Namecheap

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Namecheap Inc.
Namecheap Logo.svg
Type of businessPrivate
Founded2000; 19 years ago (2000)
Headquarters,
Area servedWorldwide
Founder(s)Richard Kirkendall
Key peopleRichard Kirkendall
(Founder & CEO)
Mohan Vettaikaran (CTO)
Matthew Russell
(Vice President, Hosting)
IndustryWeb services
ProductsDomain Names, Web Hosting, VPN, WhoisGuard, SSL Certificates
Websitewww.namecheap.com
Alexa rankIncrease 1,688 (October 2018)[1]

Namecheap, Inc. is an ICANN-accredited registrar,[2] which provides services on domain name registration, and offers for sale domain names that are registered to third parties (also known as aftermarket domain names).[3] It is also a web hosting company, based in Phoenix, Arizona. The company claims to manage over 10 million domains.[4] It is the 2nd[5] or 3rd[6] largest domain registration company.

History[edit]

Namecheap was founded by Richard Kirkendall in 2000.[7]

In November 2010, it was voted the best domain name registrar in a Lifehacker poll.[8] Again, in September 2012 it was voted as "Most Popular Domain Name Registrar" in Lifehacker polls.[9]

In March 2013, Namecheap announced that Bitcoin would be accepted as payment.[10]

In May 2014, Namecheap was put on notice due to a breach of their Registrar Accreditation Agreement with ICANN.[11]

In July 2018, Namecheap was confronted by users of certain .co.uk, .uk or .de domains, who could not transfer and register their web domains.[12] As of 2019, NameCheap is the world's 2nd largest web host by market share with over 11 million registered domains.[13]

Anti-SOPA advocacy[edit]

Namecheap maintained a strong anti-SOPA position.[14][15]

After the pro-SOPA position of major registrar GoDaddy caused massive calls for the boycott of GoDaddy on Reddit, Namecheap announced Move Your Domain Day for December 29, 2011, offering a reduced price with the coupon code "SOPASucks" and declaring that it would donate $1 from each domain transfer to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.[16] In 2018, Namecheap relaunched Move your Domain Day to raise awareness of net neutrality.[17]

Later Namecheap accused GoDaddy of being in violation of ICANN rules, causing delays with domain transfers from GoDaddy to Namecheap,[18] an allegation which GoDaddy contested.[19]

Support for Net Neutrality[edit]

Namecheap is a supporter of Net Neutrality and has donated more than $300,000 in recent years to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Fight for the Future to support Internet rights and freedom.[20]

Market share[edit]

As of 2019, Namecheap is the 2nd[5] or 3rd[5] largest domain registration company in terms of total number of domains registered.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "namecheap.com Site Overview". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2018-10-16.
  2. ^ "InterNIC - Registrar List". InterNIC. 2017-04-23. Retrieved 2017-04-23.
  3. ^ "Domain Registration Agreement". Namecheap, Inc. Retrieved 2017-04-23.
  4. ^ "Namecheap.com > Namecheap Announces 10 Million Domains Under Management". www.namecheap.com. Retrieved 2018-09-25.
  5. ^ a b c "DomainNameStat.com > Domain Name Registrars List". domainnamestat.com. Retrieved 2019-06-06.
  6. ^ "DomainState.com > Registrar Stats: Top Registrars, TLD Marketshare, Top Registrars by Country". www.domainstate.com. Retrieved 2019-06-06.
  7. ^ "About Us - Our Team". Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  8. ^ Fitzpatrick, Jason (2010-11-09). "Best Domain Name Registrar: Namecheap". LifeHacker. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  9. ^ Henry, Alan (2012-09-18). "Most Popular Domain Name Registrar: Namecheap". LifeHacker. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  10. ^ Tamar (2013-03-05). "Namecheap Now Accepts Bitcoin". Namecheap. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  11. ^ "NameCheap Gets Slapped By ICANN". 2014-05-03. Retrieved 2015-08-10.
  12. ^ Hill, Rebecca (2018-07-02). "Namecheap users rage at domain transfer pain, but their supplier Enom blames... er, GDPR?". The Register. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
  13. ^ "Domain Registration Statistics". Retrieved 2019-03-11.
  14. ^ Tamar (2011-12-22). "We say NO to #SOPA (our official stance)". Namecheap. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  15. ^ Weber, Harrison (2011-12-27). "Namecheap cashes in on SOPA with MoveYourDomainDay". The Next Web. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  16. ^ Mitchell, Jon (2011-12-27). "Namecheap Pokes Go Daddy over SOPA with $1 EFF Donations". ReadWrite. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  17. ^ Jue, Aaron (2018-03-06). "Namecheap Relaunches Move Your Domain Day to Support Internet Freedom". Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved 2018-08-02.
  18. ^ "Namecheap accuses GoDaddy of stalling anti-SOPA defections". electronista.com. 2011-12-26. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  19. ^ Lord, Timothy (2011-12-27). "The GoDaddy Saga Continues". Slashdot. Retrieved 2014-02-08.
  20. ^ "Namecheap.com > Namecheap Announces 8 Million Domains Under Management". www.namecheap.com. Retrieved 2018-08-20.

External links[edit]