Choosing the right hosting provider is essential . It’s easier to thoroughly research your options before you commit than it is to change providers later when you realize that you made a mistake.

This school of thought can be applied to many companies. However, in this guide we will focus on the Namecheap and Bluehost comparison.

Both are popular hosting providers and have excellent reputations so it might be tempting to pick one randomly. We warn you, this would be a mistake in almost all cases.

This comparison will give you a deeper analysis of each service. As a result, it’ll be easier to decide which one is the missing piece.

Let’s get started!

What is Namecheap?

Namecheap is a top domain registrar that has been accredited by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). Namecheap was established in 2000 and has enjoyed a strong market share.

Namecheap celebrates 20 years of providing outstanding service, security and support. This has earned them a lot of customer satisfaction. Namecheap manages over 10,000,000 domains. This makes them one of the top web hosting and domain registrars in the world.

Namecheap offers web hosting packages and domains, as well as SSL certificates and WhoisGuard privacy protection – all at the lowest prices in the industry.

Namecheap does not believe it is an option to have websites, domains and hosting packages. Instead, they consider it a necessity. It should also be available to everyone, not just those who are skilled at programming and can play with advanced dashboard features.

Bluehost: What does it mean?

Bluehost, founded in 2003 by Danny Ashworth in Provo (UT). The company was bought by Endurance International Group, which also owns dozens more smaller hosting companies like FatCow, iPage and HostGator seven years later.

Bluehost’s quality seems to not have been affected by the purchase. They remain one of the most popular and well-respected hosting options on the market. There are many hosting options available, including VPS, shared hosting, WordPress and dedicated hosting.

Bluehost is easy to use and affordable. It also integrates with WordPress which is one of most popular CMS (Content Management Systems). It becomes one of only 3 WordPress-recommended hosts.

Bluehost employs more than 750 people who are available 24 hours a day to assist customers. They have powered over 2 million websites around the globe and continue to support thousands of sites every day. Their mission is to “enable people to harness the internet fully.”

Namecheap and Bluehost: What are the key differences?

The key features

It’s understandable that many people decide to host with a company solely because they offer the lowest prices. We recommend that you always review the key features before making a final decision.

This will ensure you get the best value for your money. These are the key features that we will be discussing in this section. Don’t forget them!

Domain registration

Namecheap is best known for its domain registration services. Namecheap domains can be purchased for $8.88 the first year, and renewed for $12.98 each year.

A personal domain can be purchased for $8.00 per year. There are many filtering options that allow you to choose the perfect name and extension to your website. The company provides a free domain name “.website” for the first year, as well as privacy protection with all its hosting plans.

Bluehost’s main business is web hosting, but they also offer domain registration. The initial year costs $11.99, and each year it is $17.99 upon renewal. Bluehost often charges $11.88/year for domain privacy protection. However, certain hosting packages come with no cost. Bluehost offers a free domain name the first year for all hosting plans, just like Namecheap.

Site builder

Namecheap offers a simple website builder that allows you to drag and drop. There are more than 200 templates available. The website builder can be used in many languages and features social media integration.

Namecheap’s website builders also include presets for different niches such as technology, entertainment, and business. Although it is free, it does not support shared hosting plans. You will need to create your own website using a different hosting type, such as WordPress.

Bluehost does not have its website builder but that’s not a problem. Bluehost’s WordPress integration is amazing. You can use the CRM to build your website. WordPress offers a wide range of templates that can be tailored to your content.

You can also use plugins to make things look the way you want. Bluehost integrates with Weebly, but only the basic version is available. It is important to think carefully about this!

Domain emails

Namecheap offers webmail free of charge and private email hosting for an annual fee between $9.88 to $49.88 depending on the plan. You can have up to 30 email accounts using the basic shared hosting plan, or an unlimited number with other packages if you prefer to use webmail.

Bluehost offers free webmail and access to Microsoft Office 365 mailboxes. With most hosting plans, you can get a month free of Office 365. After that, you will need to pay a monthly fee. Bluehost doesn’t limit the number of email accounts that you can create.

Databases

Namecheap offers 50 MySQL databases as part of its basic shared hosting plan, and unlimited databases for all other plans. Bluehost, on the other hand, offers unlimited MySQL databases for all of its hosting plans.

With both platforms, you can create, delete, or control databases from the cPanel. You don’t need to worry about where to begin, as each company offers detailed tutorials that will help you.

Backups

Namecheap as well as Bluehost offer reliable website backup tools. Namecheap offers a free backup tool that can be used with all plans. If you choose the cheapest plan, you will get free bi-weekly backups.

Bluehost customers can enjoy automatic backups from CodeGuard Basic. This is free with the more expensive plans and an optional, paid option ($3/month). You can also backup your data manually with either one.

E-commerce

Namecheap doesn’t have an E-commerce platform but it has a few basic features that will allow you to manage your online store. However, if you want to create a solid online shop , then you will need to go somewhere else.

To get your store up and running, the company recommends that you purchase a WordPress hosting plan. Namecheap can help you register a domain name and link it to an Ecommerce platform (e.g. Shopify). Namecheap won’t provide any direct assistance.

Bluehost recommends that customers use WordPress and WooCommerce. However, the company also offers E-commerce hosting plans. These plans can be based on WordPress packages and range in price from $6.95 to $12.95 per month.

Bluehost also makes it easy and simple by providing a WooCommerce site along with a storefront theme. All the features included in regular hosting packages are available, including domain name, domain privacy and dedicated IP.

Money-back guarantee

Namecheap, Bluehost and Bluehost offer a 30-day money back guarantee. You can’t go wrong when you choose any of these guys.

_Note_ We will choose Namecheap’s Stellar plan and Bluehost’s Basic shared plan to give you a better understanding of the features of both platforms. You’ll also see differences between these plans.

Namecheap is fairly equal to Bluehost when it comes down to the most important features. However, you will see that Namecheap offers better domain registrations and Bluehost provides better E-commerce support.

Use it quickly

Hosting is not an easy task for beginners. You should choose a provider that is as straightforward and user-friendly as possible. You want to spend your time creating and updating your website, not fumbling with your provider’s interface.

Namecheap as well as Bluehost are excellent choices for customers who value simplicity. You can manage your account and website using cPanel, regardless of whether you sign up for Namecheap/Bluehost.

Namecheap registration is easy. You can select a plan to get started. Although it only requires a few pieces of information, the checkout process can be quite complex. You can create your account on one page. Filling out your billing information is another. Confirming your order takes you to the next page. This will improve the customer experience by condensing the entire process to one page.

Namecheap makes it easy to use once you have paid for your plan. Its interface has one problem: the location of the control panel for hosting. It is difficult to find the cPanel due to the constant bombardment of ads.

Bluehost checkout may have issues, particularly with pre-selected addons. Customers complain that they can’t copy and paste passwords from other sources into Bluehost’s password section. Bluehost is easy to use.

Bluehost’s advantage is its dedicated support for beginners. They can install themes and plugins and launch their website free of charge. You can have your website up and running in just 5 minutes from the moment you purchase the host. Get more information.

Namecheap is solid, Bluehost is solid. However, Bluehost seems to have a slight advantage due to the better implementation of cPanel.

Speed and uptime

In this digital age, we expect websites to load quickly and be available whenever we need them. Hosting companies are very aware of customers’ expectations and do their best to meet them.

Which of the two contestants is more skilled in this particular area? Let’s explore!

Speed

Both hosting providers have implemented strategies to speed up their websites.

• To avoid slow speeds during spikes in traffic, offer more than the network capacity

• To guarantee the fastest page loading speed, provide more than three data locations.

• Cloudflare CDN allows you to quickly deliver data to any customer anywhere in the world using Cloudflare CDN.

Bluehost went a step further and secured hosted websites with resource protection technology. This prevents other servers from slowing the site down. Bluehost has also increased its response time by using SSDs (Solid State Drives), which help websites hosted on the platform load faster.

Down.com tested Bluehost’s page speed. The average page load time was 2.89 seconds. The fastest page speed was 0.00 seconds, while the slowest was 9.17 secs. Namecheap’s average page speed was 3.04 seconds. The fastest page was 2.01 seconds and the slowest was 72.71 second.

Uptime

The website’s uptime is a measure of how reliable and accessible a website is to its users. According to Down.com, Bluehost’s average uptime is higher than Namecheap’s 99.94% and 99.993%, respectively.

Namecheap’s stats may not be bad in fact, but they can’t match Bluehost’s in terms of speed and uptime.

Privacy and security

Namecheap is sensitive to privacy and security, and offers a variety of security services to its customers in order to protect them against identity theft and other threats.

• WhoisGuard is completely free for domain owners. This protects their personal information, such as name, email address, and telephone number, from the public Whois database. This protects users against fraudsters and spammers by keeping this information secret.

• SSL certificates – Namecheap offers many different SSL certificates depending on your requirements. This acts as a third party verification for your website’s safety to ensure that your customers’ information is always protected.

• Two-factor authentication – This is generally done by entering a username and password and then sending a code to your smartphone. This gives your account an additional layer of security.

• Auto Backup – This backups your website as well as its settings, files and databases. You can quickly restore all your data in case of an emergency.

Bluehost does offer some security features but they are either included in premium plans or available as an add-on. Domain Privacy and Protection protect your domain from identity theft, identity spamming, and phishing attacks. CodeGuard (daily site backups), SiteLock, malware protection, and spam protection are some of the other features.

Both vendors offer a good selection of security features. Namecheap offers its security features as a standard feature on all plans and not as an add-on. This shows that it is more concerned about users’ safety than Bluehost.

Customer support

Customer Service It is one of those things that people don’t think about until it goes wrong. To avoid any unpleasant situations later on, we recommend that you carefully consider your support options before signing up for any provider.

Bluehost and Namecheap both offer high quality support. Their knowledge base is extensive and they offer tutorials, blogs, articles, and other resources to assist users in solving any issues that may arise.

Namecheap can be reached via ticketed email support or 24/7 live chat if you have any questions. You will receive priority support if you purchase one of our premium hosting plans, but you still have to pay for certain services.

Bluehost offers 24/7 support via live chat, email ticket and phone. This is an enormous advantage for anyone who needs immediate assistance. Bluehost’s average wait time for phone assistance is less than one second, making them one the most responsive companies in the industry.

Bluehost’s customer service has been compared to Namecheap’s, due to its multi-channel user support.

Pricing plans

Pricing is without a doubt the most important factor in choosing a web hosting service. Namecheap as well as Bluehost offer a variety of pricing plans with different prices and promotional offers.

Namecheap’s entry-level package costs $2.88 per month. If you sign up for a year of contact, you will only need to pay $1.44 and then the plan renews at $2.88.

Namecheap also offers the option to pay monthly. Namecheap is an option for those who don’t wish to pay upfront. You can find out more Namecheap hosting options right here.

Bluehost’s shared WordPress hosting plan is the cheapest, at $3.95. This plan will automatically renew at $7.99 per month after your three-year term ends.

Namecheap’s initial terms are identical in price. Bluehost has a similar term. Namecheap offers more flexibility in payment options and lower renewal prices.

Namecheap: Who should it be used for?

Namecheap offers hosting packages that are much more affordable and allow you to pay monthly. Namecheap is a great choice if you are looking for a low-cost host or don’t mind paying a large upfront fee to sign up.

Namecheap is also better than Bluehost in terms of privacy and security. Bluehost charges more for users to be safe, but Namecheap comes with all security features as part of its standard plans. Namecheap is a top domain registrar.

Bluehost: Who should it be used for?

Bluehost’s intuitive dashboard, built-in WordPress installation and easy-to-use tools will suit you well if you are a beginner.

Bluehost is also a good choice if you are looking for a plan that offers fast loading speeds and uptime as well as better customer support.

The bottom line

Namecheap can be a great choice for domain registration. However, Bluehost is an even better hosting provider. Bluehost is a great place to start for anyone looking to get online. It offers excellent performance, speed, uptime and customer support.

Are there any questions you still have about Namecheap or Bluehost? Please leave a comment below and we’ll help you make a decision!