Have you had enough of all those glowing Bluehost reviews, with all perfect five star ratings? Me too. Imagine reading an honest review about them. Without all the perfect five-star scores, the bias, and the unnecessary and unhelpful fluff.
You are probably thinking, that this here is just another one of those reviews. That this is another one of those review sites that ranks them as numero uno!
No siree, uh-uh, you’re wrong about that. This is not another one of those. Because this here is my personal, unbiased and brutally honest review.
Sure, they are an all-round, cheap and overall okay web host for when starting your first site but people do tend to either love ’em or hate ’em.
If you are thinking about signing up with them, then give me ten minutes of your time and I will give you all the must-know facts and answer questions like.
- How much does it cost?
- Are they any good, or should I choose another web host?
- If I sign up with them, will I get my money back if I’m unhappy?
- What are the pros and cons of using them?
- Which is the best plan to get?
- What is (and is not) included in the hosting packages?
- Does Bluehost come with SSD? Unlimited storage & bandwidth?
- Can I host multiple websites on them?
- Are there any extras that are included for free?
When you have finished reading this Bluehost review, you will know if they are the right (or wrong) web host for you to sign up with.
What you’ll learn in this review
- Pros & Cons
Is Bluehost a good web host? Here are the pros and cons of using them. There are loads of positives but there are negatives too.
Pros & Cons or jump to the Pros or Cons
- Plans & Prices
Here I’ll give you an overview of their hosting plans. Find out what is (and what is not) included in their shared hosting plans.
- FAQ
Do you have a particular question about this web host? Then it’s probably answered in my most frequently asked questions section.
- Do I Recommend Them?
Find out if I think they are a good web host. Should you sign up or are you better off signing up with a competitor?
Do I recommend them? See my review summary & rating conclusion
Before I jump into the review here I’ll give you a quick summary.
About Bluehost
- Bluehost was founded in 2003 by Matt Heaton and its headquarters is in Provo, Utah.
- Most plans come with unlimited disk storage and bandwidth.
- A free domain name for one year is included included with most plans.
- Bluerock is their new and (speed & security) improved control panel (cPanel).
- Free SSD drives come included on all shared hosting plans.
- Servers are powered by PHP7, HTTP/2 and NGINX+ caching
- They offer free SSL certificates (Let’s Encrypt) and CloudFlare CDN.
- They offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- Is an official partner of WordPress.org
- Website: www.bluehost.com
Now let’s dive into the review ..
Bluehost Pros & Cons
Let’s find out what the pros and cons are. Because you should never put all your eggs in one basket and this also applies to buying web hosting.
I have lost many eggs over the years due to the fact that I didn’t do the initial research of a web host and check all the facts.
So when you are getting web hosting make sure you do your research before you buy. You should weigh the pros and cons of using them and let the facts speak for themselves.
What does stand out about this company is that they’ve been around since 2003 and host over 2 million websites. They’re one of the most popular, inexpensive, shared hosting options available.
But are they any good?
Originally they just offered shared hosting plans, but they now provide a variety of services including domains, cloud hosting, and a variety of hosting options including hosting for WordPress and WooCommerce.
Like every company, they come with both pros and cons. And, being one of the largest hosting providers in the world, it proves many have faith in them. According to the Consumer Rankings, they are ranked at 9.7 out of 10 by users.
Some highlights from the Consumer Rankings review were that they are easy to use, it’s easy to sign up, and their cPanel makes it easy to install WordPress and is very well organized.
But I’m afraid it’s not all roses and sunshine. There are some major downsides too.
So below are more of the good, the bad, and the ugly of using their web hosting services.
The pros of Bluehost
They have a couple of really good things going for them.
Really cheap web hosting
They have some of the cheapest hosting plans in the industry. Plans start at $2.95/month at the time of this writing.
It’s a really cheap web host. However, and it’s a bit shady, you have to pay 36 months upfront to get that price.
Good for WordPress sites
Their new Bluerock platform is a WordPress focused control panel offering an integrated experience with WordPress websites.
Installing WordPress is a breeze, you can either go through the 1-click automatic WordPress installation process, or you can get WordPress installed on account set up when you sign up.
Bluerock delivers WordPress pages 2-3 times faster than the prior technical stack, and it comes with built-in NGINX page caching.
Every WordPress site will benefit from the latest security and performance features such as:
- Free SSL certificate
- PHP7
- WordPress staging
- SSD drives
- NGINX+ caching
- Free Cloudflare CDN
- HTTP/2
Endorsed by WordPress
One of the largest hosting platforms, WordPress, recommends them. FYI SiteGround is also a WordPress.org endorsed web host.
These are, of course, paid endorsements (at least indirectly as both Bluehost and SiteGround sponsor lots of the WP conferences around the world), but nonetheless it’s still an official endorsement.
Generous money back guarantee
Contrary to negative reviews, they are sticking behind their products and services by offering a 30-day full refund policy.
Even after 30 days, you receive a prorated refund of your plan. If you do decide to leave you also won’t find any pesky penalties or hidden fees.
Good uptime
I’m monitoring the uptime of 5 random websites. 4 out of 5 websites have had zero outage, i.e. a 100% uptime, over the last month. 1 out of 5 has had a 99.6% uptime (this would equate to an approx 4h outage during the month).
Security is a priority
They offer good protection for your website. They provide secure shell access (SSH) so web devs and admins can access config files securely. SpamExperts, Apache SpamAssassin, and Spam Hammer are their anti-spam tools of choice.
They offer other security features such as an IP address blacklist, password protected directories, email account and user account filters, and access to manage digital certificates and private keys.
Helpful user support portal
They provide 24/7 technical support. In addition to that, they have a knowledge database where users can check out video tutorials, review supportive documentation, and more.
Honestly a lot of people hate on @bluehost. It’s sad they had a bad experience. Ours was great. 2+ years of awesome service on their shared basic plan. We did not even consider changing hosting companies until we topped 100,000 page views in a single month.
— The Savvy Couple (@TheSavvyCouple) November 25, 2018
The knowledge database works well for those who don’t want to wait around for phone or chat support. Also their YouTube channel contain tons of helpful tutorial videos.
Affiliate program
Bluehost is among one of the most sought after affiliate programs. $11 million in commissions was paid in 2018 to affiliates.
It’s easy and free to sign up; no requirements are necessary to meet. There is no cap on commissions, and they pay you $65 per referral.
A variety of hosting options
If you’re looking to stick with just one hosting company as your business grows, Bluehost has an answer for that. They provide four plans, so you don’t have to switch for server upgrades as your site grows: shared hosting, cloud hosting, WordPress hosting VPS, dedicated, and reseller hosting plans are available.
Quick Start Plan
For those that have no clue where to begin, they have a Quick Start Plan for $79.99. This 45-minute session gives you 1-on-1 training with a company expert.
You’ll learn how to use all the tools in the account such as a cPanel guided tour, web builder recommendation, theme and plugin installation assistance, page creation tips, email account guidance, and other general advice you may have.
Now many hosting providers offer free training, so some could consider paying for the Quick Start Plan as a bad feature. But if you don’t have time to wait around and need all of this training in one sitting, it could be a plus for you.
Generous extras
As a part of their hosting plan, you get a free domain name for the first year. Also, for those looking to boost their business marketing, they offer advertising credits on Google’s AdWords, Bing, and other leading sites.
WordPress Pro
WordPress Pro is Bluehost’s newly launched managed WordPress hosting platform that is optimized for WordPress websites to load fast and to be secure. WordPress Pro comes with all-in-one marketing center and dashboard, where SEO, email marketing, and social media tools all come included.
WordPress Pro is more expensive then Bluehost’s other plans and prices start at $19.95 per month. Speed and security are the main features but it also comes with geeky features such as automatic WordPress core and plugin updates, and regular backups and a staging environment.
Go and check out the WordPress Pro page to see what is included. It’s worth noting that you get live support with Grow and Scale, and these plans also give you hands-on assistance with design, functionality, or general questions from real WordPress experts 24/7.
The cons of Bluehost
They got loads of positives, but they do have their drawbacks as well.
Confusing pricing
As cheap as $2.95 may sound, users often do not read the fine print to notice this is an introductory price based on a term of 36 months. You do have options to select 12 or 24-month plans, but those monthly prices are more.
For example, you can select the most popular Plus plan at $4.45 for 36 months. However, for 24 months or 12 months, the price increases to $5.45 and $6.45 respectively. There are no three and six-month deals to choose from.
No free automatic backups
While they do offer backups, the backups are considered a courtesy. This means you can’t depend on your data to be backed up daily – so no guarantees here. You must set up and run your own backup via the cPanel and to your own local device.
Another bad feature here is that any data they back up within the past 30 days is overwritten. Their Terms clearly state that they will hold no responsibility for this.
In other words, you can only access the most recent backup they have, even if it’s not the one you need to restore your site.
Site Backup Pro is a paid add-on. It creates regular and automated backups of your site. But, it’s a premium feature you have to invest in.
‘Unlimited’ really means ‘limited’
The Plus, Prime, and Business Pro plans boast of their unlimited number of websites, and “unmetered” storage, email accounts, email storage, and subdomains given to clients.
However, their User Agreement, Clause 7 Usage Policies and Definitions, explain otherwise. It’s only unlimited up to a certain level.
Their unlimited plan is comparable to most providers (i.e. Bluehost isn’t the only web host that promises “unlimited” web hosting).
Draconian CPU throttling / protection
They rolled this out in 2009 and had a few customers bewildered. You may not have heard of CPU throttling beforehand either. You can find your CPU throttling when you log into the cPanel.
Simply put, if they think your website is taking up too many resources, they might decide to preserve the server resources by freezing your CPU usage.
However this isn’t unique to just this web host. In fact all shared web hosts restrict over-usage of resources.
No Windows hosting
They only offer Linux-based servers. In other words, you can’t get Windows hosting. This isn’t a huge concern as Linux is the most used and popular operating system for web servers.
But for those that prefer Windows hosting, this is a problem.
No uptime guarantee
They do not offer an uptime guarantee. When selecting a hosting provider, you want an uptime of as close to 100% as possible. They do not give you a guarantee, but their Network/Server Uptime Agreement states that “most issues are resolved in approximately 15 minutes”.
They average about a 99.94% uptime. This .05% outage means that over a full year your site is down for 4.4 hours. Overall, their uptime is reliable, but again, there is no guarantee that your site will be up and running most of the time.
Load times can be slow
Their load times are not always the fastest either. According to a Kissmetrics study, 47% of consumers believe a site should load in less than 2 seconds. And 40% of consumers will leave the site if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load.
If you web host cannot provide you fast loading times, and you aren’t optimizing your website for speed and performance, you risk losing out on a lot of site traffic.
Up-selling is a business model
Their up-selling practices are designed to make you purchase them. In other words, there will be annoying popups and alerts appearing trying to convince you to buy more.
For example, they have up-sells to select before you check out and finish signing up with them. Also, there are install add-ons you’ll have to purchase that are normally are included with other hosting providers as built-in features.
Slow support response times
Although they do have 24/7 technical support, they aren’t always easily accessible. The response times can vary from ten minutes up to an hour. The initial response is auto generated in some instances.
The good news is that they have made significant investments in their support channel with an emphasis on customer experience and success. The support team’s voice support channel has grown customer satisfaction scores to a historic high at 4.86 (out of 5) for 2018.
Expensive renewal rates
Like other hosting companies, their introductory pricing is to lure customers in. It’s also quite misleading. So, when it’s time for renewal, you’ll be shocked to discover the pricing increases nearly 90%!
If you decide to sign up you are better off signing up for a 24/36 month period on the discounted introductory pricing.
Free site migration is not included
If you’re looking to switch hosts keep in mind they do offer site migrations, however for a fee.
They will transfer up to 5 sites and 20 email accounts for the price of $149.99. Comparing this to other web hosting providers, this is a rip-off as most do not charge anything at all for migrating your site.
Bluehost’s hosting packages
Now I’ll explain a bit of what you can expect in each of their shared hosting plans. There are four plans: Basic (or their starter plan), Plus, Prime, and Business Pro.
Many reviews do not even mention Bluehost as having four plans; typically they cover just three.
If you only intend to run a small business website or personal website, then you really shouldn’t need the more expensive package.
Basic plan
As it stands now, the Basic Plan is $2.95/month and is ideal for beginners. You’ll have one domain for your one website. This option is popular, especially for bloggers.
This plan includes up to 50GB of storage, 100 MB of email storage, five email accounts, 25 sub-domains, and a basic site backup.
Their renewal rate is then at $7.99/month for a 24-month term (instead of the initial 36-month term).
Prime plan
This plan has more resource usage and is priced at $6.95/month. This plan isn’t as popular with customers because there are better hosting deals out there.
You’ll get the same features as with the Plus Plan (see below), as well as $80/year in extras, domain privacy, and Site Backup Pro. Their renewal pricing is $14.99/month.
Plus plan
The Plus Plan is their most popular plan at $4.45/month.
This plan includes unlimited websites, storage, email accounts, email storage, add-on domains, and subdomains.
Keep in mind their unlimited terms, though. You also get $24/year in extra’s and Spam Experts on one domain.
There are marketing offers of up to $200. Their renewal rate is $10.99/month after that.
Business pro plan
The Business Pro plan costs $13.95 and gives you everything the Prime Plan offers, however, with this plan you also have an included dedicated IP, up to 300,000 inodes, and Spam Experts for two domains.
There is also an SSL certificate, complimentary subscription to their Site Backup Pro service, and other service perks. Their renewal pricing is $23.99/month.
Out of these four plans, most people find that the Basic Plan suits them best. Most people don’t intend to host multiple websites, so your needs should be met with this plan.
If you do find yourself growing (or if you intend to host multiple websites), then the Prime or Pro Plan would be your best bet.
| Plan | Term | Regular Price | Special Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic plan | 12 months | $8.99/mo | $5.45/mo (39% off) |
| Basic plan | 24 months | $8.49/mo | $4.95/mo (41% off) |
| Basic plan | 36 months | $7.99/mo | $2.95/mo (50% off) |
| Plus plan | 12 months | $12.99/mo | $8.95/mo (31% off) |
| Plus plan | 24 months | $11.99/mo | $7.45/mo (37% off) |
| Plus plan | 36 months | $10.99/mo | $5.95/mo (45% off) |
| Prime plan | 12 months | $16.99/mo | $8.95/mo (47% off) |
| Prime plan | 24 months | $15.99/mo | $7.45/mo (53% off) |
| Prime plan | 36 months | $14.99/mo | $5.95/mo (60% off) |
| Business Pro plan | 12 months | $25.99/mo | $18.95/mo (27% off) |
| Business Pro plan | 24 months | $24.99/mo | $15.95/mo (36% off) |
| Business Pro plan | 36 months | $23.99/mo | $13.95/mo (41% off) |
| Add-on | Price |
|---|---|
| Additional Domain Names: | $15.99 per year of registration |
| Dedicated IP Address: | $5.99 per month |
| SSL Certificates: | $49.99 per year |
| SpamExperts Mail Filtering: | $2.99 a month per domain name |
| Whois Domain Privacy: | $11.88 Domain Privacy per domain per year |
| SiteLock: | $1.99 per month (Billed annually at $23.88 per year) |
| Site Backup and Restore Pro: | $2.99 per month (Billed annually at $35.88 per year) |
| Expired Account Reactivations: | $30.00 |
| Search Engine Jumpstart: | $2.99 per month (Billed annually at $35.88 per year) |
Hosting Plan Comparison
Which plan should I get? That is what this section aims to help you find out …
So what are the differences between the Basic, Plus, Prime and Pro hosting packages? Here is a comparison of Basic vs. Plus plan, Plus vs. Prime plan, and Prime vs. Pro plan.
Bluehost Basic vs. Plus Review
Their Basic plan is their cheapest plan so it comes with the least resources and features The main difference between the Basic and Plus plan is that with the Basic plan you are only allowed to host one website, but with the Plus plan you can host unlimited websites. If you intend to run multiple websites then you should choose the Plus plan.
Another main difference between these two plans is the amount of web space you are allowed to store on the server. The Basic plan only comes with 50GB of disk space, whereas the Plus plan comes with unlimited space. 50GB is quite a lot of space and should be enough in most cases but if you store lots of images and videos then it can quickly add up.
Finally the number of email accounts and amount of email storage on the Basic plan is quite limited. Perhaps not so much the number of emails as most users never use more than 5 email addresses, but having only 100MB of email storage space is quite low and you can quickly run out of space.
You should consider choosing the Plus plan if:
- You want to host unlimited websites on your hosting account
- You want unlimited disk space instead of the 50GB that comes with the Basic plan
- You need unlimited email accounts with unlimited email storage space
- You want SpamExperts which is their spam protection tool
Bluehost Plus vs. Prime Review
There are very few differences between the Plus and Prime hosting packages. In fact there are only things that set these plans apart. That is with the Prime plan you get free domain privacy (also known as whois privacy) for your domain name, and the Prime plan also comes SiteBackup Pro which is their website backup and restore service.
If you are tossing up between these two plans then you are way better off choosing the Prime plan.
You should consider choosing the Prime plan if:
- You want free domain name privacy, whois privacy
- You want SiteBackup Pro which is their website backup and restore service
Bluehost Prime vs. Pro Review
There are a couple of differences between the Prime and Pro hosting plan that are worth knowing about. The first one, and an important one if you intend to run an ecommerce or more resource intense WordPress site, is that sites on the Pro plan will be hosted on high performance servers.
High performance servers on the Pro plan has 80% less accounts per server which allows the use of more resources per account (more CPU usage, disk usage, bandwidth). It offers more speed, more power, with less users.
The Pro plan also gives you a dedicated IP address and a private (non-shared) SSL certificate.
You should consider choosing the Pro plan if:
- You want high performance servers (i.e. a fast loading website) and fewer users that share the server resources
- You want a free dedicated IP address and a private (non-shared) SSL certificate
Which Bluehost hosting plan is best for you?
Their new Bluerock platform is a WordPress focused control panel offering an integrated experience with WordPress websites. Bluerock delivers WordPress pages 2-3 times faster than the prior technical stack. Every site hosted on Bluehost.com will benefit from the latest security and performance features such as:
- Free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate
- PHP7, HTTP/2 and NGINX+ caching
- WordPress staging environments
- SSD drives
- Free Cloudflare CDN
- Free domain name for the first year
Now you know what plans they have to offer and you are in a better position to pick the best shared hosting plan for your needs. Remember you can always upgrade to a higher plan if you require more resources and features.
Based on my experience, here is my recommendation for you:
- I recommend that you sign up with the Basic plan if you intend to run a basic single website.
- I recommend that you sign up with the Plus plan if you intend to run a more than just one site or a WordPress site.
- I recommend that you sign up with the Prime plan if you intend to run a WordPress or other CMS site, and want security and spam prevention features.
- I recommend that you sign up with the Pro plan if you intend to run a ecommerce site or a WordPress site, and want a dedicated IP address plus security and spam prevention features.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here you will find answers to some of the most common questions asked. Think of it’s as the unofficial FAQ.
- What is Bluehost.com?
- What is Bluehost login to.. ?
- When was Bluehost founded and where is their HQ?
- Are Bluehost and HostGator the same company?
- Can I host multiple domains?
- What support do they offer?
- What languages do their support speak?
- How do I know if Bluehost is down?
- Do they have a website builder?
- Do they offer SSL certificates?
- Do they come with a content delivery network (CDN)?
- What is “Business On Tapp”?
- What is “Search Engine Jumpstart”?
- Do they offer WHOIS domain privacy?
- What is “SiteLock”?
- What is “Postini”?
- What is “Site Backup Pro”?
- Can they handle high traffic?
- How to add email to iPhone and Android?
- What is their uptime guarantee?
- What is their CPU throttling / performance protection?
- What is the money back guarantee?
- What payment options do they offer?
- How can I cancel my plan?
- How do I transfer a domain name to (or from) them?
- What are Bluehost name servers?
- What software does their servers use?
- What programming languages do they support?
- Does Bluehost come with Solid State Drives (SSDs)?
- What is their email settings?
- What is my Bluehost cPanel login?
- Do they provide SSH/Shell access?
- How do I verify my account?
- Do they let me edit configuration files?
- Are they good for ecommerce websites?
- Any other sites where I can find unbiased reviews?
- What is the Mojo marketplace?
- Do they have an affiliate program?
- Where can I find Bluehost coupons?
- What is the best Bluehost alternative?
- What is Bluerock?
What is Bluehost?
What is Bluehost login to …?
When was Bluehost founded and where is their HQ?
Are Bluehost and HostGator the same company?
Can I host multiple domains on Bluehost?
It depends on whether you have a basic, plus, prime or business pro account. You can add-on multiple domains and host multiple websites on the plus, prime and business pro plans. You are only allowed to host one addon domain/website on the basic plan. It is also helpful to understand the different type of domains.
Primary domain: This is the domain name that is considered to be your account’s main domain. It is the domain you use to log into your account and the domain you use when dealing with representatives. There can only be one primary domain per account.
Parked Domain: Parked domains are domains that redirect to the content and the website that your main domain does. So, if your main domain is bakingstore.com, you may also want to have similar names like bakingstore.net, bakingstore.org, etc., as parked domains, because they are so similar. You get 5 of these with a basic package, and unlimited with plus, prime or business pro packages.
Sub-domain: These are domains that are created when you add a prefix to your main domain. So, if your website has a forum section, and you make it so that people can get to the forums by typing mywebsite.forum.com, then that is known as a “sub-domain.” You get 25 of these under a basic package, and unlimited under plus, prime and business pro packages.
Add-on domain: These are domains that link to a completely separate website from your main domain. Separate websites with their own domain names are considered add-on domains. You get unlimited amounts of these regardless of package.
What support do they offer?
What languages does Bluehost support speak?
How do I know if Bluehost is down?
Does Bluehost have a website builder?
No they do not have an in-house website builder. Instead, it encourages its users to use either Weebly or WordPress, which can be installed very easily. Both Weebly and WordPress are great website builders and are especially helpful for beginners.
Does Bluehost offer SSL certificates?
Yes, buying or renewing SSL certificates is very easy; just follow these simple steps:
- Log into your account and go to your control panel
- Click the add-ons header, then search for “SSL” in the search box
- Click “add to cart” on the SSL certificate that best fits your website’s needs
- You will be sent a verification email to the email address chosen in the drop-down menu, simply follow the instructions in the email and your SSL certificate will be activated
Does Bluehost come with a content delivery network (CDN)?
What is “Business On Tapp”?
Business on Tapp is a mobile app launched by their parent company, Endurance International Group. The free app gives small to medium sized businesses the ability to directly interact with potential customers and like-minded entrepreneurs. Some of the features on the app include:
Business card swapping: Create your own custom business card and use it to interact with local businesses.
Expert Q&A: Ask a question and have it answered by the community of experts who also use the app.
Polls and market research: Conduct quick sample polls using Business on Tapp users. Get info about the latest trends in business fields.
Experience informative editorial content: Read the unique and interesting pieces written by the experts of the Business on Tapp community that are not available anywhere else.
What is Bluehost “Search Engine Jumpstart”?
Do they offer WHOIS domain privacy?
What is Bluehost “SiteLock”?
This is an add-on users can get for $1.99 a month, it provides standard website protection, such as:
- Protection from DDoS attacks
- Malware scanning
- Malware removal
- Protection against spam
Bluehost “Postini”, what’s this?
What is Bluehost “Site Backup Pro”?
Can Bluehost handle high traffic?
They are capable of handling high traffic, however their shared hosting plans aren’t suitable for high traffic websites. You are better off going with their VPS or dedicated server plans. Every user has access to Cloudflare, a content delivery network that helps sites with high traffic keep their servers functioning and keep their website running fast. Activating Cloudflare is easy:
- Login and go to your control panel
- Go to the domains section and find the Cloudflare icon
- Click activate
How to add Bluehost email to iPhone and Android?
Setting up email on your iOS or Android is easy.
iOS
- Go to “mail, contacts, and calendar” which you will see when you click the “settings” button.
- Click the “add mail account” button.
- Click “other” and then “add mail account.”
- Add the relevant information and click “next.”
Android
- Open the Gmail app and then go to the settings section.
- Click the “add mail account” button.
- Enter your email address, and then specify what type of email address you want to use (either POP3 or IMAP).
- Enter the password for your email address and then hit “next.”
What is Bluehost uptime guarantee?
What is Bluehost CPU throttling / performance protection?
What is Bluehost money back guarantee?
Their money-back guarantee only applies to the first term of a hosting agreement. The guarantee is as follows.
- Users who cancel within 30 days will receive a full refund.
- Users who cancel after the thirty day period receive a partial refund.
- The money back guarantee only applies to hosting plans, money spent on domains or add-ons is nonrefundable.
- There are no fees if you decide to cancel your hosting agreement early.
What payment options do they offer?
In terms of payment they accept all major credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover), PayPal payments, purchase orders, checks (only US residents can pay this way), and money orders (only in US dollars).
Credit Cards: Credit card payment is the default payment option when you create your account. You simply have to fill in your standard card information (expiration date, cardholder’s name, etc.) and it will be saved for future payments.
PayPal: PayPal is one of the accepted payment options. But, only instant payments are accepted. This means you have to have a bank account or credit card linked to your PayPal account for it to be an accepted form of payment. Once you set PayPal as your main payment method, all auto-renewals will be taken from your PayPal account.
Money orders or Checks: Money orders and checks are accepted, but only in US money. The hosting term must also be for 12 months or longer. An invoice will need to be created before you send a check or money order, this is to ensure that the amount paid is correct. Services that require monthly renewal cannot be paid by check or money order; they require an active credit card or PayPal account. Checks and money orders can be sent to the following address:
Bluehost, Inc.
ATTN: Billing
560 Timpanogos Pkwy.
Orem, UT 84097
Purchase orders
They also accept purchase orders, which can be paid by check or money order. But, once you pay with a purchase order, you must always pay using purchase orders or create a new account.
How can I cancel my Bluehost plan?
You can cancel your account at any time for a partial refund. Before refunding, make sure you know:
- The last 4 digits of your password
- The email address listed on your profile is still in use.
Once you have your password and have confirmed that the email listed on your profile is still in use, call the renewals department at: 844-853-6296. The department will send you an email with a link that will take you to your control panel, where you will be asked to confirm the following:
- That you have backed up all important data, including important files, emails, and databases
- That you understand that cancelling your account will delete all websites and files for every domain linked to your account
- Your renewal settings for domain names and domain add-ons
- Your personal information.
- The reason for leaving.
After that is done, hit “confirm” and you will be informed if the cancellation attempt was successful or not. Any refunds will be issued by credit card or PayPal.
How do I transfer a domain name to (or from) Bluehost?
Here’s how you transfer a domain name to Bluehost.
- Login to your domain’s control panel (where your domain is currently registered e.g. GoDaddy, Namecheap).
- Point the nameservers to them (using: ns1.bluehost.com and ns2.bluehost.com).
- Unlock the domain and turn off privacy (if enabled).
- Acquire your EPP code (also called auth code or transfer key).
- Visit the Domain Manager tab in your control panel. Select “Transfer a new domain to your account” and follow the steps provided.
- Here’s a video showing you all the steps.
Transferring your domain name from Bluehost follows a very similar approach. Here’s a video showing you how to transfer out.
What are Bluehost nameservers?
Nameservers are specialized servers that handle requests from computers about the exact location of a domain name’s services. In laymen’s terms, think of it like a phone book. Before calling someone, you would take them time to look up their number in a phone book if you weren’t sure. That’s the logic used with nameservers.
- Their default nameservers are:
- ns1.bluehost.com (IP address 74.220.195.31)
- ns2.bluehost.com (IP address 69.89.16.4)
What software does Bluehost servers use?
What programming languages do they support?
Here’s a video giving an overview of their tech stack:
Does Bluehost come with Solid State Drives (SSDs)?
What is Bluehost email settings?
- Username: Your email address: e.g. lisa@example.com.
- Password: The password for your email account.
- Incoming Server: mail.domain.com (where domain.com is your domain name).
- Incoming Port: 993 (IMAP) or 995 (POP3).
- Outgoing Server: mail.domain.com (where domain.com is your domain name).
- Outgoing Port: 465 (SMTP).
- Authentication: Password.
What is my Bluehost cPanel login?
Do they provide SSH/Shell access?
How do I verify my account?
Do they let me edit configuration files?
Is Bluehost good for ecommerce websites?
They offer Woocommerce hosting. WooCommerce is a plugin for WordPress that turns your site into a fully-fledged ecommerce site. Here are just a few of the features offered by the Woocommerce plugin:
- Sell products and accept payments.
- Manage orders and shipping.
- Integrate with social media and allow customer reviews.
- Extend the look and feel of your online shop using free and premium extensions.
There are three different Woocommerce plans to choose from:
- Basic
- 1 parked domain and 5 sub-domains.
- 100 GB of website space.
- 100 email accounts with 500 MB of storage for each.
- No extras included.
- Plus
- Unlimited website space, emails, email storage.
- Unlimited parked domains and unlimited sub-domains.
- $200 worth of marketing offers.
- Prime
- Unlimited website space, emails, email storage.
- Unlimited parked domains and unlimited sub-domains.
- $200 worth of marketing offers.
- Includes domain privacy and site backup
- Business Pro
- Unlimited website space.
- Unlimited emails and email storage space.
- Unlimited parked domains and unlimited sub-domains.
- $200 worth of marketing offers.
- Extras like Site Backup Pro, spam protection, dedicated IP address, SSL certificate and more.
Are there any other sites where I can find reviews, like Reddit?
What is the Mojo Marketplace?
Mojo Marketplace is an online marketplace where you can install free apps that deal with building websites. For instance, you can download major website builders like WordPress and Drupal. You can also download website themes, eCommerce plugins, and more. Most of the apps offered on Mojo Marketplace are free elsewhere, but what makes Mojo Marketplace so special is the fact that users can download and install the apps with the click of a button.
Does Bluehost have an affiliate program?
Where can I find Bluehost coupon codes?
What’s the best Bluehost alternative?
What is Bluehost Bluerock?
Bluerock delivers a more integrated experience with WordPress websites. It delivers increased performance for WordPress by optimizing the installation and integrating NGINX page cache into the experience (including cache clearing). Cached WordPress pages load 2-3 times faster with the blazing fast Bluerock technical stack!
Do I recommend Bluehost?
Yes and no.
Would I sign up with them to host this site? Probably not. Would I get web hosting from them for a new site I created? Probably.
The reason why I can’t give you a straight up “yes use them” or “no don’t use them” answer is because it all depends on your situation, your website and what you need hosting for.
I think Yes you should definitely go and sign up with Bluehost if you are going to start a personal blog or a small business website.
Bluehost is cheap (really cheap), have a solid uptime track-record and is very easy to get started with (especially for beginners and for WordPress sites).
On the flip side, there are three major reasons why I personally would think twice before signing up.
Firstly, if you have a website that will get high traffic (such as a commercial or ecommerce site), I suggest you go with an alternative that can accommodate a lot of site traffic.
Secondly, if you need to get ahold of someone in support, waiting for up to 10 minutes or longer in crucial situations is not worth the cheap pricing. But then again, their hosting is cheap so you do get what you pay for.
Thirdly, it’s a let down that website migrations and automatic backups only come as paid upgrades / addons. I know these are straightforward things you can do yourself but I think this should be included for free. Again, you get what you pay for.
If you’re still sitting on the fence, know that their generous 30-day money back guarantee lets you “try before you buy” and extras such as a free domain name and features such as a free SSL certificate and Cloudflare CDN are all solid features well worth signing up for.
By clicking this link, you can get about 65% off of the recommended retail price and host your website for only $2.95 a month.
FTC disclosure: To get you the cheapest price possible, I’ll earn a commission if you decide to buy hosting through my links.
They just shut down our site- for 24 hours- they thought there was a payment issue (charge back from last year). We had paid about $ 700.00 for 2018. Very arrogant to shut it down and no communication for 12 hours. We are going to look around for another provider.
The one and only reason I am giving this company a semi-decent review is mainly because of their ONE knowledgeable support agent. I would call in COUNTLESS times and request alanna keel to assist me with my server as EVERYONE else would keep me on hold for 30 minutes or more. I had my site migrated to my VPS account, which mind you, I PAID FOR!! Long story short, the migration was extremely messed up and my sites were all types of broken. After being on hold for an hour waiting for “Steven” the apparent manager to come to the phone (Apparently managers are too busy to attend to customers, WHO KNEW) I hung up and got an unexpected suprise when I called back. After explaining my frustration for the THIRD TIME, I got alanna who actually fixed my sites within 15 minutes. All 4 of them. Didnt even put me on hold. They were fixed before I ended my story, if were being completely honest. It needs more employees that know what they are doing. 2 years ago, I could call in and have my problem fixed in 2 minutes. These days, the support is so slow. ALSO DO NOT OPEN A CHAT, I DONT THINK THEY CAN UNDERSTAND SIMPLE ENGLISH. I feel bad for employees like Alanna, who are CLEARLY picking up the slack for the poorly trained agents they currently have, Unfortunately, after october I was unable to get in touch with my favorite agent so I ended up cancelling services and moved to Godaddy. I give them a 80/100 for one reason only. The superior support from ONE person I talked to out of 20. Host with caution!!!!!!
Hello!
I have purchased a 36 month plan and their $35.00 jump start package.
Well, I’ve had nothing but hard pressure salesman trying to sell me a website build and SEO word local for $6,000.00 for 6 months; including the website for $3,000.00. They do not want to provide help as the advertise with your webhosting; they make rude comments about you and try to take in the Money from you. They told me how dump I was and I needed to pay them. They won’t spend the time with you to get start. They offer ridiculous high costs for help and then tell me I can make a profit teaching some one else. As you are reading costs for help, you will notice how the prices keep going up and they keep being dishonest. Beware of them. Good Luck asking for a manager!!!
My other web hosting company I use is excellent and I’ve had them for 17 years with NO PROBLEMS!!! I wanted to build another website on a different webhoster and see the differences and keep this WordPress website separate. I haven’t even started building this website yet; due to ALL the
Harassment I’ve been getting and no help to bring the platform~template to the C-panel. Their C-panel is more difficult than others I’ve delt with. Just today one of their sales reps phoned me arguing and high pressuring me to let them build my website and do the SEO words. I informed him, I would have to teach him what SEO words~phrases they would have to use and I wouldn’t be getting paid to teach them; because, they dont work with hardly any animal sites; just concrete and city lights [corporate] websites. He wanted a $1,000.00 a month for 6 months and $3,000.00 for a 5 page website that wasn’t going to work for my business. He was higher than the last guy 3 weeks ago that I mentioned on here.
Furthermore, their templates that are free are outdated and the newer ones within 10 to 15 years cost money to purchase. I have spoken with Gentleman from WordPress and he explained they are there to help you for free and no charge; especially, since I was purchasing a brand new design~platform~template for my use. But, that other WordPress sites. I told them how Blue Host was charging us and he said come to them 24/7 and they will help us for free.
The Best to ALL of you!
I still will keep my other hosting company. Also, they stated there wasn’t a charge for migrating to another hosting company. It’s good to know they have no integrity and their fingers crossed behind their backs when pitching their sale spill.
Thank you for your honesty Lisa!
I am sorry to hear that Catelynn. It is such a mixed bag and in your case (after that treatment) I can understand why you want to stay well clear of them.
I’ve been using them for years, maybe around 10. They go through phases where some years they upgrade and are great, then it slows down, then they upgrade and it’s great again. This is the same with mosts hosts if you’re a longtime customer. Every year there is a new “Best Host.” But Bluehost is always hanging somewhere in the top 10.
I switched to their WordPress Hosting earlier this year and it’s been amazing, although a little expensive. My site is so fast now!
I was bogging down the shared servers before and they asked I move to a VPS so the WP Hosting with 4GB of ram suited me perfectly.
As long as you use Cloudflare + MaxCDN or Cloudflare + Cloudfront, you can get by for a long time on the shared servers, your admin page will just be slow if you have too many plugins in WordPress.
Over the years I’ve had very few problems and usually the Chat customer support fixes them pretty quickly and their technicians are crazy good at troubleshooting things. I make more than a living on my part time blog (alikgriffin.com) and feel very safe and comfortable with Blue Host!
Hey Alik, it’s great to hear about your positive experience. Thanks for sharing! I have heard good things about the wordpress hosting, and that it’s very different from their shared hosting. I might have to take a closer look at that at some point.
AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!! Refused to refund my money!!
After a failed attempt to cancel my renewal (due to some unknown issue) they have failed to honour their money back guarantee, stating yet more technical issues. They could neither explain the problem nor give even an estimated time frame for my refund, refusing to narrow it down to days, months or (shockingly) even years!
Their customer support could barely understand what I was saying half the time, and the wait times for live chat were upwards of 10 minutes. When I asked simple questions they would ignore my question and simply rattle a scripted nonsense that had nothing to do with my query! If they didn’t like my question they would simply stop responding.
I cancelled my hosting renewal because not only had the price increased 3 fold but their website was impossible to use. I had to ask a friend who builds websites for a living to help install wordpress as their one-click install didn’t work.
I’m sorry to hear that Katie. I hope you have found a better host for your website
I really wish I had seen this before I went and signed up with them a couple of months ago. I guess now it’s too late to get my money back :sadface. I guess I shouldn’t complain too much, so far BH has been good and I have had to ask support for help, but I’m worried what the future will bring. Lisa, what host would you use for a small blog?
I’m sorry to hear that Heather. I would use SiteGround (in fact I am using them) and either their StartUp or GrowBig plan.
I’m pretty much certain that I will be hosting my site with this company. Here’s what I don’t really understand. Do you think I should register my domain name with them too, or should I register it from somewhere else like Godaddy?
Great question Sam. If it was me, I probably would have taken advantage of the “free domain for the first year” offer.
Hi Lisa, just wanted to say that I love your site’s content and design. It’s nice to read a somewhat negative review. I know you’re using WordPress (I know that much 🙂 but what theme is it that you’re using?
Thank-you Kay! I’m using the Genesis framework and a customized versision of a free child theme called mobile first https://reviewsquirrel.com/free-genesis-child-themes/#mobile-first-theme
My 2017 new year resolution is to start a blog and I will use these guys to host my new WordPress powered blog.
Sounds great Chrissy, good luck with your blog! 🙂
I am much happier with Siteground after I moved my site over to them. It was good but when the site started to get some serious traffic I ran into more and more troubles with BH. This is a great site though, love the info and that you are honest about things (very refreshing compared to all the other “review” sites out there) / xoxo Linda
What a gold nugget of useful information your ‘mini’ site is Lisa. You have certainly condensed everything there is to know about Blue Host into one singular place. Your FAQ is useful beyond words! Well done and keep up the great work!
Thx for helping me out in my quest to find a new web host for my photography blog. I’ll sign up with Bluehost and give them a go. Their 30 days money back guarantee should mean it’s risk free and if I change my mind I get my money back, right?
Thanks Jimmy, how are you finding them, happy or unhappy with Bluehost so far? That’s right, if you’re unsatisfied with BH you can get a full refund within the first thirty days, as per their money return promise.
Hi Lisa, it’s great to see and very refreshing to read an unbiased and honest review about a web hosting company like BlueHost. If you’re after a dirt cheap web host then I think you cannot go wrong by signing up with BlueHost, of course you get what you pay for but I have found them to be reliable for small business and personal blog type websites.
Thanks Maya for dropping in and leaving a comment. I’m happy to hear that Bluhost is working out for you / Lisa
Hi Lisa… good review you’ve written. I know you criticize Bluehost for not offering website free backups, but did you know that it’s really easy to do yourself? Even my grandma could do it! Cpanel comes with a click-of-a-button website backup and restore, also if your site is on WordPress there are numerous free plugins that can do a full site backup and restore. Just my $0.02/ Tommy
Thanks for pointing that out and you’re absolutely right Tommy! Here’s a guide from Bluehost https://my.bluehost.com/cgi/help/735 and here is a list of free WP plugins https://wordpress.org/plugins/search.php?q=backup
I’m not too happy with Bluehost at the moment. My site is slow loading and I’m seeing my site down every 2nd 3rd day or so. I should have known as I’m starting to get a bit of traffic to the site. To quote a bit of Clash; “Should I stay or should I go now?”
Amen to this! I’m sick of all the biased reviews out there, not just the reviews about bluehost but ALL web host reviews. Keep up the good work Lisa!
Cool website! Great to see an honest review about a hosting company like bluehost. I’ve been with them for 6mo and for the price you pay they are good, but like you say I wouldn’t use them for a high traffic “next amazon.com” type of website.