Bluehost Customer Service: Is It The Best in 2021?
Bluehost Customer Service: Is It The Best in 2021?
Bluehost is part of a huge company, Endurance International Group (EiG), which owns several hosting providers (eg HostGator or iPageenorm) and has a market share.
They clearly have the financial strength to put millions into marketing. That probably explains the sheer amount of (overly) positive Bluehost reviews online.
I've read several of those reviews and most of them talk about their fantastic support (really?), Good pricing, and scalability options. But those reviews say very little about their true shortcomings.
Hey, even WordPress recommends Bluehost.
But does this mean that Bluehost is a reliable service and a good match for your project?
If you don't feel like reading the whole article, watch this Bluehost video review:
Let's take a look around under the hood of Bluehost and test their (shared) hosting intensively.
Which products does Bluehost offer?
This US-based hosting provider offers a variety of hosting related products, from domain names to dedicated servers. Let me quickly go through their large catalog.
- Domain Names: While they are not the cheapest domain name registrar, you can buy domain names directly from Bluehost. They start at renewal from $ 17.99 per year. An all-time personal favorite for domain names is Namecheap because it is cheaper and easier to manage.
- Shared Hosting: Unless you're managing a very large project or you need to delve into your server's configuration, a shared hosting plan is the plan you should consider. Think of this as sharing a flat; you share a server (flat), but you have your own hosting space (room) - cheaper but noisier. At Bluehost, their shared prices go from $ 8.99 to $ 25.99 per month.
- WordPress Hosting: Bluehost has a WordPress focused hosting service. It is optimized for WordPress sites and comes with several benefits such as a gathering place. It's a bit pricey as it starts at $ 29.99 a month, more expensive than SiteGround.
- VPS: A Virtual Private Server is something in between shared hosting and dedicated hosting (read below). You share a server with other customers, but there is a (virtual) wall between your projects and theirs. This type of hosting is recommended for those who need special server configurations (for example, with a particular programming language). VPS hosting plans go from $ 29.99 to $ 119.99 per month with Bluehost.
- Dedicated servers: suitable for those websites that generate tons of traffic and / or need a top performing server. You can see this as your own home; no neighbors or roommates to bother you. Dedicated hosting plans start at $ 124.99 per month.
These are the main hosting related products that Bluehost offers. I was surprised to find that they don't have cloud hosting services.
Note: This Bluehost review focuses on their shared hosting services, so from now on I'm sharing my own experience and knowledge about this Bluehost product.
Bluehost Pricing: What Are Their Shared Plans?
The first thing you'll notice about the Bluehost pricing is that they have huge discounts for the first year. Keep in mind that the fees are renewal much higher and they may put you off. Here I mention both prices so you can compare and decide them.
An integrated system that allows you to create and restore your own backups.
The basic plan is good if you are only going to have 1 website and 50 GB of storage space is sufficient for your project.
With the Plus plan , you can have as many websites as you need and the storage is unlimited. It also comes with an unlimited number of email accounts.
When you get the Choice Plus package, you will be rewarded with the Plus features, plus free domain privacy and better backup options.
The Pro layer is suitable for those looking for higher performance. The maximum number of files you can host with this plan jumps from 200,000 to 300,000.
For more information on Bluehost's products and pricing, check out our guide.
Bluehost Pros and Cons
Let me quickly tell you what I think are the main pros and cons of Bluehost shared hosting:
Pros
Cons
The first term is cheap: but notice the renewal rates, they are high.
Solid Uptime: Overall, my uptime tests with Bluehost have always been good. But unlike other providers, they don't offer an SLA (Service Level Agreement) that guarantees minimal uptime.
Generous Storage: Their shared hosting plans offer tons of storage space.
Unlimited Bandwidth: Bluehost will not limit the traffic that your website (s) can receive.
Constant Upsells: Their system is full of continuous upsell pitches, which gets annoying.
Speed could be better: In our tests, Bluehost's speed didn't exactly reach the top of the table. However, it is not terrible.
US Servers Only: Unlike other providers, you only have the option to host your site in the US. If your readers are from other regions, they may be dealing with a (very) slow site.
Bad Backup Options: The entry-level plans don't have a good backup solution.
When to use Bluehost Hosting?
If you are looking for a small-medium project (eg a bakery site) and you are not going to get a lot of traffic, Bluehost can be a good alternative.
But as I am 100% honest I think there are similar alternatives with better prices.
When not to use Bluehost?
If you are running a project that depends on your website and you need the best performance, Bluehost is not for you. Look for alternatives if you own an e-commerce, are a thriving blogger, or provide Software as a Service.
Bluehost shared hosting is also not for those looking for advanced hosting features such as staging areas or Git repositories.
Bluehost Shared Hosting Details
Criterion
Rating
Comments
Ease of Use
The registration process is somehow challenging, I find their format unintuitive and designed to trick you into buying expensive extras you don't need. Their backend has been redesigned in 2019, it is an easy to use cPanel custom version. But I really don't like their constant upsell proposal banners, popups and sneaky links. Once you get used to all of these, it's fine.
Domain names
Bluehost includes a free domain name registration for the first year. After that, you have to pay $ 17.99 per year. Please note that with their basic plan, you can only have 1 site (domain name), the other packages provide unlimited sites (domains).
Email ratingbasic tier
With the you are limited to 5 email accounts, unlimited with higher subscriptions. Be warned that you cannot send more than 500 emails per hour - not suitable for sending bulk emails.
Databases
With the basic package you can create a maximum of 20 databases. Unlimited databases with the other plans. There is a generous maximum database size of 5 GB.
Applications
With their automatic installer you can add all kinds of software: WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, Magento and many more.
Keep in mind that their WordPress installer will add some plugins that you probably don't want, make sure to remove them after installation.
Web space limit
The Basic Shared plan comes with 50 GB of web space, not bad at all. The other plans do not measure storage. However, the maximum number of files allowed is 200,000 (300,000 files for the Pro plan).
Monthly data transfer limit
Not measured.
FTP accounts and secure FTP
Create as many FTP accounts as you want. However, keep in mind that SFTP (secure) is only allowed with the main FTP account.
Server location
They only seem to have data centers in the US. This may not be ideal for customers outside of North America - your site can be very slow to load outside of the US and Canada.
Security
Bluehost offers a number of additional paid add-ons to enhance security. SiteLock, for example, prevents hacker attacks and CodeGuard gives you more backup options. I liked that they have an optional two-factor authentication system, even if a hacker breaks your password, they won't get automatic access to your Bluehost account.
Server speed
In my experience, Bluehost's speed isn't terrible, but it's not the best either. Difficult to understand their low performance as they are quite expensive - more on this below.
Uptime
In our tests, Bluehost showed solid uptime results, but it wasn't the best. This is important to provide solid user experiences and SEO.
Backups
As a courtesy, Bluehost creates monthly, weekly and daily backups that you can download and restore. So yes, only 3 backups and they can't assure you they have them - other providers offer over 20 backups to choose from.
If you want additional backup options (for example, on-demand backups) you can purchase their expensive backup add-on.
CDN
Bluehost itself does not offer a CDN, but CloudFlare is pre-integrated so you can easily enable it - I would recommend that you do that.
Server functions
It is possible to use PHP 5.6, 7.0, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 and 7.4. Databases run on MySQL 5.6. Other programming languages such as Perl or Ruby on Rails are also allowed.
Refunds and Guarantees
There is a 30 day money back policy with no questions asked. Unlike the best hosting providers, they don't seem to offer uptime guarantees.
Assistance and support
You can contact support via live chat and telephone. The support agents were nice and helpful. I wish they had an easier way to verify the account owners.
Overall rating
4/5
While the Bluehost performance is acceptable and their system OK, I think they are a bit overpriced. But to me, their support is a definite no-go if you think you'll need their help often.
Bluehost Performance
Tests Is Bluehost a Slow Provider? Is their uptime okay?
In order to answer all these questions, I have been closely monitoring Blueshot speed and uptime for months. I will show you my findings.
Bluehost Speed Test
As a website owner, I don't need to tell you how important speed is to provide the best user experience and improve your search engine rankings.
I've compared the Bluehost speed to the most popular (shared hosting) competitors. I have used GTmetrix, Pingdom and Webpagetest to check their loading times.
Let me sum up the results.
Test
Average
load time 5 GTmetrix test
3.04 s
5 Pingdom test
3.76 s
5 PageSpeed Insights (Google)
2.84 s
These tests were performed under the same conditions (eg Same page and content) spread over almost 2 months.
As you can see, Bluehost isn't top of the class when it comes to speed. Several providers performed better in our tests. If you are concerned about speed, SiteGround and DreamHost are , in my experience, high performing providers.
Is Bluehost uptime good?
Believe it or not, your hosting provider (most likely) doesn't have 100% uptime. For technical reasons (eg server maintenance) your site will (hopefully) be offline for a short time.
Bad uptime is terrible because your visitors and search engines cannot reach your site. Your goal should be to have an uptime of more than 99.95%.
2019
(percentage)
2020
(percentage)
Kinsta (3 month test)
No data
100
Cloudways (3 month test)
No data
100
DreamHost
100
99.99
A2 Hosting
99.93
99.99
WP Engine
No data
99.99
GreenGeeks (3 months test)
No data
99.98
SiteGround
99.98
99.97
BlueHost
99.98
99.96
HostGator
99.94
99.91
GoDaddy
99.97
99.90
InMotion
99.97
99.73
99.62
99.48
iPage
99.66
98 , 45
To monitor uptime status Cake I use a tool that checks each site every 5 minutes.
As you can see,Bluehost offers Bluehostsolid uptime results. I am quite happy with Bluehost's performance here. However, keep in mind that they don't offer an uptime guarantee, other hosting providers will compensate you (e.g. a free month) if their global uptime drops below certain levels (usually 99.9%).
Bluehost Review: Do I Recommend It?
You have probably noticed that Bluehost is not my preferred provider. However, if you want a hosting service with unlimited storage and bandwidth, Bluehost could be a suitable option.
As you can see in the above tests, their speed was not the best. However, I was impressed with their uptime scores as they got similar results to top providers such as SiteGround and DreamHost.
Their (freshman) prices are remarkably cheap, but consider the renewal prices this sky rocket.
> Try Bluehost Free for 30 Days
Bluehost Alternatives
Okay, if you're going with Bluehost, your site will probably be okay, at least if your visitors are mainly in North America.
However, it's not the cheapest option out there, and I think for the same money you can get better performing providers that come with advanced options (eg Backup or staging areas).
If you are looking for a balanced hosting service (low price and good performance), I recommend checking out A2 Hosting or DreamHost. They are a bit cheaper and perform on par or better than Bluehost.
In my experience you will find the best support at SiteGround, InMotion and (again) DreamHost.
The best (affordable) performing providers are without a doubt SiteGround, A2 Hosting, GreenGeeks and DreamHost. In my opinion, SiteGround comes with a number of features that make it slightly better (eg More backup options).
You can use WordPress with all of these providers. However, SiteGround has the best system to empower WordPress site owners (e.g. built-in caching plugin and speed optimization options).
> But if you still want to use Bluehost, remember that you can try Bluehost free for 30 days
Note: I did a Bluehost and HostGator comparison so you know which EUG product is better for your project.
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