Bluehost

Bluehost is an affordable host with the basic features you need to get started.

It can also support your needs as you grow with higher tiers and dedicated hosting.

The company also offers email, security certificates, and other features to help you start or grow your online presence.

Overview of Bluehost

When shopping for good website hosting, you’ll probably come across Bluehost.

It’s a popular choice for beginners and anyone with a smaller website.

However, the company can host larger sites.

Consider a Bluehost review to learn what the company is and why you might want to use the service.

What Is Bluehost?

Bluehost is a website hosting platform, and it’s most known for its ability to host WordPress sites.

You can choose from multiple hosting plans based on your needs and budget.

The platform makes setting up a website easy.

You can choose a domain and hosting package from Bluehost, and they offer quick installation of WordPress.

Bluehost History

Matt Heaton and Danny Ashworth founded Bluehost in Provo, Utah, in 2003.

The company has since moved to Orem, Utah, where they host millions of websites.

They have a team of WordPress experts to help you set up and manage your site.

Bluehost partnered with WordPress over a decade ago, and it’s one of the largest WordPress hosting options. It’s also open source, so developers can help contribute and make it better.

WordPress recommends Bluehost for hosting.

Allegedly, though, Bluehost paid WordPress for a spot on the list of recommended hosts.

The host has many monthly and annual awards for categories such as “best affordable hosting” or “best dedicated server.”

However, none of those awards are for first place, and only a handful are for second or even third place.

Pros and Cons of Bluehost

When choosing to go with Bluehost, you should consider a few pros and cons.

Pros of Bluehost

• Affordable pricing
• Money-back guarantee
• Good security
• Easy to use
• Suitable for beginners

Cons of Bluehost

• No uptime guarantee for your site
• Expensive site migration
• Lengthy wait times for customer service
• Loads more slowly than other hosts

How Much Does Bluehost Cost?

Another thing to cover when doing your own Bluehost review is the price.

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is excellent for beginners or smaller sites.

You can choose from the following plan options:

• Basic: $2.95-$9.99/month
• Plus: $5.45-$13.99/month
• Choice Plus $5.45-$18.99/month
• Pro: $13.95-$29.99/month

VPS Hosting

A virtual private server (VPS) can be a good option for hosting as well.

Here are the available Bluehost VPS plans:

• Standard: $19.99-$29.99/month
• Enhanced: $29.99-$59.99/month
• Ultimate: $59.99-$119.99/month

Dedicated Hosting

Dedicated hosting is great for even bigger websites or online business owners.

Consider the specific plans:

• Standard: $79.99-$119.99/month
• Enhanced: $99.99-$159.99/month
• Premium: $119.99-$209.99/month

WordPress Hosting

If you know you want to use WordPress and not Bluehost’s own site builder, here are a few more hosting plans:

• Basic: $2.95-$9.99/month
• Plus: $5.45-$13.99/month
• Choice Plus $5.45-$18.99/month
• Pro: $13.95-$29.99/month

Is Bluehost Worth the Cost?

Bluehost can be worth the cost, especially with the initial discount.

However, not everyone will find the price is worth it.

Why Bluehost Isn’t Worth The Cost

Bluehost isn’t worth it because it can’t guarantee uptime, so your site may go down often.

The company also has poor customer service, and it can take forever if you do need to get your site back up.

The cheaper hosting plans have a lot of limitations as well, so you’d need to pay more for extra features that other hosts might include on lower tiers.

And once the initial contract expires, the hosting isn’t any cheaper than the hosts with better uptime and customer service.

The Problem Bluehost Solves

Bluehost solves the problem of finding affordable, easy-to-use website hosting.

It may not be the best host out there, but it can get the job done.

Why Would Somebody Want to Use Bluehost?

Someone might want to use Bluehost because it has a cheap initial price.

You can get your website online without having to spend a ton of money.

Also, you can install WordPress and use it for no extra cost.

Who Is Bluehost Best For?

Bluehost is best for people looking to launch their first website.

It offers everything you need to get started, from multiple hosting plans to a free secure sockets layer (SSL) certificate.

Why Bluehost Is Best for Beginners

Beginners can get started on Bluehost very quickly.

You don’t need any coding knowledge or website-building expertise to use the platform.

Who Should NOT Use Bluehost?

Serious website owners should not use Bluehost.

Even though you can scale up your hosting plan, other hosts specialize in hosting large, growing sites.

Why Serious Website Owners Should Not Use Bluehost

You shouldn’t use Bluehost because it allegedly is down more often than other hosts.

That means you could lose traffic and customers if they can’t access your website.

What to Think About Before Buying Bluehost

Consider the following things before you sign up for Bluehost.

The Pricing

Bluehost prices seem excellent, but you’ll only get the cheapest price for your first contract.

Also, some of the plans only offer that low price for a 36-month agreement.

Plan Options

As your website grows, you can switch to a different plan from Bluehost to get more features.

Multiple Upsells

Another thing to know is that Bluehost will try to upsell you when you sign up.

So a $35.40 purchase could amount to hundreds of dollars.

Customer Support

Even if you’re an expert, you should be able to get help when you need it.

Sadly, Bluehost can take forever to respond to customer service inquiries.

Millions of Sites

Bluehost powers millions of websites, and they’ve been around for a while.

They can work for a lot of websites.

Features and Benefits of Bluehost

When choosing a website host, you should consider the features and benefits.

Many hosts offer the same functions, so think about Bluehost, specifically.

Here are some features you should know and how Bluehost can handle them.

Bluehost Uptime

Bluehost states they “strive to offer the best in the industry” when it comes to uptime.

They don’t guarantee any specific percentage, but they seem to want to believe your site will hardly go down.

According to a third-party test, Bluehost averages about 99.94% uptime.

That’s pretty good, but it’s had days where the uptime was just less than 85%.

On that day, that means the host was down for 216 minutes, or over 3.5 hours.

Of course, any website host will have some downtime occasionally.

However, losing three hours in a day can be devastating to website and business owners.

Bluehost Page Loading Speeds

The same third party also tested the loading speeds for Bluehost.

Sometimes, Bluehost loads instantly.

Unfortunately, it can also take as long as 9.17 seconds to load, and the average is 2.89 seconds.

That person found that the loading speeds for Bluehost vary significantly.

It can be hard to predict how long it will take for a page to load.

Another third party tested the speed and found the time to first byte (TTFB) was about one second.

That might not sound bad, the tester said the tool they use flags anything that takes longer than 600 milliseconds.

Your site may run faster or slower than the average Bluehost site.

Odds are, sites on VPS or dedicated hosting plans will have better results than on shared plans.

Free Domain

When you join Bluehost, you can select a domain for free.

Bluehost will give you that domain for a year, so you can save money on your first website.

You can choose from various top-level domains (TLDs), such as:

• .com
• .org
• .net
• .co
• .blog
• .me

Unfortunately, Bluehost only pays for domain registration for your first year.

After that, you’d need to pay anywhere from $15.99 to $42.99 or more a year, depending on the TLD.

If you want to keep your contact information off of the WHOIS database, you’ll owe an extra $15 yearly.

Domain privacy can keep scammers and spammers from contacting you.

Without the protection, your name, address, and phone will be available for anyone to view.

Email Accounts

Another advantage of Bluehost is that you can set up email using your domain.

That can help you look more professional when communicating with customers or clients.

You’ll also get access to other Google Workspace features, such as Google Drive, Google Calendar, and Google Meet.

If you want an all-in-one solution for starting and running your online business, Bluehost is a good option.

However, Bluehost charges $6 per month per user for email.

Yes, you get access to Gmail and Google Workspace for that price, so that’s a great feature of Bluehost.

Other hosts don’t charge for email though.

Those hosts might not offer Gmail, but you can set up Gmail regardless of your host, and you’ll get all of the same benefits.

Dedicated IP Address

A dedicated IP address lets you set up an address that is yours alone.

Without one, your site may share an IP address with other sites on the same server.

Bluehost assigns all of its sites to the same IP address by default.

However, you can purchase a dedicated IP address.

You’ll need to log into your dashboard and head to the addons section to buy.

When you first purchase an IP, it will last until your hosting plan expires.

Fortunately, you can renew the IP address with your hosting automatically.

Then, you can continue to have more security for your site.

You’ll also be able to access your website with the IP rather than just your domain.

Emails can also be faster, and you’ll have less of a risk of your IP being blocked.

You won’t have to worry about what other customers host with Bluehost and if their sites could affect yours.

Unlimited Websites

Except for the Basic Bluehost plan, you can host as many websites as you want.

However, that doesn’t mean you can have unlimited websites using tons of resources.

The Plus, Choice Plus, and Pro plans come with 20 GB, 40 GB, and 100 GB of SSD storage, respectively.

Many websites can run well with 5 GB of SSD storage or less.

But if your sites get large or you add multimedia fails, you can quickly exceed the storage limit.

In that case, Bluehost would contact you and ask you to use less data.

Bluehost could even terminate your account without a warning.

Make sure to keep an eye on your storage usage so that you can know when to upgrade if necessary.

If you choose a VPS or dedicated server plan, you can set up as many websites as you need.

The network bandwidth is significantly higher than on the shared plans.

Website Builder

Bluehost created the Bluehost Builder and the Bluehost Website Builder.

The two names are similar and can be confusing, but the Bluehost Builder applies to the host’s own website platform.

So if you don’t want to use WordPress, you can still use Bluehost.

Then, you’ll be able to set up your site and use the hosting platform’s drag-and-drop editor.

Unfortunately, Bluehost stopped offering this option to new customers in 2021.

Meanwhile, the Bluehost Website Builder works with WordPress.

Bluehost says their builder is more simple but offers as much customization as WordPress.

Sadly, the builder is still new, so you can’t yet use it to create an online store or a blog.

It might be better to sign up for Bluehost and install WordPress as normal.

Then, you can access all of the features WordPress offers, but you won’t have to wait to access them.

Scalable Hosting Solutions

One of the benefits of Bluehost is that you can start on a small hosting plan but don’t have to stay there.

As your website gets more traffic or you need multiple sites, you can switch to a more advanced plan.

If you outgrow the shared hosting plans, you can switch to VPS hosting.

Then, you could move to a dedicated server plan.

Those higher plan tiers offer more features, and the dedicated server could help your site run faster.

Of course, the higher tiers will cost more, but you might be earning enough to cover the cost.

A better website is almost always a good investment.

Now, you might choose to move hosts as your site grows.

However, Bluehost offers plans that can suit most website owners and businesses.

Before you leave, check out the other plans to see if they might work for you.

Bluehost Customer Support

Another important aspect of a Bluehost review is the company’s customer support.

Bluehost offers customer support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

You might need customer service if you can’t access your website or your email.

If you mess something up with your site, Bluehost should be able to help.

Even if you don’t expect to need customer support, plan for it.

You never know what can happen with your website.

Here’s what you should know about customer service from Bluehost.

Does Bluehost Offer Customer Support?

Bluehost offers customer support to all customers and prospective customers.

You can get answers to your questions about the hosting service.

If you already have an account, you can ask for help with your site.

Then, you can get it back up if it went down, or you can correct a mistake you make that affects how the site runs.

What Types of Customer Support Does Bluehost Offer?

Bluehost offers customer service in a few ways.

You can start a live chat on their website to message with a customer support representative.

Another option is to call their customer support phone number.

That’s a nice choice if you want to talk with someone rather than write back and forth.

The company has specific email addresses for its affiliate program and the legal department.

If you have questions for those parts of the company, those emails are great.

You can message or tag BluehostSupport on Twitter.

They watch the account between 7 am and 1 am US Eastern Time.

You can also send a message to the Bluehost Facebook page if you don’t use Twitter.

If you’re looking at a VPS or dedicated hosting plan, you can also request that Bluehost calls you.

Then, you won’t have to sit on the phone to wait for a response.

Why Should You Trust Us?

We looked into Bluehost and considered more positive and more negative reviews.

A lot of the Bluehost review articles you find come from Bluehost affiliates.

Because of that partnership, a lot of blog owners want you to sign up for the host no matter what.

They’ll do whatever they can to paint the company in a good light.

However, we considered the advantages and disadvantages of the service

We didn’t let the potential for payment keep us from giving a thorough review of the platform.

What Bluehost Users are Saying

Consider some testimonials from customers that don’t come from articles.

“Absolutely Poor Service.”

One customer claims their site goes down a lot with Bluehost.

They’ve allegedly used two other hosts before with no issues.

“Smooth Renewal Process”

Another customer said they contacted Bluehost to renew their plan.

The customer service rep apparently was able to offer the customer a good discount.

“Trish Is Amazing.”

One customer said the rep Trish is very helpful, and they wish all of the representatives were like her.

Another said Trish is ready to help and answer questions and even remembers you.

Bluehost Alternatives

With all of the potential drawbacks to using Bluehost, you should consider a few alternative hosts.

That way, you can make sure Bluehost is right for you.

1. SiteGround

SiteGround is another excellent website host for beginners and more advanced users.

It offers general web hosting, WordPress hosting, WooCommerce hosting, and cloud hosting.

You can use it to build one or more sites, and you can also get free email and an SSL.

The company makes it easy to install WordPress to get your site up and running.

How Does SiteGround Differ From Bluehost?

SiteGround differs from Bluehost in that it offers much better customer service.

Customers tend to have a better experience using the chat feature or calling.

It also offers email for free, so you don’t have to pay for Google Workspace.

SiteGround uses the Google Cloud, which offers a 100% renewable energy match on all hosting plans.

Who Is SiteGround Best For?

SiteGround is best for beginners and advanced users who want to run a serious online presence.

2. DreamHost

DreamHost is another affordable WordPress and website hosting platform.

It has affordable plans no matter how long you commit to using the host.

You can get email or Google Workspace, and you can enjoy professional services to help run your site.

How Does DreamHost Differ From Bluehost?

DreamHost differs from Bluehost in that it offers affordable plans, even month-to-month.

It also specializes in WordPress but doesn’t use its own proprietary WordPress builder.

The host even guarantees 100% uptime, though it’s unclear how they can guarantee your site will never go down.

Even if your site goes down, they should be able to get it up quickly.

Who Is DreamHost Best For?

DreamHost is best for anyone who wants an affordable option but doesn’t want to commit to a long contract.

3. InMotion Hosting

Another Bluehost alternative is InMotion Hosting, which offers shared, WordPress, VPS, and dedicated plans.

The company offers multiple tiers within each type of plan.

You can also get a free new domain or transfer a domain you already have.

That way, you can move from Bluehost or another competitor.

How Does InMotion Hosting Differ From Bluehost?

InMotion Hosting differs from Bluehost in that all plans host at least two websites.

You can also get your money back up to 90 days after you sign up if you don’t like the service.

The host also includes email, and you can create as many email addresses as you need.

Each inbox supports up to 20 GB of storage.

Who Is InMotion Hosting Best For?

InMotion Hosting is best for anyone needing to run multiple websites on a budget. You can join for multiple years to get the monthly price as low as Bluehost.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you’re still wondering if you should use Bluehost, consider the following questions.

Hopefully, the answers will help with your decision.

Wrapping Up

After reading a Bluehost review, you should have an idea of if the host is for you.

The platform can be great for beginners who need something cheap.

And you can scale your hosting as your website grows.

However, it has many limitations on the more affordable plans.

You’ll also have to pay to protect your privacy if you buy your domain through Bluehost.

And if you need email, that will cost extra as well.

Be sure to consider some alternatives, such as SiteGround, DreamHost, and InMotion Hosting.

They all offer similar features but have better customer service or more uptime.

If you’re ready to use Bluehost, sign up to give it a try.