It was the time when I was looking for a good hosting service provider to start my journey with WordPress. I happen to read a lot of reviews about web hosting services from various DreamHost, GreenGeeks, A2 Hosting, and Bluehost hosting.
You may ask me, why is Bluehost among all these alternatives? What is Bluehost web hosting offering better than the other providers?
To be frank, I had no idea what all these web hosting providers are offering. I was looking for some good hosting service, and found a good discount on Bluehost Hosting, and bought it.
Did I make a mistake choosing Bluehost blindly? I got the same doubt flashing in my mind a hundred times before I started with WordPress at. Then I took a decision, ‘I have to signup for this, let’s give it a shot. If it won’t work as expected, I will change the hosting provider.’ It’s as simple as that.
My requirement was pretty simple. It was a website for a non-profit organization that needs no more than 10 static pages and a forum. There I got a doubt again,
I signed up for a shared hosting plan, with unlimited space of course, but can it hold a forum with flooded users all the time?
Obviously, NO!
Then how did I make my way through Bluehost Hosting to get the best suitable plan? The following are the plans I considered for my website.
Bluehost names the hosting service into three categories, Shared, VPS, and Dedicated.
If you are a beginner, the following descriptions of the type of hosting services will help.
Shared Hosting – A physical server is shared between several users which allows them to host many websites as per the plan they signed up for. It means that the users share the resources of the physical servers with each other.
Benefits of shared hosting:
- Low-cost server space.
- Good fit for small websites and bloggers.
- Price-worthy resource allocation.
Downsides of shared hosting:
- Limited resource allocation.
- Same IP problem – If any organization or government blocks the server, all the websites on it will also be blocked automatically.
- Sharing space with other websites and users is however risky.
Dedicated Hosting – An entire server is dedicated to a single user in this case. The user will thus have full control over the resources of the server including the operating environment and hardware. This type of hosting is more private and secured and doesn’t depend on a random user’s websites or applications for performance.
Benefits of dedicated hosting:
- Full private hosting space.
- Complete server resources assigned.
- Performance focused.
- Choice of selecting the software and hardware environment.
- Dedicated support was provided.
Downsides of dedicated hosting:
- Expensive than shared hosting.
- Security and maintenance of the servers have to be done at the user’s end. If the user is not familiar with server administration, it might seem difficult.
- Might have to spend an extra price for upgrades.
VPS Hosting – A Virtual Private Server is a part of the physical dedicated server. As it sounds, a separate environmental space is created on a physical dedicated server with its own operating system and part of the hardware resources. You can create any number of virtual servers on a physical server with shared resources of course but still partitioned to each virtualization.
Benefits of VPS hosting:
- A fully private environment with dedicated disk space, bandwidth, and choice of operating system.
- Doesn’t affect the root directories of the physical server as the environment differs from one another.
- Can create any number of private servers on one dedicated physical server.
- Full control and security for applications and websites hosted.
Downsides of VPS hosting:
- Less powerful than a physical dedicated server.
- Problems arise during resource allocation.
- If the physical server is damaged, it affects all the VPSs on the machine.
- Less knowledge about maintaining a server might lead to frequent failures.
Table of Contents
Bluehost hosting plans:
Bluehost offers 4 types of hosting plans suitable for different requirements. I have explored all these plans on paper and checked how they differ from each other. I have to say that I’m impressed with the way Bluehost has put everything in one pack that fits the requirements of the application or the website.
Let’s take a look at what each of the Bluehost hosting plans has to offer us.
1. Shared Hosting
The shared hosting plan is segregated according to the requirement of the user. They start from $7.95 per month to $19.95 per month.
| Basic | Plus | Choice Plus | Pro |
| Good for hosting 1 website | Good for hosting unlimited websites | Good for hosting unlimited websites with added privacy and backups | Good for hosting unlimited websites with added privacy, backups, and dedicated IP |
| 50GB limited SSD storage yet good for small static websites | Unlimited SSD storage for unlimited websites | Unlimited SSD storage for unlimited websites | Unlimited SSD storage for all websites |
| Custom themes provided | Custom themes provided | Custom themes provided | Custom themes provided |
| 24/7 customer support with no bias to plan you have chosen | 24/7 customer support for all websites hosted with equal priority | 24/7 customer support even for backup issues along with normal support to all websites | 24/7 customer support with equal priority for all websites and issues related |
| Free domain of your choice for 1 year | Free domain of your choice for 1 year | Free domain of your choice for 1 year | Free domain of your choice for 1 year |
| Free CDN included | Free CDN included | Free CDN included | Free CDN included |
| Free SSL certificate provided | Free SSL certificate provided | Free SSL certificate provided | Free SSL certificate provided |
| – | Free Office 365 for 30 days | Free Office 365 with 30 days validity | Free Office 365 subscription for 30 days |
| – | – | Free domain privacy | Free domain privacy |
| – | – | Free automated backups for 1 year | Free automated backups until plan validity |
| – | – | – | Optimized CPU resources for performance boost |
| – | – | – | Free dedicated IP – anyone can access even if the server IP is blacklisted |
| $7.95/month | $8.95/month | $12.95/month | $19.95/month |
Which shared hosting plan is best for me?
Bluehost pricing seemed reasonable for what they offer in shared hosting. If you are still confused to pick one shared hosting plan, the following gist of it might help. You are welcome by the way.
Basic Shared Hosting – Best for a single static website with no major requirement of updating media in the form or gallery. The high RPM SSD disks and CDN will keep the site up and running faster anyways. Still, you can update the site with up to 50GB (which is not recommended though).
Plus Shared Hosting – This plan is best for hosting unlimited websites with the requirement of unlimited disk space. If you are even having a single website requirement, choosing this plan over the Basic plan is 100% recommended. Because at just $1 more, you get the privilege of hosting unlimited websites along with unlimited SSD disk space and 30 days Office 365 subscription. Comment below if I didn’t make sense.
Choice Plus Hosting – This plan has everything that ‘Plus’ had. Also, domain privacy and free automated backups for a year will be given at an extra $4 per month. This plan is best for anyone with one website or 100 websites requirement. Because backup is very important for any webmaster to maintain.
Pro Hosting – Along with everything offered with the ‘Choice Plus’ hosting plan, the Pro plan has an additional CPU resources optimization feature that boosts the speed of the server when needed. In this plan, the user will get a dedicated IP address for better security and accessibility.
2. VPS Hosting
Bluehost offers 3 VPS hosting plans ranging from $19.99 to $59.99 per month as per the physical resources assigned to the virtualized server. Let’s take a look at the details of the 3 plans in a clear tabular format.
| Standard | Enhanced | Ultimate |
| 2 cores CPU | 2 cores CPU | 4 cores CPU |
| 30 GB SSD Storage | 60 GB SSD Storage | 120 GB SSD Storage |
| 2GB RAM | 4GB RAM | 8GB RAM |
| 1 TB Bandwidth | 2 TB Bandwidth | 3 TB Bandwidth |
| 1 IP Address | 2 IP Addresses | 2 IP Addresses |
| $19.99 per month | $29.99 per month | $59.99 per month |
Which VPS hosting plan is best for me?
VPS hosting is virtualizing the physical server space. If an application is hosted on it, it takes only assigned resources. The scalability of resources is questionable here as the operating system software might differ for each virtualized environment.
Standard VPS Hosting – Best for small applications and websites which get nominal traffic but still need isolated security measures.
Enhanced VPS Hosting – Best for websites and applications which use dynamic technologies allowing user interactions. Double space, double bandwidth, and 2 IP addresses for $10 more dollars to the Standard plan is quite a futuristic measure for a growing audience.
Ultimate VPS Hosting – Best for large websites with huge traffic. Even the dynamic technologies that help developers create interactive applications would run smoother and faster than the other two VPS plans.
3. Dedicated Hosting
Bluehost offers dedicated hosting services from $79.99 per month to $119.99 per month. Comparatively, with the other dedicated hosting service providers, Bluehost seems a little expensive. Though, let’s take a look at Bluehost pricing in a tabular format for a glance.
| Standard | Enhanced | Premium |
| 4 core CPU running at 2.3GHz | 4 core CPU running at 2.5GHz | 4 core CPU running at 3.3GHz |
| 500GB mirrored storage | 1TB mirrored storage | 1TB mirrored storage |
| 4GB RAM | 8GB RAM | 16GB RAM |
| 5TB Bandwidth | 10TB Bandwidth | 15TB Bandwidth |
| 3 IP Addresses | 4 IP Addresses | 5 IP Addresses |
| $79.99 per month | $99.99 per month | $119.99 per month |
Which dedicated hosting plan is best for me?
Dedicated hosting plans are for high-performing applications. Though, you can choose an affordable plan according to the resources required to host the website or web app.
Standard Dedicated Hosting Plan – This basic dedicated hosting plan from Bluehost is for websites that need high security and scalable physical resources.
Enhanced Dedicated Hosting Plan – This plan is for websites that get heavy traffic inbound and are best for businesses with a wide global presence.
Premium Dedicated Hosting Plan – Premium plan is for high-performing websites. Businesses with high traffic and rich graphic input from the visitor end will find this plan fruitful.
You don’t need heavy configuration for a minimum requirement. Choose to spend wisely according to the business growth or else you would end up spending more on the website and hosting itself.
4. WordPress Hosting
Bluehost offers hosting specifically targeted at WordPress platforms with the same features as shared hosting. If you want to host a WordPress website(s), better go with this option.
The WordPress hosting plans are significantly cheaper than the shared hosting plan as the servers are set up to work on the WordPress framework only. If you are not sure about the technology being chosen for your future websites, go with any of the shared hosting plans.
The rates of the Bluehost WordPress hosting are differentiated as follows:
Basic – $4.95 per month
Plus – $6.95 per month
Choice Plus – $8.95 per month
5. Managed WordPress
Totally focused on the WordPress website’s performance, Bluehost introduces a special plan dedicated to managing the WordPress framework only. This plan has the necessary tools, plugins, CDNs, and scalability options as per the inbound traffic.
The managed WordPress plans range from $14.95 to $49.95 per month. They seem expensive comparatively with shared and normal WordPress hosting but differ by the package with SEO tools, payment integrations, malware protection, and so on which are must-doers for any WordPress website.
Take a glance at the features offered by the managed WordPress hosting plans in a tabular format below:
| Build | Grow | Scale |
| Allowed to host only 1 WordPress website | Allowed to host only 1 WordPress website | Allowed to host only 1 WordPress website |
| Suitable for websites with up to 50,000 visitors per month | Suitable for websites with up to 150,000 visitors per month | Suitable for websites with up to 500,00 visitors per month |
| 20GB storage | 40GB storage | 80GB storage |
| 200+ CDN servers | 200+ CDN servers | 200+ CDN servers |
| Free SSL certificate | Free SSL certificate | Free SSL certificate |
| Built-in uptime management | Built-in uptime management | Built-in uptime management |
| Website preview environment | Website preview environment | Website preview environment |
| Additional features | Additional features | Additional features |
| Jetpack personal pack | Jetpack premium pack | Jetpack professional |
| Daily automated backups | Daily automated backups | Unlimited automated backups and restore |
| Malware detection scan and removal | Malware detection scan and removal | Malware detection scan and removal |
| Domain privacy and protection | Domain privacy and protection | Domain privacy and protection |
| 30 days free trial of Microsoft email | 30 days free trial of Microsoft email | 30 days free trial of Microsoft email |
| – | Business review tools | Business review tools |
| – | Bluehost SEO tools | Bluehost SEO tools |
| – | 10GB video compression | Unlimited video compression |
| – | Free Blue Sky ticket support | PayPal integration |
| – | – | Advanced search feature on the website |
| – | – | Free Blue Sky chat support |
| $14.95 per month | $29.95 per month | $49.95 per month |
Conclusion:
Here is a glimpse of what Bluehost offers at best and worst.
| Pros | Cons |
| Good uptime | Poor backup options |
| Plans for all types of users and requirements | Expensive renewal options |
| Unlimited SSD storage options | No uptime is guaranteed in the service license agreement |
| Unmetered bandwidth options | Inflexible pricing plans – no customized plans |
| Free domain for 1st year | – |
| Bundle discount plans | |
| Easy to use | – |
| Unlimited subdomains | – |
| Unlimited parked domains | – |
| Free SSL | – |
Bluehost is one of the best web hosting services in the industry. With their uptime, scalability, and quality of the services, they maintain users’ data secured and private just like any other web hosting company promises to do. But you would see the difference only once you start using their services.
There are only two times, as I remember, I contacted support; once when I wanted to clear my mail inbox and the other time when my WordPress crashed due to a plugin I installed. Both times, I was given the right technical assistance to solve my issues.
I also bought similar services from other hosting companies for a cheaper price. I was proud to save money when I bought it but regretted it due to their downtime issues later. Choose the uptime and speed of the server response before the price. It is however depending on your affordability at the end of the day.
If you don’t like what Bluehost has to offer, go through our Bluehost vs Greengeeks comparison article and think again.
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Is Bluehost a good host?
With years of experience in the industry and proven service quality, Bluehost makes a reliable and fast web hosting option. You also get affordable options, discount coupons, and 24×7 support.
How much does Bluehost charge for hosting?
Bluehost pricing depends on the type of service you sign up for. The charges for Bluehost services start from $4.95 and they go up to $119.99 per month. Choose your best suitable plan for the requirement and pay accordingly.
Do I own my domain with Bluehost?
Bluehost gives you a free domain for 1 year with some of its plans. You can even link your old domain to its hosting through the nameserver binding method. Check this guide to know how to assign a domain name on Bluehost.
Which Bluehost plan is best?
Bluehost has different plans for a different type of requirements. I have mentioned in the article which plan is best for which requirement. Please scroll up and re-read the portion of the article where I explained it clearly.