In today’s modern world, it has never been easier to build and set up a website. Whether you are a small business looking to reach out to your customers or you want to start a specialty blog to make money, creating a website is something that almost anyone can do, provided that they know where to look.
Unfortunately, because there is such a gluttony of different hosting sites out there, it can be hard to determine which one is best for your needs. While we can’t compare all of them at once, we will do so with two of the top rated hosts today; Namecheap and Godaddy.
When comparing these two hosts, we will measure them against the same features and benefits, as well as show you which one is better for you, depending on your needs.
Pricing
As far as costs go, the most important thing to look at is how much it is to register a new domain. While there can be other upgrades involved with creating a website, to keep things simple, we’ll just look at the price of a domain as well as renewal. Assuming that you want to keep your site active for a long time, you will have to renew it yearly to keep it live and accessible.
Namecheap
- Value Package: $9.88 to set up, with renewals at $38.88 after the first year
- Professional Package: $19.88 for the first year, and $78.88 for renewals
- Ultimate Package: $29.88 to set up, and renewals cost $129.88 per year
- Business Pro: $19.88 per month
Godaddy
- Economy: $1 per month/then $7.99
- Deluxe: $5.99 per month/then $10.99
- Ultimate: $9.99 per month/then $16.99
The Winner: Namecheap might be more expensive up front, but if you plan on having your site up for years then you will wind up saving money by going with this host.
Customer Support
Even if you are a tech guru, there will inevitably be times where you have to contact support to fix an issue. With that in mind, it’s imperative that the host provides sufficient channels for you to contact them with any problems, as well as get back to you as soon as possible. There are three main types of customer support, so let’s see what these hosts offer.
24/7 Access
In this case, Namecheap allows you to contact them with any issues day or night, including weekends. As for Godaddy, they only respond to queries Monday through Friday, meaning that if you encounter a problem over the weekend, you have to wait to get it solved.
Winner: Namecheap, for obvious reasons.
Live Chat
To help you get your problem solved in real time, many hosts will offer a free chatroom where you can ask for assistance and get an answer right away. Both Namecheap and Godaddy have live chat features, but Namecheap is available 24/7 and doesn’t take as long to connect. With Godaddy, they have certain hours where you can engage in a chat session, meaning that you won’t be able to fix problems at any time.
Winner: Namecheap again
Phone Support
While most people prefer to communicate via email or text these days, sometimes talking to a live person is the best way to handle your problem in a timely manner. Both of these hosts do have a phone number that you can call, but Godaddy again has limited hours in which you can contact them, and odds are that you will have to wait longer to reach a person on the other end.
Winner: Namecheap
Speed
Assuming that you want your website to be accessible by anyone at any time, it’s crucial that you get a host that provides sufficient speed so that you don’t encounter lag times on a regular basis. While almost every host will claim that they offer 99.99% uptime, in many instances that is simply not the case, meaning that you have to test them yourself to find which one has the better performance.
According to the independent speed tester hostbenchmarker.com, here are the results for both of these sites.
Namecheap: average load speed is 3.4 seconds, with the fastest time being 2.85 seconds and the slowest being 72.7 seconds.
Godaddy: Average speed is 3.14 seconds, with the fastest being 2.38 and the slowest being 37.97 seconds.
Winner: As you can see, Godaddy trumps Namecheap overall, both with average and slow speeds. Part of that is because Godaddy has many more users, and as a result, has faster servers to accommodate them.
Uptime
As we mentioned, most hosting sites will guarantee virtually 100% uptime, meaning that your site shouldn’t go down for any reason. Again, we looked at hostbenchmarker.com to see how these hosts stacked up against each other.
Namecheap: Average uptime percentage is 99.93%, with the lowest being 92.92%.
Godaddy: Average uptime is 99.95%, with lowest being 94.72%
Winner: Again, having more users means that Godaddy has much better infrastructure than Namecheap, resulting in more reliable uptimes overall. It’s also worth noting that both hosts sometimes provide 100% uptime, so take that into consideration as well.
Value
When comparing two hosts, it’s necessary for you to compare what value you get with your subscription. For the most part, this value is determined by how many domains you can have, how much hard drive space you get, and how many databases you get overall.
Namecheap
- Value Plan: 3 domains, 20 GB disk space, 50 databases and 50 email accounts.
- Professional: 10 domains, 50 GB disk space, 100 databases and 100 email accounts
- Ultimate: Up to 50 domains, unlimited disk space, and unlimited bandwidth
- Business Pro: Unlimited domains, 20 GB disk space, and 5000 GB bandwidth
Godaddy
- Economy: 1 domain, unlimited bandwidth, 100 GB disk space
- Deluxe: Unlimited domains, storage, and bandwidth
- Ultimate: Everything from Deluxe, including DNS management tool and a one-year SSL certificate
As you can see, only Namecheap includes things like extra domains and email accounts, which means that if those are valuable to you, then Namecheap will be a better choice. However, if performance is a bigger selling point, then Godaddy can be your best option. Although emails don’t come bundled with Godaddy’s plans, you can tack them on for as little as $5.99 per month, which will make your overall price even higher.
Winner: Namecheap for emails and domains, Godaddy for speed and performance
Features
Along with knowing what value you get from your web host, you also need to understand what added features it provides you to make setting up your website even easier. Here are some common functions that these hosts share.
WordPress Hosting
As a service, WordPress is fast becoming the go-to website builder. Both Godaddy and Namecheap offer this style of hosting, meaning that it should be easy enough to add functionality to your web page without having to learn a ton of programming.
cPanel
This is by far the most preferred control panel for any website, as it gives you the most options and control over your content and backups. Both Godaddy and Namecheap offer cPanel for all of their packages.
Added Security
With hackers around every virtual corner, it’s imperative that your website is protected. Godaddy offers Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protection, as does Namecheap. Both sites have different security plans from which you can choose, depending on your needs.
Marketing
One of the biggest hurdles you will have after creating your website is that you have to promote it to drive traffic and boost your numbers. Godaddy offers various marketing plans, including SEO optimization, email marketing, and local targeting for ads. Namecheap doesn’t seem to have any official marketing plans yet.
Online Payments
If you are building a site that will use e-commerce as a primary function, then it’s imperative that you go with a host that can provide you with all of the tools you’ll need to make it happen. Namecheap allows you to use software that provides payment methods, meaning that you can create a digital storefront in no time.
The Winner: Overall, Namecheap has the best features, although Godaddy has the distinct advantage when it comes to marketing and web design. In fact, you can pay Godaddy to build your website and brand for you, meaning that you barely have to lift a finger to get set up.
Who Benefits the Most
So, we’ve seen what both hosts can offer, but what does that mean for you? Whether you’re a marketing professional or a small business owner, how do these hosts compare when providing you the services and features that you need? Let’s break it down.
A Developer
Overall, the performance level of Godaddy is higher than Namecheap, meaning that if you are a software developer, you might want to use Godaddy. That being said, neither of these sites are optimized for web development, so you ought to look elsewhere instead to see what you can find.
Marketer
If you are trying to develop sites as a way to promote events and businesses, it can be more beneficial to use Godaddy, as they already have a network for marketing different websites. However, if you want more control over what you can do, we would suggest Namecheap as a better option. Again, neither of these hosts are optimized for this sort of thing, so keep that in mind.
Small Business Owner
Assuming that you own a small business and want to promote it through your website, it will be better to utilize Godaddy’s marketing materials and network to your own advantage. However, if you are trying to minimize your bottom line, then Namecheap will cost you less in the long run.
E-commerce company
Because Namecheap allows you to set up online payments, this option is ideal for any online businesses. Best of all, the level of security and support you get from Namecheap means that you can handle any payment problems right away.
How does GoDaddy compare to other hosting sites? Check out our GoDaddy vs. HostGator comparison post to find out.
Last Updated on September 28, 2020 by Jake