Is Bluehost the Best WordPress Hosting Company?
Is Bluehost the best WordPress hosting service? That’s what we’re here to answer. Let’s take a closer look.
Features
If you’ve been following our guides on how to choose the best WordPress hosting, you’ll know that the features of a hosting service are among the most important factors to consider. After all, you’re going to be paying for those features. We love a good feature list, so here’s Bluehost’s. What follows is a brief summary of the features available on Bluehost. For more information, please refer to the official website.
No Lock-in Contracts
One of the most important factors to consider if you’re looking for a reliable and secure WordPress hosting service is whether or not there is a lock-in contract. This is especially important if you’re planning on using the service for business purposes. When you get a free domain and start a WordPress website with a service like Bluehost, you’re going to be locked in to using their services for as long as you maintain the website. This is usually okay for personal use, but if you’re looking for a reliable service for business use, you might want to consider an alternative. Let’s take a look at the different hosting types available on Bluehost and the associated costs.
Basic, Plus, and Ultra Hosting
Bluehost offers three different hosting plans which you can select according to your needs. The first two–Basic and Plus–are the standard shared hosting plans, while the Ultra plan offers more features. All three plans include a free domain. To sign up for Bluehost, click here.
As the name would suggest, the Basic plan is the cheapest and least feature-rich of the three. You get a space on their servers, and you can install WordPress to create a web space for free. You can install additional applications such as WooCommerce, or choose to use their managed WordPress hosting service and let them take care of everything for you. Naturally, you don’t have total control over the appearance of your site, but you do get to choose the domain name and decide whether or not to enable IP banning.
The Plus plan offers the same features as the Basic plan, but with better performance and more storage capacity.
Managed WordPress Hosting
The Ultra plan provides customers with a fully-managed and maintained WordPress website. This means that they’ll take care of all the backend (the computer stuff) so that all you need to do is focus on your content and driving traffic to your site. They’ll also ensure that your website is secure and takes care of any performance issues that may arise. You can select this plan if you want to have total control over the appearance of your site, but you don’t have the time to take care of all the technicalities associated with setting one up.
To get started, click here to register for the Ultra plan. Once you’ve registered, you’ll be taken to a dashboard where you can manage all your websites and orders. From here, you can select the plan that’s right for you and your business. Then, simply follow the instructions to set up your website. You can register a new product, edit an existing product, or create a new product. When you’re done, just click over to Checkout and you’ll be taken to the payment page. At this point, you can either log in or create a new account to pay for your order. Finally, after making the payment, you’ll get an email from Bluehost with your login details. From here, you can access your website.
Why should you go with managed WordPress hosting? First, it’s often cheaper than taking the managed WordPress hosting route, and that’s important if you’re looking for a budget-friendly option. Second, they have a money-back guarantee if you meet the right conditions. You can also take advantage of their server crash insurance option for an additional fee. Essentially, with managed WordPress hosting, you’re getting a fully-functional and maintained website with all the features you need. Plus, the price is right.
Space Requirements
Another important factor to consider if you’re selecting a WordPress hosting service is how much space you need to comfortably run your site. All WordPress websites need a certain amount of space to function properly. You’ll need at least 1 GB of space to run a basic blog. That should be more than sufficient for any personal or small business use. If you’re looking for a reliable hosting service that can handle high traffic, consider paying a little more for a VPS (virtual private server). These are dedicated servers which host multiple websites and can handle high traffic loads.
SSL Certificates And Domains
An SSL certificate is a must for all websites that don’t belong to one entity. This is especially important if you’re selling products online because security-conscious customers expect all websites that they visit to be secure. SSL certificates add an additional layer of security to your website, encrypting the traffic between your customer and your server. They also provide a trusted indicator to your customers that you’re committed to keeping your website secure. For this reason, it’s often recommended that you buy an SSL certificate when you start a new website. Otherwise, you’ll have to pay extra later when you decide to terminate the service.
An important related factor to consider is whether or not you need a domain to go with your SSL certificate. If yes, you’ll need to buy that domain as well. Most likely, you’ll want to buy a.com domain for your website. That’s because.com is the most popular domain extension in the world, so it’s likely that your customers will be able to find what they’re looking for. Buying a.org domain may also be a good idea, as it’s often associated with non-profit organizations and government entities. In most cases, you’ll be able to get a free domain from your hosting provider. Just remember that you’ll need to keep the hosting service active for at least 18 months to keep the domain. Once the 18 months are up, you’ll need to renew the service or purchase the domain separately.
Pricing
One of the most important factors to consider if you’re selecting a budget-friendly WordPress hosting service is how much you’re willing to spend. All things considered, Bluehost offers some great values, including a free domain, as well as the option to pay as you go or on a monthly basis. Naturally, the cheaper the better, as long as you can feel confident that the service is trustworthy. The price for the basic shared hosting plan with a free domain is currently $2.95 per month. For a daily budget of $15, that’s less than $0.03 per day. Now, you might be wondering whether or not you’ll need additional hardware or software to run your site. The short answer is yes, you’ll need additional software to be able to run a WordPress site. This is especially true if you’re storing any kind of financial information on your site. The additional costs for the software you need to run a WordPress site range from $15 to $99 per month. The exact cost will depend on how much space you need and what features you need. One thing is for sure: it’s not free.
To get started, visit this special link to sign up for Bluehost, and you’ll be able to choose a free domain name along with signing up for their Basic plan. Once you’ve done that, you can immediately start building your WordPress site. Congratulations! You now have a fully-functional and beautiful website.
In summary, Bluehost offers a reliable and trusted service with some great features, as well as budget-friendly alternatives for those looking for a free domain and managed WordPress hosting with all the features they need.