You are now reading a review of Bluehost, the hosting provider that powers over 2 million websites. You have probably heard of it before, especially since it has secured a leading position in any discussion about the best web hosting services.
"Bluehost hosting" is one of the most well-known names in the industry, but does it really deserve all this fame? In the following lines, we will provide a comprehensive review of Bluehost, highlighting its key advantages and disadvantages, along with details about its pricing plans and the performance and speed test results for websites hosted on the platform.
What is Bluehost Hosting, and How Does It Work?
Since the early 2000s, Bluehost has emerged as a leading name in the web hosting industry. Over time, it has carved a global reputation in this highly competitive market, where many hosting companies struggle to survive. Today, Bluehost is owned by Newfold Digital, an American company that acquired the original parent company of Bluehost.
Although Newfold Digital was founded only in 2021, it quickly became one of the most successful hosting providers after merging the expertise of two major web hosting companies: Web.com and Endurance International Group (EIG).
Bluehost’s association with such an influential group in the market has provided it with financial stability, allowing continuous development and the ability to offer top-tier hosting services. As a result, Bluehost customers benefit from these advancements through improved website performance and reliability.
Why Choosing the Right Hosting Matters
Before diving into this Bluehost review, it’s crucial to emphasize that a good hosting provider can significantly impact your website’s success. A reliable hosting service ensures optimal performance, fast loading speeds, and seamless responsiveness, all of which contribute to better search engine rankings on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).
Neglecting the choice of a suitable hosting provider can hinder your efforts and prevent your website from reaching its full potential. Since search engines—especially Google—prioritize website speed as a ranking factor, your hosting service plays a critical role in determining your website’s visibility and overall performance.
Top Bluehost Hosting Plans
Bluehost offers a variety of hosting plans tailored to different website types and business sizes. Below, we break down the most popular hosting options, highlighting their advantages and drawbacks.
1. Shared Hosting
Best for: Blogs, small business websites, and personal projects.
Shared hosting is an affordable and beginner-friendly option, making it an excellent choice for small websites. Bluehost ensures optimal server management and monitoring, providing users with stable performance even on a budget-friendly plan.
✅ Pros:
- Cost-effective, making it ideal for startups and small businesses.
- Bluehost manages server performance to ensure reliability.
- Easy setup with user-friendly tools and one-click WordPress installation.
❌ Cons:
- Your website shares server resources with multiple other sites, which may affect performance if traffic spikes.
- Limited control over server settings compared to VPS or dedicated hosting.
According to customer reviews, Bluehost’s shared hosting stands out among competitors due to its affordability and reliability.
VPS Hosting on Bluehost
VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting is an upgraded version of shared hosting, offering dedicated resources and enhanced performance. It’s ideal for medium to large websites and business owners managing multiple sites under one plan.
While more expensive than shared hosting, it provides greater control, including root access for making advanced server modifications.
Pros and Cons of VPS Hosting on Bluehost
Dedicated Hosting on Bluehost
Dedicated hosting allows you to have complete control over the server, offering high-level customization, top-tier security, and superior performance. This plan is best suited for large enterprises that require massive storage capacity and maximum security.
It’s also an excellent option for high-traffic websites, providing powerful RAM, RAID storage, and scalability to enhance speed and overall performance. Additionally, dedicated support ensures top-notch assistance.
WordPress Hosting on Bluehost
Bluehost offers specialized WordPress hosting designed to integrate seamlessly with WordPress themes, plugins, and tools. This hosting plan provides optimized performance, security, and user-friendly tools to enhance website creation and management.
For advanced users, WP Pro offers additional premium features, including better performance, marketing tools, and enhanced security.
This hosting option is ideal for bloggers, eCommerce stores, and businesses looking to build a website using pre-designed templates and themes from the Bluehost Marketplace, ensuring full compatibility with WordPress.
Pricing for Shared Hosting & WordPress Hosting on Bluehost
Both Shared Hosting and WordPress Hosting on Bluehost have identical pricing plans. The subscription cost varies based on the duration of the plan:
These prices reflect the initial promotional rates, and renewal prices may be higher after the first term. The longer the subscription period, the better the savings.
Additional Features & Savings on Bluehost Plans
Each hosting plan comes with additional features such as:
✅ Daily Backups
✅ Access to Yoast SEO Plugin
✅ Malware Protection
At first glance, the 12-month plan might seem more affordable. However, if you're looking to save in the long run, choosing the 36-month plan can save you up to $120 over three years.
E-commerce Hosting for Online Sellers
For those running online stores or selling on platforms like Amazon, Etsy, or eBay, Bluehost offers a dedicated e-commerce hosting plan:
VPS Hosting Pricing (36-Month Plans)
For users needing more control and dedicated resources, Bluehost offers three VPS hosting plans, each on a 36-month subscription:
These VPS plans offer higher performance, dedicated resources, and advanced security, making them ideal for medium-to-large businesses.
Dedicated Hosting Pricing (36-Month Plans)
Bluehost’s Dedicated Hosting provides higher security and performance stability, making it ideal for large businesses and high-traffic websites. Due to its enhanced security features, it comes at a higher price point.
Below is a comparison of the three main Dedicated Hosting plans for a 36-month subscription:
These plans offer dedicated resources, full server control, and robust security features, ensuring maximum performance for mission-critical websites
Bluehost Performance and Speed Test Review
To provide an accurate Bluehost review, we conducted several performance tests, with the following results:
1️⃣ Server Response Time
Server response time measures how long it takes for the server to respond when a visitor clicks on your site.
- Using tools like Pingdom and Bitcatcha, Bluehost recorded a response time of 361 milliseconds.
- This is very close to the ideal shared hosting benchmark of 400ms, indicating excellent performance.
2️⃣ Website Load Speed Test
Speed is crucial for SEO and user experience. Studies show that a 1-second delay can reduce conversion rates by 7%, and a 3-second delay may result in over 50% visitor loss.
A test was conducted on a WordPress site with no content across different regions:
- 🇺🇸 USA: 920ms (Excellent)
- 🇬🇧 UK: 1.6s (Acceptable)
- 🇮🇳 India: 2.3s (Slightly slow)
🔹 Google recommends keeping LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) under 2.5s. Based on this, Bluehost offers good loading speeds.
3️⃣ Traffic Handling Test
To test traffic capacity, we simulated 50 simultaneous visitors.
- Unfortunately, the server struggled to handle the load, causing some failed requests.
Conclusion:
✅ Great server response time
✅ Good load speed (except for some global locations)
❌ Struggles with high simultaneous traffic
If you expect high traffic, consider Bluehost VPS or Dedicated Hosting instead of shared hosting.
Pros of Bluehost Hosting
WordPress, the platform used to create over a third of all websites on the internet, exclusively recommended Bluehost hosting for a long time before adding any other hosting provider to its list.
Reasons Behind WordPress Recommendation & Key Advantages of Bluehost Hosting
1. Security & Protection
Bluehost offers various security features for your website, including SSL certificates and DDoS attack protection via Cloudflare, which hides your IP address to prevent attacks.
For VPS and dedicated hosting plans, iptables firewall protection is included. However, shared hosting users need to install additional security plugins. Bluehost also provides automatic backups, but only in the Choice Plus and Pro plans.
2. Ease of Use
Bluehost is beginner-friendly, especially for bloggers and small businesses. It features an intuitive cPanel control panel that supports multiple languages, including Arabic, making it easy to manage websites without technical expertise.
3. Free Domain
To simplify the website setup process, Bluehost provides a free domain for one full year with its hosting plans—an attractive option for beginners looking for cost-effective solutions.
4. Affordable Pricing
One of Bluehost’s standout features is its low pricing. Despite offering essential features for growing websites, Bluehost maintains competitive rates compared to other hosting providers.
5. 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
Users can test Bluehost risk-free with a 30-day trial period. If unsatisfied, they can request a refund, excluding any additional add-on costs.
6. 24/7 Customer Support
Bluehost provides 24/7 customer support, including live chat and phone support, even on holidays. Additionally, users can opt for Blue Sky premium support for advanced assistance at an extra cost.
With Bluehost’s support team, users receive professional assistance for tasks such as account access issues, backups, and troubleshooting website problems.
Disadvantages of Bluehost Hosting
Despite its many advantages, Bluehost has a few drawbacks that customers have encountered:
- No Monthly Payment Option – Bluehost does not offer monthly billing; the minimum commitment is 12 months.
- High Renewal Prices – While initial plans are affordable, renewal rates are significantly higher once the first term ends.
- Frequent Upselling Pop-ups – The platform displays annoying promotional offers and upgrade suggestions regularly.
- Limited Support Channels – Bluehost does not provide customer support via email or WhatsApp, which can cause delays in communication.
- Servers Are Only in the U.S. – Bluehost’s data centers are exclusively in the U.S., which may affect loading speeds for users in the Middle East. However, it compensates with a strong global infrastructure.
- No Free Website Migration – Unlike some competitors, Bluehost charges $150 for site transfers from another hosting provider.
Bluehost review and comparison of its competitors
There are many web hosting providers that dominate the market. However, competition and marketing alone do not determine the best choice—each hosting company offers a unique advantage over its competitors.
Since we remain completely neutral, here is a breakdown of the most popular hosting services and their key features:
From the table, it is clear that Bluehost is an excellent choice for beginners using WordPress, thanks to its automatic WordPress installation, free domain, and various other features.
Do We Recommend Bluehost Hosting?
Now, it's time for the final verdict in our Bluehost review—does Bluehost deserve to be ranked as the #1 hosting provider, as many other reviews claim?
The answer is “Yes”, considering the features, variety of plans, and reasonable pricing that Bluehost offers.
Is Bluehost Right for You?
While Bluehost is an excellent hosting provider, whether it's suitable for you depends on your specific needs, including budget, storage, security, customer support, and business requirements.
Who Should Choose Bluehost?
✅ Bloggers
✅ Small business owners
✅ WordPress websites
✅ Companies with a limited budget
✅ Businesses that don’t require extensive web resources
How to Buy Bluehost Hosting?
If you're a beginner, Bluehost is easy to use, and you can start working on it without any difficulties.
To help you set up a website from scratch, we have a step-by-step guide in the video below.
Click the special Bluehost discount link to get 70% off plus a free domain exclusively for our blog readers!
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