Namecheap vs. Bluehost 2025: The Steak Knife or the Swiss Army Knife?

Bluehost takes the overall win thanks to its comprehensive feature set, generous site limits, and beginner-friendly additions like an AI website builder and preinstalled WordPress. With automatic weekly backups, faster NVMe storage, and full cPanel access, Bluehost gives you maximum flexibility, whether you're running a single blog or managing multiple client sites.

That said, Namecheap's EasyWP deserves serious consideration if you're focused on launching a single WordPress site with rock-solid performance. Namecheap also offers a simpler control panel that won't overwhelm first-timers.

To learn more, set aside a few minutes to read our comprehensive Namecheap vs Bluehost comparison. We'll break down pricing, performance benchmarks, security features, and core functionality to help you decide which host aligns with your specific needs.

Namecheap vs. Bluehost review at a glance

• Namecheap: Best for beginners with a single WordPress site
• Bluehost: Best for cPanel lovers who have multiple sites

		Our Pick
Star rating	4.8 AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.	4.8 AllAboutCookies writers and editors score products based on a number of objective features as well as our expert editorial assessment. Our partners do not influence how we rate products.
Starting price	Starts at $3.58/mo	Starts at $2.99/mo
Money-back guarantee	Yes — 30 days	Yes — 30 days
Uptime guarantee	99.9% - 99.99%	99.99%
Monthly visits	50K - 500K	40K - 400K
Number of websites	1	10 - 100
Storage	10 GB - 100 GB SSD	10 GB - 100 GB NVMe
Free SSL certificate	On all plans	On all plans
Free domain for a year	Starting with Turbo annual	On all plans
Learn more	Get Namecheap Read Namecheap Review	Get Bluehost Read Bluehost Review

Namecheap pros and cons

Namecheap's EasyWP stands out for its simplified control panel and impressive performance under pressure. All three pricing tiers include essentials like free SSL certificates, a CDN, and fundamental security features like DDoS protection and malware scanning. The platform also delivered flawless stress test results during our testing, handling traffic spikes without breaking a sweat.

The tradeoff for this simplicity is limitation. Every EasyWP plan restricts you to a single WordPress site, which can become a deal-breaker if you're managing multiple projects or planning to expand. Email hosting is a paid add-on (though higher plans come with a 1-year free trial), and you won't find conveniences like an AI website builder or a native staging environment. The manual backup system also puts the onus on you to remember to create restore points, which most beginners simply won't do consistently.

Bluehost pros and cons

Bluehost packs a comprehensive feature set into all of its plans. You get a free domain in the first year, faster NVMe storage, automatic weekly backups, an AI-powered website builder, email hosting (via cPanel), and staging site capability. Site limits are also generous, with even the Starter plan supporting 10 websites (expanding to 100 on higher tiers).

The downside is that when we ran stress tests on Bluehost, we noticed that its infrastructure doesn't quite match Namecheap's EasyWP in handling sudden traffic surges. For a relatively simple blog this probably won't matter, but an ecommerce store on Black Friday might lose sales if the site can't handle the extra foot traffic.

Which web hosting service has the best core features?

Bluehost offers a more comprehensive set of core features compared to Namecheap’s EasyWP plans. Bluehost fuses managed WordPress benefits into its shared hosting plans, thus giving you the best of both worlds.

Namecheap separates its shared hosting from its managed WordPress (EasyWP) plans, so you end up with tradeoffs.

		Our Pick
Number of contributors	1	User roles supported - no hard cap*
Websites per account	1	10 - 100
Storage available	10 GB - 100 GB SSD	10 GB - 100 GB NVMe
Bandwidth	Unmetered	Not specified
Monthly visits	50K - 500K	40K - 400K
Staging environment	No (must use plugins)	On all plans
Migration assistance	On all plans	On all plans - free via transfer wizard + paid
Email	No - must purchase separately; higher plans have free 1-year trial	5 - unlimited boxes per account
Control panel	EasyWP custom control panel on all plans**	Bluehost account manager + cPanel on all plans
Website builder	Brizy Pro - starting from Turbo (tier two) plan	On all plans - AI-powered
Hosting types available	Shared / WordPress / VPS / dedicated servers / reseller hosting	Shared / WordPress / WooCommerce / cloud / VPS (unmanaged + managed) / dedicated server / email only
Learn more	Get Namecheap Read Namecheap Review	Get Bluehost Read Bluehost Review

Since we are directly comparing Namecheap’s EasyWP to Bluehost’s main web hosting/managed WordPress plans, it’s easy to point out EasyWP’s feature gaps. You can see them in the comparison table above: email is a paid add-on, there is no AI website builder, nor is there a native staging site solution.

Let’s say the quiet part out loud, though: Most of these advantages don’t come from Bluehost itself, they come from cPanel. Namecheap’s shared hosting also comes with cPanel, which means that if these limitations are a deal-breaker, then you’re better off comparing Namecheap’s shared hosting to Bluehost.

We decided not to do that in this comparison because Namecheap’s EasyWP is a unique product with no Bluehost equivalent and is ideal for a different set of use cases.

And that’s the point. Someone choosing EasyWP would do so because it’s easier to navigate and handles heavy traffic better, and that simplicity is a feature in and of itself. At the end of the day, Bluehost definitely puts more blades in your Swiss Army knife, but sometimes you just need a single, reliable steak knife, and Namecheap gives you just that.

Which web host has the best performance and reliability?

This is arguably the toughest category to call. An argument could be made for either host, but we tip our hat to Namecheap for better performance during our stress testing.

Bluehost did have faster scores on both FCP (First Contentful Paint — the time it takes for the first piece of content to appear) and LCP (Largest Contentful Paint — when the main content becomes visible), but those fractional seconds are less impactful when load times are already in the sub-second range.

	Our Pick
Uptime guarantee	99.9% - 99.99%	99.99%
Tested uptime	100%	100%
Average performance score	99	100
Average FCP	0.7 seconds	0.43 seconds
Average LCP	0.7 seconds	0.63 seconds
Stress test	Pass	Pass
HTTP failures	None/250	1/250
Learn more	Get Namecheap Read Namecheap Review	Get Bluehost Read Bluehost Review

Both hosts fell well below Google's max suggested threshold of 2.5 seconds for LCP in our testing, and the FCP results were similar.^[1] In other words, neither host will bottleneck your speed under normal conditions.

Our stress test results tell a more important story. When we simulated sending 250 users per minute to each site, Namecheap maintained a flawless error rate with zero failed requests, while Bluehost experienced one HTTP failure and a 0.4% error rate. Bluehost's response time graph also showed a dramatic spike around the 45-second mark, suggesting the server struggled momentarily under load. Namecheap's graph stayed remarkably consistent throughout the entire test.

This matters because real websites experience traffic spikes — a social media mention, a successful email campaign, or even just a busy shopping day can suddenly flood your site with visitors. Having said that, most small sites with predictable traffic won't notice a difference between the two. However, if your site has any potential for viral moments or seasonal traffic surges, Namecheap's superior stress test performance shows it won’t fold under pressure.

Which web host is the better value?

Bluehost delivers better overall value thanks to its lower entry price, generous site limits, and more comprehensive feature set across all tiers.

While Namecheap's EasyWP offers excellent performance and simplicity, you're paying premium prices for a single-site solution when Bluehost lets you host 10-100 sites with more bells and whistles at comparable or lower costs.

		Our Pick
Price range	$3.58-$26.88/mo	$2.99-$9.99/mo
Best value plan	Starter for $3.58/mo	Business for $4.19/mo
Money-back guarantee	30 days - Starter monthly plan only	Yes — 30 days
Free domain for a year	Starting at Turbo (tier two) plan; minimum 1-year contract	On all plans
Free CDN	On all plans	On all plans
Free SSL	On all plans	On all plans
Learn more	Get Namecheap Read Namecheap Review	Get Bluehost Read Bluehost Review

Namecheap plans

Namecheap's EasyWP plans are purpose-built for WordPress and use a streamlined control panel that strips away cPanel's complexity. A 30-day money-back guarantee is available, but only for the Starter plan when billed monthly — annual contracts are nonrefundable. You can pay for plans via credit card or add prepaid funds to your Namecheap balance in other ways, including cryptocurrency.^[2]

Every EasyWP plan includes a free SSL certificate, free CDN, manual backups with easy one-click restores, malware scanning, WordPress auto-updates, database access, and 24/7 live chat support. The two higher-tier plans also include a free domain name and business email in the first year when purchased annually.

Worth noting: Namecheap's Stellar Shared Hosting neutralizes many of Bluehost’s advantages over EasyWP by including full cPanel access, email hosting for up to 30 accounts, and support for multiple websites. We've included the entry-level Stellar plan below for comparison, since it represents a more apples-to-apples alternative to Bluehost's offering if cPanel and multi-site hosting matter to you.

• EasyWP Starter: 10 GB SSD storage, 512 MB RAM, 0.5 CPU core, 99.9% uptime guarantee, and supports up to 50,000 monthly visits
• Stellar Shared Hosting: 3 websites, 20 GB SSD storage, unmetered bandwidth, 30 email accounts, cPanel, AI website builder, twice-weekly backups
• EasyWP Turbo: 50 GB SSD storage, 768 MB RAM, 0.75 CPU core, 99.9% uptime guarantee, up to 200,000 monthly visits, Brizy Pro site builder, malware removal, and SEO tools
• EasyWP Super Sonic: 100 GB SSD storage, 1152 MB RAM, 1.125 CPU core, 99.99% uptime guarantee, up to 500,000 monthly visits, everything from Turbo, plus priority support

Bluehost plans

Although there’s no free trial, all Bluehost plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee and a 99.99% uptime commitment. Every plan includes an AI site builder, a free domain for the first year, a site migration wizard, staging environments, a free CDN, and managed WordPress updates.

Security features are comprehensive across all tiers: free SSL certificates, malware scanning, web application firewall, DDoS protection, and automatic weekly backups. Customer support is available 24/7 via live chat, with the two higher tiers adding phone support.

• Starter: 10 websites with 10 GB NVMe storage, up to 40,000 visits per month
• Business: 50 websites with 50 GB NVMe storage, up to 200,000 visits per month, malware detection/removal (beyond basic scanning), and free domain privacy for the first year
• eCommerce Essentials: 100 websites with 100 GB NVMe storage, up to 400,000 visits per month, everything in Business + ecommerce tools like secure payment processing, paid course functionality, affiliate program, and more

Which web host has the best security features?

Both hosts have strong security, but Bluehost takes the win thanks to providing firewall protection across all plans. Namecheap unlocks the firewall feature starting from tier two.

		Our Pick
Malware scanning
Firewall protection	Yes – starting from the Turbo (tier two) plan
DDoS protection
Backup frequency	On demand (manual)	Weekly*
Other	Malware removal starting from the Turbo (tier two) plan	Malware removal starting from the Business (tier two) plan
Learn more	Get Namecheap Read Namecheap Review	Get Bluehost Read Bluehost Review

Firewalls provide an important extra layer of defense by actively filtering malicious traffic before it reaches your site. The fact that Bluehost includes this across all plans is a genuine advantage. That said, Namecheap's base-tier users still have solid protection with DDoS mitigation and malware scanning. These features catch the vast majority of common threats facing small websites.

The other major security difference is in backups. Bluehost automatically backs up your site weekly on all plans, while Namecheap gives you a manual on-demand option. Namecheap’s approach is convenient, but requires you to remember to use it. It's great for people who live inside the control panel and love tinkering with their hosting, but those types of people are probably not going to use EasyWP. For the average EasyWP client, automatic backups would be a lot more useful.

Which web host has the best support and reputation?

Both hosts offer excellent support, but Bluehost squeezes out a win here. Its inclusion of phone support starting from the tier two Business plan, and its self-help Bluehost Academy have no equivalent on the Namecheap side. These unique offerings give Bluehost an edge.

		Our Pick
24/7 customer support
Support options	Live chat, AI chat, email, knowledge base, video tutorials	Live chat, phone, knowledge base, online courses, video tutorials
Trustpilot score	4.3	4.6
G2 rating	3.9	3.4
Capterra rating	N/A	3.6
Learn more	Get Namecheap Read Namecheap Review	Get Bluehost Read Bluehost Review

Namecheap and Bluehost both offer 24/7 chat support, and from having interacted with their support teams extensively, they are both reliable. Wait times are rarely more than a minute and usually well under that. The agents are friendly and helpful. Sometimes they provide inaccurate or outdated information, but this isn’t very common.

In terms of the hosts’ reputations, Bluehost scores higher on Trustpilot, but Namecheap has a better G2 rating. On Reddit, Namecheap seems to fare slightly better, with more mildly worded complaints compared to the vexed vitriol Bluehost often receives.

Keep in mind that complaints aren’t unique to Bluehost or Namecheap — or even to the web hosting industry. Every larger company is bound to have some negative interactions. It only becomes a red flag when the ratio is seriously skewed in the wrong direction, which is not the case here.

Top alternatives

If you’ve made it all the way down here and you’re still feeling so-so about both hosts, then you might want to consider some alternatives. Luckily, hosting is very much a buyer’s market, and the web is oversaturated with great options. Below are three to consider:

Hostinger is the perfect middle ground between Bluehost and Namecheap. Like Bluehost, it merges managed WordPress features into its shared hosting plans and gives you most of the same benefits. However, instead of cPanel, it uses a much simpler proprietary control panel that rivals Namecheap’s beginner-friendly EasyWP dashboard.

Learn more in our Hostinger review.

IONOS is the budget promo price champion. Their shared hosting, unmanaged WordPress, and managed WordPress plans all start at $1/month, making them one of the most affordable entry points available.

Learn more in our IONOS review.

DreamHost offers exceptional value with high site limits. Even the entry-level plan supports 25 websites, which is more than most competitors' starter tiers. It uses a custom-built control panel instead of cPanel, and strikes a balance between simplicity and power.

Learn more in our DreamHost review.

Namecheap vs. Bluehost: Which is better?

Bluehost is the overall winner against Namecheap’s EasyWP.

		Our Pick
Value
Core features
Performance and reliability
Security
Support and reputation
Learn more	Get Namecheap Read Namecheap Review	Get Bluehost Read Bluehost Review

If you're laser-focused on running one high-performing WordPress site with minimal fuss, EasyWP makes sense. But if you need flexibility, scalability, or comprehensive tools out of the box, then Bluehost is a better choice.

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