Overall Ranking:

Price: For WordPress Standard starts at $19.99/month, normally $39.99/month

Owners: Endurance International Group Hldgs Inc.

Website: www.bluehost.com

Who are bluehost?

Bluehost was founded in 1996.  It has grown to a point where it hosts over 2 million websites and has been a recommended provider by WordPress.org since 2006. They are owner by Endurance International Group Holding Inc.

They offer a number of different hosting options; this review is based on their WordPress offering. They offer a number of options for those just starting out and those who are looking to grow their business. On initial research, there are a number of misleading reviews, this could possibly be down to their affiliate program offering anyone who promotes them to a reward of $68.  You recommend them to a new user and you receive this reward, this can sometimes lead to people promoting them even if they do not believe they are the best option.   To ensure my review is my own thoughts and impartial, I have not become an affiliate of this product.  I will only  recommend products I believe in and would use myself.

I have checked out a number of opinions, reviews and their website to give you my opinion, read on to see what I found.

Who is bluehost for?

Bluehost is recommended by WordPress.org and I can see that they have a number of benefits to using them, they have options including shared hosting, WordPress hosting, WooCommerce, VPS hosting, dedicated hosting, reseller hosting. So, they have any option that you may need, depending on your needs.  It can look confusing on their website though.  I looked at the website and saw $3.95/month for a shared hosting account. Which looked great, but was actually a very limited version.  I use WordPress, so if I wanted a WordPress Standard account with Bluehost, it would cost me $19.99/month to start.  But this is an offer which is normally $39.99.  so how long do I pay $19.99/month before the new price kicked.  This wasn’t very clear and still is unanswered.  What you get for that price was great, but still depending on your needs, the price could sky rocket a bit.

See below each type:

Shared Hosting: Designed for a new website starting out with low traffic, you use shared resources on the server.

Cloud Hosting: an upgrade to the shared hosting, it utilises multiple cloud servers.  It will automatically switch between servers based on any problems or traffic issues.

WordPress Hosting: optimized for WordPress websites, with support to protect the site against common threats.

WooCommerce Hosting: allow you to start an online store in WordPress.  WooCommerce is a popular plugin for WordPress.

VPS (Virtual Private Server) Hosting: allows you to use virtual dedicated resources in a shared environment.

Dedicated Server Hosting: a dedicated server for just your website. this allows you all the resources this can give you, but at the cost of you having to manage it yourself.

Pros

• Number One recommended web hosting by WordPress.org.
• 1-click install WordPress installation
• 30-day money back guarantee if you are not satisfied.

Cons

• The WordPress Managed accounts are very expensive compared to many of their competitors, check out SiteRubix (2 free sites with a free starter account)
• Bluehost tend to try and get you to upsell quite regularly, which can get annoying
• Investigations show their server uptime clocking in at only 99.0%, quite low for such a big provider.
• Mixed views on their customer service, some stating they have had to wait a long time to get their ticket viewed and sorted
• Wouldn’t say it would be great to someone who is totally new to WordPress, their training is based on someone who knows SEO, etc.

Training/Tools Available

They have a number of tools to help you, which they call their cPanel.  Which when one searches in their self-help to see what tools it actually offers, it comes up with a database error, this would be a concern for me, as it might affect your websites uptime as well.  But on the whole, users find the tools a great help towards their website.

Even though they promote themselves as a great starting point for someone new to a website, I still have yet to find anything that offers anything in the sense of extensive training for someone new it.  Having a website is only part of the journey, you need to understand SEO, the importance of relevant content, using google webmaster tools, even PPC (pay-per-click).

What is Their Support Like?

They have an option called Self-Help, which is basically a FAQ. Although I found that hard to navigate and it didn’t really answer my questions I had, especially around the WordPress option.  It was simple enough to answer how to install a WordPress site, which is made simple with a 1-click install option, but most providers offer this.

They also have a ticket system, where you can ask support for answers which is 24/7.  There seems to be a mixed view online about this.  Some say it’s great and they got a response straightaway, others are stating a massive delay.  BlueHost have over 2 million websites on their hosting, so there is bound to be a delay at certain times.

How Much Does It Cost?

Their shared hosting is very cheap, starting at $3.95/month but this is very limited with capacity, abilities, etc.  On the other hand, their WordPress managed accounts have all the features but is one of the most expensive providers out there.  Their standard package starts at $19.99 and this is an introductory offer.  The price is normally $39.99.

My frustration from the price comes from the fact that even the ultimate package still only offers 1 domain.

Final Opinion & Verdict

All I have found about Bluehost is mainly positive, they have a number of hosting packages depending on what a user wants from it.  It does feel like they have spread their resources too thin when you hear the customer support team gets mixed views from a number of reviewers/users.

As far as WordPress Managed accounts, they offer free ssl, on all packages and with 1-click install it is easy to get started, but on the other hand their managed accounts are quite expensive compared to other competitors.

They do come recommended from WordPress.org and offer a 30-day money-back guarantee if you are not satisfied.

Overall, I think if you are a complete newbie, wanting to start out in blogging, you would be better with Wealthy Affiliate, check out my review.  As a new starter, you need proper training and tools that will help you establish your business that Bluehost may not offer.

They could possibly be better alternatives for those that have a fully-fledged business already looking for a hosting provider, due to the support concerns, I would probably say these might not be for you.  Bluehost would be great for someone who knows what they are doing, is happy paying the price to get free ssl. My only pushback would be that even paying for the higher subscriptions, you are limited to one full domain website, SiteRubix offers 25 websites with free ssl for their premium members.  Their hosting also scores top marks.

Final Verdict

Bluehost is a great provider, but not our number one recommendation, seems too expensive compared to better alternatives, with too many upsells

Thanks for taking the time to read this review, if you have any thoughts on Bluehost – good or bad, then please let me know what you think.

BlueHost

6.5

Training

5.0/10

Help/Support

8.0/10

Price

5.0/10

Overall Quality

8.0/10

Pros

• Recommended by WordPress.org
• 1-click WordPress Install
• 30-day Money Back Guarantee
• Number of Options for Different Needs

Cons

• WordPress Managed Accounts are expensive
• Quite a few Upsells
• Customer Service & Support get a mixed response
• Not Really a Training Platform for Newbies

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