In this post, I’ll compare Namecheap vs Bluehost and help you decide which provider is best for your website by comparing
- Plans and Pricing
- Speed and Performance
- Security features
- Control Panel
- Customer Support and other services
This is a complete guide for choosing a web host between Namecheap vs Bluehost.
Namecheap is a low-cost hosting company with 11 million registered customers and 10 million domains. In contrast, Bluehost has hosted roughly two million websites and is the top pick by WordPress.org. for WP websites.
Namecheap is an established and trustworthy registrar of domain names and web hosting services. Still, Bluehost is an even more famous web host that provides domain registration services. Is Bluehost, therefore, improved as a result? But that’s probably not the case.
Namecheap, in contrast to Bluehost, does not financially compensate reviewers to maintain its position as the top web host available on your search results page. The primary areas of emphasis will be the cost, usability, performance, and safety of their products and customer service. After all, these are the primary aspects of the service you’re paying for when purchasing hosting.
It is not a simple effort to search for web hosting that is both reputable and economical. But deciding between Namecheap vs Bluehost is an excellent place to start when making a decision.
Namecheap is consistently ranked as one of the most cost-effective hosting companies on the market. Its prices are so cheap that one wonders if they are trying to hide anything. Because of this, the service is renowned far more for being a domain registrar than a dependable supplier.
Alternately, Bluehost is one of the leaders in this sector of the market. Despite higher pricing, it is still within the range of what is considered reasonable. Prices do not cause you to wonder whether or not you are receiving a kitty in a bag.
Regardless, each service provider has both positives and negatives to offer. Therefore, without further ado, let’s get right into it with a summary of the situation.
Namecheap vs Bluehost: General Info
Namecheap and Bluehost are web hosting companies that provide customers of all experience levels with low-cost solutions and a wide variety of customization possibilities. The word “cheap” gives the impression that Namecheap is more reasonably priced than Bluehost. However, the latter is quicker and more dependable.
The following is a condensed comparison of the two service providers. You have the option of skipping forward to a particular topic that piques your interest or proceeding directly to the conclusion of the piece if you want to read a summary of the results.
Namecheap vs Bluehost
| Features | Namecheap | Bluehost |
|---|---|---|
 Hosting Types | celestial WordPress, WooCommerce, VPS, and dedicated | Shared, WordPress, WooCommerce, VPS, and dedicated hosting |
 Free Domain | No (but there are discounts for the first year up to 100%) | Yes |
 Pricing | From $1.58/mo | From $2.95/mo |
 Data Storage | 20 GB-Unlimited | 10GB-120GB |
 Bandwidth | Unmetered | Unmetered |
 Website Backups | Yes | Yes |
 Dedicated Hosting | Yes | Yes |
 cPanel | Yes | Yes |
 Free CDN | No | Yes |
 Free Site Migration | Yes | Yes |
 Money Back Guarantee | 30 Days | 30 Days |
 Customer Support | 24/7 live chat and ticketing | 24/7 live chat, ticketing, and phone |
 Uptime Guarantee | 100% | None |
 Server Location | The US, UK, EU | Orem, Utah, USA |
 Security | SSL certificates, DDoS protection, domain privacy, and backups | Free SSL, 24/7 server monitoring, and Cloudflare DDoS protection |
 Email | Free | $3.00/month |
| ⭐ Rating | 3.6/5 | 4.5/5 |
 Website | www.namecheap.com | www.bluehost.com |
Namecheap vs Bluehost: Plan and Prices
Bluehost may be more affordable, but Namecheap is far less expensive.
Shared Hosting
Shared hosting is web hosting in which multiple websites are hosted on a single physical server. A single server has many users using its resources, which lower expenses. Each user has a part of the server where they can host their website files. Shared servers can host many users.
Namecheap offers 3 hosting plans Steller plan, Steller Plus Plan, and Steller Business Plan. All plans have different prices and features. You can choose between three that meet your requirements.
Stellar Plan: In stellar plan provide 20 GB storage, unlimited bandwidth, and an unlimited number of sites for $4.88/mo monthly and $2.18/mo yearly.
Stellar Plus Plan: The plan provides 50 GB storage, unlimited bandwidth, and an unlimited number of sites for $6.48/mo monthly and $3.18/mo yearly.
Stellar Business Plan: In stellar business plan provide unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, and an unlimited number of sites for $9.48/mo monthly and $4.98/mo yearly.
On the other hand, Bluehost offers 4 shared hosting plans Basic, Plus, choice Plus, and Pro.
Basic Plan: In basic plan provide 50 GB storage, unlimited bandwidth, Free SSL, and 1 website for $3.95 a month.
Plus Plan: In plus plan provides unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, Free SSL, and an unlimited number of websites for $5.85 a month.
Choice Plus Plan: In choice plus plan provides unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, Free SSL, and an unlimited number of websites for $5.95 a month.
Pro Plan: In Pro, the plan provides unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, Free SSL, and an unlimited number of websites for $9.95 a month.
To get the most out of Bluehost’s shared hosting, you’ll need to sign up for one of its higher-tier plans (Choice Plus or Pro), which will give you access to features such as Spam Experts, site backup, and domain privacy protection. Alternatively, you can buy these features as an add-on for the Basic and Plus plans.
Some aspects of Bluehost’s and Namecheap’s shared hosting services are comparable. These aspects include the provision of a free SSL certificate with the purchase of any plan, the provision of a 30-day money-back guarantee, and the provision of a free domain name with the purchase of an annual subscription for the first year.
The primary distinction between the two is cost, but some other notable variances exist. For example, Bluehost’s shared hosting packages are more expensive than Namecheap’s, even considering that the latter uses a data center in the United Kingdom.
VPS Hosting
VPS represents Virtual Private Server, which refers to partitioning a physical server into multiple servers. In effect, each one acts just like a dedicated server, and you get all the features of a dedicated server but at a lower price.
Namecheap VPS hosting has 3 plans Pulsar, Quasar, and Magnetar.
The Pulsar plan is the cheapest and most popular of them. Pulsar offers 2 CPU cores, 2GB RAM, 40 GB SSD RAID 10, and 1000GB bandwidth. Also, you get 1 free dedicated IP with it and root-level access. Its monthly pricing is $9.88/mo. Quarterly pricing is $8.88/mo and $6.88/mo yearly.
The company and its clients consider the Quasar plan the best VPS hosting plan. It offers 4 CPU cores, 6 GB RAM, 120 GB SSD RAID 10, and 3000 GB bandwidth.
In addition, with this plan, you get 100 GBs of offsite backup storage, up to 2 dedicated IPs,s and root/reseller level access. The pricing is $15.88/mo monthly, $14.88/mo quarterly, and $12.88/mo yearly.
Magnetar is a new VPS hosting plan that is the most powerful among the VPS plans. It offers 8 CPU cores, 12 GB RAM, 240 GB SSD RAID 10, and 6000 GB bandwidth. In addition, with magnetar, you get 200 GBs of offsite backup storage, up to 2 dedicated IPs, and root/reseller level access.
The pricing is $28.88/mo monthly, $26.88/mo quarterly, and $24.88/mo yearly.
The question “What’s better to choose” depends on what you need from your hosting services. The best choice to start with would be the Quasar plan.
Bluehost also offers VPS hosting, with 3 plans named Standard, Enhanced, and Ultimate. All plans include unlimited bandwidth, 24/7 support, cPanel/WHM, a straightforward dashboard where you can manage all tools, analyze performance, and more on one easy-to-use dashboard and other services.
The Standard plan offers 2 cores with 30GB SSD storage, 2GB RAM, 1 TB bandwidth, and 1 IP address. You can get this plan for $19.99 per month.
The Enhanced plan has 2 cores with 60GB SSD storage, 4GB RAM, 2 TB bandwidth, and 2 IP addresses. This plan is available for $29.99 per month.
The ultimate plan includes 4 cores with 120GB SSD storage, 8GB RAM, 3 TB bandwidth, and 2 IP addresses. You can get this plan for $59.99 per month.
WordPress hosting
Namecheap WordPress hosting has 3 Managed WP hosting plans: EasyWP Starter, EasyWP Turbo, and EasyWP Supersonic.
EasyWP Starter is the cheapest one. It has 1 WordPress website, manages 50k monthly visits, comes with 10 GB of SSD storage, and doesn’t have free CDN or Positive SSL. The pricing is $24.88 for the first year.
EasyWP Turbo is considered the best choice of the three. This plan offers 1 WP website, manages up to 200k monthly visitors, comes with 50 GB of SSD, has 1.5x more CPU and RAM than Starter, and free CDN and PositiveSSL. This plan is available for $48.88 for the first year.
EasyWP Supersonic is the most powerful one. With this plan, you can get 1 WP website, manages up to 500k monthly visitors, has 2x more CPU and RAM than Starter, and have free CDN and Positive SSL. The pricing is $54.88 for the first year.
Bluehost offers four WordPress hosting plans basic plus, Plus, Choice Plus (recommended), and Pro.
Bluehost has the cheapest WordPress hosting plans than Namecheap. Its 12-month price starts from $2.95 to $12.95 a month. Furthermore, Bluehost offers many more features than Namecheap.
Bluehost WordPress hosting plans offer unlimited websites, custom themes, 24/7 customer support, a free domain for 1 year, free CDN, and a free SSL certificate. With Choice Plus and Pro, you can also get free domain privacy, free automated backup, free dedicated IP, and optimized CPU resources. Moreover, according to the plans, you will get a different number of SSD storage.
Renewal Prices
Namecheap has affordable renewal prices. Shared hosting services are priced differently by the company. Namecheap charges $4.48 a month for Steller, $6.48 for Steller Plus, which is popular for hosting websites, and $9.48 for Steller Business.
A Namecheap Steller Plus web hosting service costs $37.88 a year. The plan renews for $75.88 yearly, while the Steller Plus bundle costs $68.88 for two years. Every year, the plan renews for $150.88.
Namecheap domain names
- .com $8.98/year. Renews at $13.98/year
- .org $8.98/year. Renews at $12.98/year
- .info $3.98/year. Renews at $17.98/year
- .net $10.95/year. Renews at $12.98/year
Bluehost offers the cheapest renewal rates. The company charges different prices for shared hosting services. Bluehost’s monthly renewal prices are $9.99 for the Basic plan, $14.99 for the Plus plan, $18.99 for the Choice Plus (recommended), and $28.99 for the Pro plan.
If you buy the Choice Plus package for a year, it will cost $5.45 per month and renew for $18.99. The pricing of a three-year hosting plan is the same as a one-year hosting package.
Bluehost domain names
- .com $12.99/1st yr. Renews at $18.99
- .org $9.99/1st yr. Renews at $17.99
- .info $11.99/1st yr. Renews at $15.99
- .net $18.99/1st yr. Renews at $18.99
Performance Review: Speed and Uptime
There is no specific uptime guarantee mentioned on Bluehost’s website. I was given the most bizarre answer when I contacted customer service with this question. I was informed that the servers were down at the moment and that they were working on fixing the issue. The uptime guarantee is 99%, according to the information given.
Bluehost average uptime from the past 5 months:
- August 2022: 99.98%
- July 2022: 99.82%
- June 202: 99.97%
- May 2022: 99.92%
- April 2022: 99.29%
Bluehost often faces downtime from time to time. However, the company claims to resolve the issues within 15 minutes. Severe problems could take more than 15 minutes to fix. The server could need more time to fix the problem in these highly unusual conditions. Restoring your server to the entire operation can take several hours and, in unusual circumstances, even a day.
Namecheap offers a 100% monthly guarantee to all Value, Professional, Ultimate, Business, Stellar, Stellar Plus, Stellar Business, and Dedicated server accounts. Except for Intel Xeon E3-1220 v3 Series Dedicated server subscriptions, which offer a monthly guarantee of 99.9%. Furthermore, there is a 99.9% monthly Guarantee on all WordPress and VPS plans.
Namecheap average uptime from the past 5 months:
- August 2022: 100%
- July 2022: 99.90%
- June 202: 100%
- May 2022: 99.97%
- April 2022: 99.77%
Even though Bluehost has servers in the United States, page loading times were the slowest. Aside from that, our performance testing resulted in Bluehost getting an average score. Check out what went on in our in-depth review of Bluehost here.
Namecheap operates its servers provides the United States and the United Kingdom. It performs very well in practically every environment imaginable around the globe. Check out our comprehensive evaluation of NameCheap to get more specifics about the company’s performance.
Is Namecheap faster than Bluehost?
Yes, we built up two brand-new test WordPress websites with Namecheap and Bluehost using Elementor. We evaluated these sites’ loading times using the web monitoring tool Pingdom.
Here is the result of the Namecheap website:
- Asia – Japan – Tokyo: 1.32s
- North America – USA – Washington DC: 1.34s
- Europe – United Kingdom – London: 1.54s
- Pacific – Australia – Sydney: 1.65s
The results of the Bluehost website are as follows:
- Asia – Japan- Tokyo: 1.41ms
- Europe – United Kingdom – London: 1.35ms
- North America – USA – Washington DC: 1.19ms
- Pacific – Australia – Sydney: 2.09ms
Website Security
Bluehost and NameCheap defend their servers with DDoS protection and provide free SSL certificates to their customers.
Regarding server and website protection, Namecheap offers a broader range of security-related features than its competitors. Bluehost, on the other hand, is a hosting company that charges extra for even the most basic security options. Thankfully, both companies incorporate the most fundamental protections, such as SSL certificates and DDoS mitigation.
Namecheap and Bluehost are two web hosting companies that provide free SSL certificates and take care of the installation process. However, whereas Bluehost makes the activation process simple, Namecheap pretends it is simple.
Plus, Bluehost employs Cloudflare as its content delivery network (CDN), and activating it requires no more than two clicks in your dashboard. Namecheap uses Supersonic CDN, a content delivery network that is somewhat less well-known yet credible.
Here are some more sophisticated features:
In addition to the content delivery network (CDN), which has previously been described, Namecheap now offers a Web Application Firewall (WAF). You can secure the website using this method from SQL injection and online dangers. Even though there is a fee associated with this one, the cost begins at $8.88 a month.
Bluehost does not come equipped with a firewall by default. Therefore, you need to buy one, and the cost might be relatively high. The monthly fee is $5.99.
The issue is not entirely clear regarding backups:
The Stellar Plus and Stellar Business packages Namecheap offer complimentary automated backups. On the other hand, Stellar follows the same procedure as Bluehost for its Basic and Plus packages. They may do backups, but they can’t promise it. Additionally, it seems that the option to buy backups with Stellar is unavailable.
You must buy at least the Choice Plus plan to have backup options when using Bluehost. If you choose not to, there will be an additional price of $32.95 every year.
In the end, it comes down to the fact that both providers provide sufficient security protections for shared hosting. The simple truth is that an average person does not need any of those sophisticated options at all. But, on the other hand, if you want to engage in commercial activity, you should probably contribute to the cost of more sophisticated safety precautions.
Extra hosting Management Features:
Both hosts come with various additional functions in addition to the primary control panels, contributing to the hosts’ overall attractiveness. For example, Namecheap provides a free logo creator for its customers. Bluehost, on the other hand, is head and shoulders above its competitors thanks to capabilities like site staging and marketing management.
You get access to Namecheap‘s free logo creator when you create an account with them. It is a simple tool, but there is room for personalization on your end. Just not very much. Despite this, it is a beneficial tool if you want to get some thoughts out of your head and into paper.
Although it won’t be very complex and won’t include any unearthly features, the logo will still be available for download at no cost. And not many of the free logo makers out there will let you do that.
Bluehost provides many superior tools, such as staging and marketing management.
The creation of a duplicate of your website is made possible through staging. This content will serve as your sandbox, where you are free to experiment with your website in any way you see fit. There is no need to worry about anything breaking or being behind schedule.
Your primary website will remain unchanged, and you will only be able to push any changes you make to the live website if and when you want to do so.
You will find it in the WordPress administrative panel, categorized as a Bluehost plugin. Making a copy is a relatively simple process. You just need a few clicks to finish up. The same principle applies to releasing those modifications to the live site.
Additionally, Bluehost allows you to set up marketing from inside your website’s dashboard. Tools such as Google My Business and Google Ads have already been incorporated into the platform for convenient usage.
Your website will show on Google Maps if you use Google My Business. It will help you rank higher for broader inquiries, such as “café nearby.”
The management of advertisements is made more accessible with Google Ads.
You won’t have a hard time surviving without these tools. However, if you are just starting, ensuring that your website is functional and has a noticeable online presence is quite helpful.
Bluehost, in general, offers more helpful additional features than Namecheap does. One more item to add to the long list of Bluehost’s user-friendliness and functionalities.
Namecheap vs Bluehost: cPanel
CPanel is the control panel that both Namecheap and Bluehost use. The primary difference between the two is that Namecheap employs cPanel as its primary administration interface. At the same time, Bluehost only uses it as an alternative management interface for more complex settings.
If you have been working with website hosting for some time now, there is a good chance that you are familiar with the control panel that Namecheap provides.
It is Namecheap‘s primary control panel for managing hosting accounts. You are just one click away from having all you need. WordPress and Joomla may both be installed from this location. In addition to email, file, and database administration, cPanel now has SSL control options. This control panel is well-known for its user-friendliness and usefulness; hence, navigating it should not present any difficulties, even for those without prior experience.
Bluehost also utilizes a version of cPanel that has been significantly updated. You may access it by selecting “Advanced” from the menu on the left side of the screen.
Bluehost’s usage of cPanel for more sophisticated administrative features, such as database management, cron tasks, and SSH access, differentiates it from other web hosting providers.
Meanwhile, the native dashboard for account administration allows configuring all the primary parameters. Because of this, cPanel may not even be required for novice users.
For instance, Bluehost removed the standard “Domains” administration from the cPanel control panel. However, you can find it on the primary dashboard at this point. Therefore, the category “Advanced” really lives up to its name.
Overall, Bluehost did make some improvements to its control panel by implementing new features and modifying existing ones.
The comparison between Namecheap vs Bluehost in terms of the panels ends in a tie. The most significant distinction is that Namecheap uses it as its primary administration tool. At the same time, Bluehost offers it as a bonus feature.
Customer Support
Namecheap offers 24/7 phone support, email support, and live chat support. These options allow customers to talk to a real person rather than a bot. Another nice touch is that Namecheap allows customers to submit a ticket and automatically transfers it to the next available agent. This feature can be handy if you have a problem that takes a bit longer to solve.
In addition, Namecheap’s knowledge base also contains information about common questions and issues, making it easy to find answers to common problems.
You can access their live chat service directly. However, some web hosting providers require a name and email to access the live chat service. I used their live chat support and got a response within 3 minutes, but the information was beneficial.
The hosting specialist explained the information in detail that I asked for. But you would have to wait for 5 to 10 minutes.
But the bottom line is that Namecheap doesn’t have phone service. You can only reach them by live chat, using a ticket and email.
Bluehost offers a range of services to its customers. One of the areas that Bluehost excels in is customer support. Bluehost’s knowledge base section has a vast amount of faqs. You can find solutions to any questions you may have.
Do you know the best part? Bluehost provides phone services to its customers. Bluehost also offers email support, but their live chat is the most effective way to get quick answers to your questions. If you have any questions or concerns, you must submit a ticket, and Bluehost will take care of the rest. So if you’re ready to move to Bluehost, you’re in good hands.
Bluehost live chat service wants your full name, domain name, the topic you are to ask about, description, and additional information to explain your problem in this section to access the live chat service. That could not be very pleasant to ask about all these things. But their customer support team provide informative data.
However, Bluehost should change this and allow its customers to chat with them directly.
Namecheap vs Bluehost: Final Recommendations
In our comparison of Namecheap vs Bluehost, we discovered that low costs are not the only factor to consider. Even though Bluehost is more expensive, the quality, usability, performance, and safety it provides make up for the difference in cost. Unfortunately, Namecheap’s more affordable pricing and responsive customer support are insufficient to salvage the company’s record.
Bluehost is the best option. It has a dashboard that is marginally superior and more user-friendly. In addition, the performance is head and shoulders above Namecheap’s. If you want to establish a website for a company, an online shop, or any other while website that should produce revenue, you should consider using Bluehost.
| Features | Namecheap | Bluehost |
|---|---|---|
| Plans and Pricing | Including a 30-day money-back guarantee and low costs that last through renewal. | Higher prices compared to NameCheap, and no free website migration is offered. You may get a full refund if you aren't satisfied within 30 days |
| Key Features | Site creation tool, domain, and email accounts may all be had for no cost. | Free website name, free website creation tool, and free website migration |
| Performance | 99.99 percent availability with minimal or no interruptions, improved page load times | Guaranteed 99% Availability, but with Downtime and Slower Loading Times |
| Security | All plans come with with security features including SSL encryption, DDoS protection, account locking, domain locking, and two-factor authentication. | Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates, Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) prevention, Domain Privacy + Protection (add-on), SiteLock (paid add-on and with certain plans), CodeGuard (paid add-on and with some plans), and Spam protection are all included at no extra cost (paid add-on and with some plans) |
| Support | Access to a comprehensive knowledge library, available chat and issue help around the clock, and trained staff | less unified and systematic Despite having access to a knowledge base, live chat, and a phone line around the clock, some of the agents on these channels lack the necessary expertise |
What are the Alternatives to Bluehost and Namecheap?
Bluehost
Namecheap
The Review
Namecheap vs Bluehost
Namecheap and Bluehost are both popular web hosting providers offering various features, including domain registration, hosting, and website builder tools. In terms of pricing, Namecheap is generally considered to offer good value for money, while Bluehost is known for its low introductory prices but higher renewal rates. In terms of features, both companies offer similar options, but Bluehost includes a free domain for the first year with some of its hosting plans. Regarding customer support, Namecheap and Bluehost have generally received positive reviews, but some users have reported longer wait times for support with Bluehost. Overall, Namecheap and Bluehost are solid choices for web hosting, but it's worth comparing the specific features and pricing to see which fits your needs best.
Review Breakdown
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Namecheap 3.5
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Bluehost 4.5
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