Bluehost Drawbacks | Challenges to Consider
Bluehost is a well-known web hosting provider, but it's important to be aware of its limitations. As with any service, Bluehost has both strengths and weaknesses, and it's essential to thoroughly evaluate its offerings to determine if it's the right choice for your website. This review will highlight some of the drawbacks of Bluehost, including limited storage, slow page loading speeds, and poor customer support, to help you make an informed decision.
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| Bluehost Review 2024 | We Tried Bluehost and Found 5 Drawbacks! |
Bluehost Review: Pros, Cons, and Everything You Need to Know
Bluehost is a renowned American web hosting provider that has garnered widespread recognition in the industry. Its popularity is evident in its frequent presence among the top-rated hosting companies, particularly for shared web hosting, WordPress hosting, and VPS hosting.
About Bluehost
Bluehost has solidified its position as a trusted web hosting provider with years of experience. The company has consistently monitored its performance to ensure optimal service. This comprehensive review aims to provide unbiased insights into Bluehost's offerings, highlighting both its strengths and potential drawbacks.
Pros and Cons of Bluehost
Pros:
- Reliable Uptime: Bluehost maintains a high uptime rate, ensuring minimal downtime and uninterrupted website access.
- User-Friendly Interface: Its intuitive cPanel and custom-built website builder simplify website management for users of all levels.
- Wide Range of Services: Bluehost offers diverse hosting solutions, including shared hosting, managed WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, and dedicated server hosting.
- Excellent Customer Support: The company provides 24/7 support via phone, live chat, and email, ensuring prompt assistance whenever needed.
- Budget-Friendly Pricing: Bluehost's pricing plans are competitively priced, especially for entry-level hosting options.
Cons:
- Limited Resources: Shared hosting plans may experience resource constraints during peak traffic, potentially affecting website performance.
- Hidden Fees: Some additional services and features incur extra charges, which may not be immediately apparent.
- Renewal Price Increases: After the initial promotional period, renewal prices for hosting plans tend to increase significantly.
- Limited Server Locations: Bluehost primarily operates data centers in the United States, which may impact latency for websites targeting international audiences.
- Slow Support Response Times: While Bluehost offers 24/7 support, response times can sometimes be delayed during high-volume periods.
Exclusive Offer for DeanHost readers
DeanHost readers can benefit from an exclusive offer that provides a substantial discount on all Bluehost hosting services. Additionally, you'll receive a free domain name with your hosting purchase, further reducing your initial costs.
Conclusion
Bluehost offers a compelling combination of affordability, reliability, and user-friendliness. Its services cater to a wide range of online ventures, from small businesses to growing websites. While there are some potential drawbacks to consider, such as limited server locations and periodic support delays, Bluehost remains a reputable choice for those seeking a balanced hosting solution. Whether you're a novice or an experienced website owner, Bluehost's offerings deserve careful consideration.
Who is Bluehost?
Bluehost (www.bluehost.com) is a web hosting provider that offers a wide range of services, including web hosting, VPS hosting, WordPress hosting, website builder, and domain names. It was founded in 2003 by Matt Heaton, a renowned name in the web hosting industry who also established other web hosts such as HostMonster.
One of the key attributes of Bluehost is its longevity, as it has remained a top player in the web hosting market for nearly two decades. In an industry where new hosts emerge frequently, it is uncommon for a company to maintain its position over the long term. Bluehost, along with a few other companies like Hostinger, has grown into an international player serving a global market.
Who Owns Bluehost?
Bluehost is currently owned by Newfold Digital, a global leader in web hosting and domain name registration. Newfold Digital is the result of a merger between Web.com and Endurance International Group (EIG), which was acquired by Newfold Digital in a $3 billion deal in 2020.
Newfold Digital
Newfold Digital was formed in 2021 and has become one of the largest players in the web hosting and domain name registration industry. Its portfolio includes a wide range of web hosting providers, including:
- Web.com
- HostGator
- Bluehost
- JustHost
- Yoast
- iPage
- Network Solutions
- ResellerClub
- FatCow
- HostMonster
- Domain.com
- JustHost
Newfold Digital, in turn, is owned by Clearlake Capital Group, a private investment firm with over $50 billion in investments. This financial backing gives Bluehost access to significant resources, allowing it to continue its growth and innovation, which ultimately benefits its customers.
Moreover, the stability of Bluehost's parent company means that it is unlikely to dissolve or make sudden changes in its services, providing peace of mind to its customers. This is in contrast to smaller hosting providers that may be more vulnerable to market disruptions.
Bluehost's reputation and stability, backed by Newfold Digital and Clearlake Capital Group, make it a reliable choice for those seeking a secure and trusted hosting solution. So, what sets Bluehost apart and contributes to its enduring popularity among website owners?
Bluehost Hosting: A Renowned and Trusted Choice
Popularity and Recognition
Bluehost has consistently ranked among the top web hosting providers, often securing a spot among the top three in global rankings. Its excellent customer reputation and impressive performance in quality tests have solidified its status as a highly regarded hosting solution, particularly in the shared web hosting market and for WordPress websites.
Notable Facts about Bluehost
1. WordPress.org's Recommendation
Bluehost has a long-standing association with WordPress.org as the sole recommended hosting provider for WordPress. This partnership recognizes Bluehost's commitment to providing a WordPress-friendly hosting environment and working closely with WordPress developers to optimize the website creation and hosting experience.
2. Prohibition of Adult Content
Bluehost maintains a strict policy against hosting adult content, including websites featuring pornography, explicit images, and products intended for adult audiences. This stance reflects the company's ethical principles and the desire to maintain a clean and secure hosting environment.
Quote from Bluehost Founder Matt Heaton on Adult Content
""Sometimes the almighty dollar has to take a back seat to personal responsibility and morality. I'm not saying that other hosting companies should not host adult content, but I hope they consider not doing so, just on moral grounds.""
- Matt Heaton, Bluehost Founder
Matt Heaton's Entrepreneurial Success
Bluehost is not the only successful web hosting venture founded by Matt Heaton. He is also the founder of HostMonster, a complementary hosting provider that shares ownership with Bluehost under the umbrella of Newfold Digital.
Vast User Base and Support
Bluehost hosts over 2 million websites, with a growing customer base and a substantial team of over 700 employees dedicated to servicing these clients and developing the company's services. This extensive user base and professional support alleviate any concerns about the company's financial stability or longevity, unlike certain smaller hosting providers that may abruptly cease operations.
Bluehost's diverse hosting solutions cater to a wide range of needs, from startups and bloggers to large-scale businesses. With options ranging from shared hosting to dedicated servers, Bluehost empowers businesses to select the hosting plan that aligns precisely with their specific requirements.
Bluehost's Comprehensive Hosting Solutions
Shared Hosting: A Budget-Friendly Option for Startups
Bluehost offers shared hosting plans for small businesses and individuals seeking an affordable web hosting solution. This option is ideal for websites with low to moderate traffic and limited resource requirements. Shared hosting allows multiple websites to share the same physical server, resulting in cost-effective pricing.
VPS Hosting: Upgrading to Enhanced Performance
For websites requiring increased performance and control, Bluehost provides Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting. With VPS hosting, each website is assigned its own isolated virtual server within a shared physical environment. This grants greater flexibility, stability, and resources compared to shared hosting, making it suitable for medium-sized websites and businesses.
Cloud WordPress Hosting: Tailored for WordPress Websites
Bluehost has partnered with WordPress.com to offer Cloud WordPress Hosting, specifically designed for websites powered by the popular WordPress CMS. This service provides optimized performance, security, and scalability for WordPress-based projects, making it an ideal choice for bloggers, content creators, and small businesses.
Dedicated Servers: Unparalleled Control and Customization
For businesses demanding the ultimate in performance and customization, Bluehost offers Dedicated Servers. With a dedicated server, clients have exclusive access to an entire physical server, providing complete control over hardware, software, and configurations. This solution is suited for high-traffic websites, resource-intensive applications, and businesses with specific security requirements.
Managed WordPress Hosting: Enhanced Features for WordPress Websites
Recognizing WordPress's dominance in the CMS market, Bluehost provides Managed WordPress Hosting. This service includes enhanced features such as automatic updates, security hardening, and performance optimization, specifically tailored to meet the needs of WordPress-powered websites. With Managed WordPress Hosting, businesses can focus on content creation and website growth while Bluehost handles the technical aspects.
WooCommerce Hosting: Optimized for E-Commerce Businesses
For businesses looking to establish an online presence and sell products or services, Bluehost offers WooCommerce Hosting. This service is tailored to the WooCommerce plugin, providing enhanced security, performance, and support. By leveraging WooCommerce Hosting, businesses can seamlessly integrate an e-commerce platform into their website, enabling them to reach a wider customer base.
Domain Name Registration: Securing Your Online Identity
Bluehost simplifies the process of establishing an online identity by offering domain name registration. A domain name serves as the unique address of a website, allowing visitors to easily access and interact with it. Bluehost provides a user-friendly dashboard for domain name management, making it convenient for businesses to secure and manage their online presence.
Bluehost's diverse hosting solutions provide flexibility and customization options for all website needs. By offering a range of options from shared hosting to dedicated servers, Bluehost caters to startups, small businesses, and large organizations alike. But what are the specific advantages that make Bluehost stand out in the competitive web hosting industry? Let's explore the benefits that have made Bluehost a preferred choice for countless website owners.
The Advantages of Bluehost Web Hosting
Unlimited Resources
Bluehost provides unlimited web hosting, which means they do not set limits on the resources (storage space, bandwidth, etc.) you can use. This is a major advantage because if your hosting is limited, there's a certain level of resources that, if exceeded, could cause your site to be temporarily shut down or require you to pay extra for additional resources.
With Bluehost, this is not a concern as they do not place limits on usage. However, it's important to note that there is a fair usage policy in place to ensure that accounts on the same hosting server are not negatively affected by excessive resource consumption. In most cases, you won't encounter any issues unless your website is a file-hosting hub that consumes significant resources, or if you have a software problem or your site requires more powerful hosting than shared hosting, such as VPS or dedicated server hosting.
Optimized for WordPress
Bluehost is renowned for its WordPress hosting. Their hosting service has proven its worth, especially for sites using WordPress. This is why they were the only hosting company endorsed by the official WordPress site for a long time before adding other hosting sites to the list. However, Bluehost remains at the top of the list.
Bluehost has developed a dedicated control panel for WordPress sites, making it easy to manage your WordPress site and hosting from a single location. It also includes various helpful tools and makes setting up a WordPress site on Bluehost hassle-free.
Blazing Fast
When it comes to hosting speed, Bluehost stands out. Their hosting is known for its quick response times and overall hosting infrastructure speed. This is due to several factors, including their use of the latest web hosting technologies and ongoing updates to their hosting infrastructure. Additionally, they employ other technical features that contribute to Bluehost being one of the fastest web hosting companies.
In late 2017, Bluehost announced that their hosting now utilizes Solid State Drive (SSD) storage. SSDs are known for their superior speed compared to traditional HDDs, with SSDs being up to three times faster due to the lack of moving parts.
The high speed of SSDs directly impacts your website's performance by significantly improving server response time, resulting in a faster website.
Affordable Pricing
One of the key benefits of Bluehost is its affordability. It's considered one of the most budget-friendly web hosting providers, making it an excellent choice for beginners looking to create a website at the lowest possible cost.
Bluehost offers an array of hosting plans to suit various needs and most websites at competitive prices. These plans include the essential features your website requires, allowing you to build your site while minimizing web hosting expenses and directing those funds toward other aspects such as design, development, or personal savings.
Additionally, Bluehost offers a dedicated discount to visitors from WPBeginner, along with some essential hosting add-ons for free, including an SSL certificate and a free domain name registration for your site. This will further increase the savings you can make when purchasing hosting from Bluehost.
This makes Bluehost an excellent value proposition, providing you with robust and fast web hosting with the powerful cPanel control panel, valuable free add-ons, and a free domain name registration, all at a low monthly cost of just a few dollars.
Free 24/7 Technical Support
Bluehost provides free technical support to all its customers through various channels, including:
- Live chat
- Toll-free phone within the United States
- International phone for customers outside the United States
It's important to note that Bluehost's technical support is only available in English. However, using Google Translate or similar translation services for communication is possible. If you inform the support representative that you are not an English speaker, they will be understanding and accommodating.
Additionally, many of the company's technical support staff are located in India due to Bluehost outsourcing its support services to reduce costs and hire new employees to improve response times. As such, they are not native English speakers as it is not their first language, making communication somewhat easier.
Supports Latest PHP Versions
Bluehost was one of the first hosting providers to support PHP version 7, known for its significantly improved performance over its predecessor, PHP 5.6. It executes code twice as fast while consuming half the server resources.
Bluehost joined the行列 of other companies offering PHP 7 hosting, such as Hostinger, InMotion Hosting, and others. Bluehost announced that all new WordPress hosting accounts would automatically use PHP 7. Additionally, all other users, whether existing or new, can easily change their PHP version from the control panel.
Bluehost does not stop there. They continually provide the latest stable versions of PHP and allow their users to switch between versions, selecting the one their Bluehost hosting account uses. This adds further flexibility to their hosting service.
User-Friendly Control Panel
Bluehost's hosting control panel is straightforward to use. It's the standard cPanel control panel but with a sleek and minimalistic design that Bluehost has implemented to make managing your hosting a breeze.
The control panel supports the English language and allows you to manage your domain, create databases, email accounts, subdomains, and more with ease.
## Bluehost: A Comprehensive Web Hosting Solution
Bluehost is a renowned web hosting provider that offers a wide range of services to cater to the diverse needs of website owners. In addition to providing reliable and affordable hosting, Bluehost also makes it effortless to manage your website with its user-friendly control panel.
Free Domain and Hosting with Bluehost
Bluehost stands out in the industry by offering both free hosting and a free domain to its customers. This complimentary domain name for a year can save you an average of $15, typically the cost of purchasing a new domain.
Bluehost: A Comprehensive Web Hosting Solution
Bluehost is a renowned web hosting provider that offers a wide range of services to cater to the diverse needs of website owners. In addition to providing reliable and affordable hosting, Bluehost also makes it effortless to manage your website with its user-friendly control panel.
Free Domain and Hosting with Bluehost
Bluehost stands out in the industry by offering both free hosting and a free domain to its customers. This complimentary domain name for a year can save you an average of $15, typically the cost of purchasing a new domain.
Bluehost places no restrictions on this feature, enabling you to register a new domain (free for HostGator readers), transfer an existing domain from another provider, or connect a domain hosted elsewhere to your Bluehost account seamlessly.
For added flexibility, you can transfer your free domain to any other domain name registrar at any time without penalty. Alternatively, you can retain the domain with Bluehost and renew it at their competitive renewal rates, which vary depending on the domain extension.
Extensive Web Hosting Services
Bluehost offers a comprehensive portfolio of web hosting services, including shared hosting, virtual private servers (VPS), dedicated servers, and domain name registration.
This diverse range of services, coupled with the ease of upgrading and downgrading within the control panel, is a significant advantage for website owners. It allows them to scale their hosting as their website grows without the hassle of switching to a different provider.
Furthermore, Bluehost employs a tiered pricing system, where each hosting service comes in various packages with varying resources and features at different price points. This flexibility makes it simple to upgrade to a more powerful hosting plan as your site grows, without the need to migrate to another hosting platform.
Cancel and Get Your Money Back
While many web services offer free trials, it's uncommon in the web hosting industry. Bluehost, however, provides a money-back guarantee that allows you to recover your investment if you cancel your hosting service within a specified timeframe from the date of purchase.
With Bluehost's 30-day money-back guarantee, you can cancel your subscription and receive a full refund minus the cost of the domain (which remains yours for a year).
This feature provides you with the reassurance of trying Bluehost's hosting service risk-free, allowing you to assess its suitability for your website's needs before committing long-term.
Despite its strengths, Bluehost hosting does have some drawbacks to consider:
- Subpar phone technical support
- Servers located only in the US
- Limited resources on the basic shared hosting plan
- Paid website migration service
- No Windows hosting
Before making a decision, be sure to weigh these disadvantages against Bluehost's numerous advantages to determine if it's the right fit for your website's needs.
Disadvantages of Bluehost Hosting
Phone Technical Support is Subpar
Some users of Bluehost hosting complain about their phone technical support, with customers reportedly having to wait extended periods before receiving assistance. It's worth noting, however, that this is in contrast to their email and live chat support, which are generally praised.
While most users may never need to use phone support, it's essential to be aware of this potential limitation.
Bluehost Servers Located in the US Only
Loading speed is crucial for most, if not all, websites and applications. One of the factors affecting site speed is the proximity of the hosting provider's servers to the visitor's location. The closer the server, the faster the site loads due to the shorter distance data must travel between the visitor's device and the hosting server.
For this reason, many hosting providers now offer the option to choose the location of the hosting, such as SiteGround, A2 Hosting, and others. For websites targeting visitors primarily from the Middle East, it's often recommended to have servers in Southern or Central Europe.
Unfortunately, Bluehost does not offer the ability to choose the hosting location, with all of their servers being located in the United States. However, this is not a significant issue, as most global websites are hosted in the US, and the quality of the internet infrastructure in the United States is among the best in the world.
Therefore, websites with visitors from all over the world are generally better off being hosted in the US. It's also worth considering using a CDN (Content Delivery Network) to distribute your site's files across multiple servers worldwide, which can often match or even surpass the performance of local hosting. There are both paid CDN providers like StackPath and free options like Cloudflare.
Bluehost Basic Hosting Plan is Limited
Bluehost offers unlimited shared web hosting in terms of website storage capacity, bandwidth usage, the number of websites that can be created on the hosting account, professional email accounts that use the site's domain, and various other hosting resources.
While this generosity from Bluehost is a significant advantage for its customers, it does not extend to the Bluehost shared hosting basic plan. Unfortunately, it allows only one website to be created, gives you 50GB of storage for your website files, and allows you to create five email accounts. However, bandwidth remains unmetered.
In fairness, this practice is common and almost standard pricing in the web hosting market, not exclusive to Bluehost. Nearly all web hosts allow only one site on the basic plan and also place limits on disk space and email accounts.
It's worth mentioning that Bluehost offers various upgrade options to expand these resources, including larger shared hosting plans or other web hosting services like VPS hosting servers and dedicated servers.
It's also important to note that the term ""unlimited hosting"" is not always as it seems, as we've discussed in detail in our article on the truth about unlimited web hosting.
No Free Website Transfer
If you're migrating from another hosting provider to Bluehost, the company will not transfer your website to its servers free of charge. If you want Bluehost to handle the migration, you'll need to purchase a paid service costing $150. The maximum number of websites that can be transferred is five, and 20 email accounts.
Additionally, they do not migrate virtual servers, reseller hosting accounts, or dedicated servers to their platform.
No Windows Hosting
Bluehost only offers Linux-based web hosting and does not provide Windows hosting. This is not related to your personal computer but rather to the Bluehost hosting server. You can access and manage your hosting from any device running any operating system as long as it has an internet connection.
In reality, this is not a major drawback with Bluehost because most reputable web hosting providers do not offer Windows hosting due to its low demand in the website hosting industry and the higher costs associated with paying licensing fees for the Windows operating system.
We included this point for informational purposes in case you were specifically looking for Windows hosting and were wondering if Bluehost offers it. While Bluehost's lack of Windows hosting doesn't diminish the quality of its service, it would be beneficial for the company to offer it to customers who need this specific feature.
While Bluehost offers a range of hosting options that cater to diverse customer needs, it's crucial to consider the potential drawbacks before making a decision. By weighing the cons and pros, you can make an informed choice that aligns with your specific requirements. In the following section, we'll delve into the shared hosting plans offered by Bluehost, providing insights into their features, pricing, and suitability for different types of websites.
Shared Hosting Plans by Bluehost
Bluehost offers a range of shared hosting plans tailored to different needs and budgets. Here's a breakdown of each plan and its pricing:
Basic Plan
- Storage: 10GB SSD
- Bandwidth: Unlimited
- Websites: 1
- Email Accounts: 5
- Free Domain: Yes
- Free SSL Certificate: Yes
- Backup: Yes
- Dedicated IP: No
Priced at: $10.99/month or $2.95/month with our special discount.
Plus Plan
- Storage: 20GB SSD
- Bandwidth: Unlimited
- Websites: Unlimited
- Email Accounts: Unlimited
- Free Domain: Yes
- Free SSL Certificate: Yes
- Backup: Yes
Priced at: $14.99/month or $5.45/month with our special discount.
Choice Plus Plan
- Storage: 40GB SSD
- Bandwidth: Unlimited
- Websites: Unlimited
- Email Accounts: Unlimited
- Free Domain: Yes
- Free SSL Certificate: Yes (first year)
- Daily Backup: Yes (first year)
- Domain Privacy Protection: Yes
Priced at: $19.99/month or $5.45/month with our special discount.
Pro Plan
- Storage: 100GB SSD
- Bandwidth: Unlimited
- Websites: Unlimited
- Email Accounts: Unlimited
- Free Domain: Yes
- Free SSL Certificate: Yes
- Backup: Yes
- Dedicated IP: Yes
- Domain Privacy Protection: Yes
Priced at: $28.99/month or $13.95/month with our special discount.
Bluehost's shared hosting plans provide a reliable and affordable solution for websites of all sizes. The plans offer various features to meet different requirements, ensuring optimal performance and security.
These shared hosting plans provide a comprehensive range of features tailored to specific needs, ensuring optimal website performance and security. For further insights into Bluehost's offerings, let's delve into some frequently asked questions about Bluehost hosting, exploring their Arabic support, payment options, and more.
Frequently Asked Questions About Bluehost Hosting
Is Bluehost an Arab web hosting company?
No, Bluehost is an American web hosting company that offers its services to clients worldwide.
Does Bluehost support Arabic?
Yes, Bluehost supports the Arabic language, and the hosting control panel interface is also available in Arabic.
Does Bluehost use the cPanel control panel?
Yes, Bluehost utilizes the popular cPanel control panel, which supports the Arabic language as well.
Does Bluehost accept monthly payments?
No, Bluehost does not accept monthly payments for shared hosting; you cannot purchase hosting for less than a year. If you're looking for a reliable hosting provider that offers monthly payments, consider A2 Hosting.
Does Bluehost provide a free domain?
Yes, visitors to the Amid al-Istidhafa website receive a free premium domain from Bluehost through our exclusive discount.
What payment methods does Bluehost accept?
Bluehost accepts payment via all major credit cards (Visa, American Express, MasterCard, and Discover) as well as PayPal.
Does Bluehost accept PayPal?
Yes, Bluehost accepts PayPal as a payment method.
Bluehost: A Trusted and Versatile Web Hosting Solution
In summary, Bluehost stands as a reliable and affordable web hosting provider, offering a wide range of services to cater to the diverse needs of website owners. Its user-friendly control panel simplifies website management, while its generous free domain and hosting incentives reduce initial expenses.
To determine if Bluehost is the optimal choice for your website, carefully consider its advantages and disadvantages. By weighing its strengths against its potential drawbacks, you can make an informed decision that aligns with your specific requirements and website goals. We encourage you to explore our comprehensive library of articles to gain additional insights and knowledge in the realm of web hosting and website development. Your continued support and readership empower us to provide valuable content that supports your online endeavors.
Does Bluehost offer any discounts?
Yes, Bluehost offers exclusive discounts to DeanHost readers. You can get up to 60% off on shared hosting plans and a free domain name for the first year.
Is Bluehost's customer support available 24/7?
Yes, Bluehost provides 24/7 customer support via phone, live chat, and email.
What security features does Bluehost offer?
Bluehost offers a range of security features, including free SSL certificates, automatic malware scanning, and daily backups.
Does Bluehost offer a money-back guarantee?
Yes, Bluehost offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you're not satisfied with their services, you can get a full refund within 30 days of purchase.
Is Bluehost a good choice for beginners?
Yes, Bluehost is a great choice for beginners. It offers user-friendly hosting plans, a beginner-friendly website builder, and 24/7 customer support.