NameCheap Web Hosting Review – Lots of Great User Reviews

NameCheap was founded in 2000. Their CEO is Richard Kirkendall. A lot of people think of them as just a registrar.  Competing with GoDaddy and Network Solutions. But, as it turns out they also hosting. The change from just allowing customers to register domains happen in 2007.  Now they offer hosting services.

NameCheap donates money and resources to Internet freedom and security.  Corporate partners with Electronic Frontier Foundation and FightForTheFuture.org.   These companies fight for basic infrastructure of the internet.

A lot of site owners have been hesitant to host with them.  Some registrars have also transitioned into the hosting industry.  This post on NameCheap at WebHostingTalk.com was started to address these common concerns. Since it is so easy to buy a domain from a host, people figure they should just go ahead and host with them.  Does this sound like you?

We have all heard of the host that are unreliable.  Have poor business practices (see 1and1 review). It’s not new to read about how bad a host is.  Regardless of its top-of-the-line infrastructure.  However, NameCheap does not fall into that category.  They have built a rock solid foundation in the registrar business.  However, I am looking at their hosting plans.  This NameCheap web hosting review will show you what they offer.

I have been registering domains with them for years.  So, I am excited to check them out as a host.  First, look at their features.  Then, their uptime.  Next, their performance, Then, customer support.  Lastly, a summary.  Let’s get started.

NameCheap Features

Shared Plans

NameCheap offers four plans:

• Value. $9.88/year. Renews at $38.88/year. Supports three sites. 20 GB SSD. Unlimited bandwidth.
• Professional. $19.88/year. Renews at $78.88/year. Supports ten sites. 50 GB SSD. Unlimited bandwidth.
• Ultimate. $29.88/year. Renews at $129.88/year. Supports 50 sites. Unlimited SSD. Unlimited bandwidth.
• Business SSD. $19.88/month. $215.76/year. Supports unlimited sites. 20 GB SSD. 500 GB bandwidth.

NameCheap allows you to choose your data center. They have datacenters in the United States. Also, in the United Kingdom. Datacenters are in:

• Atlanta, GA.
• Phoenix, AZ.
• Dallas, TX.
• Clifton, NJ.
• Chicago, IL.
• Los Angelas, CA.
• Nottingham, England.

NameCheap does use the unlimited bandwidth offer. I have not liked this marketing tactic for years. There are always “limits” on shared servers. According to their AUP page 300,000 for shared plans. Business plans allow 600,000 inodes.

There are limitations on these plans to:

• 5 GB of storage for video and audio.
• Databases can not be larger than 5 GB.
• Executables can not be larger than 5 GB.
• Backups can not use more than 25 GB. That or 200,000 inodes. Will be removed from their backup system.
• 200 emails per hour.
• Business plans can send 1,0000 emails per hour.
• 2 GB email storage per shared account.
• 5 GB email storage for “business” plan.

Reseller Plans

• Reseller 1.  $16.95/mo.  25 resold accounts.  25GB disk space.  500GB bandwidth.
• Reseller 2.  $26.95/mo.  Unlimited accounts. 75GB disk space.  1000GB bandwidth.
• Reseller 3.  $36.95/mo.  Unlimited accounts.  150GB disk space.  1500GB bandwidth.
• Reseller 4.  $46.95/mo.  Unlimited accounts.  300GB disk space.  2000GB bandwidth.

Each plan comes with Free cPanel/WHM.  But Reseller 3 comes with an additional WHMCS.  Reseller 4 adds SSL in addition. Thus, decisions should be based on storage versus the number of resold accounts the user is planning.

VPS Plans

• VPS Lite – Xen. 512 MB RAM.  $19.95/month. 1 CPU Core. 15 GB. 100 GB Bandwidth.
• VPS 1 – Xen. 1 GB RAM.  $29.95/month. 1 CPU Core. 30 GB. 250 GB Bandwidth.
• VPS 2 – Xen. 2 GB RAM.  $49.95/month. 2 CPU Core. 60 GB. 500 GB Bandwidth.
• VPS 3 – Xen. 3 GB RAM.  $69.95/month. 2 CPU Core. 100 GB. 750 GB Bandwidth.

Can use the following operating systems:

• CentOS.
• Debian.
• Fedora.
• Ubuntu.

Software add-ons:

• cPanel. $11.00/month.
• Softaculous Script. $1.50/month.
• WHMCS Branded License. $8.00/month.
• WHMCS Non-Branded License. $11.00/month.

Add-Ons:

• 128 MB RAM. $8.00/month.
• Disk Space. $$10.00/10 GB/month.
• Backup. $10.00/10 GB/month.
• Bandwidth. $10.00/100 GB/month.
• Dedicated IP. $2.00/month.

Dedicated Plans

NameCheap offers lots of dedicated plans.  There are about 20 different dedicated servers.  They range from $58.88 to $379.88/month.  The prices do not include cPanel, though.  If you want cPanel, it’s going to cost $25/month.  Does make the price about the same as RoseHosting and Liquid Web.

Control Panel

I tend to favor hosts that use cPanel.  It’s what a lot of site owners use. Thankfully NameCheap does use cPanel, and it’s not a branded or dumbed down version of cPanel that a lot of other host use which limits the functionality. One thing I do like about their cPanel is that they use CloudLinux. Is crucial on a shared platform because you can set usage limits on the CPU usage and RAM.

Scripts are supported with NameCheap, as well. You can use Softaculous to install over 100 applications within cPanel. Makes it a breeze to install WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, etc.  For WordPress users, I have installed Headway, Elegant Themes, and Genesis on lots of their servers and they have worked great.

eMail Plans

Email hosting for Name Cheap has mobile support and is Web-based. There are three packages under this feature category which each include all features of the previous plans plus an additional amount. Private ($9.88/yr), Business ($28.88/yr), and Business Office ($49.88/yr). Private is meant for solely Web-based emails with 3GB of email storage and 1GB of file storage. On the other hand, the Business plan includes mobile support with an additional 10GB of storage. All email plans include POP, IMAP, and Webmail and come with spam protection.

Domain Names

Obviously, one thing NameCheap is known for is domain names.  They are one of the biggest domain registrars and started primarily as a domain registrar.  You can register hundreds of domain extensions like .com, .net, .org, .us, etc.  You can register a domain name with them starting at $3.98/year.

A lot of domain registrars do raise the price for your domain name after your first year.  However, I have found a lot of them raise it to $15-30 per year.  NameCheap is different for .com domain names because it cost just under $11/year.  You do get a small price break if you want to register your domain name for longer than a year, though.  You can even make your domain names private.  They do offer WhoIsGuard.  I wrote an article which compares NameCheap and GoDaddy for registrars; in my article, you can see why I heavily favor NameCheap over GoDaddy.

Security

Whenever you develop a website, there is always a risk of it being hacked. As soon as you start getting some decent traffic, it seems you’re a bigger target. NameCheap does take security very seriously, though. They have partnered with a company called SiteLock. They offer a service which helps you protect your server from getting hacked. Can even restore your website to a previous point. However, I don’t recommend SiteLock, and I explain why in this full SiteLock review.

NameCheap Uptime & Performance

Uptime

Uptime is something you just have to rely on when you sign up for any host.  Nothing is worse than signing up for a host that doesn’t have a decent amount of uptime.  Meaning that your site needs to be up 99.9% of the time.  But, what do these numbers mean?  Means that in a month there are typically 720 hours.  A guarantee that states your website is going to be up 99.9% each month.  Would mean that your site would be down for 4 hours each and every month.  However, from the test I have run I have found that NameCheap.  Servers are down considerably less than 4 hours each month.  I have noticed that there only seems to be about 15-25 minutes of downtime each month.  Is fantastic and is right up there with InMotion and SiteGround.

Furthermore, I have checked various sources on the internet and it doesn’t seem like site owners are complaining about downtime with NameCheap.  They seem to have a very good uptime and their clients are very happy with them.

NameCheap even has a status page on their website so you can check to see if there are any problems or issues with your server.  Helps their customers feel more in-tuned to what is going on with server maintenance, problems, etc. Another great thing about NameCheap is they do daily backups.  Let me correct myself; they do two daily backups per day.  Therefore, I can assure you that security is a strong point with NameCheap.

Performance

How good is NameCheaps performance?  Good and I will explain why.

I like to host with a host that has decent performance.  Meaning they are using the latest hardware and do not oversell their servers, causing other websites to run slowly.  The web hosting industry has been moving towards SSD hosting for many years now.  I have been reviewing different companies for 6+ years and seen a lot of host offering SSD hosting.

As far as performance goes, it shouldn’t be an issue with NameCheap.  I do favor companies that use SSD hosting.  They do on their “Business” shared plan which is $20/month.  Sadly, I jumped on live chat with NameCheap and asked them if any of their VPS servers come with SSD.  They told me no.  Dedicated servers do have SSD (some of their plans).  What I do like is you can get a dedicated server with SSD hosting for about $70/month.

My NameCheap Web Hosting Test

I ran some test from multiple locations on NameCheap’s servers. Here is what I found:

After nine lookups, the average response time of your name server a1.verisigndns.com is 9.55 milliseconds.
Also, more test shows how quickly their servers respond for site content:

Overall the performance is good with NameCheap.  However, I do wish they would offer more SSD hosting plans for their shared and VPS plans.  Research is good with NameCheap.  Lots of sites speak highly of them.  Many NameCheap web hosting reviews.  Lots of happy customers.

NameCheap Customer Support

How good is NameCheaps customer service?

NameCheap does have 24/7 customer support.  You can get in contact with them through live chat or start a support ticket.  They have a very extensive database of how-to videos and lots of articles.   They will walk you through any and everything you could want to do.  I have spent about 30 minutes going through their how-tos and do find them to be quite good.  NameCheap does use a Kayako support system for their live chat which is an excellent resource for customer support.  Over the years I have talked to NameCheap on live chat.  They were very quick to respond to my questions.  Live chat takes about 1 minute to connect and support tickets are usually answered within 6 hours.

The only thing I don’t like about NameCheap regarding customer support is the fact that they don’t have telephone support.  Sometimes it’s nice to be able just to pick up the phone if you want to talk to an agent.  However, live chat is very helpful, and they do an excellent job at assisting their clients.  Support tickets are also very useful, and they fully explain issues to you.

Research shows customer support is great with NameCheap.  Lots of sites have positive NameCheap web hosting reviews, and nearly all speak highly of them.

NameCheap Web Hosting Review Summary

Do I recommend NameCheap? Yes!  They have a very solid resume as a registrar.  The same can be said about NameCheap for hosting.  Prices for shared hosting are a little steep for some.  Their VPS plans are right on par with other hosts.  Dedicated plans are priced fairly.  Some of them are even cheaper than other companies too.  They have a plethora of plans.  No matter how big or small a server you require NameCheap can handle anything you need them.  Their uptime is fantastic, and a lot of plans do come with SSD hosting.  Their customer support is very solid.  They explain stuff to you rather than sending you a canned response like other hosting companies.

No matter how big or small a server you require NameCheap can handle anything you need them.  Their uptime is fantastic, and a lot of plans do come with SSD hosting.  Their customer support is very reliable.  They explain stuff to you.  NameCheap doesn’t send you a canned response.  Matt Russell is their vice president who also founded WebHostingBuzz.  Another company I stand behind.

9-20 dollars a month might be too high for some, for a shared server.  Might consider reading my WebHosting Hub review.  You can get a shared plan for half the price of NameCheaps cheapest shared hosting plan.  Also, for VPS and dedicated plans, I would also read my InMotion review for another good alternative plan.

Research on NameCheap.

Interviews with NameCheap clients.