PRODUCT NAME: BlueHost
Overall Ranking: 70 out of 100 – OVERALL A DECENT COMPANY, BUT THERE ARE ISSUES
Price: Starter Member $3.95 per month (must be paid in advance for 3 years)
Owners: Started by Matt Heaton. In 2010, Endurance International Group (EIG) bought BlueHost and Matt Heaton resigned as CEO shortly after.
Website: www.BlueHost.com
INTRODUCTION
BlueHost started in 1996 by Matt Heaton. It was one of the web hosting companies to emerge. Heaton also founded HostMonster and FastDomain, sister companies of Blue Host. I began doing freelance web design in 2004 and BlueHost was the company I selected to host my initial websites. I still have a few websites hosted through BlueHost today. So, you can say I have been a customer for over a decade. The price was reasonable and tech support was pretty responsive in my opinion. I did not have too many complaints with them and routinely recommended them to my clients. It was intended to be for small-to-mid-size websites only.
To maintain that, BlueHost heavily practiced what is known as CPU Throttling, a system by which if your website was believed to be pulling on the server and taking up too much space and resources, your website would be “frozen” and you would have to call technical support and beg and plead to have your website unfrozen and it would be up to the representative on the phone if they wanted to release your website or not.
One thing I did not care for is, when I first joined BlueHost in 2004, the interface and control panel (cPanel) was difficult to navigate and not very user-friendly. It would take me a long time to try and find where I needed to click to get specific tasks accomplished. I would often have to call tech support and have them walk me through the process. However, in 2013-2014, BlueHost revamped their interface system and website and today, it is very easy to navigate.
PROS / CONS
Pros
- Been around for a long time.
- Uses WordPress as its web building platform
- 24/7 Technical Support
- Live Chat is available
- Is one of the largest web hosting companies on the market today.
- Good overall rating of server performance
- Has some useful add-ons available
- Has experienced large growth since EIG bought them out
- Access to the YouTube Channel for videos on About Bluehost, tutorials, WordPress Walk Through Series, How Websites Work, Domains Explained and more
- Has a 30-day money back guarantee
- If you cancel after your 30 days, your refund will be pro-rated. Many hosting companies do not have this benefit.
- Has a massive knowledgebase for customer support with tons of documentation and detailed instructions on how to accomplish tasks
- There are three plans you can select from depending on your needs (Starter/Plus/Business Pro)
Cons
- CPU Throttling is still an issue (see above under Introduction for further explanation). If your website is deemed to be taking up too much of server resource space, your site will be frozen and your rankings and traffic conversions will be drastically affected. You may have to deal with some major hassles if this happens.
- The renewal rates are nearly double what the initial low sign-up rates are. Many people prefer knowing they will pay the same price from sign-up to renewal.
- In 2014, there are two major outages which lasted several hours. For many website developers, this caused major headaches as customer sales dropped significantly as well as loyalty and trust. You can read about the two outages on these two sites
WHO IT IS FOR?
This is for an individual or company needing timely around-the-clock support with easy-to-install WordPress themes and plug-ins at an initial low price. This is for someone who is proficient in web design. There are very few tutorials or training for individuals who are new to web development.
If you are a novice in web design and want a platform which offers more assistance and support for beginning web designers, check out Wealthy Affiliate Open Education Project. There are step-by-step training modules designed to teach you how to build a website.
TRAINING/TOOLS OVERVIEW
As mentioned above, there is a massive collection of documentation for customer support. There is also a forum where you can post questions and hopefully receive answers in a timely manner. The YouTube channel provides a number of videos about BlueHost and some helpful videos:
Some of the basic features you will get with your BlueHost account are:
Some of the advanced features you will get with BlueHost are:
SUPPORT
The technical support is available 24 hours, 7 days a week with minimal wait time depending when you call them.
PRICE
There are three plans depending on your preferences and need levels. If you are an individual and you only need one website, the starter membership is the best plan for you. The other two plans are Plus and Business Pro. Review the chart below to compare the differences.
FINAL OPINION/VERDICT
My final opinion is that BlueHost is for the most part a good buy. I do recommend them and believe they will serve you well. However, they will lure you in with a low hosting fee and than jack up the prices upon renewal. However, in BlueHost’s defense, many web hosting companies follow the same practice.
One company which does not increase their rates upon renewal and always offers you the same price is Wealthy Affiliate. There is much more training and support with Wealthy Affiliate Open Education Project than BlueHost in addition to the community connection. Compare Wealthy Affiliate with BlueHost in the chart and see how each stakes up.
13 thoughts on “BlueHost Review”
Hello Steph Hill,
Absolutely love the content, both quality and quantity… Your site is now in my bookmarks… So much information is contained here and after reading for a little while, discover very interesting insights… This seems to be one of those “things they don’t tell you” sites… I’m wondering how many of these you personally became part of? Must say, job well done – I am impressed – A+
Best Wishes from Daniel
Hi Daniel!
Thank you for checking out my website. I have tried as you said to think of things that “they didn’t tell you” and provide helpful information that might be difficult to find elsewhere.
I have used BlueHost before I joined Wealthy Affiliate. I still have a couple websites hosted through BlueHost. The issue is for the same price BlueHost is offering you can get so much more than hosting for a single website. At Wealthy Affiliate for the same price you pay for a single website hosting through BlueHost, you get hosting for 25 domains (websites) for which you own and 25 additional websites on the SiteRub.xom domain, plus the training and the massive community support.
Steph
Thank you for your review of BlueHost.
I have been scouring the internet to find a decent place to try and build a website and perform some keyword research and search engine optimization. I took a look at BlueHost before because it is one the oldest programs out there today, but I have read some bad reviews on their customer service and thus, I was very hesitate. Thank you for offering an alternative such as Wealthy Affiliate. I will go check it out right now.
Hi Kika:
I am glad you found the review of BlueHost helpful. Wealthy Affiliate is the best way to try and learn more about SEO and affiliate marketing. Let me know if you have any questions at all. Once you sign up for membership with Wealthy Affiliate, you can send me a private message on my profile page or you can communicate with me here via my website.
Steph
Hi Steph,
I am so happy I read this review. I myself am a user of bluehost and I didn’t know you could cancel your membership and get a pro rata refund!
I will definitely do this now because I don’t even use my account anymore and I probably have around 10 months left on it.
I must say I think they are a great platform though and the helpdesk is actually really helpful!
Overall not much I could complain about. (although my billing was a bit annoying and took several days).
Great review!
Thanks
Hi Steph,
I am glad you did a very informational review for bluehost. I am always looking at different hosting plans, and the low price at bluehost had me leaning toward them.But after hearing that the price almost doubles, I may have to rethink that! I am glad you also mentioned the server outages, another thing i didn’t consider! And then you put up that comparison chart of Wealthy Affiliates to Bluehost,I think I am convinced that Wealthy Affiliates is the hands down choice! Do you know of any customer testimonials from Wealthy Affiliates? Thank You for the in depth review.
Chas
Hi Chas:
I am glad the review of Blue Host was helpful. I agree the initial price for the first year is a great deal, but they are known to increase their rates for following years. Wealthy affiliate offers many advantages that other web hosting companies do not offer as well as opportunities to make money while having a safe place to host all of your sites. You can check out one of the testimonials page on Wealthy Affiliate to learn more. Great question. Thank you for asking and thank you for visiting today. Please come back soon.
Steph
I have used for a few years. I really liked the support they have there. It is a reasonable price. I did have a few issues a couple of times but with a quick IM to the service team I was right on my way.
Marc
Hi Marc:
Thank you for stopping by to leave a comment. I agree Bluehost is pretty good to work with now. Like you, I had a few issues but was able to get it resolved quickly. Thank you again for providing your input and experience. Much appreciated.
Steph
Hi Steph. The starter package is enticing but CPU trotting is an issue.
Cathy
Hi Cathy:
Thank you stopping by, reading my post and for leaving a comment. The CPU Throttling is an issue with Bluehost. The web hosting company BlueHost is designed for small to mid-size websites. CPU Throttling is the practice they use in order to maintain that. Therefore, the issue comes in if you build a website and start out small, but later grow bigger, you can very likely run into this problem with Bluehost. Thank you again for taking the time to visit my website. I do hope you come again soon.
Steph
The starter package is really affordable! I will give it a try! Thank you Steph for this review as well as your other reviews on Miss Hosting and NameCheap and Wealthy Affiliate.
Hi Keye:
Thank you for stopping by today and leaving a comment. BlueHost does definitely have an affordable starter package for individuals who have one domain they need to host. Once you set up your hosting, you will be ready to learn how to build a website and get it ranked in the search engines by utilizing search engine optimization. Once you have a website you can come back and review legitimate online opportunities by visiting other pages on this site.
Have a wonderful day!
Steph