Bluehost Review 2021 – Which Bluehost Plan Should You Choose

So you are here on this page because you are searching for an unbiased Bluehost review and might be wondering which Bluehost plan should you choose to host your website. You are in the right place. Here in this post, I am going to share my experience with various plans of Bluehost hosting which will help you to make the right decision on choosing the best plan for your blog or website.

Bluehost is one of the most popular web hosting companies in the world and is highly recommended by Wordpres.org which is the number 1 blogging platform and CMS (Content management system) if you are planning to start a WordPress blog or website. Obviously, being the most popular web hosting provider, Bluehost is crafted with numerous hosting plans to fit your budget and requirement. Therefore, there might be confusion in your mind, which Bluehost plan should you choose.

But before diving into the Bluehost Plans review we will take a look at the history of Bluehost so that you will know more about this particular web hosting company.

A LITTLE ABOUT BLUEHOST BACKGROUND

Bluehost.com is owned by Endurance International Group and it’s the best and highly rated web hosting company. Bluehost has been hosting more than 1.9+ million domain and one of the most trusted web hosting company.

It was founded in 2003 and headquarters in Provo as you can see that it has been in this industry for a very long time so I can say that if they would have not been providing the quality service then it would not have been in the market till now and most importantly in the number 1 position.

And this is why because I am writing this review so that new bloggers and website owners can choose the best web hosting for their blog or website.

BLUEHOST HOSTING TYPES

Bluehost has many web hosting types that you can choose according to your needs and requirements. If you are a beginner then you can go with Shared hosting and later on when your website or blog demands more bandwidth and space then you can switch to other types without any problem.

You can host any type of website using their flexible hosting types. Let’s have a look at the types of hosting that Bluehost offers,

Shared Hosting: Bluehost offers Shared Hosting service with a regular price range from $8.99/Mo to $23.99/Mo per month (With a Discount – $2.95/Mo to $13.95/Mo for the first year). If you are a beginner and do not have a plan for a large website, Bluehost shared hosting might be a good fit for you. It is equipped with everything you need like SSD Storage, Unlimited Bandwidth, Email Accounts, and more.

Shared WordPress Hosting: Shared WordPress hosting pricing is like the normal shared hosting, but it is completely focussed on WordPress CMS. You can install and manage your WordPress sites right from the dashboard, which includes updating of Themes, and Plugins.

Managed WordPress Hosting (WP Pro): Bluehost also offers Managed WordPress Service with a regular starting price of $29.99/Mo (With a Discount – $9.95/Mo for the first year). It is fully focused and highly optimized for WordPress sites and comes with several perks like a staging area.

VPS Hosting: VPS hosting is a type of web hosting that uses Virtual Private Servers. Although several other websites are hosted on the same physical server, VPS allows each website to be fully independent as if each were on its separate server. VPS Hosting starts at a regular price of $29.99/Mo (With a Discount – $19.99/Mo for the first year).

Dedicated Hosting: Within the Dedicated hosting, the whole server is dedicated to you. You do not need to share your server with other clients. Dedicated hosting is for those websites that generate tons of traffic and/or need a top-performing server. It starts at a regular price of $119.99/Mo (With a Discount – $79.99/Mo for the first year).

BLUEHOST FEATURES AND FUNCTIONALITY

In this section of Bluehost review, I am going to showcase all the benefits and features, hosting types, hosting plans, etc so that you can make your decision. I have personally used Bluehost for a few of my niche sites and I can proudly say that I am loving it. If you don’t believe me then there are thousands of other bloggers who are also praising Bluehost for their excellent service.

Anyways, without further ado, let’s check what Bluehost offers, and which plan is the best fit for your budget as well as requirements. Here we are going to discuss the most popular Shared WordPress hosting plans that Bluehost offers.

BLUEHOST LOADING SPEED TEST

This is the number one reason why Bluehost is being loved by its users. Bluehost servers are optimized in such a way that your website or blog will load very fast and this is very important from the SEO point of view. SEO reports reveal that a drop of 1sec loading time could decrease your conversion by 7%.

Website loading speed is regarded as one of the most important ranking signals from Google’s point of view. And obviously, it should be. Study shows that users are more likely to leave a site that takes more than 2sec to load. BlueHost is highly concerned about the speed and performance of their hosting services.

I have tested from different locations around the world uploading a basic WordPress site to Bluehost hosting and let’s see what we have found,

BLUEHOST SPEED TEST USING DESKTOP INTERFACE

The loading speed of the desktop interface of our test site are tested from 5 different locations namely London, Montreal, New York, Singapore, and Sydney,

Form the above speed test results we have found that the test site loads under 2sec from all five locations. The average loading speed is around 1.3sec, which is quite impressive from shared hosting.

BLUEHOST SPEED TEST ON MOBILE DEVICES

While talking about loading speed we just can’t ignore the loading speed on mobile devices. Almost 60% of a website’s total traffic comes from mobile devices. Therefore it is a top priority of having a faster loading speed on mobile devices.

I have tested our test site from 5 different locations using Apple iPhone-8 mobile interface and Chrome browser and found the test results as below,

Again we have found that our test site loads on mobile devices under 2sec. The average loading speed is noted down as 1.15sec.

The above results signify that the loading speed of a Bluehost site performs really well in the US and Canada. It might be due to their server locations. The good thing is that it surely helps sites to rank higher on SERPs in the US and Canada, and as all know how profitable is being ranked higher in Google USA version. If you are targeting the US and Canada traffic, Bluehost might be the best affordable available for you.

BLUEHOST PERFORMANCE TEST BY LOAD IMPACT

Our test site is a relatively new site that is only accessed by us, therefore only testing the loading speed is not enough to make a verdict on the overall performance of Bluehost. The server response time is directly proportional to the active users at a particular time.

We have tested our test site by sending 50 Virtual users for 5 Minutes and recorded the server response result as follows,

Here the green line is the number of active users and the blue line is the server response time. You can see that the server response time remains almost stable even peak traffic, i.e. 50 users. The average response time is recorded as 109ms with 36 requests/sec.

This is why everybody praises the performance of Bluehost. Bluehost is able to handle heavy traffic without having an affect on its server response time. 

STRONG UPTIME GUARANTEE

Uptime is one of the most important factors while choosing a web host. A 100% uptime is just near impossible to achieve and if any host promises that will be just fake.

You need your web host to keep your website available to visitors 24/7. That’s why it’s important to select a host with the best ability to keep your website up and running with minimal downtime.

The most competitive uptime range is from 99.97% to 99.99%. Bluehost has a great uptime guarantee of 99.98%. Besides, many Bluehost users have claimed 99.99% Uptime, which is quite impressive.

BLUEHOST SECURITY MEASURES AND BACKUP SERVICE

Bluehost is pretty much concerned about their security measures. Along with a free SSL certificate, Bluehost offers a lot of good security options.

Bluehost offers three layers of anti-spam protection in the form of Spam Experts, Spam Hammer, and Apache Spam Assassin.

• SpamExperts is an advanced email filter that scans and filters your incoming email for spam, viruses, phishing, and other email-related attacks by botnets and spammers. Bluehost claims to have 99.98% accuracy.
• Spam Hammer is a graylisting technique to help customers limit email received from spammers. Graylisting is when an email is temporarily rejected, but it will be accepted if the email is resent after sufficient time.
• Spam Assassin scans the contents of each message before it reaches your Inbox, searching for words, phrases, and formats common to Spammers.

Bluehost, by default, includes a domain privacy feature that helps to keep the personal information of your domain name registration safe from hackers.

Bluehost also offers SiteLock Security, which helps to prevent malware attacks on your site. Apart from that, Bluehost is integrated with CodeGuard that provides daily backups so you can roll back previous versions if anything unwanted happens.

Some other security features for your hosting account such as Single Sign-On, Two-Factor Authentication are also helpful in securing your website from hackers.

WORDPRESS SITE HOSTING WITH BLUEHOST

Bluehost is one of the hosting services that have been recommended by WordPress.org itself. Bluehost was the first hosting service that has been recommended by WordPress. Later on, Dreamhost and SiteGround have also been able to make their presence on the list of recommendations.

WordPress is the most widely used Content Management Service. According to a survey by Netcraft, around 455,000,000 websites are using WordPress right now, which is really a huge figure.

Being one of the hosting recommendations of WordPress, Bluehost is perfectly crafted to meet the expectations of a WordPress user. You can install WordPress and go live in a few matters of clicks.

Bluehost is optimized to run WordPress and can even protect your WordPress site against common threats. If you are searching for a reliable and affordable hosting service to host your WordPress sites, Bluehost is a great option for you.

BLUEHOST SUPPORT

What makes or breaks a company is it’s customer support even if you have the greatest product in the world but are unable to serve your customers when they need help then that is of no use.

When I hosted my first WordPress blog on Bluehost I did not know much about web hosting but whenever I needed any assistance I just visited the Bluehost website and start the live chat and they instantly helped me to clear all my doubts.

They will also sort any technical issue you will face while being with Bluehost. They have multiple support options like

• Live chat support
• Ticket system
• Email support
• Call support
• Forums

So you must be assured that each and every problem of yours will be solved by the Bluehost support team and they are really quick because they know it takes only a few hours for the customer to migrate their blog or website from one web hosting to another web hosting company.
And this is the reason why they give their customer’s problem a very high priority and try to solve it as soon as possible. And by looking at so many support options you have many options.

I personally love the live chat feature even though there is a small amount of waiting period due to a large amount of customer base but generally, it is not more than 5 to 10 minutes.

OTHER FEATURES OF BLUEHOST HOSTING

Apart from the above mentioned features and functionalities, Bluehost is integrated with some other important features.

FREE DOMAIN NAME

Bluehost offers a free domain name for every hosting plan with an annual subscription. So, there is no need to register your preferred domain separately on other domain name registrar, and it definitely saves your money.

FREE CONTENT DELIVERY NETWORK (CDN)

A content delivery network (CDN) is a geographically distributed group of servers that work together to provide fast delivery of Internet content. Bluehost dashboard is integrated with Cloudflare CDN, which is regarded as one of the most popular CDN services. Cloudflare is an advanced content delivery network, which automatically increases the performance of your site.

You can enable Cloudflare CDN instantly on any of your websites for free without any coding changes. By default, Bluehost offers the free plan of Cloudflare. 

DOMAIN MANAGER

Within the dashboard, Bluehost integrates a Domain Manager through which you can purchase and manage multiple domains. Using Domain Manager, you can change settings for your domains such as name servers, locking, contact information, privacy, renewal options, etc.

EMAIL ACCOUNTS

Bluehost offers free domain-specific email IDs. Domain-specific email IDs are custom email addresses that are hosted on your own domain, for example, EmailName@YourDomain.com.

Creating and managing email accounts is so easy using the Bluehost email option. You can create and manage unlimited email accounts. Advanced features include forwarding rules and account filters, Secure POP3 and IMAP support, third-party client compatibility, spam protection, and even unique user account controls.

UNLIMITED BANDWIDTH AND DISK SPACE

With Bluehost, you never need to worry about space and bandwidth. You can host unlimited files, (Disk-space) and use unlimited bandwidth except for the basic plan which is allotted 50GB of storage. But, literally even 50GB disk space is more than enough for a normal site, unless you are using an auto blogging plugin that produces hundreds of posts per day.

SSD STORAGE

All Bluehost servers are equipped with SSD storage. The performance is the most important benefit of SSD over traditional hard drives. Moreover, SSD is generally more reliable than non-SSD drives since they don’t have any moving parts and they don’t wear out over time.

30-DAYS MONEY BACK GUARANTEE

If for some reason you find that Bluehost hosting is not worthy enough for you, you do not have to worry. Bluehost comes with 30-days money-back guarantee. You will get your hard-earned money if you choose to discontinue Bluehost. The best part is that even if you cross 30 days you can still get your money on a pro-rata basis.

PRICING PLANS – WHICH BLUEHOST PLAN TO CHOOSE

Bluehost provides a flexible pricing plan for its customers. The price of Bluehost starts at as low as $8.99/Mo ($2.95/Mo for the first year) for the customers opting for Shared WordPress Hosting. You can check what will you get within each plan on the following comparison tables,

BLUEHOST SHARED WORDPRESS HOSTING PRICING

	Basic	Plus	Choice Plus
Websites	1	Unlimited	Unlimited
Disk Space	50GB SSD	Unlimited SSD	Unlimited SSD
BandWidth	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
SSL Certificate	Free	Free	Free
Performance	Standard	Standard	Standard
Databases Allowed	20	Unlimited	Unlimited
Max DB Size	3GB	3GB	3GB
Free Domain	Yes	Yes	Yes
Parked Domain	5	Unlimited	Unlimited
Subdomains	25	Unlimted	Unlimited
Max Files Allowed	200,000	200,000	200,000
Site Backup	–	–	CodeGuard Basic
Domain Privacy + Protection	–	–	Yes
Regular Price	$8.99/Mo	$11.99/Mo	$16.99/Mo
Discount Price (Up to 70% Off)	$2.95/Mo	$4.95/Mo	$4.95/Mo

WHICH BLUEHOST PLAN SHOULD YOU CHOOSE

The answer to this question is purely dependent upon your requirements. Let me emphasize on the need of people and recommend a suitable one which fits on your budget as well as requirements.

Basic Plan: If you are just starting out and you need to host a single domain, Basic Plan is a good option for you. 50GB storage is enough to run your blog or website.

Plus Plan: If you are planning to host multiple websites, Plus Plan is for you. You will also get unlimited email accounts with this plan.

Choice Plus Plan: With the Choice Plus plan you will get everything that Plus Plan has, plus free domain privacy and a CodeGuard backup option. If you are really concerned about the security of your site, this plan will fit with your requirement.

If you are really concerned about security and have more than one website to host, I recommend you to choose the Choice Plus plan. And if you are tight on your budget, even Plus Plan might be a good option. Though Plus Plan does not include CodeGuard Backup service, the backup can be done from the WordPress dashboard using third party plugins like UpDraftPlus and you can store your backup files directly on Dropbox. And if you are just starting out, Basic Plan is highly recommended.

Prior to choosing any plan, always keep in mind about the renewal cost. The renewal cost is much higher with the higher plans.

BLUEHOST PROS AND CONS

Nothing is perfect in this world and nor does Bluehost. Let’s have a look at the advantages and disadvantages of Bluehost Shared WordPress Hosting:

BLUEHOST REVIEW – FINAL THOUGHTS

From the Loading Speed and Uptime point of view, Bluehost is one of the best shared hosting providers along with SiteGround and DreamHost. Bluehost is the first hosting provider that is recommended by WordPress.org itself. 

Yes, I do recommend Bluehost!

If you need reliable and low cost hosting for you, Bluehost is a great option for you. Despite having so many features and security options, Bluehost still manages to provide you with hosting services as low as $2.95/Mo, which is one of the lowest rates in the industry. It has been serving for more than 20 years and manages to maintain a good reputation in the hosting industry.

The best part is, if you somehow find after signup that Bluehost is not worthy enough for you, you can have your money back within 30 days and even after that on a pro-rata basis.

My only advice before signing up for Bluehost is that, keep an eye on their hosting renewal rates and choose accordingly. Get the best offer for Bluehost hosting by following the link below,

If you liked this Bluehost review then feel free to share with other bloggers and newbies on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites so that they can choose the best hosting for their blog or website.

If you have used Bluehost earlier or using it now then I would love to hear your experience in the comment section below. Also if you have any doubt you can ask me or contact me for any assistance and I would be really glad to help you to set up your WordPress blog.

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