Is It Worth Signing Up for This Web Hosting Company? Bluehost Domain Setup
Bluehost hosts over 2 million websites.
That’s quite a lot.
It is clear that they are doing something right by having such a large customer base. They offer reliable uptime, fast server speeds, and all hosting plans have useful features that are suitable for both intermediate and advanced users.
Bluehost offers 24/7 support via phone and live chat, as well as a 30-day guarantee that guarantees your satisfaction.
However, there are downsides too such as higher renewal fees and restrictions on plans that are the cheapest.
All of our reviews are based on actual data, such as speed, uptime, and cost.
Let’s have a look at Bluehost now to find out if they offer the quality website hosting services you are looking for. Bluehost Domain Setup
Bluehost Video Review
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General Info & Hosting Overview
Our Verdict: 5.0
SPEED: 688ms (April 2020 – March 2021).
UPTIME: 99.95% (April 2020 to April 2021).
SUPPORT: 24/7 Live Chat, Phone, Email, Knowledge Base
APPS: WordPress. Joomla. WordPress. Drupal. phpBB. More than 75+ Open Source Projects
FEATURES, Unlimited bandwidth, Unlimited websites, Storage, and Free Domain 1st Years, Free SSL Certificate & CDN, Spam experts, Domain Privacy, 30-Day money-back Guarantee, WordPress 1-Click install
HOSTING PLANS – Shared, WordPress VPS, Reseller and Dedicated Servers
SITE TRANSFER: One WordPress site for free starting at $2.75/mo Bluehost Hosting Bluehost was founded in 2003. Their experience has allowed them to understand what makes hosting services great.
Their hosting plans come with many helpful features, including affordable prices and customer support. You also get reliable uptime, fast server speeds, and excellent customer support.
Let’s have a look at Bluehosts strengths in more detail. Bluehost Domain Setup
1. Great Uptime Through 12-Months (99.96%)
When choosing a web hosting provider, uptime is a key consideration. After all, users won’t be able to access your site if it isn’t available. So, consistent uptime should be one of your top priorities when looking at hosting services.
After reviewing over 40 web hosts, our benchmark for “good” uptime is 99.93%. We would prefer to see 99.93%.
Bluehost surpasses this benchmark easily, comfortably keeping our site online for 99.96% in the past twelve months (April 2020 to February 2021). The total downtime was a bit less than four hours for the whole year.
View stats Bluehost’s average monthly uptime is broken down:
March 2021: 100%
February 2021: 99.97%
January 2021: 100%
December 2020: 99.98%
November 2020: 100%
October 2020: 99.67%
September 2020: 100%
August 2020: 99.99%
July 2020: 99.98%
June 2020: 100% Bluehost Domain Setup
May 2020: 99.90% (scheduled maintenance)
April 2020: 99.99%
2. Fast Page Loading Speed (68 ms).
Google Research found that visitors are 32% more likely leave your site if page load times go from 1 to 3. This trend only worsens if your page load time is longer.
Google is more mobile-first in its indexing.
You must optimize your website for mobile users to avoid losing traffic.
Slow websites are almost always associated with lower traffic and consequently, lower sales. Page loading speed is second-most important. It can either make or break your website’s success.
Check stats Bluehost test site had an average load time of 688ms for the past one year. While it isn’t competing for the top positions, it isn’t bad either. Bluehost Domain Setup
3. Low Introductory Pricing ($2.75/mo)
Bluehost’s default price starts at $3.95/month. That is a introductory price that is lower than the $8.99/month standard rate.
Bluehost is able to offer a special price for our readers. It’s $2.75/month. For that price, you get all the features you need to have a website. Unmetered bandwidth, 50GB SSD storage, and a free SSL Certificate are all included. You’d get a good deal for the price and a consistent uptime.
Still, the cheapest plan does have a few restrictions that we’re not entirely happy with – but more about this later on.
4. Included with Security Options and Features
Bluehost is among the most affordable options on the market. This makes it easy to be happy that they aren’t skimping on security options and features.
Bluehost gives your site a free SSL Certificate even though it is the most expensive plan. You also get access to great features like a free CDN (Cloudflare), a one-click WordPress install, multiple CMS integrations, and additional eCommerce plugins.
Higher-tier plans include Spam Experts, domain privacy protection, server backups, and Spam Experts. SiteLock, which protects against malware attacks, is an additional security feature.
Codeguard is another form of protection, which provides daily backups so you can roll back previous versions of a site, should it get hacked.
Postini by Google is the last security feature worth noting. It provides spam protection for email, so suspicious information is blocked from entering your inbox. Bluehost Domain Setup
5. Easy to Use for Beginners
We have seen web hosts that are considered to be the best, but only for advanced users. Bluehost is great for beginners.
The customer portal is easy to use and very clean. However, it can sometimes be a little slow. Bluehost is made even easier by the layout of the cPanel panel. It is easy to install WordPress and get started with it through cPanel. All you need to do is a point and click in most cases.
If WordPress is not your preferred platform, you can still create a website by using a website building tool like Weebly. Simply drag and drop elements on your page to create a customized template.
Bluehost also provides advanced features for those who need to use their code in order to create their website.
6. 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
Bluehost offers a 30-day guarantee for all hosting plans.
You can give the service a try to determine their performance and then ask for a refund if they don’t meet your expectations. A few words of warning, however.
According to Bluehost’s terms , here’s what does and doesn’t fall under that guarantee:
You can only get refunds on the web hosting cost, not any other products like domains or other add-ons.
Bluehost will subtract $15.99 from your plan if you have a free domain.
Bluehost does not offer a refund for any requests made after 30 Days.
It isn’t like the host’s “no-questions-asked” policy. Before signing up, make sure that you agree to these points. Bluehost Domain Setup
7. 24/7 Customer Support
Bluehost provides 24/7 customer service via email, phone and live chat. They also have an extensive knowledge base with useful information and answers to frequently asked questions.
We tested the live chat option and were pleased with the results.
We got answers to our questions quickly, and the representative was knowledgeable. While some answers felt like they were copied, others were helpful and improvised.
8. One Free WordPress Site Transfer
This perk applies to site owners who want to move to Bluehost’s hosted plan.
Bluehost is only just starting to offer a complimentary site transfer with all their plans.
However, there are some terms that apply to this free service. First, you must have a WordPress-based site. The second requirement is that you request the migration within the first 30 day after signing up for a hosting account.
You simply need to contact the customer service team and follow their instructions. The migration usually takes around 1-3 business days to complete.
You can only purchase this price if you do not have a WordPress website, or if you have more than one. This includes up to 5 website and 20 email account transfers.
9. The Official WordPress.org Recommended Hosting Host
WordPress is the most used platform for website creation – approximately 44% of the Internet’s websites are built with WordPress.
They are the authority in hosting solutions. WordPress only recommends three hosting partners that can be used in conjunction with a WordPress site. Bluehost Domain Setup
Of course, you can use almost any web hosting provider to create a WordPress site. Bluehost is a recognized partner, which is encouraging.
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Cons of Using Bluehost Hosting
Even though we love the low initial prices, the renewal fees can be quite steep.
Let’s have a closer look at the downsides.
1. Higher Renewal Rates
Hosting is best when you prepay one, two, or three years in advance. The average monthly price decreases, but you’re also committing hundreds of dollars in advance.
Don’t worry, there is a 30-day money back guarantee that you can use to get a refund if your service is not satisfactory. But, the rates will go up sharply once your plan is finished.
Let’s assume you agree to the lowest plan for three years. It is $2.75/month. After the initial period ends, the renewal price of the next period is $8.99/month for a 3-year commitment.
The subsequent period will be three times as expensive as the first.
2. Cheapest Plan Restrictions
Bluehost’s lowest shared hosting plan comes with a few restrictions.
You can only have one website. Your storage space is limited. And the only security feature you get, a free SSL certificate. If you want to have more security or multiple websites, you will need to upgrade at least to the next pricing level, which is twice as costly.
These restrictions on the cheapest plan in web hosting are unfortunately quite common. The companies compete over who can lure the customers in with the lowest price, only to upsell a decent hosting service at a higher price. Bluehost Domain Setup
Bluehost Pricing, Hosting Plans & Quick Facts
Here’s Bluehost sharing hosting pricing:
| Pricing | $2.75/month Renews at $8.99/mo |
$5.45/month Renews at $11.99/mo |
$5.45/month Renews at $16.99/mo |
$13.95/month Renews at $26.99/mo |
| Websites | 1 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Bandwidth | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered |
| Storage | 50 GB | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered |
| Email Accounts | 5 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Other Features | – | • Spam Experts | • Spam Experts • Domain Privacy & Protection • Codeguard Basic |
• 2 Spam Experts • Domain Privacy & Protection • Codeguard Basic • Dedicated IP |
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Quick Facts
- Money-Back: 30-day money-back guarantee
- Website migration: 1 WordPress website transfer is free Other migrations are $149.99 for up to 5 websites and 20 email accounts.
- A free domain Yes, your first year is free. You can renew at $15.99 per annum.
- Sign up is easy: It’s simple and straightforward.
- Payment Methods
- Hidden fees and clauses: Domain names cannot be refunded. Renewal rates for both domains and hosting are much higher than the introductory rates.
- Sign-up bonuses: There are some upsells, but not too aggressive.
- Account Activation: Instant activation in most cases. If the information is inaccurate or there’s suspicion of fraud, activation might get delayed.
- Control Panel and Dashboard experience: Easy-to-use cPanel
- Installation of Apps & CMS (WordPress Joomla etc. Mojo Marketplace makes installation of apps quick and simple. Bluehost Domain Setup
Do We Recommend Bluehost?
Yes.
Bluehost has been able to perform slightly better in past years, but they still provide reliable service with decent speeds.
They provide strong security options and a great money back guarantee. There are many user-friendly tools, as well as multiple tiers to choose from for different customers. Our special discount makes the price as low as $2.75 per month.
Bluehost isn’t perfect. After the initial signup period ends, renewal rates for hosting plans will rise dramatically. The cheapest plan also has critical limitations that are not applicable to the next tier.
Bluehost offers good performance and value for money.
Bluehost are you familiar with their services? You can leave a review below, good or bad, as long you are helpful to other visitors. Bluehost Domain Setup
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