Bluehost Web Hosting Review

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Overview

If you are new to searching for the best web hosting company you may have noticed that the name Bluehost is in almost every one of your searches. What makes them stand apart from the crowd? What benefits can Bluehost offer that other competitors can’t? What cons of using Bluehost might hold your business back? After some very thorough testing and comparisons, I put Bluehost through the ringer of web hosting and the results might be a little surprising. By the time you’re finished with this detailed review you will understand just what Bluehost can do and more importantly cannot do for your company.

Overall Rating

Price 90%
Support 95%
Reliability 99%
Features 100%

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PROS:

Most plans include unlimited storage, bandwidth, hosting and email addresses.
Free domain name for a year
Very easy to use
Excellent security features
SSL security and tons of eCommerce features

CONS:

Customer service reviews are inconsistent
They require add-ons for full functionality
A lot of pressure for up-sells
WordPress integrated plans can get a little pricey compared to competitors
Existing site transfer fee

Bluehost was founded in 2003 by Matt Heaton and Danny Ashworth in Provo Utah. They employ over 750 people who are dedicated to making sure your online business runs seemingly perfect. They are the number one hosting company recommended by WordPress. That type of reputation doesn’t come easy! They provide a broad spectrum of hosting plans that are suited for your individual needs. It seems like, when searching for the best hosting companies, Bluehost is always a frontrunner. Bluehost offers a wide array of features, tools and resources to their customers. They offer plans starting at $2.95 a month, but that can be deceiving. If you are using WordPress and want to utilize all of the offered features, like a dedicated server and unlimited websites, the cost can reach $23.99 per month pretty easily. They offer 5 types of hosting that can be customized to fit your business needs.

Cloud Sites
WordPress hosting
Shared hosting
VPS hosting
Dedicated hosting

Bluehost excels at security as well. You get 3 levels of spam protection from Apache Spam Assassin, Spam Hammer and Spam Experts. Everything is password protected. You can blacklist any IP address you feel is a threat or fraud. Bluhost offers excellent security features including single click integration with CloudFlare.

With Bluehost, the ease of use should definitely be noted as well. If you can operate an iPhone, you can navigate Bluehost. They use self explanatory icons for almost everything.

Bluehost specifically advertises how cheap they are. It seems like every mommy-blogger recommends Bluehost due to the price and ease of use, however there is an underlying topic that doesn’t seemed to be discussed much. They advertise a super low introductory rate of just $2.95 a month. Well, there are a few strings attached. That price comes with a 3 year contract. If you want to start with 12 months the price jumps to nearly $5.00 per month. If you want to test the waters and try them out for just a month or two, you’re out of luck. Site migration is seamless, however, they charge $149.99 to do so. If you want to take advantage of their 45 minute introductory walkthrough, its going to set you back $79.99. I know that up-sells and charges for features are pretty common in the hosting industry, but Bluehost does seem to nickel and dime their customers more than most of their competitors. If you are a blogger or have a simple site that you want to promote, Bluehost might be the perfect hosting company for you. If you have a technical site requiring a lot of customization, be prepared to shell out the bucks. As far as uptime, Bluehost is plenty reputable and reliable.

Bluehost is probably one of the most reviewed web hosting companies on the market. The reason is pretty simple – so many people use them. They have a lot of features at a great price. If you plan on building some extravagant, fully customized website that utilizes every one of your hosting companies features, the Bluehost price might start to rise more than you’d like. This goes with the territory of having a complicated website though, so you may already be aware of that. Bluehost has a long standing reputation with an unbeatable refund policy. The customer reviews reflect that. The only inconsistency I’ve found with their customer reviews is the customer service. Some reviewers have stated that the customer service department is next to impossible to get ahold of, while others say that the CS department is top notch. Luckily there are many more good reviews than bad, so take the bad reviews with a grain of salt. All in all, the customer reviews are pretty awesome for a web hosting company. The majority of Bluehost customers are happy to recommend their hosting services to anyone. If you’re looking for a do it all hosting company that is affordable, easy to work with and customize, Bluehost is for you.

Summary

Bluehost has been around for over 14 years which seems ancient for a hosting company. This means that they have stayed on top of the hosting market for many years, proving reliability and credibility alike. Bluehost is used by some very influential companies. In fact, WordPress has given Bluehost their Number 1 recommendation for the best hosting companies to integrate with your WordPress theme. Bluehost offers 5 types of hosting and have an affordable package tailored to your needs in each category. If you are a blogger or running a multi-million dollar eCommerce website, Bluehost can easily handle your needs at an affordable cost. Bluehost might not be the cheapest on the market, but they offer features that most hosting companies simply do not have the resources to offer. These features, paired with 24/7 customer service and a reputation that is second to none, gave Bluehost the number 1 spot for web hosting. The price is fair considering all the extra advantages they have to offer. The package customization is simple and can save the average user a lot of money in the long run. If you want an easy to use customer interface paired with excellent support at a fair price, you won’t be disappointed with Bluehost.

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