Introduction
TL;DR:
Namecheap offers excellent value for money. They deliver exceptionally affordable hosting that doesn’t skimp out on features nor quality. We think they’re an overall great choice for any type of project.
Visit NameCheap
Founded all the way back in 2000 as a domain registrar, Namecheap has since expanded into web hosting. With solid-brand name recognition behind them and some deeply enticing deals, they are an appealing proposition for any aspiring developer. But can the service match their competitive prices?
Plans and Pricing
Domain Names
As stated above, Namecheap’s day job is still domain registration, and they offer a wide range of TLDs (Top Level Domains) for just about any purpose:
Prices range from just $1.00 (for a .xyz domain) to over $2,000 for a .net domain, with .com domains clocking in at a slightly-below average $8.88 per year. Overall Namecheap is at the cheaper end of the scale compared to its competitors.
Shared Hosting
Namecheap offers some extremely competitive deals when it comes to site hosting. Unlike many hosting services, they are refreshingly upfront about how much their plans will cost you in real terms and there are no hidden renewal fees. All pricing plans include free site migration.:
For your average web designer/small business owner, the ‘Stellar’ plans should cover just about everything you’ll ever need and breakdown as follows:
– Stellar
- $1.44 per month for the first year ($2.88 for subsequent years)
- Offers 3 Websites with unmetered bandwidth.
- 20 GB SSD (storage)
- Free Domain name (.website TLD – which may not be what you’re looking for)
– Stellar Plus
- $2.44 per month for the first year ($4.88 for subsequent years)
- Offers Unlimited Websites with unmetered bandwidth.
- Unmetered SSD
- Auto-backup
- Free Domain name (.website TLD)
– Stellar Business
- $4.44 per month for the first year ($8.88 for subsequent years)
- Offers Unlimited Websites with unmetered bandwidth.
- 50 GB SSD
- Auto-backup and Cloud Storage available
- Free Domain name (.website TLD)
All plans include a free website builder, unmetered bandwidth, domain name/privacy protection, free automatic SSL installation and 30-day money back guarantee.
Renewal Rates:
| Plan | Promo Price(2 year) | Renewal Price(2 year) |
|---|---|---|
| Stellar | $1.44/mo | $2.88/mo |
| Stellar Plus | $2.44/mo | $4.88/mo |
| Stellar Business | $4.44/mo | $8.88/mo |
Pros:
– Value for Money
With the Stellar plan offering up to three websites for a mere $2.88 per month (after the first year), plus a free domain and migration, Namecheap is an extremely economical choice for small-time web developers. You get a lot of bang for your buck, too, with even the cheapest plan offering unmetered bandwidth and access to apps like WordPress. TLDs also rank a little above average in the value-for-money stakes.
– Above-average Load Times
While slower than the likes of Hostgator, Namecheap’s load-times compare favourably with its competitors, with an average page load-time of around 686.5 milliseconds. It’s not perfect, but for the relatively low-cost it’s enough.
– Easy-to-navigate Control Panel
Namecheap’s control panel is clean, well-structured and easy-to-use, even for laymen. Navigation is smooth and easy, and you can quickly access any services you need without navigating through a labyrinth of directories and folders as you do with some hosting services.
Cons:
– Poor Uptime
While saving a penny is certainly useful, presumably you want people to actually be able to visit your site – and it is here where Namecheap falters a little. According to data accrued by Hosting Facts, Namecheap ranks near the bottom of the pack for uptime, with your website potentially accessible for a rather lacklustre 99.87% of the time. .13% of time spent down per month may not sound like much, but that’s an awful lot of potential customers who will be greeted by a blank screen when they access your site.
– Customer Service Can Be Lacking
One frequent criticism of Namecheap’s hosting is its customer service. Although you can usually get in touch with a customer service rep pretty quickly, a number of reviewers have complained that the advice they received was inadequate or that the reps they spoke to couldn’t answer their questions.
WordPress Hosting
WordPress hosting is all the rage with pretty much every hosting provider there days, so it’s no surprise that NameCheap is also offering plans for WordPress Hosting. Optimized for WordPress websites; boasting better speed, security, and uptime, what’s not to like?
Plans and Pricing
Starting at $22.88 per YEAR, is great value for money to say the least. The plans renew at $29.88/year(starter), $68.88/year(turbo), and $98.88/year(super sonic). Well, what’s included on their plans ?
Features:
- Only 1 domain allowed
- Hosted on the cloud
- Isolated environment for your site (better speed and virtually no downtime)
- Easy to use dashboard (not cPanel)
- Super fast!
- One Click Back-ups, Auto Updates
- 99.9% uptime
- SSD storage
- SSL
Renewal Rates
| Plan | Promo Price (1 year) | Renewal Price (1 year) |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $22.88/mo | $29.88/mo |
| Turbo | $44.88/mo | $68.88/mo |
| SuperSonic | $49.99/mo | $98.88/mo |
Opinion
We like the features, prices, and overall what’s on offer from NameCheap’s WordPress hosting. The compartmentalized cloud-hosting environment ensures better speed, performance, and virtually no downtime. Whereas, the auto-updates and backups provide a lot of convince and added saftey. If you have a main business that runs on WordPress this would be a good option. We advise bloggers, and others who run multiple domains to consider the shared hosting or VPS options.
NameCheap VPS Hosting
If you’re looking to host several websites, or require more flexibility, VPS hosting might be a good choice for you. NameCheap some of the most affordable VPS plans around. Although they are user managed, you can opt for a semi-managed add on for $10 more per month, or a fully managed add on for $25 more per month.
Renewal Fees
For the Pulsar plan are $11.88/mo or $118.56 for the year.
The Quasar plan renews at $19.88/mo or $214.56/year.
Management Package Options
Essentially, you have 3 options; user managed, semi-managed, and fully managed. We like that for an extra $25/mo NameCheap offers users the ability to have a fully managed VPS set up. This is great for those of us who run a lot of websites, but maybe aren’t as familiar with the software, and fine details of maintaining a server. Those who are a savvy enough can save money by managing the VPS by-themselves.
What’s Included:
- Root access for complete customization
- 30 day money back guarantee
- Pay for what you need with scaling features
- SSD storage
- Interworks or Cpanel options available
Opinion
Overall, NamCheap delivers once again by offering good value for money. The plans are flexible, and easily adjust to your technical abilities and knowledge. One thing to consider is that, most users will want the semi or fully managed package. This will add on an additional $120-$300 per year. If you were to opt for the Pulsar plan with the $10/mo management package you’d be looking at around $215 for a years worth of service. If this is too much, check out our review of DreamHost VPS, as they offer managed VPS plans starting at $10/mo.
Dedicated Hosting
Dedicated hosting is for those who need to run high traffic websites, applications, games, web applications, pod casting, content streaming, SaaS, or any type of resource intensive activity which requires on demand resources beyond that of a VPS.
Plans and Prices
Renewal Fees on Yearly Plans:
Both Xeon E3-1230 and Xeon E-2236 do not have renewal fees. Whereas, the Dual Xeon E5-2620 plan renews at $1705.88/year.
Features/What’s included:
NameCheap allows you to pick the type of server/hardware you want. They offer four options: entry level, medium level, and advanced level options. The fourth option is “outlet” which is for users on a budget. These “outlet” servers are older machines. There are loads of options to choose from, but we’ll give you a few screen shots so you can get an idea of what’s on offer.
You’ll also have a choice of Server Management Packages; for either $20/mo or $50/mo you can opt for a semi-managed or fully managed dedicated server.
- Free migration
- Operates on a special network just for dedicated servers
- Cpanel and Interworx control panel options
- 24/7 customer support
Entry Level Hardware
They give you the choice between SSD, or HHD storage, different amounts of RAM, and CPU configurations.
Medium Level
Advanced Level
Legacy/Outlet Servers
Keep in mind that these configurations will change with time and availability. What we just showed you is a small snap shot of what’s available, and not the complete picture. There are hundreds more options and configurations to chose from.
Opinion
Namecheap offers very flexible packages when it comes to dedicated servers. You can choose from a wide variety of hardware configurations, unmanaged, semi-managed, or fully managed server management packages, choice of software and control panels all for a great price too. We feel that because of the level of flexibility and hardware options, nearly everyone will be happy with NameCheap dedicated hosting.
Wrap-Up
Namecheap offers a generous package for a below-average price, but the poor uptime and lack of customer service might make it frustrating for serious developers. However, there’s enough here to satisfy small-business owners and first-timers, and it won’t hurt your pocket either.
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