Namecheap or GoDaddy? I get asked the question a lot. I’m a customer of both GoDaddy and Namecheap. So this review is based 100% on my experience with both companies so far as far as domains.
EDIT 7/20/2016 This post was originally published March 31, 2013. I’ve made changes throughout the post to make it relevant for 2016.
Notes: If you are just looking for discounts, coupons, or promo codes – here’s what I’ve got for you. I’ve got links with promo codes built in from both GoDaddy & NameCheap. I get referral fees from any companies mentioned in this post, but any opinions are based on my experience as a paying customer.
If you click this link for GoDaddy – you can get a .com for $1.69 for the first year and if you click this link to Namecheap, you’ll get free WHOIS Guard for a year.
Still with me? Great! Let’s dive into the full review! Because you’re already the type of person who knows that your domain name is your name on the Internet – and it matters who provides it. I’ll break the review down to 6 categories that actually matter – price, user experience, interface, extras, upsells, and principles.
Price
Domain name providers are pretty notorious for having intro pricing…then raising the price on you to make money ongoing. So for me the best way of judging apples to apples is to look at their 1 year renewal pricing for .com domain names.
GoDaddy runs at $14.99/yr for .com domains.
Namecheap runs at $10.29/yr for .com domains.
Ok…but suppose you really just want to save money right now. In that case, GoDaddy wins with their deep discounting.
This link goes to a GoDaddy promo for $1.69 .com domain names, while this link to Namecheap gets you a .com for $10.29 (but with WHOIS Guard and email thrown in).
So – GoDaddy or Namecheap? Well, if you are planning on running your website for more than 2 years – Namecheap. But, if you are just trying to claim a name fast, and don’t mind transferring it later – then GoDaddy will save you a few bucks.
But, as you may have guessed – there’s more to a domain name provider than just price.
Customer Experience
Here’s the NameCheap Account Page:
Compared to the GoDaddy Account Page:
When choosing between Namecheap or GoDaddy (or any domain provider, really) – I always consider the overall experience of purchasing, using, and navigating the site. I’ll dive into a couple specifics, but I want to list out some things I like and don’t like about both Namecheap and GoDaddy.
First, Namecheap…
Has trouble with auto-renewal on occasion
Very straightforward checkout process
Good suggestion engine
Knowledgebase is pretty well put together
Chat support is super-fast, but lacks phone support
Bare bones design (for good and bad)
Now for GoDaddy,
Confusing checkout process
Domain manger opens separate window – and feels weird like the domains are off-site
Suggestion engine offers too many upsell suggestions
Clean color scheme – but cluttered with upsells
Knowledgebase is very extensive
Email and chat support are ok – phone support is good
Overall – I have to give experience points to Namecheap, which is partly purely subjective, but also partly from GoDaddy‘s constant upsells and cluttered layout. Sometime I feel like I go into to buy a domain name from GoDaddy and feel like I’m not allowed to buy it unless I buy an email and photo package. (Note – which Namecheap includes email and forwarding for free).
Interface
Their domain interface could be included in overall experience – but I broke it out because it is a bit different, and more specific…and more important than the overall experience. The domain (also known as DNS Manager) is where you’ll actually configure your domain name. A bad interface can lead to frustrating evening while an easy interface can mean a one-time easy setup…and a rare visit.
Here are pictures of my domain/DNS managers in Namecheap and GoDaddy.
GoDaddy DNS Backend:
NameCheap Domain Manager:
Just to explain – the domain manager page is what you’ll use to actually configure your domain name (such as routing your DNS to your hosting company, setting up your email, setting up any subdomains, etc). Hopefully, you’ll just be diving in here once or twice to reroute your DNS to your hosting company (which you should do BTW), and maybe make an occasional edit.
Anyway – it’s also a place where you don’t want to make mistakes (which can take your site down, and changes take a while to fix), so you want it to be straightforward.
So, Namecheap or GoDaddy? If you can see anything from the screenshots above – it’s obvious to me that the winner is Namecheap. GoDaddy is fine – and a lot better than other domain name providers, but it’s really no match for Namecheap.
Namecheap has all your options laid out on the sidebar, and no clutter or unnecessary settings in the actual DNS settings. Many of the extra settings in GoDaddy are actually because of how they upsell email/hosting/services – and want to make it hard to leave.
The only upside to GoDaddy’s interface is that it’s so widely used that you will be able to find support for it out on the Internet or in GoDaddy’s knowledge-base.
Namecheap’s interface is one of the primary reason’s I switched most (but not all) of my long-term domains from GoDaddy.
Extras
When you purchase a domain name – you usually get a few extras thrown in. These extras sometimes are expected (like security), but sometimes are quite valuable (like privacy settings). Here’s how they are different…
Reliable DNS – GoDaddy’s DNS was hacked, and Namecheap’s hasn’t been. This is a huge deal. It was a concerted attack…but still
Email – Namecheap’s forwarding is 100% free, while GoDaddy pushes upsells
WHOIS Guard – Namecheap bundles this privacy feature while GoDaddy charges
Hosting – GoDaddy gives you a limited hosting package for a year, along with photo storage space, while Namecheap offers a range of shared hosting services.
Custom DNS – Namecheap gives free custom nameservers, while GoDaddy doesn’t
As you can tell – Namecheap tends to focus on more technical giveaways, while GoDaddy focuses on extras like photo storage and hosting. I tend to like companies that take care of the basics over bells and whistles, but GoDaddy still does a decent job on the technical front if they are more of a fit for you and your site. However, if extras determined whether you should go with Namecheap or GoDaddy – then Namecheap would still win.
Upsells
Upsells – those times when you are offered a complementary product to whatever you are purchasing. It can be annoying, but it can also be really helpful. And in the domain name selling world – upsells are really quite obvious.
Domain name – unless it’s 1997 and you bought something like pizza.com or walmart.com – you aren’t going to make money just buying domain names (though GoDaddy does run one of the larger domain auction platforms). You’ve got to have website to go along with it, so on and so forth.
I strongly think it’s a good idea to separate your domain name (your website’s address) from your hosting (where it lives) – the jobs are very different, and for a multitude of reasons (probably a different article) a good idea to keep separate.
Note: I recommend & use HostGator, InMotion or Bluehost for web hosting depending on project type – and know that the promo code swampland25 will get you 25% off a hosting package.
Anyway, both Namecheap and GoDaddy offer upsells to hosting and storage packages. Namecheap offers a neat upsell for a One-pager website that would be useful if you are just trying to get something up quick. They also offer an upsell for a discounted SSL package (useful if you are building an ecommerce site). GoDaddy has similar upsells.
Overall they are a tie here. GoDaddy offers attractive pricing…but is more aggressive and annoying almost to me. Namecheap also offers some good deals (including for shared hosting), but usually for products that I would want to buy elsewhere.
Principles
I want to do business with companies that do right. In the case of Namecheap or GoDaddy – the business values winner goes hands down to Namecheap. In fact, values are what originally made me switch most of my domains to Namecheap back in 2012.
At the time – the fight over Internet regulation (SOPA) was going on and before doing an about-face, GoDaddy had staked out a position in favor or more regulation and less openness of the Internet (presumably because as the largest domain name provider – they would be able to increase their market advantage).
Namecheap created a partnership with the Electronic Frontier Foundation to help fight the legislation. It was a controversial, but clear and admirable stance. It won me over.
GoDaddy too has been a controversial company in other ways (that are not admirable). They famously exploit sexuality in their marketing, playing on gross stereotypes to sell their hosting products. Their CEO (now Chairman) is a renowned elephant hunter. And they are notorious for trying to “lock” their customers in.
Namecheap or GoDaddy? Conclusion.
As I said at the beginning – where you buy your domain name does matter. GoDaddy is a really good fit for most people – especially anyone who wants a cheap domain upfront, and wants phone support. However, I think it should be apparent that if you are building a website for the long term – your best bet is to go grab a domain name from Namecheap. If my experience has been correct – you won’t regret it.
If you already have domains at another provider, Namecheap also makes it super-easy to transfer your domains as well. You can check out the Namecheap Transfer Domain Name here.
If you are interested in GoDaddy – go here to get a .com for just $1.69
If you are interested in Namecheap – go here to get a domain with WHOIS Guard added for free
If you are also looking for web hosting, be sure to check out HostGator here, and use promo code swampland25 to get 25% off. Or explore my Buzzfeed-style hosting quiz to find the right hosting company for your needs.
And lastly you might also find my step by step guide to setting up a WordPress website useful as well.
Good luck!
*note comments are closed due to the overwhelming amount of spam this post attracts. Feel free to contact me with any questions!
The post Namecheap or GoDaddy? Where To Get Your Website Domain Names appeared first on ShivarWeb.