The domain name is the most important thing you need to start a business or a site online. Of course, you should host that domain with a trusted company and manage everything from one place.
In today’s post about NameCheap and Hover, I’ll show you the best domain registrar service. But also, you’ll find the features, the pros and the cons of each company, So, you can make a clear decision.
What’s NameCheap?
NameCheap is a trusted and secure domain name registration service. The company offers lots of options, and it has a powerful infrastructure of SSD servers and 100% uptime.
Also, they offer web hosting services, and that way, you can host your domain and build a website, a blog, a store, or anything you want.
NameCheap is an ICANN accredited registrar, which means a certified, trusted, and secure company. They have been in this business since 2001 (founded in 200), and that helped them to build a strong knowledge about domains, DNS, and security.
Unlike other companies, this one offers really cheap domains with a powerful management interface. You can edit everything in your domain name with a few clicks.
NameCheap is a US-based company, in Los Angeles, and they offer hundreds of domain extensions to choose from.
What’s Hover?
Hover is another domain name registration service founded in 2008 in Canada (Toronto). They offer registration, and transfer, but not web hosting. Their prices are expensive compared to other Internet domain name registrars including NameCheap.
Table comparison of NameCheap and Hover
The following is the comparison table that makes things easier, or you can read the complete article for more details.
| NameCheap | Hover | |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2000 | 2008 |
| ".com" Domain | $10.69 | $13.99 |
| ".com" domain renewal | $10.69 | $15.99 |
| ".com" domain transfer | $10.69 | $13.99 |
| Automatic renewal | Yes | Yes |
| Email forwarding | Free (but slow) | $20 (but Fast) |
| TLD domains pricing (average difference) | $10 cheaper | $10 more expensive |
| Bulk domain search | Yes | No |
| Free WhoIs Protection | Yes | Yes |
| Web Hosting | Yes | No |
| Payment options | Credit Card/ Debit Card/ PayPal/ Dwolla/ Bitcoin | Credit Card/ Debit Card/ PayPal |
Visit NameCheap and save money | Visit Hover |
Now, let’s compare both companies based on different factors. That includes prices, customer support, domain extensions, and features.
Namecheap and Hover Prices
The cost of the domain name is more important these days than at any time before. If you have lots of domains, then, carefully compare the prices to save money without losing features, and options.
Some new domain extensions are more expensive than others, especially the “.car” and “.auto”; they cost thousands of dollars.
If we look closely, we’ll find that NameCheap is cheaper than Hover. The “.com” domains cost $10.69 per year; on the other side, Hover domain pricing is not cheap, the company charges $12.99, and that’s a $2.3 difference.
The great thing about NameCheap is that the new registration and all the renewal prices are the same. So, you pay $10.69, but the Hover renewal prices are more expensive; they cost $14.99 for the ‘.com” extensions.
The same thing for the domain transfer. Hover is more expensive. So NameCheap is the cheapest and the most affordable domain registrar service.
NameCheap offers more gTLDs (generic top-level domains) and also, lots of country-code TLDs.
NameCheap offers free WhoIs protection for the first year, but you need to enable it from your dashboard (as it’s turned OFF by default). On the other hand, Hover claims it’s a free service, but if you compare prices, you’ll notice that it’s not worth the extra money you pay for a domain name.
NameCheap offers the cheapest domain name renewal, the cheapest domain name registration and transfer, and even the cheapest SSL certificates. It’s all in one domain and hosting company.
Security
Without a doubt, NameCheap is the most secure domain name registration company. They provide everything you need to make your domain name protected from threats and even faster.
NameCheap is the only company that offers low-cost SSL certificates provided with the strongest encryption and protection levels. You can get your own Comodo Positive SSL certificate for only $1.99 for the first year.
By the way, that certificate costs $49 per year originally, and that’s a huge discount applied automatically when you get a new domain name with NameCheap.
In other words, you can protect your business with an SSL certificate for cheap, but with superior quality. That’s what you can’t find with any other domain registrar.
The NameCheap’s daily email scanning system makes it hard to be a victim of a virus. It’s a secure service with strong settings and configurations.
Email features
Hover offers the domain name, but you can’t forward your domain email unless you pay at least $5 per year and that’s frustrating.
On the other hand, NameCheap lets you forward your domain email to any email for free. Moreover, NameCheap offers a great interface to forward your email to any email including Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, and more, and best of all, you can read and reply to your emails from there.
In my own experience, NameCheap is the best email hosting service. They offer private and secure hosting for your emails. You can receive emails and reply to them directly from any mailbox in seconds.
Domain management
There is no way to own a domain and make it work well without a strong management system. Hover offers the tool, but they have limitations, and NameCheap offers a better tool to manage everything. You can manage the DNS with the basic or the advanced DNS tool.
Domain marketplace
If you want to buy and sell domains, then, only NameCheap is what you need. They have a great domain marketplace with filters and options to adjust. You can choose a pre-owned domain and buy it, or you can sell your domains easily. Just pick the right domain, list it, and that’s it.
Customer support
When you need help, no one can help if he’s not someone professional with knowledge about DNS and domains. Both companies offer support by Phone, Live chat, and email. In this case, you don’t have to worry about fixing problems. Just look for the other features.
What about web hosting?
When you purchase a domain name, you can use it to build a website or just sell it. In both cases, you can get professional and fast web hosting with NameCheap. They offer cheap shared hosting, VPS, and even dedicated servers.
So, why choose another hosting service when you can get it with the domain name at once.
Hover doesn’t offer web hosting. They only have expensive domain names and renewals.
Hover or NameCheap?
Based on this comparison, it’s clear that NameCheap is cheaper, more secure, and better than Hover.
The company offers lots of options and management tools to protect your domain, forward your email, and protect everything, automatically.
The NameCheap pricing model is flexible, and you’ll save lots of money. With a single domain, you’ll save a few dollars and even more, but if you want to register lots of domains, then, you’ll save hundreds or thousands of dollars with NameCheap.
Best of all, they have stronger servers and faster lookup for your domain system. I recommend NameCheap as the best domain name registrar company.
