Bluehost Overview

If creating your very own website comes across your mind, then there are a lot of things that you need to consider. One of which is having a good web host such as Bluehost.

In choosing a web host provider, you need to consider if the pricing is worthy of the services it offers. You also need to take note of the features if they will be perfect for your website. And also the overall reputation of the provider.

Despite being famous when it comes to web hosting, many reviews are still wondering if Bluehost is the best.

Bluehost serves about 2 million websites on the internet today. It offers a lot of great features, affordable pricing plans, and a lot more.

Endurance International Group (EIG) owned Bluehost which started its service last 2003. The company is based in Orem and Provo Utah.

In this article, we tackle all you need to know and understand about the Bluehost Web Hosting service.

What is a Web Host?

A web host is a service needed by all websites on the internet. It provides physical servers to store all of the data and files needed to build the website.

These servers also let people access your website throughout the world. 

If you think that most of your data on your website is just hiding somewhere like cyberspace or cloud space, then you are wrong. They are inside huge rooms with a lot of servers, kept and secure by web hosting companies all over the world.

As you should know, your internet or your computer cannot hold that much data memory, especially when hosting a website. That is where the function of a web host enters.

How to Sign Up with Bluehost

If you are a beginner and would like to know how to get started with Bluehost, then here is a guide for you.

1. First is you need to go to www.bluehost.com

2. Click on Get Started

3. Select a Web Hosting Plan for your website.

4. Create a Web Domain for your website

5. Fill out all the required details for your website

6. Scroll down to Package Information and choose the plan you are going to avail (If it is for 12 months, 24 months, or 36 months).

You can also select a few add-ons that will surely help you on your website. Some of them are SiteLock Security Find, SEO Tools, and Codeguard Basic.

7. Then pick a payment option and fill in the necessary information for your purchase.

8. Click the submit button to successfully sign up for Bluehost.

Bluehost Features

Server Uptime

Uptime is the number feature that you need to check out when it comes to finding a web host service.

If your web host is mostly down or always low, then your website won’t be accessed by your followers or subscribers. This is a bad quality for websites to make money.

In the case of Bluehost, it has an average of 99.96 % uptime. This is more than the required 99% standard uptime from most host servers. Bluehost should maintain this level of Uptime for good quality service.

High Loading Speed Servers

A slow website is forever equivalent to less traffic. And less traffic is equal to lower sale numbers. If you do the math, a slow server speed will not make your website not as profitable as others. That is why having a good server speed is also a must.

Bluehost has an average speed of 641 ms over the past years. This might not be the fastest one out there but we can say that this is enough. Even the cheapest hosting plan of Bluehost is a competitive deal when it comes to server speed.

Pricing 

You can easily see the plans and the prices of Bluehost when you register. Over the past months, the prices vary. But right now, the basic plan is at $2.95/month with one website, 50 GB SSD Storage, Custom Themes, and 24/7 customer support.

The plus plan is at $5.45/month with unlimited websites, unlimited SSD Storage, custom themes, and 24/7 customer support as well.

For the choice plus plan, the recommended plan of Bluehost is on promo at the moment with the amount of $5.45/month as well. You will have additional domain privacy and a free automated backup for a year. The rest of the features are the same as the plus plan.

The last and the most expensive plan is the pro plan at $13.95/month. The additional features for this plan are Optimized CPU Resources and Free Dedicated IP. The rest are the same as the other plans.

As we mentions a while ago, the prices of the plans vary from time to time. It is still best to check out the official website for the updated prices.

Great Security for Data Backup

Of course, website owners need to make sure that all their data and files are safe. This should also be 100% concern in choosing a web host.

Bluehost has a daily backup and website restoration feature. It is a good quality to ensure the security and safety of all website files.

But we have to say that Bluehost doesn’t have unlimited backups. You can use third-party software to widen the scope or space for your file backups.

There are also other incredible features when it comes to security for Bluehost. It offers safety protection for Cloudflare, SiteLock, virus scans, and many more.

User-friendly Control Panel

If you are going to use Bluehost as a web host for web builders such as WordPress, then it will be a perfect fit.

Bluehost’s Control Panel is very easy to use for beginners and WordPress. It is an easy process to install Bluehost to WordPress with the use of C-Panel.

It one-click function for most of creating and navigating through your website.

But keep in mind that Bluehost is also applicable and very much available for other web builders. If the one-click function does not work like it is with WordPress, at least the drag and dropping function are at work.

Customer Support Available (27/7/365)

Whichever plan you choose for Bluehost, there is available 24/7 support for you. This is a very much anticipated feature to consider, because you may never know when you will have problems with your website.

Using a 24/7 Support team, you will be able to:

• Call through phone
• Send Emails
• Use Social Media Support
• 24/7 Live Chat
• Ticketing System

The best way to have a real-time troubleshoot for your website is to conduct a phone call. But most of the time, almost all possible queries are presented on the Bluehost Support Library.

SSL Certificate

An SSL Certificate serves as a wall of protection between your data and your website visitors. So whenever you are having a transaction for your eCommerce business, or anything like it, you won’t be afraid that your data are in danger.

The good thing is, Bluehost is 100% SSL certified. 

A Thirty-Day Money-Back Guarantee

Whichever plan you choose to purchase, you are entitled to have a 30-day money-back guarantee if you wish to cut your subscription because you find Bluehost not interesting or does not meet your expectations.

First and foremost, you have to ask for a refund within the first 30-day of inquiring about the plan. Any refund after 30 days won’t be catered by Bluehost.

You will only get a refund from the web hosting amount that you purchase. All other freebies like add-ons and domains are not refundable.

If you receive a free domain out of your plan, the amount to be refunded will only be 15.99 dollars.

To better understand these conditions, you may read the Bluehost terms.

WordPress Site Transfer (Free and 1 Time Only)

If you already have a website under WordPress but your web host is not Bluehost, then here is your chance to avail this feature.

You can choose any plan from Bluehost and ask for a free one-time transfer within the first 30 days upon availing of any plan.

To grab this opportunity, you may contact their 27/7 customer service.

Migration time usually happens within 2 to 3 working days. 

You can also use this feature even if your web builder is not WordPress, but it won’t be free. An amount of 149.99 dollars for a 1 to 5 website migrations.

Types of Bluehost Hosting Packages and Where are they Applicable:

Bluehost offers different types of hosting packages that fit whatever type of website and internet traffic you wish to create.

There are five types of Hosting Packages from Bluehost, and we will discuss each one of them.

Shared Hosting

This is the best hosting package for those who are new to the business. So if you are planning to build a website, shared hosting is the ideal package for you.

When you click the Get Started button, Bluehost will give you options of plans to choose from. All of these plans are under Shared Hosting.

One of the things to consider using Shared hosting is the even though it is the cheapest, it is also the one to make less traffic on the net.

VPS Hosting

Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting is a more advanced hosting package. It is more understandable by website developers. Although, it is the best option especially if your website is starting to build much higher traffic than before.

From a simple shared hosting plan, you can transfer to a VPS hosting package to have more advance web hosting features like:

• Better add-on options and site features like SEO Tools, SiteLock, Domain Privacy, and more.
• Two available IP Addresses (depends on the plan)
• Up to 120 GB SSD Storage (depends on the plan)
• The free domain name for the first year of acquiring
• Provides control panels and Root Access
• Up to 8GB of RAM (depends on the plan)
• Can acquire a lot of servers, and manage them together will all the files on your website.
• Up to 4 Cores (depend on the plan)

Prices:

• Standard – $19.99 per month (2 Cores, 30GB SSD Storage, 2GB Ram, 1 TB Bandwidth, 1 IP Address)
• Enhanced – $29.99 per month (2 Cores, 60GB SSD Storage, 4GB Ram, 2 TB Bandwidth, 2 IP Addresses)
• Ultimate – $59.99 per month (4 Cores, 120GB SSD Storage, 8GB Ram, 3TB Bandwidth, 2 IP Addresses)

Reminder: Prices may vary from time to time

Dedicated Server Hosting

We suggest you use a Dedicated Server Hosting if your website has grown to a much bidder internet traffic contributor and if your need to require a more secured platform of your website contains personal and financial 

Most of the added features are an additional amount of storage, higher server speed, more IP Addresses, and bigger RAM.

Prices: 

• Standard – $79.99 per month (4 Cores at 2.3 GHz, 500GB (Mirrored) Storage, 4GB Ram, 5 TB Bandwidth, 3 IP Addresses)
• Enhanced – $99.99 per month (4 Cores at 2.5 GHz, 1TB (Mirrored) Storage, 8GB Ram, 10 TB Bandwidth, 4 IP Addresses)
• Premium – $119.99 per month (4 Cores at 3.3 GHz, 1TB (Mirrored) Storage,16GB Ram, 15 TB Bandwidth, 5 IP Addresses)

Reminder: Prices may vary from time to time

Managed WordPress Hosting

This is the best hosting package if you are using WordPress as your web builder. This package offers great deals for your website like increasing your total number of visitors allowed in a month, more storage, RAM, and back-up sizes. You will enjoy other features like CDN integration, SSL Certificate, and many more.

Prices:

• Build – $19.95 per month (Jetpack Site Analytics (Basic), Marketing Center, 100+ Free WordPress Themes, Daily Schedule Backups, Malware Detection and Removal, Domain Privacy Protection, 1 Office 365 Mailbox – Free for 30 days)
• Grow – $29.95 per month (Jetpack Premium Included, Business Review Tool, Bluehost SEO Tool, Jetpack ads integration, 10GB Video Compression, Blue Sky Ticket Support, 1 Office 365 Mailbox – Free for 30 days)
• Scale – $49.95 per month (Jetpack Pro Included, Unlimited Backup and Restore, PayPal Integration, Unlimited Video Compression, Elastic Search, Blue Sky Chat Support, 1 Office 365 Mailbox – Free for 30 days)

Reminder: Prices may vary from time to time

Reseller Hosting

This web hosting applies to the people who run a website that manages a client site.

The reseller hosting package is sponsored by Reseller Club. 

As a Bluehost customer, you are entitled to have a 65% discount and sell other web hosting packages like VPS, Dedicated, and WordPress.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Aside from the great and remarkable features stated above for Bluehost, there are some other things that we would like to pinpoint.

• User-friendly
• Various Options that Meet Customer Requirements
• Secure all of your Resources
• Massive Plugin Library

Cons

We can’t help but notice that even though there are a lot of great features, some bad ones never fail to be present. Here we listed some cons of using Bluehost.

• When it’s time for renewal, along with other web host companies, Bluehost has a big price hike. 
• If you like to avail of add-ons and other features, they are very expensive.
• Site Transfer is not free. If you like to transfer your website to Bluehost and it is not under WordPress, you will have to pay a huge amount.
• The cheapest plan is not competitive compared with other plans.

Alternatives for BlueHost

There are also other platform that you would like check out other than BlueHost. Take a look at this list of alternative web hosting services.

• HostGator
• GoDaddy
• HostPapa
• GreenGeeks
• Hostinger
• WP Engine
• Siteground
• Cloudways
• Dreamhost
• iPage
• Liquid Web
• Kinsta
• A2 Hosting
• Inmotion Hosting
• Accuweb Hosting
• WebHostingPad
• Namecheap
• Domain.com 

FAQs

Should I have a Free domain for Bluehost?

You will have a free domain for the first year of purchase, but there will be a payment for the renewal.

What are/are the payment method/s for Bluehost?

Bluehost accepts major credit cards or through PayPal

Are there any hidden fees or clauses for Bluehost?

This might not be included the first time you purchase but once you already used up all the time for your purchase, the renewal fees are much higher.

How long will be the Account Activation?

In most cases, activation is instant. If your account activation is delayed, you must contact customer service.

How long to Sign up or log in to my Bluehost Webmail?

Bluehost sign-up and login are very easy processes.

How is Bluehost when it comes to MOJO Market Place?

Bluehost allows users to install and use other applications like Joomla, WordPress, and many more.

Opinion

We recommend Bluehost if you like to create a website. Especially if you are a start-up business. As we stated above Bluehost is beginner-friendly. Also, the prices are not that high compared with other web hosts in the market.

Although it is really hard to consider if Bluehost is the best one out there. There are also a lot of things to consider, most likely the cons of using Bluehost.

But overall, with tons of great features, we can say that Bluehost is a wonderful web host for our websites.

Final Thoughts

We hope that this article is of great help to you in knowing all of the details about Bluehost