Buying domain names is a must for any site owner. A lot of people struggle to want to know where you should buy your domains? I have used both NameCheap and GoDaddy over the years and wanted to write an article that shows you the pros and cons of buying domains with both of these companies. After reading this GoDaddy vs. Namecheap article, you should be able to decide which company you should purchase your domain names from.
Price
Chances are if you are in the market to buy a domain name you have seen the words “starting at” or “as low as”. It’s just a sales pitch that you have to learn to accept whenever you’re in the market to purchase a domain name; this also applies to web hosting plans. However, in this article, we are primarily looking at purchasing domain names, and I want to show you what you can expect to pay with the two companies.
GoDaddy
With GoDaddy, you will notice right away that domains are very cheap, at a glance. For instance, they sometimes run promotions that allow you to purchase a domain for $.99 or $1.99. However, the price for .com domains does go up to $17.99 for the second year. This kind of annoys me because why should I pay so much more each year for being a loyal customer? Hence, why GoDaddy has lost a lot of domain names to NameCheap over the years.
NameCheap
With NameCheap, the prices for .com domain names is $8.88 for the 1st year and $12.98 there after. WhoIs protection is free with NameCheap. With GoDaddy, it’s $9.99 a year for private WhoIs protection!
Due to registry restrictions WhoisGuard can’t be used with .asia, .bz, .ca, .cn, .co.uk, .de, .eu, .in, .me.uk, .nu, .li, .ch, .fr, .sg, .com.sg, .org.uk, .us, .es, .com.es, .nom.es, .org.es, .nyc, .xn--3ds443g, .xn--6frz82g, .com.au, .net.au or .org.au domains.
To show you a breakdown of the prices I will show you what you can expect to pay for 1-7 years with domain privacy with GoDaddy and NameCheap:
| Years |  |
 |
| 1 | $ 21.98 | $8.88 |
| 3 | $77.94 | $34.84 |
| 5 | $133.90 | $60.80 |
| 7 | $189.86 | $86.76 |
As you can clearly see the price with GoDaddy is more than double! However, the price tag isn’t the only thing we should look at when purchasing a domain name. We are going to also look at their interface, features, customer support, etc.
Ease of Use & Interface
Ideally, you’re not going to be spending a lot of time changing DNS settings. But, whenever you do you change your DNS you want it to be a painless process. You don’t have to host with either company if you don’t want to. You can always change your DNS settings and point to any host you choose. Please note that it does take 24 to 48 hours for your domain name to propagate over with both NameCheap and GoDaddy.
Upon logging into both GoDaddy and NameCheap, you will find that their DNS managers are entirely different. From my experience and a lot of other webmasters experiences GoDaddys DNS manager is a lot more cluttered. NameCheaps, on the other hand, is much more basic which makes it a lot easier to use.
Here is a look at GoDaddy’s DNS manager:
Here is a look at NameCheaps DNS manager:
Additional Features
There are many features you can purchase with both NameCheap and GoDaddy. However, the way in which you are billed is completely different, though. GoDaddy will try to upsell you different “extras.” They are 100% free with no strings attached with NameCheap though.
- NameCheap offers free domain email forwarding.
- WhoIsGuard cost extra money with GoDaddy ($9.99 each year). It is free with NameCheap though. Makes the price tag double!
- NameCheap gives you free custom nameservers.
Upsells
Getting the products and services you need should be a painless process. With NameCheap, it’s a painless process. It is straightforward, and they don’t try to throw in something you don’t want. However, with GoDaddy, this doesn’t seem to be the case. From the second you go to check out you are bombarded with upselling after upsell. Sadly, a lot of webmasters sign up for GoDaddy and end up purchasing products and services they don’t need. Also, GoDaddy has been known to call you for upsells.
Customer Support
Support is always one area that is an absolute must for any business in this technology era that we live it. Both NameCheap and GoDaddy do have a customer support staff that is around 24/7 to help you with any technical knowledge that you might need. However, the way in which you will contact them is much different.
First, with GoDaddy you can call them on the phone 24/7. You need to have your GoDaddy customer ID and PIN before they will give you any technical advice. I have talked with them many times and found that it typically takes 10 to 15 minutes to get them to help you on the telephone. NameCheap on the other end doesn’t use phone support at all. So you can’t reach them on the phone. Just live chat isn’t bad though because NameCheap does have better live chat.
Live chat is a way you need to reach out to NameCheap. Live chat is quick, though. It usually takes under a minute to get in contact with NameCheap. GoDaddy, on the other hand, takes anywhere from 3-45 minutes to get in contact with them on live chat.
While both companies do a great job at helping you with problems I really feel NameCheap is faster which is a huge time saver.
Web Hosting
This article covers just domain names, but I wanted to give you a preview of their web hosting, too. From the GoDaddy reviews, I have collected it doesn’t look like their customers are always praising GoDaddy. In fact, many webmasters have pointed out various problems and issues with them. On the other hand the NameCheap reviews are quite positive.
Final Verdict
Overall, if you’re looking for a good domain registrar they are both good. However, NameCheap wins because of the price, additional features (free domain privacy), customer support, and they don’t make the process of purchasing a domain name harder than it has to be. GoDaddy is notorious for starting you at a cheap price tag, but after your second year, you can expect to pay more. NameCheap does give you free domain privacy at no additional fee, too. I have switched many domain names from GoDaddy to NameCheap and was an easy process. Clearly, I recommend NameCheap over GoDaddy for registering domain names. If you’re looking to buy domain names I recommend you click here and get started with NameCheap today.
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I had always seen Godaddy as more of a ‘set up your website’ cheaply and easily business. I had never thought of them as just a hosting company. But I must admit, when I see their advertising, I am a little suspicious of their pricing. It seem SOO SO cheap. So reading this is interesting. I see where they then get their money. I would look to Namecheap now. Thank you!
Over the years I have learned that hosting with GoDaddy isn’t a smart business move. Recently I have found out that domain names with them might not be all that smart either.
For years I have pointed out to people that they start you at a cheaper rate and they always raise the prices. After finally going through the numbers I really think people should be aware of how much more money you will actually spend on domain names with GoDaddy.
I have personally spent hundreds of extra dollars with them on domain names. I am in the process of migrating my domain names to NameCheap. I have found that their support is much better and it doesn’t take ages to do little task.
Very interesting article on GoDaddy vs Namecheap. Thank you for giving us the pros and cons of each of these companies and your experience with them. This will enable anyone to make an educated business decision. Your site is very readable and attractive.
The comparison chart is plain and simple, and anyone reading beyond that will notice all the other points you make, like the clutter that Godaddy has and paying extra for Whois and such. 1st year being cheap is great but if you are goung to change it after that. Safe your self the work of transferring it later.
Transferring is never a fun experience either. Can take a week or so to get it all done. That and you will probably have some downtime when you migrate everything over.
Thank you for the easy to understand comparison. I finally went the NameCheap way, their live chat is very responsive and the website is very easy to navigate. Within a few minutes I had completed my transaction after checking out with Paypal. The GoDaddy website is so confusing and there are too many blinking offers everywhere ….. you feel as if you are being pushed. If you prefer smart deals, NameCheap is the way to go.
Not to mention sometimes GoDaddy’s live chat doesn’t connect. It is instant with NameCheap, though.
I use namecheap. I have used GoDaddy because I’m Canadian and wanted to be loyal. I wanted to advertise their products on my website but was turned down. Namecheap is an all round better service and costs less. This is the one I’ll always use. Great review.
Peter
Thanks for your feedback.
I’ve been using GoDaddy for all of my domains for years and just never even considered any other company. After reading this article comparing GoDaddy to namecheap I am definitely going to be trying namecheap the next time around. It just cost me $29.53 to set up a new domain with GoDaddy for 2 years!
Yep half that price with NameCheap 🙂
Wow, Garen, what an amazing review!!!
And I am totally serious.
The way you explain things, the way you used your screenshots (in right places), and the way you point out on everything that is a must-know, just makes your review super valuable.
Personally, I went with NameCheap. It is rather to have a stable price every year, than a host which has upsells and a whole bunch of possible hidden fees, where you will least expect.
Thank you for providing such a great article – I know a lot of people will benefit!
Hey Zarina,
Thanks a lot.
I should also point out that there was a poll on LifeHacker.com polled people on the best registrar. The five that were polled were:
Hover
NameCheap
Gandi
Dreamhost
Name.com
NameCheap was the winner. They got 37.84% of the votes. Can check it out here:
https://lifehacker.com/5943452/five-best-domain-name-registrars
Great review. I too like NameCheap and actually never even tried GoDaddy, mainly because I had heard from others what a hassle they were. But it is nice to see the comparisons between the two. Now I am even more confident to recommend NameCheap to others because I now know what GoDaddy offers by comparison.
Another nice thing about this review is that I learned something new about NameCheap customer support. In my 2 years using NameCheap I have never once had to contact their customer support and now I know how. I like the live chat aspect. I can definitely see that as being the quicker way to go. Thank you for this review. I will bookmark it for future reference.
I have talked to their support a number of times and they are very helpful. GoDaddy on the other hand is like pulling teeth!
Awesome read .
I like Namecheap and also use their hosting for some sites. Their support team are awesome and the SSL certs are easy to install.
You have gone into great detail here and I know it will be hugely beneficial to others.
Have you used Namecheap site builder at all? That’s one if their products i know very little about.
Thanks
Jason
No actually I haven’t used NameCheap’s site builder. All the sites I run are on the WordPress platform.
One thing I really believe is great about NameCheap over GoDaddy is the uptime. I have monitored websites that used both NameCheap and GoDaddy and I had issues with uptime and security with GoDaddy. The reason they get out performed and the security issues is because GoDaddy puts thousands of websites on a single shared server. NameCheap on the other hand limits them.
I really prefer to use NameCheap over GoDaddy though. I do feel both of them have equal customer support though. I do wish NameCheap had a telephone number you could call though.
I do have to agree that I wish NameCheap would have telephone support soon. Hopefully, they take note of this article and start using it soon. Their live chat and customer support are very quick though.
I can personally say that GoDaddy’s control panel is hard to use. I always find myself hunting just to make a simple DNS change. Really, wish they would make it easier than it is. Also, another thing I am not particularly fond of about GoDaddy is when you transfer domains away from them. It seems to be quite a hassle.
But, several years ago I discovered NameCheap. I have been much more happy with them. Not to mention as you have pointed out the price is better. I haven’t used NameCheap’s hosting, but from what I read it seems pretty good.
Hey Francis,
Yes, I can personally vouch for their control panel being hard to use. Seems to take some guesswork just to find out where stuff is. They really need to strongly consider redesigning it. Their customers have complained about this for many years now. Yeah, I have transferred many domain names away from GoDaddy to NameCheap. I feel like I got it down pretty good now.
Here are the steps on how to do it:
https://www.namecheap.com/support/knowledgebase/article.aspx/876/83/how-to-transfer-a-domain-from-godaddy
Glad you are much happier with NameCheap now.
Hosting a website can be costly if you don’t know what you are doing. Both of these, Namecheap and Godaddy are actually pretty famous around the internet too. Personally I would always go for the more cost effective one.
Of course, it’s even better if it doesn’t sacrifice quality. The deal breaker for me was the fact that Namecheap has an online live chat. To be honest, often I just want to quickly chat with someone then get my problem out of the way. Rather than waiting for half an hour to be transferred to a representative. Personally, Namecheap it is.
Yes, hosting can be expensive. This article is about domain names, though. But, having said that NameCheap is a better host than GoDaddy, too.
Thanks for this article. I’ve actually never heard of NameCheap before reading your article. But they seem pretty top class. I used to have a GoDaddy domain many many moons ago, and you are totally right. They bait you and get you in the door with their sales pitch and cheap gimmicks then real charges start coming. You first select your domain name, which is usually priced really low for the first year. You select your name and add to cart then starts the upsells.
Get .net and .org for an additional price of $X.XX or add this feature or that product. That can really be annoying. I prefer just getting what I want with everything included, no frills, no fuss. GoDaddy reminds me of those Low-Cost Airlines where you have to pay for every little thing along the way. Sure enough, the ticket is cheap, but by the time you pay for everything else, you realize that you would have been better of flying with one of the legacy airlines. I’m sure you’ve saved quite a bit of people from that sort of a headache.
Hey Kevon,
Yeah, suggestive selling is quite annoying. GoDaddy does seem to be masters at it, though. They even take it one step further and call you. They once called me about a lizard niche I was in. Sales lady tried to small talk about my site. Then she proceeded to try to sell me other products and services I did not want. Kind of sneaky really. I actually requested that they add me to their “no call list.” Finally, a couple of years ago I just stopped buying domain names from them.
This has always been a tough one for me because of having had domain names with both Godaddy and Namecheap, I liked them both!
I can certainly see there are pros and cons with both and also some big differences in pricing options too.
Webmasters have different preferences when it comes to domain name platforms, but now after reading your article, I would have to agree that Namecheap seems like the best option. I also like the fact there’s free domain privacy thrown in as well.
Neil
Yeah, cheaper and domain privacy is a nice feature. Just an all around better company.
I’ve been researching a place to buy cheaper domain names for my other sites. I’ve actually never heard of NameCheap until now!
I am so glad I found your site and this article and I love the additional features of NameCheap.
I will definitely be checking out NameCheap for my next site.
Thanks a bunch,
Jon
Yes, NameCheap is great for purchasing domain names. They are also excellent for web hosting.
I have often been asked by people why I don’t use GoDaddy or recommend it to my clients. Because as they say “it’s so cheap” but I then have to tell them of all the hidden costs. Aren’t there extra costs such as emails etc.second year?
I had never sat down and worked second-year costs as you have done so this is a good resource next time I am asked.
Yeah, email services are going to cost an extra monthly bill with GoDaddy. Just like domain names they do start you at a lower entry rate. It does go up more for your next billing cycle. GoDaddy and a lot of other hosts and registrars raise your bill. It’s a very common practice.
When it comes to cheap hosting and domain names Namecheap is the best. I have been using their service for two years now which I recommend people to use. They have excellent support which is great to work with.
Hi Garen,
I actually run into your article about a couple of months ago when i was trying to decide where to buy my domain from.
I decided o go with Namecheap and i didn’t regret it. First the free domain privacy is very important indeed. Second, their support was great. I had so many questions and really no idea about what a domain, a host, a dns is…. They explained everything to me with patience in a very clear way.