BlueHost Pros & Cons – Is BlueHost Still a Good Choice?

If you’re looking for web hosting this year, BlueHost will surely come up as a web host recommended by many professionals, bloggers, and web hosting reviewers. Indeed, BlueHost is a popular web host that, in part, owes its popularity to its pocket-friendly shared hosting plans and WordPress optimized hosting packages.

Recommended by WordPress itself as the go-to hosting for WordPress sites, BlueHost has made a name for itself in the industry. However, WordPress hosting is not their only claim to fame as BlueHost offers hosting packages across the entire hosting spectrum to appeal to a larger customer base.

In our BlueHost review below, we analyze whether BlueHost can still be a good choice for 2018, or whether you should opt for other web hosts instead.

BlueHost Review

Recognized industry-wide for their aptly built hosting packages, team of in-house professionals, and diversified hosting solutions, BlueHost is chosen by over 2 million customers worldwide. Their fully-managed hosting plans appeal to a wider audience, covering the needs of first-time users and professionals alike.

BlueHost’s hosting services include beginner-friendly shared hosting, flexible cloud hosting plans, application-specific hosting plans like WordPress or WooCommerce plans, and more robust VPS and dedicated hosting packages.

Next, let’s see what you can expect from these plans, how are they priced, and whether they’re a good option to consider in 2018.

BlueHost Hosting Plans

BlueHost has three shared hosting packages in the $3.45 – $5.95/month price range, however, these prices are only applicable if you make a 36-month commitment. The shortest commitment period is 12 months, which drives up the starting price from $3.45/month to $5.45/month for the Basic package.

Each shared plan comes with a free domain name and unmetered bandwidth, while higher tier shared hosting plans include unlimited website hosting and unmetered disk space, along with free marketing credits, unlimited emails are available with some plans, SpamExperts, Domain Privacy, and SiteBackup Pro.

An enhanced cPanel, built-in CDN, and automatic backups are offered as standard with each of these plans.

If you want to take advantage of the power and scalability of cloud hosting, BlueHost offers three affordably priced plans in this category as well. Prices start at $6.99/month if you commit for a longer period. All cloud plans include unmetered bandwidth, a free domain, data mirroring, 1-click resource scaling, while some plans will include extra features like SSL certificate, SpamExperts, dedicated IP, Domain Privacy, SiteBackup + Restore, etc.

BlueHost’s optimized hosting for WordPress is built on VPS technology, and strives to meet the performance, speed, and security requirements of WordPress websites. In this category, you will find four WordPress hosting plans in the $19.99/month – $49.99/month price range.

A free domain, an enhanced cPanel, 24/7 support, 30-day money-back guarantee, SiteLock CDN/WAF Pro, SiteLock Pro, and a Free SSL is included with all plans.

If you want to add an eCommerce component to your WordPress site, BlueHost has you covered in terms of eCommerce hosting with their WooCommerce hosting plans that start at $6.95/month. A dedicated IP, a free domain name, and Positive/Comodo SSL come as standard with these plans.

At BlueHost, VPS hosting is built using all SSD storage. These plans focus on offering more power, more control and flexibility for your website. Prices kick off at $19.99/month if you commit for 36 months, but you also have the option to renew your plan month-by-month, however, you’ll have to roll out an extra $10/month.

BlueHost VPS plans feature unlimited bandwidth, free domain name, free IP addresses, 24/7 server management, and 30-day money-back guarantee.

BlueHost dedicated hosting plans offer abundant resources and the best in terms of control, performance, and security for your website. Prices start from as low as $79.99/month with a 36-month commitment or $149.99/month with monthly billing. A free domain, free IP addresses, 24/7 support, and 30-day money-back guarantee are available with these plans as well.

Regardless of your website’s (blog, eCommerce store, etc.) and resource requirements, BlueHost makes an effort to cover the most common hosting needs, and offer you hosting services that allow your website to perform and expand.

BlueHost Customer Support

Because 24/7 server management comes as standard with BlueHost’s hosting plans, the team of in-house hosting experts are available to help sort out any hosting issues that you may encounter.

The BlueHost customer support team can be reached via live chat, phone or ticketing system, or less pressing issues can be searched for in the FAQs and knowledge base section of the company’s website.

Before we roll out our verdict on BlueHost’s suitability to become your web host of choice in 2018, here’s an overview of the best arguments for joining BlueHost and some things to take under advisement before you sign up with them:

Pros & Cons of BlueHost

Pros – Why Choose BlueHost?

Here are the top reasons why BlueHost remains a relevant choice in 2018:

• Hosting plans built for speed and performance;
• Free domain included with all plans;
• WordPress-centric hosting;
• Free marketing credit, dedicated IPs, and SSL with some plans;
• Multiple domain hosting;
• Enhanced cPanel.

Cons – What’s Bad About BlueHost?

Here are why BlueHost may not make it to the top of your list in 2018:

• No Windows hosting or option to choose preferred OS;
• Affordable starting prices, but high commitment periods (12 to 36 months) and high renewal rates;
• Lack of free migration service.

Final Thoughts on BlueHost

BlueHost’s practice of embracing the newest technologies in order to deliver the best performance to your websites is a strong reason why BlueHost will stay on the radar of many website owners, especially that user experience and website performance continue to be strong SEO ranking factors in 2018. Thus, many will seek out hosting providers like BlueHost that offer various site speed optimization tools and technologies built into their hosting plans (e.g. CDN, caching tools, SSD storage, etc.).

Undoubtedly, BlueHost remains a relevant web hosting choice in 2018 as well. Its continued support for open source software like WordPress, and its long-standing position as an ultimate WordPress platform make BlueHost a top choice for many WordPress websites.