Starting a blog? Great idea. One of the things you will need when starting a blog is a hosting partner and domain name provider. Namecheap is among the most popular solutions where these website necessities are concerned. The platform has eked out a pretty good reputation in the hosting market as far as affordability (hence the name), reliability, and support are concerned.
But is Namecheap the most suitable choice for your new project? Read on to find out more about this hosting solution, including its background, pros and cons, and relevant features.
What is Namecheap?
Launched in 2000 by founder Richard Kirkendall, Namecheap is an independent domain registration company that also offers website hosting products. It also provides a number of associated services, including email, privacy protection, website builder software, and SSL certificates. The company has ICANN accreditation and made its name as a more affordable alternative to many of the other popular web hosting services on the market.
To date, over three million domains are hosted by Namecheap, and the company has over 11 million customers from all over the world. In terms of performance, Namecheap generally receives favorable reviews for up-time, round-the-clock support, and its range of features. Bloggers are among those who have expressed satisfaction with its services, but you don’t have to take their word for it. Let’s look at the pros and cons of using Namecheap to host your site.
Namecheap Pros
1. Competitively priced hosting plans and top-level domain registration – among the lowest in the industry.
2. Wide variety of plans.
3. Quick and easy setup.
4. Good reputation for uptime and bandwidth.
5. Strong security and privacy, including free WhoIs Guard and free SSL.
6. Friendly and reliable 24/7 customer support.
7. Simple, no-hassle domain registration, account management, and renewal process.
8. WordPress quick-install ensures a clean and efficient installation process.
Namecheap Cons
1. Limitations on some plans may not be ideal for some users who have multiple websites.
2. Website backups are capped at only two per week.
3. Some upgrades such as dedicated IP addresses can be viewed as pricey.
Namecheap Pricing
When it comes on to plan pricing, Namecheap is praised for transparency and affordability. There are several hosting choices on offer, depending on your personal or business needs. Most bloggers would be interested in shared hosting or WordPress hosting, so this article will focus on those two.
Shared Hosting
- Stellar Plan: This is the cheapest shared hosting plan starting at $1.44 per month when you sign up for two years ($1.58/month if signing up for a year or $2.88/month if paying monthly). Features include one domain name offer, three websites, 20 GB SSD storage, free automatic installation for the first year, and free CDN.
- Stellar Plus: The Stellar Plus Plan starts at $2.44 monthly if locking in a two-year membership (you will be charged $2.68/month if signing up for one year or $4.8/monthly if paying by month). Some of the features of this plan include unlimited websites, unmetered SSD storage, free twice a week plus auto backup, one free domain name offer, and free website builder.
- Stellar Business: As the name suggests, this plan is geared towards business customers and starts at $4.44 per month when signing up for a two-year plan. The cost is $4.80/month when signing up for a year and $8.88/month is paying for monthly membership. Features of this plan include auto backup and cloud storage, unlimited websites, 50 GB SSD storage, unlimited FTP users, and unlimited email accounts.
WordPress Hosting
If your intention is quickly getting set up on a WordPress blog or website, Namecheap also offers options to help you out. In fact, you can have your blog ready to go in under a minute and all the plans are heavily discounted for the first year.
- EasyWP Starter plan: This plan starts at $22.88 yearly or $3.88 per month if paying monthly (although the first month is only $1). The features of this plan include 10 GB SSD storage, support for all domain name providers, and 50,000 visitors per month.
- EasyWP Turbo plan: Starting at $44.88 yearly ($7.88/month if paying monthly – with first month for $2), this plan offers 50 GB SSD storage, free SSL and CDN, and 200,000 visitors per month. You also get 1.5 times more CPU and RAM than starter plan, as well as seamless scalability.
- EasyWP Supersonic plan: With this plan, you are able to get two times more CPU and RAM and 99.99% uptime guarantee (other plans are 99.9% uptime). You also get 100 GB SSD storage, free CDN and SSL, as well as 500,000 visitors per month. In terms of pricing, the Supersonic costs $49.88 for the first year or $11.88 per month if paying monthly (first month is $3).
Conclusion
For most bloggers looking for a low-cost solution to begin their blogging journey or to transfer their already existing site, Namecheap certainly stacks up well against other popular domain naming and hosting providers, like Bluehost. It has established itself as a competent domain registrar and management platform and offers hosting plans that are not only competitive but also provide a number of adequate features.
However, while it is definitely a leader in terms of domain management, Namecheap’s hosting plans can also be restrictive for bloggers who are trying to run multiple websites or those who have large online followings. In addition, easing these restrictions often requires users to pay more for certain add-ons that are sometimes cheaper and even provided free of cost by other web hosting companies. With that said, although Namecheap is a viable solution for most bloggers, it is still a good idea to check and compare all the features to ensure they match up with your blogging goals.
