Choosing a web hosting service is really confusing, right? Obviously, the reason is there are hundreds of hosting companies and tons of hosting reviews available online. Remember, you can buy Bluehost plan @ $2.65/mo using a special trick. Yes, the cheapest Bluehost plan is not $2.95/mo, it’s $.65/mo.
Then how to decide which is the best WordPress hosting for your new website? Let me make it very simple here in this article, Bluehost review. If you don’t have much time to read this article, then check out below table with existing discounts on different web hosting plans of Bluehost.
Here are our exclusive Bluehost coupons & promo codes:
| Coupon | Regular Price | Our Sale Price | Hosting Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63% Off Shared Hosting | $7.99/mo | $2.65/mo | Basic Hosting |
| 33% Off WP Pro | $29.99/mo | $19.95/mo | Managed WordPress Hosting |
| 50% Off eCommerce Hosting | $13.99/mo | $6.95/mo | Woocommerce Hosting |
| 33% Off VPS Hosting | $29.99 | $19.99 | VPS Hosting |
| 27% Off Dedicated Hosting | $109.99 | $79.99 | Dedicated Hosting |
As you have discovered this article and eagerly want to discover whether Bluehost is a good hosting company or a bad hosting provider, I will help you to make your confusion clear. How?
Because I am hosting one of my micro niche website on Bluehost Cloud hosting plan, to test their performances. It is always good to try a web hosting first and then comment on them.
This website is hosted on SiteGround GrowBig plan. And there is no doubt that SiteGround has better servers and live chat support. But that doesn’t mean that Bluehost is the worst hosting.
Bluehost has its own features which are very attractive for customers. E.g.
- SiteGround renewal charges are very high and this is a very big negative point. Bluehost is quite cheaper compared to SiteGround.
- Bluehost offers FREE domain name, where SiteGround doesn’t offer any.
So, clearly when we talk about price Bluehost has a little edge over popular SiteGround. But with a fast server and quality hosting, SiteGround is the #1 Web Hosting in my list. But if money is your concern, then go for Bluehost.
Why Bluehost is so popular compared to other web hosting providers? Let’s find out.
Bluehost WordPress Hosting Review 2019 (A Quick Read To Know Why BlueHost Is Best Hosting For Beginners)
Without wasting much time, just let me tell you the story of this topic in short, but in an effective way. If you have time to read more, then you can read the entire article. But for quick buyers, here is a handy review of Bluehost shared hosting plan and why I like them.
Pros (Things I like About Bluehost)
- #1 WordPress recommended hosting providers for a long time. In that list, you will also find Dreamhost in #2 & SiteGround at #3 as a new entry.
- They provide cheap WordPress hosting in India. If you follow my Bluehost discount trick article, you can avail the maximum discount $2.65/mo for a 36-month plan (66% savings, compared to 63% of what everyone is offering).
- You will get a free domain name and free SSL certificate. For the domain name, the first-year fee is waived off, means a saving of $15.
- Although Bluehost is one of the EIG backed hosting company, in 2018 they have revamped their brand, service and technical problems they faced in 2017. Bluehost received many criticisms, but they are now a much better web hosting company.
- Their shared hosting plan now comes with an in-built caching solution (powered by free Cloudflare) which helps in speeding up a WordPress website. I am sure you are aware of how much important page speed is in 2018 and how a web hosting company is responsible for the same.
- Bluehost cPanel is so easy to understand that you will feel like following step by step instructions and able to complete setting-up your entire website by own. Even if you don’t have any technical background.
- Bluehost LIVE chat support faced huge criticism due to their long wait time. But gone are the days as now you can see they were responding even before 2-3 seconds max (as per the screenshot below they promise to get back in 5 minutes). I am telling that from my own experience only.
- The bluehost affiliate program is one of the best web hosting affiliate programs with high commission. They even paid up to $120 per sale. You can check out the proof of my Bluehost affiliate income.
Cons (Things I don’t like about Bluehost)
- They are backed by EIG Group, which is nothing but an umbrella company. Under the EIG brand, there are almost 60 hosting companies. Check out the Wiki page of the EIG Group.
- Although they will say unlimited resources, actually they are not unlimited. That is one of the key myths of any shared hosting providers.
- Their cheapest plan will apply only with a 36-month plan only. If you want to buy a 1-year plan, you have to pay the higher price.
- No website free transfer service. In fact, they charge a healthy fee. If you are looking for a free website migration hosting, then SiteGround GrowBig is the perfect plan for you (Don’t miss 60% Off SiteGround coupon).
- No SSD disk. Yes, Bluehost shared hosting doesn’t equip with latest SSD disk technology. You have to upgrade to the cloud to get those features.
That’s why I always recommend spending little extra money for a quality hosting. This will give your website the best performance and high security. Go for SiteGround.
But, you can’t underestimate the popularity of Bluehost.
Why I Choose Bluehost To Host My Micro Niche Website?
So, let’s come to the point why I have opted for Bluehost when there are a couple of cons, missing features. The reason is very simple, let me document them one by one
- I need a shared hosting plan where I can host multiple websites at a cheap price.
- I was looking for a cheap & reliable hosting provider.
- I was looking for hosting company who provide free SSL certificate. As I faced issues with Hostgator regarding SSL installation and that was paid.
- Almost every internet marketers & top bloggers are recommending Bluehost as best shared hosting for beginners. E.g. Harsh Agarwal, Pat Flynn etc.
- The bluehost affiliate program is one of the best among all and they pay a very heavy affiliate commision every year. Over $5 Million Paid in Commissions Last Year Alone. I also make decent sales every month & generate passive income.
I think these are enough reasons to invest in a web hosting company like Bluehost and I did the same almost 2 years back. And the current situation is, I have not faced any kind of major issues to cancel Bluehost account.
Of course, I faced issues with their live chat option last year 2017 and got frustrated. But in 2018, so far I have contacted them 3 times and recently when I migrated my domain from mypassiveincoemtis.com to Bloggingjoy.com and the response simply amazing.
Righht now I have moved this website from Bluehost Cloud To SiteGround GrowBig Plan. I heard a lot of positives about SiteGround and wanted to grow my main blog on SiteGround to give better performance.
What if your website traffic grows rocket high?
That’s awesome news and I am sure everyone love to reach in such a situation. Anyway, Bluehost has many other plans to upgrade like VPS, Dedicated hosting, Cloud hosting etc.
In fact, we can go for specialized managed hosting providers like WPX Hosting, SiteGround GoGeek Plan, StudioPress Sites etc.
As per current blogging need to start a self-hosted WordPress, Bluehost shared hosting plan is a perfect choice. Don’t think that much, I am sure you will be able to create a beautiful blog like mine, hosted on Bluehost.
And don’t forget you can save 66% with my special Bluehost link (not 63% off, what others are offering).
Bluehost Testimonials, Feedback & Reviews Shared By Customers
Do you know that the world’s top bloggers are recommending Bluehost as best for beginners? Here are a few screenshots of ShoutmeLoud, #1 WordPress blog in India.
Popular web hosting review website(hostingadvice.com), also found Bluehost as 2018’s Best Web Hosting considering overall reviews.
Another popular whoishostingthis.com, where you will find many actual customers shared their responses after using Bluehost as hosting providers. Here are a few of the positive responses from Bluehost users.
That doesn’t mean that everything is always positive about Bluehost. There are many complaints and negative reviews as well, and that is true for every product.
But here I just want to say that, 2 million people who are availing Bluehost services are not wrong. When I am writing this Bluehost review, be a part of the Bluehost family from last year, I am also not wrong. You can happily host your website on Bluehost shared hosting plans and start your blogging career.
Bluehost Review 2019 – 10 Things You Must Know About Bluehost Before Buying
Bluehost is in the web hosting business for a long time. They have been through a very bad phase after acquiring by EIG. But I think there is no match of Bluehost when we consider the price and popularity. Here are 10 points you must know about Bluehost, which gives beginners a solid trust in Bluehost.
#1. Optimized for WordPress Sites
WordPress is one of the hosts strongly recommended by the WordPress content management system. This platform is one of the most popular ways to create websites all around the world – chances are, you plan to use it as well.
If WordPress is your thing, BlueHost is your host. Websites won’t only be quick – a custom BlueHost dashboard is going to make it very easy to purchase advanced themes, add content or start an online shop. WordPress with this host is an overall terrific experience – easy to master even for those with no previous knowledge.
#2. 99.99% Uptime Record
#3. Free Domain
#4. Free SSL Certificate
Yes, this is one of the most important things you need on your website. SSL certificate is a must to keep your website secure and this is a ranking factor as well. Bluehost offers free SSL certificate for all your websites.
#5. Cheapest WordPress hosting Plans for Bloggers
Bluehost Starter Plan
- 1 Year term: $4.95/month
- Two-year term: $3.95/month
- 3 year term: $2.95/month
Bluehost Plus Plan
- 1 Year term: $8.45/month
- 2-year term: $6.95/month
- 3-year term: $5.45/month
Bluehost Choice Plus (Prime Plan)
- 1-year term: $8.45/month
- 2-year term: $6.95/month
- 3-year term: $5.45/month
#6. Great performance with inbuilt cache
With great optimization comes great performance. BlueHost has one of the quickest servers in the business and they tend to outperform the competition.
Website speed is an incredibly important thing. It’s not only crucial to the experience of the visitors – the quicker the website, the higher it’s Google rank. So if you care about your visitors and Google search rankings, choose BlueHost.
#7. Part of a huge network
BlueHost has the means to provide only the best services to its customers. Under the same ownership as many other Internet service providers, BlueHost has a lot of information to work with. Which means that this host already knows how to solve a lot of problems before they even appear.
Experience is something that shouldn’t be taken for granted – by picking a brand new provider with almost no experience you could become a proverbial lab rat for all its problems. With BlueHost, no such thing will happen.
#8. Plenty of important essentials (Awesome cPanel)
BlueHost knows that you don’t only buy server space from them – you purchase an entire home for your website. Which is why its clients will get plenty more stuff to work with.
For example, by picking any shared hosting plan, you will get a free domain name for 12 months. Your domain name is your brand – and it may be expensive to buy it but BlueHost provides that free of charge.
Another important thing is backups. It’s quite simple – if your website isn’t backed up, something happening to it would mean irreversible actions, perhaps even leading to the page’s disappearance. Some hosting providers ask you to do it manually, some ask you to pay extra, some do those free of charge – but only weekly! Bluehost is clearly ahead of the pack, offering free daily automated backups for every shared hosting client.
Also, if you plan to sell online or handle passwords as well as any other sensitive user information, you will be happy to hear SSL is included on every WordPress website. This means that your website security is going to be taken care of.
#9. Fast responsive customer service (24/7 Support)
Some providers only offer 24/7 phone support and don’t really bother with making their chat or ticket systems follow the same route. There are even some providers who don’t offer any 24/7 support at all! Well, BlueHost takes its customers seriously and offers around-the-clock support by live chat, tickets, and phone.
Inquiries take very little time to respond and the agents are courteous as well as helpful. When choosing a hosting provider, pick the one with great support. Pick BlueHost.
Which Bluehost Hosting Plan Is Best (In 2019): Basic, Plus Or Prime?
Bluehost shared hosting has 3 different plans. They are Basic, PLUS & Prime. Now why there are 3 different types of plans and how are they different? That is what you have to understand before buying a Bluehost hosting package.
Bluehost Basic plan Review (Features & Who Should Buy)
Bluehost Basic plan is the first plan where you will find minimal resources. This is the cheapest Bluehost plan which may suit a beginner.
Here are the key highlights of the Basic Plan
- Email Accounts 100
- Storage (GB) 100
- File Count 50,000
- Network bandwidth Unlimited
- Domain Hosting 1
- One Free Domain Registration No
- SubDomains 25
- One Free Domain Privacy No
- Free Dedicated IP No
- Free SSL Certificate No
- MySQL Databases 20
- Database Tables 1,000
Pricing: Bluehost Basic plan is one of the cheapest Bluehost packages. Here is the discounted price listed against their actual price. Remember one thing, Bluehost basic plan will allow you to host only one website.
- 36 Month Term @ $2.95 (Actual Price $5.99/mo)
- 24 Month Term @ $3.95 (Actual Price $6.99/mo)
- 12 Month Term @ $4.95 (Actual Price $7.99/mo)
This is the perfect plan for a beginner to start a blog at the lowest price ever. You just have to follow the step by step guide I have shared already.
Bluehost PLUS plan Review (Features & Who Should Buy)
Bluehost PLUS plan is my favorite one and my website is also hosted on Bluehost PLUS plan. Here are the key highlights of this awesome Bluehost package.
- Email Accounts Unlimited
- Storage (GB) Unlimited
- File Count 50,000
- Network bandwidth Unlimited
- Domain Hosting: Unlimited
- One Free Domain Registration Yes (for 1 year)
- SubDomains Unlimited
- One Free Domain Privacy No
- Free Dedicated IP No
- Free SSL Certificate No
- MySQL Databases Unlimited
- Database Tables 1,000
Pricing: Bluehost PLUS plan is one of the best Bluehost packages with unlimited domain hosting. Here is the discounted price listed against their actual price.
- 12 Month Term @ $8.45 (Actual Price $11.49/mo)
- 24 Month Term @ $6.95 (Actual Price $10.99/mo)
- 36 Month Term @ $5.45 (Actual Price $9.99/mo)
This plan is highly recommended for bloggers and internet marketers who run multiple websites in different niches. You can check out my Bluehost review to find out how it is working for me for the last 2 years.
Bluehost Prime Plan Review (Features & Who Should Buy)
Bluehost PRIME plan is having many addon features on top of PLUS plan. As a beginner, you can start a blog on PLUS plan happily, but if you need more features that you can subscribe for PRIME plan also.
Here is the feature of Bluehost Prime plan:
- Email Accounts Unlimited
- Storage (GB) Unlimited
- File Count 300,000
- Network bandwidth Unlimited
- Domain Hosting: Unlimited
- One Free Domain Registration Yes (for the lifetime)
- SubDomains Unlimited
- FREE Backups
- FREE Domain Privacy and Spam Experts
- One Free Domain Privacy Yes
- Free Dedicated IP Yes
- Free SSL Certificate Yes
- MySQL Databases Unlimited
- Database Tables 3,000
Pricing: Here’s the pricing option by Bluehost Prime hosting
- 12 Month Term @ $8.45 (Actual Price $24.49/mo)
- 24 Month Term @ $6.95 (Actual Price $22.99/mo)
- 36 Month Term @ $5.45 (Actual Price $19.99/mo)
Looking For Bluehost Shared Hosting Alternative?
If you are looking for Bluehost shared hosting alternative, then you can check out Bluehost VPS plans or Dedicated hosting or Cloud Hosting plans. These plans are mainly for high traffic websites to have a good performance.
Bluehost Virtual Private Server Hosting
Bluehost VPS plans has four service tiers: Standard, Enhanced, and Ultimate.
- Monthly network bandwidth ranges from 1 TB (Standard) up to 4 TB (Ultimate).
- Every account comes with one included domain name and 24/7 superior tech support.
- SAN storage doubles with every tier starting at 30 GBs.
- Affordable add-ons — like extra IP addresses and up 1000 GBs SAN storage — give you the flexibility to expand services rapidly.
Bluehost Dedicated Hosting Review
Bluehost offers 3 types of Dedicated hosting plans: Standard, enhanced & premium. Here are the key features of Bluehost dedicated hosting packages.
- 4 GB RAM
- 3 IP addresses
- list of server resources
- 1 TB of disk space.
- Custom-built dedicated servers are built on performance equipment — OpenStack, KVM, Intel Xeon, etc.
Bluehost Cloud Hosting Review
I am planning to migrate to Bluehost Cloud hosting on next renewal as my PLUS plan renewal is almost similar to Bluehost Cloud Performance plan with little extra cost. Bluehost cloud hosting plan is far better compared to shared hosting plans.
- Starter services come with 100 GB, 2 GB RAM, and 2 CPUs with prices starting under $5.
- Both Performance and Business Pro packages offer unmetered storage and 4 GB or 6 GB RAM respectively.
- A flexible à la carte menu lets you add CPU and RAM as you need it, so you’re never paying for power that you aren’t using.
So, which Bluehost plan is best for you? I hope I am able to answer your queries by sharing all types of Bluehost web hosting plans. If you have any doubt or experience with Bluehost web hosting plans, then you can write a comment below and share your thoughts.
Step By Step Guide To Install WordPress On Bluehost
This is a complete end to end tutorial after which you will find your WordPress website live. Before starting this process, you need to ready with a few of the things mentioned so that we don’t waste time.
- A credit card so that you can pay your hosting charges
- A domain name handy or you can buy a new one with Bluehost (free for the first year)
- A good premium WordPress theme to enjoy a fast loading website (E.g. Thrive Themes, GeneratePress, Genesis Framework etc). My website is using Focus Blog Theme from Thrive Themes.
I think this is enough to start the process of setting up a self-hosted website in Bluehost. Follow the step by step guide below.
Step #1: First of all you have to click here to visit the Bluehost website. Bluehost offers a 50% discount on their web hosting plans. This is a default discount, but I found a special Bluehost coupon trick to get a 66% discount on Bluehost shared hosting.
Step #2: Click on GET STARTED NOW button and you will find 3 different plans from Bluehost. Bluehost offers 3 plans: BASIC, PLUS & PRIME. I love the PLUS plan as it is having everything I need as a starter. You can host unlimited websites and the price is also not that high compared to BASIC plan.
Step #3: Choose a plan as per your need. And then click on SELECT. You will find a screen like below. Here you have to provide a domain name. In case you have a domain name already, then you have to change the DNS settings of your domain using GoDaddy or NameCheap login.
Otherwise, if you don’t have a domain then this is the best way to save the first year domain charges. As Bluehost offer a free domain name. Try to do the necessary researches before finalizing the domain name. Anyway, provide the domain name and click on the NEXT button.
Step #4: On the next screen, you have to fill up all necessary information like your name, address, city, email address, mobile number etc. On the same screen, just scroll down a little bit to find out the Bluehost hosting plan pricing details and the duration for which you want to buy.
Here is the Trick to get cheap Bluehost price.
You have to take the cursor near to a different tab or the close window option. At that time, an exit popup will trigger where you will get a special Bluehost price of $2.65/mo.
Make sure, you choose 36-month plan to get the maximum discount. I did a mistake of buying for 1 year, and after that now I renewing my Bluehost package by paying the actual charges. You will not get any Bluehost renewal discount to save money after that.
So, bet way to save money is by choosing for 36-month, so that you can get the lowest price for 3 years. Also remember to remove all the other ticks, as this is not required for this moment.
Step #5: Bluehost only offer payment through credit card. That’s why I have mentioned in the beginning to get ready with your credit card. If you don’t have a credit card, then take help from your friends or family.
Provide the credit card information and then click on the SUBMIT button to complete the purchase.
Step #6: On the next screen it will ask you to create a password for your Bluehost cPanel. Choose a password which is very tricky to crack for others, but simple to remember for you. Make sure you followed the password rules.
Click on CREATE YOUR PASSWORD button.
Step #7: As soon as you are done with your password, you can log in to your dashboard. You will also get an email with all the necessary details as well.
Step #8: Click on the log in button and provide your id & password. After successful login, you will find a screen like below. Click on the Start Blogging button and continue with the dashboard.
Step #9: Bluehost interface is really awesome. If you are installing first time also, you will hardly find it difficult. As soon as you log in to your Bluehost cPanel you will find it like below.
Step #10: Under the website section in your cPanel, you will find easily the option INSTALL WORDPRESS. It will open a screen of Mojo marketplace. Bluehost is internally integrated with Mojo marketplace which provides a very good interface to install WordPress as well as many other services related to a blog set up.
Step #11: On the next screen, select the domain name on which you want to install WordPress. Make sure you keep the directory field blank. If you have a specific requirement like you want to install WordPress on a blog directory then you can write. In that case, your website will launch like yourdomain.com/blog/.
Step #12: On successful installation, you will find a screen like below.
Step #13: Next, you can log in to your WordPress website using the yourdomain.com/wp-admin/ link. You will find a screen like below where Bluehost will offer a screen to configure various WordPress settings.
Step #14: You can follow the step by step guide to set up your complete WordPress site. Website title, header and other information.
Step #15: As I have already mentioned, you can either choose a free theme from the theme gallery offered by Mojo marketplace. But it is always better to pick any of the SEO-friendly premium themes from StudioPress Themes or Thrive Themes.
Step #16: After completing all the steps, you will reach a screen like below. Here you have to click on the launch button to make your website live.
Hope this small tutorial will help you to set up a WordPress blog on Bluehost. You can share your experience or write any kind of query by a simple comment below. Please share this post on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ if think this post is really useful for others too. 🙂
Follow these articles after installing WordPress
Conclusion – Review Of Bluehost Hosting Plans
Way as well be. There are not many hosts which combine great customer support, plenty of add-ons and performance so well. There could be a host which performs just slightly better.
There could be a host which respond to your chat requests just a hair quicker. Someone may even offer a free domain for a little bit longer. But I doubt that there’s a provider which does it all so well – the way BlueHost does it.
And this is precisely why this hosting provider is on top of so many “best host” lists. It’s amazing at the many things it does and in the end, the client wins.