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Bluehost Pricing, Features, Pros & Cons (+ Best 2023 Review)

⭐Bluehost Quick Review⭐

Bluehost is one of the biggest web hosting companies, powering over 2 million websites on the internet today. It has a very straightforward user interface which makes it the perfect hosting platform even if you have never hosted a website before.

👉 Get Started with Bluehost

There are a total of three pricing tiers offered by Bluehost that you may select from based on your budget: Basic, Plus, and Pro. The monthly prices for the Basic, Plus, and Pro plans in the shared hosting category are $2.95, $5.45, and $13.95 respectively. VPS hosting, WordPress hosting, and dedicated server hosting are among the other hosting types Bluehost offers. Each of these types of hosting will be explained in depth shortly, as will their pricing.

For any updates on Bluehost pricing and discount, go here.

The pricing will not break your bank, and it has everything you need to host any type of website successfully.

Bluehost Website Hosting Review

In this article, I will walk you through specifics of what Bluehost has to offer, some pros and cons of using it, how much it will cost you per month, and other stuff you generally need to know before settling on a hosting platform.

So, without wasting more time, let’s dive right in.

If you find any value in this content and eventually decide to try Bluehost, don’t forget to sign up through our special link. We may earn a little something from your action at no extra cost to you.

What Is Bluehost?

What is bluehost

Bluehost is a famous web hosting company that was founded in 2003. It is where you go when you’re looking for your personal or business website.

Apart from hosting, you can register your domain name with Bluehost, create a blog or start an online store, all from the Bluehost website.

If you’re looking for someone to build a website, help you with your marketing, or have any burning WordPress questions, Bluehost will hook you up with experts.

Who Is Bluehost For?

Bluehost is beginner friendly and easy to use. You can set everything up and have your website live on the web faster than you can drink up a cup of coffee. There’s nothing to stress about.

Are you a noob? Bluehost’s AI will create a beautiful blog or online store for you, find you a proper domain name, and even help you market your business.

If you’re a seasoned expert looking for extra space to host your sites or are trying to migrate your old sites to a better platform, then Bluehost is precisely what you need. You can subscribe to a higher plan and get access to high-performing servers, large amounts of SSD web storage, unlimited website hosting, and many other similar features.

What Are The Pros Of Using Bluehost?

First of all, not many hosting companies can claim that they’re official partners of WordPress. WordPress is responsible for 30% of websites and blogs on the internet today, so being WordPress’s recommended hosting platform is an indication that you’re really good.

That aside, here is why you should settle for Bluehost.

1. A free domain for one year

A domain name is the first thing your site visitors will come across, and it’s needless to say important of having a good and professional domain name for your site. First impressions matter.

When you sign up with Bluehost and subscribe to any of its plans you automatically get the rights to a free domain of your choice for a year.

If you choose a Top Level Domain i.e. a domain ending with suffixes like .com or .org you’ll save up to $15 for the first year.

You’ll pay a $19.99 to $21.99 renewal fee after your free term has expired.

2. Free SSL

One of the biggest concerns when hosting a website is the constant risks of hackers and cybercriminals. Bad guys are always looking to break into your website and cause havoc.

SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. It is a protocol used by web browsers and servers that enables authentication, encryption, and decryption of the data being transmitted on the web.

Normally an SSL certificate comes at a fee but Bluehost recognizes the need of running a secure website especially when you start hence its provision of a free SSL certificate for the first year.

Host your site with Bluehost and sleep peacefully at night knowing no one is intercepting your traffic and snooping around your data.

Having an SSL certificate for your website is common and pretty much an industry standard that even popular web browsers like Google Chrome flags all websites without this feature as unsafe.

3. Free CDN Enabled

CDN stands for Content Delivery Network. A CDN is made up of a group of servers located in strategic geographical locations to speed up the delivery of a website’s content to its visitors.

The main idea of having these servers all over the place is to speed up the load time of your web pages. It is a known fact that site visitors don’t stick around on sites that take forever to load.

A CDN makes it possible for your site to stay online even when the hosting server is hit with a surge in traffic, physical, technical issues, or whatever the case may be. In other words, a CDN guarantees your uptime.

4. SSD Web Storage

Solid-state drives (SSD) are the new best storage medium replacing its precursor the traditional hard disk drive (HDD). The SSD is the most durable option with a lifespan of 3 to 4 times longer than the HDD.

You need a hosting company that is running on SSD storage. Speed matters in this game. The fastest HDD can read data at an impressive rate of 125 MBps (Megabits per second) but an SSD can read data at a stunning rate of 500 MBps!

5. Powerful marketing-tool integrations

One thing you’ll need after hosting your website is some sort of tools that will help you in marketing and making your website or business successful. There are many of these tools out there but having them all in a single place simplifies things.

Regarding the actual website, you can not shy away from optimizing the content you’re hosting for search engines. If your website or blog doesn’t appear at the top of search engine results, forget about high traffic.

Unfortunately, SEO is a fairly complicated topic to grasp and will take you a considerable amount of time and even resources to get the hang of it and implement it effectively.

Lucky for you, any hosting subscription with Bluehost gets you the free version of Yoast SEO, which is a popular and powerful app that will do all the SEO stuff on your behalf. You’ll still have to upgrade to the paid version to get a full suite of features.

Another way of growing your online business is through email marketing. When you subscribe to the Plus shared hosting plan or above you’ll get this awesome and important ability to launch your email campaigns right from Bluehost.

6. 24/7 customer support

One of the most essential points to look for in a web hosting company is the availability of technical support. No matter how good the company and services it is offering are, if it has poor customer support, you’re treading in muddy waters.

Customer care is probably one of Bluehost’s most significant selling points.

All Bluehost hosting plans give you access to 24/7 chat support and 24/7 email or ticket support. You can also make live calls between 7 am to 12 am EST.

7. Industry-grade security

The threat of your website getting hacked is real and cannot be ignored. If you’re into eCommerce or you’re being trusted with other people’s information, it is your responsibility to keep it safe.

To do that, you will have to build a secure website or hire someone to do it for you, invest in a few security tools, but most importantly, choose a security-oriented web hosting platform.

If you subscribe to any Bluehost hosting plans, your website will be scanned for malware.

Higher plans will get you features like daily automatic backups of your site and domain privacy.

8. Bluehost Is Reliable

With a 99.978% uptime rate you can trust Bluehost to keep your site online and accessible at all times.

Downtimes are one of those things that you can’t ignore or entertain. Every second your site stays offline, you miss out on a potential customer which means money is being lost.

Uptime generally means the time a host’s server hosting your website is up and running.

No hosting company offers a 100% uptime i.e a guarantee that their servers will always be online, but Bluehost’s 99.98% uptime rate means 99.98 times out of a hundred Bluehost will have your website live on the web.

That 2% is probably sacrificed for technical maintenance or software upgrades and other unforeseen circumstances.

Cons of Bluehost

1. Site immigration is not free

One of the biggest drawbacks you’ll face when trying to migrate your website or blog from another platform to Bluehost is the fact that you’ll be charged a fee.

It costs $149.99 to transfer a maximum of 5 websites and 20 email accounts with all their associated files and databases.

Please, note that this service is not available for those on the Reseller, VPS, and dedicated plans. And this site migration is separate from domain name transfer.

To transfer your old domain to your Bluehost-hosted website you’ll have to use the Domain Name transfer utility tool with an extra cost of $12.99.

2. High renewal prices

Bluehost charges their hosting services yearly which means at the end of each year you’re supposed to pay a renewal fee.

The thing is for the first year(s) of your Bluehost hosting you enjoy promotional prices of up to 71% discount. This means that after the discount has expired you start paying a considerable fee.

The best way to walk around the renewal fees, at least for a while, is to choose a 36-monthly billing plan. When you do that you’ll enjoy promotional prices for the first 3 years with discounts of up to 60%.

But no matter what you do, eventually, you’ll be faced with the ‘normal’ prices when the time comes to renew your contract.

How Much Does Bluehost Charge For Hosting?

Bluehost has a total of three hosting plans to choose from according to your pockets and needs. They’re fairly priced so you don’t have to worry about digging into your pockets too much.

While the prices are calculated every month, you’ll be billed on a 12 months or 36 months basis. The good news is whatever billing method you opt for, you receive generous discounts if it is your first time hosting with Bluehost.

Note that the prices I’m reviewing below are for those who decide to get billed for the first 12 months. Let’s look at the plans in detail and see what you’ll get with each.

1. Shared Hosting

Bluehost Shared Hosting Pricing Plans

The shared hosting plan is the best option for those who’re just starting out or don’t want their pockets ruined by a hosting company. This hosting plan has four categories you can choose from.

The Basic plan costs $2.95 a month (promotional price) which in my opinion I think is way too generous.

It is a good option if you’re only seeking to host a single website. This plan gives you 10 GB SSD storage for your website files, and custom themes, and not forgetting that the 24/7 support team is always on standby.

If you have multiple sites you want to host then the Plus plan which costs $5.45 a month is the right fit for you.

You can literally host an unlimited number of websites and you get 20 GB of SSD storage. Not forgetting all the features from the Basic plan are also bundled in.

Choice Plus is the most popular Shared hosting plan which costs exactly like the Plus plan at $5.45 a month. This plan gets you a 40 GB SSD storage space and all the features from low-tier plans.

Lastly, there’s the Pro plan which comes at $13.95 per month. Still a fair price, all things considered.

The Pro plan comes with a whopping 100 GB SSD storage! And optimized CPU resources to improve the load time speed of your sites which is very important.

Note: Remember that these plans are only promotional usually with a discount of more than 50%. Make sure to check out renewal prices before you commit your resources.

2. Dedicated Server Hosting

Bluehost Dedicated Server Hosting Pricing Plans

Is traffic slowing down the load speed of your website? Success should not be a burden. Get a whole server to yourself and enjoy maximum speeds and very high storage with Bluehost dedicated hosting plans.

The standard plan starts at $79.99 a month for 36 months and then renews at the regular price of $119.99 per month.

The main highlight of this plan is that you get a CPU with speeds of up to 2.3 GHz, 4 cores, 4 threads, and a 3 MB cache. You also get 4 GB RAM, RAID level one storage- 2 x 500 GB, 5 TB network bandwidth, and a cPanel & WHM with Root.

You also get regular features like a free domain name and 3 dedicated IP addresses.

The next Dedicated plan on the list which is also the recommended one is called the Enhanced. It will cost you $99.99 per month for the first time and will renew after 36 months for $159.99 a month.

This plan will give you all the features from the first plan plus 2.5 GHz, 8 GB RAM, 1000 GB RAID storage, 4 dedicated IP addresses, and 10TB bandwidth.

The ultimate and final Dedicated Server Hosting plan is the Premium. It costs $119.99 a month and renews after 3 years at $209.99 a month.

For your big hosting needs you are given access to a CPU with up 3.3 GHz speed, 16 GB RAM, 1000 RAID storage, 5 dedicated IPs, and a whopping 15 TB bandwidth!

The Bluehost Dedicated Server hosting plan is the big gun for businesses with bigger needs.

3. VPS hosting

Bluehost VPS hosting Pricing Plans

If you’re looking for an option that is lenient on your pockets and yet provides high-quality service with maximum performance then this Virtual Private Server hosting is right for you.

It is more like a bridge between the cheaper Shared Hosting plan and the high-performance Dedicated Server hosting.

The Standard VPS plan costs $19.99 per month and renews at $29.99 a month.

It comes with features like 2 core CPU, 30 GB SSD storage, 2 GB RAM, 1 TB bandwidth, 1 IP address, and cPanel/WHM.

Next is the Enhanced plan which costs $29.99 a month and renews after 3 years at $59.99 a month.

Apart from all the features of the first plan, you will get 60 GB SSD storage, 4 GB RAM, 2 TB bandwidth, and many more.

Lastly, the VPS is hosting the Ultimate plan which costs $59.99 a month and renews at $119.99 a month.

After subscribing to this plan you’ll have 120 GB of SSD storage, 8 GB RAM, 3 TB bandwidth, and 4 CPU cores.

If you’re looking for performance and affordability this is the perfect pick for you.

4. WordPress Hosting

Bluehost WordPress Hosting Pricing Plans

If you’re looking to host a blog or website or store built on WordPress where’s the best place to host it if not the WordPress recommended hosting partner since 2005?

This hosting solution has been designed to meet your specific needs.

For only $2.95 a month you can host your WordPress blog or website and get numerous cool features like 10 GB SSD storage, custom themes, and 24/7 technical support.

Like all other Bluehost hosting plans, it offers beginners a free domain name for one year, free CDN, and free SSL also for one year.

The other plans are the Plus and the Choice plans which both costs $5.45 per month and come with goodies like 20 GB and 40 GB SSD storage and the right to host unlimited websites.

Pro is the last plan at $13.85 per month but renews at $28.99.

In terms of features, you’ll get up to 100 SSD storage and optimized CPU resources. You also get free domain privacy and free automated backup.

Other offerings from Bluehost

Apart from regular hosting Bluehost offers a ton of other products and services to help you in your business.

1. A WooCommerce store

If you’re looking to set up shop online or open a market place Bluehost has got you covered.

With the ‘online store’ plan you can build, promote, and sell your goods online with the help of powerful tools from WooCommerce. With your store, you can let your customers make bookings and appointments and let them use gift cards.

There are two pricing tiers with the following general features:

  • Online store website
  • Website analytics
  • Up to 200 GB SD storage
  • Free domain 1st year
  • Free SSL
  • Yoast SEO integration
  • Product search and filtering

Pricing

Both plans renew at a regular rate.

2. Bluesky (WordPress Consulting)

Learning to build and host websites can be messy and most of the time frustrating. However, that doesn’t mean that you should quit. Bluesky connects you with WordPress experts on demand.

These professionals will help you overcome all the hurdles you encounter along the way, guide you and share tips and best practices of WordPress hosting, and help you effectively market your business and website online.

This is not a free service. There are three paid plans you can choose from. Before we look at the pricing, let’s take a general look at the features you’ll get.

  • On-demand ticket support
  • On-demand chat support
  • On-demand phone support
  • Account access assistant
  • Website backup assistance
  • Design Guidance
  • Bluehost SEO tools
  • Content optimization assistance
  • Landing page assistance
  • Mobile optimization assistance, etc.

Pricing

You can choose to pay for a month, six months in advance, or for a whole year.

3. Professional marketing services

Running a successful website goes beyond website development and hosting. To reach your goals you’ll need to put in a tremendous effort behind the scenes.

But this process should not be a hindrance to the point you fail to focus on other areas of your business that require your attention too.

This is why Bluehost lets you outsource marketing from its vault of highly skilled marketers to help you run and promote your website.

You will be helped with design, SEO, Pay Per Click ad campaigns, website migration, etc.

Pricing

Unfortunately, there’s no pricing information posted on the Bluehost website. To get a quotation you’ll have to communicate with the Bluehost team directly.

Conclusion

All in all, Bluehost is an excellent choice for those who’re just starting out. Creating and hosting your own site has never been this straightforward before.

All you have to do is signup with Bluehost, select your desired pricing plan, get a free domain, and host your WordPress site or blog like a pro.

If you already have a website and are looking to scale up then any of Bluehost’s top-tier plans is enough. You’ll get large amounts of fast storage, impressive speeds, and top-notch security and technical support all at very high discounts.

FAQ

Is Bluehost free?

While Bluehost is not exactly free, you’ll not be charged for the first 30 days, and you can get back your money if you end up not liking their services.

How many websites can I build with Bluehost?

You can build a single website or unlimited websites; it all depends on your pockets and the pricing plan you choose.

Can you trust Bluehost?

Bluehost has been a WordPress partner since 2005. Of course, you can trust Bluehost to deliver value for your money. It is reliable with an impressive uptime rate and has world-class customer support accessible 24/7.

How much does Bluehost cost after the first year?

The renewal prices vary from pricing plan to pricing plan. But generally, the starting plans come with at least a 50% discount so make sure to check the normal prices before you purchase a plan.

Do I own my domain name with Bluehost?

For the first year, you get to choose and own a domain name for free. But after that, you’ll be required to renew the ownership of your domain at a fee.

Is Bluehost good for beginners?

Bluehost hosting is straightforward. You don’t need any special skills to navigate around and if you’re stuck and don’t know what to do you can consult experts from Bluehost that will walk you through everything and help you find the solution to your problem.

Why is Bluehost so cheap?

Bluehost is less expensive thanks to its shared hosting plan. Hosting multiple websites on a single server makes it possible for Bluehost to offer its services at very low prices while still covering operational costs and making a profit.

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