{"slug": "namecheap", "name": "Namecheap", "category": "other", "category_name": "Other software", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 10, "warners": 6, "score": -2.832, "rising": 0.35, "first": "2025-12-08", "latest": "2026-10-25", "why": "Namecheap is the easy go-to for me today. Their support is extremely good.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 1, "compare": 0, "warn": 6}, "spark": [0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "Namecheap is the easy go-to for me today. Their support is extremely good.", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.namecheap.com", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Namecheap"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 800570609, "item_id": 50035663, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50035663", "by": "ygjb", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "register with name cheap because it's been a a good service provider so far", "excerpt": "Same question, I use CloudFlare for alot of API DNS stuff but register with name cheap because it's been a a good service provider so far.", "context": "", "use_case": "domain registration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bitwarden Dual License Model"}, {"id": 739206864, "item_id": 46200429, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46200429", "by": "thiht", "date": "2025-12-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "use a big name registrar (I would recommend Namecheap)", "excerpt": "One thing to consider is that the way registrars work is fundamentally different of other businesses (since you mention Cloudflare incidents), because of their obligations to registries and the ICANN. A registrar cannot simply disappear, and your domains with it, that\u2019s not possible. Domains are actually registered to a registry, and registrars have an obligation to submit their domain portfolio to a data escrow[1] t", "context": "", "use_case": "domain registration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Which domain name registrar do you use?"}, {"id": 739059344, "item_id": 46191209, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46191209", "by": "A_D_E_P_T", "date": "2025-12-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Namecheap is the easy go-to for me today. Their support is extremely good.", "excerpt": "I've used a bunch, but Namecheap is the easy go-to for me today. Their support is extremely good. In over ten years, we've never had an issue that we couldn't solve over chat in 15 minutes.", "context": "", "use_case": "domain registration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Which domain name registrar do you use?"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 803680387, "item_id": 50230024, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50230024", "by": "jonathanlydall", "date": "2026-10-25", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it's behind a higher fee to enable full API access to administering your domain, totally stupid", "excerpt": "In some situations it is most convenient/practical to have your router do dynamic DNS updates and depending on your router the options may be limited giving you no \"great\" options. Regarding your valid concerns about the PSL, as long as you have a domain already, you can just make a CNAME record to a free dynamic DNS provider's sub-domain record, I've done this for years with a No-IP ddns.net record. I don't especial", "context": "", "use_case": "domain registrar and dynamic DNS", "switched_from": "", "story": "FreeDNS"}, {"id": 802335968, "item_id": 50145998, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50145998", "by": "bityard", "date": "2026-10-18", "stance": "warn", "quote": "They were already a sub-par registrar a decade ago, or more.", "excerpt": "They were already a sub-par registrar a decade ago, or more. You can find many namecheap horror stories without much trouble. I moved away from them years ago due to various shenanigans and never looked back.", "context": "", "use_case": "domain registrar", "switched_from": "", "story": "Namecheap just seized and disabled all my domains"}, {"id": 784475520, "item_id": 49029720, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49029720", "by": "happytoexplain", "date": "2026-07-23", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I used Namecheap since 2011. This year, they lost me.", "excerpt": "I don't understand where the anger is coming from. No, of course it's not as valid as positives (i.e. \"I experienced X\" vs \"I never experienced X\"). See also: \"Works on my machine.\" I used Namecheap since 2011. This year, they lost me. The only difference between you and me is one bad experience.", "context": "customer since 2011", "use_case": "domain registrar", "switched_from": "", "story": "Namecheap Gave My Account to an Unverified Third Party Just Because They Asked"}, {"id": 784469328, "item_id": 49029333, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49029333", "by": "jacobgkau", "date": "2026-07-23", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I stopped trusting Namecheap when they shunted all Russian users due to the Ukraine war.", "excerpt": "I stopped trusting Namecheap when they shunted all Russian users due to the Ukraine war. While it wasn't against ICANN regulations (since they did facilitate transfers out), it seemed against the spirit to me for them to do that to individual people and small businesses who weren't legally sanctioned. I kept a couple of domains on them for a while simply because their prices for some exotic TLD's were significantly l", "context": "", "use_case": "domain registrar", "switched_from": "", "story": "Namecheap Gave My Account to an Unverified Third Party Just Because They Asked"}]}], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["domain registrar", "domain registration", "domain registrar and dynamic dns"], "compared": [{"slug": "porkbun", "name": "Porkbun", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 2}, {"slug": "cloudflare", "name": "Cloudflare", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "hover", "name": "Hover", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49028037", "title": "Namecheap Gave My Account to an Unverified Third Party Just Because They Asked", "mentions": 5}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50142866", "title": "Namecheap just seized and disabled all my domains", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46191138", "title": "Ask HN: Which domain name registrar do you use?", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50222133", "title": "FreeDNS", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50033407", "title": "Bitwarden Dual License Model", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"warn": 4}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 1, "warn": 2, "neutral": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 803680387, "item_id": 50230024, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50230024", "by": "jonathanlydall", "date": "2026-10-25", "stance": "warn", "quote": "it's behind a higher fee to enable full API access to administering your domain, totally stupid", "excerpt": "In some situations it is most convenient/practical to have your router do dynamic DNS updates and depending on your router the options may be limited giving you no \"great\" options. Regarding your valid concerns about the PSL, as long as you have a domain already, you can just make a CNAME record to a free dynamic DNS provider's sub-domain record, I've done this for years with a No-IP ddns.net record. I don't especial", "context": "", "use_case": "domain registrar and dynamic DNS", "switched_from": "", "story": "FreeDNS"}, {"id": 802359841, "item_id": 50147490, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50147490", "by": "soul_grafitti", "date": "2026-10-19", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I don't have any complaints at the moment.", "excerpt": "I moved to NameCheap many years ago precisely because GoDaddy was such a miserable company to work with. Disappointed in the VC move but I don't have any complaints at the moment. I have had good experiences with Cloudflare for other services so feel predisposed to them.", "context": "", "use_case": "domain registrar", "switched_from": "GoDaddy", "story": "Namecheap just seized and disabled all my domains"}, {"id": 802335968, "item_id": 50145998, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50145998", "by": "bityard", "date": "2026-10-18", "stance": "warn", "quote": "They were already a sub-par registrar a decade ago, or more.", "excerpt": "They were already a sub-par registrar a decade ago, or more. You can find many namecheap horror stories without much trouble. I moved away from them years ago due to various shenanigans and never looked back.", "context": "", "use_case": "domain registrar", "switched_from": "", "story": "Namecheap just seized and disabled all my domains"}, {"id": 800570609, "item_id": 50035663, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50035663", "by": "ygjb", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "register with name cheap because it's been a a good service provider so far", "excerpt": "Same question, I use CloudFlare for alot of API DNS stuff but register with name cheap because it's been a a good service provider so far.", "context": "", "use_case": "domain registration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bitwarden Dual License Model"}, {"id": 784475520, "item_id": 49029720, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49029720", "by": "happytoexplain", "date": "2026-07-23", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I used Namecheap since 2011. This year, they lost me.", "excerpt": "I don't understand where the anger is coming from. No, of course it's not as valid as positives (i.e. \"I experienced X\" vs \"I never experienced X\"). See also: \"Works on my machine.\" I used Namecheap since 2011. This year, they lost me. The only difference between you and me is one bad experience.", "context": "customer since 2011", "use_case": "domain registrar", "switched_from": "", "story": "Namecheap Gave My Account to an Unverified Third Party Just Because They Asked"}, {"id": 784469328, "item_id": 49029333, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49029333", "by": "jacobgkau", "date": "2026-07-23", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I stopped trusting Namecheap when they shunted all Russian users due to the Ukraine war.", "excerpt": "I stopped trusting Namecheap when they shunted all Russian users due to the Ukraine war. While it wasn't against ICANN regulations (since they did facilitate transfers out), it seemed against the spirit to me for them to do that to individual people and small businesses who weren't legally sanctioned. I kept a couple of domains on them for a while simply because their prices for some exotic TLD's were significantly l", "context": "", "use_case": "domain registrar", "switched_from": "", "story": "Namecheap Gave My Account to an Unverified Third Party Just Because They Asked"}, {"id": 784466784, "item_id": 49029174, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49029174", "by": "prmph", "date": "2026-07-23", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Yep, never own a domain with NameCheap.", "excerpt": "Yep, never own a domain with NameCheap. My experience was kind of opposite, but still bad nonetheless. I lost domains I had with them simply because I lost the phone I used for 2FA. After several calls to them, they requested some info. I supplied all they wanted, but it took them more than a year to get back to me, by which time I had lost all interest in maintaining domains with them. Luckily these were not critica", "context": "", "use_case": "domain registrar", "switched_from": "", "story": "Namecheap Gave My Account to an Unverified Third Party Just Because They Asked"}, {"id": 784464768, "item_id": 49029048, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49029048", "by": "Adachi91", "date": "2026-07-23", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I had auto renew on but it did not auto-renew, which their system automatically turns your domain into an advertisement hell page.", "excerpt": "I moved from Namecheap 2 years ago when I had auto renew on but it did not auto-renew, which their system automatically turns your domain into an advertisement hell page. Transfer system was locked and I contacted them and told them to transfer it to my other registrar or I would file an ICANN complaint. I moved it to my main registrar (Hover) which while more expensive I haven't a problem with them in the decades I'", "context": "", "use_case": "domain registrar", "switched_from": "", "story": "Namecheap Gave My Account to an Unverified Third Party Just Because They Asked"}, {"id": 784454833, "item_id": 49028427, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49028427", "by": "happytoexplain", "date": "2026-07-23", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Please move away from them immediately.", "excerpt": "Just a few weeks ago I moved from Namecheap to Porkbun. That's not an advertisement - I simply Googled popular registrars. But it is an indictment of Namecheap. They are going the way of GoDaddy. Please move away from them immediately. They are shifting to short-term strategies (high prices, immoral data practices, etc).", "context": "", "use_case": "domain registrar", "switched_from": "", "story": "Namecheap Gave My Account to an Unverified Third Party Just Because They Asked"}, {"id": 739206864, "item_id": 46200429, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46200429", "by": "thiht", "date": "2025-12-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "use a big name registrar (I would recommend Namecheap)", "excerpt": "One thing to consider is that the way registrars work is fundamentally different of other businesses (since you mention Cloudflare incidents), because of their obligations to registries and the ICANN. A registrar cannot simply disappear, and your domains with it, that\u2019s not possible. Domains are actually registered to a registry, and registrars have an obligation to submit their domain portfolio to a data escrow[1] t", "context": "", "use_case": "domain registration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Which domain name registrar do you use?"}, {"id": 739059344, "item_id": 46191209, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46191209", "by": "A_D_E_P_T", "date": "2025-12-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Namecheap is the easy go-to for me today. Their support is extremely good.", "excerpt": "I've used a bunch, but Namecheap is the easy go-to for me today. Their support is extremely good. In over ten years, we've never had an issue that we couldn't solve over chat in 15 minutes.", "context": "", "use_case": "domain registration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Which domain name registrar do you use?"}]}