Namecheap is an established name in the domain world, with over 17 million domains and over 3 million customers with active domains. However, Namecheap also offers web hosting services for small and large businesses. It lacks some advanced features, but its easy-to-use website management make it ideal for those who are getting started.
Namecheap receives good scores overall for its services and promptly addresses customer issues. Its customer service is generally good, with responsive agents and several contact methods available.
Namecheap offers three shared hosting plans that include a free website builder, domain name, and privacy protection, unmetered bandwidth, Supersonic CDN [content delivery network], SSL, and free website migration. Its website builder comes with AI tools, such as text and image generators and a writing assistant. Learn more about how the costs work in our guide to web hosting costs.
Stellar Plus is the clear winner for small businesses looking for an affordable web hosting solution. This plan removes the caps on the number of websites you can create and gives you unlimited storage space and mailboxes. It also adds automatic backups, letting you create full cPanel backups automatically. Even if you pay with monthly billing, this plan is $6.48 per month, so it isn't very expensive for businesses.
Of course, this is still shared hosting, and businesses should be aware of the limitations of this arrangement. With shared hosting, each customer shares server resources with other customers, such as central processing unit (CPU), random-access memory (RAM), and network bandwidth. Although Namecheap has few limits for its Stellar Plus plan, there could be performance impacts due to sharing resources with other customers.
We've covered some of the best features Namecheap has to offer, but it still has a few extra tricks up its sleeve. Additional Namecheap services include:
Namecheap includes numerous features, even on its cheaper plans. Naturally, you'll get more features if you opt for a more expensive plan.
Namecheap generally has a user-friendly experience as you'll use visual tools, such as cPanel and WordPress, to manage your websites. EasyWP, Namecheap's managed WordPress hosting solution, features a simple setup wizard that lets you get your site up and running in minutes. EasyWP includes simple one-click backup and restore. In addition, it lets you manage all your websites in a single dashboard.
Customer support is generally quite good with Namecheap. It's available 24/7 via live chat, or you can submit a ticket. It also features a knowledge base with a large number of articles that cover various topics. The knowledge base is well-organized, with each subtopic broken into pages that answer specific questions. However, no phone support is available, so you are limited to chat if you want a live support option.
Namecheap is relatively secure, with several security features available or included by default to keep your data safe. These include domain privacy protection, SSL, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) protection, and a firewall. You also have the option to enable two-factor authentication (2FA) for accessing cPanel. In addition, Namecheap continuously monitors your server for security updates.
Although Namecheap has taken steps to secure its data, that hasn't always gone according to plan. For example, an incident reported in 2023 involved a hacker who gained unauthorized access to the Namecheap email system and used it to conduct a phishing campaign. Although Namecheap confirmed the incident at the time, it said its own accounts were not breached and no accounts nor personal information was leaked.
Reviews from Namecheap customers are typically positive, with a rating of 4.3/5 on both Trustpilot and G2. Trustpilot ratings assess Namecheap as a whole while G2 ratings are specific to Namecheap hosting. Verified customers on G2 say Namecheap is cost-effective, easy to use, and that customer support is excellent. They also like the uptime, reliability, and the company's strong infrastructure and data centers. However, some have said they have experienced slow responses from customer support and that response times should be improved.
Unfortunately, Namecheap doesn't fare as well on the Better Business Bureau (BBB) website. There, it has an average rating of 1.39 out of 5 and a D- grade from the BBB.
Hostinger's Premium plan offers many features similar to Namecheap's Stellar Plus plan. For instance, it offers free website migration, unlimited bandwidth, AI tools, and a free CDN. However, Hostinger's plan offers 10 GB of SSD space, while Namecheap offers unlimited space with its plan. But Hostinger has some advantages, such as 400,000 files versus Namecheap's 300,000. Hostinger also has unlimited free SSL while Namecheap only offers this for free for one year.
Like Namecheap, A2's Drive plan offers unlimited websites and storage, free website migration, and cloud backups. However, while Namecheap features nonvolatile memory (NVMe) storage, A2 has the potentially slower Raid-10 SSD for its Drive plan. Neither offers a free trial, but both have either a refund policy or a money-back guarantee. While Namecheap doesn't have a data center in Asia, A2 Hosting has one in Singapore.
Namecheap carves out a nice niche for itself as a web hosting solution that is easy to use and simplifies the process of launching a website. Its plans are very affordable, especially if you opt for shared hosting. It includes a website builder and AI tools that make it simple to start designing your site. Shared hosting can have performance limitations, and Namecheap doesn't have a data center in Asia. Still, small businesses and entrepreneurs may find it's more than enough to meet their needs.
