Namecheap vs Dynadot – Which is the Best Domain Registrar?

David Utke •  Updated: March 28, 2022 •  Domain Names

Namecheap vs. Dynadot, both domain registrars provide excellent prices on domain names, an effective website builder, and email hosting. But which one is best? Both services have unique selling points, and based on my years of experience using both, I’ll break down everything you need to know.

If you’re short on time, Dynadot provides slightly lower domain name renewal prices, cheaper but more limited email hosting, no web hosting, a website builder, the ability to bulk buy domains, a marketplace, and a one-page website with your purchase of a part.

Namecheap, by contrast, offers better sales on popular extensions like the .com. They also have low prices on domain names overall, more advanced email hosting options, a website builder, web hosting, better support, and a marketplace.

Dynadot is ideal if you’re a domainer looking to buy and sell domain names. Namecheap is better for everyday commercial use if you want to start a website or blog using a dedicated web host.

Namecheap

My top pick is Namecheap. Low prices on domain name registration, monthly promos for massive discounts and a wide array of additional services and helpful support.

Dynadot vs Namcheap Comparison

Price is one of many things people look for in a domain registrar. Email, support, after-market features, ease of use, website builders, and so forth are all things you should consider when looking to manage your domain name registrars.

In this comparison, I will look at various aspects of Dynadot and Namecheap. I have domain names with both and am a user of both. In this content, we will be looking at the following:

Price – Which registrar has the better price?

Dynadot has a slightly better price for registration by a few cents and lower renewal when compared to Namecheap. Most people looking to get a domain are interested in top-level domain names like the .com, .net, and .org extensions, so .com, .net, and .org extensions make the most sense to look at the price for these extensions.

Namecheap Prices

Namecheap generally runs promos on the most popular extensions for new customers each month. That means you can get a .com for much less than the posted rate. For example, you will typically see an offer to purchase a .com with a coupon code from the Namecheap homepage.

This promo only applies to new customers and changes each month, but you won’t find a better offer for purchasing a .com online.

TDL

.COM

.NET

.ORG

REGISTER

$8.88

$12.98

$12.98

RENEW

$12.98

$14.98

$14.98

Source: Namecheap Domains

Dynadot Prices

Where Dynadot shines is its renewal rates. You can’t own a domain name outright; you need to pay a yearly fee as part of your license. This fee is known as the renewal rate.

With both Dynadot and Namecheap, you can register a domain name up to 10 years in advance, but if you need more time and want to write for a year at a time, then Dynadot’s lower rates will help save you money.

TDL

.com

.net

.org

REGISTER

$9.99

$10.99

$8.99

RENEW

$9.99

$10.99

$10.99

Source: Dynadot Domains

As you can see, Dynadot has some of the most competitive prices around. The value you get with Dynadot makes them the domainer’s registrar of choice as those of us who bulk buy domains and have a portfolio of hundreds of TDL domains.

A small price difference adds up into hundreds of dollars of savings every year. Just look at registering a .net extension. Dynadot is less than half the price than Namecheap. If you’re a domainer, Dynadot with their bulk pricing and low renewal rates is designed for you.

So when it comes to purchasing domains, I’ve found that both services run great deals every month for the most popular TLDs like a .com. The bulk buying process makes mass purchasing domains simple, but if you’re looking to purchase buyfor use with a website, I still prefer Namecheap due to its support.

Winner: Tie

Namecheap runs excellent deals on .com extensions each month, which is the most popular extension for commercial websites; Dynadot is better for bulk purchases and has lower renewal rates.

Website Builder – Simple business or portfolio website

Website builders from Namecheap and Dynadot are acceptable as they have all become drag and drop in nature with modern design elements. They both fall short, however, compared to the flexibility WordPress provides. Control over your website’s on-page SEO is still good enough for a small business website.

I’m always skeptical of a website builder from a business whose primary focus is domain name registration because they are mediocre at providing good on-page SEO. Yes, you can make a great-looking website, but it could be better optimized for search, so what’s the point?

Regardless, if you’re looking to use a website builder, Dynadot and Namecheap are in a tie in this regard, as their website builders are similar. They provide templates you can install and edit that fit different types of websites, from small businesses to cafes to personal websites.

Namecheap Website Builder

Namecheap provides a “free” website builder with one of their very low-priced shared hosting account; however, since it’s a shared hosting account, you can install and use WordPress as you can design a more effective and beautiful website as opposed to the website builder.

With WordPress, you have more control over the on-page SEO, and you can design a unique-looking website by using various WordPress themes of your choosing (see our best WordPress themes guide).

Also, if you’re set on using a website builder, Google Sites is a free alternative. All you need to do is get your domain name, and you can use Google Sites for free (see our Google Sites tutorial).

Dynadot Website Builder

Dynadot also has a website builder offering like Namecheap. You can get a free one-page website by purchasingone-page with your purchase of a domain name.

This is perfect if you’re a domainer looking to set up a “this domain is for sale” page. Otherwise, the website builder has the same issues as the one with Namecheap. The lower tier plans are pretty limited on the number of pages your website can have, and you must have Dynadot ads.

Compared to Google Sites, which is free, and you can have as many pages as you like, it simply makes no sense to use Dynadot. Lastly, the plan where you have unlimited pages is the price of a share hosting account, so again, you may use WordPress if you’re building a business website.

Winner: Dynadot

Dynadot is the winner because you can create a one-page website by purchasing a domain name. Both website builders are similar, and neither one has standout features.

On a side note, while the free website builder with a domain name sounds good, remember that you can always use a free website builder like Google Sites, which is better than bothering Dynadot and Namecheap’s offering (unless you’re looking to start an e-commerce website).

Web hosting

Dynadot, surprisingly does not offer any hosting packages. They offer email hosting, a website builder, and domain name registration. So if you want your domains and cheap hosting from the same company, you’ll have to go with Namecheap.

Namecheap offers various hosting options, from cheap shared hosting, cloud hosting, VPS, a full-on server, and managed WordPress hosting. Their hosting is decent; their unique selling point is their low price points.

Winner: Namecheap

As Dynadot does not offer web hosting, Namecheap, by default, wins with its extensive hosting options—everything from cheap shared hosting to full-scale servers. Dynadot has a “websites” option on the homepage, which directs users to their website builder.

Email Hosting

Email hosting is design for professionals and organizations that need a custom email solution to help manage communications between employees and team groups. Important aspects to look at for a private email server are security, integration with email clients, price and storage.

If you’re a solo blogger looking to get a custom email, your web hosting provider will allow you to create a custom email for your domain name. Now which is better, Namecheap or Dynadot for email hosting?

Namecheap vs Dynadot Email Hosting

Namecheap offers various price points and plans for email hosting. Each plans price point varies depending on how much storage you need for actual email, how much storage you need for any attachments as well how many unique inboxes you need.

You also get more advanced email features with Namecheap like advanced spam control with Jellyfish, 2FA protection, the ability to scale your email hosting up as needed, document sharing with a drive function built in, and mobile sync.

As for Dynadot, they offer one price point and provide unlimited mailboxes. However their storage is much small at around 1 GB of storage compared to 2 GB you get with Namecheap. You will have to pay more to upgrade your storage at Dynadot.

So the main difference between the two is that Namecheap costs slightly more but you get collaboration tools, better security, a more modern interface and mobile support. Dynadot is cheaper but more designed for an individual who justs needs a professional email.

Both domain registrars integrate their email hosting with any domain names purchased through them.

Winner: Namecheap

It comes down to what you need. If all you need is simple, low cost email hosting then Dynadot is great. If you need a lot of storage then Namecheap is better.

Aftermarket for buying an selling domain names

Both Dynadot and Namecheap offer aftermarket features to help you buy and sell domain names. Dynadot’s aftermarket features are more robust and designed for the professional domainer in mind.

The main difference is that with Dynadot you can use auctions for buy and sell domain names, setup back orders and find recently expire domains. It’s an incredibly powerful and feature rich marketplace with a lot of helpful features to buy and sell domain names.

With Namecheap, their marketplace is more basic. You can view the marketplace as a potential buyer, sort by price and industry and make a bid on a domain name. I’ve sold domains through Namecheap and it’s a simple process. You simply list your domain in the Namecheap marketplace and if another Namecheap customer buys it, the domain is sold and transferred to a new account.

Winner: Dynadot

Without question Dynadot provides a far superior aftermarket experience. As I keep saying, Dynadot is designed for a professional domainer looking buy and sell domains at a profit.

I love using the marketplace on this website because they offer a wide variety of auctions, backorders and a broad marketplace to buy and sell. They even offer their own API to help you manage your domains.

Namecheap’s marketplace while simple, is much easier to use. You simply go into your domain name settings and list it in the marketplace at your desired price. If it sells you get notified.

Support

Both Namecheap and Dynadot provide quick and responsive support via email, chat or telephone. The support they both provide is similar and up to industry standards. Have a question about a DNS setting? Both Namecheap and Dynadot provide chat support.

Namecheap is a bit better in that their support is 24/7. With Dynadot their chat feature is occasionally “busy” which means you will need to send in an email and wait a few hours for a response.

Winner: Namecheap

Namecheap has better support than Dynadot. Their chat is available 24/7 world wide and you can get an answer or help to any questions you may have fast. Dynadot’s support is good too, but for a service that offers bulk orders and an advanced marketplace I was surprised that sometimes their chat support was not available.

Conclusion – Namecheap vs Dynadot

To conclude, Namecheap is the better registrar if you want support and intend to use your domain name for building web properties.

With an extensive “how-to” tutorials and quick support, Namecheap is a headache-free registrar. If you’re a domainer looking to buy and sell domains or someone who only cares about price, Dynadot is for you.

Namecheap

My top pick is Namecheap. Low prices on domain name registration, monthly promos for massive discounts, a wide array of additional services, and good support.

It's all my fault

Hey I'm David. I'm a blogger, YouTuber and a highly rated UX consultant on Fiverr. My writing, videos and courses have helped tens of thousands of people make their first 1$ online. I write this blog to show you the "how to" for turning knowledge into income so you can live life on your terms.