Is this Web Hosting Company worth Signing up? Bluehost Guide
Did you know Bluehost hosts more than 2,000,000 websites?
That’s a lot.
Their large customer base is proof that they’re doing something right. They provide reliable service, good server speeds, and all plans offer useful features for intermediates and beginners.
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.
We base all our reviews solely on real data like uptime, speed, and cost.
Without further delay, let’s take an in-depth look at Bluehost and see if it can offer you the top-quality website hosting service. Bluehost Guide
Bluehost Video Review
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General Info & Hosting Overview
Our Verdict: 5.0
SPEED : 688ms (April 2020 to April 2021).
UPTIME: 99.95% (April 2020 to April 2021).
SUPPORT: 24/7 Chat, Phone and Email
APPS: WordPress. Joomla. Drupal. phpBB. And More Than 75+ Open Source Projects
FEATURES include Unlimited Bandwidth, Unlimited Websites and Space, Unmetered Bandwidth and SSL Certificate and CDN. Spam Experts are available to help you. Domain Privacy is also included.
HOSTING PLANS – Shared, WordPress VPS, Reseller and Dedicated Servers
SITE TRANSFER: Free Single WordPress Site Starting at $2.75/mo Bluehost Hosting Pros: Bluehost was established in 2003 and has a lot of experience. They know what makes a good hosting service.
Their introductory prices are affordable, customer support is easy to reach and helpful, and you get many useful features to go with your hosting plan. They also offer reliable uptime and high server speeds.
Let’s look closer at Bluehost’s strengths. Bluehost Guide
1. Amazing Uptime through 12-Months (99.96%)
The most important aspect of choosing a webhost is uptime. Your users won’t have access to your site if your website is down. So, consistent uptime should be one of your top priorities when looking at hosting services.
Our benchmark for “good”, uptime after reviewing 40 web host is 99.93%. We don’t expect to see any lower than this.
Bluehost has surpassed this benchmark to comfortably keep our test site available for 99.96% over the past 12 month (April 2020-March 2021). The year-long total downtime was slightly less than four hours.
Bluehost average Uptime
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: 99.99%
June 2020: 100% Bluehost Guide
May 2020: 99.90% (scheduled maintenance)
April 2020: 99.99%
2. Rapid Page Loading Speed (688ms)
Research conducted by Google “As page load time goes from 1s to 3s the probability of bounce increases 32%.” This translates to your visitors being 32% more likely to leave your site. It gets worse if page loads take longer.
Google is also more focused on mobile-first indexing.
Your site must also be mobile-friendly. Otherwise, you are losing visitors.
Slow websites are almost always associated with lower traffic and consequently, lower sales. Page loading time, after uptime is crucial for website success.
Bluehost average speed It isn’t the fastest but it’s not bad. Bluehost Guide
3. Low Introductory Pricing ($2.75/mo)
Bluehost’s default pricing starts at $3.95/month, which is an introductory price from the regular $8.99/month 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. The package includes 50 GB SSD storage and unmetered bandwidth. You also get a free SSL certificate. Their uptime and page load speeds are excellent, so you would get a very good deal.
Even so, the cheapest plan comes with some limitations that we aren’t happy about – but more on this later.
4. With Security Options and Features
Since Bluehost is one of the “cheapest” options on the market, we are pleased to see that they don’t cut too many corners on critical security options and features.
Bluehost gives your site a free SSL Certificate even though it is the most expensive plan. Bluehost also offers great features such as a free CDN (Cloudflare), a one click WordPress install, multiple CMS integrations and additional eCommerce plugins.
Higher-tier plans include the Spam Experts addon, domain privacy protection and server backups. Also, you get more advanced security features such as SiteLock, which helps prevent malware attacks.
Codeguard provides another level of protection. It offers daily backups that allow you to rollback previous versions of a website in case it is hacked.
Postini from Google is the last security tool to be mentioned. It provides spam protection for email, so suspicious information is blocked from entering your inbox. Bluehost Guide
5. For beginners, it is simple to use
We have seen web hosts that are considered to be the best, but only for advanced users. But, Bluehost is great for beginners, too.
The customer portal is easy to use and very clean. However, it can sometimes be a little slow. Bluehost’s control panel, cPanel, is also easy to use. Beginners can easily install and start WordPress through cPanel. You can install WordPress in most cases with just a click and point.
If WordPress is not your preferred platform, you can still create a website by using a website building tool like Weebly. Drag and drop elements to customize your template.
Bluehost has advanced features that allow you to use your code to create your website.
6. 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
Bluehost offers a 30-day money back guarantee on all hosting plans.
You can test out the service and ask for a full refund if you aren’t satisfied. But, here are some warnings.
Bluehost offers a guarantee that this will apply to you. Here are some examples of what falls under that guarantee.
You can only get refunds on the web hosting cost, not any other products like domains or other add-ons.
Bluehost would deduct $15.99 if you received a free domain name in your plan.
Bluehost will not issue a refund if a request is made after 30 days.
It isn’t like the host’s “no-questions-asked” policy. Before signing up, be sure to agree to these points. Bluehost Guide
7. Support available 24/7
Bluehost offers 24/7 customer care via live chat and phone as well as an email ticketing system. A vast knowledge base is available that contains answers to frequently asked questions as well as useful information.
We tried their live chat feature and it was great.
We got answers to our questions quickly, and the representative was knowledgeable. Yes, there were some duplicate responses, but the follow up questions encouraged us to create our own and more helpful answers.
8. One Free WordPress Site Transfer
This perk is great for those who have sites and are interested in switching to Bluehost’s hosting plans.
Bluehost only recently started offering a free site transfer with all of their plans.
This free service comes with a few conditions. First, the site must be a WordPress site. Second, you must request the migration within the first thirty days of signing up for hosting.
Simply contact their customer service department and follow their instructions. The average time it takes to migrate is 1-3 business day.
The price for a WordPress website is $149.99. You can migrate up to five websites and 20 email accounts.
9. 9.
WordPress is the most widely used website platform on the market – ~44% of the entire Internet is built with WordPress.
It’s safe to say that they have an authoritative word when it comes to hosting solutions. WordPress only recommends three hosting partners that can be used in conjunction with a WordPress site. Bluehost Guide
Of course, you can use almost any web hosting provider to create a WordPress site. But the fact that Bluehost is one of the few officially recognized partners is encouraging.
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Cons of Using Bluehost Hosting
We’re glad to see such low introductory rates, but the renewal rates can get a little steep.
Let’s have a closer look at the downsides.
1. Higher Renewals Rates
The best way to get the lowest possible price for hosting is to prepay for one, two, or even three years upfront. Although the monthly average price drops, you are still committing hundreds of bucks in advance.
Rest assured, you can use the 30-day money-back guarantee to get a refund if you don’t like their service. However, once the initial plan duration is over, you can expect a steep rise in the rates.
Let’s say that you choose the cheapest plan for three year, which costs $2.75/month. With a three-year commitment, the renewal price for the next month starts at $8.99 per month.
The next period in this case is three times more expensive than that of the previous.
2. Cheapest Plan Restrictions
Bluehost’s lowest shared hosting plan comes with a few restrictions.
You can only have a single website, the storage space is limited and the only security feature you get is a free SSL certificate. You will need to purchase at least the next pricing level if you have multiple sites and require more security.
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 Guide
Bluehost Pricing, Hosting Plans & Quick Facts
Here are the pricing plans for Bluehost shared hosting.
| 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: Free transfer for 1 WordPress website. Other migrations cost $149.99 for up 5 websites and 20 email addresses.
- No cost domain Yes, the first year. After that, the renewal fee is $15.99 per year.
- Sign Up Easier: Simple and Guided Sign-up Process
- Payment Methods – Major credit cards and PayPal.
- Hidden Fees, Clauses and Refunds: Domain names will not be refunded. The renewal rates for hosting and domain names are significantly higher than their introductory rates.
- Upsells
- Account activation: In most instances, you will receive an instant activation. Activation could be delayed if incorrect information is provided or suspicions of fraud.
- Control Panel and Dashboard Experience: Easy-to-use cPanel
- Installation of Apps and CMS (WordPress Joomla, etc. ): Mojo Marketplace makes app installation quick and easy. Bluehost Guide
Bluehost is a Recommended Choice
Yes, we do.
Bluehost has performed slightly better in the past, but they still provide a reliable service with decent server speeds.
You also get strong security options, a money-back guarantee, lots of user-friendly applications, and multiple tiers for hosting packages to suit different customers. You can get a special discount of $2.75/month on the pricing.
Bluehost isn’t perfect. The renewal rates of hosting plans will go up dramatically after the initial signup period. Additionally, the cheapest plan comes with some significant restrictions that can be compared to the other tiers.
Bluehost is a solid choice for users who want to get good value for their money.
Are you a Bluehost user? Leave a review for Bluehost below. It doesn’t matter what it says, so long as you’re helpful to others. Bluehost Guide
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