Bluehost Review: A Comprehensive Look and Speed Test (2021)
Bluehost is home to almost 2 million websites, in case you didn’t know.
That’s a lot.
The fact that they have such a large consumer base is sufficient proof that they are doing something correctly. Their uptime is consistent, server speeds are fast, and all of their hosting plans include features that are beneficial to both beginners and intermediates.
Bluehost also offers live chat and phone assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
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However, there are certain drawbacks, such as higher renewal costs and limitations on the cheapest plan.
All of our assessments are based exclusively on real-world statistics such as uptime, speed, and pricing.
So, without further ado, let’s take a deeper look at Bluehost to see if they can give you with the high-quality website hosting that you require.
General Info & Hosting Overview
| Our Rating: | Our Verdict: 5.0 |
| SPEED: | 688 ms (April 2020 to March 2021) |
| UPTIME: | 99.96% (April 2020 to March 2021) |
| SUPPORT: | 24/7 Live Chat, Phone, Email, Knowledge Base |
| APPS: | WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, phpBB, and More Than 75+ Open Source Projects |
| FEATURES: | Unmetered bandwidth, Unlimited Websites and Storage, Free Domain 1st Year, Free SSL Certificate and CDN, Spam Experts, Domain Privacy, 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee, WordPress 1-Click Install |
| HOSTING PLANS: | Shared, WordPress, VPS, Reseller, and Dedicated Servers |
| SITE TRANSFER: | Single WordPress Site for Free |
| PRICING: | Starting at $2.75/mo (renews at $8.99/mo) |
Table of Contents
Pros of Using Bluehost Hosting
Blue host has been around since 2003, so they have plenty of experience to know what makes a hosting service excellent.
Their introductory prices are affordable, customer support is easy to reach and helpful, and you get many useful features to go with your hosting plan. In addition, they provide reliable uptime and fast server speeds.
Let’s take a more detailed look at Bluehost’s strong points.
1. Great Uptime Through 12-Months (99.96%)
When it comes to picking a web host, uptime is one of the most important factors to consider. After all, if your site is down, your users won’t be able to access it. When shopping for hosting services, continuous uptime should be one of your top objectives.
Our “good” uptime criterion is 99.93 percent, based on our analysis of over 40 web hosting. We don’t want to see anything less than that in the ideal world.
The good news is that Bluehost easily exceeds this standard, keeping our test site up and running for 99.96 percent of the time during the last 12 months (April 2020 to March 2021). For the entire year, the total downtime was a little over four hours.
Bluehost average uptime | See stats
Here’s the breakdown of Bluehost’s average uptime in the past 12 months:
- March 2021: 100%
- February 2021: 99.97%
- January 2021: 100%
- December 2020: 99.98%
- November 2020: 100%
- October 2020: 99.67%
- September 2020: 100%
- August 2020: 99.99%
- July 2020: 99.98%
- June 2020: 100%
- May 2020: 99.90% (scheduled maintenance)
- April 2020: 99.99%
2. Quick page loading time (688 ms)
According to Google research, “the probability of bouncing increases 32 percent when page load time increases from 1s to 3s.”
This means that visitors are 32 percent more likely to abandon your site. Longer page load times exacerbate the problem.
Furthermore, Google’s indexing strategy is shifting toward mobile-first indexing. This means that your website must also be optimized for mobile users, or you will lose visitors.
In either case, a slow website will almost always result in less traffic and, as a result, fewer sales. So, after uptime, the second most essential factor that can make or break your website’s success is page loading time.
Bluehost Review: Bluehost’s average speed | Check out the numbers
Over the last year, our test site using Bluehost has averaged a load time of 688 milliseconds. It isn’t in the running for the top spots, but it isn’t horrible either.
3. Low Initial Pricing ($2.75/month)
Bluehost’s standard pricing starts at $3.95/month, which is a discount from the typical fee of $8.99/month.
The good news is that we were able to negotiate a bargain with Bluehost for our readers that reduces the starting price to $2.75 per month.
You get almost everything you need for a single website at this price. This includes 50 GB of SSD storage, unlimited bandwidth, and a free SSL certificate, among other things.
As a result, you’d be receiving an excellent deal for the money, especially considering their continuous uptime and page loading speeds.
Even so, the cheapest plan has a few limitations that we don’t agree with – but we’ll get to that later.
4. Security features and options galore
We are delighted to notice that, while being one of the “cheapest” solutions on the market, Bluehost does not skimp on key security settings and features.
Bluehost already includes a free SSL certificate with their most basic service. You’ll also get access to fantastic services like a free CDN (Cloudflare), a one-click WordPress install, several CMS integrations, and more eCommerce plugins.
Higher-tier plans come with the Spam Experts add-on, domain privacy protection, and server backups
You also get additional advanced security tools like SiteLock, which helps protect you from malicious threats.
Another type of protection is Codeguard, which provides daily backups so you can restore past versions of a site if it is hacked.
The final security tool worth mentioning is Google’s Postini. It protects your email from spam, preventing anything suspect from getting into your inbox.
5. Beginners will find it simple to use.
Only sophisticated users should regard some of the web hosts we’ve seen as the best. Blue-host, on the other hand, is excellent for novices.
Their customer portal is simple and easy to use (alt-hough, we have experienced it is a bit slow at times). Bluehost is considerably easier to use because to the structure of the cPanel control panel. Using cPanel, beginners may quickly install and start WordPress.
In most cases, all you have to do is point and click.
You can start building a website with a website builder tool if you don’t want to utilize WordPress (such as Weebly or Drupal). After that, you can personalize a template by simply dragging and dropping pieces onto your page.
Advanced users who want to develop their own website with their own coding can use Bluehost’s services.
6. Money-back guarantee for 30 days
All of Bluehost’s hosting plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
You can test out the service for yourself and get a refund if you’re not completely happy. However, there are a few words of warning.
Here’s what does and doesn’t fit within that guarantee, according to Bluehost’s terms:
• You can only claim a refund on the cost of web hosting; you cannot get a refund on domains or other add-ons.
• If your plan included a free domain name, Bluehost would deduct $15.99.
• After 30 days, Bluehost does not refund any requests.
Some hosts have a no-questions-asked policy, but this isn’t one of them. So, before you sign up, make sure you agree with these points.
7. Customer Service Available 24 Hours A Day, 7 Days A Week
Bluehost offers live chat, phone, and email ticketing assistance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They also feature a large knowledge library with answers to frequently asked queries and important information.
8. You can transfer one WordPress site for free.
This benefit is for you if you already have a website and wish to move to Bluehost’s hosting plan.
Bluehost has only lately begun to include a free site transfer with all of their hosting options.
However, there are a few conditions attached to this free service. The site must first be a WordPress site. Second, the migration must be requested within the first 30 days of signing up for a hosting package.
All you have to do is get in touch with their customer service department and follow their instructions. It usually takes 1-3 business days to finish the migration.
It costs $149.99 if you don’t have a WordPress website or if you have more than one. This allows you to migrate up to 5 websites and 20 email accounts.
9. WordPress.org’s Official Recommended Host
WordPress is the most popular website platform on the market, accounting for 44% of all websites on the Internet.
When it comes to hosting solutions, it’s safe to say they have the final say. Only three hosting partners are officially recommended by WordPress for use with WordPress sites:
• Bluehost is a web hosting service.
• DreamHost is a company that provides web hosting services.
• SiteGround is a web hosting service.
Of course, you can construct a WordPress site with nearly any web hosting provider. However, the fact that Bluehost is one of the few officially certified hosting companies is a plus.
Bluehost Review: The Drawbacks of Bluehost Hosting
Bluehost’s hosting service offers several amazing features, but there are a few drawbacks as well.
Although we appreciate the cheap introductory cost, the renewal rates can be quite high.
Let’s look at these drawbacks in more detail.
1. Increased Renewal Rates
Prepaying for one, two, or even three years in advance is the best method to get the greatest hosting deal. Although the average monthly price drops, you’re also paying hundreds of dollars up front.
If you don’t like their service, you can receive a refund using the 30-day money-back guarantee.
However, once the first plan period expires, you should expect a significant increase in charges.
Let’s say you sign up for the cheapest three-year plan, which costs $2.75 a month. Following the introductory period, the renewal pricing for the following period begins at $8.99/month with a three-year commitment.
The subsequent period is three times more expensive than the first in this situation.
2. Restrictions on the cheapest plan
Bluehost’s cheapest shared hosting plan has a lot of limitations.
Sole one website is allowed, storage capacity is limited, and the only security feature is a free SSL certificate. So, if you have many sites or want better protection, you’ll have to pay at least twice as much for the following pricing tier.
Regrettably, such limitations on the most basic package are all too frequent in the web hosting industry.
Companies fight to see who can get customers with the lowest pricing, then upsell a decent hosting service at a higher price.
Pricing, Hosting Plans, and Quick Facts about Bluehost
Bluehost’s shared hosting pricing plans are as follows:
Bluehost Review: A few quick facts
• Money-Back Guarantee: There is a 30-day money-back guarantee.
• Website Migration: One WordPress website is transferred for free. The cost of other migrations is $149.99 for up to five websites and twenty email accounts.
• Do you have a free domain? For the first year, yes. Then it renews for $15.99 a year.
• Sign-up Ease: A simple and guided sign-up process.
• Methods of payment: Major credit cards and PayPal.
• Fees and clauses that aren’t disclosed: Domain names are not refundable. Both domain and hosting renewal rates are substantially higher than the promotional pricing.
• Upsells: There are a few upsells during the sign-up process, but nothing too forceful.
• Account Activation: In most circumstances, account activation is immediate. Activation may be delayed if the information is incorrect or there is a suspicion of fraud.
• cPanel Control Panel and Dashboard Experience: cPanel is an easy-to-use control panel.
• App and CMS (WordPress, Joomla, etc.) Installation: Mojo Marketplace makes app installation quick and simple.
Is Bluehost a Recommendation?
We do, in fact.
Bluehost has done slightly better in the past, but they continue to deliver a dependable service with reasonable server speeds.
They also provide excellent security features, a fantastic money-back guarantee, a plethora of user-friendly apps, and numerous tiers of hosting services to suit different consumers. With our exclusive offer, the monthly price starts at $2.75.
However, Bluehost isn’t without flaws. The hosting plans’ renewal costs will climb considerably after the initial signup period, and the cheapest plan has certain key limits compared to the next tiers.
Bluehost, on the other hand, provides adequate service and fair value for money.
Have you ever utilized Bluehost? Please leave a review below – good or negative, it doesn’t matter as long as it’s useful to our visitors.
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