Do you know you can get everything your website needs from start-up to success on Bluehost? It is home to over 2 million websites all over the world.
Bluehost is founded by Danny Ashworth and Heaton Matt in Ohio, USA. The successful hosting giants currently employ over 750+ people working 24hrs. It is currently the top of wordpress.org recommended hosting company.
WordPress recommendation of BH gives millions of users around the world a level of trust in the hosting company. It is also helpful that Bluehost strives to give one of the best services with a 30days money-back guarantee.
However, this hosting has Its downside with Its renewal fee, support, and some plan restrictions.
But does that mean BH Is a reliable hosting company for you and your project?
Table of contents
Bluehost Review
Let’s check out all the insight into Bluehost.
General Info & Hosting Overview
Uptime | 99.98% (Last updated November 2023) |
Speed | 581ms |
Site Transfer | Free Single WordPress Site |
Apps | WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and several open-source |
Pricing | Starting at $2.95/month & Renews at $11.99/month |
Support | Email, Phone, 24hrs Live chat & Knowledge base |
Hosting Plans | Shared, Reseller, WordPress, VPS, and Dedicated Server |
Features | Unlimited Websites, Free SSL, Free Domain 1st Year, 30-days money-back guarantee, Unmetered bandwidth and storage, Spam experts, Domain Privacy |
- NOTE: The bandwidth and storage, Domain Privacy, and Spam experts not included in the cheapest plan.
Products on Offer
The Ohio based hosting provider rolls out several offers of different website hosting products quite often. Matt and Ashworth’s American dream of helping small and big businesses drive the extensive catalog of offers on BH.
Bluehost Domain
When it comes to selling domains, this hosting is not the cheapest out there. You can purchase your domain or buy one of the hosting plans with a free one-year domain. Domain on BH starts selling at $12.99/yr for a .com domain which renewal price is $18.99. When it comes to buying a domain, I use Namecheap. If you want a Free domain without paying a cent, you can also visit Freemon.
Bluehost Shared Hosting
Unless you need a dedicated server or have a large project, BH shared hosting should be a significant consideration for professionals. It gives priority to your own hosting space. Think of sharing a house with different rooms. You’ll have your own separate room, but it might be noisier.
Shared hosting on Bluehost starts from $5.95 to $13.95 per month for 36 months option.
Bluehost Dedicated Server
If your website is extensive and generates millions of traffic every day or monthly, you will need a BH dedicated server. Websites like CNN, FORBES, and New York Times is a great example. Following the previous illustration of shared hosting, this is like having a whole house to yourself. No roommates whatsoever.
- The plan for Bluehost dedicated server starts from $79.99/Mo – $209.99/Mo.
- The pricing is for 36 months.
Bluehost Shared WordPress Hosting
It is a hosting giant when it comes to shared hosting. The hosting company started a WordPress a Centre web hosting service.
- Bluehost WordPress hosting is already optimized for WordPress, and It’s faster than Bluehost shared hosting service.
- For a dedicated Shared WordPress hosting service for BH, you’ll have to pay a little extra.
- Pricing from 12 months.
The difference when it comes to Bluehost shared hosting, and WordPress shared hosting is minimal.
However, In 2018, BH rolls out “WordPress Pro” In WordPress shared hosting category.
WordPress Pro
The Pro version of WordPress is quite expensive, but it’s worth every penny. This is also one of BH’s fastest-selling products, with over one million-plus client currently on this plan.
The WordPress Pro plan for BH comes with the following features.
- 100 Free Plugins
- Malware Detection
- Daily Backup
- Jetpack Site Analysis
- Marketing Centre
The WordPress Pro plan runs on a VPS and has a faster speed.
E-commerce
BH is not a known brand when it comes to e-commerce. When it comes to setting up shops for your business online, BH is an economical choice.
The hosting company offers Unmetered bandwidth. This makes it cost-effective when your e-commerce store starts getting a lot of traffic.
E-commerce for BH also gives customers $200 in free marketing credit. You can use it to promote your products and services on social media giants like Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Bing.
Bluehost Virtual Private Server
BH offers a Virtual Private Server for SMEs.
- VPS is a step up between dedicated hosting and shared hosting.
- Your website will assign a server with other clients, but a virtual wall will be placed in between.
- If you are looking to configure your own server, our team highly recommends VPS. It is also recommended if you are using a programming language.
- NOTE: BH doesn’t have cloud hosting.
Bluehost Shared Hosting Pricing Plan
Let us take a fresh look at the recent Bluehost Shared hosting pricing.
Basic plan | Choice Plus plan | Online Store | Pro plan | |
Pricing | $2.95/Mo | $5.45/Mo | $9.45/Mo | $13.95/Mo |
Renews $11.99/Mo *12 Months Plan | Renews $21.99/Mo *12 Months Plan | Renews $26.99/Mo *12 Months Plan | Renews $28.99/Mo *12 Months Plan | |
Websites | 1 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
Bandwidth | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered |
Storage | 10 GB | 40 GB | 40 GB | 100 GB |
Other features | Free SSL, 1 Year | Spam Expert | Spam Expert Basic Codeguard Domain Privacy and Protection | Basic Codeguard Dedicated IP Domain Privacy and Protection 2 Spam experts |
The renewal fee is slightly too high for anyone starting out.
Pros of Using Bluehost
The Ohio based web hosting company has been around for 17 years and counting. The company has a treasure of experience to share when providing reliable services to their clients.
Here are several vital points on why you should choose BH.
First Time Buyer
The hosting company reels in its first-time buyers with a reasonable price. But you have to be careful about the renewal fee.
Reliable uptime (99.98%)
One significant factor to consider is the hosting company’s uptime if you are just starting.
For the past 12 Months, BH has released its uptime.
Month | Year Uptime |
November | 2019 100% |
December | 2019 100% |
January | 2020 100% |
February | 2020 100% |
March | 2020 99.98% |
April | 2020 99.99% |
May | 2020 99.90% |
June | 2020 100% |
July | 2020 99.98% |
August | 2020 99.99% |
September | 2020 100% |
October | 2020 99.97% |
November | 2020 99.98% |
February | 2022 99.99% |
March | 2022 100% |
April | 2022 99.95% |
January | 2024 99.98% |
Click here to check your current hosting uptime.
Integration With Cloudflare
Reviews from customers clearly show it is very fast when integrated with Cloudflare.
Fast Loading Time
Fast page loading time is one of the factors Google uses when ranking websites on their platform.
Bluehost company offers an average speed of 581ms. This is not the best in the market, but this is not bad either.
BH average time In the last 12 months.
Month | Year Uptime Speed |
November | 2019 100% 365ms |
December | 2019 100% 566ms |
January | 2020 100% 404ms |
February | 2020 100% 421ms |
March | 2020 99.98% 584ms |
April | 2020 99.99% 626ms |
May | 2020 99.90% 701ms |
June | 2020 100% 695ms |
July | 2020 99.98% 689ms |
August | 2020 99.99% 724ms |
September | 2020 100% 365ms |
October | 2020 99.97% 628ms |
November | 2020 99.98% 589ms |
December | 2021 99.97% 324ms |
January | 2023 99.98% 445ms |
Bountiful Storage
The hosting plans come with a lot of storage.
Free Domain
Each client gets a free domain for one year if they purchase the 36 months option.
Money-Back Guarantee
The hosting company offers 30- days money-back guarantee.
Support
Support is everything when it comes to choosing the right hosting company. While BH is not the best for supporting clients, they are still among the best.
Easy cPanel
The Ohio based hosting company enhance Its cPanel features to be user friendly to beginners and experts.
Others
- Great e-commerce features
- Free SSL certificate
- Tons of free script
Cons of Using Bluehost
Upsell
You might be put off by continuous upselling of products and services. Because, the renewal fee is expensive compared to other average hosting companies.
Add-Ons
BH plans come with fantastic add-ons. Unfortunately, most of the add-ons need to be installed to get full functionality.
Servers
Unlike other hosting companies, It only has its dedicated server in the United States of America. If a customer is trying to access the website from another country or continent, there might be a slow connection.
Reviews
They have mixed reviews and mainly for support.
Facts on Bluehost
- BH offers 30 days money-back guarantee to all Its clients.
- Free domain for customers for the first year (Only 36 months option).
- It offers no refund on the sale of domain names.
- It does not offer affiliates a percentage of domain name sales.
- The hosting company offers FREE 1 WordPress website transfer.
- The cPanel is user-friendly.
- It accepts PayPal and other major credit cards anywhere in the world.
- They upsell a lot, and they have instant activation except in the case of fraud is suspected.
- Hidden clauses in their products or service.
Performance Test
Are you worried your hosting company has a slow uptime? Click here to check BH uptime or any other hosting company.
Do I Recommend Bluehost?
It depends on the project at hand. I might not fancy the BH’s speed than others, but the storage’s generosity is fantastic.
However, their uptime score is almost on par with the top hosting companies like SiteGround and Dream host.
Also, take note of the renewal price when considering purchasing the Bluehost web hosting plan.
Hosting Alternative
There are many options when it comes to hosting your website. There are three companies WordPress recommended.
- SiteGround
- Dream host
- HostGator
The first two mentions above are great alternatives to BH.
Other alternatives are A2 hosting, Namecheap hosting, and Whogohost hosting.
Conclusion
There are numerous hosting companies all over the world. But, WordPress recommending Bluehost is a big boost for the Ohio company.
While it gets mixed reviews regarding their support, they still remain one of the best hosting company out there when it comes to shared hosting or WordPress hosting.
BH is not perfect, but it still remains one of the best out there!
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