Leaving Namecheap

Namecheap was bought by a private equity firm, so I moved my domain to another registrar. Here’s why, where else you could go, and how the transfer went
November 3, 2026
Namecheap logo on the left and Domain Chief logo on the right
From Namecheap to Domain Chief
Table of Contents

When I created this website around the same time of the year in 2021, I was looking for an established, reliable, and cheap registrar to buy my domain name.

I already had a few domain names with OVHcloud and they were the only registrar I had used since 2009. I never had any issues with them, but I know their prices are not the cheapest so I was ready for a change and to try another one. I don’t recall the exact lengths of my research back then, but I ended up with Namecheap.

I never had any issues with them either but I still migrated my domain to a new registrar a few days ago.

Why? A few weeks ago, I read a thread on HackerNews titled Namecheap just seized and disabled all my domains listing recent and older horror stories I had no idea of:

I’m sure none of the major registrars have a perfect track record, but the thing I learned that made me leave is the fact that Namecheap was bought by CVC Capital Partners, a private equity firm in November 2025 for $1.5B.

What else have they invested in, you asked? Here’s a list of some of their investments:

But Nick, why is it a big deal?

If you don’t know the Private Equity (PE) playbook, it’s pretty simple. Those firms usually buy a company for a lot of money and they expect a very large return on investment as soon as possible.

They will cut down costs aggressively and will raise prices as much as they can. Other levers include tightening procurement, replacing management, entering new markets, investing in sales, or just acquiring smaller competitors and merging them in so the combined company is worth more than the sum of its parts. The end goal is to get a fat payout by selling the company or by doing an IPO.

If you’ve heard of the term Enshittification, this is what you can expect from a company that has been bought out by a PE firm. For Namecheap, it will likely mean raising prices (already happening), cutting down the workforce, automating the support as much as possible to the point that you won’t be able to talk to a person.

Where to migrate to?

I think the answer to this question is highly dependent on your location and your values. If you don’t mind the above and are content with the service you got, feel free to stay with them.

If you want a registrar in North America:

In Europe:

Why I chose Domain Chief

I wanted to try a domain registrar that wasn’t in the US and ended up choosing Domain Chief. I’m not affiliated with Domain Chief and don’t get anything for this blog post.

The company was created in 2024 by Alex Bouma (who is still the main developer and sole owner) with “a focus on transparency, fair pricing and a fully featured API. This, all without the upselling and the clutter that seems to be the norm these days for many registrars”.

The tagline on their homepage hooked me: “a European registrar committed to freedom, simplicity and control” and the list of features did the rest:

  • “The price you pay in the first year is the price you pay every year: no extreme first-year discounts followed by a price hike. If an extension supports free transfers, you do not pay us either.”
  • “No lock-in, hidden fees, or surprises. You can transfer your domain to another registrar at any time, fully self-service and without questions.”
  • Free DNS hosting with DNSSEC
  • Free WHOIS privacy
  • Free domain parking

Timeline

  • Nov 1st at 12:03 PM - Created my Domain Chief account
  • Nov 1st at 12:05 PM - Paid for the transfer
  • Nov 1st at 12:09 PM - Initiated the transfer on Namecheap
  • Nov 1st at 12:11 PM - Received the transfer invoice and payment receipt
  • Nov 1st at 12:14 PM - Received Namecheap’s email to authorize and speed up the transfer
  • Nov 1st at 12:20 PM - Domain Chief emailed me saying the domain transfer succeeded
  • Nov 1st at 2:25 PM - Contacted Domain Chief to tell them about the great experience I had transferring my domain
  • Nov 1st at 2:30 PM - The owner (Alex) replied to me personally within 5 minutes 🤯

Total time from account creation to completed transfer: 17 minutes.