Bluehost Review: In-Depth Look & Speed Test - 2021 Edition
Bluehost Review (2021): Honest Look at Speed & Uptime
TestingBluehost is an all-in-one website platform that offers everything your website needs from startup to success.
The world famous shared hosting that makes it easy to build a secure and powerful site for only $ 2.95 / month.
That made Bluehost the first choice of more than 2 million users worldwide.
Looking for the honest Bluehost review 2021?
Well, whether you want to know how good Bluehost is or how easy it is to get started with Bluehost or something else, we’ve got you covered with everything you need to know about Bluehost before making a final purchase.
Without a doubt, Bluehost is a reliable web host trusted by more than 2 million users around the world.
Plus, it is one of the few web hosts to be officially recommended by WordPress.org itself on their website.
But you may not be interested in all of these facts, but would rather look for the real proof so you can decide whether Bluehost is for you or not?
So, in this post, we’ll cover everything about Bluehost starting with the performance (speed, uptime, support), features, ease of use, advantages and disadvantages of using Bluehost.
Without much ado, let’s dive in!
Bluehost Review 2021 (Detailed and unbiased)
Web hosting performance is the most critical aspect to your business site, regardless of the price you pay for it, right?
So, we will start this Bluehost review by measuring the performance offered by the Bluehost.
Bluehost performance
Both speed and uptime are linked to the performance of your website as if your site is getting optimal speed but is regularly interrupted or your site uptime is good enough but the speed is not up to the mark, either way your business will suffer .
So here we will see the performance you can get with the Bluehost.
Speed
While the speed of your site depends on several factors, web hosting is one of the most contributing factors.
So to find out what Bluehost has for you in terms of speed, we measured the real-time speed of a blog that has been hosted on Bluehost for over a year now using the top 3 tools.
GTmetrix
The first tool we used to measure Bluehost speed is GTmetrix which allows you to test the speed of your site from different countries.
You would be amazed to know that 710,162,516+ pages have been analyzed on this tool so far.
So we tried it too and found satisfying results.
You can also see the GTmetrix report showing 97% overall performance and a load time of less than 1.0 seconds which is just great.
Pingdom
Next. we used Pingdom to analyze the website performance hosted on Bluehost which also resulted in incredible results, 510 ms.
Google PageSpeed Insights (desktop and mobile)
Finally, we chose PageSpeed Insights, a great website performance analysis tool from Google itself.
And again, we came up with fantastic page speed scores for both desktop and mobile devices.
Small verdict on Bluehost speed: Bluehost has passed all our tests and we can say that Bluehost’s speed is good.
Uptime
Bluehost claims to offer 99.9% uptime. Let’s see how authentic it is.
First, we enlisted the help of a true uptime tracker from HRANK, a trusted platform that tracks millions of websites every day to provide you with objective statistics on each hosting provider.
Here is Bluehost’s uptime for the past 30 days, 99.978%, which is almost 99.9% as claimed by Bluehost itself.
Not only this, but we also tracked our blog’s uptime on Bluehost with the help of UptimeRobot.
Surprisingly, it was 100%.
You can see in the image above that it has now been about a month and a half since we started tracking, and no downtime was recorded.
Small verdict on Bluehost uptime: Bluehost offers exactly 99.9% uptime that everyone wants from their web host.
Support
Aside from the performance, customer support is also something that matters a lot to everyone, beginners and even web fanatics.
And Bluehost offers 24/7 support and guidance experts who will help newbies, professionals and intermediaries build, grow and manage your WordPress site effectively.
- Call 888-401-4678
- Instant Live Chat (for both new and existing customers)
- Extensive knowledge base full of articles, guides, how-tos
In addition to the Bluehost knowledge base, we have tried many times to connect with the Bluehost support team and we need to say that they did their job perfectly.
Here’s our final conversation with the Bluehost support team.
We tried to contact them as a new user and got a response within a second.
As you can see above, we started the chat at 9:47 PM and didn’t get an immediate response until 9:47 PM.
So, unlike other web hosting providers that offer direct chat support for registered users only, the Bluehost chat support team does a fantastic job for everyone.
In addition to 24/7 phone and live chat support, they also have an extensive knowledge base with answers to your most frequently asked questions.
Small Verdict on Bluehost Support: Bluehost’s 24/7 phone support, instant live chat support, and extensive knowledge base will keep you happy every time.
Buy Bluehost for $ 2.95 / month
Is Bluehost easy to use?
Definitely yes and that’s why (performance aside) we love and recommend Bluehost to any newcomer to the blogging industry.
Because even if you get too many features but don’t know how to actually use them, it would be worthless, frustrating in fact, right?
At Bluehost, whether you want to set up a WordPress blog and are wondering how to take advantage of Bluehost’s additional features such as SSL, CDN, custom emails, etc. Everything can be done literally with just one click .
Here is how you can create a WordPress blog with Bluehost and use all the features to make your blog safe, fast and professional.
Setting up a WordPress blog on Bluehost Setting
up a WordPress blog or website on Bluehost is a breeze and can be done in less than 15 minutes.
Here’s a simple step-by-step guide on how to do the same.
Step 1: Click here click to visit Bluehost’s official website and click the ‘Get started now’ button.
Step 2: Select a Bluehost plan that works best for you, let’s say the Basic plan.
Step 3: Once you have chosen a subscription, you will be asked for your domain name. Enter your preferred domain name and the Bluehost Integrated Domain Registration Tool will check if it is available.
If you already have a registered domain name, you can use it here. Or you can skip this step and create a domain later.
Note: The Bluehost domain is free for one year with any subscription.
Step 4: Create your account (use Google Single Sign-On to make creating your account even easier), select an account plan (12, 24 or 36 months), uncheck package extras, enter payment details (credit card or PayPal) , and finally press the send button.
Once you have successfully completed the payment, you will see a success message on your screen and you will also receive a confirmation email with your proof of payment.
Step 5: Create your Bluehost account, login to cPanel, install WordPress with just one click and you are done setting up a WordPress blog.
Once your blog is live, the next step is to activate an SSL certificate to enable the HTTPS protocol, which is quite mandatory these days to make all communication secure and also for SEO point of view.
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Enable HTTPS
To enable an SSL certificate in Bluehost, you need to log in to cPanel and then click Manage Site under My Sites.
Once you click on the Security tab, you will see a window like this;
Here you have everything you need to turn the button On and relax.
Content Delivery Network
ActivateActivating a CND will speed up your site loading regardless of the location of your site visitors.
And with Bluehost, you get a lifetime free Cloudflare CDN that you can activate with just one click.
To do this, go to the Performance tab under My Sites in your cPanel and choose Cloudflare Global Content Delivery Network.
Here you can also set cache levels based on the site you will be developing.
Now your WordPress site is live, secured and optimized with Cloudflare Content Delivery Network.
It’s time to create business email addresses for your blogging business to give it a more professional look.
a
Createcustom email order, a custom email address for you to make, go to the Email button and office – Manage and click the Create button.
Finally, enter your username and password and click the Create button.
To access your email on the newly created account, click Check Email in the Email Accounts section.
In addition, you can also make use of email forwarders to receive your emails directly in your Google account.
Small verdict on the ease of use of: Bluehost Bluehost 1-click WordPress installation, SSL activation, CDN activation, and custom email creation make Bluehost exceptionally easy to use, even for beginners.
Grab Bluehost for $ 2.95 / month
Is Bluehost any good?
We’ve already tested Bluehost’s performance and usability, and for both we give them 5 out of 5.
But what about Bluehost plans, prices and features it offers?
Let’s dive into this part too.
Bluehost Plans, Pricing & Features
Whether you’re a beginner or an established web developer, Bluehost has everyone covered as they offer a wide variety of web hosting services including WordPress shared hosting, Dedicated hosting, VPS hosting, and WooCommerce hosting.
That said, shared hosting is something that Bluehost excels at.
So first, we’ll talk about Bluehost shared hosting plans in detail, then we’ll have a quick overview of other services after that.
Shared hosting is the easiest and most economical way to start building your sites and Bluehost offers 4 different plans so everyone can start their dream project within budget.
There they are;
1
Base $ 2.95 / month
1 Website
50 GB SSD Storage
Unlimited Bandwidth
5 Custom Email Accounts
2
Plus $ 5.45 / month
Unlimited Websites Unlimited
Storage
Bandwidth
Unlimited Unlimited Custom Email Accounts
Free Office 365-30 days month
3
Choice Plus $ 5.45 /
Unlimited Websites Unlimited Unlimited
Storage
Bandwidth
Unlimited Custom Email Accounts
Free Office 365 – Free 30 Days
Domain Privacy
Free Automated Backup – 1 Year
4
Pro $ 13.95 / month
Unlimited Websites Unlimited
Storage
Bandwidth
Unlimited Unlimited Custom Email Accounts
Free Office 365-30 daysDomain Privacy
Free
Free Automated Backup
Free Dedicated IP
All the prices below are exclusive to BloggersPassion readers and you don’t need a Bluehost discount code to get Bluehost plans at these prices.
1. Basic
This is Bluehost’s entry-level plan that includes everything for your first site. You need to spend a minimum of $ 2.95 per month for this plan.
Bluehost Basic Plan Features
- 1 Website
- 50 GB SSD Storage
- Custom Themes
- 24/7 Customer Support
- Free Domain – 1 Year
- Free CDN Included
- Free SSL Certificate
2. Plus
Bluehost’s next plan is a Plus plan which is $ 5.45 per month cost. But within this plan, you are given the freedom to host multiple websites with unlimited SSD storage and bandwidth.
Bluehost Plus plan features
- Unlimited websites
- Unlimited SSD storage
- Custom themes
- 24/7 customer support
- Free domain – 1 year
- Free CDN included
- Free SSL certificate
- Free Office 365 – 30 days
3. Choice Plus
This is Bluehost’s most popular plan with added privacy and safety Features. The best thing about this plan is that it will cost you the same as the Plus plan, which is $ 5.95 per month.
Bluehost Choice Plus Plan FeaturesSupport
- Unlimited Websites
- Unlimited SSD Storage
- Custom Themes
- 24/7 Customer
- Free Domain – 1 Year
- Free CDN Included
- Free SSL Certificate
- Free Office 365 – 30 Days
- Free Domain Privacy
- Free Automated Backup – 1 Year
4. Pro
This is Bluehost’s most advanced plan, best suited for growth seekers. Pro plan will provide you with more power with optimized CPU resources.
But for this plan, you have to pay $ 13.95 per month, which makes it quite expensive.
Bluehost Pro Plan Features
- Unlimited Websites
- Unlimited SSD Storage
- Custom Themes
- 24/7 Customer
- Support Optimized CPU Resources
- Free Domain – 1 Year
- Free CDN Included
- Free SSL Certificate
- Free Office 365 30 Days
- Free Domain Privacy
- Free Automated Backup
- Free Dedicated IP
Small Verdict on Bluehost Plans & Pricing: For us, except for the Pro plan, Bluehost’s shared hosting plans are good value for money and you can choose any plan based on your needs.
Sign Up Now for Bluehost
Bluehost VPS Hosting Plans
| Plan | Storage | Bandwidth | IP Addresses | Price | |
| Standard | 30 GB SSD | 1 TB | 1 IP address | $ 18.99 | Learn more |
| Enhanced | 60 GB SSD | 2 TB | 2 IP addresses | $ 29.99 | Learn more |
| Ultimate | 120 GB SSD | 3 TB | 2 IP addresses | $ 59.99 | Learn more |
Bluehost Dedicated Hosting Plans
| Plan | Storage | RAM | Bandwidth | IP Addresses | Price | |
| Standard | 500 | 4GB | 5TB | 3 | $ 79.99 | Learn |
| Improved | 1TB | 8GB | 10TB | 4 | $ 99.99 | Learn |
| Ultimate | 1 TB | 16 GB | 15 TB | 5 | $ 119.99 | Learn |
Bluehost Hosting PlansWooCommerce
| Plan | Products | Bandwidth | Sites | Price | |
| Standard | Unlimited | Unmetered | Multiple | $ 12.95 | Learn More |
| Premium | Unlimited | Unmetered | Multiple | $ 24.95 | Learn More |
This is all about Bluehost pricing and plans. Now let’s see what benefits you get with the Bluehost.
Advantages and Disadvantages of
Bluehost Here are the advantages of Bluehost that make it a default choice for any newbie.
1. Free domain name
This is another reason why we like Bluehost. No matter which Bluehost plan you choose, you get a free domain name (including .com) for a year.
It helps beginners save an extra $ 15 and keeps them away from the hassle of DNS configuration.
2.1-click WordPress installation
Setting up a WordPress blog and website on Bluehost with 1-click WordPress installation gives everyone one more reason to go with Bluehost.
3. Free SSL Certificate
Web security is something you cannot overlook these days and with Bluehost you get a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate that can be activated with a single click.
4. Free CDN
In addition to a free SSL certificate, you also get the most popular Cloudflare CDN for free.
5. Free custom emails You can
then create at least 5 custom email addresses (@yourdomain name) for free.
All these 5 benefits make Bluehost a complete package for any web enthusiast. But that is not everything.
6. 24/7 Customer
Support Sit back and relax while being supported by 24/7 expert customer support, including live chat and phone support.
7. Free WordPress Migration
This is the most recent feature launched by Bluehost and we felt really happy knowing this.
It allows you to move your WordPress site from another web host to Bluehost without any worries.
8. Industry-leading cPanel
Every Bluehost subscription is included with the industry-leading control panel, cPanel, which makes managing your website even easier.
9. 30-Day Money-Back Policy
With Bluehost, you also get a 30-day money-back guarantee that allows you to try their services for 30 days risk-free.
10. Everything Unlimited
Except for the Bluehost Basic plan, you get to host unlimited websites with unlimited SSD disk storage, bandwidth, custom email addresses and much more.
So, these are the benefits of using Bluehost, but no web host can be 100% perfect for everyone, the same is true for Bluehost too.
A few drawbacks of Bluehost that you may not like;
The only downside we found with Bluehost has to do with the backups. Bluehost does not offer automatic backups, except for the Choice Plus and Pro plans.
Well, you can fix that by using all WordPress backup plugins like UpdraftPlus, VaultPress, etc.
Second, Bluehost does not offer monthly plans, which means you have to opt for a plan of at least 12 months.
Again you want to give it a try, you can take advantage of their 30 day money back guarantee policy which works like a charm, we tested it.
Bluehost Alternatives
If you still think Bluehost isn’t for you, here are two best Bluehost alternatives you can go for;
1. Hostinger
If you’re really on a tight budget, you can choose Hostinger, which starts from just $ 0.99 a month.
We use Hostinger on one of our side blogs and we really found it very cost effective.
2. A2 Hosting
If budget isn’t an issue, go for A2 hosting with Turbo Servers that can load pages up to 20x faster compared to competing web hosting services.
Enjoy Bluehost Benefits
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Bluehost any good?
Yes, when we consider Bluehost features, speed, uptime, and support for the price of just $ 2.95 / month, Bluehost does the job perfectly.
Is Bluehost easy to use?
Absolutely! Automatic WordPress installation, 1-click SSL, CDN activation, and easy custom email creation, all these features make Bluehost an extremely easy-to-use web host for everyone.
What are the Bluehost hosting plans?
There are four shared hosting plans, Basic, Plus, Choice Plus, and Pro that will cost you $ 2.95 / month, $ 5.45 / month, $ 5.45 / month, and $ 13.95 / month respectively.
Which Bluehost Plan is Best for Beginners?
For those who want to start with 1 website, the basic plan is sufficient for them. But if you’re looking forward to hosting multiple websites, go for the Choice Plus plan.
Bluehost vs Hostgator what’s good?
Both Bluehost and Hostgator are part of the same group, Endurance International Group, and offer almost similar features. But in terms of price, the Hostgator plans are cheaper compared to the Bluehost.
Which is better: Bluehost or GoDaddy?
GoDaddy is a household name among the domain registrars, but when we talk about web hosting services and performance, Bluehost is much better than GoDaddy.
Bluehost vs Dreamhost?
Both Bluehost and Dreamhost are officially recommended by WordPress.org. Still, we highly recommend Bluehost over Dreamhost, trusted by 2 million users.
Is the Bluehost domain free?
Yes, you get a free domain for a year with every subscription you choose with Bluehost.
Is WordPress free with Bluehost?
Yes, Bluehost is known for WordPress hosting. With Bluehost, 1-click WordPress installation is available for free.
Can I pay Bluehost monthly?
No, you must subscribe to a subscription of at least 12 months.
Final Verdict on Bluehost Review 2021
So here we are done with the Bluehost review for 2021 and we have to say that Bluehost excels in every aspect, be it features, performance or support.
A free domain name, free SSL, free CDN, custom emails, 99.9% uptime, optimal speed, 24/7 customer support, all for just $ 2.95 per month, making Bluehost a go-to web host for everyone.
And the best part is that even a newbie can use and take advantage of all these features (from setting up a WordPress blog to SSL activation, enabling CDN, creating custom emails) without having any technical knowledge.
We hope you would like to receive this review from our team.
If you have any further questions regarding the Bluehost web hosting, let us know in the comment section, we will be happy to help.
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