In this head-to-head Namecheap vs Bluehost comparison, we take a closer look at important features such as performance, pricing, pros and cons, and more — to help you decide before you sign up with one of these web hosting companies.
If you’ve never been burned by a website hosting company before, you’d constantly believe all the marketese they keep spewing out.
And it’s easy to sign up with the wrong company thanks to the unbelievable promo prices, the promise of unlimited everything, and claims that their support teams are gifts from the gods.
But I know better. I have tried a couple of website hosting companies, and some deliver the exact opposite of what they promise.
Now, if your website was already gaining traction, you don’t want any interruptions in service. If there are problems, you expect to reach customer care instantly and get solutions.
You definitely don’t want surprise and hidden fees eating into your budget when you least expect it. And when your traffic finally goes through the roof, you want a web host that delivers scalability on a silver platter.
When your website is your livelihood, you can’t afford to choose your web host haphazardly. You want deserve the best web hosting service that won’t break the bank.
And in today’s Namecheap vs Bluehost comparison post, we have two of the best and cheapest hosts around. We’ve tested both, and can confidently recommend either for beginners.
However, we love a contest with one true winner. So, who’s it gonna be? Namecheap or Bluehost?
Let us get down to work.
NAMECHEAP VS BLUEHOST: CHEAP HOSTING COMPARED
WHAT IS NAMECHEAP?
I think you’ll agree when I say: it’s important to start with a thorough background check. So, what is Namecheap and what do they offer?
Namecheap is a budget hosting provider powering over 1.5 million websites, and 10 million domains across the world.
30 days money-back guarantee.
Superb value for money managed WordPress hosting.
1x WordPress site installed & ready to go.
Intuitive and beginner-friendly dashboard.
Fast cloud servers, SSD storage & Free CDN.
Easy backup and restore.
Wait, you might be wondering how the math adds up. 10 million domains and just 1.5 million websites? How so? Please do tell.
Well, Namecheap is not just a hosting provider. They are largely a domain registrar that also happens to offer hosting services.
That means people can buy domain names at Namecheap, but host their sites elsewhere. Does that make sense now?
The company was founded in 2000 by CEO Richard Kirkendall, has 750 employees, and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States.
To help you get online quickly, Namecheap has a long list of solutions. They offer super-cheap shared hosting, managed WordPress hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated hosting, and professional email hosting.
They have a powerful domain search tool that helps you to land great deals on a couple of TLDs. Also, they offer you a website builder and 1-click install for WordPress and other CMSes.
On top of that, you have SSL certificates, domain + site transfers, premium DNS, CDN, VPN, cPanel, free logo maker, business card maker, domain marketplace, and so much more.
Namecheap offers above-average customer support via live chat, email, knowledgebase, and ticket system.
The cheapest shared hosting plan at Namecheap starts at $2.88/month when billed annually. If you had no idea, they are offering a 50% discount for one year, meaning you can start at just $1.44/month. Each plan comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
For less than $40 per year, you can host a personal blog, resume, portfolio, or a small business website at Namecheap without any problems.
WHAT IS BLUEHOST?
Bluehost is a popular hosting provider for many beginners. The service will be perfect especially if you have a personal blog or website that doesn’t have a lot of traffic.
A free domain name for one year is included with most plans.
Bluerock is their new and (speed & security) improved control panel (cPanel).
Free SSD drives come included in every shared hosting plan.
Servers are powered by PHP7, HTTP/2 and NGINX caching.
Bluehost offers free SSL certificates (Let’s Encrypt) and Cloudflare CDN.
Bluehost offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Is an official partner of WordPress.org.
If, however, you need performance-oriented, no-nonsense hosting for a big business website, you shouldn’t make Bluehost your best choice.
For resource-intensive and mission-critical websites, I would recommend a host such as Kinsta, Liquid Web or SiteGround.
Moving on swiftly, Bluehost is great as an entrance host, before you figure out things and understand the needs of your website fully.
Why?
It’s extremely simple to use and quite affordable. If you’re looking to test the waters, and learn the ropes without spending a lot, Bluehost offers the perfect home for your site.
The company was founded in 2003 and continues to serve an ever-growing list of many happy and a few not-so-happy customers.
With over 2 million websites, however, you can’t say their service is bad. You know, like “throw-in-the-trash-bag” kind of bad.
On the contrary, the happy group of customers lauds the company for stellar performance, super-fast support, and great prices.
Meanwhile, the not-so-happy group has nothing good to say about Bluehost support, a common sentiment that kept coming up when I did my research.
Most unhappy customers didn’t complain about site speeds or performance issues. They were mainly unhappy with support.
Well, the team at Bluehost does its best to offer prime support, but as is with any other company, you can’t make everybody happy.
Personally, however, I would give Bluehost a 3.9/5 in the support department. You can learn more in this brutally honest Bluehost review.
In the features department, Bluehost shines. They offer you all the options you need to get online quickly.
You have shared hosting, WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated server hosting, free domain for a year, free SSL certificate, cPanel, 1-click installers for WordPress and other platforms, unlimited traffic, unmetered bandwidth, SSD storage, and the list goes on.
The cheapest shared hosting plan starts at an introductory price of $2.75 billed triennially. The plan costs $7.99/month normally. All plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Both web hosts offer great-ish support via phone, live chat, knowledgebase, and ticket system.
Continue reading our Namecheap vs Bluehost comparison post for more details, and which company makes the best hosting companion.
Bluehost is one of the oldest and most trusted web hosts on the Internet. Bluehost is the go-to choice and recommendation of not just ours but of hundreds of professional bloggers.
They host over 2 million websites on their data centers spread across the globe. Whether you own a small bike shop in Australia or a multi-million dollar business with customers from around the world, Bluehost will offer you the best in class support and all the services you need to scale your online business.
Although Namecheap is known mostly as a popular domain name registrar, they are also known for their affordable web hosting services.
Unlike Bluehost, Namecheap is primarily a domain name provider but that doesn’t make them any less of a web host. Bluehost’s web hosting services fit businesses of all shapes and sizes and are easily scalable.
What is also a bit interesting is that Bluehost has a stronger brand demand than Namecheap, as more people search for Bluehost on Google.
Disclaimer: I will earn an affiliate commission if you sign up via links on this post with no additional cost to you.Thank you
