Spend a few minutes researching the best web hosting providers, and Bluehost will be on your radar almost immediately – it’s widely used and hugely popular. But what sets Bluehost apart from the pack? Does it have exactly what you’re looking for, or would another provider be a better fit?
We’ll cover the most important deciding factors in-depth, but to start, here’s Bluehost at a glance:
We’ve conducted our own research of the top hosting providers, and compared our findings for each provider in order to rank them as accurately as possible. The good news is that Bluehost secured the number one spot, scoring 4.8 out of 5 overall. Bluehost’s particular strengths are VPS, dedicated, and WordPress hosting.
Who Is Bluehost Best For?
Bluehost’s range of hosting types, strong features, and affordable beginner plans make it a dependable hosting provider. That’s why we’ve rated it the best overall hosting provider on the market. Bluehost is also the best choice you can make if you’re hosting a WordPress site – it’s earned the title of best for WordPress hosting in our research, scoring 4.6 out of 5, and WordPress itself has been recommending Bluehost since 2005. We also think it’s pretty great for ecommerce website hosting, if that’s your kind of thing.
In the video below, Bluehost customer ‘Melty Way’ (a grilled cheese sandwich restaurant in Utah) discusses how Bluehost has helped to grow their small business:
Utah-based Bluehost came onto the scene in 2003. Since then, it’s become one of the leading providers of web hosting services, and is currently owned by The Endurance International Group, which also owns competitor HostGator. Bluehost currently powers more than two million websites worldwide, primarily out of its data center in Utah.
Types of Hosting and Features
Bluehost offers six different types of hosting: shared, shared WordPress, WooCommerce, VPS, managed WordPress, and dedicated.
- Shared: The cheapest and easiest general service
- Shared WordPress: The cheapest and easiest way to host a WordPress site
- WooCommerce: The best way to host an online store with WordPress
- VPS: Not as expensive as dedicated hosting, and still good for business sites that need to go beyond the basics
- Managed WordPress: Even more features for your hosted WordPress site
- Dedicated: The most expensive but also the most powerful hosting service
Bluehost is a strong choice for any hosting type, but we know, thanks to our research, that it excels at VPS, dedicated, and WordPress hosting. In fact, in some areas, Bluehost has shot up from third place into the winning spot. For example, it now scores 4.6 out of 5 for VPS hosting and 4.9 out of 5 for dedicated hosting!
Other Bluehost Features
Seamless WordPress integration is Bluehost’s most impressive feature, but definitely not its only feature. Though Bluehost only scores 3.3 and 3.8 out of 5 for shared and VPS features, respectively, its dedicated and WordPress hosting plans have excellent features, both scoring 4.4 out of 5. We’ve compiled the rest of Bluehost’s best offerings below:
| Domain registration | Bluehost offers a free domain to certain users when they sign up for a one-year plan. However, that perk doesn't include the domain registration fee (between $10-15), which you'll still have to pay for. |
|---|---|
| Website builder | There's a drag-and-drop site builder for those who have an idea of what they want to create, but don't have sharp enough HTML and CSS skills. |
| Data transfer | Bluehost offers unlimited data transfer on many of its plans. However, Bluehost also provides CPU protection – more on this below. |
| cPanel | Bluehost uses the “cPanel” Control Panel, which is a popular site management system. The company also offers free backups so you don't lose any key site files. |
| Storage | Depending on the plan you use, Bluehost offers anything from 10GB up to unlimited storage space for your site files. If all you plan to do is run a WordPress blog with words and images, then the 10GB plan will be fine, and you can always upgrade if you need more space. |
The fact that you can get so much in one place is a big draw for customers. When we reached out to our email database for first-hand experiences of Bluehost, Steffi, a consultant, said:
“I used Bluehost, because I could do it all in one place: domain registration, email-admin, hosting, unlimited sub-spaces. The documentation was very good and what I needed at the time.”
Hosting management: is Bluehost easy to use?
When it comes to ease of use, Bluehost is up there with the best hosting providers. It combines in-house website management tools with cPanel, resulting in excellent functionality, features, and tools that are easy to find and a comfortable hosting experience.
Bluehost setup process
The Bluehost setup process is simple and uncomplicated, and you as the client are given guidance every step of the way:
Once you create your account or log in, head to the Domains section on the left-hand side menu.
Here, you will see the status of your domains, as well as the options to buy or transfer domains.
Under Domain Connections, you can connect a website, an email, or a hosting service to your domain. Choose whichever you prefer and add a name and domain.
Bluehost will create a site, and take you to the control panel. Here, you can see the basic site information, edit the site, adjust settings, and more. Server information is also there.
If you choose to create a custom site (instead of using WordPress, for example), the main menu will be emptier and contain the Content Management System (CMS) and the phpMyAdmin panel. The phpMyAdmin panel is where you can develop and edit your site. However, this option is not recommended for beginners, as you need to know PHP, understand environments, hosting options, and more.
Bluehost control panel
For site management, Bluehost uses an in-house system called My Sites in combination with the well-known (and well-loved) cPanel. My Sites is one of the most convenient hosting management systems we’ve tested. It’s where you can find the performance optimization section, security, the plugin dashboard, and settings. Here’s what you can do with Bluehost’s My Sites:
- Configure site caching and Content Delivery Network (CDN)
- Enable or disable free SSL, add extra services, and check if WordPress core files are intact
- Activate, deactivate, and update WordPress plugins from your dashboard.
- Update the site URL if you’ve changed it, set the limit of post/page revisions that are saved in your WordPress, disable the comments after a certain time, and choose how many of them to display per page, set up a Coming Soon Page, or even delete your site easily.
In the Advanced menu option on the My Sites page, you will find cPanel. Here you can find the more technical side of hosting management – changing PHP versions, accessing databases, or configuring free email accounts. Things like domain management, however, are part of the native Bluehost management system.
Bluehost for WordPress
Bluehost is one of the best WordPress hosting providers. It offers one-click WordPress installation, and one free WordPress site migration for any user. During our research, we found Bluehost WordPress hosting (installation and migration included) intuitive and easy to use. The site migration is especially easy to conclude, as the native Bluehost Site Migrator does most of the work.
Here’s more information on how to install or migrate a WordPress site on Bluehost:
Install WordPress:
- After creating your account or logging in, choose the “Install WordPress” option in “Add Website” panel.
- Create your site name, connect a domain, or use a temporary domain. You can also skip this step.
- Wait for the WordPress site to be installed. It took us less than a minute.
- After the installation finishes, you will be taken to the summary page. Click on “Edit Site” to edit your WordPress site. Here you can choose to migrate a site, or to just start fresh.
If you want to start a fresh WordPress site, you will be prompted to use the Bluehost website builder. The builder offers plenty of design and template options, and offers guidance in the form of questions about your site’s purpose (wether it’s a shop, a blog, a portfolio, and more).
If you want to migrate an existing site, follow these steps:
- Enter the URL of your existing WordPress site that you want to migrate.
- Install the Bluehost Site Migrator.
- Copy and paste the transfer key to complete the transfer.
- After that, the Site Migrator will do most of the work to migrate your WordPress website.
If you need help with migrating your site, you can buy a Bluehost migration service for $149.99. A Bluehost expert will take care of the whole site migration process.
However, the Bluehost Site Migration is not a well-received tool. It only has 1,5 stars out of 24 reviews with >8K active installations. Our research shows that there are better migration tools, such as Updraft Migration Plugin, which has a 5star rating with >7K reviews and >3M active installations.
Essential features: SSL, marketing tools, staging, email, and site migration
Bluehost includes numerous features to make your hosting experience professional, smooth, and convenient. Security features, marketing tools, staging environments, email, and site migration are all available.
SSL is one of the most important security features that a hosting provider can offer. Bluehost offers a free SSL certificate that installs automatically when a domain is attached. An SSL certificate is essential in establishing a secure connection with your site’s visitors.
The Marketing Tools section is a functional yet simple user interface where you can set up the foundation for your online business visibility – order SEO Tools, integrate Google Ads, and list yourself on Google My Business.
So let’s take a quick look at how these tools can help your business succeed:
- SEO Toolkit: this is a paid option starting at $5.95/mo that gives you a detailed SEO plan and tracks your progress. While it’s not as detailed as Ahrefs, it’s much more affordable.
- Google Ads: ads will make you visible to a particular audience that you want to target, making them one of the most efficient marketing strategies. So Bluehost makes it simpler by integrating an intuitive platform to set up and track the ads as well as do A/B testing. Plus, Google Ads match up to $150 on your first campaign.
- Google My Business: Google My Business is an easy way to get your business listed on Google Maps, and such queries like “pizza near me.” Usually, you’d do that from a Google account, but Bluehost integration makes it possible to set up from your hosting account.
Bluehost also includes professional email accounts. In the cPanel, go to Email Accounts and find the Create button. Fill in all the necessary details such as username as well as password and set the allocated storage space for the email account. For the email client, you have 2 options: Roundcube and Horde. While these email clients are somewhat outdated, they get the job done.
Bluehost email hosting works on the same server as your website. This means that these email accounts should not be used for big marketing campaigns or frequent advertising.
When it comes to website migration, Bluehost offers both a free and a paid option. However, while paid migration is accessible to everyone, free migration has its own requirements:
- Free migration requires a new (first-time) shared hosting account,
- The migration has to take place sometime within the first 30 days of purchasing a shared hosting plan,
- The site itself has to be a WordPress version no older than 4.7 and run on at least PHP version 7.0 or later,
- The website (filesize) must be no larger than 2GB in size,
- The database size must not exceed 40MB,
- The website must be free of malware.
Bluehost review: the final verdict
Bluehost is one of the best hosting services, especially for WordPress sites. Among its best features is the website staging and marketing tools. Additionally, every Bluehost plan comes with a free SSL, CDN, email, and custom domain. The Bluehost performance also leaves little to be desired – with a 99.63% uptime and average response time of 971ms for a fully built site, you are bound to have an excellent hosting experience.
With the in-house Bluehost website builder, you also get the opportunity to have everything you need for website hosting in one place. The in-house + cPanel hosting management system is one of the most convenient systems we’ve seen, and the security suite is complete with the most necessary features.
The hosting plans are affordable and inclusive, with shared hosting plans starting from $2.95/month.
Bluehost is a near-perfect hosting provider, whether you're a beginner, an advanced user, or a web professional. It’s a great, affordable, and easy-to-use option for new websites and small-to-medium size businesses.
