There are several web hosting companies around the world. But this Bluehost review will focus particularly on a company that’s become a household name. It’s reputable for offering very low-maintenance hosting packages. Since 2005, they’ve been the most popular recommendation for WordPress hosting. Bluehos t , previously known as 0catch.com, was founded by Matt Heaton in 1996 as a free hosting company. Their name was changed to Bluehost in 2003 and they’ve grown quickly to become one of the most popular, reliable, and affordable hosting providers in the world. It was bought by the company “Endurance International Group (EIG)” in 2010, the same company that owns HostGator and many other web hosts. Mike Olson was named CEO in 2015. The Bluehost brand is popular today, mainly among digital marketers, as well as beginners and small businesses looking for a good hosting option. You’ll find a range of web hosting solutions from Bluehost. What you’ll find include web hosting, building applications, and software. Moreover, their hosting plans come with an unbeatable uptime guarantee, free CDN, an unlimited number of add-on domains, and free backups. WHAT REALLY SETS BLUEHOST APART FROM ITS COMPETITORS? DOES IT MATCH YOUR NEEDS PERFECTLY, OR SHOULD YOU CHOOSE ANOTHER PROVIDER? In this Bluehost review, we’ll discuss in detail, the most essential factors that make it unique. ADDITIONAL HOSTING SERVICES Bluehost offers e-commerce hosting, shared hosting, and managed WordPress hosting. There are four different plans available from Bluehost for shared hosting. Aside from virtual private servers and dedicated servers, there is also shared and cloud hosting available. A BRIEF LOOK AT BLUEHOST DASHBOARD AND ITS EASE OF USE WordPress is pre-installed on Bluehost’s WordPress hosting plans. So, you don’t have to install it yourself using cPanel. It’ll take any traditional hosting provider only five minutes to install WordPress. As a web hosting company, the company uses its own version of cPanel, a widely used control panel. There are no complications and it comes with a clean interface, even better than the standard cPanel interface. By using point-and-click you can manage your website without knowing any coding or having extensive knowledge of web development. You can manage your email, manage your site’s files and database using Bluehost’s marketing tools. When you purchase a WP Pro hosting plan, you can also use Bluehost’s full marketing center. Your site’s dashboard includes stats on traffic and search engine rankings, as well as important analytics. You can view performance metrics for your top pages, clicks, referrers, and search terms on the Traffic tab. In addition to managing backups, security, and plugins, you can also log in to your WordPress site from the dashboard. KEY BLUEHOST FEATURES Unlike other web hosting companies, Bluehost offers much more than just web hosting services. With it, you get access to a long list of features, as well as hundreds of programs, hosting options, and resources for geeks who want to access files such as SSH and FTP. 1. GREAT CONTROL PANEL The Bluehost control panel is intuitive to use and easy to navigate through. It offers all of the essential functions in one spot. CPanel, on the other hand, provides all the essential functionality in one place. It won’t take you long to scan a variety of tables and sections. It’s easy to find the necessary tool. Its direct competitor, HostGator’s, has similar features to Bluehost. See our HostGator review to see how similar they are. However, Bluehost focuses more on WordPress. It’s Bluehost’s control panel that makes it our best web hosting company of delight. You can easily manage themes, plugins, and more without leaving the dashboard. You have the opportunity to also tweak your WordPress website before it goes live by automatically setting your site in staging mode. Users who aren’t familiar with WordPress probably won’t find the control panel to be nearly as useful. On the other hand, that doesn’t mean it’s bad. The Bluehost dashboard lets you manage your web hosting account and website from one place, so you don’t have to open multiple tabs. Despite being a modified cPanel, you can still access the classic cPanel interface by clicking the “advanced” icon in the control panel. You’ll find all the usual suspects there, including the file manager, wizard for MySQL databases, and more. WordPress websites don’t need Softaculous apps, as the dirty work was already done for them. 2. BLUEHOST SSL AND BACKUP Even though there are some negatives here, there are also some positives as well. Every Bluehost hosting package comes with an SSL/TLS certificate. So, visitors can be assured that their website is safe. A website’s security should include this because unencrypted connections provide a gateway to cybercrime. In case your website becomes infected, you can restore it from a backup. Your Bluehost regularly backs up accounts daily, weekly, and monthly. And you can reinstall them online with a single click. Alternatively, you can purchase CodeGuard backup even if you would like to use the three-two-one backup approach. 3. WEBSITE BUILDER This is long-awaited. We’ve been looking for when Bluehost will introduce a website building package into the array of services they provide. That they’ve done. Irrespective of your status as a web designer: from beginner to pro, Bluehost Website Builder helps you build eye-catching WordPress websites faster and easier than traditional building tools. This means Bluehost customers now have the opportunity to use the new website builder package introduced by Bluehost to design a fully responsive and customized website of their dream. This saves cost as helps make your web design activities easier and better. 4. EASY INTEGRATION WITH JETPACK The Jetpack plugin is a collection of all-in-one WordPress features developed by the same company that develops WordPress. Among the features, it has are those related to security, performance, backups, marketing, design, and more. As part of the WP Pro hosting service, Jetpack is included. The version of your website determines the plan you get. Premium plans, of course, receive the more sophisticated versions of the plug-in. 5. SPEED AND PERFORMANCE Bluehost provides high-performance solutions at an affordable price, thereby providing a lot of return on your investment. 6. E-COMMERCE FEATURES Setting up an online business with Bluehost is easy. By upgrading to a Plus subscription, you get unlimited storage and access to as many products as you want. Aside from offering popular shopping carts, the system also provides SSL certificates for Zen, OS Commerce, and Agora. 7. SAFETY The WP Pro service from Bluehost is fully managed in comparison to Bluehost’s shared hosting plans. Therefore, they offer different security features. You will receive a free SSL certificate with your shared hosting account. In fact, they change their WordPress login credentials to avoid using generic passwords. You’ll not receive backups unless you reach the highest level. However, basic backups are available. The full-service managed hosting offered by WP Pro goes far beyond what the average host can provide. Along with the free SSL certificate, you also have access to daily backups as well as malware detection and removal. In addition to the Jetpack, Spam Protection is also available in all plans. The purpose of this is to prevent spam from reaching your inbox or comments section. As part of this service, there is also a test environment available, which can be used to test updates without the risk of breaking your live site. 8. APP FOR BUSINESS WEBSITES By using the application on a smartphone, users are able to connect with millions of businesses and entrepreneurs all over the world. A wealth of information is available to you, including instructions, expert advice, and reviews. Platforms like Bluehost cover all bases, from hosting to developing a mobile-friendly online project. Bluehost customers are eligible for free consultations. All they must do is request them. BLUEHOST PROS AND CONS Let’s analyze the key pros and cons of using Bluehost. As we all know, there is no perfect software. This is despite the fact that most webmasters simply look for software and application that will make their work easy and simpler. BLUEHOST PROS They have a couple of really good things going for them. 1. REALLY CHEAP WEB HOSTING Their hosting plans are among the most affordable in the industry. At the time of this writing, prices start at $2.95 a month . That makes it relatively cheap. The catch is that you have to pay 36 months in advance to get it at this price. 2. GOOD FOR WORDPRESS SITES The new Bluerock Platform from Bluehost is a great choice for WordPress because it offers an integrated WordPress control panel. You can either install WordPress manually or with a single-click process. You can also get WordPress configured when you register your account. Compared to the previous tech stack, Bluerock delivers WordPress pages 2-3 times faster. Also, it comes with a built-in NGINX. The latest security and performance features are also available. 3. BLUEHOST SSL CERTIFICATES The shared hosting plans from Bluehost come with a free SSL certificate. What is SSL Certificate? What’s its importance? Does my site really need one as a website owner? Simply put, SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer and is a system of encryption. When your server and browser exchange information, SSL acts as an encryption system that adheres to various specifications. Your website needs it since it prevents unauthorized third parties from reading any exchange of data on your site. 4. AN EXCELLENT UPTIME RATE In addition to page loading times, it’s important that your website is always live and accessible to visitors. Bluehost hosts a test site on which I keep measuring uptime to see how often they experience outages. Here is a breakdown of Bluehost’s uptime report for one year. That’s before August 2021. 1. July 2021: 100% 2. June 2021: 99.99% 3. May 2021: 99.77% 4. April 2021: 99.99% 5 March 2021: 100% 6. February 2021: 99.97% 7. January 2021: 100% 8. December 2020: 99.98% 9. November 2020: 100% 10. October 2020: 99.67% 11. September 2020: 100% 12. August 2020: 99.99% 5. BLUEHOST PRIORITIZES SAFETY The website protection offered by Bluehost is excellent. Users can access configuration files securely through Secure Shell access (SSH). There are three main anti-spam tools they use: SpamExperts, Apache SpamAssassin, and Spam Hammer. Additionally, Bluehost offers blacklists of IP addresses, password-protected directories, e-mail account filters, and the ability to manage digital certificates and private keys. 6. HELPFUL USER-SUPPORT PORTAL The company provides 24/7 technical support. Aside from that, they also offer users a knowledge base where they can view videos, additional documentation, etc. The knowledge base is a good choice for customers who don’t want to wait for customer service. They have numerous tutorial videos on their YouTube channel as well. 7. PROFITABLE AFFILIATE PROGRAMME A few of the most sought-after affiliate programs for web hosting are associated with Bluehost. Affiliate commissions of $12 million were paid to subsidiaries by the end of 2019. There are no requirements to meet for registration; it is free and easy. You can earn up to $65 per referral, without a cap on commissions. 8. FREE DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION As part of the hosting package, you get a free domain name for the first year. Individuals who want to promote their business can also purchase advertising credits with Bluehost on Google AdWords, Bing, and other significant sites. 9. A VARIETY OF ACCOMMODATION OPTIONS Whether your business is small or large, Bluehost can accommodate your needs. It offers four types of hosting. In addition, you can upgrade to more powerful servers as your website grows. Their packages include, shared hosting, cloud hosting, WordPress VPS hosting , dedicated hosting, and reseller hosting. 10. BLUEHOST OFFER QUALITY SERVICES A dedicated team of 750 professionals works around the clock, seven days a week to satisfy their teeming customers. It appears that the company is a quality choice, though website owners need to be aware of some disadvantages. 11. FAST PAGE LOADING SPEED Since Bluehost began offering managed hosting services, its performance has significantly improved. Currently, it can load pages in 424 milliseconds, the fastest speed available. This remains a 300 percent increase ever since 2016. 12. PLANS WITH LOW SIGN-UP COSTS AND PRICING Their pricing for the host and the sign-up fee remain affordable. Their services aren’t the cheapest, but they are reasonable. Overall, they offer decent value given the full set of features they offer. 13. GREAT SECURITY AND FLEXIBILITY The apps and add-ons that Bluehost offers provide excellent security and flexibility. It’s easy to integrate the platform with Google Apps, CloudFlare, and other worldwide app stores. You can install an app with a single click. Bluehost provides sufficient security tools to fend off threats and hacker attacks. Other features include Hotlink prevention and Spam Hammer, among others. 14. IT’S RECOMMENDED BY WORDPRESS WordPress.org’s primary host recommendation is Bluehost. Users of WordPress will be able to upgrade and customize their site at will. 15. THEY’VE A VERY GENEROUS WARRANTY Although there are complaints from users, they maintain their products and services and offer a 30-day full refund policy. Whether you cancel within 30 days or not, you will still receive a refund. There’ll be no hidden fees or additional charges if you decide to leave. BLUEHOST CONS 1. NO FREE WEBSITE MIGRATION Contrary to other web hosting companies, Bluehost does not offer free website migration. Consumers on a budget may find this a drawback. They offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. Though they fail to provide a free trial. It shouldn’t be a problem, that’s considering the low prices of their plans. 2. NO FREE AUTOMATIC BACKUP The fact that they offer backup is not enough to make them free. Data does not regularly compensate for lost time, which means there is no guarantee. Backups must be set up and performed locally on their own devices using cPanel. Another drawback is that backed-up data within the last 30 days is overwritten. There are no ambiguities in their terms that indicate they won’t be held responsible for this. 3. BLUEHOST IS INSINCERE ABOUT THEIR SUBSCRIPTION CHARGES Initially, the company will charge $2.95 for its base subscription, which is a complex price to enter. It may surprise you to discover a $4.95 fee if you use the host for 36 days. However, $4.95 still seems like a decent value considering how much you get. 4. NO GUARANTEED UPTIME The company makes no guarantees regarding uptime. When choosing a hosting service, you want as close to 100% uptime as possible. Despite the lack of a guarantee in the Server Uptime Agreement, it does claim that most problems are resolved within 15 minutes. An average of 99.94 percent of their servers is online. A 4% uptime means that over the course of a year, your site went down for 4.4 hours. In general, Bluehost’s uptime is very consistent, but it is not a guarantee that your site will always be accessible. 5. NOT SO RELIABLE SUPPORT We once had a less than satisfactory experience with their support team. As stated earlier in this review of Bluehost, each time our team contacts their support team, we ways get the same lackadaisical attitude from some of them. As regards customer support, Bluehost is a far cry from companies like Hostinger and Siteground. Although the live chat representatives were able to answer some basic questions, they only provided short responses. A typical live chat needs to be swift and deep. A live chat feature is one thing, but it is quite another to provide one that is genuinely helpful. 6. BLUEHOST HAS EXPENSIVE RENEWAL FEES As with other hosting companies, Bluehost uses the starting price to entice customers. However, it’s quite misleading. So, if you plan to renew your subscription, you’ll be surprised to see the costs going up about 90%. In order to take good advantage of the introductory pricing, try to pay for a 24- or 36-month term. 7. NO EMAIL SUPPORT Live chat would be easy to overlook in favor of email support, but Bluehost doesn’t offer it. Instead of getting into complex details about the often confusing world of web hosting, you’re sometimes left with live chat or telephone support. Therefore, you have access to self-help resources, which are much more helpful than Bluehost’s direct contact methods. There are a variety of support resources available within the help center, such as knowledge base articles, videos, walkthroughs, and webinars. BLUEHOST SHARED HOSTING PLAN PRICING REVIEW Let’s now look at how the Bluehost shared hosting pricing works. There are four plans: Basic (the starter plan), Plus, Choice Plus, and Pro. You can click here to get started with Blueshost Starter Plan . The hosting prices at Bluehost are among the most competitive in the industry, as mentioned before. Bluehost is a great solution for beginners and people with modest hosting budgets. Shared hosting starts at $2.95 per month, and renews at $7.99 per month. There are lots of Bluehost Reviews you see that only concentrate on the company’s three plans, instead of four. That vacuum is part of what we shall fill in this Bluehost review. You may consider starting with the Basic Plan if you decide to try them since it’s the cheapest and easiest way to get started. Eventually, if you want more features and power, you can upgrade to a Premium plan. Please, let me inform you that the more expensive package isn’t necessary if you plan to operate only a small business or personal website. BASIC PLAN At the moment, the Basic plan costs $2.95 per month. It is also an excellent option for beginners. The Basic plan comes with a free domain name. This is a popular choice among bloggers. It includes a basic site backup as well as up to 50GB of storage and 100MB of email space. Renewal takes place for $8.99 per month for a period of 24 months (instead of the initial 36 months). It’s perfect for blogs and personal websites. $2.95/mo, Normally $8.99 36/mo term Auto-renews at regular rate TOP FEATURES 1 Website 50 GB SSD Storage Custom Themes 24/7 Customer Support WEBSITE BUILDER AVAILABLE WordPress Integration Drag and Drop Functionality AI-Driven Templates ALSO INCLUDES Bluehost offers Free Domain for 1 year There’s Free CDN You’ll get Free SSL Certificate PLUS PLAN This plan offers all of the advantages of the basic hosting plan, but if you want to install unlimited sites, the Plus shared hosting plan is the right choice for you. This plan is suitable for blogs and other small and medium-size websites. This package includes practically everything you’ll need to set up an unlimited number of websites, as well as features like unlimited parked domains, email accounts, and storage. $5.45/mo, Normally $11.99 36/mo term Auto-renews at regular rate TOP FEATURES Unlimited Websites Unlimited SSD Storage Custom Themes 24/7 Customer Support WEBSITE BUILDER AVAILABLE WordPress Integration Drag and Drop Functionality AI-Driven Templates ALSO INCLUDES You’ll get Free Domain- 1 year They offer Free CDN Free SSL Certificate Bluehost gives out Free Office 365 – 30 days CHOICE PLUS PACKAGE Compared to the previous plan, this one has more resources. Moreover, for $5.45 a month, it is a powerful ally for those who want to protect themselves online. Customers do not favor this plan as better hosting deals are available. The Choice Plus plan includes the same features as the Plus plan above, plus an additional $80 / year, domain name privacy, and Site Backup Pro. They charge $16.99 per month for renewals. It comes with added privacy and security features. Auto-renews at regular rate TOP FEATURES Unlimited Websites Unlimited SSD Storage Custom Themes 24/7 Customer Support WEBSITE BUILDER AVAILABLE WordPress Integration Drag and Drop Functionality AI-Driven Templates ALSO INCLUDES You’ll get a Free Domain for 1 year They offer Free CDN Free SSL Certificate Bluehost offers Free Office 365 for 30 days They offer Domain Privacy for free You’ll have access to free Automated Backup – 1 year GO PRO PLAN Besides the Choice Plus plan features, the Business Pro plan offers a free dedicated IP, and spam specialists for two domains. It goes for 13.95. Additional benefits include a free SSL certificate and Site Backup Pro service subscription. They charge $26.99 a month for renewal. It turns out most people find that the Basic plan works best for them out of these four options. The majority of people are not likely to host multiple websites Pro is your best bet if you are growing (or planning to host more than one website). A BREAKDOWN OF THE PRO PLAN IS AS FOLLOWS: It’s perfect for business websites and online stores. Get more power with optimized web resources. $13.95/mo, Normally $26.99 36/mo term Auto-renews at regular rate TOP FEATURES Unlimited Websites Unlimited SSD Storage Custom Themes 24/7 Customer Support Optimized CPU Resources WEBSITE BUILDER AVAILABLE WordPress Integration Drag and Drop Functionality AI-Driven Templates ALSO INCLUDES Free Domain – 1 year You’ll get CDN for free SSL Certificate will also be given to you for free Bluehost will give you a free Office 365 for- 30 days Free Domain Privacy You’ll get Free Automated Backup There’s a Free Dedicated IP PRICES OF OTHER HOSTING PACKAGES 1. Managed WordPress hosting (WP Pro ): A monthly fee of $19.95 will be charged, and the plan will renew at $29.99/month 2. WooCommerce hosting : the basic standard starts at Starting at $12.95 per month and renews at $24.95. While the Premium Plan starts at $24.95 and renews at $29.95. 3. VPS hosting: $19.99/month with $29.99 renewal 4. Dedicated hosting: $79.99 per month and renews at $119.99 per month for their standard plan. BLUEHOST CONTROL PANEL cPanel is standard on every Bluehost shared hosting plan. Bluehost cPanel has many improvements over the standard cPanel found on most hosting solutions. Their cPanel redesign makes it easier for beginners to use. WHAT’S THE USE OF THE CONTROL PANEL? You can access all aspects of your hosting account through the control panel (cPanel). It is easy to manage a website from the control panel. There are things like: i. Domain name management ii. File uploads iii. CMS installations (WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, etc.) iv. Billing for the services you get EMAIL ADDRESS CONFIGURATION All Bluehost services will be accessible using the same username and password. The hosting package also comes with full-featured email and domain management features, hotlinks to their help and technical support resources, and easy scalability and upgrades, so that you can easily make changes to your hosting. To begin, choose a plan, enter your domain, and create an account. Bluehost asks for a lot while checking out – check out the “privacy” section to learn why. Though, you can use Google single sign-on if you prefer. Namecheap On its part even requires multiple steps, which you won’t have to. Nevertheless, it is important to be watchful of the add-ons that are pre-selected, so you won’t end up paying for them when you don’t have any need for them. BLUEHOST ALTERNATIVE HOSTGATOR HostGator is our best Bluehost Alternative. HostGator’s best uptime is 4.6 out of 5 Types of Hosting 5 out of 5 stars Hosting Features 4.25 out of 5 stars Disk Space 5 out of 5 stars Uptime 4.5 out of 5 stars Help and Support 5 out of 5 stars Value For Money 3.5 out of 5 stars TRY HOSTGATOR TODAY Our fInding is that HostGator is the best all-around hosting provider among the Bluehost alternatives. It has plans useful for individuals and large businesses, Unlike most other providers, HostGator’s strengths are numerous. It doesn’t have many weaknesses. HOSTGATOR UPTIME HostGator makes the top spot in our research for uptime as well, with an impressive 4.5/5 rating. Since uptime refers to the amount of time your site will be live on the internet, it is arguably the most important factor when assessing a hosting provider. The average person cannot afford a hosting provider that has poor uptime, since downtime costs businesses up to $100 million per year on average. Compared to BlueHost, HostGator has a marginally higher uptime – 99.99% and 99.98%, respectively. But in a market where most reputable hosting providers offer upwards of 99.90%, every little bit counts. HOSTGATOR PRICING With plans starting at $2.75/month, even HostGator’s most expensive plans are affordable. Keep in mind, though: both Bluehost and HostGator (and let’s admit it, all hosts) will grab your attention with low first-year prices that they will raise significantly upon renewal. If you want to take a closer look at your options, you can read our HostGator Pricing Review to learn more. HOSTGATOR FEATURES When it comes to features, Bluehost and HostGator are pretty much the same. They both have strong offerings. They both offer free ONE YEAR domain name registration. You’ll be paying a renewal fee if you wish to keep it afterward. HOSTGATOR SUPPORT Both HostGator and Bluehost rank highly for customer support, so you’ll be taken care of no matter which provider you choose. The one thing that HostGator has over Bluehost is its 24/7 live chat service. You can still get help from Bluehost some of the time via phone and live chat, but now you’re covered by HostGator. CLICK HERE TO START USING HOSTGATOR FOR $ 2.75 PER MONTH. MY FINAL THOUGHTS Bluehost is the company to go with despite some disadvantages. Their impressive array of features and resources compete with other quality web hosting providers. The fact that it’s one of the world’s largest hosting companies also shows that they’re highly trusted. In their various reviews, consumers rate them 9.7 to 10. Like every other company, Bluehost has its peculiar shortcomings. But its ease of use makes up for them. cPanel displays just how far you can go with a smooth experience from checkout to management. We have complaints about almost every other category, but this one is a clear winner. Furthermore, any site, no matter how big or small, can take advantage of Bluehost’s cost-performance ratio. Especially, if your website relies on WordPress, as this Bluehost Review strongly points out. Bluehost’s shared hosting plan is sufficient for small blogs or personal websites that aren’t going to grow very rapidly during their first year. You may also find that Bluehost’s VPS and hosting dedicated services are more than adequate if you host medium-to-high traffic sites, online stores, or web apps. Their WordPress hosting plans are also excellent. A long list of Bluehost’s features and its speed makes it the web hosting company of choice. In terms of pricing, Bluehost isn’t that bad, but we’d rather they be more transparent about what they charge when it’s time for you to check out. Despite the problems with the support, there are numerous other positives featured by Bluehost. Another good point that goes in favour of Bluehost is that most interner marketers recommend it. Remember that internet marketers use different web hosting companies daily. Hence, they know the best among them. So, As an internet marketer, I highly recommend you to use this link to start using Bluehost for as low as $2.95 .