Bluehost is the most popular web hosting service and just like any other web hosting companies, it has a fair share of positive and negative reviews. As a matter of fact, you probably come across more less-appealing Bluehost review blog posts on the first page of Google! At WP Maven, we use do have clients who use Bluehost as their hosting provider and we do have more than a dozen encounters with Bluehost on a very personal end.

We want to make this Bluehost review different from most of the ones that you can find on the Internet—through in-depth review, features, the good and the bad of what Bluehost offers.

Without further delay, let's dive deep into our own hosting review, Bluehost.

Part 1: What is Bluehost?

Bluehost is a web hosting company owned by Endurance International Group (also known as EIG). It is one of the 20 largest web hosts, collectively hosting well over 2 million domains. The company operates its servers in-house in a 50,000 square feet facility in Provo, Utah. According to Wikipedia, Bluehost employs over 750 people in its Utah facility.

Bluehost is a popular website hosting provider that offers both affordable web hosting service (for small websites) and enterprise-level hosting frameworks for large/heavy traffic websites.

Part 2: What type of web hosting does Bluehost offer?

Bluehost offers a wide range of hosting services including:

Apart from that, Bluehost also offers related services such as:

Part 3: What features that Bluehost web hosting offers?

As this Bluehost review is mainly on the review on Bluehost hosting solution, we will be putting more emphasis on web hosting, as compared to other services.

When it comes to Bluehost hosting features, the features vary based on the hosting plan that you are currently subscribed to. For example, eCommerce hosting features may vary as compared to WordPress hosting.

Nonetheless, here's the breakdown for each Bluehost web hosting services.

(i) Bluehost Shared Hosting Plans

Shared hosting is a common Bluehost hosting solution. It is easy to use, useable for all major CMS, easy to setup, email hosting services and support that you need.

There are 4 common plans when it comes to Bluehost shared hosting. Let's take a look below.

(a) Shared Hosting Basic

Summary: If you are just starting a blog, the Bluehost Basic web hosting plan is an excellent choice to start with. This shared hosting solution starts at $3.95 per month and is the lowest entry-level shared hosting plan.

(b) Shared Hosting Plus

Summary: The Plus plan is best when you are hosting more than one website (Bluehost Plus shared hosting plan offers unlimited website hosting). With pricing starts at $5.95 per month, it comes with Spam Experts (for email delivery), free domain name and Microsoft 365 Mailbox (trial) too.

(c) Shared Hosting Choice Plus

Summary: Bluehost Choice Plus is the next available tier when it comes to affordable shared hosting services. Apart from all the features in the Plus plan, this shared hosting plan comes with domain privacy and automatic site backup. For only $1 extra from the Plus plan ($6.95 per month), both of these additional features are extremely important when it comes to website security and server daily backups.

(d) Shared Hosting Pro

Summary: Last but not least, Bluehost Pro plan is best for website owners who are seriously in having powerful web hosting servers (for faster loading speed, more cron jobs, etc.). Websites hosted on the Pro plan will enjoy 300,000 file count and are deployed with fewer users per server than the standard shared servers, allowing for greater compute resource availability per user. Another plus point of the Pro plan is the dedicated IP and therefore, you can rest assured that you are not getting bad hosting neighbours who might abuse the IP usage (indirectly affecting your domain score).

(ii) Bluehost WordPress Hosting Plans

Bluehost shared WordPress hosting helps you to set up your WordPress site fast, easy and securing the website in minutes, not hours (and without any technical help).

The hosting plans below are dedicated to the WordPress CMS only and unlike the normal shared hosting plans, Bluehost shared hosting plans for WordPress comes with:

Automatic WordPress Installation. Upon creation of your WordPress Hosting plan, Bluehost automatically installs the latest and most secure version of WordPress.

Automatic WordPress Updates. We keep your WordPress Hosting plan secure even after account creation by keeping your account up to date every day.

Secure Configuration of Login Credentials. Upon the creation of your WordPress Hosting account, your login credentials are changed from the standard WordPress admin/password to something of your choice.

Get Verified on Google My Business. List your local business online to quickly connect with customers in your area. Allow them to see your location and your hours of operation on Google Maps.

Hundreds of Free And Premium WordPress Themes. Free and premium themes are available from the moment you create your account. Find the WordPress theme that best represents you and your unique talents. Installation is fast and easy, and switching themes can be completed in seconds.

Dedicated for WordPress. Designed with you in mind, Bluehost provides everything you need to create and manage a WordPress website. Enjoy powerful website management tools, automatic WordPress installation, and 24/7 expert support all at a price that fits any budget.

Bluehost shared WordPress hosting solutions are available in three different plans.

(a) WordPress Hosting Basic

Summary: If you are looking for an entry-level web host that offers dedicated WordPress support, the Basic plan is the best for you. 50 GB SSD storage is very generous, especially for a single website. The free SSL certificate and unmetered bandwidth make hosting WordPress on Bluehost a worry-free thing for you.

(b) WordPress Hosting Plus

Summary: The Plus plan is good if you’re looking for unlimited websites, customer support, SSL certificate, email accounts and WordPress hosting all under one roof. Plus, having $200 marketing credits and 30 days of Microsoft 365 mailbox are also great features/perks.

(c) WordPress Hosting Choice Plus

Summary: If you are looking for unlimited everything, Bluehost Choice Plus plan offers great features and services, including massive storage space, powerful server and daily backups.

(iii) Bluehost Managed WordPress Hosting

WP Pro by Bluehost allows you to quickly build and grow the perfect WordPress website with some serious firepower (features) including:

WP Pro is different from typical Bluehost shared hosting because this is a dedicated WordPress hosting solution. Everything you need to create an engaging WordPress website is available in this plan—making them an easy to use solution for busy website owners.

WP Pro comes in three distinctive plans which are:

(a) WP Pro Build

Summary: We recently helped a client to migrate over to the WP Pro Build plan and to be honest, we were very amazed at how intuitive the dashboard was and the website loading speed. If you are looking for a managed WordPress hosting plan with great features, this is the plan for you. WP Pro Build plan starts at $19.95 per month.

(b) WP Pro Grow

Summary: Bluehost WP Pro Grow plan is where the true power for managed WordPress hosting. The availability of enterprise-grade website tools help you build better WordPress sites without spending additional money for plugins and without any coding skills. Plus, you will have access to Blue Sky ticket support at no additional cost. In other words, get all the assistance you need with design, functionality or general questions from real WordPress experts 24/7. WP Pro Grow plan starts at $29.95 per month.

(c) WP Pro Scale

Summary: Bluehost WP Pro Scale plan is an excellent choice for hosting your eCommerce stores and heavy traffic WordPress sites. With PayPal integration and Elastic Search, we find that Bluehost offers powerful, easy to use and highly affordable to the wallet. Most shared hosting plans do not offer additional higher tier support but with WP Pro Scale plan, you get everything under one roof. WP Pro Scale plan starts at $49.95 per month.

(iv) Bluehost WooCommerce Hosting

Just like many other hosting companies, Bluehost offers dedicated hosting environment for WooCommerce stores including secure payment gateways, fully customizable online stores and easy to use (hassle-free) set up processes.

Other perks and advantages of using Bluehost WooCommerce hosting are:

• 30 day money back guarantee
• Availability of easy to use themes
• Multiple safe and secured payment gateways

There are three pricing plans for Bluehost WooCommerce hosting.

(a) WooCommerce Hosting Starter

Summary: If you are looking for an easy to use WooCommerce hosting, you can't go wrong with Bluehost. This plan is excellent for beginners and with the pricing of $6.95 per month, you are definitely not going to break the bank anytime soon!

(b) WooCommerce Hosting Plus

Summary: This shared hosting plan comes with automatic backups which are important for your website (instead of manual backup). This plan starts at $8.95 per month, which is really affordable.

(c) WooCommerce Hosting Pro

Summary: This hosting plan is the most high powered option if you are looking to build and manage an online store (or several online stores) like a professional. With unlimited everything and premium SEO tools, you are well on your way to creating online stores that both Google and website visitors would love!

(v) Bluehost VPS Hosting

Next in this Bluehost review is their VPS hosting. Bluehost virtual private servers are built using SSD storage which increases the power, flexibility and control for your websites.

Here are some interesting features of Bluehost VPS hosting:

Bluehost VPS hosting comes in three plans as below.

(a) VPS Hosting Standard

Summary: For only $19.99 per month, you can have a fully managed VPS server that offers you significantly powerful hosting services as compared to typically shared hosting plans. This is indeed an awesome entry-level VPS solution at a very cheap rate.

(b) VPS Hosting Enhanced

Summary: This VPS plan starts at $29.99 per month and this is by far a very powerful hosting plan that gives you power, performance and all the flexibility you need to create a business online.

(c) VPS Hosting Ultimate

Summary: If you are searching for a powerful VPS hosting service, Bluehost Ultimate plan is the best for both money (cost) and performance. The 4 cores and 8 GB RAM give you ample of server performance that would power your busy website even when you are trending on the front page of Reddit.

(vi) Bluehost Dedicated Hosting

High-performance hosting, enterprise-level hosting or custom hosting framework. Welcome to the true power of Bluehost dedicated hosting solutions. Regardless you are looking for performance, security, absolutely control or all of them, Bluehost dedicated hosting solutions can create custom approaches for you to have the hosting service of your choice.

Apart from having servers that are tuned for optimum performance and dedicated solutions powered by an industry-leading, robust platform, here are some features that you will get only with Bluehost dedicated hosting plans:

Bluehost dedicated hosting plans come in three different plans to suit your needs.

(a) Dedicated Hosting Standard

Summary: With pricing starts at $79.99 per month, Bluehost offers a rather standard pricing structure with superior performance.

(b) Dedicated Hosting Enhanced

Summary: This dedicated hosting plan offers a lot of firepower with 4 cores and 8 GB RAM. At only $99.99 per month, this is one of the most popular dedicated hosting plans on Bluehost.

(c) Dedicated Hosting Premium

Summary: Finally, the mother of all dedicated hosting solutions is the Premium plan. At $119.99 per month, this dedicated hosting offers a very powerful dedicated hosting environment for the heaviest-traffic websites.

Part 4: Is Bluehost a good web host?

Now, with that being said, let's dive deep into the review with understanding if Bluehost is a good web host. The term "good" varies a lot depending on the individual. For us, a good web host means that they are a reliable web hosting company, comes with good customer support with live chat and other web hosting perks such as unlimited email accounts, free SSL certificate, free domain name and 30 day money back guarantee.

Does Bluehost offers any of the above?

The answer is "Yes!"

Each hosting package that you sign up with Bluehost comes with all of the above and higher plans also comes with domain privacy and unmetered bandwidth.

Bluehost scores highly in the ease of use category and excellent web hosting service with multiple web hosting plans to fit your needs—from shares hosting to hosting WordPress websites.

Part 5: Is Bluehost good for beginners?

How about beginners? Is Bluehost an excellent catch for beginners?

The answer is "Yes".

Most of the entry-level packages such as the basic shared hosting package come with all the tools beginners would need to start a website quickly.

The key points that make Bluehost stand out from the crowd are the live chat service and customer support, unmetered bandwidth and unlimited email address. These are very important features that a web host can offer in terms of support and service for beginners.

Apart from the above, Bluehost is a hosting provider that offers cheap web hosting service with domain privacy addons if you get on higher hosting plan. The basic plan that Bluehost offers is sufficient for small blogs and websites.

Last not least, you can easily use Bluehost without having to worry if Bluehost is not right for you (down the road). This is because all Bluehost shared hosting plans come with money back guarantee—which is really, really good in the case where you find Bluehost hosting is not something you are looking at.

Part 6: How much does it cost to host a website on Bluehost?

In this Bluehost review, we had come into a conclusion that Bluehost comes with different plans to fit different type of website requirements and budget. The lowest plan is the basic shared hosting plan starts at $3.95 per month for both basic shared hosting (all CMS) including WordPress.

If you are looking for fully managed WordPress hosting or much higher specs such as VPS or dedicated hosting, plan starts at $19.99 per month onwards.

Part 7: Why is Bluehost so cheap?

Bluehost is a hosting provider that provides many hosting features for both WordPress site and non-WordPress CMS. They are able to sell hosting at low prices because they oversell their web hosting space.

What is overselling a web hosting server?

Overselling is when a hosting company sells more disk space and bandwidth on a server than actually exists. For example, a server hard drive is 80GB and has 1200GB of bandwidth. The hosting company has a look around and decides to offer plans with 2GB of disk space and 40GB bandwidth.

Is overselling a bad thing in web hosting?

Well, this is a tough question. For starters, we know a handful of web hosting providers that oversell web hosting but they manage the entire business strategy very well. This means that they keep track of the server performance to ensure that all websites hosted on the server are getting enough resources.

But yes, there are also web hosting providers who care more on profit than customer service or support. This is a bad thing and could lead to your website loading slower or taking a longer time to process a specific task.

Based on our personal experience with Bluehost, Bluehost does a decent job in overselling their web servers (hey, the hosting industry is a tough industry) and at times, they do drop the ball.

If you are hosted on Bluehost and noticed a significant drop in processing power or your website takes a longer time to respond to actions (such as loading speed), feel free to reach out to the support to seek for clarification. If you are able to share your experience with some statistics/facts, their support team would offer you to migrate to the next available server.

Part 8: Is Bluehost the best for WordPress?

Now, what if you are using WordPress and looking for the best WordPress hosting company? Bluehost, in our personal opinion, is a great hosting company for WordPress CMS.

Money back guarantee, live customer service/support, daily backups and unlimited email address are just some perks that are too good to ignore. Plus, hosting at Bluehost also means that you get ample of storage space, a domain name for free for the first year and complimentary SSL certificate — which are good to save some money!

If you are looking to host your WordPress site on Bluehost, I recommend you to go with WP Pro. Bluehost WP Pro is a fully-managed WP hosting service that offer handles all the challenging parts about hosting a WordPress site. With a customized and optimized WordPress server, your WP site will load faster and more efficiently.

Most WP web hosts charge more than what Bluehost does and make no mistake—more expensive doesn't mean that it is better!

When it comes to WP hosting, Bluehost makes it easy for you to start your own website with many state-of-the-art security features, dedicated control panel, unlimited bandwidth and technical support to build and grow your WP site.

Recap on Bluehost Review 2020

Before we wrap up this Bluehost review 2020, it is important to note that we are an active customer on Bluehost. This is one of those hosting companies that offer very affordable shared hosting, dedicated and VPS hosting plans that you can start with very minimal technical knowledge.

We totally understand that the price of web hosting is very important especially for beginners and small website owners. Bluehost pricing for hosting packages is by far the most affordable ones in the market for both new accounts and renewal rates/renewal price.

While Bluehost has its own pros and cons, we can't help but to constantly recommend Bluehost to those who are serious in getting great support and solid web hosting with a lower price point.

Why you don't you get started with Bluehost today and decide for yourself?