BlueHost is a popular web hosting service and the official web hosting provider recommended by WordPress. 

BlueHost was founded in 2003 by Matt Heaton and Danny Ashworth and it currently powers over 2 million websites all over the world and adds a thousand more each day. 

For the most part, BlueHost still focuses mainly on shared hosting plans, despite launching additional types of hosting such as VPS, dedicated servers, and managed WordPress hosting. 

In this review of BlueHost, we’ll evaluate their shared hosting plans on key features, pricing, customer support, overall sentiment around the product, and also share its pros and cons to help you decide whether it’s worth creating your website using BlueHost shared hosting services. 

Pricing and Features

BlueHost offers 3 shared hosting plans:

• Basic – $2.75/month
• Plus – $5.95/month
• Prime – $5.95/month

*** Pricing as of May 2017

The above plans require you to sign up for annual pricing. If you sign up for 2-3 years, you get higher discounts.

The Basic plan, priced at $2.75/month, is the most popular plan as it’s also the most economical. This is the perfect plan for people who are launching their first website. The plan allows you to host only one domain for your account. In addition to this, you also get 5 email accounts for your domain.

Next up is the Plus plan, priced at $5.95/month. This plan allows you to host unlimited domains, in addition to offering unlimited bandwidth and storage. It also includes unlimited email accounts with unlimited storage.

Their premium plan is called the Prime plan, priced at $5.95/month. The usual price of this plan is over $13, but BlueHost seems to be promoting this plan aggressively in the past few months. The only difference between Prime and Plus is that this plan comes with additional offering of domain privacy and SiteBackup Pro.

Create Your First Website With BlueHost

The table below highlights key features of each of the shared hosting plans:

[table id=4 /]

Get Started with BlueHost

Customer Support

When it comes to web hosting, customer support plays a critical role. This is because so many people are creating a website for the first time, and they’ll need help from the support team to set it up. 

BlueHost has a capable customer support team which helps you every step of the way. The company has over 750 customer support executives working 24/7 to help customers set up their websites and address other issues.

Since it’s the official WordPress recommended hosting provider, BlueHost has a team of in-house WordPress experts who can help you setup or migrate your WordPress site and deal with any other WordPress-related issues. 

On the flipside, the wait time can be well over 30 minutes in some cases which can be frustrating when you are trying to get a serious issue resolved. 

Online Reviews and Ratings

BlueHost has mixed reviews online. It is currently rated 3.4/5 on G2 Crowd (58 reviews) and 3.5/5 on WhoIsHostingThis (458 reviews). This seems to be the norm in online reviews for most web hosting services. Companies such as GoDaddy, HostGator, etc. also have mixed reviews online. 

WPBeginner, a WordPress resource site run by Syed Balkhi, rates BlueHost highly, awarding them the title ‘Best Web Hosting for Small Businesses’. 

Pros and Cons

BlueHost is a good, reliable web hosting service, but it may not be right for everyone. Consider these pros and cons before choosing a plan.

Pros

• Affordable: Shared hosting plans are highly affordable for all users, especially people who are creating their first website. 
• Seamless Integration with WordPress: Officially recommended by WordPress.
• Performance: BlueHost powers a large number of websites with minimum downtime. 
• Free SSL Certificate: Free SSL certificate is included with all shared hosting plans.
• Knowledgeable and Helpful Support Team: The support team is friendly and courteous, and resolves most issues with ease.
• Free Domain: A free domain is included with all plans for 1 year.
• Refund Policy: All plans are covered with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Cons

• No monthly Payment Option Available: To get the best price for your shared hosting plan, you’ll need to opt for annual pricing. 
• Wait Time: While the live chat support is pretty good, the wait-time can get a little frustrating
• Mixed Online Reviews: As stated before, BlueHost, like many other web hosting services, has mixed reviews and ratings online. 

Final Verdict

BlueHost’s shared hosting plans are ideal for small business owners and bloggers. You get a free domain with your hosting plan and the support team is available 24/7 in case you need help creating your website.

Hope you found this BlueHost review useful. What is your experience with BlueHost? Please share your thoughts in the comments section.

Create Your Website with BlueHost

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The post BlueHost Review: A Comprehensive Review of BlueHost’s Shared Hosting Plans appeared first on 99signals.

To make the task of finding the overall best web hosting provider easier for you, we have listed down the 5 best web hosting providers that you should seriously consider while building the website for your business.

All the web hosting providers listed here have a reputation for reliability (all of them have been in existence for quite some time), provide exceptional technical support, and are easy to use.

5 Best Web Hosting Service Providers for Your Small Business

1. BlueHost

BlueHost is one of the most popular web hosting providers with simple, secure hosting. Whether you need hosting optimized for WordPress or dedicated hosting, BlueHost has several plans for small businesses and bloggers alike.

If you’re planning to use WordPress as your CMS, then look no further than BlueHost as they are the official WordPress recommended hosting provider.

Their customer service and live chat support is excellent and they’ll help you every step of the way in getting your website up and running.

The base shared hosting plan starts at $5.95/month. However, you can use this discount link to get the base shared hosting plan for $3.95/month.

Pros

• Unlimited space and bandwidth
• Seamless integration with WordPress. Officially recommended by WordPress
• You get a free domain name along with your hosting plan
• 30-day money-back guarantee
• 24/7 live chat support

Cons

• While the live chat support is pretty good, the wait-time can get a little frustrating
• Expensive compared to some of the other plans listed here

Click here to sign up for BlueHost

2. iPage

iPage has been hosting websites of bloggers and small business owners for over 10 years now, helping over a million people get their first website.

With highly affordable hosting plans and user-friendly interface, iPage focuses on creating an easy-to-use hosting experience for technical beginners. They have shared, VPS, and dedicated hosting options. The shared hosting plans start at $1.99/month.

Pros

• Unlimited space, bandwidth, and email accounts
• Free site-building tools which help you build the site you want in a matter of hours
• 99.9% up-time guaranteed
• 30-day money-back guarantee. Used to offer anytime money-back guarantee, but they’ve now reduced it to 30 days. Still better than most web hosting services.
• 24/7 technical support
• Easy WordPress integration
• One of the cheapest web hosting services out there

Cons

• No CPanel; instead they offer their own panel interface which may take some time to get used to
• Customer support takes time. Few people have complained about the wait-time while trying to get their issue resolved

Click here to sign up for iPage Web Hosting Services

3. Namecheap

Founded in 2000, Namecheap has over 800,000 clients across the world. Namecheap offers some of the most affordable web hosting plans. They are fast, reliable and secure and come with a 14-day money back guarantee.

Use Namecheap coupon: SUNANDFUN to get 20% off across all shared hosting plans.

Pros

• User-friendly interface. Easy to navigate and a joy to use.
• Unlimited space and bandwidth
• Free DNS
• 14-day money back guarantee. Not as attractive as iPage or Dreamhost’s money back policies, 14 days is ample time for most users to familiarize themselves with the service and features offered by Namecheap

Cons

• No phone support
• Some users have complained about frequent downtimes for their websites

Sign up for Namecheap Web Hosting Services

4. DreamHost

DreamHost has standard shared hosting plans which are competitively priced and offer great support for developers.

DreamHost also has great plans for non-techies who want a website that’s fast, easy to setup and manage. Their customer support team is extremely helpful and they offer an unprecedented 97-day money back guarantee.

Pros

• Unlimited space and bandwidth
• 99.9% up-time guarantee
• Smooth WordPress integration
• 24/7 live customer support
• 97-day money-back guarantee. Unprecedented among web hosting services.
• One-click installs

Cons

• Not the cheapest web hosting service provider
• Control panel not user-friendly

5. HostGator

HostGator is yet another good option for small business owners who want maximum bang for buck. The base shared hosting plan (Hatchling) starts at $3.95/Month and they provide 24/7 customer support. They also have a 45-day money back guarantee.

Use HostGator coupon: 99SIGNALS25 to get 25% off across all hosting plans.

Pros

• Unlimited bandwidth
• Smooth integration with WordPress
• 24/7 technical support
• One-click installs

Cons

• Mixed reviews about customer support

Sign up for HostGator web hosting services

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