Namecheap Review [2024]: Does It Live Up to Expectations?

Perfect for Beginners Seeking Fast and Easy Hosting for Basic Websites

Namecheap’s name is also what it’s most famous for – that’s to say, affordable domain name registration with hefty discounts throughout the year. However, like many registrars before it, Namecheap has also branched out into hosting services. Today, Namecheap offers shared, managed WordPress, virtual private servers (VPS), and dedicated server hosting, as well as a variety of security and marketing tools.

While it’s convenient to get your domain name and hosting from one provider, you might want to be cautious. Namecheap isn’t exactly distinguished for its hosting services. As a platform that offers all-in-one website control (from account management to support and billing), Namecheap might sound like an appealing jack-of-all-trades, but it has yet to prove itself as a master of all.

Laughing in the face of danger, I took the risk upon myself and signed up for managed WordPress hosting. I tested it with one goal in mind: to determine whether its beginner-friendly focus is at the expense of what it can offer. I also wanted to know if it can meet more advanced needs. To my surprise, I found its managed WordPress platform provides a fantastic user experience. Read on for more discoveries.

Great Basic Features, but Also Serious Limitations

In addition to regular hosting plans, Namecheap provides powerhouse VPS and dedicated server plans – but for this review, we’ll focus on the shared hosting side of things. I chose to test Namecheap’s managed WordPress hosting solution. EasyWP allows you to set up and install a WordPress site in a couple of clicks. You can also pre-install a small selection of popular and useful plugins.

EasyWP covers all the essential groundwork you’d expect from a respectable hosting service, like free SSL certificates, access to a content delivery network (CDN), a high uptime guarantee, and standard security. Though it’s not filled to the brim with extra features (like Hostinger’s WordPress acceleration1 and unlimited bandwidth), it offers a simple dashboard and some WordPress tools that set it apart from the crowd.

In terms of bandwidth, you can expect a cap from 50,000 to 500,000 monthly visitors for Namecheap’s WordPress plans. Normally, websites have a GB quota (how much content your visitors are downloading from your site per visit). 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.

Free EasyWP Platform Tools, Including One-Click Backups

EasyWP’s dashboard serves as a replacement for the popular cPanel dashboard. Though it doesn’t offer the advanced features of cPanel, it does include important and easy-to-use tools for managing your WordPress website. Some of these tools include database management, SSL certificates connection, and access to backups.

The Backups tools are particularly impressive. With one click, you can 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

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.

Namecheap Features at a Glance

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 your Domain Name System (DNS) 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.

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, you can proceed with your new WordPress installation:

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.

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.

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 design and customize a unique website with WordPress. 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.

With over 200 templates, drag-and-drop elements, and a code-free UI, you can create and fine-tune your own site for next to nothing and with little coding or design knowledge.

With EasyWP’s Turbo and Supersonic plans, you can use the Brizy site builder (for free) if you don’t like the default WordPress editor. Though it’s a little too simple to be my favorite WordPress page builder, there’s no denying that Brizy is a lot easier to use than the WordPress block editor. It also comes with built-in page optimizations, which translates to a direct performance boost on your site’s loading speeds.

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!

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.

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:

Namecheap offers a 100% uptime guarantee for regular shared and dedicated hosting (and a 99.9% SLA for EasyWP Starter and Turbo plans, VPS, and reseller hosting), promising to reimburse you with free hosting for any downtime. The highest SLA goes to the EasyWP Supersonic plan with a 99.99% uptime guarantee.

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 you can contact, but live chat is accessible from almost any screen. You can reach various support departments for website transfers, email hosting, and domain management via email.

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 another 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 they realized their mistake. They then pointed me to the right tab.

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 they realized her mistake. They 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, their 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, they did need some time to get the information, and they 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.

Affordable Prices and Free Extras

Namecheap remains true to its name. It features EasyWP managed WordPress and regular shared hosting as its premier hosting options with highly discounted initial rates. Even the more advanced plans, like VPS and dedicated servers, are available for relatively affordable prices.

But don’t rush – take time to compare features, as premium plans may not always suit your needs. For instance, the mid-tier plan for shared hosting offers unlimited storage while the top-tier plan has only 50 GB of storage but includes personal nameservers and extra caching tools.

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 for a small extra cost.

The checkout process for EasyWP is straightforward with no automatic upsells. You can choose monthly or yearly subscriptions for EasyWP and shared hosting, plus biennial options for shared hosting. Reseller, VPS, and dedicated plans can be paid monthly, quarterly, or yearly. With a 30-day money-back guarantee, you can try shared, managed WordPress, reseller, and VPS hosting plans risk-free.

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