Web hosting is one of the most paramount aspects of setting up a website or e-commerce store, as it determines the appearance of your page or site online. Out of the several web hosting service providers available today, Namecheap and Bluehost are two giants that many people and businesses rely on. However, there is always a Namecheap vs. Bluehost debate when it is time to choose between these two hosting service providers. This post will shed more light on this debate and help you determine which one you should select.
Overview
Namecheap
Launched in 2000, Namecheap is majorly popular as a company that provides domain services. However, it has developed into one of the most dependable hosting service providers over the past few years. Its hosting services are typically known to be affordable and reliable; hence, several individuals and businesses are drawn to it. Its data servers are located in the United States of America and the United Kingdom. The servers of Namecheap are based on both Windows and Linux.
The different types of hosting services of Namecheap include:
- Shared
- Dedicated
- VPS
- Reseller
- WordPress
Bluehost
Founded by Endurance International Group (EIG), Bluehost is a renowned web hosting provider that delivers excellent web hosting services to over 2 million websites worldwide. Since its launch in 1996, Bluehost has been offering powerful performance and exceptional support to its customers. This hosting service provider has servers worldwide in countries like the USA, India, the United Kingdom, and China and is rated as one of the best among its numerous competitors.
Bluehost has 4 different hosting plans, which are:
- Shared
- Dedicated
- VPS
- WordPress
Namecheap vs. Bluehost – Comparison of their basic hosting features
SSL certificates
Most of the top hosting service providers provide their users with free SSL certificates, and these two platforms are no different. SSL certificates come free with either of these providers with any plan, which is a huge security benefit and positively impacts your SEO efforts as Google now looks at SSL as a ranking factor.
SSD storage
SSD storage generally offers more stability, better performance, and faster disk speed as it runs on flash memory compared to the standard storage type that uses an outdated spinning platter. Both Namecheap and Bluehost now provide their users with SSD storage. So, if you are using any of these hosting service providers, you can rest assured of enjoying free SSD storage.
Website migration
Sometimes you may want to move from one host service provider to another, which will require you to move your website’s data from the old host to the new one. Although both providers offer website migration options, Namecheap tends to come out on top in this category. When you move your data to Namecheap, you do not have to pay any additional fee. In other words, website migration on Namecheap is FREE.
Nevertheless, the reverse is the case on Bluehost. This hosting service provider will charge you $149 for migrating as many as 5 websites from any platform. However, experienced and skilled web developers may not need to pay as they can do the migration independently. However, paying for migration is compulsory if you are not a web developer.
Website Builder
The function of a website builder is to make it easy for you to create your own site. With the aid of a website builder, all you need to do is to drag and drop different elements, and you will have a fully functional website relatively quick. If you are using Namecheap, there is a custom website builder that ensures that even novices can build their sites within a few minutes. Bluehost, on the other hand, utilizes the Weebly website builder platform to help you create your website. In this regard, these two web hosting service providers are on par.
Support for WordPress
Apart from the website builders of these two hosting providers, they also offer support for WordPress. WordPress is a CMS that is often used for building blogs and sites. Similarly, many individuals also popularly utilize this platform for managing their blogs and sites.
In general, using WordPress requires some level of expertise and experience. Using Bluehost, you will enjoy massive support for building a WordPress site. Once you have signed up for Bluehost, it will automatically take you to the WordPress setup and take you through selecting a suitable theme and other tasks involved in starting your WordPress website.
Namecheap also does relatively well in this regard as it also shows you everything you need to do to install WordPress and set up your blog or website. However, when comparing Namecheap vs. Bluehost in this sense, Bluehost has greater WordPress support than its counterpart. It’s also crucial to remember that Bluehost is just one of the three hosting providers that WordPress recommends. You may have heard of the other two hosting companies called SiteGround and Dreamhost.
Data backups
Data backup is the feature that allows you to save all your website’s data in the cloud so you can retrieve or restore them whenever you want. Luckily, both Namecheap and Bluehost come with free backup solutions. Therefore, users of both hosting service providers can back up and recover their data anytime without paying additional fees.
Control panel
Using these two hosting service providers allows you to enjoy standard cPanel. The control panel oversees the installation of several CMS applications, such as WordPress, setting up FTP accounts and email accounts, creating MySQL, and adding subdomains. The control panel of Namecheap is good enough to help you execute the tasks mentioned above. Nevertheless, if you need a better and more sophisticated control panel, you should consider the Enhanced cPanel of Bluehost, which eases the process of accomplishing various cPanel tasks.
Namecheap vs. Bluehost – Comparison of the loading speeds
The loading speed is perhaps the most advanced and vital feature used to determine the strength and quality of a hosting service provider. Different websites hosted on these two platforms must be compared to assess loading speed. Sometimes, it can be dicey to determine the loading speeds as other factors can contribute to how fast or slow a website will load.
After comparing several websites hosted by each platform, Namecheap seems to have a faster loading speed than Bluehost. So, if loading speed is one of the most critical features you’re looking for in a hosting provider, Namecheap is your best option among these two hosts. Bluehost used to be fast, but they have slowed down over the years as the company grew. We found that the loading speed on Bluehost’s shared plans was especially laggy.
Namecheap vs. Bluehost – Comparison of their uptime
Most hosting providers usually make extraordinary claims about their uptime, but experiences have shown that this is not typically true. Namecheap claims that its uptime is 100%. In other words, the host advertises that you can never experience downtime if your website is hosted on their platform. However, this is false because many customers have complained about experiencing downtime on their websites.
For Bluehost, the claim is that their users will enjoy 99.9% uptime. This is also not entirely true, as you will likely deal with downtime in a few cases, but it will not be enough to disrupt the normal function of your website. Also, in view of this Namecheap vs. Bluehost comparison, we’ve found the uptime of Bluehost to be more reliable than Namecheap.
Namecheap vs. Bluehost – Comparison of their ease of use
When selecting a web host provider, ease of use is crucial, especially if you are a novice. Getting started with Namecheap is easy, as you can choose a plan and begin your registration. Only a little information is required from you, but the checkout process is divided into different pages. There are separate pages for creating your account, billing information, and confirmation of the order. While you can perform all these tasks within a few minutes, it could be easier if a single page is used for all these processes.
Once you have paid for your plan, using Namecheap is straightforward. The only problem with the interface is the placement of the control panel for web hosting, and there are so many advertisements on the page that you may have difficulty locating the cPanel.
Bluehost is not so different in this regard, as you may also have issues with the checkout process, especially the pre-selected add-ons. Most users complain about being unable to copy and paste their passwords from other sources to the password segment of Bluehost, as they usually get an error message. So, if you want to create your password with a password manager and paste it into your Bluehost account, you will have some issues. Apart from these issues, using Bluehost is relatively easy. Bluehost also offers a lot of unnecessary upsells when you first sign up, so beware of these, as most of the upsells are not required, and you’ll do just fine without them.
Namecheap vs. Bluehost – Comparison of the pricing
This is undoubtedly one of the most significant factors in choosing a hosting provider. None of these providers are expensive, but there are specific differences that you may want to be aware of before selecting one.
These two providers have different plans.
Namecheap
Although this web host has various plans, the shared hosting service is the most common. The cheapest shared plan costs $25.88 for 12 months, whereas the renewal cost is $49.88 yearly. The most advanced shared hosting plan is the Stellar Business plan, which initially costs $58.88 per year and is renewed at $108.88 annually.
Compared to Bluehost, Namecheap has more affordable pricing for its users, which is especially true when considering the different plans’ initial costs. However, it should be noted that it tends to get a little pricey once your hosting plans are renewed after the first year.
Bluehost
Bluehost has several hosting plans, but a shared hosting plan is the most common. When paying for the 12-month shared subscription for the first time, the Basic plan costs $2.75 per month, while its renewal costs $9.99 monthly. The most advanced plan is the Pro package which costs $13.95 monthly for the initial subscription and $28.99 per month for the renewal after the initial subscription. If you are subscribing to dedicated hosting, VPS hosting, or managed WordPress hosting, the pricing is more expensive than their shared hosting services. Notably, these costlier hosting services are for bigger enterprises.
With Namecheap, you can enjoy a 14-day money-back guarantee, whereas Bluehost offers an industry-standard money-back guarantee of 30 days. So, you have nothing to fear if you do not like the features of these web hosting service providers, as you can get a refund without any hassle.
Namecheap vs. Bluehost: Customer support system
The customer support system goes a long way in determining your overall experience when using a web hosting service provider. This is because you will likely experience certain issues while using their service; therefore, you need great support to help you put your website back on the right track.
If you have any issues, you can contact Namecheap through chat, live support, or ticket anytime. Similarly, Bluehost provides 24/7 support via live support, chat, ticket, and phone. Overall, the customer support of Bluehost has proven to be better than Namecheap’s. Foremost, their professionals have excellent knowledge of WordPress and hosting problems; therefore, they can quickly come to your aid if you are having any issues with these aspects of your website. Also, they are easy to contact and typically respond quickly to any problems you may have. Overall, we’ve always been pleased with Bluehost’s customer service. However, Namecheap may keep you waiting for some time before getting the assistance you need. This can be a big deal if you need quick help to get your site back online.
Conclusion: Which one is the best?
As we end the Namecheap vs. Bluehost comparison, you should note that each host has some advantages over the other. Regarding pricing, loading speed, and website migration, Namecheap is ahead of Bluehost in the pecking order. However, Bluehost is better when you consider aspects like uptime, customer support, and other features that will ensure your website functions correctly. Both hosts are great, but Bluehost offers a little more than its counterpart.