Bluehost Review: It Is Affordable, But Is It Good?

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This Bluehost review takes an in-depth look into the most popular web hosting platform on the internet. Read it to the end to find out if it’s good and ideal for your blog.

Bluehost powers over 2 million websites throughout the world; thereby making it the most popular web hosting service. The platform has secure hosting options, domain registration, as well as other professional services. The web hosting service is not only popular but also one of the best hosting platforms, especially for those that build websites on WordPress.

Apart from full integration and the most advanced features, Bluehost also offers security, an easy setup, and design freedom for users at an affordable rate. The platform is easy to use and perfect for both beginners and veterans.

In this Bluehost review, we will take a look at the features of Bluehost, its pros and cons, and will also consider if it’s a good web hosting service for your blog.

Quick Review:

Here’s a quick Bluehost review:

Detailed Guide

What is Bluehost?

Bluehost is a web hosting platform that is known for its WordPress expertise, different services, and affordable prices. The service has engineers that work on the WordPress software.

The web hosting platform was founded in 2003 by Danny Ashworth and Matt Heaton in Utah. In 2010, Bluehost was acquired by Endurance International Group (EIG) and Suhaib Zaheer became the company’s CEO in 2017.

Bluehost is now located in Burlington, MA, and currently hosts over 2 million websites.

Features of Bluehost

1. Reliability and performance

Bluehost is a dependable web hosting service. It has an uptime guarantee of 99.98%. No web host can offer 100% uptime, so 99.98% is awesome. This means it experiences about one hour and 45 minutes of downtime in a year. Its uptime makes it second to Hostgator with 99.99% uptime.

2. Types of hosting offered by Bluehost

Bluehost has six different types of hosting. They include Shared, Shared WordPress, WooCommerce, VPS, Managed WordPress, and Dedicated. Here are the main differences between them:

  • Shared: It is the cheapest and also the easiest general service.
  • Shared WordPress: It is the cheapest and the easiest for hosting a WordPress website.
  • WooCommerce:  This type is the best way for hosting online stores with WordPress.
  • VPS: It is less expensive than dedicated hosting. It is good for business websites that want to go beyond the basics.
  • Managed WordPress: This offers more options for WordPress websites.
  • Dedicated:  Although it is the most expensive, however, it is also the most powerful type of Bluehost hosting service.

3. Ease of use

Bluehost makes the signup and website launch processes hassle-free. They understand that users opting for the entry-level plan probably do not have much experience with web hosting. They also allow users to configure everything within the Bluehost hosting platform by themselves without outside help.

Once you sign up on Bluehost’s website and you finalize the purchase process, you will be taken to your new user profile page.

On that page, Bluehost will ask you how you intend to build your website if you want to install WordPress on your setup. They will also ask whether you want to work on your website in the classic model or you want to use the new builder interface offered by Bluehost.

4. Performance and load times

‘Is Bluehost fast?’ is one of the questions people ask when they want to know more about Bluehost. To determine if Bluehost is fast, a user set up a website using Bluehost’s tools, published some content on it, added images, and configured a theme to make the website look real.

He then went ahead to add some plugins, such as Yoast SEO, WPForms, Jetpack, and lots more. The result obtained after all these installations show that Bluehost is a fast web hosting platform. The results were amazing because he used the cheapest hosting plan.

<< Read: How To Start A Blog That Makes Money: Step-By-Step Beginner Guide >>

5. Customer support

Bluehost offers live chat support and 24/7 support via phone. They also have a knowledge base where users can find tutorials and answers to questions that are frequently asked about Bluehost.

You can have access to the support chat through the contact page on Bluehost’s website.

When you contact Bluehost’s support, they will ask you some questions to identify you as a customer and you’ll then be connected to a support agent.

6. Security

The best way to know that a website is secured is an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate. SSL certificates show that any information that users share on a particular website is safe. These certificates are indicated by a padlock icon and the ‘HTTPS’ that are found at the beginning of a website address.

All the Bluehost plans have free SSL certificates, so you don’t have to worry about your site visitors getting a warning that your site is not secured. To get more advanced security, you can buy a premium SSL certificate at $49.99 per year. This would be a great investment for e-commerce sites and other sites where users will be logging in with their usernames and passwords or providing confidential information (such as credit card details).

Other free security features offered by Bluehost include hotlink protection, Spam Assassin protection, and Secure Shell access. Bluehost has lots of security measures that will get a standard website started. However, you may need to invest a few bucks if you want to sell online.

Bluehost has many extra security measures that you can choose from, but these can increase your bill. So, ensure you choose wisely. For instance, SiteLock Find (advanced security for e-commerce sites) costs $1.99 per month. However, if you want to buy it, you will be billed annually at $23.88 per year. That is still affordable to protect your online shoppers.

7. Pricing

The good thing about Bluehost is that it has different options at affordable prices. These are the pricing plans that Bluehost offers:

  • Shared Hosting: It costs $2.95 per month, but will be renewed at $7.99 per month.
  • Shared WordPress Hosting: It costs $2.95 per month but will be renewed at $7.99 per month.
  • WooCommerce Hosting: It costs $15.95 per month, but will be renewed at $24.95 per month.
  • VPS Hosting:  It costs $18.99 per month but will be renewed at $29.99 per month.
  • Managed WordPress Hosting: It costs $19.95 per month but will be renewed at $29.99 per month.
  • Dedicated Hosting: It costs $79.99 per month, but will be renewed at $119.99 per month.

Pros

1. Good security

Bluehost has one of the best-secured platforms on the market. Its security features will help you save time on tweaking your site. If you are a beginner, it will give you the peace of mind you deserve. All the plans on Bluehost come with resource protection. You can also add CodeGuard Backup Basic for an extra $2.99 per month. This feature will help you with daily backups and will also monitor and notify you of any changes.

2. Fast support

Bluehost offers extensive and fast customer support. The platform is very helpful when you need immediate support. You can even connect to Bluehost’s Live Chat within five minutes of waiting for them.

Its support channels are available 24/7, so there’s no need to figure out time zones. They also offer support through phone and email. You can also use their FAQ section to find answers to your questions.

3. Easy to use

Apart from being the most popular web hosting service on the market due to its great products and features, Bluehost is also easy to use. It is important for hosting platforms to be easy to use because web hosting can be confusing to some.

Bluehost has a hassle-free onboarding process that will take just a few minutes to complete, and get your website up and running. Its intuitive interface will ask you to fill out a form that will include your website goals, what you intend to add to your website, and what you want your website name and tagline to be.

After providing answers to these questions, you can then go ahead and choose a theme from Bluehost Marketplace. Bluehost will then automatically install WordPress. After installing WordPress, you can start working on customizing it and Bluehost will take care of the backend and other technical aspects.

4. High-performance servers

Bluehost offers high-performance servers to users using the Pro plan. Although not all users can afford to pay more money, however, you will get what you pay for. Paying $14.95 per month will give you access to Dual Quad Processor Performance Servers that will make large e-commerce websites function effectively.

The regular Bluehost servers that are found in the other plans are also great and work perfectly if you don’t want to pay this price for servers.

Cons

1. No free site migration

As of the time of writing this Bluehost review, Bluehost does not have free site migration. This can be a headache for users that want to transfer from another web hosting service.

You will need to pay $149.99 for Bluehost to migrate about five websites and 20 email accounts. Although this service gives you access to 24/7 support, a complete review, as well as an interrupted transition, it is still expensive for most users; especially when other web hosting services can do this for free.

2. No guaranteed uptime

Unlike most web hosting platforms, Bluehost does not offer an uptime guarantee for its plans. Downtime is an issue that can be detrimental for site owners because it can make you lose potential customers.

An uptime guarantee will give users extra peace of mind that shows that the web hosting service will keep your website running efficiently.

However, even though Bluehost offers no uptime guarantee, the service still offers an uptime of 99.9% efficiency.

FAQs

1. Is Bluehost a good web hosting service?

Yes, Bluehost is a good web host. The service makes it easy for a website to be up and running. It has an easy-to-use cPanel interface that beginners can work with. It also has different great features, fast, has reliable servers, and also offers top-notch security features at an affordable rate.

2. Can I trust Bluehost?

Bluehost is one of the web hosting services that can be trusted. It is ideal for those that are looking for a reliable web hosting service with a strong reputation. As one of the oldest names in the web hosting market, it has established trust. You can use it if you are on a budget and just need general-purpose shared hosting.

3. Why is Bluehost so cheap?

Bluehost makes use of a policy known as CPU protection for its plans that use shared hosting. When you use this type of hosting, it implies that your website is not the only one on a particular server. That is why Bluehost can offer cheap web hosting; you are not paying to run your server.

4. Do I own my domain name with Bluehost?

Bluehost offers hosting and domain names thereby making it easy for users to manage their emails, websites, and domains in a single place. You can register new domain names and also transfer the domains you already own right in your Bluehost account.

5. Which Bluehost plan is the best?

If you are interested in building a simple site like a portfolio and you need cheaper hosting plans, Bluehost Basic plan is the ideal choice because it costs just $2.95 per month. If you want to host more than one website on a single hosting account, you can go for other plans.

6. Can I pay Bluehost monthly?

Unfortunately, you cannot pay Bluehost monthly for its cheap shared hosting or managed WordPress hosting. You can, however, choose month-to-month payment for Bluehost’s VPS or dedicated hosting plans.

Conclusion

Bluehost Review Final Verdict: Is Bluehost A Good Web Hosting Platform?

Bluehost is a good and reliable platform. It is a reputable and very stable web hosting platform that makes it easy to set up a website.

Although the company may lack one or two features that prevent it from being in the same league with HostGator, Dreamhost, A2, and Hostwinds, it is still one of the web hosting services you can trust to cater to your business and personal hosting needs.

We have compared a list of the best Managed WordPress hosting service providers. Check them out here. You can also read our list of the best web hosting services that are ideal for high-traffic sites.