If you are looking for a reliable and affordable web hosting provider for your website, you might have come across two popular names: Bluehost and DigitalOcean. Both of them offer various types of hosting services, such as shared, VPS, dedicated, and cloud hosting. But how do they compare in terms of pricing, features, performance, and security? Which one is better suited for your website needs and budget?
In this article, we will compare Bluehost and DigitalOcean based on their VPS hosting plans, which are self-managed servers that give you more control and flexibility over your website. We will look at their pros and cons, and help you decide which one is the best option for you.
Pricing
One of the main factors that you should consider when choosing a web hosting provider is the cost. You want to get the best value for your money, without compromising on quality and performance. Let's see how Bluehost and DigitalOcean compare in terms of pricing.
Bluehost offers three VPS hosting plans: Standard, Enhanced, and Ultimate. The prices range from $29.99 to $69.99 per month, depending on the resources and features included. All plans come with a free domain name for the first year, a free SSL certificate, unlimited bandwidth, and 30-day money-back guarantee.
DigitalOcean offers more than 20 cloud hosting plans, called Droplets, which are divided into four categories: Standard, General Purpose, CPU Optimized, and Memory Optimized. The prices range from $5 to $480 per month, depending on the resources and features included. All plans come with SSD storage, free backups, free firewall, free DNS management, and 99.99% uptime guarantee.
As you can see, DigitalOcean is much cheaper and more flexible than Bluehost when it comes to VPS hosting. You can choose from a wide range of plans that suit your website needs and budget. You can also scale up or down your resources as needed, without any downtime or extra fees.
Features
Another important factor that you should consider when choosing a web hosting provider is the features. You want to get the most out of your hosting service, without having to pay for unnecessary or unwanted extras. Let's see how Bluehost and DigitalOcean compare in terms of features.
Bluehost's VPS hosting plans include the following features:
- 2 to 4 CPU cores
- 2 to 8 GB of RAM
- 30 to 120 GB of SSD storage
- 1 to 2 dedicated IP addresses
- cPanel control panel
- Email hosting
- CMS support (WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, etc.)
- Web framework support (PHP, Ruby on Rails, Python, etc.)
- Marketing features (Yoast SEO, email campaign creator, Microsoft 365 mailbox)
DigitalOcean's Droplets include the following features:
- 1 to 20 CPU cores
- 1 to 96 GB of RAM
- 25 to 1920 GB of SSD storage
- 1 to 10 TB of bandwidth
- 3 free dedicated IP addresses
- DigitalOcean control panel
- No email hosting (you have to use a third-party service)
- CMS support (WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, etc.)
- Web framework support (PHP, Ruby on Rails, Python, etc.)
- Add-on services (managed Kubernetes, managed databases, object storage, block storage, container registry, load balancers)
As you can see, DigitalOcean offers more features and resources than Bluehost when it comes to VPS hosting. You can get more CPU cores, RAM, storage space, bandwidth, and dedicated IP addresses with DigitalOcean than with Bluehost. You can also access more add-on services that can enhance your website performance and security. The only feature that Bluehost has that DigitalOcean doesn't is email hosting, but you can easily use a third-party service for that.
Performance
The performance of your website is crucial for your online success. You want to provide a fast and smooth user experience for your visitors, without any downtime or errors. Let's see how Bluehost and DigitalOcean compare in terms of performance.
Bluehost's VPS hosting plans use SSD storage, which is faster and more reliable than traditional HDD storage. However, they do not offer any other performance-enhancing features, such as caching, CDN, or HTTP/2. Moreover, Bluehost does not disclose the location of its data centers, which can affect the loading speed of your website depending on where your visitors are from.
DigitalOcean's Droplets also use SSD storage, which is faster and more reliable than traditional HDD storage. In addition, they offer several performance-enhancing features, such as caching, CDN, HTTP/2, and IPv6. Moreover, DigitalOcean has 12 data centers around the world, which can improve the loading speed of your website depending on where your visitors are from.
As you can see, DigitalOcean offers better performance than Bluehost when it comes to VPS hosting. You can get faster loading speed, lower latency, and higher availability with DigitalOcean than with Bluehost.
Security
The security of your website is essential for your online reputation and trustworthiness. You want to protect your website from hackers, malware, spam, and other threats. Let's see how Bluehost and DigitalOcean compare in terms of security.
Bluehost's VPS hosting plans include a free SSL certificate, which encrypts the data between your website and your visitors. However, they do not offer any other security features, such as firewall, DDoS protection, malware scanning, or backups. You have to pay extra for these services or use third-party tools.
DigitalOcean's Droplets include a free SSL certificate, which encrypts the data between your website and your visitors. In addition, they offer several security features, such as firewall, DDoS protection, malware scanning, and backups. You can access these services for free or at a low cost through the DigitalOcean control panel or the add-on services.
As you can see, DigitalOcean offers better security than Bluehost when it comes to VPS hosting. You can get more protection and peace of mind with DigitalOcean than with Bluehost.
Conclusion
In conclusion, DigitalOcean is a better choice than Bluehost for VPS hosting. It is cheaper, more flexible, more feature-rich, more performant, and more secure than Bluehost. It is ideal for developers and tech-savvy website owners who want to have full control and customization over their website.
However, if you are not comfortable with managing your own server via a command-line interface, you may find DigitalOcean too complicated and challenging to use. In that case, you may want to consider a third option: Cloudways.
Cloudways is a managed cloud hosting platform that lets you buy DigitalOcean Droplets through its service. You get the same benefits of DigitalOcean's cloud hosting, but Cloudways takes care of server setup and maintenance for you. You also get access to a user-friendly control panel that lets you manage your website with ease.
If you are interested in Cloudways, you can check out its latest deals here.
If you are interested in Bluehost or DigitalOcean, you can check out their latest deals here:
