A website requires several things – application code/CMS, domain, hosting, web server, database server, nameservers, etc. The code/CMS and database/webserver reside on a server. Nameservers are provided by the hosting company, and the TLD must be registered with a good company.
Is domain required? No. Search engines can index server address URLs, for example (http://127.0.0.1/test-page/). As search engine users are familiar with .com/.net/.org sites/domains, they may not click on URLs of the type (127.0.0.1/some-page). Thus, you must follow the trend and register a TLD for your website.
Is hosting required? No. But if you want to host your own website, you’ll have to take care of several technical things.
The TLD is a very important asset of a website owner. If someone hacks it, you’ll not only lose your online identity, but you may also lose your business/work, etc. It is thus important to choose a registrar & hosting service provider that will keep your domain and website assets safe. Similarly, website hosting is very important. If the website is hosted on an overloaded server, it may not be fast.
From the above points, one can learn that TLDs should be registered only with a reputed/reliable registrar, and websites should be deployed only on a trustworthy web hosting service provider’s server. Namecheap is one of the top 10 hosting service providers and registrars. Does it sell .com, .org, .net extensions for a lower rate than other registrars? Are its hosting plans cheap? Is the company’s support good? Is NC a secure and reliable registrar? Let’s find this out!
Founded in 2000, Namecheap is a leading domain registrar. The company supports all TLDs and most of the ccTLDs, and it manages more than 10 million TLDs. It also offers VPN, ID validation, CDN, and VPS/Shared hosting services.
Pricing
Namecheap has better purchase and renewal pricing than most of the registrars. For example, for under 10 dollars, you can get a .com on it. You will not only get the domain but also a privacy shield. NC bundles a free domain privacy shield with each TLD you register with them. What is a privacy shield? When the privacy shield is enabled for a domain, the registrar will mask the registrar’s contact number, email address, etc. In other words, only you or the registrar would know your private details. Some registrars (for example, GoDaddy) offer domain privacy as an add-on service. GoDaddy shows a list of add-ons and services it wants to sell you, along with the TLD . You can select the add-on while purchasing a TLD. The registrar organizes more sales in a year compared to other registrars. Hence, you can buy a new TLD or transfer your expiring domain to Namecheap and save money when its sale is live.
Excellent support
Sometimes, you may get into trouble or might be in trouble, or you may think that you’re in trouble. No matter what the issue is, you can chat with the firm’s support staff in real time and get any type of hosting/domain/CDN-related questions answered.
Great interface and security
I’m a great fan of Namecheap’s user interface. With a click of a button, you can see the option to redirect the domain, change nameserver, enable/disable domain lock, etc. NC not only lets users register a domain but also provides shared hosting, VPN, and VPS hosting services. No matter what service you purchase from the company, the options to manage them will be right in front of you when you log in to your account. The registrar/hosting service provider lets users enable phone or app-based 2-factor authentication. Enabling 2FA is one of the latest and best ways to keep our web accounts safe.
Fast transfer and DNS resolution
If you have owned or own a domain, you might know that when you change the nameservers, you’ll see a notice that it might take up to 24 hours for DNS changes to reflect. When I changed the nameserver for a new domain I registered with NC, I was able to access that site within 15 minutes. When you want to transfer the domain to Namecheap (or another registrar), you won’t have to wait too long for the transfer process to complete. Within an hour of the transfer request, you’ll get an email from NC to approve or disapprove the transfer request in case of outgoing transfers. For incoming transfers, the firm will keep you updated with the transfer process via email. You can also see the transfer status by logging in to your NC dashboard.
Other top services offered by the company
VPN
With Namecheap’s VPN application, you can surf websites blocked by your government. Namecheap’s VPN features are the same as that of top VPN apps i.e. Cyberghost, ExpressVPN, NordVPN, IPVanish, PureVPN, etc i.e. no log browsing, unlimited bandwidth, 24 x 7 customer support, IP address masking, etc. NC’s VPN service costs $5.88 to $34.56. If you buy the annual plan, you’ll have to pay just $12.
CDN
The competitively priced Namecheap CDN costs $4.88 to $38.88 per month. It promises faster load times of a website and global PoPs. The VPN service offers DDOS protection and will soon be enabled with WAF as a security measure. It also supports custom SSL certificates.
Web hosting
NC shared hosting plans start at $0.82. The costliest plan is priced at $4.82 per month. The company has data centers in the UK, the US, and Europe. The Stellar shared hosting plan supports three websites and offers free CDN and 20GB storage. The Stellar Plus plan is priced at $4.88 per month, and it provides unlimited SSD storage memory. It also offers Auto backup and CDN services at no additional cost. The Stellar Business plan provides Auto backup, Cloud storage, CDN, and 50GB storage memory. The Business and Plus plan supports unlimited website hosting. Other interesting features offered by Namecheap hosting are as follows:
- Free website transfer.
- Domain privacy protection.
- Free website builder.
VPS Hosting
If you think Namecheap shared hosting cannot handle your website’s traffic, you can go for VPS Pulsar or Quasar VPS plan. The Pulsar plan is priced at $6.88, and the other plan i.e. Quasar plan will cost you $12.88 per month. The Pulsar server is powered by 2GB RAM, 40GB RAID 10 SSD, and a 2-core processor. The Quasar plan of the company features 6GB RAM, 120GB SSD (RAID 10), and offers a quad-core processor.
Premium DNS
Powered by the AnyCast service, the premium DNS servers of the registrar have an uptime of 100% and have lighting fast speed. It supports DNSSEC and ALIAS records and is easy to configure.
ID Validation
Businesses may suffer losses because of fake orders from fraudsters. Fake orders also waste time. A great way to handle fraudsters is to use the company’s ID validation service. How much does this service cost? Namecheap offers 3 ID validation plans – Starter, Starter Plus, and Business. The plans are priced between $8.88 to $88.80 per month. Is the service effective? Yes, the firm uses it internally to prevent fraud.
Email Hosting
If you’re looking for a reliable email hosting service provider and registered a domain with Namecheap, you can consider purchasing email hosting from the firm. The company offers three email hosting plans – Starter, Pro, and Ultimate. The Starter email plan is priced at $0.84 per month, and it provides one inbox, 5GB storage for emails, and extra 2GB storage for files. The Pro email plan costs $1.98 per month, and it offers three mailboxes, 30GB storage for emails, and 15GB storage memory for files. The Ultimate email plan is priced at $3.96 per month, and it provides 105GB of storage (75GB for emails and 30GB for files). This plan is powered by better servers than the Starter and Pro email hosting plans, according to Namecheap.
Marketplace
Found and registered a great domain and want to sell it instead of launching a website? The registrar has launched a marketplace where users can sell or buy TLDs of all types.
Closing words
Namecheap offers various types of website-related services. It has one of the best pricings in domain registration, shared hosting, VPS hosting, VPN, and CDN industry. If you’re looking for a reliable firm that offers any of the services I’ve mentioned above, you can use it.
