What is Bluehost?
Bluehost is a website hosting service that has been in business since 2003, and currently hosts over 2 million websites. They are best known for their strong relationship with WordPress, as one of only three hosts recommended by WordPress.org, and special services and hosting packages optimized for WordPress sites.
Why Use Bluehost?
Compared to other web hosting services, Bluehost has rock-solid uptime, fast speeds, and great security features. Most of their plans, even their basic plans, offer unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited domains and subdomains, and unlimited email addresses. Plans typically include a free domain name for the first year, and free SSL certificates.
They offer a number of convenient services like automatic optimized video, where you upload raw video and Bluehost automatically optimizes the video file and serves it for streaming, and a free test environment where you can safely preview and test all your website changes before publishing.
As mentioned above, however, they are particularly focused on hosting WordPress sites, which means that their plans, tools, and 24/7 support are all optimized for that platform, so people using WordPress get expert service and support.
Bluehost also offers professional services for business owners who don’t have time to focus on their website. With Bluehost, you can hire ongoing design, marketing, advertising, and content services that help you grow your business.
Bluehost Features
Web hosting
Bluehost offers shared, dedicated, or VPS hosting packages. All hosting packages include unlimited storage, unlimited domains (including add-on, parked, and subdomains), spam protection, database and CGI services (including MySQL, PHP 5, Python, JavaScript, Perl, and other popular languages), scripts (including Drupal, Joomla, email and social scripts), eCommerce services with shopping carts and security, and 24/7 monitoring, security, backups, and support.
WordPress hosting
Bluehost has popular hosting plans optimized for WordPress, including advanced themes, analytics from Jetpack, and SEO and marketing tools.
eCommerce hosting
Bluehost eCommerce sites are powered by WooCommerce, which provides customizable online stores, secure payments, free SSL, and privacy and security protections.
Email hosting with Office 365
When you host your site with Bluehost, you have the option of adding affordable email hosting that has a professional email address and suite of communication and office applications, that can be scaled up to manage whole teams.
Privacy and security
Bluehost is recognized not just for security protection, but for privacy protection as well. Sites are monitored with anti-spam and anti-malware services. All directories are password protected, with SSH access. You can also add Cloudflare to your Bluehost site, which enhances your security without slowing down your site.
Professional services
If you don’t want to DIY, Bluehost has professional web designers who will build and launch a website, optimize for search engines, and manage your online marketing and advertising campaigns.
Service and support
Bluehost has online support in a detailed knowledge base, online ticket creation, and live chat. Some plans also include phone support.
30-day money-back guarantee
Bluehost offers a 30 day money back guarantee if you are dissatisfied with their services.
Bluehost Review
Bluehost has a stellar reputation in the basic business of web hosting: excellent uptime, fast speeds, and great security. Bluehost also has their own online website building tool for those who want to build a site from scratch, but because Bluehost works so well with WordPress, and their site creation tools and templates are so diverse, professional, and easy to use, it makes more sense to use WordPress than to use the Bluehost site builder.
Their hosting capabilities are suited a wide range of online businesses, from solo-preneurs and bloggers, to medium-sized companies with multiple subdomains, team management tools, and scalable services.
Bluehost Pros
- Extremely reliable hosting, with great uptimes, fast speeds, and good security and protection
- Wide range of hosting options and packages for different needs, all with a great range of free features
- WordPress recommended, optimized, and knowledgeable, so you can get effective tools and support for WP sites
- Scalable, customizable services for all kinds of online sites and ventures
- Compatible with nearly all popular software, languages, and applications
Bluehost Cons
- Bluehost costs can add up over time, as introductory rates expire and additional services get added to your plans
- Bluehost charges to migrate to their platform, unlike other hosts, and the cost is not inexpensive
Bluehost Bottom Line
For their simplest packages, Bluehost is quite affordable, and it’s best financially to pay annual package prices at the low introductory rate. After the introductory rate expires, and for more advanced packages, Bluehost isn’t as competitive on price as other hosts. If you are price shopping, and compare feature-for feature with other hosts, Bluehost isn’t the most affordable service.
It costs ~$150 to migrate an existing site to the Bluehost platform. This is highly unusual: Most hosting companies migrate for free, as a way of securing the business of a new customer and expressing appreciation.
However, even though other services are less expensive, Bluehost remains an incredibly popular hosting platform, particularly for WordPress sites. People love the reliability of their hosting, the accessibility and expertise of their support, and the simple compatibility with WordPress. I
n fact, Bluehost has free, step-by-step guides to help beginners and professionals get started with WordPress, or unlock more advanced features (https://www.bluehost.com/blueprint#choose-your-guide). Bluehost has WordPress basic and Pro packages that include features tailored to the needs of every kind of online business, that scale over time.
All in all, if you are a WordPress user looking for a web host, Bluehost is recommended by WordPress for a reason. It’s a fantastic service with everything you need for a great WordPress site.
For those who aren’t using WordPress, Bluehost is still a solid choice, but there are other hosts out there with comparable features and more competitive pricing. And if you have an existing site with another host, it’s probably not worth paying the fee to migrate to Bluehost.
