Bluehost is a US-based web hosting company founded by Matt Heaton and Danny Ashworth in Provo, Utah. They are part of a massive corporation, Endurance International Group (EiG), which owns various hosting providers such as HostGator or iPage and have a working staff of 750 people. With Bluehost rising in advertisements and marketing and alongside being recommended by WordPress, let’s take a deeper look at the service and see how good it is.
Basic Rundown
To start with, let’s take a close look at the products that Bluehost provides its users. Currently. they offer a variety of different hosting-related products such as domain names to dedicated servers. One thing to be noted is that Bluehost doesn’t provide cloud hosting services, something surprising when you consider how popular cloud-computing has become in today’s world of technology.
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Domain names: Blue host does have a Free Domain Policy If your hosting plan comes with a free domain through Bluehost and you cancel within the first year.
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Shared hosting: Shared hosting is offered, this is a great, cheap alternative as opposed to buying your own hosting server. You simply purchase a portion of a server alongside hosting privileges in tandem with other users. If you are someone working individually or on a small project, this is your ideal choice. The shared prices start from as low as $3.95/mo* per month.
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WordPress hosting: Bluehost provides a WordPress-focused hosting service. This service is optimized for WordPress sites and comes with several perks like a staging area. Alongside its perks, comes a steeper price of $19.99 per month for managed-for-you WP hosting.
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VPS: A Virtual Private Server is a combination of shared hosting and a dedicated one. The user shares a hosting server alongside other clients, but a virtual wall is fixed between the user’s projects. This type of hosting is recommended for those needing special server configurations such as using a particular programming language. VPS hosting plans go from $29.99 to $119.99 a month at Bluehost.
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Dedicated servers: Servers designed for websites that generate tons of traffic or those that require a high-performing server. Dedicated hosting plans start at $124.99 per month.
One of Bluehost’s biggest advantages is that it offers its users prices enormous discounts during the first year. This can be very beneficial to those that need quick hosting for a couple of months or have a project that lasts a year. Below is a basic run-down of their plans:
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Basic Tier: A plan that provides the user with 1 website and 50 GB of storage. Perfect for those who need hosting for a small project.
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Plus Tier: A plan that provides the user with unlimited websites, storage, and email accounts.
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Choice Plus Tier: This plan includes free domain privacy and better backup options.
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Pro Tier: This is suitable for those looking for higher performances or who have projects that require heavy loads.
Pros & Cons
So after going through all this information what benefits does Bluehost provide you? The biggest advantage is that their plans offer generous storage that is hard to come by in other hosting companies. You won’t find another service that provides unlimited storage for your websites at this price range. Alongside this, Bluehost offers users unlimited free domains, allowing you to build and host as many websites as you wish. Bluehost has very solid uptime, ranking itself 2nd on the global uptime list, giving you a guarantee that your website will be online pretty much non-stop. Bluehost also offers unmetered bandwidth, meaning they won’t handicap the traffic that comes your way. On top of all their unlimited offerings, if the service does not satisfy you and your project’s needs, Bluehost provides a refund within 20 days. So like we said before, their first team is very cheap which may be worth considering for people looking to try out a service.
Now, Bluehost isn’t perfect and it shares its own disadvantages just like every other hosting service. What many consider to be their biggest weak point is their only US-servers, if your user’s come from other regions, they could face less than ideal loading times. Bluehost’s speeds are not exactly anything to write home about but are solid throughout. The backup options are not offered by their entry-level plans which may make them less favorable in comparison to other services that offer them. But despite all these small flaws, they make up for it by providing consistent, reliable service at one of the cheapest prices, prices that users will appreciate.
Usage
If you are looking to host a small-medium project such as a portfolio or a company website then Bluehost will suit you perfectly. If you are managing a project that depends on your website and you need the best performance, Bluehost’s basic plans may not be the best option or be considered the optimum service for your needs. You will have to turn to their professional paid plans that offer extra services and tools at your disposal. Bluehost shared hosting isn’t for those looking for advanced hosting features like staging areas or Git repositories.
Speed
Bluehost isn’t top of the class when it comes to speed and Multiple providers outperformed them. However if having consistent, high speed is necessary for you, then Bluehost is for you. While they aren’t the fastest, their speeds are not the bottom either. By providing maintainable, fixed quality, you can be assured that everything will always be running without any errors or mishaps.
Uptime
No hosting provider can guarantee 100% uptime and technical reasons always occur that cause your site will be down for instances of time. A bad uptime is terrible as your visitors and search engines won’t be able to reach your site. In this area, Bluehost succeeds and offers solid uptime results. However, unlike other services that offer compensation if their global uptime drops, Bluehost does not.
Conclusion
So Bluehost has its ups and downs. I mean it offers great uptimes, and its speed is decent. If you need a hosting service with unmetered storage and unlimited bandwidth, Bluehost could be a suitable option. Their initial prices are so cheap but they do add on and can get expensive. If your projects are high level, I would recommend evaluating your needs and requirements to see if Bluehost’s professional plans are suitable to guarantee your project’s success and stability. However, if you require basic hosting for a small-medium project, or a simple hosting service to use with your WordPress site, Bluehost is going to be everything you need and more.
