Namecheap
Ranked 2 of 12 domain registrars by recommenders
Recommended for good support, low prices, free extras and long reliable service. The common caveat is accounts suspended with little warning.
Recommended for good support, low prices, free extras and long reliable service. The common caveat is accounts suspended with little warning.
165 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 35
- criticize it
- 130
- approval share
- 21%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 14 years
Median of the 9 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 35 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 9 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
No problems for years
“I've had about 50 domains with them for the last few years and have never seen them reach out do to something like that.”
Comment from 19 Oct 2026 in “Namecheap just seized and disabled all my domains” “I've been a happy customer for many years and I discourage others from immediately reading other comments”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “Namecheap Gave My Account to an Unverified Third Party Just Because They Asked” “I've been a customer for 15 years and never had any such problem.”
Comment from 13 Jul 2026 in “Telegram's t.me domain has been suspended” - Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “Namecheap Gave My Account to an Unverified Third Party Just Because They Asked”
- Comment from 3 Sep 2026 in “.name Termination”
- Comment from 19 Oct 2026 in “Namecheap just seized and disabled all my domains”
- Comment from 13 Jul 2026 in “Telegram's t.me domain has been suspended”
- Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “Namecheap Gave My Account to an Unverified Third Party Just Because They Asked”
- Comment from 13 Jul 2026 in “Telegram's t.me domain has been suspended”
- Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “Namecheap Gave My Account to an Unverified Third Party Just Because They Asked”
Solid service overall
“Namecheap was a solid provider, and my experiences back then were consistently positive.”
Comment from 18 Oct 2026 in “Namecheap just seized and disabled all my domains” “You should get a better, less douchy domain provider than GoDaddy. I like namecheap.”
Comment from 12 Nov 2025 in “GoDaddy is auctioning a 15-year-old .org from an FOSS volunteer group – help?” “it's been a a good service provider so far”
Comment from 10 Oct 2026 in “Bitwarden Dual License Model” - Comment from 26 Apr 2026 in “GoDaddy Gave a Domain to a Stranger Without Any Documentation”
- Comment from 25 Feb 2026 in “Never Buy A .online Domain”
- Comment from 13 Jul 2026 in “Telegram's t.me domain has been suspended”
- Comment from 23 Apr 2026 in “Ask HN: How are you handling domain registration in agentic workflows?”
- Comment from 9 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: Which domain name registrar do you use?”
Low prices and free extras
“huge difference in price plus the added NameCheap free stuff Godaddy charges extra for”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “Namecheap Gave My Account to an Unverified Third Party Just Because They Asked” “They offer good prices, a wide selection of available domains”
Comment from 24 Mar 2026 in “Migrating to the EU” “i see they provide WHOIS privacy for free, great!”
Comment from 8 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: Which domain name registrar do you use?” Good support
“support was the best, prices and offerings too, but they really fucked me over a few times”
Comment from 18 Oct 2026 in “Namecheap just seized and disabled all my domains” “Their support is extremely good.”
Comment from 8 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: Which domain name registrar do you use?”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Accounts suspended with little warning
“support was the best, prices and offerings too, but they really fucked me over a few times”
Comment from 18 Oct 2026 in “Namecheap just seized and disabled all my domains” “decided to terminate the service of every single one of their customers (private citizens, businesses, everyone), that had a Russian address associated with their account”
Comment from 24 Jul 2026 in “Namecheap Gave My Account to an Unverified Third Party Just Because They Asked” “24 hours is a ridiculously short warning period, especially when they lock you out from meeting their demands yourself.”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “Namecheap Gave My Account to an Unverified Third Party Just Because They Asked” - Comment from 18 Oct 2026 in “Namecheap just seized and disabled all my domains”
- Comment from 19 Oct 2026 in “Namecheap just seized and disabled all my domains”
Renewals and fees cost more
“that's why I kept good ones with Namecheap despite their 2x pricing”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “Namecheap Gave My Account to an Unverified Third Party Just Because They Asked” “they charge for name servers but I figured out after a while”
Comment from 19 Oct 2026 in “Namecheap just seized and disabled all my domains” “Namecheap renewal rates are also higher than many others so surprises you have stayed and paid above market rates”
Comment from 24 Jul 2026 in “Namecheap Gave My Account to an Unverified Third Party Just Because They Asked” - Comment from 10 Oct 2026 in “Bitwarden Dual License Model”
Private equity ownership worries customers
“Disappointed in the VC move but I don't have any complaints at the moment.”
Comment from 19 Oct 2026 in “Namecheap just seized and disabled all my domains” “Honestly, they've been great to me, for years, but now I'm worried.”
Comment from 19 Oct 2026 in “Namecheap just seized and disabled all my domains” “The real problems started in September of 2025 when the private equity firm CVC Capital Partners purchased a majority stake.”
Comment from 19 Oct 2026 in “Namecheap just seized and disabled all my domains” Slow or unaware support
“came across as surprisingly unaware of how anything to do with domain name registries, TLDs, and DNS works”
Comment from 5 Jan 2026 in “Anna's Archive Loses .Org Domain After Surprise Suspension” “when I sent them an email they didn't get back to with an response email until there was just an hour left”
Comment from 23 Jul 2026 in “Namecheap Gave My Account to an Unverified Third Party Just Because They Asked”
Other domain registrars people recommend
The four most recommended other domain registrars, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Porkbun | 81 | 18 | 82% | 9 | — | Approved |
| NamecheapThis page | 35 | 130 | 21% | 9 | 14 yrs9 owners | — |
| Cloudflare Registrar | 18 | 9 | 67% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Hover | 13 | 18 | 42% | 3 | 15 yrs3 owners | — |
| GoDaddy domain registrar | 10 | 107 | 9% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 191 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“The real problems started in September of 2025 when the private equity firm CVC Capital Partners purchased a majority stake.”
“Been using them for over a decade no problems”
“disabled a domain with 20k user subdomains without notice based on an abuse report that was weeks old”
“they charge for name servers but I figured out after a while”
“Honestly, they've been great to me, for years, but now I'm worried.”
“this was the first time I ever had this issue, it was definitely a bug in their system”
“I've had about 50 domains with them for the last few years and have never seen them reach out do to something like that.”
“Disappointed in the VC move but I don't have any complaints at the moment.”
“support was the best, prices and offerings too, but they really fucked me over a few times”
“Namecheap was a solid provider, and my experiences back then were consistently positive.”
“one day these fuckers banned my domain, and my access to the dashboard without any warnings or headsup”
“auto renewals not working at times for some reason, credit cards not being saved, prices rising vs competitors”
“it's been a a good service provider so far”
“Namecheap never gave me any problems adding a record”
“Namecheap renewal rates are also higher than many others so surprises you have stayed and paid above market rates”
“decided to terminate the service of every single one of their customers (private citizens, businesses, everyone), that had a Russian address associated with their account”
“Don't just switch because a couple people on HN did.”
“never had any complaints myself”
“How about 16 years of lacking a negative? Does that count?”
“that's why I kept good ones with Namecheap despite their 2x pricing”
“huge difference in price plus the added NameCheap free stuff Godaddy charges extra for”
“with no issues whatsoever”
“I've been a happy customer for many years and I discourage others from immediately reading other comments”
“24 hours is a ridiculously short warning period, especially when they lock you out from meeting their demands yourself.”
“when I sent them an email they didn't get back to with an response email until there was just an hour left”
“Namecheap/Spaceship are a little better, IIRC.”
“afaik they have good reputation”
“Never had a problem with them.”
“I've been a customer for 15 years and never had any such problem.”
“I've never had a problem with Namecheap”
“Namecheap is the one I use personally.”
“Namecheap is pretty good IMO”
“only Porkbun and Namecheap has reasonable programmatic access”
“They offer good prices, a wide selection of available domains”
“NameCheap is good for the basics”
“came across as surprisingly unaware of how anything to do with domain name registries, TLDs, and DNS works”
“I would recommend Namecheap”
“i see they provide WHOIS privacy for free, great!”
“Their support is extremely good.”
“You should get a better, less douchy domain provider than GoDaddy. I like namecheap.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.