Namecheap vs Bluehost (2026): Pricing, Renewals and Limits Compared

Byline: HostingDive Team

Namecheap vs Bluehost comes down to when you pay. On the plan pages read 2 November 2026, Namecheap Stellar shows $2.28/mo after a 30-day free trial, with a $5.88/mo list price and no stated renewal rate; Bluehost Starter is $3.99/mo on a 36-month term and renews at $9.99/mo. Namecheap is cheaper to start, Bluehost is the only one of the two that publishes its renewal price.

Namecheap vs Bluehost at a glance

Namecheap: full spec breakdown

Namecheap sells three shared tiers, and a price only means something when it is paired with the tier it belongs to.

• Stellar: $2.28/mo after a 30-day free trial, with a $5.88/mo list price. 3 websites, 20 GB SSD, 30 mailboxes, unmetered bandwidth, backups twice a week and a 100% uptime guarantee.
• Stellar Plus: $2.98/mo after the trial, $7.88/mo list. Unlimited websites, unmetered SSD for the website only (under the Acceptable Use Policy) and AutoBackup in addition to the twice-weekly backups.
• Stellar Business: $4.98/mo after the trial, $11.88/mo list. Unlimited websites, 50 GB cloud storage and AutoBackup.

All tiers list Imunify360 security, free automatic SSL, free website migration and 24/7 customer support, and run cPanel with Softaculous for app installs. The page prints no renewal figure for any of them. It states that the advertised discount applies to annual and biennial plans and does not apply to renewals, so the price you pay when the discount ends is an unknown until checkout.

Bluehost: full spec breakdown

Bluehost's plan page shows a single 36-month term, so the intro price and the renewal price sit side by side for every tier.

• Starter: $3.99/mo (save 60%), renewing at $9.99/mo. 10 websites, 10 GB NVMe SSD, sized for 40K visits a month.
• Business: $6.99/mo (save 50%), renewing at $13.99/mo. 50 websites, 50 GB NVMe SSD, sized for 200K visits a month, phone support included.
• eCommerce Essentials: $14.99/mo (save 32%), renewing at $21.99/mo. 100 websites, 100 GB NVMe SSD, sized for 400K visits a month.

Every tier lists a 99.99% uptime SLA, a 30-day money-back guarantee, a free domain for the first year, a free site migration tool, a free CDN, free malware scanning, weekly website backups, SSH and WP-CLI, and a WordPress staging site. Support is 24/7 chat; phone support is not included on Starter.

Pricing: what each page tells you

Namecheap

Namecheap prices Stellar, Stellar Plus and Stellar Business at $2.28/mo, $2.98/mo and $4.98/mo, shown after a 30-day free trial (61%, 62% and 58% off). The list prices printed next to them are $5.88/mo, $7.88/mo and $11.88/mo. The page states that the discount applies to annual and biennial plans and "does not apply to renewals", but it prints no renewal figure. Do not assume the list price is the renewal price; confirm the rate at checkout.

Bluehost

Bluehost shows one term on its plan page: 36 months. Starter is $3.99/mo renewing at $9.99/mo, Business is $6.99/mo renewing at $13.99/mo, and eCommerce Essentials is $14.99/mo renewing at $21.99/mo. Every renewal is published beside the intro price.

Plans and limits

Namecheap's Stellar Plus is the headline value on its page: unlimited websites and unmetered SSD for $2.98/mo. Its "unmetered" space is for the website only and falls under the Acceptable Use Policy, so read that policy before putting backups or media archives on it. Bluehost caps websites at each tier but states the traffic each is sized for: 40K visits a month on Starter, 200K on Business and 400K on eCommerce Essentials.

Trial, money-back and uptime promises

Namecheap offers a 30-day free trial (one per account, in 1-month, 1-year or 2-year terms) and a separate 30-day money-back guarantee that applies only to first-time shared hosting customers who start without a trial. Bluehost offers a 30-day money-back guarantee and prints a 99.99% uptime SLA; Namecheap prints a 100% uptime guarantee. Both are vendor promises. Check the terms for what a miss actually earns you, and see what a money-back guarantee covers before relying on it.

Security, backups and support

Namecheap lists Imunify360 security, free automatic SSL, unmetered bandwidth, free website migration and 24/7 customer support on every plan, and adds AutoBackup on Stellar Plus and Stellar Business. Bluehost lists free SSL, free malware scanning, weekly website backups, a free CDN, SSH and WP-CLI and a WordPress staging site on Starter, with phone support from Business upward.

Head-to-head: pricing, intro and renewal

At the entry tier Namecheap shows the lower price: Stellar at $2.28/mo against Bluehost Starter at $3.99/mo, a gap of $1.71 a month ($3.99 minus $2.28). The renewal comparison cannot be finished, because Bluehost prints $9.99/mo for Starter and Namecheap prints no renewal rate. The $5.88/mo Stellar list price is the nearest signal, but the page does not call it the renewal price. If the list price is what you would pay, Stellar would renew at $5.88/mo against Starter's $9.99/mo, so Namecheap would still be lower; treat that as a possibility to confirm at checkout, not a quoted figure.

At the next tier up, Namecheap Stellar Plus is $2.98/mo and Bluehost Business is $6.99/mo renewing at $13.99/mo. Stellar Plus offers unlimited websites against Business's 50, with phone support on the Bluehost side only.

Head-to-head: sites, storage, backups and migration

On sites, Bluehost Starter allows 10 against Stellar's 3. On storage, Stellar's 20 GB SSD is larger than Starter's 10 GB NVMe SSD, though the two are different drive types and the numbers are not like for like. On backups, Namecheap states twice a week on every plan and adds AutoBackup on Stellar Plus and Stellar Business; Bluehost lists weekly website backups on every tier.

Both migrate sites for free. Namecheap says its migration from other shared hosts is free and that it guarantees fast cPanel-to-cPanel transfers, with manual migration possible case by case. Bluehost lists a free site migration tool, which is a self-service tool rather than a transfer done for you. A site coming from a cPanel host will suit Namecheap's route; a WordPress site can use the Bluehost tool.

Which should you choose?

• Namecheap Stellar if you want the lowest price shown, can use 3 websites and want a free trial to test the host first.
• Namecheap Stellar Plus if you need unlimited websites at $2.98/mo and will accept that the renewal rate is not published.
• Bluehost Starter if you want the renewal price in writing ($9.99/mo) and 10 websites on NVMe.
• Bluehost Business if you need 50 websites and phone support.

The fine print

• Namecheap renewals: no renewal rate is printed on the plan page. The page says the discount does not apply to renewals. Confirm the figure at checkout before paying for a long term.
• Namecheap trial and refund: the 30-day money-back guarantee applies only to first-time shared hosting customers who start without the 30-day trial. A second account, or cancelling and signing up again, removes the refund.
• Namecheap domain: the free domain is for the first year, covers non-premium names only, and one domain is allowed per hosting plan.
• Bluehost term: the prices shown are for the 36-month term. A shorter term is not shown on the plan page we read, so do not assume the same rate.
• Bluehost domain: the free domain is for the first year only.
• Uptime promises: Namecheap prints a 100% uptime guarantee and Bluehost a 99.99% uptime SLA. Both are vendor promises, not measurements by HostingDive.

Choosing between Bluehost and a different brand? See HostGator vs Bluehost and SiteGround vs Bluehost.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Which is cheaper, Namecheap or Bluehost?

Namecheap shows the lower figure: Stellar at $2.28/mo against Bluehost Starter at $3.99/mo. Namecheap does not publish a renewal rate on the plan page; Bluehost Starter renews at $9.99/mo.

Does Namecheap publish a renewal price?

No. The page says the advertised discount does not apply to renewals but prints no renewal figure. It lists $5.88/mo as the Stellar list price.

How many websites can I host?

Namecheap Stellar allows 3 websites and Stellar Plus and Stellar Business are unlimited. Bluehost Starter allows 10, Business 50 and eCommerce Essentials 100.

Does Namecheap have a free trial?

Yes, 30 days per plan, one trial per account.

Does Bluehost offer phone support?

Not on Starter. Phone support is listed as included on Business.

Do both hosts pay HostingDive a commission?

HostingDive may earn a commission if you sign up through either link on this page.