PRODUCT NAME: NameCheap
Overall Ranking: 60 out of 100
Price: $3.98 – $12.88 per year for domain registration / Additional cost for hosting: $16.97 per month approx. / Additional cost for SSL Certificates: $7.95 per year and on up / Possible to also purchase dedicated servers beginning at $89 per month
Owners: Richard Kirkendall
Website: www.NameCheap.com
INTRODUCTION
NameCheap is a domain registration and web hosting company founded in 2000 based out of Los Angeles, California. Richard Kirkendall founded the company and is still the CEO today.
In 2014, NameCheap was surveyed to be Best Domain Registrar by it’s users. However, when I did further research I discovered that NameCheap was offering discounts and bribes on Facebook to their users should they win. I found ads on Facebook and other social media from NameCheap advertising $0.99 domain registration should they win the Best Domain Registrar for 2014. I personally see some ethical issues with that type of business practice. You want people to vote on their experience and customer satisfaction and not because of a bribe.
PROS / CONS
Pros
- It is well known and has gained popularity over the years
- Domain Registration is rated the highest among it’s users
- Competitive prices on domain registration
- Been around for 15 years at the writing of this review
- Has a cPanel control panel interface
- Choice of shared hosting or reseller hosting
- 25GB Disk Space on either shared or reseller hosting
- Has free email hosting on the Shared Hosting Plan
- Free 1 year WhoIs Guard with purchase of .COM domain
Cons
- A short 14-day Money Back Guarantee (most companies offer at least 30 day money back guarantee)
- Risk Management team is consistently rated very poorly
- No email or telephone support. Support is only available via Live Chat or Ticket Submission
- Has been reported to have frequent down times
- The user-interface is dated, not very modern and cumbersome to use.
- Many mixed reviews out there
- Has expensive renewal fees (nearly doubling in some cases)
WHO IT IS FOR?
NameCheap is for people who want a domain registration and/or a hosting package. I have used them for both and my opinion is that they are great with inexpensive domain registration, but not so good with the hosting aspect. My experience seems to be common among all the reviews out there on NameCheap.
This is for the person who is an online entrepreneur, a small business owner, an individual who wants a personal website or similar. NameCheap has reported to have over 800,00 clients.
TRAINING/TOOLS OVERVIEW
There does not seem to be much in the way of training and tools through the NameCheap website. I searched the website and there is nothing available. However, I went to YouTube and I did find a YouTube NameCheap Channel.
Below is one of the videos from YouTube on How to Register Private Nameservers for your Domain. Many of the videos seem to do with the email server on NameCheap. I would think that would be one of the more straight-forward functions of NameCheap and instead I think videos on How to Build a Website on NameCheap or Introduction to NameCheap or any number of more common training issues that might be needed.
SUPPORT
I personally have never had to use NameCheap’s customer support, but there seems to be as many bad reviews as there are good customer service support reviews. When requesting a refund, the stories seem to be consistent in that NameCheap gave them a credit, but refused to give people their money back despite multiple requests made. Without phone support and only LiveChat, it seems difficult communicating with them regarding issuing refunds.
I researched NameCheap on the Better Business Burearu (BBB) site and it has a terrible rating. On a scale from A+ to F, they have an F rating, which stands for failing. They are not registered with BBB and you would think if a company cares about their reputation and image, registering for BBB would be a priority.
There is no community support or an online forum to connect with other customers regarding questions or problems which need addressing. People are very sociable by nature and giving them a place to chat online and bounce ideas off one another can lead to customer loyalty and trust. NameCheap does not offer this feature much like Wealthy Affiliate does.
FINAL OPINION/VERDICT
Based on my personal experience and other reviews I have read about NameCheap, my recommendation is to use them for domain registration only, and not for hosting services. You have other options for web hosting which I can personally recommend. Wealthy Affiliate is a robust hosting and community support project which teaches you how to build a website, how to start an online affiliate marketing business from the comfort of your home, a massive friendly community filled with other members ready to help you 24/7 and the owners are very visible and respond quickly to inquiries. See the chart below and compare the different features Wealthy Affiliate as compared to NameCheap.
Please leave feel to leave comments below and I will respond shortly.
Please review my affiliate disclaimer.
18 thoughts on “NameCheap Review”
An awesome review of Namecheap. I paid particular interest to the cons of it. And, I never knew about the downtime that you may experience. Thank you for this detailed review. It is highly appreciated, Stephanie.
I would, however, Have liked to watch the video although it appears to be broken.
Hi Simon:
Great hearing from you. I hope you are doing good. I will check into the video. Sorry you were not able to view. I will fix it. Thank you so much for letting me know there is a problem with it. You are awesome! Stay in touch!
Stephanie
Hi Stephanie
I think that you’ve left no stone un-turned with this review of Namecheap.
I have used them for a while and honestly I am a bit disappointed by their down time, as it happens quite often.
Other than that I agree with what you said about them as being good at domain registering and giving you full control on your website via cPanel.
Thanks a lot for you review, and see you soon!
Regards,
Bob
Hi Bob:
That is a real concern with NameCheap…the downtime is an issue. I am glad you thought I was able to cover everything with my review. Thank you so much for visiting today. I hope you come back soon. I will be posting more reviews shortly.
Steph
Hi Steph,
Thanks for the Namecheap review, I had no idea about some of the cons that you listed.
I’ve used them for two of my sites and have been happy with them, but Bluehost has also been solid.
Although, I did accidently by the wrong domain, called them up, and they would not refund my money which I thought was a bit of poor customer service. Your reviews are very well laid out and professionally written.
Anyways, great review, thanks,
Todd
Hi Todd:
Thank you for your comment. I appreciate it. I am sorry to hear about your poor customer service experience with them when you accidentally bought the incorrect domain name and they refused to work with you and refund your money. When I wrote my review I obviously spent considerable time in researching everything about NameCheap and comparing them to other hosting companies such as BlueHhost, as you mentioned, One.Come, Miss Hosting and Wealthy Affiliate. I read numerous reviews on poor customer service from NameCheap so I am not surprised about your experience. In my opinion, of all the hosting companies out, Wealthy Affiliate continues to be primary one which everyone is mostly drawn to for many different reasons.
Have a Great Day! Please come back again!
Steph
Great review. I didn’t know much about Namecheap beyond domain purchasing, so this was great info. Wealthy Affiliate has such great hosting facilities, I can’t imagine considering any other place for my website!
Hi SC:
Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment on my NameCheap review page. I am glad it was helpful. I agree with you on Wealthy Affiliate being the best place to take care of all your hosting needs, because you get so much more with the membership. Have a great day!
Steph
Namecheap is a great place to get domain names as it doesn’t have annoying ads. And for the web hosting, I definitely encourage people to try Wealthy Affiliate platform where you can get the best service, and SEO training in the online world.
Hi Edy:
I couldn’t agree more. Thank you so much for wonderfully summarizing everything in one simple sentence. I am glad to hear you feel that Wealthy Affiliate has the best service and training. I would have to agree. Have a great day!
Steph
Hi there,
Very comprehensive piece of writing. I enjoyed reading your review on NameCheap as well as your other reviews such as BlueHost and Miss Hosting. You are a very talented writer. It is concerning to see the Better Business Consumer report on NameCheap giving them an “F”. It baffles me why any company would not registered with them to prove they are attempting to always show good faith.
Good luck !
Regards,
~Gregory~
Hi Gregory:
Thank you for stopping today and leaving a comment. I agree it is baffling a company such as NameCheap would not register themselves with the Better Business Bureau. Thank you for the compliment on my writing and the comprehensiveness of my work. Please feel free to stop back any time for more information.
Steph
Wow Steph,
This site is amazing, I love the review I love the way you write and am just loving this site. Will definitely be back for some more intake of your work.
Great site, how long have you been blogging for ?
Hi Jessy!
Thank you for stopping by today and leaving a comment. Thank you also for the kind compliment. I am glad you will be returning for additional advice. Please be sure to visit some of the other pages which provide insight you may find useful to include how to build a website and how to begin an affiliate marketing business and optimizing your site for high ranking.
Have an awesome day! Come back soon!
Steph
Hi Steph, I have followed WA advice and registered my domain names with namecheap since beginning this year. I have never encountered any problems since. How good are they when somebody wants to take your domain name? Cheers, jerry
Hi Jerry!
Absolutely! NameCheap is great for domain registration only. Not surprising you have not had any problems with them since. I have not had any problems with my domain registration either. That is why I recommend to use them only for domain registration. Thank you so much for visiting today and leaving a comment. I hope to see you again soon.
Steph
I do agree that we should use namecheap for registration of domain only. I think Wealthy Affiliate is good.
Hi Teresa:
Thank you for your comment and for stopping by today. I believe NameCheap is fine for domain registration, but for honest and legitimate hosting, Wealthy Affiliate is certainly the better way to go. Please come back soon and visit.
Steph