Bluehost serves more than 2 million customers with web hosting services. Among its users, it earns average reviews, with a 3.8 out of 5 star rating on Capterra and a 3.5 out of 5 star rating on G2. It offers plans specifically to serve e-commerce stores, small businesses on a budget, and businesses that have large volumes of website viewers and need resources to accommodate them (via dedicated servers, for example).
In its shared hosting plans, it offers not only web hosting services but complementary tools to make launching and maintaining a website easy while offering a professional impact. For example, its shared hosting plans include the following tools:
- Website security features
- A free domain for a year
- Artificial intelligence (AI) site creation tools
- E-commerce tools
In addition, it offers plans for WordPress websites, companies that need dedicated resources or servers and companies that want to configure their own server customizations.
All rates and fees are current as of July 19, 2024, and are subject to change.
Bluehost
| Introductory price: | $2.95 per month for the first year |
| Renewal price for same plan: | $11.99 per month |
| Discounted rates for longer terms? | No |
Pros
- 24/7 chat support
- Affordable plans
- High storage limits available
- Basic security features
- Free daily website backups for the first year
- A free website domain for the first year
- A free secure sockets layer (SSL) certificate
- AI site creation tools
Cons
- No free hosting option
- No email included in shared hosting plans
- No phone support in lowest-tiered plan
Bluehost’s shared-hosting plans are best for:
- Companies that need a low introductory price
- Startups that need affordable website hosting
- Companies that can’t immediately pay for complementary website tools, such as a website domain and SSL certificate
- Companies without high website resource, security, or privacy needs
- E-commerce stores
In this guide, we focus on Bluehost’s shared hosting plans. These plans are not always the best solution for small businesses. For example, you must share your server with other users, meaning that, if they need more resources, your website’s resources may be allocated to them temporarily, creating potential for website instability at times.
However, Bluehost offers many other website hosting options that make up for these disadvantages if you need something more, including dedicated, cloud, and virtual private server (VPS) website hosting services. Our “other services” section below offers an overview of these options.
Bluehost pricing & plan overview
Bluehost’s shared hosting service offers the ability to host several websites, enjoy a free domain (for one year), and apply security features to your website, such as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack protection and an SSL certificate. Its higher-tiered plans offer more robust features, such as domain privacy, more storage, and e-commerce tools. Overall, while all offer a striking discount on the first year’s subscription, the Bluehost Pro plan offers the best value, with plenty of storage, security features, and a large visitor capacity for growing businesses.
| Plans | Introductory rate | Renewal rate | Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $2.95 per month | $11.99 per month | 10 websites 10GB solid-state drive (SSD) storage 100 concurrent visitors Free domain for the first year Free SSL DDoS protection Yoast SEO tool And more |
| Choice Plus | $5.45 per month | $21.99 per month | All features in the Basic plan Domain privacy for the first year Daily website backups Phone support 50GB SSD storage 50 websites And more |
| Online Store | $9.95 per month | $26.99 per month | All features in the Choice Plus Plan Store analytics Secure online payments Booking and appointments Customer account customization Shipping and labels And more |
| Pro | $13.95 per month | $28.99 per month | All features in the Basic plan 100GB storage 100 websites 1000 concurrent visitors |
| Basic | |
|---|---|
| $2.95 per month | |
| $11.99 per month | |
| 10 websites 10GB solid-state drive (SSD) storage 100 concurrent visitors Free domain for the first year Free SSL DDoS protection Yoast SEO tool And more |
|
| Choice Plus | |
| $5.45 per month | |
| $21.99 per month | |
| All features in the Basic plan Domain privacy for the first year Daily website backups Phone support 50GB SSD storage 50 websites And more |
|
| Online Store | |
| $9.95 per month | |
| $26.99 per month | |
| All features in the Choice Plus Plan Store analytics Secure online payments Booking and appointments Customer account customization Shipping and labels And more |
|
| Pro | |
| $13.95 per month | |
| $28.99 per month | |
| All features in the Basic plan 100GB storage 100 websites 1000 concurrent visitors |
Best Bluehost plan for small businesses: Bluehost Pro
We recommend Bluehost’s shared-hosting Pro plan as the best plan for small businesses. It offers the ability to host up to 100 websites on one plan with 100 GB of SSD storage. This means companies won’t have to switch providers if they wish to expand to multiple online properties. It also offers security features to keep sensitive data safe, website backups, and a free domain for a year.
Pros
- 100GB of storage
- Up to 100 hosted websites
- Free domain for a year
- Handles up to 400,000 visitors per month
- Phone and chat support
- Safeguards, such as DDoS protection and a free SSL
Cons
- A bit expensive, especially its renewal rate
- A bit advanced for some small businesses in terms of number of websites allowed
- No free trial
- No e-commerce features
- No dedicated server or resources for enhanced privacy and stability
Other services Bluehost offers
Other notable solutions offered by Bluehost include dedicated hosting, cloud hosting, and VPS hosting. It also offers tools, such as domains, custom email addresses and accounts, and website design and digital marketing services. Here is a look at each of these, including their benefits and best use cases:
- Dedicated hosting: These plans include access to a server solely dedicated to your website. As such, it offers more resources to ensure website stability despite high traffic volumes and strict privacy for companies that process a lot of sensitive information.
- Cloud hosting: This is a managed WordPress platform. Its structure on a network of global servers ensures that functionality interruptions due to component failures do not happen, providing fast and stable website viewing and access experiences. Bluehost also manages the website’s security using automatic updates and security enhancements.
- VPS hosting: This option offers you a set number of resources, such as central processing unit (CPU), random-access memory (RAM), and disk space on a shared server. As such, your resources remain your resources no matter the needs of other users, creating a more stable website experience than shared hosting. It also offers access to the root server so you can configure it to meet your specific needs. It is best for high-traffic websites and companies that want to customize their server configurations.
- WordPress hosting: This plan includes everything in the shared-hosting plan at the same price, plus tools to design and launch a WordPress website, including AI-powered tools.
- Domains: While most shared hosting plans offer a free domain for up to a year, you can also continue this service by purchasing your domain from Bluehost. It offers a plethora of domain types to choose from, including .com, .net, and .org domains starting at $12.99, $18.99, and $14.99 for the first year, respectively.
- Email: You can purchase a professional or Google email from Bluehost. Its professional email includes a domain-specific email you can assign to all team members, in addition to productivity tools like calendars and task and document management tools. Its Google emails offer access to the full suite of Google Workspace for your team.
- Website design and digital marketing services: Bluehost has a team of website designers ready to create a mobile-friendly, attractive, and search engine optimized (SEO) website for your company. It also offers digital marketing services for the website, including SEO and pay-per-click (PPC) services.
The Bluehost platform and customer support
All of Bluehost’s plans have 24/7 chat support. However, you must upgrade to its Choice Plus plan to enjoy phone support. Its phone support is available from 7 a.m. Eastern time to midnight ET seven days a week. You can also open a support ticket at any time.
Bluehost offers cPanel for managing a WordPress website by, for example, setting up email accounts, managing internal databases, and customizing your website settings. Once you log into cPanel, the “tools” tab on the left-hand menu takes you to a dashboard, putting all these tools at your fingertips. You can click on each tool’s respective link to manage that feature. For example, you can click on “email accounts” to begin setting them up.
Is Bluehost secure?
Bluehost offers a set of security features in its shared hosting plans. Its most basic plans include an SSL certificate to encrypt sensitive data, protection against DDoS attacks, and a content delivery network (CDN) with added threat detection and prevention features. Its higher-tiered plans offer further security tools, such as web application firewall and website backup features (free for the first year).
In addition to these included features, Bluehost offers add-on security features for purchase. Its Sitelock packages, for example, start at $7.99 per month. Their features detect and safeguard small business websites against various threats, including malware. To do so, they offer external malware scans, automated malware removal, blacklist monitoring, weekly scan reports, and firewall security, all manageable from a security dashboard.
In terms of the overall security of using Bluehost, there have been recent questions about the matter. In January 2019, TechCrunch[1] reported that well-known bug hunter Paulos Yibelo discovered some vulnerabilities in Bluehost’s security that could lead to sensitive user information breaches and even the takeover of user accounts. While Bluehost has assured users the security vulnerabilities have been patched, its representative was not clear regarding whether these vulnerabilities resulted in user data breaches.
Bluehost user reviews
Bluehost earns mixed reviews on popular user review sites like Capterra and G2. It earns a 3.8-star rating on Capterra with 102 user reviews and a 3.5-star rating on G2 with 267 user reviews. Users say the service is affordable, easy to use, and reliable. However, some report problems with unauthorized charges and customer support response delays and problem resolution. Some also report a learning curve when using its dashboard and cPanel.
Compare Bluehost alternatives
Bluehost vs. GoDaddy
Bluehost and GoDaddy offer similar products, including shared web hosting. However, GoDaddy may be a better fit for project-based, client-facing companies looking to build a WordPress website. In its shared hosting plans, it offers tools for managing a team and client projects. These include a one-click WordPress installation tool, a WordPress migration tool, professional email, a project dashboard, and invoicing tools.
However, Bluehost may be a better option than GoDaddy for companies that need to host more than one website, such as those that manage multiple brands under their organizational umbrella. For example, while GoDaddy’s first-tier shared hosting plan offers the ability to host one website, Bluehost’s comparable plan offers the capacity to manage up to 10 websites.
Bluehost vs. DreamHost
Compared to Bluehost, DreamHost offers more tools to make setting up and designing a website easier. While both offer some basic ease-of-use tools, such as automated WordPress migrations, DreamHost offers more such tools, even its most basic shared hosting plan.
For example, unlike Bluehost, it offers a WordPress website builder complete with a site creation wizard, free professional website template, and a drag-and-drop editor. It also offers its AI Business Advisor. This is powered by OpenAI’s GTP-4o. DreamHost’s experts trained the tool to offer business advice, insights, and problem solutions when you need them.
Is Bluehost right for you?
Bluehost offers many advantages to serve specific use cases. For example, unlike some competitors, it offers an e-commerce shared hosting plan for online stores. It also offers complementary ease-of-use services for companies with little time or website management experience, such as the ability to go through one provider to host, design, and market a company website. As such, for companies that need a one-stop shop for launching and marketing websites, Bluehost may be a good fit.
However, it is not the best option for project-based client-facing companies. Alternatives, such as GoDaddy, offer project management, client communication, and invoicing tools included in its shared hosting plans for no extra cost, making it a better option for this use case.
In addition, companies that need free hosting should consider alternative free options. For example, Squarespace offers a free website with a Squarespace-branded domain.
Frequently asked questions
Is Bluehost trustworthy?
Bluehost has an established positive reputation in the web hosting industry. On Trustpilot, for example, it has a 4.1 out of 5 star rating with over 14,000 reviews. On Capterra, it has a 3.8 out of 5 star rating.
It also offers safeguards for its users, such as DDoS protection, website backups, free malware scanning, a web application firewall, and a free SSL certificate to protect your website and its data.
Is Bluehost owned by Microsoft?
No, Bluehost is owned by Newfold Digital Group.
How much does Bluehost charge per month?
Bluehost’s shared hosting starts at $2.95 per month (with an $11.99 per month renewal price) and ranges up to $13.95 per month for the first term (renewing at $28.99 per month).
References
- ^ TechCrunch (techcrunch.com)