Managing a website can be a daunting task, isn’t it? As human nature, we always try to hand over the tough work to someone else. We always look for an easy and efficient way to solve every problem whether it be routine or special tasks. The same goes for web management also. To get to the larger audience you need to focus on every detail of your website. But for a sole soul, it is not an easy task. In this Bluehost review, I will explain how this task can be less intimidating.
There are a ton of web hosting solutions available at present time. Among them, the leading Web hosting solutions are HostGator, Dreamhost, A2 hosting, Cloudways, and Bluehost. There are many more and the industry is increasing day by day. These hosting solutions are great for efficient website designing and management.
As it sounds exciting the actual process of choosing from all these superb web hosting solutions is a hard decision itself. But this content is the ultimate cheat sheet for you. If you’re thinking about getting your hand on the much-known web host Bluehost then spend a few minutes checking this review to find out if Bluehost is going to provide high speed at the striking rate of 2.95 per month(starting)! Proving itself as one of the cheapest hosting services.
If you are about to know more about Bluehost beside our honest Bluehost review and you didn’t visited Bluehost yet, please take a moment to familiarize yourself with Bluehost. We won’t go anywhere!
Brief Overview
Bluehost Review in Brief
Bluehost is great for a start-up business to a successful business. Its varied price range and ultra-speed provide the premium experience of web hosting. It is one of the oldest web hosts starting in 1996. It is best known for its WordPress hosting services.
At present Bluehost powers, more than 2 million websites and the number is increasing every day. Making it a leading company in the web hosting industry.
The speed record of Bluehost’s averaged 99.99%. Reportedly some users also experience 100% which is a rare case in this industry. So in this Bluehost review, I will talk much about the reasons why Bluehost is one of the fastest hosting servers of 2022. From this piece of content, you can expect to know about,
Hosting services of Bluehost: shared, VPS, dedicated, WordPress web hosting, and reseller web hosting.
Performance review of Bluehost: website build, security features, e-commerce services, solid uptime high speed, commendable customer service.
- Pros & cons
- Plans & packages
- Features
- Pricing
- Plan cancellation terms
- Quick price comparison
- Downsides of Bluehost: additional products, limitations, site migration cost, hidden costs, server problems, speed limitations.
- Who should try Bluehost
- FAQ
- Final thought
Services
Hosting services of Bluehost
As a web host solution Bluehost comes with a wide range of products and services. There are many hosting services to satisfy the needs of different sorts of users. Starting a business? Start with their shared web host. Already have an established powerful website? Check their dedicated web hosting. Possibilities are countless here as Bluehost always tries to come up with new features and services.
Shared web hosting
The most loved and recommended service of Bluehost is its shared web hosting service. It is perfect for beginners. If your website has low traffic volume for now and doesn’t need that much help then surely this can be a great pick.
Here you will share server resources with other websites. Making it the most convenient way of hosting websites. That’s why you get great deals and features at a very low price ( at the starting).
Dedicated web hosting
Dedicated web hosting is dedicated to heavyweight users. With a large number of websites having an even larger traffic base. It can handle millions of traffic without any downtime because here you get all the resources for your server. which are not shared by any other websites at all.
It gives you the full liberty to work at your own pace and preference. The growing businesses will understand what an amazing offer it is. Maybe the only disadvantage of this web hosting is you have to manage everything by yourself. Which can be a great turn-off for beginners.
But for an expert? They know how to handle their website and they also know how to bring the best out of it by using a dedicated web host.
VPS web hosting
VPS stands for Virtual private server if you were wondering what it meant. (told you I’m going to explain everything). It is an upgraded version of shared WordPress hosting. Having some extra features. Here you can expect to use virtual dedicated resources in a shared environment. Keeping the efficiency and effectiveness of web hosting intact.
WordPress web hosting
Bluehost is one of WordPress’s favorite children. It has been an alley of WordPress since 2006. It allows its users to enjoy the free open source software of WordPress.It is designed especially for WordPress users. To give them the same build quality that they experienced in WordPress.
The interface of Bluehost is comprehensively optimized to run WordPress. Even WordPress recommends it. So all the WordPress enthusiasts out there Bluehost might become your mutual friend in the web hosting industry.
Cloud hosting
Cloud hosting is one sort of extensive version of shared hosting. The exception is it utilizes several cloud servers. The benefit of this feature is you can switch to different servers in times of hardware failure if any. Ensuring uninterrupted web hosting experience.
It comes with Cloudflare integration. In every package of Bluehost, you will get Cloudflare and CDN. The abbreviation of CDN is content delivery network. In this technology, The data is managed from the closest location.
Suppose the visitor is searching for data from Los Angeles but you run a function in New york. There the data management will be served from spots near Los Angeles to deliver the fastest load time possible. To grab this amazing feature you just have to follow 3 simple steps.
- Open a Cloudflare account
- Enable CDN integration
- Provide Cloudflare credentials.
Woocommerce hosting
It’s a popular e-commerce plugin for WordPress. Plugins are extra features that smooth the web hosting task and add extra value to customer satisfaction. With this hosting service, users can initiate and run an online store in a few easy steps only. It has all the essential features to do e-commerce.
Every plan of Bluehost allows WordPress installation with an easy cPanel. It helps to handle the database easily. As cPanel is quite popular now everyone is pretty much in the practice of using this sort of dashboard.
Bluehost is best for WordPress and it was recommended by WordPress since 2005. It has lots of easy-to-use features. Check it out what Bluehost offers you.
Performance
Performance review of Bluehost
Website build
Isn’t WordPress our go-to option when we think of building a website? the similar-looking features with the familiar interface. WordPress has been a favorite for good old reasons. Bluehost helps you to build a website with WordPress. It is one of the best website builders.
To get started you just have to insert a website name then choose a template and that’s it you are ready to start a web hosting journey. It’s that much easier just like opening social media accounts during our teenage years. Still confused? Check their knowledge base to find out how to design a website.
Here you will get the liberty to design. Wisely designed tools, analytic and scalable measures of Bluehost give you a whole canvas to have a great website building experience.
It also helps to create a website. But I won’t recommend doing so as there are more reliable and efficient ways of doing that.
How it will help you: as you get to build the website with WordPress it becomes so much easier even for beginners.
Pleasant security features
Bluehost has its automated security updates free for 1 year. Till then you don’t have to worry about securing your data one by one manually.
It provides complimentary backup of data but it is not guaranteed. Because in this web solution the data is not backed up automatically. You have to ensure backup of your data on your daily. . Bluehost’s main data center is in the US.
It offers you a free SSL certificate in all of its existing plans for every price range. There are some additional security options in Bluehost such as,
- IP blacklist
- Directories for password protection
- Private keys and certificate management.
One massive downside of this web hosting solution is you have to do daily backup to protect data. Which can be an irritating task after some time.
How it will help you: automated data security gives you the ease of work without worrying about privacy and trespassing.
High speed
Wondering how fast websites load with Bluehost? This Bluehost review claims to tell you whether Bluehost is the fastest web hosting solution or not. I can assure you Bluehost is pretty swift. Leaving many industry giants behind in the page loading speed race.
In a personal webpage loading test I have found out the load speed of Bluehost is 1.48s on average and the Response time is 1.25s. This is commendable as the industry standard is 1-3 seconds by google. So the Bluehost speed is surely one of the best of 2022.
Why is speed important? Because Speed Affects SEO ranking. It is reported that a 1sec drop of speed can cause a 7%-10% loss of conversion. In more horror, 3sec of late loading can cut your 50% traffic off. Which is a nightmare for a website.
Less traffic means fewer page views and less visitor satisfaction. As many people don’t like to visit websites that take a longer time to load. Who has time for slowness anyway! With this, your website fails to reach the target audience and convey your message. Causing loss in revenue in the long run if you are a business. Which is not acceptable at all.
In my speed test, I’ve tried assessing a website With dummy contents and the test results are 1.46s. Which is an excellent speed. Moreover, I did not detect any downtime while testing.
How it will help you: high speed of websites is crucial for drawing the attention of organic traffic and keeping them hooked to your website.
Solid uptime
Bluehost provides the ultimate 100% uptime. Which is sometimes missed by even the industry giants like A2 hosting for 1%-2%. Uptime measures the ability of a Website to respond. Means how much time it takes the website to respond. If it is always ready and in the process then the score is 100%. Which is so desirable to provide great visitor satisfaction and keep the visitors hooked.
Another thing that I noticed about Bluehost is it has a high response rate in the US and is slightly less in other areas. The good thing is even in areas other than the United States its uptime still is Less than a second. ( Which is acceptable)
Here’s a trick if your audience is out of the US and you still want to use Bluehost just change server location for foreign regions. Just like load speed, uptime can also massively affect a website’s SEO ranking and presence of organic traffic.
How it will help you: this solid uptime is great if your target audience is the US. The speed that it provides outside of the US is not that bad either. The uptime experience of Bluehost is pleasing in every way.
eCommerce service
E-commerce service
If you are already in woocommerce then you would love to use the e-commerce feature of Bluehost. It is a part of the WordPress hosting navigation tab and can easily help you to excel in the e-commerce hosting industry. In this service, you will get,
- Pre-installed woocommerce storefront
- Free onboarding call
- Free dedicated IP address.
How it will help you: e-commerce is not less than maintaining a physical shop. You have to be presentable in front of your visitors virtually. The e-commerce service of Bluehost will provide you the platform to give your e-commerce activity the ultimate boost.
Help & Support
Commendable customer care
The technical team of Bluehost is ready to help you with their 24/7 support. You can reach them through call, live chat, or email. Their knowledge base is also popular for solving most of the common web hosting dilemmas.
They serve with ample patience to provide support for newbies and the knowledgeable advanced pros of the industry even. Though the knowledge of customer service might not meet the expectations of industry veterans. If you ask me it’s still better than many of its competitors. Even the live chat response time is impressively 3 seconds on average from my personal experience.
Note that international calls might apply fees. So I would suggest you first visit their knowledge base to find your answers. Don’t take it lightly as this knowledge base answers the most asked question which might take time to get from other customer support as live chat. If you can’t find a solution from the knowledge base then connect through live chat.
As a matter of fact, the questions mostly are about installations and a website build. They try to give building guidance or will do it for you.
They also help to choose a plan for your website from Bluehost. Though it Might be misleading. As obviously they will promote their expensive plans more to get the profit out of it. Don’t worry, follow this Bluehost review instead to make the most informed decision.
How it will help you: it serves peace of mind when you know there is a technical team ready to help 24/7 for all of your web hosting problems.
Plans and packages
Plans and packages
| Shared hosting | Online stores | Managed WordPress |
|---|---|---|
| $2.95/mo | $12.95/mo | $9.95/mo |
Now let’s talk about which plan serves what. Before subscribing to any of this plan you should know what you are getting yourself into or the plan matches your website purposes even.
Best for
Shared hosting: Shared hosting is best for those who are new in this website hosting world or have small business websites. It gives the perfect initial ease for your business start-up or personal blog. It has 4 different categories. You can upgrade easily from shared hosting if your business grows and draws more traffic.
Online stores: as the name suggests this plan is dedicated to online store owners. With this plan, they can easily sell, ship, and manage payments with woocommerce.
Managed WordPress: it is more for intermediate or high-range website users. Giving you the perfect opportunity to grow and better the performance of your website. This plan also helps to maintain decent scalability.
Features
Features of Shared Web Hosting of Bluehost
The most loved and recommended web hosting plan of Bluehost is its shared web host. Here are the features you will get in each designed category.
Also in every plan, it won’t cost you a penny to get
- Custom theme
- 24/7 customer support
- CDN
- SSL
Pricing
Bluehost Pricing
Each of the mentioned plans has varied sub-plans ranging for different prices. In previous times there were no monthly payment plans in Bluehost. So many users like me were not that happy about it. Maybe they heard us and came up with easy monthly price payments. Now let’s jump into the detailed price discussion of every existing plan of Bluehost. Namely,
Shared
Online-store
Managed WordPress
Plan Cancellation Terms
Even a heart can change at any time. It’s natural for a web host user to change his mind halfway through. Well, the web hosting industry mostly allows you to do so, so does Bluehost, a leading company in this industry.
It provides a 30-day money-back guarantee with its plan. That means if you decide to use one of the Bluehost plans and after a few days(less than 30) you don’t feel like using it anymore then you can get your refund.
The catch here is you have to make up your mind whether to continue using Bluehost within 30 days. After that, you will not get any refund and can’t cancel the plan as well. It’s more like a 30-day free trial policy. If you like it in 30 days you may continue using it and upgrade as per your need.
Quick Price Comparison
Quick Price Comparison With Alternatives
Bluehost can give a cheap price for their large business volume. Still in this industry, it’s hard to provide competitive prices to stay in business. For better understanding let’s compare the shared hosting plan of the blue host with some of its competitors’ shared hosting plan.
| Plans | Bluehost | Hostgator | Dreamhost | Siteground | A2 Hosting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Plan | Basic $2.95/mo | Hatchling $2.64/mo | Starter $2.59/mo | Startup $6.99/mo | Startup $2.99/mo |
| Upgraded Plan | Plus $5.45/mo | Baby $3.38/mo | Unlimited $3.95/mo | Grow big $9.99/mo | Drive $4.99/mo |
Though the features and prices vary from one plan to another. However, this Bluehost review has given you a basic idea about its price comparison.
Downsides of Bluehost
Downsides of Bluehost
In this world nothing is perfect. Same law applies to this amazing web host service even. With increasing popularity, there are also some complaints that its users have. Let’s have a look.
Additional products: one thing that I have noticed on my personal use of blue host and many users would agree that it by default adds services to your cart. The services might be very useful. Still, I didn’t decide to have them, did I? This practice of Bluehost seems a little bit sneaky to me.
Limitations: the installation and the manual backup process can be frustrating to many users. As it is inconvenient and wastes valuable work time. The Bluehost has a lot of features yet you have to make the features start by yourself which can be misleading for beginners.
Site migration cost: site migration will cost you an extra $149.99. This can be a big disheartening fact for small businesses and customers with tight budgets.
Hidden costs: another irrelevant fact about Bluehost is its hidden charges. For instance, SSL is free but for premium SSL you will have to count an extra $49.99. Similarly, code guard backups, domains, and office 365 will cost you extra. And blue host adds some additional add ons by default. So check what’s in your cart before hitting the buy button.
Only US servers: Bluehost hasn’t published its official data center information anywhere. Reportedly it’s in the US. That’s why it performs better in the US. if they had a few more data centers across the globe foreign regions could have enjoyed equal speed and uptime.
Speed problems: the page load speed of Bluehost could have been better. Sometimes it disappoints its user to provide adequate speed. Hence staying back from its competitors.
Best For
Who should try Bluehost
Give it a shot if you are
If you are a classic user with less website pressure and moderate traffic engagement then Bluehost is perfect for you. Bluehost speed is impeccable in this sector. Though it slows down a bit for heavy usages. But that’s a far story.I have used Bluehost for multiple websites for quite a time and haven’t noticed any speed problem in moderate usage yet.
FAQs
Bluehost Review- FAQs
Does Bluehost provide a free domain name?
What’s the storage limit of Bluehost?
What’s the page load time of the Bluehost?
What are the alternatives to Bluehost?
Do I Recommend It?
Do I Recommend It?
Yes indeed, I do recommend it for small businesses hosting and light usage. Bluehost is rated #1 for small businesses. As it provides a ton of features at a cheap rate. Very few hosting companies can do so. Though I will not suggest Bluehost if you need extensive use of web hosting service to handle extra-large traffic.
Numbers don’t lie. Do they? At present, 2 million users are enjoying the top-notch uptime speed of Bluehost. So there has to be a reason for its increasing popularity. Certainly, it’s doing something right. Which is providing great speed at a reasonable price.
I would like to mention that Bluehost Has a huge archive or knowledge library of articles, step-by-step guidelines, and helpful videos. Which can be a great help for beginners. It has Budget-friendly starter plans. In the essence of this Bluehost review, I Recommend the shared hosting plan for starters.
