Bluehost — owned by Endurance Worldwide Group (EIG) — is among the greatest names in the internet hosting enterprise. Though the model didn’t make the lower in our greatest hosting information, it nonetheless put up combat in our SiteGround vs. Bluehost and DreamHost vs. Bluehost comparisons.
We’ve featured Namecheap much less typically — to this point solely in our Namecheap vs. GoDaddy matchup. Nevertheless, in that comparability alone, Namecheap impressed, exhibiting that you simply don’t must spend some huge cash to get glorious service. On this Namecheap vs. Bluehost comparability, we’re going to see which service is best for you.
Though we’ll examine them point-for-point, we nonetheless advocate studying our Namecheap assessment and Bluehost assessment. There, you’ll discover a extra in-depth evaluation of every service, in addition to how they stand as much as scrutiny when in comparison with the remainder of the market.
Setting Up a Combat: Namecheap vs. Bluehost
Our evaluations encompass eight sections, and though every is necessary to ranking a service in isolation, they aren’t all equally necessary when evaluating two companies. As an alternative, we’ve condensed some sections, not solely to make the comparability shorter, but additionally to make every part extra truthful.
We landed on 5 areas: options, pricing, ease of use, pace and safety. We’ll examine Namecheap and Bluehost in these areas, awarding some extent to the service we expect is best. We’ll crown the service with essentially the most factors on the finish as our champion.
Initially of the spherical, we’ll lay out the bottom guidelines, establishing what we’re in search of from our opponents. Subsequent, we’ll discuss some about every service and provides some ideas on how they examine. Lastly, we’ll declare a winner and award some extent.
We use the purpose system to shortly present which supplier we favor, however the evaluation doesn’t begin or cease there. As an alternative, we use factors to punctuate our ideas, and in some rounds, that’s necessary to know. We advocate studying by every part — particularly the shut ones — so you may have an concept of why we made our determination.
1. Options
Options are a significant side of selecting a internet hosting service. Though it’s straightforward to get derailed by free advert credit score presents, akin to with Site5 (learn our Site5 assessment), they don’t actually do a lot in your web site. Far more necessary are options like LiteSpeed server software program and caching, each of that are can be found with Hosting24 (learn our Hosting24 assessment).
A great host ought to present a options listing that helps you construct, optimize and safe your web site. Though there can nonetheless be options outdoors of these areas, the host should first cowl these fundamentals.
Namecheap
Contemplating the value, Namecheap has a formidable listing of options, though there’s one obvious omission. Almost all hosts help you register a free area while you buy a subscription (learn our A Small Orange assessment for only one instance). Namecheap does, too, however there are limitations on what you possibly can register.
It presents a free “.web site” area, however not a free “.com” area. Contemplating “.com” domains are, by and huge, the preferred, Namecheap skipping previous it doesn’t make any sense. We’ve seen different domain-registrars-turned-web-hosts — akin to GoDaddy (learn our GoDaddy assessment) — supply “.com” domains without cost with a internet hosting package deal, so there’s no cause Namecheap can’t soar on board.
The remainder of the options are glorious, although. For instance, Namecheap contains a number of web site builders. The usual possibility, merely named “web site builder” in cPanel, isn’t spectacular, however you should utilize Weebly or Strikingly by the app retailer, too. As you possibly can see in our Weebly assessment, it’s probably the greatest web site builders out there. Strikingly isn’t unhealthy, both, however we had just a few points with the free plan (learn our Strikingly assessment).
Outdoors of that, Namecheap additionally presents 50 free PositiveSSL certificates, day by day backups and area privateness. Though the shortage of free “.com” area registration is a bummer, Namecheap’s options listing can stand with the very best of them, akin to SiteGround (learn our SiteGround assessment).
Bluehost
Much more so than different EIG manufacturers, Bluehost has an extended listing of options. Whereas some Bluehost options are solely out there for the upper tiers of internet hosting, you continue to get many on the low finish — a lot not like HostGator (learn our HostGator assessment). From constructing to optimizing to securing your web site, Bluehost has you coated.
Whatever the plan you select, you’ll get a free SSL/TLS certificates and day by day backups in your web site. If you can also make the soar to Bluehost’s top-tier Professional plan, you’ll additionally get $200 in advert credit, two SpamExperts licenses, CodeGuard Fundamentals, a devoted IP deal with and free area privateness.
For constructing your web site, Bluehost integrates with Weebly, providing you with entry to Weebly’s Join plan, which usually prices $60 per 12 months. This plan, which incorporates your individual area, is free by Bluehost , but when it is advisable improve, Bluehost makes it straightforward to take action. The upper tiers of Weebly embody expanded storage and extra e-commerce performance. That’s commonplace for many EIG hosts, although.
Bluehost stands out with its deep WordPress integration. Though Bluehost missed our greatest hosting for WordPress information for numerous different causes, the WordPress-centric management panel is the stuff of goals. We’ll discuss extra about it in spherical three.
Spherical One Ideas
Namecheap has a formidable listing of options, particularly for the value. Nevertheless, we are able to’t ignore the shortage of a free “.com” area. Bluehost covers all the things Namecheap does, but additionally supplies probably the greatest management panels for WordPress that we’ve seen. That’s sufficient to push it forward in this primary spherical.
2. Worth
A whole lot of hosts begin to disintegrate in the case of pricing (learn our Arvixe assessment for an instance). Some hosts stand above the remainder in phrases of misleading pricing, however Bluehost isn’t amongst them. Namecheap fortunately is. Throughout this spherical, we’re going to guage the listing of companies at their respective costs, however greater than that, we’re going to evaluate how clearly Namecheap and Bluehost talk that value.
Namecheap
Namecheap supplies, effectively, low-cost hosting. It’s one of the cheap hosts round, even rivaling bargain-bin manufacturers, like 1&1 IONOS (learn our 1&1 IONOS assessment). We’d anticipate nothing much less from a model that has “low-cost” in its title, however Namecheap goes even additional. It not solely makes its plans cheap, but additionally clearly communicates that value.
The value Namecheap shows on the product web page is the value you’ll pay, which is uncommon to see. That signifies that evaluating Namecheap’s charges with, say, Hostinger doesn’t look spectacular (learn our Hostinger assessment). Nevertheless, upon renewal, the value is cheaper than Hostinger. Namecheap presents plans for a month or a 12 months, with the latter receiving a 6 p.c to 7 p.c low cost.
That’s true for shared and WordPress plans. VPS and devoted customers will pay quarterly, and resellers can purchase as much as two years. Regardless, the value is low. That’s additional showcased with the clearance-dedicated servers. Namecheap repurposes devoted servers which are old-fashioned, and though they gained’t carry out in addition to the servers at LunarPages (learn our LunarPages assessment), they’re the one method to get devoted internet hosting for lower than $50 per thirty days.
You could have 30 days to alter your thoughts when you attempt the service and determine it’s not for you. VPS customers have their very own money-back assure, which solely permits two weeks. Though a month is commonplace for many hosts, we’ve seen longer refund home windows, akin to InMotion’s 90-day assure (learn our InMotion Internet hosting assessment).
Bluehost
On the subject of misleading pricing, nobody does it fairly like Bluehost. That’s a disgrace, actually, as the value itself isn’t the worst we’ve seen (learn our Pagely assessment for that). The issue with Bluehost isn’t the value it costs, however fairly how complicated it’s to seek out the value you’ll pay.
Let’s take shared plans, for instance. The product web page shows an preliminary charge, in addition to the renewal charge. That’s commonplace for many hosts, however what it doesn’t talk is that you would be able to purchase solely between one and three years of internet hosting, and that the value per thirty days will increase because the period will increase.
None of those practices are unhealthy in isolation. It’s the truth that Bluehost waits till checkout to let you recognize what’s what (learn our A2 Internet hosting assessment for an instance of how a number ought to accomplish this pricing scheme). Moreover, Bluehost pre-selected a number of add-ons at checkout, which regularly equals twice your internet hosting value.
As for getting your a refund, Bluehost presents 30 days. In comparison with Namecheap, although, we’re going to dock Bluehost for that.. Whereas each supply a month to obtain a refund, Bluehost initially forces you right into a multi-year plan.
Spherical Two Ideas
Bluehost makes it troublesome all through the checkout course of to know what value you’ll be paying. The charges themselves aren’t unhealthy, however they’re not spectacular, both. Namecheap, alternatively, is evident about its charges, and people charges are cheaper than many of the market, pushing it in the lead for this spherical.
3. Ease of Use
All the things from selecting a plan to buying it to organising your web site constitutes ease of use for hosting. Frankly, launching a web site is difficult, so something that helps ease the method is necessary. As we’ve seen with hosts like Kinsta, a fluid checkout and setup expertise could make all of the distinction (learn our Kinsta assessment).
On this spherical, we’re going to explain the experiences we had when organising an account with Bluehost and Namecheap.
Namecheap
Selecting a Namecheap plan isn’t troublesome, particularly with how clearly it communicates the value. Checkout is a distinct story, although. Though Namecheap doesn’t require any extra info than every other host, it segments every step of the checkout course of to separate pages.
That makes what must be an easy course of really feel unnecessarily prolonged. Account creation is one web page, billing info is one other and confirming your order is but yet one more. Your entire course of could possibly be condensed to a web page or two. Fortunately, you set your password throughout checkout, so that you don’t must sift by emails after paying.
After that, you possibly can login. From a hosting perspective, the management panel is disappointing. Namecheap clearly focuses on the area registration aspect of its enterprise, utilizing the tabs in the left-side menu as a method to additional promote internet hosting in your domains. We noticed comparable points throughout our WestHost assessment.
Moreover, the bombardment of ads makes it troublesome to seek out cPanel, which is buried in an possibility hierarchy from the management panel’s primary web page. cPanel is okay, however it’s nothing particular. Outdoors of an “unique” apps part on the prime of the display, the implementation is inventory.
Bluehost
Bluehost gave us just a few issues throughout checkout, however the course of itself wasn’t troublesome. Outdoors of the pre-selected add-ons, checkout goes by easily, with all the things segmented into a few pages. After confirming your fee, you’ll go to a password creation display, which is the place we had points.
Nicely conscious of the hazards of cybercrime, we generated a password with considered one of our greatest password managers, LastPass (learn our LastPass assessment). Each time we pasted in a password, although, we had an error. Lastly, we typed in a password and it labored, which means that the password creation web page has one thing improper with it when pasting entries. That’s ridiculous, frankly, as a password supervisor is a staple for many fashionable browsers.
It’s straightforward to miss all of that when you contemplate the management panel, although. Bluehost has a splendidly intuitive and extremely purposeful dashboard that permits you to handle WordPress websites with out ever logging in. It made our greatest hosting with cPanel information for a cause.
cPanel itself works excellently, too. As an alternative of sending you to a seperate space, Bluehost integrates cPanel into the management panel. Fortunately, the combination works, not like HostPapa (learn our HostPapa assessment). From the dashboard to cPanel, Bluehost is a pleasure to make use of, particularly when you’re working a WordPress web site.
Spherical Three Ideas
One among Bluehost’s strongest factors is ease of use, and it shines notably effectively when in comparison with Namecheap. Though Namecheap isn’t troublesome to make use of, it lacks Bluehost’s polish, pushing it additional behind in this spherical.
4. Pace and Uptime
We take a look at hosting pace by launching a web site with essentially the most cheap shared plan and putting in a clean copy of WordPress. We then run that take a look at web site — which we don’t fill with any content material — by two benchmarks: Load Impact and Pingdom Speed Test. On this spherical, we’re going to match the outcomes we gathered for Bluehost and Namecheap.
Namecheap
Namecheap carried out effectively throughout our Pingdom take a look at, although we’ve seen higher. Our take a look at web site scored 90 out of 100, which is respectable, however not nice. You possibly can possible enhance the outcome by following the steps in our the right way to enhance web site loading occasions information.
As you possibly can see in the graph above, lots of time was wasted whereas the browser was ready to obtain knowledge. Compression and caching can normally resolve this concern, the latter of which Namecheap doesn’t embody in its most cheap shared plan. Namecheap’s prime tier of shared internet hosting contains eAccelerator and xCache, which ought to enhance your loading occasions.
Our Load Influence take a look at went off with out a hitch, although. We use this software to ship 50 digital customers to the server inside 5 minutes, which simulates a modest load. Namecheap was in a position to face up to the stress with none points, sustaining a constant response time all through the take a look at and returning no errors.
As for uptime, Namecheap has a 99.9-percent uptime assure for reseller and VPS plans, and a 100-percent assure for all the things else. Ought to your web site expertise downtime, Namecheap will present someday’s value of service for every non-scheduled hour your web site is down.
Bluehost
Bluehost is among the quickest hosting suppliers we’ve examined. In our Pingdom take a look at, it scored 94 out of 100 — solely overwhelmed by the 96 out of 100 we obtained from SiteGround, A2 Internet hosting and Hosting24. The graph beneath suggests there’s some quantity of out-of-the-box caching happening, which is why Bluehost carried out higher than Namecheap.
Load Influence produced less-than-desirable outcomes, although. Our take a look at was the identical: 50 customers inside 5 minutes. Nevertheless, Bluehost couldn’t deal with it. Nearly all of the VUs returned a response time of zero milliseconds, which suggests the positioning didn’t load in any respect. Moreover, we skilled a number of HTTP errors.
This normally means that there are too few assets for the variety of customers on the server. As an alternative of ready to load the positioning, the server turns into overloaded and returns errors to the request. It’s possible that Bluehost is stuffing its shared servers to the brim, which probably makes your web site inaccessible whereas below load.
Bluehost additionally doesn’t assure uptime. It cites the “complexity and nature of a shared hosting atmosphere” as a cause for potential downtime, which is ridiculous. Shared internet hosting is complicated, however it’s Bluehost’s job to cope with that complexity. If different hosts can present an uptime assure, Bluehost can, too.
Spherical 4 Ideas
This spherical is hard. Bluehost is technically the sooner service, however all issues thought-about, Namecheap is the higher possibility. It has an uptime assure and carried out higher in our Load Influence take a look at. As for the pace, you possibly can possible enhance it with caching and compression, which isn’t troublesome to do.
5. Safety and Privateness
Our final spherical focuses on safety and privateness, and sadly, the writing is already on the wall. As we talked about earlier, Endurance Worldwide Group owns Bluehost, and when you’ve learn any of our EIG evaluations — akin to our iPage assessment — you recognize this bodes poorly for safety and privateness.
Namecheap
Namecheap offers you all of the instruments it is advisable guarantee web site safety. As talked about, you get 50 free SSL/TLS certificates along with your plan, that means you possibly can defend a number of domains and subdomains. Moreover, you may have entry to free day by day backups and malware scanning.
The final merchandise is the rarest. Namecheap permits you to scan your web site for malware as soon as per day through the use of the “virus scanner” software in cPanel. It’ll simply scan your web site — not clear it — which is a bummer. Nevertheless, contemplating that almost all hosts cost $2 to $5 for the same software, we’re content material.
As for privateness, Namecheap is strong. It contains area privateness with each area, which suggests it replaces the knowledge in your WHOIS file with dummy info. Namecheap even contains area privateness on area transfers — which even privacy-focused hosts, akin to Midphase, lack (learn our Midphase assessment).
The privateness coverage is sound, although not as sound as DreamHost’s. Namecheap collects private info, as do most internet hosts, however solely makes use of it for inside functions. The one factor it shares with promoting companions is a few non-personal info.
Bluehost
Privateness is Bluehost’s weakest level. All EIG manufacturers share a privateness coverage that permits the company head to gather and share as a lot info because it needs. Much more regarding is its listing of companions, which incorporates Fb, Twitter, WPBeginner, Bing, Verizon, Google Advertisements and extra.
It ought to come as little shock that Bluehost doesn’t embody free area privateness throughout plans. Nevertheless, some plans do. The Professional shared plan, for instance, contains area privateness and a devoted IP deal with.
The security measures are respectable, though we want it included some model of SiteLock throughout its plans. You get a free SSL/TLS certificates and computerized day by day backups along with your plan. Malware scanning with SiteLock must be included without cost, however it isn’t, sadly.
We do not know how Bluehost protects its servers, both. We reached out to Bluehost help to ask about ModSecurity and BitNinja, that are commonplace security measures for Apache servers. The rep wasn’t in a position to assist, merely referring us to the Cloudflare and SiteLock product pages as an alternative of answering our query.
Spherical 5 Ideas
As talked about in the start of the spherical, the writing was on the wall. Bluehost has horrible privateness. The safety package deal isn’t spectacular, both, particularly since SiteLock integration can be so easy. Namecheap not solely surpasses Bluehost in the case of safety and privateness, it surpasses most hosts.
Spherical: Safety and Privateness
Level for Namecheap
6. Ultimate Ideas
Having gained three spherical, Namecheap is our champion, however solely by a bit of bit. Should you look by our hosting archive, you’ll see that Namecheap’s title doesn’t come up a lot. It’s not that Namecheap is a nasty service — it’s that Namecheap isn’t the very best service. Throughout the board, it’s barely above common.
Winner: Namecheap
You’ll see Bluehost far more typically, however solely as a result of it has some excessive highs and lows. The intense elements of the service make it probably the greatest round, however its points are too nice to disregard.
Do you agree that Namecheap is the higher possibility? Why or why not? Tell us in the feedback beneath. As all the time, thanks for studying.
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