Namecheap vs. Bluehost: Which one is Right For Me?

It could be that you are planning to get a hosting provider. Namecheap vs. Bluehost! You may have come across these two companies. It is important to select the best one. But with both offering quality features, it is quite natural for you to get confused with the selection process. You need to make a thorough comparison between both and understand the features properly. Only then should you go ahead with finalizing the provider to meet your specific needs and budget. 

Namecheap vs. Bluehost – the features

Both are considered well-established companies, having earned a name in the hosting and domain name spheres. However, when compared with Namecheap, Bluehost enjoys more popularity among users. Recently, Namecheap has shifted its focus towards becoming a leader as one of the top domain name registrars. Presently, it offers its users numerous enhanced hosting packages at affordable rates. 

Both companies are found to sell a wide range of shared hosting packages. In addition, it incorporates a variety of appropriate themes designed exclusively for WordPress. 

Namecheap vs. Bluehost – Know the features

• Namecheap: This company offers its users both managed and shared WordPress (WP) hosting plans. The features provided with shared hosting plans are as follows:
  • For the initial year of purchase, you get a free .site domain name.
  • Single click WordPress Installation process through Softaculous app installer.
  • Unmetered bandwidth – 1,000 GB 
  • Unlimited sites, excluding the Stellar plan, are considered to be the cheapest ones. For example, you get 30 email accounts, 20 GB of SSD disk space, and 3 hosted sites with this plan.
  • Backups (top-tier plans come with auto backups)
  • 100  percent uptime guarantee
  • Free SSL Certificate
  • Free site migration (This feature is something not offered by Bluehost)
  • All shared hosting packages are offered with Spam Experts without any additional charges. 
  • It also provides free site transfer, something not offered by Bluehost. 
  • It offers various hosting types like reseller, VPS, shared, email hosting, WP hosting & dedicated servers.
  • cPanel feature
  • Auto backups
  • Free CDN is offered with certain WP hosting plans only.
  • 30 days money-back guarantee

If you desire to avail of additional WP-specific features, check out EasyWP, a managed WP service provided by Namecheap. 

• Bluehost: This hosting company provides both managed and shared WP hosting plans. When shared WP hosting is concerned, the following are the features offered:
  • Unmetered bandwidth – 1 TB
  • Free domain name offered in the initial year of purchase
  • Free SSL Certificate
  • Unlimited storage and sites (excluding Basic plans)
  • Easy WP staging sites
  • Automatic WP updates
  • Automatic WP installs
  • Offers 5 email accounts, 50GB SSD disk space, and 1 hosted site
  • It offers different hosting types like dedicated servers, eCommerce hosting, WP hosting, VPS, and shared hosting. 
  • Auto backups
  • cPanel feature
  • Offers free CDN
  • Free site migration is not offered
  • 30 days money-back guarantee

The shared plans do come with numerous valuable WP features and tools. But managed WP hosting plans will be suitable if you desire advanced WP hosting options. Namecheap provides more valuable freebies, while Bluehost provides lots of storage space. 

Namecheap vs. Bluehost – User Experience

This is the next aspect that you should take into consideration after getting to know about the features offered. 

Namecheap

It is considered to be user-friendly. When compared to Bluehost, it tends to offer a bit different experience. On establishing an account with this provider, you will be able to view and manage your assigned account, hosting plans, and domains. All these features will be present in your dashboard. It would help if you used the Softaculous App Installer present in the cPanel to create a new site.

This installer is easy to use. However, it cannot be compared with that of Bluehost WP installation. Hence, as a beginner, you should keep this aspect in mind. WP will be installed with the freely available W3 Total Cache plug-in. This helps enhance your website’s loading time. But no start-up menu or wizard is offered with Namecheap like that of Bluehost. 

Website migration service is one primary user-friendly feature offered by Namecheap. For example, you might be the owner of an existing website that another web host hosts. If so, then Namecheap will help move this website on your behalf without any additional charge. But, again, it is something not offered by Bluehost. 

Bluehost

It is considered to be extremely user-friendly. It claims to have an intuitive inbuilt dashboard along with easy access to the cPanel feature if desired. Furthermore, WP has installed automatically without you having to do anything in WP shared hosting plans. Thus, setting up a new site can be extremely easy, quick, and fun-filled. There is present a Bluehost menu in the new WP installation. It is designed to help streamline your site design and setup process. Using this menu feature, you can do the following:

• Manage menus
• Create blog posts & pages
• Activate caching
• Establish staging area
• Install WooCommerce

Bluehost also offers a wide range of plugins and themes to purchase depending on your preference and needs. However, even beginners can find it easy to use Bluehost to develop a new website. 

Therefore, when user experience is concerned, especially for beginners, Bluehost is a perfect choice. It is equally beneficial for those who are seeking a user-friendly hosting plan. But this does not mean that Namecheap offers a poor user experience. On the contrary, most customers opt for this provider as it suits them fine. However, it just does not live up to Bluehost standards. 

Namecheap vs. Bluehost – Support

When customer support is concerned, both companies offer top-quality services. They both have comprehensive knowledge-based, having lots of ready-to-use tutorials and articles. You can use them for troubleshooting the majority of the problems that you might face when using them.

Namecheap also offers round-the-clock live support and ticketed email support, while Bluehost provides 24/7 live chat and phone support. Since Namecheap lacks phone support, Bluehost can be termed to be a better selection. 

However, the live chat support services offered by both companies are quite impressive.

Namecheap vs. Bluehost – Performance

It is crucial to select a reputed hosting provider that ensures fast loading and performs exceptionally well. Hence, you need to compare this feature in both companies to make the right selection. For test purposes, you can establish new sites having fresh WP installations.

Then use Pingdom to test their loading times. Pingdom is a popular tool used for speed tests in WP. Bluehost does not offer a clear uptime guarantee. They offer a 99% uptime guarantee with frequent downtime. But Namecheap offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee with reports of minimal downtimes. Although Bluehost boasts of having servers installed in the United States, it is here that the slowest loading speeds had been found. Namecheap has servers installed in the UK as well as the US.

It does offer exceptional performance across the globe. Its low downtime and impressive loading speeds are what make it the most favored hosting provider among users. This shows that Namecheap fares well when compared to Bluehost while providing consistent faster load times.

Namecheap vs. Bluehost – Security

When protection is concerned, you will end up paying more with Bluehost than Namecheap. This is because both companies use DDoS protection to secure their servers. 

Bluehost

Although they provide several valuable security features, they are either paid add-ons or bundled with expansive plans. The additional features offered include Protection + Domain Privacy. Availing this feature helps you to stay protected from phishing attacks, spam, and identity theft. The other features offered are spam protection, CodeGuard for site daily backups, and SiteLock for malware protection. 

Namecheap

This provider has standardized its security features with all the plans offered. Its account security feature includes custom password recovery and custom security notifications. In addition, dynamic support PINs are offered to help your account from all unauthorized attempts. Domain Lock is another standard feature offered quite similar to that of Protection + Domain Privacy feature of Bluehost. To secure its accounts, it also supports 2FA (Two-Factor Authentication). 

When security features are concerned, both the providers do offer enhanced protection. However, with Bluehost, you will be charged extra for deriving such protection features, while Namecheap offers them with all its plans.

Namecheap vs. Bluehost – Pricing

This is another area that needs to be understood thoroughly. Hosting price is undoubtedly one of the major determining factors. Both companies do offer a variety of interesting and affordable plans. However, they both differ somewhat in promotional deals and price points offered. 

Namecheap

The entry-level package offered by this company is approximately $2.88 a month. But if you opt for an annual contract, the initial term amount to pay will be just $1.44. Then, the plans renew automatically at $2.88. This company also offers to pay monthly options. Namecheap can be a wonderful option if you lack the budget and are not interested in paying the full upfront amount. 

Bluehost

It is considered to be the cheapest shared WP hosting plan available. For the Basic plan, you need to shelve $2.75. Registering for the 36-month payment plan will allow you to derive more benefits from this option. Once you sign up, you will pay the total amount in full amounting to about $99. On the expiry of the three-year term, the plan renews automatically at $7.99 monthly.

Bluehost offers a free domain with its hosting service. However, Higher-tier plans come with more benefits. Signing for such plans allows you to benefit by deriving features like domain privacy protection, site backup, and Spam Experts. You can also buy them as an add-on provided with Plus and Basic plans.

Both the companies offer initial terms quite similar in the price range. But for flexible payment modes, including lower renewal prices, you should opt for Namecheap. In addition, some similarities can be noticed in the shared hosting offerings of both companies.

Both the hosting providers are known to offer a thirty-day money-back guarantee, thus providing you with peace of mind. They also offer free SSL Certificates in all their plans, including free domain names combined with first-year annual subscriptions. Bluehost is cheap. However, Namecheap is cheaper and offers value worth the investment made.

Namecheap vs. Bluehost – Which one to select?

Both the companies do have lots of features and benefits to offer to their registered users.  Hence, it would help if you were very careful with your selection process. 

Why select Namecheap?

This company is known to offer affordable hosting packages while allowing you to pay monthly. Hence, if low price is your main selection criteria, this host will be a great selection. It can also be a good choice if you cannot pay a large upfront fee at the time of registration.

This company also boasts of offering its users a free site migration service combined with a 100% uptime guarantee. Both the features are important when signing up for a new host. However, it is something not offered by Bluehost. Moreover, when site loading times are concerned, Namecheap is found to have outperformed Bluehost. 

Why select Bluehost?

This hosting provider is worth the selection if you emphasize user-friendly tools or are a beginner. Its inbuilt WP installation and intuitive dashboard are sure to suit your specific needs perfectly. This is a wonderful plan if you seek unlimited hosting resources like unmated storage, bandwidth along with unlimited domains and sites. But you need to select either Choice Plus or Plus plans to access such advanced features. These packages for a 3-year term start at about $5.45/monthly. 

Conclusion

The above comparison shows which hosting provider you need to choose for your business. Bluehost is undoubtedly the most favored one for the majority of WordPress users. This is because of its support options, improved performance, and ease of use. When the price is concerned, Namecheap is quite affordable when compared to Bluehost. It also provides lifetime free privacy protection with regards to its domain services. However, Bluehost charges for the same.