Quick Verdict
Cloudflare wins on price and features if you run a website. Namecheap wins on flexibility if you need hosting bundles or don't want to use Cloudflare's nameservers.
Price Comparison
| Cost | Cloudflare | Namecheap |
|---|---|---|
| First Year .com | $10.44 | $6.49* |
| Renewal .com | $10.44 | $16.98 |
| WHOIS Privacy | Free | Free |
| 5-Year Total | $52.20 | $74.41 |
| 10-Year Total | $104.40 | $159.31 |
*Namecheap first-year is promotional pricing
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Cloudflare | Namecheap |
|---|---|---|
| Free CDN | ✓ World-class | ✗ |
| Free DDoS Protection | ✓ | ✗ |
| Free SSL | ✓ | ✓ |
| Email Forwarding | ✓ Unlimited | ✓ 100 |
| Hosting Available | ✗ | ✓ |
| Email Hosting | ✗ | ✓ |
| Any Nameservers | Must use CF | ✓ |
| API Access | ✓ Excellent | ✓ |
When to Choose Each
Choose Cloudflare If:
- ✓ You run a website
- ✓ You want the lowest price
- ✓ You want free CDN/security
- ✓ You're okay using their nameservers
- ✓ You don't need hosting bundles
Choose Namecheap If:
- ✓ You need hosting + domain together
- ✓ You want email hosting
- ✓ You need specific nameservers
- ✓ You prefer one dashboard for everything
- ✓ You're parking domains without sites
The Key Difference
Cloudflare is a domain registrar as a side business. They make money from their CDN/security enterprise customers, so they offer domains at cost.
Namecheap is a traditional web services company. They profit from domain margins and want to sell you hosting, email, and other services.
Recommendation
For most website owners: Cloudflare — cheaper + free CDN/security is unbeatable value.
For all-in-one simplicity: Namecheap — good if you want hosting, email, and domains from one provider.
Compare All Registrars →