Is Bluehost Worth It?

If you’re looking for a new web host, it’s important to consider the price vs. quality comparison. At times, the cheaper the hosting service, the more limited it may be. There’s also the issue of support; does the company offer a decent customer support team or are they simply buying you the hardware to solve your problems?

With Bluehost, you’re getting value for money because they offer some fantastic features. Most notably, their value adds include free domain registrations, free backups, and free site security scans. In addition, while most web hosts specialize in only PHP hosting, Bluehost supports a variety of code bases (including WordPress) and offers a free Dev Environments feature.

What Is Bluehost And Why Should You Opt For It?

Founded in 2011 and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange, Bluehost is a holding company whose subsidiary, Bluehost, is a web host specializing in high-quality, affordable web hosting. In addition to web hosting, Bluehost also provides a variety of proprietary marketing and management tools to its customers.

If you’re looking for a web host that provides a reliable service with a high degree of support, Bluehost is a fantastic choice. The price is right (most hosting companies offer a free trial or a money-back guarantee if you sign up for a paid plan) and with over a million customers, you’re sure to get the level of support you need. Plus, Bluehost is a safe and sound choice due to its backing by publicly traded companies such as GoDaddy and One Click Web Hosting.

Key Features Of Bluehost

A truly unique selling point of Bluehost is their customer support. As a hosting company, Bluehost doesn’t just provide the hardware to run your sites; they provide the people to assist you as well. When you sign up for Bluehost, you get access to a live chat representative who will help you solve any issues you might have.

Another standout feature of Bluehost is their free domain name generator. If you own a domain name that you no longer use, you can get it transferred to Bluehost for free. In addition, you can get your free domain privacy secured with a password protected log-in from Bluehost. Just make sure to use a different username and password for each of your domains.

Finally, if your sites are running on WordPress, you can take advantage of their official WordPress integration. When you sign up for Bluehost, you get access to their WordPress-ready hosting platform. As a result, you don’t need to worry about finding and installing the WordPress software manually on each of your sites. Thanks to Bluehost, you can simply launch WordPress and start building.

Is Bluehost The Right Choice For Everyone?

While it’s a fantastic choice for beginners, journalists, and bloggers who need a safe and sound place to build their sites, Bluehost isn’t for everyone. If you’re looking for a free hosting solution with limited features, you can check out Tinyhost (tinyhost.com), which also offers a money-back guarantee, or WordPress (wordpress.org) itself which offers both free and premium versions of their platform.

So, if you’re looking for a one-stop-shop for all your website hosting needs, Bluehost might be the right choice for you. Just remember that you’re getting what you pay for. The cheaper the better when it comes to web hosts, so be sure to grab a value for money plan if you want to take advantage of all their features.

Pricing

At the time of writing, Bluehost offers three different pricing plans: Basic (shared hosting with one website), Plus (standard shared hosting with up to three websites), and Pro (unlimited sites, no disk space restrictions, and free backups).

The basic plan costs $2.95 per month and offers you the option to install WordPress or another popular content management system. You also get free domain privacy, free backups, and free site security scans.

The Plus plan costs $5.45 per month and provides you with standard shared hosting along with free domain privacy, free backups, and free security scans. In addition, you get the option to install WordPress or Joomla! (a popular content management system) along with several other code bases.

Finally, the Pro plan costs $10.45 per month and offers you unlimited sites, free domain privacy, free backups, and security scans along with the option to install WordPress or Joomla! among a host of other code bases.

User Interface And Appearance

One of the first things you’ll need to consider is the user interface (or UI) and appearance of the tool because, quite frankly, you’ll be using it to create websites which you’ll need to access often. Thankfully, Bluehost doesn’t skimp out on the UI and lets you choose from a variety of bright, contrasting colors.

You have three options available when it comes to the UI (user interface): Dark (to match the default HTML tags, <h1>, <p>, and <ul>), Light (for viewing photos and other graphics-heavy content), and Flat (for creating designs and mockups). You can’t beat having the freedom to choose your UI style!

Speaking of mockups, Bluehost lets you create an unlimited number of them with their free layout tool, Canvas.

As you’re building your website, you’ll need to stop by Canvas (found under the Tools tab on the dashboard) to save mock-ups you’re creating. If you want to see how a given design will look in real life, simply click on the live preview button next to the canvas.

Along with the layout tool, you have a variety of content-related widgets (such as the Call to Action widget) available for free. You can also use the built-in calculator and unit converter or download a variety of third-party tools from the Add-ons tab.

Performance And Storage

Your next consideration when choosing a web host (or any third-party service for that matter) is to focus on performance and storage. Although most web hosts provide excellent service when it comes to uptime and customer support, the cost of employing a high-performance web hosting plan is significant. After all, every second you spend waiting for your websites to load is costing you money.

Thankfully, Bluehost excels in both areas. When it comes to storage, you get a free dedicated IP that is able to handle a large volume of traffic. In addition, you get the option to scale your storage plan up to a maximum of 1 TB with the click of a button. What’s more is they offer a solid performance boost through their unique CDN (content delivery network) which delivers all your content (including images) directly from their data centers to your site’s visitors. This way, your content is both quickly and securely available to everyone.

Support

The final consideration when choosing a web host is to focus on the level of support. Just as with any other product or service, you get what you pay for. The cheaper the service, the more limited its support. Fortunately, Bluehost offers a comprehensive online knowledge base along with a live chat community where you can get immediate help from trained support professionals.

In some cases, you might have to wait for someone to respond to your question. However, at least with Bluehost, you’re sure to get an answer quickly because they’re understandably busy with thousands of other customers simultaneously.

Choosing a web host is never easy. Not only do you need to consider price vs. quality, but you also need to focus on the support structure of the company.