If you are looking for a reliable and affordable web hosting service for your online business, you may have heard of Bluehost. Bluehost is one of the most popular web hosting providers in the world, serving over 2 million domains from its Utah servers. It offers various plans and features to suit different needs and budgets, from shared hosting to dedicated servers. But is Bluehost the right choice for your online business? In this post, I will review the pros and cons of using Bluehost for your online business, based on my own experience and research. I will also compare Bluehost with some of its competitors and alternatives, so you can make an informed decision.
Pros of Using Bluehost for Your Online Business
Here are some of the benefits of using Bluehost for your online business:
- Recommended by WordPress: Bluehost is one of the only three web hosting providers officially recommended by WordPress.org, the most popular and widely used website creation platform in the world. This means that Bluehost meets the high standards of performance, security, and reliability that WordPress requires. Bluehost also has a dedicated team of WordPress experts who can help you with any WordPress-related issues or questions. Bluehost also offers a one-click WordPress installation, which makes it very easy to set up your WordPress website in minutes.https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/bluehost-review
- Affordable and Flexible Plans: Bluehost offers competitive pricing, impressive discounts, and flexible plans that suit any budget and needs. You can get hosting for as low as $2.75 per month (for the first year) if you sign up for a 36-month term.https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/software/bluehost-review/ You can also choose from different types of hosting plans, such as shared, VPS, dedicated, managed WordPress, and WooCommerce hosting, depending on your website's traffic and resources. You can also scale up or down as your website grows or changes. Bluehost also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try their service risk-free and get a full refund if you are not satisfied.https://www.zdnet.com/article/bluehost-review/
- Excellent Features and Support: Bluehost provides excellent features and support that enhance your website's functionality and security. Some of the features that Bluehost offers are:
- A free domain name for the first year
- A free SSL certificate to encrypt your site's data
- Unmetered bandwidth and storage space
- Automatic WordPress updates and backups
- A free CDN to improve your site's speed and performance
- A free email account with your domain name
- Access to hundreds of free and premium themes and plugins
- A custom dashboard that integrates with WordPress
- A staging environment that allows you to test changes before going live
Cons of Using Bluehost for Your Online Business
Here are some of the drawbacks of using Bluehost for your online business:
- Renewal Rates Skyrocket: While Bluehost offers attractive discounts on your initial term, you should be aware that their renewal rates are much higher than their introductory rates. For example, the basic shared hosting plan costs $2.75 per month for the first year (if you sign up for a 36-month term), but it jumps to $9.99 per month when you renew.https://www.hostingadvice.com/hosting-review/bluehost/ This means that you will end up paying more in the long run if you stay with Bluehost. You should also note that Bluehost does not offer any month-to-month plans, so you have to commit to at least a one-year term.
- Lots of Upselling: Another downside of using Bluehost is that they tend to upsell a lot of additional services and features that you may not need or want. For example, when you sign up for a hosting plan, they will try to sell you domain privacy protection, site backup pro, site security pro, SEO tools, Microsoft 365 email essentials, and more. While some of these services may be useful, they are not essential and they can add up to your hosting costs. You can always decline these offers, but you have to be careful and uncheck the boxes that are pre-selected for you.
- Limited Storage: While Bluehost claims to offer unmetered storage space, this is not entirely true. In fact, Bluehost has a limit of 50,000 files (inodes) per account, which means that you can only store up to 50,000 files on your hosting account, regardless of their size. If you exceed this limit, you may experience performance issues or even suspension of your account. This limit may not be a problem for small websites, but it can be a challenge for larger websites that have a lot of media files or content.
- Not All Plans Include Daily Backups: While Bluehost offers automatic WordPress updates and backups, this feature is only available on their managed WordPress plans (WP Pro). If you choose any other plan, such as shared, VPS, or dedicated hosting, you will not get daily backups included in your plan. You will have to either purchase their site backup pro service for an extra fee or use a third-party plugin or service to backup your website. This can be a hassle and a risk for your website's security and data.
- Inconsistent Customer Service Quality: While Bluehost offers 24/7 customer support via phone, chat, or email, the quality of their support can vary depending on the issue and the agent. Some customers have reported positive experiences with Bluehost's support, while others have complained about long wait times, rude or unhelpful agents, or unresolved problems. Bluehost's support may also depend on the type of plan you have, as some plans may get priority support over others.
- E-commerce Capabilities Not Available on All Plans: If you want to use Bluehost to create and manage an online store, you will have to choose their WooCommerce hosting plan, which is specifically designed for e-commerce websites. This plan includes features such as a free online store setup call, a free SSL certificate, a free domain name, dedicated IP address, domain privacy protection, and more than $450 worth of plugins. However, this plan is more expensive than other plans and it is only available on a 12-month term or longer. You cannot use any other plan to host an online store with Bluehost.
