Bluehost Review: Is It The Best Web Hosting Provider?
Considering hosting your site with Bluehost?🤔
But not so sure if it's the best hosting platform for you or not?
If so, then this post is for you!
In this post, I'll give you a detailed review about this hosting platform – so that you can decide, if it's the right platform for you or not.
I'll mainly touch on the following aspects i.e.
Thus, stick till the very end if you want to learn more about Bluehost.
What Is Bluehost?
Bluehost is a web hosting company that's owned & controlled by EIG i.e., the owner of HostGator, Constant Contact, iPage, etc.
Was founded in 03 – and the company has been growing📈 at a massive rate over the years.
As of today, it's now one of the largest hosting providers (if not the best) – since the company now powers over 2 million websites on the web.
It's also the official #1 recommended hosting for WordPress sites – which proves that this company is a big deal.😜
Now that we've covered the background info about this company, let's quickly take a look at the types of hosting services offered by Bluehost.
Types of Bluehost’s Hosting
For the sake of progress, I'll just focus on the 2 main ones i.e. shared hosting & dedicated hosting.
Shared Hosting
Just like most providers, Bluehost also offers some shared hosting services.
It’s whereby your website shares the same server with dozens of other sites under the same hosting provider.
It's the cheapest form of hosting i.e. shared hosting plans starts from as little as $2.95/month – which is quite affordable for many.
The reason why it's cheaper is that, the cost of maintaining the server is shared amongst many different site owners – thus, the burden is evenly spread.
However, it's important to note that, shared hosting is associated with more problems – but the main one is that, you might experience slower site speeds.
The reason being that, the server might be overloaded – since it carries more websites on it – thus, compromising the speed of most sites.
For this reason, you might need to upgrade to dedicated hosting i.e. when your website grows to massive traffic volumes📊.
Dedicated Hosting
If you want to get the best performance features for your website, then you might need to go for dedicated hosting.
Dedicated hosting gives you the privilege to host you site on its own server – unlike shared hosting – where your site shares the same server with dozen of other websites.
It's associated with higher speeds⚡ – since your website will be using its own server – thus, there'll be less pressure on the server.
Though it's the best form of hosting, it's also important to note that, it comes at a higher premium price than shared hosting – coz, you'll be incurring the server costs on your own.
Here's a quick overview of Bluehost's dedicated hosting plans.
The bottom line is, use shared hosting when you're just starting out – and you have limited resources.
However, you might need to switch to dedicated hosting later on i.e. when you're now receiving a ton of traffic to your website.
Now that we've covered the main types of Bluehost's hosting services, let's quickly dive into the main features of this platform.
Bluehost Features
Bluehost is known as a feature-rich platform – because this company tries by all means to provide more value to its customers – at an affordable price.
However, it’s important to note that, some of the features varies i.e. depending on the plan that you're using.
But for the purpose of this article, I'll just focus on the main ones i.e.
1. Uptime
Bluehost offers a decent 99.99% rate of uptime – which is 🆒️ – since the industry's standard is 99.95%
If you're not familiar with this concept, then let me simplify it for you real quick i.e.
It's basically the amount of time⏱ which your website is live & running – expressed as a percentage of the total year.
And in this case, Bluehost sites are up & running 99.99% of the year – meaning, they'll only be down for just .01% of the year.
Thus, your website will rarely experience some hick-ups i.e. if you host it with Bluehost.
2. Speed⚡
As we all know, speed is now a major ranking📈 factor – and Google has made it official.
For this reason, you need to choose a fast hosting provider – so that you wont struggle with this metric.
However, I've to admit that, Bluehost is not the best i.e. when it comes to speed.
Bluehost sites struggles to load in the expected 3 second mark – which isn't good to hear👂.
For this reason, you might need to choose other hosting providers like Siteground i.e. if speed is your main priority🔝.
3. Security Features
Bluehost offers some free SSL certificates, domain privacy – as well as a site lock🔒 – which allows you to encrypt a lock next to your site's domain.
(I’m pretty sure you’ve seen these green encrypt locks🔒 on multiple websites)
They help to protect your website from hacking👽 & other external attacks.
The reason why this is important is that, hacking has become a serious problem these days – since it is estimated that, 50k websites are being hacked each & every month📆 – which is just insane.😳
Thus, it's important for a hosting provider to provide these security oriented features.
4. Backend
It comes with a simple cpanel – which is easy to use & navigate.
Thus, you can use it even if you're not a tech savvy.
And you can also install other apps like WordPress, Drupal, Weebly, Magento, etc. – all from this cpanel i.e. they're just few clicks away from installation.
Thus, you wont have to stress🤯 about looking for these apps elsewhere.
5. Site Migration🛃
Back in the day, site migration used to be a pain in the a** i.e. you needed to be a tech savvy or a developer in order to migrate a website.
However, things have changed & it's now easier than ever before.
Companies like Bluehost now offers some simple tools🛠 – which allows you to migrate your existing site i.e. from another hosting provider – over to Bluehost.
And there's a ton of video tutorials on how to do this process – which helps to reduce your learning curve.
☝️Ooooh, and by the way, it's now 100% free (it used to cost around 149 bucks!)
6. Email Features
Bluehost allows you to create your own business email📧 address like myname@business.com – which is key🔑 if you're someone who does email marketing.
These types of emails are associated with higher📈 open rates i.e. compared to ordinary Gmails – since most people respects business email addresses – more than the usual Gmails.
And you can easily create this kind of email address via Bluehost – which is quite interesting.🤪
NB: You need to have your own business email i.e. if you're looking to send mass emails📨 – since Gmails have certain restrictions⛔.
7. Customer Support
As an established company, Bluehost offers 24/7 customer support i.e. via live chat💬, email📧, or phone calls📞.
Thus, if you have some queries, you can reach out to them via any of these platforms
Apart from that, you can also get some help from their online resources that're available on their platform.
The thing is, some of the common queries were already addressed through their FAQs section – thus, you might simply read the answers on your own.
2. Once you're on the website, click the ‘get started’ option.
3. After clicking the ‘get started’ option, it’ll show you a page with different plans.
You’ve to select the plan you wish to use i.e. based on your budget💸.
4. After choosing a plan, click the ‘select' blue option.
5. After tapping the ‘select’ blue option, you’ll be taken to a page that looks like this:
(If you want to buy a completely new domain, select the first column & type-in your preferred domain name)
(If you already have an existing domain, then go to the second column & insert the domain name)
6. From this page, you’ll be taken to a page that looks like this:
Just fill-out some few details i.e. your contact info👤, business details👨💼, payment details💳, etc.
Also, take some time⏱ to read the package section – because you only need to choose the items that’re necessary for your website.
It’s also important to read the terms of service in order to fully understand them.
When you're fully satisfied with the terms, click the ‘submit' option – then your registration will be completed!
Now, you should be able to see a cpanel which looks like the one below – and you can control all components of your website from that single dashboard.
Bluehost Best Deals🏷
If you're looking for the best deals, l highly urge you to choose the 3 year plan – since Bluehost offers massive discounts to people who subscribes for the long term plans.
For example, the basic shared hosting plan may cost you $3.95/month i.e. if you choose to subscribe for the 1 year plan.
However, you can get that same plan for only $2.95/month i.e. if you choose the 3 year plan – thus, allowing you to save some few bucks.
Advantages Of Using Bluehost
• Beginner friendly – since the cpanel is easy to use & navigate
• Cheaper i.e. compared to most hosting providers
• Have an incredible uptime rate of 99.99% – which is higher than the standard 99.95%
• Bluehost sites has higher chances of ranking on Google
• Also comes with unmetered bandwidth
• Allows you to migrate your sites for FREE i.e. other hosting providers charges for this service
• Bluehost has an incredible customer support unit – which is readily available to address all your queries
• Bluehost provides some security oriented features – which helps to protect your site from hacking & other external attacks
Disadvantages Of Using Bluehost
• Most advanced features comes at a premium price
• Just like most hosting providers, prices increases during the renewal period
• Even though they charge monthly fees, the truth is that, you have to pay for at least a year i.e. you can't pay just for 1 month.
Final Verdict
So that brings us to the end of today's discussion.
I hope that you've now made a final decision i.e. on whether to use Bluehost or not – based on the facts shared in this post.
But I highly recommend this hosting provider to people who're looking to build WordPress websites – since this hosting provider is the official #1 recommended hosting for WordPress.
But if you’re not satisfied with Bluehost, then you can check other hosting providers in this article.
✌
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is There Any Better Hosting Provider Than Bluehost?
This question is a bit tricky – because we all have different perspectives.
Although there’s other providers like DreamHost, Siteground, HostGator, etc., most people prefers Bluehost due to its great features.
Bluehost has proven to be the best for most people around the – which is proved by the huge number of sites that are hosted under this provider i.e. 2 million
And the fact that Bluehost is the #1 recommendation for WordPress sites makes it even more credible.
So based on these facts, we can say that, it's one of the best providers.
Does Bluehost Have A Money Back Guarantee?
Yes of course!
Bluehost offers a 30 day money back guarantee – which allows you to try their services & see if they’re the right fit for you or not.
However, refunds are only issued under certain conditions.
Thus, you might need to read their terms of service in order to get more clarity.
Does Bluehost Have A Good Customer Support?
As a company which has been around for almost 2 decades now, they know how to handle their customers.
That's why Bluehost has managed to power more than 2 million websites on the web – because most customers spreads positive news about this company.
Bluehost offers 24/7 customer support via live chat, emails – or even phone calls.
They also have a knowledge base – where there’s some online resources that answers some of the most common queries.
Is It Possible To Migrate My Existing Website Over To Bluehost?
Absolutely yes!
Bluehost offers a free migration feature to its users – which allows you to migrate your already existing site in just a few clicks.
And the process is now free – though it used to cost $149.
So if you have a site that you want to migrate, then there's no need to worry.
Can I Trust Bluehost?
Yes of course!
Bluehost is a reliable hosting provider – which powers over 2 million websites on the web.
The fact that Bluehost is the number 1 recommended hosting service for WordPress proves that this company is trustworthy.
So if you though that it's one of those scammy ones, then you were totally wrong!
Is Bluehost Good For Beginners?
In my opinion, Bluehost is the most beginner friendly hosting provider in the industry – since its cpanel is very easy to use & navigate.
It also offers affordable plans – which is key esp if you're a broke beginner who just want to put a site up there.
Thus, if you're just starting out & you're looking for something affordable, then Bluehost might be the solution.
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