Bluehost is one of the biggest web hosting companies in the world and an official WordPress recommended hosting provider. Bluehost offers a wide variety of hosting plans for beginners and for medium to large businesses with 24/7 customer support. See the complete Bluehost review by our experts to find out if Bluehost is the right choice for you.
In this comprehensive Bluehost review, we’ll put their promises to test with a rigorous and through analysis using industry standard benchmarking tools.
Following are the areas we’ll look into:
- Speed: How fast will your website load with Bluehost? We will test their speed and server response time to assess that.
- Performance: How does Bluehost perform under traffic spikes? We’ll test that by performing the stress test and see how well it performs under traffic.
- Reliability: Will your website be available 24/7/365 without any downtime?
- Customer Support: Can you count on Bluehost’s customer support when you immediately need help with your website?
- Features: Do they offer all the features that you’ll need to build your website?
- Pricing: Do they have the best pricing in the industry? Are there any Bluehost deals that can save you money?
This is our complete Bluehost review and we’ll be doing an in-depth analysis of Bluehost pros and cons. If you don’t want to read the full review, here is the quick scorecard of Bluehost with our verdict right below it.
| Bluehost Review Summary | |
|---|---|
| Performance grade | A+ |
| Average load time | 1.48 ms |
| Average response time | 1.26 ms |
| Free domain | Yes |
| Free SSL | Yes |
| 1-click WordPress | Yes |
| Support | Phone / Live Chat / Knowledge base |
| Start with Bluehost | |
Bottom line: In our Bluehost review, we found them to be reliable, fast, and affordable with friendly 24/7 customer support.
That’s why we’ve chosen to recommend Bluehost as one of the best WordPress hosting companies.
Now let’s dive into our detailed Bluehost hosting review so that you can decide for yourself.
About Bluehost
First, let’s take a look at the company itself.
Bluehost started in 1996 and steadily grew to become one of the largest web hosting companies in the world. It now powers more than 2 million websites from all over the world.
Bluehost has a long-standing relationship with the WordPress community. They are an official WordPress.org recommended web host since 2006.
They pride themselves in their 24/7 customer support, great hosting infrastructure, and support for the free open source software like WordPress.
Pros and Cons of Bluehost
All best web hosting services have their pros and cons. Some you can live with, and some you cannot ignore.
Here are the pros and cons of Bluehost that we learned.
Pros
First, let’s take a look at the advantages that make Bluehost the top choice.
- Pricing: Their hosting plans are well within the reach of most users, particularly those who are just starting out.
- Reliability: They power a large number of websites with minimum downtime.
- No hidden charges: There are no hidden fees when signing up for your account.
- Free domain: You get a free domain name for the first year when you signup.
- Free CDN + SSL: For each website, you get a free SSL certificate and free Cloudflare CDN to block malware and improve security.
- Money Back Guarantee: They offer a 30 day money back guarantee on all plans.
Cons
As we mentioned earlier, there are always downsides with every hosting company. The following are some disadvantages of choosing Bluehost as your host.
- Higher domain renewal price Their free domain renewal price is higher than average.
- Upselling Addons: They have an aggressive upsell process during signup. But you can easily uncheck SiteLock and all other addons if you don’t need them.
Bluehost Performance Tests
The most important performance metric that you should look for is the speed. It not only affects user experience on your site, but it also affects your WordPress SEO rankings.
Studies show that a 1-second drop in website speed can decrease your conversion rate by 7%. A 3-second delay can cost you 50% of your traffic.
Let’s see how fast your website will load on Bluehost.
Bluehost Speed Test Results
For a faster website, you will need to choose a fast website hosting company. Keeping this in mind, we created a test site to see how fast Bluehost really is.
Our test site was created using WordPress with the default Twenty Twenty theme. We imported dummy content for theme development including images. After that, we used Pingdom to test the website speed.
Here are our test results:
As you can see, our test site loads in less than two seconds. Considering the fact that our website wasn’t using any caching plugins or speed optimization tips, this result is remarkable.
However, the speed test alone isn’t enough because this test site didn’t have large amount of traffic.
To test how Bluehost servers would respond with increased traffic, we used a testing tool called K6 (formerly LoadImpact) to send virtual users (VU) to our test site.
We used it to gradually built up to 100 visitors to see how the server would handle increased requests from multiple connections at once.
Here is a screenshot of our results.
The green line is the number of active virtual users on the site, and the blue line is the server load time. As you can see the server load remained stable throughout the test even at peak traffic.
This test indicates that if you are looking for a really fast website, then Bluehost can be a perfect fit for you.
It is also important to note that we didn’t record any downtime during our testing.
Many hosting companies promise a 99.99% uptime guarantee. We set up an uptime monitoring alert for our test account. See the screenshot below for a detailed look at Bluehost server uptime.
Bluehost Server Response Time
When you are testing a live website using tools like Pingdom, you are basically seeing how everything on your website loads. This includes images too, which take much longer to load than plain text.
In order to get a more accurate server response time, we used another tool called Bitcatcha. It allows you to test server response time without loading any data.
As you can see Bluehost server in the US performed under the fraction of a second. In other locations, the response was a bit higher but still under less than a second.
If your target audience is in the United States, then this would benefit your website. However, if more of your users come from other parts of the world, then you can change your server location.
Bluehost Hosting Plans and Features
Bluehost offers a variety of hosting plans for all budgets and sizes. This includes shared hosting, VPS, dedicated server, cloud hosting, WooCommerce hosting, managed WordPress hosting, and more.
Let’s take a look at Bluehost hosting plans and their features.
- Shared hosting: Shared hosting is the perfect way to start a new website with low traffic volume. In a shared hosting environment, your website shares server resources with other websites.
- Cloud hosting: A more reliable upgrade to the shared hosting plan. It allows you to utilize multiple cloud servers, allowing your website to automatically switch to a different server in case of a hardware failure or high traffic.
- WordPress hosting: Their WordPress plans are designed specifically for WordPress powered websites. It is optimized to run WordPress and can even protect your WordPress site against common threats.
- WooCommerce hosting: WooCommerce is the most popular eCommerce plugin for WordPress, it allows you to easily start an online store with WordPress. WooCommerce hosting offers you all the essential features to kick start your eCommerce store.
- VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting: An upgrade to shared WordPress hosting, VPS hosting allows you to virtual dedicated resources in a shared environment.
- Dedicated hosting server: A dedicated hosting server for your website, means you will have all the resources of the dedicated server to yourself. The downside is that you will have to manage the server on your own.
All Bluehost hosting plans allow you to install WordPress with 1-click.
All plans come with an easy-to-use hosting control panel where you can manage your hosting, create databases, etc.
Bluehost has a custom control panel that improves ease of use for beginners. It also uses a customized version of the cPanel hosting dashboard for more advanced options.
Breakdown of Bluehost’s Shared Hosting Plans
Bluehost offers a shared hosting package suitable for starter websites. Their shared plan is available at four different levels.
Let’s take a look at Bluehost pricing and what’s included in each plan.
- Basic: The basic plan only allows you to host one website. It hosts one domain and 25 subdomains, 50GB SSD storage, 5 email accounts of 100 MB disk space for each account. For the first term you’ll pay $2.75 per month. When you renew the account, you’ll have to pay $8.99 per month.
- Plus: The Plus plan includes unlimited websites with unlimited storage space and unmetered bandwidth. You’ll also get unlimited email accounts. The price for the first term starts from $4.95 per month. When you renew the account, you’ll have to pay $11.99 per month.
- Choice Plus: The Choice Plus plan includes all features of plus plan. You will also get free domain privacy, and automated daily backups powered by CodeGuard as extras worth over $80/year. The price for the first term is $5.45 per month. When renewing, you’ll have to pay $16.99 per month.
- Pro The Pro plan starts from $13.95 per month for the first term after that you’ll pay $23.99 per month. It includes all features of above plans + dedicated IP address.
If you are just starting your website, then you can select any of these plans. You can easily upgrade your hosting plan as your website grows.
Bluehost Customer Support and Service
We all need help every now and then. It is really important that you choose a web hosting company that offers help and support when you need it.
Bluehost maintains a huge library of articles, step by step guides, and video tutorials as part of their extensive knowledge base. This is a huge help for beginners and most common issues can be quickly resolved by a simple search.
However, sometimes you may need to talk to an individual to get more help.
Bluehost offers a 24/7 support system where you can talk to their support team representatives using live chat or phone support. This is really helpful when you need quick help from technical support staff and you know they are just one-click away.
One thing that is missing is the ticket based support system. Bluehost recently decided to eliminate ticket-based support to focus on personal approach of live chat support and phone-based support.
However, some users may still miss the ticket-based support system which is particularly good if your issue cannot be resolved in one live chat or phone session.
Conclusion: Is Bluehost the Right Choice for You?
After reading this review, you might be wondering if Bluehost is the right choice for your website?
Bluehost is often ranked #1 web hosting provider by many websites. They offer a wide range of hosting options with tons of features that help you easily build your website.
All their hosting plans include expert 24/7 customer support from knowledgeable staff.
Most importantly, they offer affordable starter plans that fit any budget requirement.
If you are just starting out, then you cannot go wrong signing up for a Bluehost shared hosting plan. It’s easy on your pocket and comes with all the right tools. As your site grows you can easily upgrade your hosting plan accordingly.
Ready to start your website with Bluehost? Click here to select your Bluehost plan.
Bluehost Coupon
WPBeginner users get an exclusive 60% off discount and a free domain with our Bluehost coupon code.
All you have to do is click on this link to purchase. The discount will be applied automatically.
Remember, you must use the link above to get the exclusive discount. If you visit the Bluehost website directly or use another link, then you won’t get the special offer.
FAQs About Bluehost hosting
In this detailed Bluehost review we have tried to cover all the aspects of their hosting services. The following are some of the most frequently asked questions about Bluehost that we hear from our users.
1. Can I make an online store using WooCommerce on Bluehost?
Yes, you can. In fact, Bluehost is one of the best WooCommerce hosting service provider. Their starter plan is perfect to start an online store.
However, keep in mind that you’ll need to upgrade as your store starts getting more traffic. Hopefully, by that time you’ll be making enough money to justify the upgrade costs.
2. Is Bluehost good for beginners?
Yes. Bluehost is the most beginner-friendly WordPress hosting company on the market. They automatically install WordPress for you when you sign up. They also have an easy to use control panel which allows you to manage your hosting account by yourself.
There is plenty of help available with detailed guides, video tutorials, and articles. You also have 24/7 access to their expert support via live chat and phone.
3. Can Bluehost handle high traffic?
Their shared hosting plans are suitable for starter websites and small businesses. In our stress test, their shared hosting plan was able to handle 100 virtual users without any slowdown.
These plans can handle reasonable and sudden traffic spikes. However, they are still quite limited in server resources. If you are expecting high traffic then you’ll need to upgrade your hosting plan.
4. Why use Bluehost for WordPress?
Bluehost is one of the largest hosting companies in the world and an officially recommended WordPress hosting provider. They have been supporting the WordPress community for a very long time and know WordPress very well.
Their platform is highly optimized for WordPress websites and engineered to run WordPress at peak performance. They also have WordPress engineers in their team so you know your website is in safe hands.
5. Do I need a credit card to sign up with Bluehost?
Bluehost accepts credit cards but you can choose to show more payment options during checkout and select PayPal as your payment method if you wish.
6. Is Bluehost better than GoDaddy?
Bluehost is better than GoDaddy because we believe Bluehost support is better. Their My Sites dashboard and overall onboarding experience is a lot more beginner friendly. Not to mention, Bluehost offers better pricing for small businesses.
7. How does Bluehost compare with SiteGround and HostGator?
When comparing Bluehost with SiteGround and HostGator, there are several pros and cons you should be aware of.
Bluehost offers more value for the price when compared to SiteGround. Their plans start at $2.75 per month and includes a free domain, whereas SiteGround plans start at $4.99 and does not include any free domain.
On the other hand, SiteGround platform comes with better speed and security features. For more details, see our comparison of Bluehost vs SiteGround vs WP Engine.
In terms of Bluehost vs HostGator, they’re pretty similar when it comes to hosting CPU resources, functionality, site migration tools, pricing, and more. Bluehost is also more comparable with shared hosting providers like Inmotion hosting or Dreamhost. We find Bluehost user experience to be slightly better as they’ve invested heavily in their WordPress website builder platform.
8. Where are Bluehost servers located?
Bluehost operates its own in-house data center located in Utah, US. It is a massive 50,000 square feet facility that serves as their primary data center.
9. What Bluehost plan should I get?
If you are just starting out a brand new website, blog, or online store, then we recommend starting with their basic plan. It is good enough for a starter website and you can always upgrade later.
Ready to start your website with Bluehost? Click here to select your Bluehost plan.
Leonneke van der Voort says
good hosting, good integration with wordpres, so very easy to start your own website. Helpdesk is responsive.
Blair Jones says
I purchased BlueHost last year when I decided to start my own website for my own business. I choose BlueHost and WP and they work well together. This was my first time building a website and while there were a few hickups I’m happy I choose Bluehost because of the price and how a novice could make a professional looking website on his own. Very happy!
alana reina says
I have been using Bluehost about 2 years and have no complaints! Would recommend based on price and ease of use.
Jeffrey says
I’ve been using Bluehost for the past 4 months and I haven’t had a single hiccup. Coupled with the fact I subscribed at a discounted fee, I believe it’s great value for your money.
Charlotte Smith says
I have used numerous hosts before and bluehost has been by far the easiest to use and work with.
Sergio Cespedes says
I’ve been using Bluehost for many years now, and it has always been an easy, reliable and robust system, however I feel that since the last interface changed, it seems that I have lost quite a few utilities. I think it was more convincing to keep working with cpanel.
Anyway it’s a hosting that I would continue to use.
Elizabeth says
Bluehost has made making my own website accessible and fairly simple. For someone who’s never done it before, I’ve been able to learn as I go and am pleased with how my site has come together.
Tim Ledford says
I used Bluehost in 2019 for the first time, mainly due to how easy getting WordPress up and running was supposed to be and was not disappointed. It was my first time using Bluehost and WordPress to build a website. I have used Frontpage, Dreamweaver, and a little HTML coding before, but this was so simple. I learned so much and even set up and used a paypal account through WordPress.
I would highly recommend Bluehost, especially if you plan to use WordPress.
Melissa Baker says
Bluehost has been a positive asset for me in setting up my website. They are easy to talk to, extremely knowledgable, helpful, and courteous.
Dave Phillips says
Real easy to set up. Great value.
Lots of help available and the support I recieved was quick and good.
I’d use again to set up another website.
Sonia says
I am a total beginner in the web creation process (like zero experience). I have found the Bluehost/wordpress tools very useful and have let me start building my own website with the free options available. I like the results so far and I’m contemplating on getting a premium theme
Bernard Mataigne says
I am new to BlueHost and my experience, till now, is great. Support was fast and good. Speed of servers is great. Nothing bad to say.
Farris EM Kroft says
Bluehost has been easy, affordable, and so useful for creating my website. I’m a fan. They have a great support system if you need it too.
Cosmin G says
What I love most about Bluehost is their eagerness to help. Each time I had an issue to solve, the support team was happy to help and did not let the job undone. Downtime is also pretty low. I would defenetly check them out again for a new hosting!
Chris Berg says
Blue Host has been the best thing for our business. Their platform helps make our webpage run smoothly and easy to edit. Thanks for creating a product that truly makes our lives easier.
Chia Han Wang says
Bluehost is affordable for a student like me, who have just started to come a blogger. The platform is easy to use and I have been using Bluehost for more than a year. I would recommend it to those who are looking for a user-friendly platform at a low cost. Have fun blogging!
Jovana Ćitić says
Highly satisfied eith hosting, domain transfer and admin iinterface in general. Customer support was aleways fast and correct in response.
This way I would like to say big thanks for overall service and support ☺️
Vickie Burns says
I have been extremely please with the services, products and personnel at Bluehost. They are prompt to assist with explanations that an amateur can understand and implement. They are courteous and have always followed up to make sure that things are running as they should. I highly recommend Bluehost to anyone wanting to build and maintain a website.
Shayla Velazquez says
Such a great platform to start blogging on! I wish I went with Bluehost first from the get go. I’ll be sticking around with this company for sure!
Marcus Wong Qi says
I first started using Bluehost in late 2018. And I have to admit, Bluehost has one of the best supports ever! They go as far to make sure they get the job done when you need help and so far, all my issues are solved regardless of time and effort.
Thanks Bluehost for the professional support.
Angela Romain says
I find Bluehost incredibly easy to use and it has everything I require in a host provider for my website and I am a complete novice when it comes to website design etc. I will continue to keep using them and highly recommend them.
Jeyakanth says
Last year we started blue host for food blog for my wife.
We are in the process of launching the website
It is very nice working with Bluehost
Olugbenga Ajayi (Del) says
Loved me experience so far. Looking forward to using the full compliment of service this year.
Conrad says
Hosting Service has been pretty good. Chat response has been excellent. There is a bit of confusion in trying to understand the difference between the offerings under Shared Hosting vs Managed Hosting.
George Wu says
I had a good experience with Bluehost so far. The combination of bluehost/wordpress.org is far superior to wordpress.com in terms of overall quality to cost.
Conrad Stewart says
Service has been pretty good. Online chat is excellent.
Kathryn says
BlueHost has been so dependable and trouble free, I’ve used them as my hosting service from the very start. At first, I called the support line a lot for because the entire process was such a challenge for me. I even go through their site to get to WordPress as it’s easier in my opinion.
I expect to be a BlueHost customer for a long time!
ayeshZia says
i open my account with bluehoat in july 2019. they are amazing in helping their customers to get business online. they always welcomed me whenever i need any assistance regarding my blog..
thumbs up bluehost
you are great
Sydney Kaddoura says
I recently decided to start a blog to begin affiliate marketing. So far, what I’ve been able to accomplish with Bluehost is very exciting. I can really see my vision come to life with the ease of Bluehosts’ tools. I can’t wait to see where my website will take me. Bluehost is for anyone looking to start a website. Beginner or master, you really will enjoy creating your site. Thanks Bluehost!
michael foster says
Bluehost is a user friendly and easy to use platform. It has a wide range of abilitys for use on your websites. Customer service is also A+!
Mohammed kamal says
I’m not a technical type of person, I’m more of an artistic, and what bluehost has offered my so far nothing less than a competency, it’s relatively easy to use has many features at very reasonable price.
Courtney Smith says
Bluehost has been very easy to navigate and use. I was not familiar with it prior to signing up in September and it’s been an easy transition. I particularly like that it updates my site automatically and everything is mostly self explanatory.
Michael Foster says
Bluehost has been easy and awesome to work with. The platform is user friendly and customer service has been awesome for any issues that arose
Pedro Guimarães says
I purchased a BlueHost subscription when I started my travel blog.
The set up process was incredibly easy and since day one I haven’t had any problem.
I haven’t used any other host but if I need to build another website, I will go for BlueHost again. I’m happy with their services.
Athena S says
We use Bluehost for our webhosting and domain registration. I don’t know much about web design, but it seems pretty good, reasonable pricing, and definitely gets the job done. My other employer just switched over to Bluehost too from our previous webhost, so they’re doing something right! Thanks!
Milan says
I have been using Bluehost for a few years. They offer the best price for service. Yet to work with any of their competitors that provide better technical support.
Nate Le says
I have not explored many features of Bluehost, but it was a consistent and intuitive tool for blogging. Look forward to spending more time on the site in 2020!
Rotem Yifat says
I am now finishing my first year with Bluehost and I am very pleased. The management panel is easy to use for a non-developer like me. And when I do need support – they are quick and helpful.
In the past, I have worked with other hosting services but this is my favorite.
Puja says
I chose Bluehost because of its ease of use from many reviews I have read. I have to say they were right and I was able to get onboarded fairly quickly. You definitely have to spend some time on the platform to learn all the ins and outs, but if you put in the time it is pretty easy to learn and use. The prices are also fairly good and compared to Squarespace you get a lot more authority over your creativity. Would definitely recommend!
Corey Fairley says
Blue host has been a great help to my business. Having a legitimate website makes a difference when presenting my business to potential clients and partners, and has really opened up doors to expand. Great service!
Kelly Harrington says
Bluehost is easy to use, and there support is great to work with if issue arise. I was able to setup my site in minutes and get every thing transfered from another provider easy. I would recommend them to anyone.
Darag Rennie says
I’ve found the Bluehost support team incredibly helpful. Even in helping me sort out WordPress dramas I’ve had to get our websites working well.
Milan Miljkovic says
Never been more satisfied with a hosting provider. Bluehost is a great provider, reliable and with a great customer support. My <3 is with Bluehost!
Callie Jardine says
Bluehost has made blogging SO much easier for me. The platform is easy to use and super convenient whenever you need to access your website’s settings!
Viivi Honkimaa says
Bluehost has worked beautifully for me and my clients.
Syed Abbas says
I have no IT background so it was different for me to decide which hosting is good. One day I found bluehost and it solved my issues. I got domain as well as hosting for my blog. It so simple and easy that I don’t need to pay hectic fees to others to setup my blog. Thank you Bluehost!
Jimskier M. Clarabal says
Nice Hosting. its very affordable. and the customer support team is very approachable and easy to talk with. i got 3 sites in this hosting and never encounter any problem yet. keep up the good work. more power.!
Leland Mah says
I switched over to Bluehost after using wordpress.com for a number of years. The number of services and features you get from bluehost as part of your package is amazing. The features are often less that what their competitors charge. Transfer my site was breeze. I even kept my theme.
Richard Wolslayer says
I have used Bluehost for the past year to host 5 of my WordPress websites. Their customer service is prompt, capable, supportive. They have helped me step by step through the process as well as made me feel important and that my success is their top priority.
I would HIGHLY recommend using BLUEHOST for your hosting needs.
I feel VERY confident that they will handle any situations that arise and I feel like my websites are safe on their servers.
Laura says
Bluehost has been great! I went with it because it was recommended by WP Beginner, and I can see why they do – super easy to use. Bluehost has been very responsive and helpful any time I’ve had an issue with my site – so much so that I now typically go to them first before trying to contact WordPress help because they are so much better. Really nice to know that my website is on such a solid platform and grateful for all the services!