Namecheap hosting? Is it good, is it bad? In this Namecheap hosting review you are going to find out everything about this hosting and you will make the decision on whether Namecheap is good for you.
I have to be honest, my blog is on the cloud but I want you to have other options besides the cloud to start your blogging journey.
I wrote about Namecheap in this post: The best place to buy a cheap domain name, but now I am going to show you that Namecheap also sells hosting.
I am going to do a Namecheap hosting review so you can make the final decision for you.
The most important thing for me to test is the loading time. Remember that Google loves fast loading sites and from May 2021 the loading time will be a crucial ranking factor.
Table of Contents
Let’s Begin with this Namecheap Hosting Review
The reason for this post is to give you another cheap hosting alternative so you can have another alternative to choose from.
Namecheap hosting solution
Namecheap has good hosting plans:
- Shared Hosting
- Reseller Hosting
- WordPress Hosting
- Email Hosting
- VPS Hosting
- Dedicated Hosting
Let me tell you in this Namecheap hosting review that the shared hosting plan and the WordPress hosting plan is basically the same.
Shared hosting plans come with the Softaculous app that lets you instantly install any CMS.
If you want to know how to install WordPress with the Softaculous app you can read this post: HostNoc Review. A great value for your money.
I am going to show you the most basic and cheapest monthly plans.
My recommendation is that you choose a monthly plan so you won’t be attached to the hosting. With a monthly plan, if you don’t like it you can migrate your site to another hosting company.
Shared Hosting Plans Pricing in this Namecheap Hosting Review
First, I have to tell you that the most basic plan is $2.88 per month. It’s very cheap and the place of your hosting can be in the United States or in the United Kingdom. If you choose the United Kingdom, you have to pay one more dollar.
The plans, with the price per month, are:
Stellar
Price: $2.88
20 GB SSD
3 Websites
Stellar Plus
Price: $4.88
Unmetered SSD
Unlimited Websites
AutoBackup
Stellar Business (on cloud)
Price: $8.88
50 GB SSD
Unlimited Websites
AutoBackup & Cloud Storage
All the plans have these benefits:
- Unmetered bandwidth
- Free website builder
- Domain name and privacy protection
- Free automatic SSL installation
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Let’s clarify something: the AutoBackup means that you can back up your site anytime you want to.
In the Stellar plan, Namecheap will do two backups per week of your site.
I like to say in this Namecheap hosting review that the company gives you a free SSL certificate, unmetered bandwidth, and the possibility to choose the location of your hosting.
If you want to know what an SSL certificate and unmetered bandwidth is, please read this post on my blog: Shared Hosting vs Cloud Hosting: 1 winner
WordPress Hosting Pricing
All the WordPress hosting solutions come with an EasyWP quick start wizard.
EasyWP is, according to Namecheap, a quick start wizard that lets you install WordPress in your hosting with a couple of clicks.
Also, in this option you don’t have the opportunity to choose the location of your hosting.
I was surprised that Namecheap says that its WordPress hosting solution is Cloudbase.
Now I can understand the pricing.
The plans, with the price per month, are:
EasyWP Starter
Price: $3.88
10 GB SSD storage
50k visitors/month
EasyWP Turbo
Price: $7.88
50 GB SSD storage
200k visitors/month
1.5x more CPU
1.5x more RAM
Free SSL
EasyWP Supersonic
Price: $11.88
100 GB SSD storage
500k visitors/month
2x more CPU
2x more RAM
99.99% uptime guarantee
Free SSL
All the plans have these benefits:
- 1X WordPress website
- Installed in under 90 seconds
- Hosted on Namecheap Cloud
- Seamless scalability as visitors grow
- 99.9% Uptime
- 3X faster than traditional hosting
- Support for any domain name provider
- Easy-to-use dashboard to manage WordPress websites
- Safe and secure
- Easy to back up and restore
- SFTP and database access
Which Namecheap Hosting solution is better for a WordPress site or blog?
This is a tricky question but I am going to do my best to give you a good answer.
If you want to start your blogging journey and you don’t want to spend much at the beginning, a good choice is the Stellar hosting plan at just $2.88 per month.
Why not the EasyWP Starter plan?
The answer is simple. That plan doesn’t give you the SSL certificate and trust me, you won’t rank on Google without an SSL certificate.
In this Namecheap hosting review I am going to review the Stellar plan because I want to test the most basic plan and show you if that plan could be a good alternative for you.
Step by step, how to start a WordPress blog with this company in this Namecheap hosting review
Ok, it is time to show you, in this Namecheap hosting review, how to start a WordPress blog with the Stellar plan of the company.
First you have to select the Stellar plan.
Then you have to do the domain name connection.
You have two options here. New domain name or existing domain name.
With the new domain name option, you have the chance to buy a domain name from Namecheap.
The second option is existing domain name.
This is the option I will use because my test domain name is on Namecheap, but if you have a domain name with another company, you can make the connection here too.
I will select my domain name and click on Connect to Hosting.
Then click on Add to Cart.
Now you will see that Namecheap has an upsell offer. Let me tell you that you don’t need anything from that, just click on Confirm Order.
Then you have to click on Pay Now.
And now you have your hosting on Namecheap.
Now it is time to set up your hosting on Namecheap.
Namecheap will send you an email to access the cPanel through your Namecheap account.
The link will take you here. You just need to click on Go to cPanel.
To install WordPress on your hosting account you will need to find the Softaculous App Installer and click on it.
Then you will find the WordPress app installation, click on it.
Once inside the WordPress app installation, you have to first copy the Admin Username and Admin Password so later you can enter your blog, and then click on Install.
And in about two minutes the installation will be completed and you will see the link to enter your blog.
But right now, you cannot enter your blog. The reason is that you need to set up the name servers.
Namecheap will send you an email with the name servers. If you have your domain name with another company, follow the instructions of that company to set up the name server. Every company has different instructions.
But if you have your domain name with Namecheap the setup of the name servers will be very easy.
You go to your domain name. Look for NAMESERVERS and select Namecheap Web Hosting DNS.
Then you will have to wait less than 24 hours to see your WordPress blog on the internet.
While you wait, you can set up your SSL certificate.
And this is how you set up your SSL certificate.
First you have to go to the cPanel and look for the Namecheap SSL.
Then you will see this:
The only thing you need to do is to sign in with your Namecheap account and then click on Allow.
And that is all.
You may get confused because you will see this window, but you have to click on Installed via Namecheap SSL.
There you will see that everything is ready with the Namecheap SSL certificate.
Now you have your Namecheap hosting completely set up.
In this Namecheap hosting review it is time to test the most basic hosting of Namecheap.
Testing the Stellar Plan in this Namecheap Hosting review
Before doing the testing let me tell you what I like about the Stellar plan in this Namecheap hosting review.
Namecheap does not install unnecessary plugins.
That is good because you will install the plugins that you need.
These are all the plugins that you will find on your hosting.
So now let me tell you what I am going to do.
I will test the hosting with the WordPress theme Twenty Twenty.
To test the loading times and the Core Web Vitals I am going to use GTmetrix.
As I chose the hosting in the US, I will choose the test server location also in the US.
The results are excellent. The complete loading time is 1.7 seconds and the Web Vitals are all green.
Now I am going to test the hosting using a theme for the blog. For that reason I am going to use the free theme of GeneratePress.
If you want to use the free theme, you have to go to Themes, then Add New:
Now in Search Themes you will have to write GeneratePress.
The last step is to click on Install.
This is how this theme looks.
Now as you can see the full loading time is just 0.7 seconds, one second less and the Web Vitals are still green.
What I want to tell you is that choosing the right theme for your blog is very important.
The theme for your blog has to help you with the loading time.
So the combination of a good hosting provider and the right WordPress theme can help you with the performance of your WordPress blog.
For me, the Stellar plan from Namecheap is a good option to start your blogging journey.
I can recommend it in this Namecheap hosting review.
Pros and Cons of the Stellar Plan in this Namecheap Hosting Review
The pros and cons in this Namecheap hosting review are:
Pros
- $2.88 per month is cheap for a hosting plan.
- Free SSL with one click installation.
- Fast loading time
- No unnecessary plugins
- Easy installation of WordPress.
Cons
- The cPanel is not user friendly.
- This plan should come with a one click installation for WordPress.
- No instructions for beginner users about how to install WordPress in this plan.
Conclusions
I can recommend the Stellar plan in this Namecheap hosting review. It was a pleasant surprise to see that this plan can help anyone start a blogging journey.
Also, now you know how important a good theme is in improving the loading time of a blog.
That is the reason why the combination of the Stellar plan from Namecheap and the free theme of GeneratePress can help a beginner blogger to start ranking on Google.
Like I said before, the Stellar plan from Namecheap is good for WordPress; you will not have any problem with your WordPress site or WordPress blog.
The dedicated plans from Namecheap for WordPress are on the Namecheap Cloud and for that reason are not cheap.
But if you don’t have a big budget the Stellar plan from Namecheap with the free theme of GeneratePress is all you need to start blogging.
