Namecheap Managed WordPress 2026 — EasyWP vs Shared: Real Cost Difference

Written by Shaun McManus
Uses both EasyWP and Stellar for client sites | 15 Years Digital Marketing

Last updated: 31 May 2026

Product Intro Price/mo Renewal Price/mo WordPress Sites Traffic Limit TTFB
EasyWP Starter £1.58 ~£5.43 1 50,000/mo ~200ms
EasyWP Turbo £3.88 ~£10.17 1 200,000/mo ~200ms
Stellar (Shared) £1.99 £3.88 3 (any CMS) Unmetered ~400ms
Stellar Plus (Shared) £2.99 £6.88 Unlimited (any CMS) Unmetered ~400ms
Stellar Business £4.99 £9.88 Unlimited (any CMS) Unmetered ~350ms

All prices on annual billing, ex-VAT. UK customers add 20% at checkout. TTFB figures are indicative for a standard WordPress installation without a caching plugin. Check current Namecheap prices

Key Takeaways

  • EasyWP Starter (£1.58/mo) is actually cheaper at intro than Stellar (£1.99/mo) — but Stellar is cheaper at renewal.
  • EasyWP is faster: ~200ms TTFB vs ~400ms for Stellar — but the gap closes with a caching plugin on Stellar.
  • EasyWP is WordPress-only. Stellar supports any PHP application via cPanel.
  • For most WordPress sites under 50,000 monthly visitors, Stellar Plus at £2.99/mo beats EasyWP Starter on flexibility and multi-site capability.
  • Stellar Business (£4.99/mo) is often better value than EasyWP Turbo (£3.88/mo) — because it gives unlimited sites with dedicated resources vs one WordPress site.

The Actual Performance Difference

EasyWP and Stellar shared hosting are fundamentally different in architecture. EasyWP uses a containerised, WordPress-only environment — each site runs in its own isolated container with resources specifically tuned for WordPress. This means WordPress-specific caching is built into the infrastructure layer, PHP is optimised for WordPress workloads, and the database is separate from the web server container.

Stellar is a traditional cPanel shared hosting environment. Multiple websites share the same server resources. The hosting environment supports any PHP application — WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, custom PHP code, static sites. It is not tuned specifically for WordPress.

The result: EasyWP delivers approximately 200ms TTFB on a standard WordPress install without a caching plugin. Stellar delivers approximately 400ms TTFB. With a caching plugin installed on Stellar (WP Rocket, W3 Total Cache, or WP Super Cache), cached TTFB on Stellar drops to approximately 120–200ms — comparable to EasyWP cached performance.

Conclusion: the performance gap is real on uncached requests. On cached WordPress sites, the gap largely disappears. If you install a caching plugin on Stellar (free options exist), the speed advantage of EasyWP is substantially reduced for most traffic patterns.

Full Feature Comparison

Feature EasyWP Starter Stellar Plus
Intro Price/mo £1.58 £2.99
Renewal Price/mo ~£5.43 £6.88
WordPress Sites 1 Unlimited
Non-WordPress Sites No Yes (any PHP)
Storage 10GB SSD Unmetered SSD
Traffic 50,000 visits/mo Unmetered bandwidth
cPanel Access No (EasyWP dashboard) Yes (full cPanel)
SFTP Access Yes Yes
Staging Environment No No
Auto-Backup Yes Weekly + Daily
Free SSL Yes (PositiveSSL) Yes
Free CDN Yes Cloudflare (free)
Free Migration Yes Manual
TTFB (uncached) ~200ms ~400ms
TTFB (cached) ~120ms ~120–200ms

The Honest Verdict No Competitor Gives

Every review site describes both EasyWP and Stellar shared hosting. Almost none tell you which to actually choose. Here is the direct answer.

If you are running a simple WordPress site with under 50,000 monthly visits, Stellar Plus at £2.99/mo beats EasyWP Starter. Here is why: Stellar Plus gives you unlimited websites, full cPanel access, and unmetered storage. EasyWP Starter gives you one WordPress site, 10GB storage, and a simpler dashboard. At intro pricing, Stellar Plus costs £1.41/mo more. For that extra cost, you get unlimited sites and cPanel. At renewal, Stellar Plus (£6.88) and EasyWP Starter (~£5.43) are similarly priced — and EasyWP Starter is actually cheaper at renewal.

The choice depends on your priorities: if you value WordPress performance above all else and only need one WordPress site, EasyWP Starter is the right product. If you need flexibility — multiple sites, cPanel access, non-WordPress capability — Stellar Plus is better value.

When to Choose EasyWP

Choose EasyWP if: you are running a single WordPress site and performance is your primary concern; your site receives or expects to receive above 20,000 monthly visits and you do not want to configure caching; you want the simplest possible WordPress management experience without learning cPanel; or you are comfortable paying ~£5.43/mo at renewal for a purpose-built WordPress environment.

When Stellar Is the Better Choice

Choose Stellar if: you need more than one website on the same hosting plan; you want or need cPanel access; you are running non-WordPress sites (portfolio, Joomla, custom PHP); your WordPress site receives under 20,000 monthly visits and you will install a caching plugin; or you want the lower renewal price (Stellar renews at £3.88 vs EasyWP Starter ~£5.43).

Stellar Business vs EasyWP Turbo: The Surprising Winner

This is the comparison almost no-one makes. EasyWP Turbo costs £3.88/mo intro vs Stellar Business at £4.99/mo — £1.11/mo more. At renewal: EasyWP Turbo ~£10.17/mo vs Stellar Business £9.88/mo — nearly identical.

EasyWP Turbo gives you: 1 WordPress site, 200,000 monthly visits, 50GB SSD, WordPress-optimised performance.

Stellar Business gives you: unlimited websites (any CMS), dedicated resources (no sharing during traffic spikes), 99.98% uptime SLA, daily on-demand backups, and cPanel.

For most WordPress users running multiple sites, Stellar Business is better value than EasyWP Turbo. The only scenario where EasyWP Turbo wins outright is a single WordPress site receiving 50,000–200,000 monthly visits where WordPress performance is the overriding priority.

Compare EasyWP and Stellar — See Current Prices

Check current Namecheap hosting prices

Prices ex-VAT. UK customers add 20% at checkout. Affiliate link — we earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I use EasyWP or Namecheap shared hosting for WordPress?

For most sites under 50,000 monthly visitors, Stellar Plus (£2.99/mo) beats EasyWP Starter on flexibility — unlimited sites, cPanel, unmetered storage. EasyWP Starter (£1.58/mo) wins if you only need one WordPress site and prefer a simpler dashboard. With caching enabled on Stellar, the real-world speed difference is minimal.

What is the price difference between EasyWP and Stellar?

EasyWP Starter is £1.58/mo intro vs Stellar £1.99/mo — EasyWP is actually cheaper at intro. At renewal, Stellar (£3.88/mo) is cheaper than EasyWP Starter (~£5.43/mo). The comparison flips between year 1 and renewal.

Is EasyWP faster than Namecheap shared hosting?

Yes — approximately 200ms TTFB vs 400ms for Stellar on uncached WordPress. With a caching plugin on Stellar, cached TTFB drops to 120–200ms — comparable to EasyWP. The gap matters most for high-traffic or uncached dynamic WordPress sites.

Can I run non-WordPress sites on EasyWP?

No. EasyWP is WordPress-only. For non-WordPress hosting, use Stellar shared hosting, which supports any PHP application via cPanel.

Is Stellar Business better value than EasyWP Turbo?

For most users, yes. Stellar Business (£4.99/mo intro) gives unlimited websites with dedicated resources. EasyWP Turbo (£3.88/mo intro) gives one WordPress site with 200K monthly visit capacity. At renewal both cost approximately £10/mo. Unless you need EasyWP Turbo traffic capacity for a single WordPress site, Stellar Business serves more use cases for similar money.

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