BlueHost Review

I am sure you have seen dozens, if not more, of BlueHost reviews on the Internet. Many of these reviews talk about the same stuffs – BlueHost’s unlimited hosting features, free domain offer, and the 30-day money-back-guarantee.

This is not one of those reviews.

I have been using BlueHost shared hosting service since 2005 (very old BlueHost plan – BlueHost Platinum Pak, server Box508.Bluehost.com). That was before the company were sold to Endurance International Group (EIG), before the company redesigned their website, and way before the company added VPS and dedicated plans into their hosting services.

In this review, you’ll get the inside scoop from a 10+ years BlueHost customers.

Ready? Let’s dive in.

About BlueHost Hosting

• Headquarter: Burlington, Massachusetts, U.S.
• Established: 2003, by Matt Heaton and Danny Ashworth
• Services: Shared, VPS, dedicated, and cloud hosting

(Quick Jump) Review BlueHost Hosting in:

 

 Special Discount: BlueHost Basic at $2.95/mo

BlueHost Discounted Price vs Non-discounted Price

Not all BlueHost prices are the same. As BlueHost’s exclusive partner, we are able to give you the best BlueHost deal. This special discount is applicable to all shared hosting plans – Starter, Plus, and Business Pro.

For easy reference, here’s the before- and after-discount prices (36-month subscription) in comparison.

BlueHost Shared Hosting	Without Discount	With Discount	Savings (in 3 yr)
Basic	$7.99/mo	$2.95/mo	$181.44
Plus	$10.99/mo	$5.45/mo	$199.44
Prime	$14.99/mo	$5.45/mo	$343.44

 

 Get this exclusive BlueHost discount, click here

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BlueHost Server Performance

 

Our Experience & Thoughts:

 

BlueHost basic shared hosting service is stable and quick to respond. Test site hosted at BlueHost scores 99.95% and above uptime constantly; site response time, tested from different continents, were all below 500ms

There were two major BlueHost outages (reported in August 2013 and December 2013) due to router issues in the EIG-owned data center located at Provo, Utah. The incident affected a number of other EIG brands including Hostmonster and Hostgator.

BlueHost shared servers are guarded by the company’s Resource Protection Technology (aka. CPU Throttling) – where websites using excessive resources will be isolated and refrained from pulling too much server resources.

BlueHost Hosting Uptime Record

Besides the two major network outages in 2013, BlueHost server has been stable and rarely went down for more than 10 minutes.  recorded downtime at BlueHost was less than 10 minutes most o Test site hosted on BlueHost has not go down for more than 1637+ hours ).

Previous records

* Click image to enlarge. 

BlueHost Speed Test

Bitcatcha Speed Test, March 2017: B+

Bitcatcha Speed Test, February 2016: B

 WebpageTest.org Speed test 

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BlueHost Customer Support

 

Our Experience & Thoughts:

 

Good live chat support

I spoke to BlueHost and 27 other hosting companies via live chat in the past.

The overall experience with BlueHost live chat support was good. My request was answered at first attempt after 2+ minutes of wait; and my issues were solved on the spot by the support staff.

BlueHost Education Resources

BlueHost in WHSR’s 2013 Survey

BlueHost in WHSR’s 2016 Survey

BlueHost User Feedback (From WHSR’s 2013 Survey)

We asked “If you could recommended only one web host, who would it be?”

Lori Soard – Radio personality, published author, LoriSoard.com

For a first-time blogger, I would recommend BlueHost.

Although this hosting company gets a few mixed reviews, they come recommended by WordPress, which is one of the most popular blogging platforms. The hosting company also offers a WordPress auto-install, which makes getting set up quick and easy for someone without a lot of webdesign experience. Unlimited disk space and bandwidth transfer are also a nice addition. Rates start at $4.95/month (if you pay in advance), so it is also reasonably priced for someone trying things out. I also like the fact that newbies can get support 24/7 in a variety of ways (online, via telephone or via e-mail).

Kevin Muldoon – Pro-blogger, KevinMuldoon.com

First time bloggers should not use a lot of resources at first.

Due to this, I would recommend a good shared hosting company such as BlueHost. Once their website has started generating more traffic, they can then review their hosting requirements.

Sharon Hurley – Professional web writer,  SharonHH.com

I’ve used 5 or 6 web hosting service providers over the last 7 years, including many of the popular shared hosting providers.

The one I keep coming back to is Bluehost, where I currently host more than ten domains. It’s a great host for sites with low to medium traffic and everything you want is easy to set up. I’ve been impressed with their uptime and their tech support department is extremely responsive and helpful if there’s ever an issue.

Michael Hyatt – NY Times Bestseller Author, MichaelHyatt.com

If you use WordPress as I recommend, you will need a hosting service too.

And, BlueHost is the best web host for WordPress.

 

Note: I wasn’t able to reach Michael Hyatt in person. His personal assistant, Trivinia Barber, replied my email and pointed out that Michael has repeatedly recommended BlueHost on his blog in the past. The feedback above is quoted from Michael’s blog. 

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BlueHost Hosting Features

 

 

Recommended by WordPress.org

Newbie-Friendly Web Host

 

Flexible Hosting Choices

As mentioned, BlueHost now provides all four level hosting plans – shared, VPS, dedicated, and reseller hosting. You no longer have to worry about server upgrades or out-growing your hosting company with BlueHost.

For beginners, the change in shared hosting plans mean you can now start with a much cheaper (but less powerful) shared hosting plan.

	Basic	Plus	Prime
Websites	1	Unlimited	Unlimited
Storage	50 GB	Unlimited	Unlimited
Email Account	5	Unlimited	Unlimited
Free Domain	1	1	1
Addon Domains	0	Unlimited	Unlimited
Inodes Limit	50,000*	50,000*	300,000
Private SSL	–	–	1
Promo Price (36-month term)	$2.95/mo	$5.45/mo	$5.45/mo
Renewal Rate (24-month term)	$7.99/mo	$10.99/mo	$14.99/mo

 

* Official ToS indicates that in most cases actions will not be taken until Basic and Plus users exceeds 200,000 inodes.

 

BlueHost “Unlimited” Hosting

Like all “unlimited” hosting provider, BlueHost’s unlimited hosting offer is limited by a number of terms and conditions. BlueHost users need to understand that the unlimited data transfer and storage only stays unlimited up to certain level. For better server performance (as your site grows), you are recommended to upgrade your web host.

For your reference, the following paragraph is quoted from BlueHost’s User Agreement, Clause 7 Usage Policies and Definitions, #1 “Unlimited” Usage Policies and Definitions.

b) What “Unlimited” means

Bluehost does not set an arbitrary limit or cap on the amount of resources a single Subscriber can use. In good faith and subject to these Terms, Bluehost makes every commercially reasonable effort to provide its Subscribers with all the storage and bandwidth resources needed to power their web sites successfully, as long as the Subscriber’s use of the service complies with these Terms. By not setting limits on key resources, we are able to provide simple, consistent pricing to our Subscribers as they grow their websites. As a result, a typical website may experience periods of great popularity and resulting increased storage without experiencing any associated increase in hosting charges.

d) Unlimited Hosting Space; excessive MySQL files

… Accounts with a large number of files (inode count in excess of 200,000) can have an adverse affect on server performance. Similarly, accounts with an excessive number of MySQL/PostgreSQL tables (i.e., in excess of 1000 database tables) or of database size (i.e., in excess of 3GB total MySQL/PostgreSQL usage or 2GB MySQL/PostgreSQL usage in a single database) negatively affect the performance of the server. Bluehost may request that the number of files/inodes, database tables, or total database usage be reduced to ensure proper performance or may terminate the Subscriber’s account, with or without notice.

 

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Price – Is BlueHost Hosting value for money?

 

Our Experience & Thoughts:

BlueHost Special Discount: 55% Discount

BlueHost Expensive Renewal Rates

BlueHost’s renewal prices are much higher (up to 90% increase) than the signup promotion price.

While this is a norm in hosting industry nowadays (hosting companies jacking up renewal prices) – a 90% jump in renewal cost is still not a very pleasant experience for the users.

As mentioned in my cheap hosting guide, there are basically two ways to handle this issue:

1. Keep switching web host to enjoy the low entry promotion price; or
2. Stick with a web host that does not increase renewal price (in case you wonder: Interserver is the unicorn which charges a flat $5/mo rate and does not jack up the renewal rate later).

BlueHost Cross- & Up-selling Practices

And, I am not the only one who gets bothered by this practice. Here’s what Lisa said in her BlueHost review:

Bluehost up-selling practices are designed to make you purchase them. I.e. there will be annoying popups and alerts appearing. They have up-sells to select before you check out. Also, there are install add-ons you’ll purchase that normally are included with other hosting providers.

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Verdict: BlueHost – A Pay for Performance Host

Given the fact that you are only paying ~$5/mo on signup, BlueHost shared hosting services are considered okay. The web host scored 52 in our 80-point rating system.

It’s also worth noting that BlueHost offers tons of latest security and performance features – NGINX architecture, custom server cache, HTTP/2, SSD storage, etc. However, these features are only available for those who are willing to pay extra. GoPro, BlueHost’s highest performance shared hosting plan, costs $13.95/mo on signup ($23.99/mo on renewal). WordPress Hosting, now with a new dashboard and integrated marketplace, costs $19.99/mo ($39.99/mo on renewal).

 

For more details or to order BlueHost, visit (link opens in new window): http://www.bluehost.com

 

(P/S: The links above are affiliate links – if you purchase via this link, it will credit me as your referrer. This is how I keep this site alive for 8 years and add more free hosting reviews based on real test account – your support is highly appreciated. Buying via my link doesn’t cost you more – in fact, I can guarantee that you’ll get the lowest possible price for BlueHost hosting. )