namecheap review

Namecheap – A Top-Notch Domain Registrar!

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I remember when I wanted to register my first domain name in 2011, there were only a few (less 5) domain registrars and people didn’t have many choices. It was both good and bad. On the one hand, you could pick up a registrar easily and it didn’t take much time but on the other hand, options and features provided by those registrars were very limited.

Years passed and now, choosing the Right domain registrar became a challenging tasks for many people because there was an explosive growth in the number of companies that provide domain registration service.

With a quick Google search, you’ll find a wide list of domain registrars. Domain registration is the only common feature among all these companies, however, security, web hosting and private email, shared hosting, VPS, dedicated servers, etc. are other options that some of new domain registrars give you.

Namecheap is one of the first and well-known domain registrars that has been launched in 2000 by Richard Kirkendall in Los Angeles. Namecheap always tried to provide the best features to customers during the last 20 years and that’s why the impressive number of +10 million domains have been registered in this company by +2 million customers!

Now, I’m going to dive into the details and review all parts and features of this domain registrar to let you know what would be your expectation when you are looking for a company with “Top-Quality” services.

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what is namecheap

What Is Namecheap All About?

The first thing you should know about domain registrars is that all of these companies have access to the same database which means, if your selected domain name is unavailable in one registrar, it’s unavailable in all other companies too and none of registrars can make it available to you.

History

Today, we can easily call Namecheap a leader in the domain registration industry which is accredited by ICANN too. With +2 million customers, Namecheap has a big market share as a registrar and founded around 20 years ago in 2000 in the California of the United States.

The impressive number of +10 million registered domains shows that thousands of people decided to choose Namecheap as their trusted domain registration and web hosting service provider.

Also it’s good to know that Namecheap is one of the first companies that started to provide domain registry service so they focused to provide best service in this field and after some years, they entered to other services like Cloud-Based, Web Hosting, Private Email, etc.

What You Should Consider When It Comes to Domain Registration?

But what are the most important factors of choosing a good domain registrar? Ask below questions from yourself and you’ll be able to pick up the best registrar:

  • What is the offered price by registrar? (even a few cents less or more plays an important role here; explain more later).
  • What features you get exactly for the money you pay?
  • Is there any registrar which offer the same domain registry package for a lower price?
  • Is there any hidden fees associated with transferring domain name?
  • Is there any detailed guide or 24/7 support which can assist you with the process of domain registry?

Also, by taking a look at the checklist below, you’ll be able to remove low-quality registrars from you list.

A reliable domain registrar should have:

  • 24/7 Customer Support
  • Easy process to forward or transfer domains
  • Whois Registration & (ICANN)
  • Reasonable Price
  • Automatic feature to renew registered domains
  • Being in the business with good reputation

You understand the importance of choosing domain registrar when you know that many domain registrars that are in the business today, may be closed tomorrow! So that’s your important task to read terms and conditions of each company BEFORE purchasing to protect yourself from losing time and money.

I recommend you to make a list of ALL your needs and stay focus on them when you are in the process of choosing a registrar and are visiting different registrar’s websites. Let me tell you something, you’ll start feeling distracted as soon as you start to see services, features, options and special offers in registrar websites and that’s why you should stay focused.

For example, price (cost of domain registration) is an important factor and it’s good if you find a domain registrar with a competitive price but it’s only one of the factors. Take a paper and write down all I’ve mentioned in the checklist above to make the best logical decision.

It’s always recommended to not use a platform for both web hosting and domain registration because if there’s a technical issue (which is not rare at all), both your domain and web hosting will be at risk.

Quality registrars like Namecheap have always easy automated process with domain transferring so when you’re working with them, you have no worry about transferring your domain to any other web hosting service.

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Namecheap – A Domain Registrar with Affordable Price

The first and probably most important positive point of Namecheap is that the offered price is really competitive.

Personally I believe that a platform or company can’t provide all services at the same quality. For example, Wealthy Affiliate has a good training program to start learning affiliate marketing but when we compare its domain registration or web hosting services, it’s not definitely in the top-ten as well as recommended list of internet marketing experts.

Now, let’s compare price of Namecheap domain registration with Wealthy Affiliate.

Imagine we want to purchase a domain name called “affiliatewithali.com”. We simply search this domain name in both platforms and get the following result:

 Search for domain name availability in WA (it’s $13.99)

Search for the same domain name in Namecheap (it’s available for $8.88!)

 There’s no magic. As you can see, the domain name of “affiliatewithali.com” is available but in different prices. You can purchase it in WA for ~$14 but it’s available for only ~$8.88 in Namecheap. This simply means, it’s +35% cheaper in Namecheap.

Let’s test it it with another domain name, “worldofaffiliate.com”.

Again, it’s $13.99

And the same domain name is only $8.88 in Namecheap

Again, Namecheap is almost two times cheaper than WA! 

Remember that the example above shows the situation when you buy only one website but there’s a high chance that you’ll have 10 or more sites in the future (especially if you are in the affiliate marketing industry). So with a simple calculation we understand that you can easily save at least $50 by choosing the Namecheap.

So try it for yourself, search domain name you’re going to purchase in Namecheap and compare the price it offers with Wealthy Affiliate.

namecheap feature

Namecheap Features

Namecheap, usually known for its registration and management services, also hosts websites for its users. Its features include SSL certificates, free site migration, a variety of domains to choose from and automated backups. For individuals who are looking to buy a domain name and create their own website quickly, Namecheap has a user-friendly three-step process:

  1. Choose your domain name
  2. Host your website
  3. Manage your WordPress.

On the other hand, for larger businesses, you can create your brand, build secure websites and boost your business. This is first done by picking out the perfect domain name that will make you stand out from your competitors. The next thing you need is a reliable website where your audience can find you.

With Namecheap’s web hosting packages and professional email hosting, creating your own personalized website won’t be a problem. Lastly, if you want to boost your business, Namecheap offers VPS and Dedicated Server hosting. This comes with a bevy of applications such as Logo Maker, G Suite integration, EasyWP and more.

If you’re a reseller, Namecheap has features you might be interested in. It gives you marketing options, a wide selection of tools catered for product reselling and long-term support from their team. Being a reseller under Namecheap lets you benefit under its Affiliate Program.

For every referral you get, you earn a commission from the solution. You’ll also benefit from helpful tools including hosting packages, domain transfers and WhoisGuard privacy protection.

feature namecheap

Namecheap’s core features include:

  • Domains

Namecheap offers highly affordable domains. With more than 10 available TLDs, you can set up a website for your company in no time at all. Having an online location where people can access information about you and avail of your goods and services is an effective way of improving your overall business.

Additionally, Namecheap lets you transfer a domain into its system, save up on renewals and be updated with security-related tweaks and other releases. You can even browse, buy and sell domains with Domains Marketplace. Overall, if you’re looking for a platform to improve your online presence then Namecheap is a solid option.

  • Hosting

With hosting as their primary agenda, Namecheap has a multitude of hosting types and plans made available for its users. These are shared hosting and VPS hosting, which are discussed below:

Shared hosting – lets you choose from four pricing plans, all with different features and functionalities. This type of hosting also lets you have unlimited bandwidth, several tools such as autoresponders, email accounts and databases, and a large amount for disc space.

VPS hosting – this includes a free website domain name and privacy protection. Additionally, it allows for full root access and operating system selection. A 30-day money-back period is also provided.

  • WordPress

Namecheap’s integration with WordPress boasts of its ability to let users set up their websites in under a minute. It has three pricing plans—Starter ($3.88), Turbo ($7.88) and Supersonic ($11.88). All the plans give you access to the following features:

  • A WordPress site set up and ready for deployment
  • A website powered by Namecheap Cloud
  • Easy backups and restores
  • Support for any domain
  • SFTTP and database access
  • Temporary EasyWP free domain
  • 24/7 customer support

Is Namecheap the Best Domain Registrar?

Maybe it’s too soon to ask and answer this question because we are just at the beginning of our review but what it’s clear (at least for me) is that without a doubt, Namecheap is a great ICANN-accredited domain name registrar, and it provides web hosting, domain name registration and many other related services.

In the next couple of paragraphs, we’ll walk through all the pros and cons of Namecheap domain registrar and I’ll help you decide if this company can exceed your expectation as a new or experienced affiliate marketer or not. So stay with me in this review to make an informed decision.

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namecheap pros and cons

Namecheap – The Good, The Bad

Can you tell me the name of only one product that is 100% perfect? No, you can’t! You know why? Because nothing is perfect in the world. This unspoken rule applies to domain registrars too and Namecheap (as one of the best registrars) has its own pros and cons which I’m going to list them here.

Pros of Namecheap

  • Provide Services in Affordable & Reasonable Price
  • Easy, Simple and Fast Process for Domain Transferring
  • Great Help Desk with 24/7 support
  • Not Annoying Upsells Techniques
  • Secured and Quality service
  • Has a Long History as Domain Registrar
  • An official ICANN Accredited Registrars

Cons of Namecheap

  • There’s room for improving the customer service
  • Some domain owners set high price for their domains (It may be a problem only if your chosen domain name is not available)

Fortunately, unlike some other big domain registrars, Namecheap won’t annoy you with showing upsells and pop-ups. And this is another positive point of this domain registration company. When you work with biggest companies in the world, most of the times, you feel that you don’t get the personal touches you like from these companies. However, Namecheap is not like that; it cares about its customers and provide as personalized as help it can.

Upsell Tactics

The internet world is not comparable with the 10 or 5 years ago. It’s very evolved with many new services and technology during the past years which resulted more and more specialized services.

Namecheap is not an exception and as one of the domain registration leaders, it started to provide more services (in addition to domain registration) to customers. Actually this is what almost ALL big companies are doing these days even Apple or Microsoft but the important thing is how they do it, in an aggressive and pushy way or in a right way with providing quality additional services.

Fortunately Namecheap is not in the first group and all its packages for storage and hosting are offered to customers in a not annoying way. You never get frustrated by visiting Namecheap site because it does not use any pushy strategy to sell more services. You get what you want and that’s it.

Opposes to SOPA

Personally I like companies that are behind people not the governments. SOPA, was a controversial United States bill introduced by U.S. Representative Lamar S. Smith to expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement to combat online copyright infringement and online trafficking in counterfeit goods. In simple words, it was going to limit freedom of internet users.

According to Namecheap, everybody should have the right to use the internet as they desire in a responsible manner and that’s why they publicly announce that they are opposes the Stop Internet Piracy Act (SOPA).

namecheap price

How Much Does Namecheap Cost You?

Fortunately, there are many promotion codes inside the Namecheap that lets you get services at a discounted price so it’s not easy to give a fixed price for services of this company because there are a wide range of services offered to customers and price and each service is different than other and it changes all the time according to advertisement promotion codes.

Anyway, just to give you an example, I listed the price of 1-year renewal rate for domain names of Namecheap company below.

$8.88/year to purchase a new domain name. (+ ICANN fee)

This price is for the most well-known domain extension “.com” but if you decide to go for a .net, .biz, .co, etc. domain extension (TLDs), you may even pay less.

Also, if you have a long-term view for your business, you can enjoy from additional bonuses and special discounts by paying the price of the full-service for multiple years. You also have option to register your domain name for up to 10 years which would be very beneficial if you’re going to run a long-term online business.

This company used the Right suffix (Cheap) at the end of its name and without decreasing quality of provided service, it offers the “cheapest” domain registration service among all domain registration companies.

By the way, if you register your domain name with Namecheap, this company gives you the Privacy Protection for FREE! (This option is used as a paid-addon in other registrars).

Management Interface

All changes on your domain names will be done through this section. This is one of those things that need to be done manually and that’s why there’s a position called technology manager. This person can handle tasks like configuring sub domains, managing your web hosting, reroute your DNS, etc. Of course you probably prefer to do all these things by yourself rather than hiring someone to do that; that’s why being user-friendly is a must-have for all registrars.

The DNS management interface of Namecheap is free of ads and with a straightforward layout, everybody with any level of technical knowledge can manage domains easily.

The experience says that website owners are busy people and it seems that Namecheap knows this fact well because it minimized the time for doing changes on the site so customers can focus on their site rather than facing with technical issues.

Is There Any Extras?

Yes, actually, domain name is not the only thing you receive when you register a domain with this registrar. There are several extras you receive for the subscription price. I’ve previously seen some other registrars that provided these extras but what Namecheap gives you as extras is really valuable.

Here is a list of Namecheap Extras:

  • Custom name servers (100% Free)
  • Domain Privacy (Whois, ICANN)
  • A registrar with great reputation (Never been hacked before)
  • Email forwarding service (100% Free)
  • 30-Day Free Private Email
  • Limited hosting package + photo storage

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namecheap user experience

What Are the Experiences of People Who Tried Namecheap?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the most important thing about domain registrars is that it should make you able to navigate the site and manage your domain(s) as easy as possible. As a website owner, you don’t have much time to learn how to access your domain so everything and Namecheap provides one of the best easy-to-navigate user experience for you.

In the next couple of lines, you’ll find what the overall experience of customers in navigation and using Namecheap is and if there were satisfied with that or not.

This is my own experience but it’s mostly the same for anyone else who tried Namecheap. When I went through the check-out process, everything was seamless and I didn’t need to deal with upselling and annoying ads.

Another positive point of Namecheap registrar is that when you use it, you benefit from a powerful search engine which will give you the best suggestions for your domain name so if the chosen domain name is not available, you can be sure that the search engine will show the best alternatives.

Also, Namecheap provides a live chat support so if you have any question or need a hand while domain registration process, you can simply let them now. I personally tried their live chat support and it’s just perfect!

Read this guide to know how to register a domain name with Namecheap.

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Conclusion

I tried to help you choose the best domain registrar in this review by giving as much information as possible about this company. Namecheap was and still is my #1 choice when I’m going to register a new domain name.

There’s nothing more to say about Namecheap and I believe that the quality speaks for itself; you’ll agree with me if you give Namecheap a shot.

Namecheap Is My Top-Rated Domain Registrar

To be honest, Namecheap exceeds all expectations you have about a domain registration company. I’m sure that you can find your suitable domain name in Namecheap at a very reasonable price.

Great customer support with live-chat, advanced domain management platform, solid security and dynamic DNS performance are only a few of positive points that this registrar has. You also benefit from many freebies offered by Namecheap (like free Whois privacy or email forwarding) when you register your domain name with this platform.

Finally, Namecheap is my first and last choice when it comes to domain registration. And it’s my recommendation to people who are looking for quality registrar that has a user-friendly interface, offers a wide range of services at a affordable price and does not cheat you with upsell tactics.

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5

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sources: hostadvice, techradar, trustpilot, whoishostingthis, digital, whatsthehost, cloudwards, websitehostingrating, hostingpill, shivarweb, startbloggingonline

18 comments

  1. What an incredible cost for registration of domain names. Thanks for this down to earth review. Its truly enlightening. Weldone for taking time to pull through this thorough analysis. My subsequent domain registrations will certainly be Namecheap. Thanks a lot Ali.

    Best regards
    Ufumski

  2. Hey Ali,

    First off WOW!

    What a read, very informative on a topic I was incredibly curious about. I have purchased a number of domains before from the like of GoDaddy and also Wealthy Affiliate and can defiantly say I paid a lot more than what i could have if I had known about Namecheap. I thank you for this article and teaching me about this.
    By the looks of the reviews you have posted and your article I can see that Namecheap is highly recommended and am sure to use this for future domain purchases.
    I do have a quick question I hope you can answer. Is their help desk and customer service actually any good in regards to the information they provide to help with your issue? I know personally with other sites I have asked questions and although they answer them quickly it is normally just copy and paste from the FAQ page, not actually a personalised answer to help me.

    Thanks Jace.

    1. Hi Jace and thanks for your comment. Namecheap has one of the best customer service that I’ve seen among all registrars. Unlike other domain provides, Namcheap provides a “Live Chat” system which let you contact with a live person and ask your question. This is the option that I mostly use (because I don’t want to wait for email response! 😉 ) and they always solve my issues immediately. Hope this helps.

      Best,
      Ali

  3. Thank you Ali for this informative review. I had not heard heard of Namecheap before. I have been an affiliate marketing since 2017 and have used GoDaddy and am currently using Wealthy Affiliate. I must say it is handy to have things under one roof so to speak, less tech support to deal with if/when necessary. You did a thorough review which is really good to see and I appreciate that. How do you find their user interface, is it user friendly? Some platforms are not very user friendly and it seems you need to be a tech to be able to use them.

  4. Hi Ali. Thank you for sharing your informative reviews. To be frank, it is my first time heard of Namecheap. I in affiliate marketing online business not very long, start last year August only. Therefore, there are still alot to be learn.

    You have compare the price of domain registration between Namecheap and Wealthy Affiliate. That is impressive. Besides about the price, how about any other thing compare which Namecheap is better than Wealthy Affiliate?

    1. Thank you for your comment Janet. Well as far as I know, WA is basically a training platform that provides hosting and domain registration services as well and is a new domain registrar but Namecheap is an ICANN-accredited domain name registrar and in additional to domain name registration and web hosting, it provides, vpn service, private email service, SSL certificates, Whois Guard, dedicated IPs, VPS services etc.
      It’s a budget hosting provider with 11 million registered users and 10 million domains.
      See it for yourself here.

      Best,
      Ali

  5. Hi Ali!
    What a helpful post!!
    You have included all the information and answered all the questions I may have about namecheap,
    this is what called a full review, maybe I am not with you in some points about namecheap, but thank you very much for this great review.
    Best Wishes!
    Al-Motaz

  6. Hi Ali,

    Thanks for this review, I have to say I’d never encountered Namecheap before when I was looking for a top-notch domain registrar, although this maybe because I’m based in the UK.

    Previously I’ve used both GoDaddy and Wealthy Affiliate for my domain name requirements, but I will admit at no point was cost the real driver of my purchase. I did find GoDaddy were particularly high pressure on their upsells and not overly helpful when I used their services, but to date, despite the expense, I have been very happy with Wealthy Affiliate on that front.

    So as you advise against buying your domain and hosting it with the same service, is there a particular hosting company that you would recommend, or is it all down to personal preference? I have to say, I’ve always been put off by this purely on the logistics front. It’s probably based in my past experiences where I was trying to navigate the domain registration, hosting, WordPress installation and support without any guidance but I still find the package deal looks attractive just from the perspective of ease and time saved (and not having to deal with tech support from two different companies if something does end up going wrong).

    Thanks again for the valuable tips,
    Lisa

    1. Hi Lisa and thanks for your comment. I personally use Namecheap as my hosting service and I’m satisfied with that. It has several other features that are very helpful especially if you’re at the beginning of affiliate marketing or blogging journey so it’s my recommendation.

      Best,
      Ali

  7. I am impressed with your article there Ali. You did a very comprehensive overview of Namecheap I have been to their site in the past but have never used them.
    I like the comparison you made using wealthy affiliate as the rebuttal to your piece. A nice piece of work and well researched.

  8. Hi Ali! I recently started my personal blog and if I have to be fair, I still don’t know much about how “this world” works, I often get confused so I’m trying to learn. Your article is very accurate and helpuful, maybe for my next website I’ll do more reserches of how and where buy a domain and I could definitly start from Namecheap. It seems to be a professional registrar, I think that is great that they provide support with the live chat and 27/7 help desk, you never know when you will need help! I’ll keep on eye on your page for more posts like this one and thanks for sharing!

    Emma

  9. Hi Ali,

    This is really a great article. I wanted to find a place where I can buy domains for a reasonable price and great service at the same time. I am glad I found this article. Very detailed and it contains all the information one should get to know about NameCheap. I used to buy from godaddy but it is very expensive compared to NameCheap and looks like NameCheap offers more features as well. Thank you for advising against using the same service for domain name and hosting. Loosing both when there is an issue will be a nightmare.
    Thank you for this great article again and wish you good luck with your website.

    Rajith

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