Namecheap is a domain name registrar, a company that registers internet domain names such as example.com for its customers, and also a web hosting provider. Namecheap began in 2000 and states that it has more than 24 million domains under management.
A customer searches for an available name, buys it for one or more years, and manages it in the Namecheap dashboard: DNS settings that point the domain to a server, renewals, and transfers of domains from other registrars, up to 50 at once. Domain Privacy keeps the owner's personal data out of WHOIS, the public directory of domain owners; it is free for life on many extensions. Namecheap also sells shared, VPS and dedicated server hosting, managed WordPress hosting (EasyWP), business email, SSL certificates, PremiumDNS, a CDN and a VPN.
Domains are paid per year, at a price that depends on the extension, and the first year is often cheaper than renewals. Some extensions, such as .ai, need a minimum registration of two years. Hosting and the other services are subscriptions.