Bluehost Review: Is Bluehost a Good Web Host?

Aug 5, 2019Blogging Tips, Resources

Bluehost Review: Is Bluehost a Good Web Host?

by | Aug 5, 2019 | Blogging Tips, Resources




This post contains affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links or promo code, at no cost to you. For more information, see my disclosure here. Thanks!

Is Bluehost a good web host? Well, in this post, I'm going to answer that question and give you my honest Bluehost review. I'm going to review the pros and cons, pull back the curtain on what options Bluehost offers, and help you decide whether or not Bluehost is a good fit for you and your WordPress blog. Plus, I have a special offer just for fans of Blog With Ben! Keep reading for everything you need to know to get started with Bluehost.

What is Bluehost?

Before visitors can see your blog on the internet, you need a web hosting company to help you put that information onto the web. That's what Bluehost does.

Just like if you were to start a business downtown, you would rent office space. When you start a blog online, you need somewhere to store all your words, photos, and information that make up your blog. Bluehost is like a storage shed for your information. When someone types in the web address, to access your blog, Bluehost provides all the data their computer will need to display your website.

Bluehost Options

There are three options for hosting with Bluehost. Shared hosting, VPS hosting, and Dedicated hosting. With the exception of large business, most people opt for the shared hosting. This is also the best hosting service for WordPress blogs. Let's take a look at the options a little closer.

Shared Hosting

This is the least expensive and most popular type of plan. Shared hosting means your blog will share a server with other websites. For blogs and small businesses, having your own dedicated server isn't really necessary, that's why so many people choose this option.

With shared hosting, there's the option to pick a WordPress plan. This makes it easy for your WordPress blog to be hosted by Bluehost. With that said, shared hosting isn't required for WordPress. All of Bluehost's plans allow you to install WordPress with one click.

There are three levels available with shared hosting- basic, plus, or prime. Most people start out with the basic plan, since this is the least expensive. You can easily upgrade to a better plan later on, as your website grows.

The basic plan allows you to host one website, and domain, with 25 subdomains. It includes 500GB of storage, and five email accounts with 100MB storage each. For the first term, you'll pay $3.95 per month. However, I partner with Bluehost, so just for being a Blog With Ben reader, I'm able to offer you special pricing. If you use my affiliate link to sign up, you'll pay only $2.95 per month!

bluehost pricing table

The higher plans (plus and prime) will cost a little more, but they offer more space and website options. If you get a lot of traffic, or have a lot of employees that each need an email address, you may want to go with one of these plans. But remember, you can also upgrade later.

VPS Hosting

For those with more technical knowledge, that would like to be in control of their server, there's the VPS hosting plans. With this type of hosting, you share a server with other websites, but you're able to control the server through an operating system. This mimics the experience of having your own server, although technically you're still sharing.

Dedicated Hosting

For large businesses, and those that prefer to have their own server, there's dedicated hosting. With this plan you have your own dedicated server, just for your website, that you aren't sharing with anyone else. For obvious reasons, this is the most expensive option.

Bluehost Performance

When choosing a web host, there are a number of things you'll want to consider:

Speed

For a faster website, you'll need to choose a fast web host. The speed of your website will affect your user experience. They're not likely to stick around, or return again, if they have to wait for your blog to load onto their screen. In fact, 40 percent of web users will leave a website if it doesn't load within three seconds.

Another important aspect when considering speed, faster websites rank higher in Google search results. That means more people will find your website in the first place. As you can see, website speed will play a big role in determining how successful your blog is.

How fast is Bluehost? According to Hosting Facts, who monitored Bluehost's speed performance over 2018, the average load time was just 406 milliseconds. That number put Bluehost in the top five sites tested by Hosting Facts.

Uptime

When choosing a web host, you want to be sure you consider uptime- the amount of time a server has stayed up and running. If the server goes down, your users aren't going to be able to access your website, and that can cause big problems. The users aren't going to blame a downed website on “whoever hosts the website,” they'll blame the issue you. If you're running a business through your website, that can make you look unreliable, and flaky- not what you want your customers to think about you!

bluehost uptime chart

Photo Credit: Hosting Facts

Does Bluehost have a reliable uptime? According to PC magazine, “Bluehost is extremely stable.” After monitoring the web host's uptime for a two-week period, they determined that, “You can count on Bluehost to be a dependable web host.”

The Pros and Cons of Bluehost

Before you make any decision, the best practice is to make a list of pros and cons. Because choosing a web host is an important decision that will have lasting impact on your blog or website, and because I want you to be successful, let's make a list.

Pros of Bluehost

  • Wide range of plans to fit every need
  • Free domain name for one year with sign up
  • 24/7 support for help with hosting or WordPress questions
  • Compared to other hosting companies, Bluehost is the least expensive
  • Easy to use- with plenty of support, plus my tutorial to get you started
  • Excellent security options
  • WordPress Friendly
  • Easy integration of third party apps
  • Customizable extras
  • One of the fastest hosts online
  • History of a reliable uptime

Cons of Bluehost

  • Limits on storage space- unless you upgrade
  • There is a fee for site migrations, if you currently have a website with another host
  • After the initial term, there is a slight price increase
  • With sign up, there is a term commitment
  • They will try to upsell you on add-ons, but you can easily decline these if you're not interested

Get Started With Bluehost

With many options, and customizable features, Bluehost is an excellent host choice. That said, it's not for everyone. Luckily, in the online marketplace, we have many hosts to pick from. But, there's a reason Bluehost has been in business for over 20 years. From website designers that work for million dollar corporations, to the start-up blogger, Bluehost has options for everyone, and the reliability you can count on.

get started with bluehost

To get started, tell them Blog With Ben sent you by using my link to sign up. Just for using my Bluehost link here (affiliate link), you'll save an extra dollar every month, making your price only $2.95 for the basic plan.

Don't forget that Blog With Ben is here to help you along the way. Use my free step-by-step YouTube tutorials on how to get started with Bluehost and WordPress. Please contact me with any questions, or check out the Blog With Ben resources for more help.




Is Bluehost a good web host? Well, in this post, I'm going to answer that question and give you my honest Bluehost review for 2019. I'm going to review the pros and cons, pull back the curtain on what options Bluehost offers, and help you decide whether or not Bluehost is a good fit for you and your WordPress blog. Plus, I have a special offer just for fans of Blog With Ben! Keep reading for everything you need to know to get started with Bluehost.

What is Bluehost?

Before visitors can see your blog on the internet, you need a web hosting company to help you put that information onto the web. That's what Bluehost does.

Just like if you were to start a business downtown, you would rent office space. When you start a blog online, you need somewhere to store all your words, photos, and information that make up your blog. Bluehost is like a storage shed for your information. When someone types in the web address, to access your blog, Bluehost provides all the data their computer will need to display your website.

Bluehost Options

There are three options for hosting with Bluehost. Shared hosting, VPS hosting, and Dedicated hosting. With the exception of large business, most people opt for the shared hosting. This is also the best hosting service for WordPress blogs. Let's take a look at the options a little closer.

Shared Hosting

This is the least expensive and most popular type of plan. Shared hosting means your blog will share a server with other websites. For blogs and small businesses, having your own dedicated server isn't really necessary, that's why so many people choose this option.

With shared hosting, there's the option to pick a WordPress plan. This makes it easy for your WordPress blog to be hosted by Bluehost. With that said, shared hosting isn't required for WordPress. All of Bluehost's plans allow you to install WordPress with one click.

There are three levels available with shared hosting- basic, plus, or prime. Most people start out with the basic plan, since this is the least expensive. You can easily upgrade to a better plan later on, as your website grows.

The basic plan allows you to host one website, and domain, with 25 subdomains. It includes 500GB of storage, and five email accounts with 100MB storage each. For the first term, you'll pay $3.95 per month. However, I partner with Bluehost, so just for being a Blog With Ben reader, I'm able to offer you special pricing. If you use my affiliate link to sign up, you'll pay only $2.95 per month!

bluehost pricing table

The higher plans (plus and prime) will cost a little more, but they offer more space and website options. If you get a lot of traffic, or have a lot of employees that each need an email address, you may want to go with one of these plans. But remember, you can also upgrade later.

VPS Hosting

For those with more technical knowledge, that would like to be in control of their server, there's the VPS hosting plans. With this type of hosting, you share a server with other websites, but you're able to control the server through an operating system. This mimics the experience of having your own server, although technically you're still sharing.

Dedicated Hosting

For large businesses, and those that prefer to have their own server, there's dedicated hosting. With this plan you have your own dedicated server, just for your website, that you aren't sharing with anyone else. For obvious reasons, this is the most expensive option.

Bluehost Performance

When choosing a web host, there are a number of things you'll want to consider:

Speed

For a faster website, you'll need to choose a fast web host. The speed of your website will affect your user experience. They're not likely to stick around, or return again, if they have to wait for your blog to load onto their screen. In fact, 40 percent of web users will leave a website if it doesn't load within three seconds.

Another important aspect when considering speed, faster websites rank higher in Google search results. That means more people will find your website in the first place. As you can see, website speed will play a big role in determining how successful your blog is.

How fast is Bluehost? According to Hosting Facts, who monitored Bluehost's speed performance over 2018, the average load time was just 406 milliseconds. That number put Bluehost in the top five sites tested by Hosting Facts.

Uptime

When choosing a web host, you want to be sure you consider uptime- the amount of time a server has stayed up and running. If the server goes down, your users aren't going to be able to access your website, and that can cause big problems. The users aren't going to blame a downed website on “whoever hosts the website,” they'll blame the issue you. If you're running a business through your website, that can make you look unreliable, and flaky- not what you want your customers to think about you!

bluehost uptime chart

Photo Credit: Hosting Facts

Does Bluehost have a reliable uptime? According to PC magazine, “Bluehost is extremely stable.” After monitoring the web host's uptime for a two-week period, they determined that, “You can count on Bluehost to be a dependable web host.”

The Pros and Cons of Bluehost

Before you make any decision, the best practice is to make a list of pros and cons. Because choosing a web host is an important decision that will have lasting impact on your blog or website, and because I want you to be successful, let's make a list.

Pros of Bluehost

  • Wide range of plans to fit every need
  • Free domain name for one year with sign up
  • 24/7 support for help with hosting or WordPress questions
  • Compared to other hosting companies, Bluehost is the least expensive
  • Easy to use- with plenty of support, plus my tutorial to get you started
  • Excellent security options
  • WordPress Friendly
  • Easy integration of third party apps
  • Customizable extras
  • One of the fastest hosts online
  • History of a reliable uptime

Cons of Bluehost

  • Limits on storage space- unless you upgrade
  • There is a fee for site migrations, if you currently have a website with another host
  • After the initial term, there is a slight price increase
  • With sign up, there is a term commitment
  • They will try to upsell you on add-ons, but you can easily decline these if you're not interested

Get Started With Bluehost

With many options, and customizable features, Bluehost is an excellent host choice. That said, it's not for everyone. Luckily, in the online marketplace, we have many hosts to pick from. But, there's a reason Bluehost has been in business for over 20 years. From website designers that work for million dollar corporations, to the start-up blogger, Bluehost has options for everyone, and the reliability you can count on.

get started with bluehost

*This button is an affiliate link. Just FYI.

To get started, tell them Blog With Ben sent you by using my link to sign up. Just for using my Bluehost link here (affiliate link), you'll save an extra dollar every month, making your price only $2.95 for the basic plan.

Don't forget that Blog With Ben is here to help you along the way. Use my free step-by-step YouTube tutorials on how to get started with Bluehost and WordPress. Please contact me with any questions, or check out the Blog With Ben resources for more help.

Written by Ben Cummings

Written by Ben Cummings

Cofounder of Sage Wave Media

Ben is a professional blogger who holds an MBA with a specialization in Entrepreneurship. He enjoys teaching, blogging, startups, a hoppy IPA, and college basketball. Whenever he's not blogging, you can find him cruising around sunny San Diego with his amazing family.

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