hosting.com vs Namecheap
We give hosting.com a 2.0 GPA and Namecheap a 2.2, out of 4.0. hosting.com grades higher on features and platforms. Namecheap grades higher on value for money and the free plan. They get the same grade on ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
hosting.com
Shared hosting from the former A2 Hosting, with an API and MCP server
Namecheap
Domain registrar's cPanel shared hosting, billed monthly or yearly
How we grade them
| 2.0GPAhosting.comFair | 2.2GPANamecheapFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CNo price on record: plan prices are filled in by the checkout and couldn't be read, so no two-year figure can be worked out. With nothing to compare, it sits at C, the grade for no stated price. First-term prices renew at regular rates. | AOnly renewal rates could be read, and Stellar on a 2-year term is still $102.88, about $4.29 a month over two years, under the $5.97 an A needs. Any first-term discount would only bring that down. Monthly is $5.88. |
| Free plan and trial | FNothing free on record: no free plan and no trial, so you pay before you can try it. | DA 30-day trial on yearly Stellar packages, which turns into a paid first year at the after-trial price when it ends. That makes it a trial you sign up to pay for, not a free plan. |
| Features | BDaily backups with 30 days of restore points you can use yourself, Monarx malware removal, a firewall, a first-year domain and free managed migration on every plan. Staging needs Pro, but nothing in the core job is missing on Starter. | CcPanel with Softaculous for 200+ apps, AI site builders, malware scanning and 2FA. The gaps are on Stellar: manual backups only, 3 websites and 30 mailboxes, and the free SSL lasts a year per domain. |
| Ease of use | CNo app store rating to go on. The Orbi assistant answers setup and DNS questions and passes you to people when needed, but you're still setting up a site. | CNo app store rating to go on. cPanel and Softaculous are familiar to many, but there's a fair bit to learn if you're new to them. |
| Platforms and integrations | BA web dashboard with no app on record, but shared plans come with an OpenAPI interface and an MCP server, and it works with Claude. Pro adds a Claude skills pack. | CA web dashboard only. The named integrations are installers and builders, WordPress, Softaculous, Sitejet and Extendify, with no API on record. |
| Best for | hosting you can run from scripts or an AI agent | cheap cPanel hosting beside your domains |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: hosting.com and Namecheap. How we grade
Where they differ
- Namecheap also covers managed WordPress.
At a glance
| hosting.com | Namecheap | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free trial |
| Starts at | Not published | $5.88 per month (Stellar), or $102.88 every 2 years, at renewal rates |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | 30-day trial of yearly Stellar packages, after which the first year is charged at the after-trial price |
| Web | ||
| Made by | hosting.com | Namecheap, Inc. |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | namecheap.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
hosting.com
- Existing A2 Hosting customers weighing the renamed plans
- Developers who want to manage hosting through an API or an AI agent
- Small business sites that want backups and malware removal built in
Namecheap
- People who already keep their domains at Namecheap
- Small sites that want to pay month to month at a low rate
- Owners who prefer cPanel and Softaculous to a custom dashboard
Worth knowing
hosting.com
- Plan prices are filled in by the checkout and could not be read, so they are not listed here; promotional prices cover the first term and plans renew at regular rates.
- Staging sites, preview URLs and Node.js need Pro or higher; priority support, a premium SSL and a service level agreement need Max.
- The free domain is for the first year only and then renews at the standard rate.
- A2 Hosting's old plan names are retired: Startup became Starter, Turbo Boost became Pro and Turbo Max became Max.
Namecheap
- Only the renewal rates could be read: the shared hosting page, which shows first-term discounts and trial terms, answered our readers with a bot check.
- The free SSL lasts one year per domain; keeping it after that is a paid renewal.
- Stellar stops at 3 websites, 30 mailboxes and 20 GB; unlimited sites and automatic backups need Stellar Plus or Business.
- The 30-day money-back guarantee covers first-time hosting accounts only, and cPanel or Softaculous licenses are not refunded.
Key features
hosting.com
- LiteSpeed, NVMe and AMD EPYC on every plan
- All shared plans run on LiteSpeed web servers with NVMe storage and AMD EPYC processors, with published RAM, vCPU and IOPS limits for each plan.
- Malware removal and firewall
- Monarx scans continuously and removes malicious code itself. Every plan also has a web application firewall and brute-force protection.
- Daily backups with self-restore
- Backups run every day with 30 days of restore points, and you can restore a single file, database or mailbox without opening a ticket.
- API, MCP server and Claude skills
- Shared plans come with an OpenAPI interface and an MCP server for managing hosting from scripts and AI tools. Pro adds a Claude skills pack.
- Orbi AI assistant
- An AI assistant on every plan answers setup, DNS, WordPress and billing questions, and passes you to the in-house support team when needed.
- Free managed migration
- The support team moves an existing site to hosting.com at no charge.
Namecheap
- cPanel with Softaculous
- Plans are run from cPanel, with the Softaculous installer for WordPress and more than 200 other scripts, plus email, file, database and DNS tools.
- AI site builders
- Sitejet in cPanel can generate a one-page site from a few business details, and Extendify adds AI site setup and writing help to new WordPress installs.
- Free SSL for the first year
- Each domain or subdomain on a shared account gets a single-domain SSL certificate free for a year, issued and installed automatically, up to 50 per account.
- Malware scanning and 2FA
- cPanel includes ImunifyAV or Imunify360 malware scanning, ModSecurity and two-factor authentication.
- AutoBackup
- Stellar Plus and Stellar Business restore from automatic backups, with unlimited backup storage on Business. Stellar has manual backups only.
Plans
hosting.com
Pricing could not be confirmed. See hosting.com.
Namecheap
Stellar, 1 month$5.88
per month, the renewal rate
3 websites, 20 GB SSD and 30 mailboxes. The renewal rate since May 19, 2026; first-term discounts were not readable.
Stellar, 1 year$55.88
per year, the renewal rate
The same Stellar plan billed yearly. A 30-day trial is offered on yearly packages.
Stellar, 2 years$102.88
every 2 years, the renewal rate
The same Stellar plan billed every two years, the lowest rate for it.
Stellar Plus, 2 years$146.44
every 2 years, the renewal rate
Unlimited websites and mailboxes, unmetered SSD storage and AutoBackup. Also $7.88 a month or $85.44 a year.
Stellar Business, 2 years$251.88
every 2 years, the renewal rate
50 GB SSD, fewer users per server, a choice of US, UK, EU or Singapore servers. Also $11.88 a month or $128.88 a year.
