated servers are hosted here. However, Stellar, Stellar Plus, and Stellar Business shared plans can be hosted on Namecheap’s European data center in Amsterdam. Or – along with reseller plans – you can select Namecheap’s UK facility located in Timico’s datacenter close to Nottingham.

UptimeRobot

I’m not sure what they feed their servers in Phoenix, but they should share it. I tested my website’s uptime for more than two weeks and was very happy to see a 99.92% result:

Now, while Namecheap does offer a 100% uptime guarantee for regular shared and dedicated hosting (and a 99.9% SLA for VPS & reseller hosting), promising to reimburse you with free hosting for any downtime (as determined by them…), I couldn’t find any mention of an uptime guarantee for EasyWP. The homepage claims a 99.9% uptime, but the terms of use don’t promise it.

4.4

SUPPORT

Not the Best, Not the Worst

It’s been a rollercoaster of emotions up until now! After performance, you must be wondering what’s support like? Is it fantastic? Abysmal?

Well, support is just kind of there. Not bad, rude, or completely unknowledgeable, but the support agents sometimes require your… support.

I’ll explain.

First of all, support is available 24/7. There are no phone numbers or emails you can contact, but live chat is accessible from almost any screen, and there’s also a support center with a ticket system.

My first interaction with support was before purchasing my plan. I opened a live chat session and an agent was with me in about a minute. I asked general questions about the difference between EasyWP and regular shared hosting, and it took him about a minute or two to respond to my messages.

My second interaction with support came after I was unable to connect my Namecheap domain to the plan. I knew the reason – I changed the nameservers for my Bluehost review – but I wanted to see if support could figure it out.

The agent did understand that the problem rested with the nameservers, but proceeded to point me to the wrong tab. I sent a screenshot of that page, and she realized her mistake. She then pointed me to the right tab.

My experience with the ticketing system was less successful, as it took over an hour to get a reply. The agent did not respond to my last question, but in general, her response was satisfactory.

In my last live chat interaction, I attempted to ask about the difference between “monthly visitors” and “bandwidth” in the EasyWP plan. While the representative attempted to give complete answers, he did need some time to get the information, and he didn’t fully understand the questions.

All in all? If you stick to live chat and are patient enough, support can help you out with the basics. If you’re planning to rely on them for advanced issues, you might not be so lucky.

4.8

PRICING

Affordable Prices and Free Extras

Namecheap is true to its name. Regular shared hosting is cheap, and so is the managed EasyWP platform. Even the more advanced plans, like VPS and dedicated servers, are available for relatively affordable prices.

While all shared and EasyWP plans are available on US servers, you can opt for shared hosting in the Netherlands – or reseller and shared UK hosting at an extra cost.

In terms of subscription periods, you’ll have a choice between monthly and yearly plans for EasyWP hosting. General shared hosting attracts the same payment terms, as well as biennial (every two years). For reseller, VPS, and dedicated plans, you can pay monthly, quarterly, or yearly. This is really great, because unlike Hostinger, where you need to sign up for 3-4 years to get the best prices, Namecheap provides a combination of great prices and flexibility.

The checkout page for EasyWP includes no automatic upsells or other sketchy business practices, so you don’t have to worry about accidentally purchasing an unnecessary service. Just remember that there’s no SSL included for the Starter plan – you’ll have to buy it separately or upgrade.

Namecheap does provide a free domain with all yearly regular shared hosting plans (but not with EasyWP). Not only that, your domain also includes WhoisGuard, a feature that ensures your private details remain hidden from the nosy public.

All plans are protected by a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you’ll have ample time to check out the services yourself.

Save up to $59.00 on your Namecheap plan!

Limited-time offer – Don’t miss it!

Get Deal

You can use Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover to pay. Or PayPal and cryptocurrencies.

The cryptocurrency option is especially interesting, as Namecheap is currently one of the few big hosting companies to accept cryptocoins, like bitcoin and Ethereum.

If privacy is a major concern for you, paying with bitcoin and using the WhoisGuard can provide you with almost complete anonymity.

NameCheap is a web hosting and domain registration firm located in California. It provides its services internationally. It has a number of other services besides the ones that we’ve mentioned, such as SSL certificates and VPNs. 

But did you know that you can actually make money if you become a Namecheap affiliate? In this post, we’re looking at the features of the NameCheap hosting affiliate program, its pros and cons, the payment type, and the commissions you’ll get. 

Table of Contents

• NameCheap Affiliate Program Review
  • Commissions
  • Joining
  • Pros and cons
  • Payments
  • Is it worth it? 

NameCheap Affiliate Program Review

Namecheap has become one of the most popular options out there in terms of domain registration, since their services are so affordable, and they also offer hundreds of TLDs, as well as completely free WHOIS anonymity. There’s a website builder available, too. 

Commissions

The commission structure is a little different compared to that of other affiliate programs, namely in the same field. For example, you get a 20% commission for domain registrations, and it’s the same for private email services.

However, the commission gets to 35% if you refer people to their web hosting or SSL services. If one of the users gets the VPN for one year or three years, you’ll get 50% of the value of the plan. 

The lowest commissions are $2 for the free VPN trial and just $5 for EasyWP. Still, that’s better than nothing. 

There are no commissions for their premium domains or apps and marketplace. On top of that, the commissions aren’t recurring, which basically means that you have to refer users day in and day out in order to make a decent income from this affiliate program.

Joining

There are several ways of joining the program. The first and obvious one is joining through their in-house links. You can also use ShareASale and Commission Junction, as well as the Impact Radius platform. 

The best thing is that you have minimal chances of being rejected as an affiliate, and you don’t have to read through the fine print in order to find out what goes against NameCheap’s policy. 

Once you are accepted as an affiliate, you will have access to a number of marketing tools, which range from banners to access to the company’s affiliate managers. There are more than enough learning resources available on the website, all of which can help you take your campaigns to a whole new level. 

Pros and cons

As is the case with any other affiliate program that you might want to join at one point or the other, there are both advantages and disadvantages when it comes to being a NameCheap affiliate. 

One of the most significant pros is that the brand is already well-known enough for you to avoid having to work hard to convince your referrals. The customer support is top-notch, too, and there are lots of positive reviews that can attest to that. 

The cookie lasts for 30 days. Is that good or bad? Well, some affiliate programs give you cookies that last for a whole year, but others come with 24-hour cookies (like the Amazon Associates program). The payout system is another advantage, but we’ll delve more into that in the following section.

What’s not so great about the NameCheap affiliate program is that the commissions aren’t recurring. This means that unless you have a decent number of visitors and you have a good conversion rate, you aren’t going to be able to generate a lot of commissions, both in terms of numbers and values. 

Also, if your site is all about discounts and coupons and you create a post about a NameCheap coupon code, for example, you’ll earn less than other affiliates.  

Payments

Collecting your commissions is very easy as the payouts are done on a monthly basis. Moreover, NameCheap pays its affiliates through Direct Deposit and Paypal, which means that it’s a convenient option for international affiliates, too. 

Is it worth it? 

Since it’s never a good idea to put all of your eggs in one basket, we’d argue that recommending NameCheap products and services can be a nice way of rounding up your income. Don’t put too many hopes into it, however, since the cookies last for just one month and the commissions aren’t recurring. 

Want to learn more on affiliate marketing and SEO? We have several different plans available. Find out more by clicking on the button below.

Who is Namecheap and What are they About?

Pros

• Free Domain and Migration
• Money-Back Guarantee
• Fully-Loaded Value Plan
• Positive Third-Party Reviews

Cons

• Unclear Upselling
• Less Than Stellar Customer Support

Key Features

• Free Privacy Protection
• Unmetered Bandwidth
• Regular Backups

• Multiple MySQL Databases
• Free SSL Certificate for the First Year

First, a bit about what Namecheap is and what it does.

Namecheap began in 2000 and in its two decades in business, has accumulated millions of customers. Namecheap is a web hosting and domain registrar company and has more than seven million domain names and users under its control.

Here’s where Namecheap seems to differ from some of the other companies out there. There are plenty of hosting companies that are known for doing such and such, and they use that well-known branding and financial muscle into doing an additional service.

If you decide to get your domain name from Namecheap, make sure to also check our EasyWP review which is their WordPress hosting service.

It turns out, though, that they aren’t good at that new service and might not even be great at their original service offerings—they just have a well-known name in the industry.

How Is Namecheap Different?

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Ideally, Namecheap would be able to take the success they had with what they were doing with domain names.

And carry that over into other areas, such as hosting and registering a domain should be a breeze.

We tried to find out.

Visit Namecheap.com

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Through domain name registration, we purchased their cheapest hosting plan and created a test website to see how it performed.

Our metrics were based on uptime and speed. We’ll describe what we learned in-depth, but we’ll start by what we think is best about Namecheap’s hosting ability.

Namecheap Hosting Pros

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Namecheap offers a variety of features, including:

Free Domain and Migration

This is their bread and butter offering. Namecheap does its best work when it comes to domain names.

This is one of the main reasons you get one free of charge when you sign up for hosting. And if you’ve already established a website elsewhere, Namecheap will help with the migration of that existing site free of charge.

Not to mention, Namecheap domains all come with free privacy protection, making it one of my favorite domain registrars overall.

Money-Back Guarantee

Namecheap offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

This guarantee is no joke and you get an entire month to use the service and determine if it’s the best option for you or your business.

That means you get plenty of time to try it out and back out of the situation if you decide you’d rather go in a different direction.

This is good news and means you should try it out for yourself, regardless of what anyone else has had to say about it. After all, as long as you make your decision within the 30-day window, you have nothing to lose.

Fully-Loaded Value Plan

We have plenty of experience trying and reviewing web host plans. We know what’s out there and we know the ins and outs of what they offer.

In most cases, we’ve signed up for the most basic plan and used a test site, as we did here with Namecheap.

We do this because most plans offer essentially the same thing and we want to be sure we’re basing our analysis on similar circumstances. Essentially, we’re doing our best to make sure we’re comparing apples only to apples.

Despite using our typical evaluation criteria for Namecheap, we came away surprised by what we’d learned about the company. For starters, they offered unmetered bandwidth in their least expensive plan.

They also provide access to standard features including cPanel access and the WordPress app and others. With the least expensive plan, you also get a free SSL certificate for the entire first year. After that, you’ll pay, but that’s still a year you’re getting for free.

The plan also comes with backups that occur two times a week, which protects your site if an update doesn’t go as planned.

Finally, and what we think is very appealing about the basic plan offer, you get 50 MySQL databases. The majority of hosting companies offer you nothing even close to that in their basic plan.

You’re also able to set up three sites with the basic option. Most value plans offer you the ability to host just one single site. If you have more than one site, say a personal and a business site or multiple business sites, this option is unbeatable. There’s more.

You even get as many as 50 email addresses as soon as you sign up. This gives you the ability to run a business with a comprehensive website and provide employees with their own email addresses linked to the business site.

It’s a huge cost saving that you aren’t going to find with most hosting companies.

Third-Party Namecheap Reviews Are Outstanding

We’re not the only ones who have noticed that Namecheap is doing a great job.

Part of our evaluation process is finding out what others have to say about the hosting companies we’re evaluating. And in the case of Namecheap, most of what they are saying is really good. So much so, some of the positive reviews surprised us.

Namecheap has a 4.6-star rating on Shopper Reviewed, which is supposedly based on nearly one million reviews. Pair that strong rating with what we already knew about their base plan and we were getting excited about Namecheap.

It wasn’t until we put up our test site that we began to see some of the weaknesses of Namecheap.

Namecheap Hosting Cons

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There are three things we consider when evaluating a web host. We base our overall assessment primarily on these three things, with a few other considerations thrown in that vary from company to company.

The three main categories are:

• Uptime: Is my site live most of the time?
• Speed: Do they offer a positive experience for site visitors so they are sure to want to return?
• Support: Do they help me if something goes wrong?

Namecheap didn’t deliver in any of these three areas.

We’ll give you a few examples:

Uptime was Poor

Initially, we experienced 100% uptime during that first trial month (remember the 30-day money-back guarantee?). Our hopes were high, but over the next few months, the uptime didn’t even measure up to the industry average.

Ultimately, our uptime was only around 99.876%, which is more than 60 minutes your site is down each month.

Even if you think you can handle an hour of downtime a month, it’s impossible to predict when it will occur. What if it’s during your busiest time of the year? What if it’s when your most important sale is about to take place?

There’s no way to schedule this unpredictable downtime, so you have to suffer through whenever it happens to occur. That’s not good and it means lost revenue for your company.

Here’s the specific breakdown of our month to month numbers over the course of 10 months. You can see the live tracking here. Read more about our 4-step research process here.

• December 2017 avg. uptime: 99.83%
• January 2018 avg. uptime: 99.85%
• February 2018 avg. uptime: 99.78%
• March 2018 avg. uptime: 99.94%
• April 2018 avg. uptime: 99.94%
• May 2018 avg. uptime: 99.94%
• June 2018 avg. uptime: 99.89%
• July 2018 avg. uptime: 99.84%
• August 2018 avg. uptime: 99.80%
• September 2018 avg. uptime: 99.95%

Load Time was Slow

Nobody wants to wait for a site to load and that statement becomes truer and truer with each passing year. People are impatient and it should be a primary goal of every hosting company to make load time as fast as possible.

We consider load time the second most important aspect when evaluating a hosting company, behind uptime.

Site owners want to make visitors happy and unless they get the information they want fast, they won’t be happy. A few Google statistics that demonstrate the importance of load time and how fast load times create happy customers:

• Sites that take three seconds or less to load have an average bounce rate of 32%.
• When load time increases to five seconds, the bounce rate increases to 90%.
• Up to six seconds the bounce rate increases to 106%.
• And if visitors are waiting 10 seconds for a site to load, the bounce rate is 123%.

Bottom line? You’re chasing people away if your site is slow to load. Look at it this way: if your site is too slow to load, it might as well be bad because so many people will head elsewhere.

According to the data, Namecheap has speeds clocks in at an average of 942 milliseconds over the course of the last 10 months. This is twice as slow as HostGator Cloud and A2 Hosting.

Another thing we noticed: it wasn’t a single bad month pulling down the average. Namecheap was slow for us from the very first few days we were using it and just recently began to speed up a bit.

Here are our numbers for our test site over a 10-month period:

• December 2017 avg. speed: 905 milliseconds
• January 2018 avg. speed: 1,127 milliseconds
• February 2018 avg. speed: 1,297 milliseconds
• March 2018 avg. speed: 1,299 milliseconds
• April 2018 avg. speed: 1,303 milliseconds
• May 2018 avg. speed: 1,117 milliseconds
• June 2018 avg. speed: 590 milliseconds
• July 2018 avg. speed: 559 milliseconds
• August 2018 avg. speed: 662 milliseconds
• September 2018 avg. speed: 559 milliseconds

Less than Stellar Customer Support

Customer service is the final area where we evaluated Namecheap. What we found was that despite their strong FAQ platform that was actually quite helpful as hosting providers, there wasn’t much else there in the way of a support team.

Granted, most of the problems that would arise can be solved by the information provided in the FAQs. But we also like to know that live chat and other support is available if need be.

Live chat is an option with Namecheap. It connected quickly and the support representative was friendly. She was not able to help us, though, and had to transfer us to the concierge—seems helpful and friendly enough. It was not.

Basically, Namecheap’s concierge just cut and pasted an article of basic information into the chat box, which did not help at all.

We didn’t need someone to explain the process, but we did need them to perform the service.

Something the average hosting company is more than willing to do, even as part of their basic plan.

Essentially, we were given some additional information and told to do it ourselves.

Furthermore, once we were handed off from the original representative, the process slowed down. A lot. It took several minutes and all we walked away with was information we could have found on our own had we looked, which didn’t even offer a resolution.

This is bad news. If your website is down and you need help, you need it fast and you need to be able to put your faith in a customer service team that will fix the problem.

Namecheap Pricing, Hosting Plans, and Facts

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Before we wrap up our Namecheap review, let’s take a look at the nuts-and-bolts information we have about Namecheap hosting.

Hosting plans include:

• Stellar: Unmetered bandwidth for up to three websites for $2.88 per month in the first year.
• Stellar Plus: Increased disk space to Unmetered, for $4.88 per month in the first year.
• Business SSD: SSD disk space of 50GB, which is enough for ten websites and all that comes with only $8.88 per month.

You get a free domain the first year and signing up is easy. They accept credit card payments, as well as PayPal, Bitcoin, and Dwolla.

As far as hidden fees, there aren’t any officially, but you need to keep in mind that the offers are only available for new hosting purchases only.

The price is good for 12 months when you pay annually and the rate will renew at the regular rate. Any upgrades or downgrades are done at full renewal price.

You’ll experience some upselling which isn’t overwhelming or annoying. Account activation is speedy and you’ll gain access to the control panel and dashboard, which is cPanel.

Finally, you’re able to install apps and CMSs, including ones from WordPress and Joomla, as well as others with their one-click installation tool that’s easy to install.

Namecheap Review Conclusion

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The bottom line? We think our experience with Namecheap was positive initially, but we weren’t happy in the long run.

There are plenty of happy customers out there and there’s no denying all that comes with their basic plan.

Unfortunately, that great value goes away after the first year and your renewal rate will rise by more than 300%. No doubt, Namecheap is a fantastic place to buy a new domain name, but not that great if you’re looking to actually host your website.

Factor in the lack of uptime, the slow low speeds, and the lack of customer support, and it’s just not worth it.

How Namecheap Works

Namecheap offers a range of web hosting services that provide users with the resources needed to host their website, including server space, bandwidth and technical support. You can choose your preferred service based on different website requirements and budgets, such as:

• Shared hosting: Shared hosting is a type of web hosting where multiple websites are hosted on a single physical server. Thanks to this approach, numerous users can share the resources of a single server and keep costs low. Namecheap’s shared hosting plans come with features such as free domain registration, cPanel, unmetered bandwidth and a free website builder.
• WordPress hosting: Namecheap’s WordPress hosting plans are optimized to provide faster loading times and better performance. The plans include an easy-to-use installer, SSL certificates and automatic backups.
• Reseller hosting: Namecheap’s reseller hosting plans allow users to sell hosting plans to their customers under their brand name, with the option to white label Namecheap’s hosting services.
• VPS hosting: Namecheap’s VPS hosting plans offer dedicated resources and full root access. The solution is completely customizable, allowing users to choose their operating system- (Ubuntu, CentOS or Debian), get root access to the server and determine whether the control panel (cPanel) will be installed.
• Dedicated hosting: Namecheap’s dedicated hosting plans provide users with complete control over their server, with dedicated resources and a choice of the operating system.
• Email hosting: Namecheap’s email hosting plans provide users with a business email address with their domain name, secure webmail access and spam protection.

Sign up for the budget-friendly solution for web hosting with Namecheap.

On Namecheap’s Website

What Sets Namecheap Apart

One of the best attributes of Namecheap is its affordable pricing plan, which makes it ideal for small businesses and individuals. It comes with robust security features, including SSL certificates, privacy protection and two-factor authentication (2FA), to protect users’ websites and personal information from online threats.

Namecheap also offers industry-standard cPanel control panels that allow users to manage their website, web hosting account and email account. The cPanel displays features for Namecheap users, files and stats information.

Namecheap Hosting Features

While the company may have gotten its start by offering domain names, Namecheap has built a solid web hosting platform as well. Many features that other platforms charge for, such as domain names and SSL certificates, are included for free.

Storage and Bandwidth Limits

Namecheap offers a moderate amount of space to store databases, files and emails. Its most basic plan has a 20 GB SSD and its most premium version has a 50 GB SSD.

Notably, Namecheap offers unmetered bandwidth, which means it offers users a set amount of bandwidth that they can use. While the server speed is limited, the amount of data that can be transferred between your website and your visitors is not.

By contrast, unlimited bandwidth describes a type of hosting plan that offers an unlimited amount of data transfer between the website and its visitors. Unlike plans with metered or capped bandwidth, users do not face extra charges for exceeding a set limit.

Extras and Inclusions

Namecheap’s annual shared hosting plan includes a free domain name, a free SSL certificate and automatic backups. For the first year, there are several discounts and offers available for new users. Select plans also offer additional add-ons such as server setup, access to a free website builder and two-month free trials.

Ease of Use

Namecheap has a user-friendly interface and straightforward dashboard for managing domains, hosting and other services. This makes it quick and easy to check renewal dates and purchase products.

Upon choosing a Namecheap hosting plan, you’ll receive account details with login details. For easy installation of common CMS platforms, you can use “Softaculous,” a simple script installer for WordPress, Joomla and Magento.

Namecheap provides detailed documentation and tutorials on its website via its Knowledge Base. Thanks to its comprehensive resources, users can troubleshoot common issues and learn more about web hosting and website management. Overall, Namecheap is a user-friendly web hosting provider that is well-suited for both beginners and experienced users alike.

User Dashboard and cPanel

Namecheap’s control panel is specifically designed to manage individual hosting accounts on the server. Users can perform a variety of tasks, including uploading and managing website files, editing DNS records for their domains, and adding or removing add-on domains and subdomains, among others.

Security

Namecheap’s Hosting Guarantee offers regular backups, efficient firewalls and security updates. More importantly, all Shared Hosting plans come with 50 free PositiveSSL certificates for a year.

Free Website Migration

For those who already have a website with another hosting company, Namecheap will help you migrate to its platform for free. The company guarantees it will complete a full cPanel migration within 24 hours and with no more than 15 minutes of downtime. Otherwise, you’ll receive an account credit equivalent to your first year of a shared hosting plan.

Website Builder

Site Maker, Namecheap’s drag-and-drop website builder, doesn’t require any coding skills. Sign up with your email address for free to test it out—select from a variety of designs and add or remove blocks. If you like what you see, you can continue to sign up for a paid plan.

Supersonic CDN

Namecheap’s Content Delivery Network (CDN) offers fast delivery speeds and high bandwidth so that it takes seconds for your website content to update and load. This results in faster load times, helpful for small businesses that want to ensure their website runs smoothly. Though all shared hosting tiers offer this for free with their plans, customers can upgrade to faster servers for an extra fee.

Namecheap Shared Hosting Pricing and Plans

	Stellar	Stellar Plus	Stellar Business
Introductory Pricing	$22.99 USD ($30.79 CAD) for the first year	$34.88 USD ($46.71 CAD) for the first year	$58.88 USD ($78.86 CAD) for the first year
Renewal Pricing	$44.88 USD ($60.11 CAD) per year	$68.88 USD (92.25 CAD) per year	$108.88 USD ($145.82 CAD) per year
Contract Lengths Available	Monthly, yearly and biennial billing cycles	Monthly, yearly, and biennial billing cycles	Monthly, yearly, and biennial billing cycles
Storage	20 GB SSD	Unmetered SSD	50 GB SSD
Bandwidth	Unmetered	Unmetered	Unmetered
Free Domain Name	✔	✔	✔
Free SSL Certificate	For one year	For one year	For one year
cPanel	✔	✔	✔
Security	✔	✔	✔
Business Email	✔	✔	✔
Uptime Guarantee		100%	100%
Money-Back Guarantee	30 days	30 days	30 days
Customer Support	✔	✔	✔

Stellar

Namecheap’s most basic shared hosting plan lets you host up to three websites with your preferred CMS. It includes a 20 GB SSD, as well as unmetered bandwidth. You also get access to its free website builder and email service.

As a bonus, Namecheap also offers a free domain name and a free SSL certificate for one year in all plans. While its introductory pricing is an easily affordable $22.99 USD ($30.79 CAD)  for the first year, you’ll have to pay $44.88 USD ($60.11 CAD) to renew it at the end of the term.

Stellar Plus

Starting at $34.88 USD ($46.71 CAD)  per year, users can create unlimited websites, automatic backups and unmetered SSD. Unlike the Stellar plan, the Stellar Plus plan offers unlimited hosted domains, parked domains and subdomains. There are also unlimited email accounts, semi-weekly backups and auto-backup.

Stellar Business

Similar to its predecessor, this plan offers unlimited websites and unlimited domain-based mailboxes. Notably, you’ll get access to 50 GB SSD, auto-backup and cloud storage. Its Business plan is also equipped with PHP accelerators such as eAccelerator and xCache, which are designed to boost the performance of websites and apps.

Customer Service and Support

Namecheap offers 24/7 Live Chat or Ticket System for all paid plans. It also has a comprehensive knowledge base with how-to videos and detailed step-by-step instructions. However, it does not offer phone support at this time.