Do They Live Up To The Hype?
Introduction
I have been familiar with Bluehost since 2009. One of my clients at the time was hosting the website that I was redesigning for them on Bluehost. After their new website was online, I managed the hosting account for them for two more years.
In the 8 years since, I have done work for other Bluehost customers. Speed optimization, hacking clean-up, software installations, etc. I also live relatively close to their 50,000 sq. ft. data center and am decently familiar with their operations from local IT “shop talk.”
I also live relatively close to their 50,000 sq. ft. data center and am decently familiar with their operations from local IT “shop talk.”
In this review, I will be relying on the data that we have captured for our own testing, as well as the experience I had managing Bluehost accounts for other website owners.
Bluehost makes it easy to get a new website started because they include a free domain name for the first year, as well as free site builder tools, and a decent 1-click WordPress installation.
All plans come with 24/7 Live Support, a free SSL certificate, and unmetered traffic. For a little more money per month you can get unlimited file storage, free backups, and added security.
Their performance is excellent based on our test beacon:
http://bh-openhostingreviews.com
Uptime – 99.95%
Response Time – 952 milliseconds
WordPress Render Time – 337 milliseconds
Quick Overview
July 2019 Thru June 2022
| Average Page Speed | 1,216 ms |
| Average Uptime | 99.95% |
| Average Render Time | 1209 ms |
| Average Security Threats | 14 threats |
| Support | 24/7 Live Chat - Phone - Email |
| Apps | WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and some website builders |
| Features | Unmetered bandwidth and storage, email accounts, free domain 1st year |
| Plans | Shared, Cloud, VPS and Dedicated Servers |
| Transfer | Not free |
| Pricing | Starting at $2.75/mo (renews at $7.95/mo) |
Three Main Considerations
Speed and Reliability
Most website owners are losing money if their website is down or people leave because it is slow. At a bare minimum a web hosting provider should be able to provide 99.95% uptime and load pages in less than 1 second.
We are performing a running monthly test of Bluehost’s speed and reliability with a simple WordPress website as a testing beacon. Here is a link to that site:
http://bh-openhostingreviews.com
So far, Bluehost has been able to beat our expectations for uptime and speed. They are also beating out most of the competition. Below you will find a breakdown of their performance by month:
July 2019 average uptime: 99.99% average load speed: 883 ms
Aug 2019 average uptime: 99.93% average load speed: 985 ms
Sep 2019 average uptime: 99.81% average load speed: 949 ms
Oct 2019 average uptime: 99.82% average load speed: 1,047 ms
Nov 2019 average uptime: 100.00% average load speed: 932 ms
Dec 2019 average uptime: 100.00% average load speed: 924 ms
Jan 2020 average uptime: 100.00% average load speed: 806 ms
Feb 2020 average uptime: 100.00% average load speed: 936 ms
Mar 2020 average uptime: 99.99% average load speed: 938
Apr 2020 average uptime: 99.99% average load speed: 890 ms
May 2020 average uptime: 99.99% average load speed: 937 ms
June 2020 average uptime: 99.73% average load speed: 1,120 ms
Aug 2020 average uptime: 99.99% average load speed: 1,197 ms
Sep 2020 average uptime: 99.97% average load speed: 3,116 ms
Oct 2020 average uptime: 99.97% average load speed: 3,116 ms
Nov 2020 average uptime: 99.88% average load speed: 1,772 ms
Dec 2020 average uptime: 99.92% average load speed: 1,350 ms
Jan 2021 average uptime: 99.98% average load speed: 1,267 ms
Feb 2021 average uptime: 99.94% average load speed: 1,289 ms
Mar 2021 average uptime: 99.99% average load speed: 1,336 ms
Apr 2021 average uptime: 99.95% average load speed: 1,401 ms
May 2021 average uptime: 99.93% average load speed: 1,421 ms
June 2021 average uptime: 99.94% average load speed: 1,254 ms
Quality of Support
I like the variety of options that Bluehost offers to get help. Their online Knowledge Base is very in-depth and easy to use. To get to a support agent, you can use their chat, call toll-free, or open a support ticket.
The quickest way for me to judge the quality of support is to connect to their agents via chat and ask a simple question that most data center operators should know off the top of their head:
“What version of RHEL or CentOS is my website running on?”
This is the operating system. Almost all web hosting companies are using Linux, either Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) or CentOS. You can learn a lot about a Data Center Operation by finding out what version they are on and how easily the staff knows.
Here is a screenshot of my support chat:
Overall, the chat session was very quick. It connected to agent Melrin Akash in less than a minute. I was glad to see that he verified the account, and that process took another minute or so. The entire interaction including follow up questions took about 10 minutes total.
The agent was very quick to let me know that the server running my website was CentOS 6. If that was my only question, then the chat would have been over in 3 minutes.
The agent struggled to understand my follow up question, but overall it was a positive experience. He/she did well with a question that probably doesn’t asked much. I have had a lot worse experiences with overseas first-level support.
The agent was very curious, very quick to get back to me, provided accurate information, and made sure I had everything I needed before disconnecting. The chat software was very easy to use and only had one glitch.
Affordability
Bluehost is one of the lowest priced web hosting companies out there. To get started is only $3.95 per month for their basic package for a single website. To upgrade to their highest package with more features, and unlimited websites, is only $13.95 per month.
This is a great bargain when you consider their uptime/speed, the features included in their packages, the free tools and easy-to-use management tool, and their track record.
Just remember that these prices are the monthly price if you purchase 3 years of service upfront. Prices are a little higher if you buy 12 months in advance. Unfortunately you don’t have the option pay month to month, which I think is sort of a bummer.
Keep in mind these prices are promotional introductory offers and the do offer a 30 day money-back guarantee on all purchases.
Here is a copy of my receipt for purchasing the Bluehost Basic package for 12 months:
Available Plans, Pricing, and Details
Basic Plan
The Basic plan from Bluehost starts at $3.95/month. This is an ideal plan for someone starting out. It comes with everything you need to host a single website.
Plus Plan and Choice Plus Plan
The Plus and Choice Plus plan both have an introductory rate of $5.45/month. They give you the capability to host an unlimited amount of websites. These plans are ideal for website owners that run multiple sites with a good amount of monthly traffic.
The Choice Plus plan offers some handy features that the Plus plan doesn’t have. Features such as Domain Privacy as well as Site Backup and CodeGuard Security. Just remember that even though the introductory prices are the same, the Choice Plus plan does cost more upon renewal after your first year.
Pro Plan
The Pro plan starts at $13.95 month. It has the same features as the Plus and Choice Plus plans, allowing you to run unlimited websites. The main advantage to this plan is that your website(s) will be running on their High Performance server hardware.
Plan Feature Comparison
Plan Features
- Includes Domain: Yes, free for the first year. Then renews at $15.99/year.
- Easy Setup Process: Complete an easy two-page registration form. The form will also give you the option to install WordPress at the same time.
- Admin Dashboard Experience: Control panel is very clean and easy-to-use. Uses cPanel for site administration.
- 3rd Party Application Support: One-click integration with Mojo Marketplace for easy installation of popular scripts like WordPress, Weebly, Joomla, Drupal, OpenCart, and more.
- Add-ons: Extend your website functionality with add-ons like CodeGuard, SiteLock, Bluehost SEO Tools, Office 365, G-Suite, Google Ads, Constant Contact, and SpamExperts.
- Server Information: Linux CentOS 6, PHP 7, MySQL 5.6, PostgreSQL 10
- Payment Methods: Visa, MasterCard, Discover, Amex, and PayPal.
- Hidden Fees and Clauses: No refunds are given on any domain names. Renewal rates for both domains and hosting increase.
- Upsells: Some Upsells. But it’s common in the web hosting industry, so don’t worry about it.
Other Plans
If you need additional features, Bluehost also offers other web hosting types, including VPS, cloud, and dedicated data center services.
Do We Recommend Bluehost?
Yes, we recommend Bluehost as a hosting provider. Especially for beginners who have never hosted their own website before.
Bluehost has consistently been near the top for speed and uptime in all our reports.
Plus, they have a great administration panel to manage your account and website. Their security and support is on-point and reliable. We like their money-back guarantee and they have some of the lowest prices out there.
There are, however, some things we don’t like that are important to keep in mind. It is pretty annoying that they have a fee for site migrations.
Most other hosting companies offer this for free and you would think they would too to get new customers.
Also keep in mind that the pricing is only an introductory rate. The prices do go up on your renewal. The best way to maximize the introductory rate is to secure a three-year plan, but this does make it more expensive upfront.
Despite some of their drawbacks, they offer a great experience and value.
Visit Bluehost.com