Choosing the right web host for your personal or business website is one tough decision you will ever make. With all the web hosts out there promising high uptime scores, security, server reliability, friendly support, and unlimited resources, is there a way to cut the jargon and choose the best of all? Often, you will need to pay more to get your desired quality. However, other companies offer relatively cheap but top-notch hosting facilities. Bluehost Hosting is one of them.
Matt Heaton founded 0catch.com, a free hosting company that offered customers limited hosting features. The brand was renamed Bluehost in 2003 before it began offering shared web hosting plans.
Bluehost has earned itself a position on the list of the most popular web hosts. Today, we explore why the web host service could be the best option for you.
What Sets Bluehost Hosting Apart From Other Web Hosts?
Well, apart from being the power behind 2 million+ websites from across the world, Bluehost is a brand that has involved itself in multiple businesses, which explains why it can offer its customers huge discounts on their products.
Apart from offering hosting services, Bluehost has interests in domain name registration, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services, social media marketing, content creation, graphic design, and business listings.
Their dedication to cater to their customers regardless of the experience level is yet another plus. Bluehost offers great products and services to beginners and established bloggers, e-commerce entrepreneurs, and more.
According to their website, they offer relatively affordable hosting plans, some as cheap as $2.75!
GENERAL INFORMATION
SPEED:
581 ms (As of October 2020)
UPTIME:
99.98% (Updated October 2020)
SUPPORT:
24/7 Live Chat, Email, Phone, and Knowledge Base
APPS:
Drupal, WordPress, Joomla, phpBB, and 75+ Open Source Projects
FEATURES:
Free Domain for the first year
Unmetered Bandwidth
Unlimited Storage and Websites
SSL Certificate
Domain Privacy
Spam Experts
30-Day Money-Back Guarantee for all plans except the cheapest plan
PLANS:
WordPress
Shared
Reseller
VPS
Dedicated Servers
SITE TRANSFER:
Single WordPress website for free
PRICING:
Starts at $2.75 per month and renews at $7.99 per month
PROS OF USING BLUEHOST HOSTING
1. Speed and Performance
The primary job of any web hosting service is to store your website deliverables and avail them to people whenever they request them. A reliable web host will deliver stored files quickly.
Bluehost Hosting runs the latest versions of MySQL and PHP but they limit the allocated memory for users in the Basic plan. That said, Bluehost scores around average when it comes to website speed and performance.
2. Uptime
Bluehost recently improved its server architecture to ensure that users get a pleasant experience on all hosting packages. Its experts work hard to prevent websites from going down whenever hosting issues arise.
Whether you want to run a personal blog or e-commerce website, you would be happy to realize that Bluehost provides top performance servers that suit your needs.
Why would this be important?
Well, shared hosting plans make it easy for many users to share the costs. The good thing with Bluehost hosting is that it maintains the number of users per server at its lowest to ensure that each user gets more resources (over 300,000 file count), fast load speeds, and more uptime!
Usually, more of such benefits are available for users in the Pro plan, which is pricier when compared to shared hosting plans.
Most users have reported 99.99% to 100% uptime since 2018!
3. Cheap Hosting Plans
The introductory pricing at Bluehost hosting can be as low as $2.75. When you pay this amount, you get all the resources you need for your website at no extra cost. That includes an SSL certificate, unmetered bandwidth, free 50 Gigabyte SSD storage, and more.
Still, you will face some restrictions if you opt for the cheapest plan. However, you will get value for your money due to Bluehost’s fast loading speeds and consistent uptime.
4. Excellent Security Features
While Bluehost is a cheap hosting option, its architecture doesn’t cut corners on security features and options. For example, you will be provided with a free SSL certificate no matter the hosting plan you choose. Additionally, you are allowed access to a free CDN!
5. Friendly User Interface
Whether you are a total beginner or a pro, Bluehost is a great option for you. To begin with, their portal is just clean and intuitive. Secondly, cPanel is created in a way that makes it easy to navigate. Plus, most of their features such as WordPress plugins are easy to install.
If you don’t know how to code a website, you can take advantage of Bluehost’s site builders such as Drupal and Weebly to create your site.
6. Friendly Customer Support
For a company with millions of users worldwide, there are times when things go wrong for some users, right? And when that happens, you don’t have to feel worried because the support staff at Bluehost is friendly and professional.
Bluehost has adopted a culture of prioritizing the needs of its customers, which explains why the company is trusted by millions of individual users and businesses from across the world.
Apart from the 24/7 live chat feature, Bluehost also has email and phone options if you choose to go that route.
CONS OF USING BLUEHOST HOSTING
1. High Renewal Rates
The cheapest Bluehost plan will cost you $2.75 for the first month. Then, you will be expected to renew your hosting for $7.99 per month after the first month.
However, you can get the lowest prices per month if you prepay for one to three years upfront.
If you don’t like what you get, you can still seek a refund within 30 days of purchase.
2. Restrictions on the Cheapest Plan
As we said earlier, some of Bluehost’s shared plans come with lots of restrictions.
With the cheapest plan, the only security feature you will be offered is a free SSL certificate. Also, the storage space you get is limited and Bluehost won’t allow you to own more than one site.
BLUEHOST HOSTING PLANS
WORDPRESS HOSTING
RESELLER HOSTING
VPS HOSTING
DEDICATED SERVERS
QUICK FACTS
- Free Domain for the 1st year and $15.99/year
- Easy, guided sign up process
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Payment via PayPal and major credit cards
- User-friendly cPanel
- Easy and quick installation of CMS and apps
VERDICT
So, is Bluehost Hosting recommended? Yes. The web host service is steadily improving in service delivery to users.
Also, they have powerful servers that ensure over 99% uptime. You will love their user-friendly apps and affordable hosting plans. Still, Bluehost isn’t perfect, so you can still ask for a refund of your money if you don’t like what they are offering