NameCheap, a Big Surprise

I was at loss for words at the start of this test. It was unimaginable, for me at least, to accept that NameCheap, a Domain Registrar can compete with a company that has dedicated itself to Web Hosting. Everybody presumes that you will not be able to function properly, slow server response times, small and usually bad support team. That, is not what happened here.

Features

Well, this Domain Registrar is kicking ass of the big shots in the industry! This list of features alone is something to have a gasp. So many things included, on such a small budget. As you can see their lowest price is 9.88$ for first year. I am speaking about current promo offers, so there is no guarantee that these prices will stay for long, but for now, they are quite interesting.

My journey with NameCheap started a few years ago, and I used them solely as a domain registrar. They have some neat offers now and then, discount codes for renewal, and much better support than GoDaddy or Name.com. (I still use 5 different registrars, but that’s just me being paranoid.) And then came one of those days, when I am in a mood to try new things. I love those days. I bought their “Professional” hosting plan. Features you can see on the picture.

I didn’t go with the cheapest plan, because I wanted to host 5 websites on it. Before you go all crazy on me for putting 5 websites on a single hosting account, I have to say that, in my defense, those websites are just side projects, and have something like 5000 unique visitors per month, combined. Nothing to worry about. Besides I wanted to have a single cPanel for them because their management was taking too much time.

Specifications – Specs

To tell the truth, at first I wasn’t very optimistic. It is a domain registrar, after all. I expected that my PC will blow up every second, or at least BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) with a message that I committed blasphemy, and that my system will revert back to MSDos. What can I say, whoever and wherever I asked, people told me to run away from a registrar, for as long as I can remember. One of the main reasons (for the majority of people), is that the Registrars don’t hire enough people to deal with Domain registration and hosting issues. But that is the real problem, people are judging before they try.

Resource (Units) Personal Class Ultimate Class Business Class CPU (Accessible cores) 1(100%) 1(200%) 1(400%%) Memory/RAM (GB) 4 6 8 I/O (MB/s) 1 2 2 Entry Processes 20 30 40 Total Processes 200 200 300

*CPU they are referring to is 8 Core Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1230 @ 3.2GHz

Not to shabby for a domain registrar. You can check for updates of these resources here.

As you can see, these resources are quite adequate for most webmasters. The only problem that I see is that I/O is a little bit low, and number of entry processes could be higher. But everything else seems solid. Theoretically speaking, 20 Entry processes could support 400-600 connections to your website per minute. But if that happens you will run out of CPU, memory and I/O, way before you get any problems with your entry processes. That number of visitors is better served with a VPS.

Ease of Use

I don’t need to say that cPanel is standard issue here. Almost everybody is using it these days. My main concern is their website, which until you get your account set up looks fantastic. But then things get a little bit complicated. Their user interface is looking a bit old. Not that it bothers me, but

it would benefit from a little refurbishing. For me, it is not a big issue, but somebody who is doing this for the first time could get some trouble getting around. Nothing ground breaking, though.

Help & Support

One of the best things about NameCheap, was their support staff. I had my fair share of problems, self inflicted and otherwise. It is inevitable, sooner or later you will get in trouble or you will need help with something that only they can help you with. For me, support staff was always a major issue with web hosting companies. If it’s not good or satisfying, I avoid an entire company, plain and simple. I don’t care even if they gave me a dedicated server, free of charge, I would still look at the support and make my judgement.

Luckily, all boys and girls at NameCheap support center were more than accommodating me and my whims. Not that I misused them or anything, I was just a big pain in the ass. Constantly calling, making support tickets for almost anything, just to see will they loose their temper and tell me to get lost. That did not happen. At all times they maintained their professional attitude and I am more that satisfied with them.

Waiting times were terribly short. Somewhere between 30 seconds and 3 minutes. You get used to the idea that they have better things to do than talk with you, and you get spooked when someone picks up the phone after the 2nd ringing. Outstanding in my book.

NameCheap Summary

I was, at first, terrified with a notion of hosting my websites with a domain registrar. Somewhere in my head that simply didn’t compute properly. It sounded like taking your car to a dentist. I’m glad that I was wrong. With these guys, I learned again not to judge the book by it’s covers, and I am proud to say that I will continue to use their services for a very long time.



