There are many factors to think about when choosing the best hosting for your website: price, server speed, downtime, customer support, free perks like a domain name and SSL certificate, and user-friendliness.
Bluehost lets you set up a new website in minutes whether you have a WordPress blog, a business, or a fun side project that requires a website.
But why Bluehost?
With their cheapest hosting plan, you get a free domain name for the first year (which costs $15-$20 on its own) and a home for your website all for $2.95/month.
But even at that price is Bluehost the best hosting solution for you?
TL;DR
Bluehost is a great platform for beginner WordPress bloggers and small businesses to host their first website. It offers competitive pricing, customer support via phone, a free SSL certificate & domain for the first year, automatic WordPress installation, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
PROS:
Affordable (cheapest plan starts at $2.95/month and renews at $10.99/month after 1 year)
Easy-to-use interface for beginners
Great security & free SSL certificate for the first year
Offers customer support via phone
30-day money-back guarantee
Automatic WordPress installation
Free domain for 1 year ($10-$15 value)
✅ 99.99% server uptime
CONS:
High renewal prices
Slow customer support
No free domain protection
Who is Bluehost suited for?
Bluehost is best for beginners & small businesses starting their first WordPress blog or website. It enables you to set up your new site and get going quickly without having to deal with too many technical details.
Their automatic WordPress installation and customer support makes it easy to to take your first website off the ground and go online in minutes.
However, if you’re not a beginner and want to start a website that requires dedicated resources, 100% uptime and blazing fast server speeds (such as e-commerce sites) then Bluehost isn’t for you.
bluehost reddit review?
Reddit is no doubt the best place to find reviews about all sorts of products and services including website hosting.
I scoured Reddit for Bluehost reviews when I was picking the host for my website.
Here’s what I found on various subreddits:
Basic vs. Choice plus vs. Online store vs. Pro Bluehost Plans
Basic: $2.95/month renews at $10.99/month after 1 year.
The Basic Bluehost plan is best for WordPress beginners hosting their first blog. It should handle around 50k site visitors per month and includes 10 GB of storage, the ability to host 1 website, and a free SSL certificate for the first year.
Choice Plus: $5.45/month renews at $19.99/month after 1 year.
The Choice Plus plan includes 40 GB of storage, the ability to host an unlimited amount of websites, daily website backups for the first year, and domain privacy.
Many other hosts such as Hostinger don’t charge for domain privacy at all and include it into all of their plans for free. They also offer unlimited website backups not only for the first year. You can read my full Hostinger review here.
The Choice Plus Bluehost plan is best for WordPress blogs with ~100k monthly traffic and small businesses looking for added privacy and security features for their website.
Online Store: $9.95/month renews at $24.95/month after 1 year.
The Online Store Bluehost plan is best for e-commerce websites. It offers 100 GB storage, unlimited websites, store analytics, daily website backups & domain privacy.
Pro: $13.95/month renews at $28.99/month after 1 year.
The Pro Bluehost plan is best for professionals looking to get more power and optimized website resources. It offers 100 GB of storage, the ability to host unlimited websites, daily backups, optimized CPU resources, and a free dedicated IP address.
All Bluehost shared hosting plans include a free domain for the 1st year.
Bluehost top features
Here are the top Bluehost features that make this host stand out among the others:
1. easy WordPres setup
With Bluehost, you can quickly and easily set up your new website using their step-by-step process made easy for complete beginners. I had my WordPress site running in under 5 minutes. Also, you can use their live chat support features if you have any problems with the initial setup.
2. Free domain for the first year
One of the best Bluehost features is that they offer a free domain name for the first year with all of their plans.
Bluehost offers a wide range of domain extensions to choose from, and their domain registration process is simple and streamlined. Plus, since your domain and hosting are through the same platform the process of setting up your website becomes extremely easy.
3. Secure Hosting Portal
Bluehost’s hosting portal is very secure with third-party authentication log-in. Each time you log into your Bluehost cPanel you will have to enter a one time automatically generated code. This ensures that no bad actors can get through to your website.
4. 30-day money free back guarantee
Bluehost offers a 30-day money back guarantee with all of their plans. If you’re not sure if Bluehost is the right host for you then you can try it out for 30 days and if you find that it lacks the features that you’re looking for you can easily get your money back and switch to another host.
Cons of Bluehost
Bluehost has some drawbacks as well:
1. Most plans renew at high prices
The reason that I left Bluehost for Hostinger is the high renewal prices. Bluehost’s cheapest plan renews at a 3.72 times higher price than the original (from $2,95 to $10,99 after the first year).
Even though most hosting providers renew their prices at higher price points Bluehost takes this to an extreme.
That’s why after the first year of using Bluehost you might want to consider moving your website to a different host that offers more reasonable renewal prices.
2. server uptime and speed aren't the best
Most shared hosting providers will not offer the best experience in terms of speed for your website.
Shared hosting means that many different websites share the server’s resources among them. That’s why Bluehost’s shared hosting is not the best fit for high-traffic sites such as e-commerce. Also, Bluehost offers only US servers which means that visitors from other countries will have longer page load times.
3. No Free domain protection for the cheapest plan
While most hosting services offer free domain protection bundled in with every hosting plan Bluehost doesn’t. If you buy the cheapest Bluehost shared hosting plan you’ll have to purchase domain protection separately which will set you back an additional $10.99/year.
Bluehost FAQ.
What is the disadvantage of Bluehost?
The biggest disadvantages of Bluehost are no free domain protection and high renewal prices. After 1 year of using Bluehost for website hosting you might want to transfer your site to a different host that offers more reasonable renewal prices.
Which Hosting Is Better Than Bluehost?
Namecheap and Hostinger are better than Bluehost in terms of discounted and renewal prices for shared hosting. Bluehost offers easy WordPress set up and is good for beginners setting up their first website. But if you want to get the cheapest hosting provider than you might want to look at other options first.
Is There A Cheaper Alternative To Bluehost?
Yes, Bluehost has cheaper alternatives. The first alternative is Hostinger’s Single plan which starts at $1.99/month and it’s perfect for hosting a WordPress blog. Another alternative is Namecheap’s Stellar plan that starts $1.98/month which is perfect for beginners hosting their first or second website.
What's The Best Host For WordPress?
There are many things to consider when choosing your WordPress hosting. I recommend checking out my list of the best web hosting providers for WordPress to make sure you’re making the best decision for yourself.
Here’s a quick overview of my top pics for the best WordPress hosting:
Can I Cancel Bluehost At Any Time?
No, you can cancel your Bluehost subscription within the first 30 days of the purchase and get your money back. This money-back guarantee only applies for your hosting plan and doesn’t cover most add-on products from Bluehost such as your domain.
Is WordPress Free With Bluehost?
Yes, WordPress is free with Bluehost. All you have to pay for to have your website up and running is a domain name and hosting. If you have both of these already set up through your Bluehost plan, then WordPress will cost nothing on Bluehost.
What Is Difference Between WordPress And Bluehost?
Bluehost is a hosting provider for your website. It’s a place, a server where your website lives on the internet. WordPress is a website building tool with which you can customise how your website looks and publish content on it.
How Much Does It Cost To Have A Website On Bluehost?
The cheapest plan that Bluehost offers starts at $2.95/month and renews at $10.99/month after 1 year. It comes with a free domain name which means that starting a new website with Bluehost will cost you $35.4 for the first year.
Was this Bluehost review useful?
All in all, Bluehost is great for WordPress, beginner bloggers, and small businesses to host their first website. It offers competitive pricing, customer support via phone, a free SSL certificate & domain for the first year, automatic WordPress installation, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.