Namecheap VPS and Shared Hosting Review

 Most web hosting decisions are based on a simple choice: VPS or shared hosting. While you might have taken the time to research the the various providers, price, specification, support options, and limitations – along with confirming you can run the web apps you need – will typically leave you with a choice of around 10 web hosts.

Among those names you will usually find Namecheap. Offering a mix of hosting types, Namecheap has a trio of options available in both the shared and VPS hosting categories. 

Shared hosting is always the cheaper option with web hosting. It gives you access to a portion of a server (the size and resources allotted depend on the plan you select), which means you’re sharing physical resources with other websites. Storage is usually unmetered, with more added as it is required. Details like RAM and CPU don’t require any scrutiny, either, which allows you to focus on building your website. 

Should you need more space or a server that can handle increased traffic, you’re usually be upgraded to more suitable hosting. This is preferable to being responsible for other sites on the shared hosting being slowed down, or having your website suspended as the server attempts to cope with an unforeseen traffic spike.

With Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting, resources – albeit virtual ones – are more specific. These virtual resources are dedicated, not shared, so you can enjoy superior control over the server. VPS packages come with specific virtual CPU cores, along with dedicated RAM and storage space.

Namecheap has been providing all manner of hosting options (including dedicated WordPress hosting and dedicated servers) to customers since 2000. In that time, it has helped millions of customers, and currently manages over 17 million domains around the world. Based in the US but with a worldwide team, Namecheap’s main selling point is the price. As the website says: “A better online world, for less.” 

But does Namecheap deliver reliable and efficient hosting? To find out, we’ve tested a VPS plan and a shared plan, evaluating them on features, pricing, and support options. We’ve also judged performance, based on a selection of database, server, and WordPress tests.

Namecheap VPS

You can choose from three VPS plans from Namecheap, with increasingly greater specifications. 

Each plan has a greater virtual CPU, more RAM, and more storage than the one before, with the price increasing to match. We looked at the Quasar plan, with a 4 core virtual CPU, 6GB of RAM, and 120GB of SSD in RAID 10 configuration. (This provides a resilient storage environment that can cope with SSD failures without data loss.) Not many host highlight this as a feature (GreenGeeks is one that does) and it is definitely a selling point. The Quasar plan also has 3000GB/3TB of bandwidth, which seems noticeably less than some of the competing providers. 

To find out what limitations are in place for databases on the VPS plans, I chatted with the Namecheap support team. Their response was quick, and informed me that they had “no limits to creating databases or database size in […] VPS hosting plans.” So, unless your database(s) hit the storage limit of your chosen VPS plan’s SSD, there should be no problems.

Namecheap’s VPS plans are available with annual, quarterly, and monthly payment options (the prices in the table above are for the basic monthly option). Annual and quarterly options require up-front payment, but each has an enticing discount that you keep with each renewal.

So, not only is Namecheap affordable with the initial sign-up, it stays that way with each quarterly or annual renewal. Most web hosts revert the renewal price to the non-discounted price, again seemingly making Namecheap stand out on price.

Acquiring a Namecheap VPS plan lets you select a Linux operating system and configure some other options. The VPS has various add-ons that you might be interested to include, such as a choice of server management. However, this is where things get a touch complicated – and definitely more expensive.

The basic Quasar plan – as with the Pulsar and Magneter options – is a stripped back VPS. Without paying for an interface like cPanel or Webuzo, you’re going to be stuck spending a lot of time on configuration. Even if your organization has a dedicated web admin, they’ll probably want some server panel software. 

While other hosts include cPanel free on their VPS packages, Namecheap has slapped a $10.88/month charge on the software. Alternatively, Webuzo is just $2.88/month, but doesn’t offer the same depth of features that cPanel has. You can also add WHMCS (starting at $8/month extra) and Softaculous ($1.50/month) if required.

A server management plan can also be selected. Even with the free option, you have to pay an hourly rate for reinstalling the OS, and fixing failures ($15/hour). Or you can add the Basic management plan, which bolts an extra $10/month, brings with it security enhancements, and a lower $10/hour rate for maintenance. The Complete option, for $25/month extra, accommodates all maintenance requirements, and tightens up security. This is the best option, but is yet another factor to account for when considering a Namecheap VPS. 

Further, extra RAM, storage, backup storage, bandwidth, and IP addresses can be added to your Namecheap VPS. By this time, however, it costs a lot more than $15.88/month.

Other things are included in the price for the Quasar plan. It has 100GB offsite backup, two dedicated IP addresses, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. There is a choice of AlmaLinux, Ubuntu, and Debian OSs, and 24/7 live chat support is available. Namecheap will also setup your plan. 

Namecheap Shared

If your hosting requirements are more modest, Namecheap’s shared plans might be more to your liking. Three are on offer: Stellar, Stellar Plus, and Stellar Business. They all offer low prices and unmetered monthly traffic. The Stellar plan, which we reviewed, has 20GB SSD storage. The Stellar Plus has unmetered SSD use, while the more expensive Stellar Business plan has a 50GB limit.

Monthly, annual, and two-year pricing options are available, with discounts ranging from 47% to 65% if you want a long-term relationship. The rolling monthly price is pretty low, however, if you don’t want to be tied down.

All three of these packages are suitable for starting a new project or migrating a relatively compact website to. The only stumbling block you may encounter is with the basic Stellar plan, where the 20GB SSD could prove challenging, especially with a project with a lot of media, or one or more large databases. The standard Stellar plan has a limit of 50 databases, which would take some doing to breach. Stellar only supports MySQL, whereas PostgreSQL and MySQL databases can be used with the Stellar Plus and Stellar Business plans. Details on database limits can be found on a dedicated Namecheap knowledgebase page. 

As noted, we tested the Stellar plan, which is suitable for small WordPress websites, basic online stores, and discussion boards. Namecheap’s shared plans have a built-in cPanel (no extra cost) and Softaculous script installer, so you’re restricted to WordPress if you want to use other content management systems (CMS). 

Unmetered traffic is advantageous in case your site suddenly becomes popular. You’re not going to be penalised unless some form of cyberattack is taking place, and even then you’re looking at a temporary block on your site for the security of the other sites on the server and the host itself. In any event, the shared plans have various security countermeasures in place, from two-factor authentication controlling cPanel access to keeping the OS and software patched, strict firewalls, and the ClamAV virus scanner. Shared plans also get a guaranteed 100% uptime.

A shared server can be chosen in the US, UK, or EU. If it’s in the latter, there is the option of selecting an eco-friendly datacenter in the Netherlands. This is powered by 100% renewable resources, so while it’s not quite planting trees (in the manner of GreenGeeks), it’s a responsible option.

The Namecheap Stellar plan also offers 3 domains (Stellar Plus and Stellar Business will host unlimited domains), unlimited parked domains, 30 subdomains, and twice-weekly backups.

Namecheap includes its own SSL certificate, along with AI WordPress tools, mailboxes, a website builder tool, CDN for faster website loading, and free website migration if you’re moving from another provider.

Database, WordPress and Scripting Performance

The trade-off between price and features that you get bundled into the plan from other providers is just one aspect of whether Namecheap is the right web host. To assess whether its servers and database support are up to the task, we’ve conceived and run a series of tests.

On our VPS and shared hosting plans, we installed a copy of WordPress and populated it with dummy content. 

The first test was set up to insert 87 million rows of data (from Tom’s Hardware’s page view data) into the WordPress database. The faster this process completed, the better.

To take the test further, we then added random numerical values into each of those 87 million rows, again looking for a fast result.

Focusing more on the database itself rather than the server’s ability to handle data tasks, the next test used the JOIN command to bring together two tables, one of traffic and another of data. This was then queried using the SQL SUM command to return page views for each article, but on different dates. 

A faster response from the server is better.

Several benchmarking tools for WordPress are available, but one of the most popular is the WordPress Hosting Benchmark Tool (WPB). This can be installed on WordPress installations like a standard plugin, and provides benchmarks on a scoring system of 0 to 10, where 10 is the best. 

We used WPB to test database speed, file system speed, and network performance. 

Namecheap’s shared hosting plan achieved a score of 6.7 for this test, which places it roughly in the middle of all the hosting plans we’ve tested. Unfortunately, the WPB tests revealed that the shared hosting was not suitable for file system writing and file system copy and access tasks.

The VPS plan, meanwhile, returned a WordPress Hosting Benchmark Tool score of 7.2. Compared with other VPS plans from competing web hosts, it is roughly in the same ballpark as Hostgator and Scalahosting, but didn’t excel in any one area.

Namecheap Traffic and Uptime 400

One of the key selling points of a web host is its ability to handle traffic spikes and intentional attempts to knock the server offline. Our Apache benchmark tests were conceived to judge how the shared and VPS hosting packages could handle demanding performance scenarios.

The first test sent 500 simultaneous requests to the VPS and shared host servers. To make the scenario as realistic as possible, the requests were sent via the dummy WordPress site’s homepage. These results are a total of requests per second, and are based on the speed the server took to respond.

Namecheap Support

Almost all web hosts offer 24/7 support, based on live chat responses or form/email contact. Namecheap proved their speed by providing a fast initial reply to my question about database limits. Of course, more complex queries will take longer to resolve, which is why webhosts provide troubleshooting guides and knowledgebases.

The Namecheap “Help Center” is the home of the knowledgebase, blog, and how-to videos to help you make the most of your hosting package. Questions on logging into cPanel, how to edit a DNS zone, and accessing the files via FTP are among the most common, each with clear answers. There is also a dedicated section for WordPress queries.

Namecheap also provides “Guru guides” sharing in-depth expertise. If you just want to check on the server status, however, or confirm upcoming downtime, a service status page is provided.

Overall, we were impressed by the depth and speed of Namecheap’s support.

Bottom Line

Namecheap certainly lives up to its name and offers a bargain-basement collection of plans in the VPS and shared categories. However, as far as the VPS plans are concerned, the low prices are pretty pointless unless you have the time and energy (or the colleagues) to put into the complete management of a virtual private server. Otherwise, you need to pay for add-ons that can easily double or treble the basic monthly price.

In terms of performance, Namecheap lands squarely in the middle, with Hostinger, Bluehost, and Hostgator all performing better in our tests. Meanwhile, GreenGeeks and Scalahosting all delivered poorer benchmarking results than Namecheap.

Realistically, choosing one of Namecheap’s VPS plans without any bolt-ons will be a time sink. You’ll need one or two of these additional paid options, and the resulting price might just push you towards one of the other superior VPS hosts.