Namesilo vs NameCheap – Best & Cheapest Domain Registrar?
Namesilo vs NameCheap – two large domain registrars go head to head. I have used both and have a clear preference but I’ll let you decide. Both are popular registrars and offer a massive range of domain extensions from the standard .com to the new extensions such as .ninja and so on.
Namesilo
Namesilo is a large domain registrar which is in the top percentage in the world of total domains registered – a majority of these are .com domains. There are several features and reasons that you would choose to host domains with Namesilo:
- Price
- Range of extensions
- Bulk edits
- Free WHOIS privacy
- Portfolio
Price
Namesilo is the cheapest .com domain registrar I have hosted domains with. The .com registration price is $8.99 as standard but is quite often $6.99 for new registrations. The renewal price is $8.99 so there are no nasty increases after the first year. The price is the same for transfers too, I transferred a large number of domains from various registrars to Namesilo after trialling them for a few months.
Range of Extensions
I usually stick to .com domains but sometimes purchase .net if I really want a domain name, I don’t usually purchase the newer extensions but I have .top .xyz .info and several other extensions just for the exact domain I want. Some of the popular domains name extensions offered by Namesilo are:
- .com
- .net
- .org
- .biz
- .top
- .xyz
- .blog
- .online
- .store
- .info
- .cc
- .co
- .io
Bulk Edits
This is one of my favourite features of Namesilo and one that I use fairly regularly. I have 200+ domains with Namesilo and sometimes I need to quickly change the nameserver settings or domain forwarding. With Namesilo, you can bulk edit domains to quickly and easily change these and other settings in bulk saving a lot of time and tedious repeated actions with other registrars.
Free WHOIS Privacy
WHOIS privacy is pretty much free with every major host now but until a few months ago, many providers were charging anything from $2 to $20 just to keep your details private on the public WHOIS domain database.
Support
Namesilo do not offer 24/7 support but do offer live chat support and phone support during business hours and ticket support.
NameCheap
NameCheap is also a very large and popular domain registrar with a range of domain extensions and competitive pricing. NameCheap also offers other services such as hosting and SSL certificates. Some reasons to choose NameCheap:
- Range of extensions
- Price
- Hosting + Services
- Free WHOIS privacy
Range of Extensions
As with Namesilo, NameCheap offers a wide range of traditional extensions as well as the newer extensions.
Price
NameCheap are not the most expensive and are quite reasonable, their .com domain prices start at $10.98 but are usually offered at $8.88 for the first year.
Hosting + Services
NameCheap offer reasonably priced domains as well as hosting, SSL and Premium DNS services. I am not a huge proponent of having all your eggs in one basket so to speak, I prefer to have my hosting separated from my domain registrar and other services. There is nothing wrong with it and it makes sense if you want to receive one bill and manage in a single location.
NameCheap offer a range of hosting packages from shared hosting, reseller hosting, VPS hosting and dedicated hosting. The hosting packages are competitively priced and offer a good range of features – as a UK based blog, it’s not great to have to pay a premium to host in the UK with NameCheap.
NameCheap offer reasonably priced SSL certificates, from my own research and asking fellow bloggers, NameCheap SSL outperform most standard SSL certificates and are a good choice.
Premium DNS is something I discussed in my DNSMadeEasy review, NameCheap offers this service on a domain basis starting at $4.88 a year renewing at $9.98 per year. NameCheap’s Premium DNS service is currently rated 29th overall in the world (DNSMadeEasy are 10th) which for the price is not bad. Their DNS service will speed up your site accessibility and their reliability rating is 99.77% which is very good.
Free WHOIS Privacy
Until around the time of the introduction of the GDPR privacy regulations, NameCheap offered free WHOIS privacy for the first year only and then charged approx $2.50 for annual WHOIS privacy. They now offer this for free which is great albeit a little belated as Namesilo were already offering this for free.
Support
Namecheap offer 24/7 live chat support as well as ticket support but no phone support.
Namesilo vs NameCheap Comparison
Namesilo | NameCheap | |
.com New Reg. | $6.88 | $8.88 |
.com R | $8.98 | $10.98 |
WHOIS Privacy | YES | YES |
Bulk Edits | YES | NO |
URL/Email Forwarding | YES | YES |
Domain Marketplace | YES | NO |
Support 24/7 | No Livechat & Phone business hours, & Ticket | YES Livechat & Ticket |
Try Namesilo | Try NameCheap |
Conclusion
Both Namesilo and NameCheap are very reliable and reasonably priced domain registrars, I have domains with both and have never had any serious issues with either. They both have a massive range of extensions available so that you can find your perfect domain name.
My choice is based on 2 things, cost and control panel, Namesilo is cheaper than NameCheap – by approximately 20% on usual prices. This may not make much of a difference when registering 1-2 domains but if you have hundreds, this quickly adds up.
Also, Namesilo seems to be geared to bulk customers with their bulk edit options and bulk ordering discounts, NameCheap is ideal for small domain portfolios whereas Namesilo is suited to both small and large domain buyers.
My choice is clearly Namesilo and having been with them for 2+ years, I still recommend them. I have had no issues during that time and have increased my domain portfolio massively.
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