GoDaddy or NameCheap: Which is a Better Place to Buy Domains?

A lot of my co-workers always ask me the same question, ‘Where do you buy your domain names from’? And I can never seem to answer them with one name. This is because whenever I buy domain names to launch a new website, I cross-analyze a lot of factors with different domain registrar companies.

A domain can be easily bought for as low as $3-$4. But after purchase, would it satisfy my requirements is the main question. I think about the customer service of the domain registrar, their service uptime, domain annual renewal expenses, Whois privacy protection costs, number of email addresses I would be able to register with the domain name and so on.

Which is a better place to buy domains, Godaddy or Namecheap? Click To Tweet

In the past eight years, I have found two of the best Domain registrar companies are GoDaddy and NameCheap. Both have been pioneers in the domain registrar business since the 1990’s, and get solid benchmarks and reviews from millions of customers worldwide.

In this article, I want to share with you my genuine reviews on GoDaddy and NameCheap, clearly comparing them both on different areas which include pricing, reliability, and support.

I will start with a brief background on both companies.

GoDaddy is a very popular name on the internet. Established in 1997 as Jomax Technologies, they later changed their name to GoDaddy Inc. They are an ICANN-accredited registrar and the world’s largest domain registrar. They also sell e-business tools and services for enterprise solutions.

NameCheap is a great company which offers you affordable pricing to buy new domain names. I have a few domains with them and their customer support is really good. They offer domain registration, email hosting, dedicated servers, reseller hosting and much more.

NameCheap was founded in 2000 by Richard Kirkendall. They were selected as one of the best domain registrar companies in a Lifehacker poll(2010–2015). Another proud mention of their company is their ‘Reader’s Choice Awards’ in 2003.

Comparison: GoDaddy vs NameCheap

Pricing

The price factor is one of the most important things that comes to mind when buying a domain name.

Both GoDaddy and NameCheap offer the cheapest price to book domain names. They offer very affordable prices so that anyone can buy a domain easily.

You can buy GoDaddy domain names for $0.99 and the renewal fee is $15/year. The Whois privacy protection would cost you $9/year which is additional.

On the other hand, NameCheap will cost you around $11 for the first year with Whois privacy protection (valued at $2.90). From the following year, the renewal charges would be $10.69 + $2.88 for Whois privacy protection.

In this case, NameCheap is the winner, as GoDaddy might offer you domain names at a cheaper price in the beginning but the renewal charges are higher than NameCheap.

Have a quick look at the detailed pricing comparison of both the domain registrars below.

As compared to GoDaddy, NameCheap offers SSL encryptions at a much lower price starting from $9.99/year. GoDaddy’s SSL starts at $69.99.

NameCheap certainly beats GoDaddy when it comes to pricing.

Support

If you are a newbie in this area, you deserve better support. That’s where the customer support comes to rescue you from minor trouble. Both of the registrar companies provide 24/7 Live Support via live chat and emails. An approximate waiting time of 5 minutes max is typical to get connected to their 24/7 live agents.

User Interface

Both GoDaddy and NameCheap have easy-to-use interfaces with an intuitive design.

Conclusion

I have used both of the companies and I am glad to write reviews about them. In terms of pricing, GoDaddy seems to be a little bit more expensive than NameCheap but that doesn’t affect the quality of their service. I highly recommend you to try both of them first and then decide for yourself which one is the winner. As for me, I love them both.

If you are still confused or want to know more about other registrars, check this article here.

If you have any questions regarding this article or simply want to share your experiences, feel free to write a comment below.

Originally published at Freelancer Bundle.