Product Name: Bluehost
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Performance
(4.6)
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Support
(4.9)
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Hosting Features
(4.2)
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User Experience
(4.6)
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Affordability
(4.6)
Summary
Best For:
- Entry-level WordPress blogs or new bloggers seeking affordable shared hosting with a free domain for a year.
- Entry-level businesses aim to establish their first online store without any coding requirements.
- Budget-conscious individuals with an overall budget for web hosting ranging from approximately $25 to $120 for a year.
- Websites with traffic ranging from 5000 to 50,000 per month.
- Those in search of a dedicated server plan for their site. Bluehost remains one of the few services in the market that still offers dedicated server-based hosting.
Considerations:
- You may have to consider plans above the Basic plan as the performance of this plan is below average.
- You’ll have to manage your site’s maintenance yourself because Bluehost is not a fully managed hosting service like Kinsta or Cloudways.
- If your site is already hosted on another hosting service and you’re thinking of migrating to Bluehost, remember that Bluehost no longer provides free migration services. Now, you might have to pay up to $149 per site for migration. Their migration policy is very confusing, They do offer free migration if your website qualifies.
- Bluehost’s data centers are limited to a few locations – India, USA, London, and China. If you’re considering choosing a data center from somewhere else, you might face issues with Bluehost. Also, during the purchase of your data center, you can choose it only once, and you cannot change it in the future. So, think about it carefully before making a final decision.
Our Verdict: In my analysis, Bluehost should be a first choice for low-traffic sites whose priority is budget and good performance. Regardless of any uptime guarantee, I found their servers uptime 99.978% and relatively fast. Bluehost comes with a free domain name, phone support, and a 30-day money-back policy. One should be aware of the extra charges associated with paid add-ons, migration, and those features that are complementary only for the first year.
Are you looking for an honest Bluehost review in 2025? You’re in the right place.
Bluehost is hands down one of the most popular web hosts trusted by over 2 million users across the globe.
In this Bluehost Review, I will share my personal experience covering everything about Bluehost, including; all the major problems and benefits I faced during these years with Bluehost.
Don’t worry; it’s not gonna take long for you to make your final call on Bluehost. You can read the quick summary in this review’s first section and decide.
Without much ado, let’s dive into the honest review of Bluehost.
Table of Contents
Bluehost Review: What You Need to Know
Bluehost is a web hosting and domain registration service that has been around for more than a decade and is recommended by WordPress itself.
There was a time when Bluehost was highly sought after. However, in recent years, due to negative customer reviews, Bluehost’s reputation took a hit. Many customers faced problems, particularly with their hidden pricing (which I’ll discuss later).
But it seems like Bluehost is making an effort to regain its position in the market. Just a month ago, it reduced its shared hosting prices and has now become the most affordable web hosting service provider for a single website.
They offer a wide range of web hosting services, including Shared Hosting, Online Store Hosting, VPS hosting, and Dedicated hosting. What we like most about Bluehost offerings is that they have plans suitable for every kind of need.
Their Shared WordPress plans should be preferred when the budget is a problem, and you are happy to share server resources among multiple sites. Perfect for small business sites, blogs, etc. Features like WordPress auto install, plugin updates, 1-click backup, etc, have been given.
They also offer a special plan for Online Stores, helping you set up a fully functional digital eCommerce store with features like booking, appointments, and online payments. This is a big plus for small businesses aiming to grow in the digital e-commerce world without hefty expenses.
For websites with high traffic or over 100k monthly visitors, you might consider VPS or dedicated server plans. But from what I know, Bluehost’s main customers mostly go for shared hosting. Websites with high traffic often prefer services like Kinsta or Cloudways, as they are considered more secure compared to Bluehost, especially for top-tier hosting needs.
Bluehost Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| Starting with Bluehost is extremely easy, as it requires just $1.99/month | If uneligible, it might cost $149 for migration |
| Considerable performance for both new and medium traffic tier sites | Limited data centers (only 2) restricts the reach worldwide |
| Offers a dedicated online store plan so that users can start their first online store site easily | The hosting features tagged “free” are not forever free. For example, you need to pay for daily backups after the first year of your subscription ends |
| Basic securiy features are alloted | Renewal rates are higher compared to its top competitor Hostinger |
| User friendly hosting dashboard | Not suitable to host big traffic (million traffic per month) sites |
| Phone support is a real advantage here | Not getting any uptime guarantee is a really bad thing |
| 50 GB SSD max is the storage limit, might not work for everyone | |
| Performance of “basic plan” is a disaster |
So this is a basic overview of Bluehost web hosting with Pros and Cons. Let’s move ahead.
Bluehost Performance Test Results
Website Performance directly impacts the website’s SEO and rankings in SERP. Your site must be loaded at lightning-fast speed to deliver a better user experience. For this, you need a high-performance web host server.
Let’s check out the Bluehost performance test.
Bluehost Speed Test:
To find out what Bluehost has for you in terms of speed,
I have measured the real-time speed of a blog hosted on Bluehost for over some years now. I used the top 3 website performance testing tools: GTMetrix, Pingdom, and Google PageSpeed Insights to analyze the speed performance.
Bluehost GTMetrix speed test result:
I got 97% overall performance and below 1.0s loading time, which is just amazing.
Bluehost Pingdom speed test result:
I got a 91 (A) performance grade and .51s loading time, faster than the GTMetrix results.
Bluehost Google PageSpeed Results:
I got a 94-speed score for the desktop and 82 for the mobile version, which is impressive too.
![Bluehost Review 2025: Is Bluehost ANY Good? [Including Speed & Performance Tests]](https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/83YvQP-75qNumvQPRZBGm1kYEQxxmZVp_SSK8E573UcNUTaSCzGz8Y2vg3GqwEyBv5hOGvtYMaW8ml6gB-97jjnKG6M2UlLlcm_fzN_AWtbe1-VcW-ZBbT-O4uXWnhywOcoUCz-u-zp3ZDS0KYQzB4c)
Bluehost Uptime Test:
Many hosting companies promise a 99.99% uptime guarantee; Bluehost is one of them.
I want to verify the bluehost’s claims. I have set the uptime tracking for my blog hosted on Bluehost with the help of the UptimeRobot tool.
Here is a detailed look at Bluehost server uptime. Surprisingly, it was 100%.
You can see in the image above it’s been more than 1 year since I started tracking, and there was no downtime recorded.
This is just performance proof of one Bluehost-hosted site.
Bluehost Uptime Test By by HRANK
I used the real uptime tracker by HRANK to reverify the Bluehost uptime.
HRANK is a trusted platform that tracks millions of Bluehost websites every day, to bring you objective statistics about every hosting provider.
Here is the Bluehost uptime for the last 30 days: 99.978%, which is almost 99.9% as claimed by Bluehost itself.
Bluehost Server Response Time:
The Data Center (Server location) directly impacts the server response time. The closer the server is to your audience’s IP address, the better the website loading speed they will get.
Unlike other web hosting services, Bluehost never disclosed its server location to users. Yes, they won’t allow you to choose it as well during the website configuration process.
So, it’s not possible for me to disclose my Bluehost test site server location. But I can guess my server location is somewhere in the USA, as I purchased my hosting from Bluehost.com
Quick Note: Bluehost offers a free Cloudflare CDN integration, which means you don’t have to worry about server location. Cloudflare CDN ensures your visitors will get your webpage delivered from the closest data center possible.
To check server response time, I have used this amazing tool BitCatcha. This tool basically sends automated traffic to the site from various locations, which helps us to determine how well the Bluehost site performed in all scenarios.
Top 7 Reasons To Consider Bluehost
I found the following benefits after testing and analyzing each aspect of Bluehost hosting.
1. Starting with Bluehost is easy & affordable
Starting with Bluehost is a hassle-free and cost-effective way to launch your website. You can get your website up and running with their starting plan at just $1.99 per month.
With accessible pricing, user-friendly tools, and the flexibility to expand as your website grows, Bluehost is an excellent choice for individuals and businesses to establish an online presence without breaking the bank.
Whether you are searching for shared web hosting for your small site or dedicated server hosting for a big complex site, you will get both at affordable pricing. Plus, domain registration is free for a year & domain transfer can also be done from a single place.
2. Easy to Install Websites
Bluehost provides 1-Click WordPress installation for popular website-building platforms like WordPress. You don’t need to have advanced technical skills or coding knowledge to set up your website. You can install and set up your WordPress blog and website with just a few clicks.
Bluehost also provides a user-friendly control panel (cPanel) that simplifies the website management process. You can easily navigate through various settings, install applications, manage email accounts, and perform other essential tasks related to your website.
3. Free Website Migration
Quick Note: Bluehost recently started charging for the “Migration done by agents” service. For one site you have to pay $145. If your site is eligible for the free migration then they will do it for free. You can clear this confusion through a live chat.
If you want to do it for free you can do it with any free WordPress migration plugin like All in WP Migration.
If you are eligible for free migration then, Migrating from one hosting provider to another can be time-consuming and complex, especially if you lack technical skills.
However, if you’re dissatisfied with your current hosting and wish to switch to Bluehost, you’re in luck. Bluehost offers a free website migration service, moving your sites from your current hosting provider to their servers.
I found the Bluehost migration service extremely easy.
Here are the simple steps to migrate your website to Bluehost.
Bluehost provides only 1 WordPress website migration upon the purchase of a Bluehost hosting account. You can migrate the website for free within 30 days after your Bluehost account purchase.
Personally, I feel only 1 free migration seems somewhat limited. Bluehost should consider providing up to five free migrations, especially for their higher-end hosting plans.
You also get access to a free domain for 1 year with every Bluehost Hosting. You can register a free com/net/org/info/EU domain for the first year.
It helps you save an extra $10 to $20 and also avoids the hassles of DNS configuration.
4. Plenty of security measures are available
I found almost all security measures available inside Bluehost work on an automated basis. If you are a beginner, then don’t have to worry about configuration and all.
The list of Bluehost Security Features that safeguard your site 24*7 are:
- Resource Protection
- CodeGuard Automated Backups
- Website Firewall
- 24*7 Malware Scanning
- 24*7 Network Monitoring
- Domain Privacy
- Spam Protection
- Hotlink Protection
- SiteLock
5. Free CDN & SSL Certificate:
Bluehost offers a free CDN (Content Delivery Network) as part of its hosting services that helps to improve the performance and loading speed of your website.
You also get a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate that ensures the data transferred between your website and your visitors is secure.
SSL certificate from Bluehost ensures the security and trustworthiness of your website, positively impacting SEO, and the overall user experience.
You don’t need to be tech-savvy to use CDN and SSL certificates. With just one click, you can enable CDN and SSL certificates on your website.
6. 24/7 Fast customer support
Bluehost is known for its speedy customer support, ensuring immediate issue resolution. You get 24/7 live chat support in addition to email and phone support.
I have personally tested their live chat support. The customer representative joined the chat within seconds, displaying their readiness to provide assistance..
Along with this, you get a vast knowledge base full of articles, guides, how-tos, and YouTube Channel on everything related to web hosting from the Bluehost to resolve your issues.
7. Daily Automated Backups:
Some users had previously raised concerns about the lack of daily backup options. After that, Bluehost introduced a feature called “Daily Automated Backups” through Codeguard in all of its plans except Basic.
You get a daily automated backup for free for the 1st year. After that, you can purchase CodeGuard Backup for an additional $2.99 per month fee.
Bluehost Pricing Review & Evaluation
Bluehost’s pricing depends on the type of hosting you choose, but as everyone knows, Bluehost’s shared WordPress plans are the most popular. That’s why we are reviewing those plans specifically.
Did you know that Bluehost’s pricing has changed since January 2024? Now, you can see shared plans starting from $1.99/month, which used to start at $2.95/month. Due to this change, Bluehost has now topped the list for the lowest charges for entry-level hosting for a single website.
Similar to other services, the longer the tenure you choose on Bluehost, the more money you can save. Bluehost offers hosting plans in three tenures: 1 Month, 12 Months, and 36 Months.
Here is the side-by-side comparison of each Bluehost hosting plan;
| Basic Plan | Choice Plus | eCommerce Essentials | Pro Plan | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Costs $1.99/mo | Costs $3.95/mo | Costs $6.45/mo | Costs $9.99/mo |
| Free Domain (1 Year) | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Websites | 10 Sites | 50 Websites | 100 Websites | 100 Websites |
| Website Space | 10 GB NVMe | 50 GB NVMe | 100 GB NVMe | 100 GB NVMe |
| Bandwidth | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered |
| eCommerce Features | Not Included | Not Included | Included (Store Analytics & $450 Worth eCommerce plugins) | Not Included |
| AI Site Creation Tools | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Free SSL | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Free CDN | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Domain Privacy | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
| Free Daily Backups | Not included | Included | Included | Included |
| Automatic WP installation | Not Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Dedicated IP | Not included | Not included | Not included | Not included |
| Discount | 83% OFF | 75% OFF | 66% OFF | 66% OFF |
| Best For: | 1-2k traffic per month | 5k - 30k traffic per month | 5k - 30k traffic per month | 30k - 100k traffic per month |
Which Bluehost Hosting Plan is more money-oriented?
Out of all Bluehost hosting plans, The Choice Plus plan seems more fair in terms of money & features. Why?
Because, unlike the Basic plan, it offers multiple website installations, 40 GB extra SSD, Phone support, Free daily backups, Free domain privacy, and other perks. This plan is suitable for a new and growing website (let’s say 1-2 year-old). And its performance is also decent.
The performance of the Basic plan is below average, and your site visitors will face slow loading time issues.
If you want pre-built eCommerce store features in your web hosting then an eCommerce Essentials should be highly recommended. Their Pro plan is optimized for high traffic, it is a little bit expensive and only suitable for those who can handle over $100/year in the expense of hosting.
Bluehost also provides a 30-day money-back guarantee that allows you to try their services risk-free for 30 days.
Renewal Prices & Hidden Pricing
Despite cheaper plans, Bluehost has a bad renewal cost policy and some hidden charges.
You might think that the pricing table you saw for the plans is final, but that’s not the case.
Your overall billing could be different because of hidden pricing associated with Bluehost plans:
1.) Addons Extra Charges:
When you choose the Basic plan, you will notice additional add-ons on the checkout page.
- eCommerce feature addon: Cost an additional $59/year
- CodeGuard daily backups addon: Cost an additional $59/year
- Single domain SSL: Cost an additional $39.96/year
- SiteLock Essentials: Cost an additional $35.88/year
- Yoast SEO: Cost an additional $23.88/year
- Professional Email: $2.49/mo after 3-month free trial ends
If you look closely, you can avoid extra expenses by skipping some of these add-ons. However, avoiding it for daily automated backups can be a bit challenging.
That’s why there might be a difference in your overall billing. These add-ons are available in all plans and can directly impact your final billing.
2.) Extra Renewal Charges
As a new user, the plans you are currently seeing will change once your first tenure is complete. In short, renewals will cost you almost double. This is a fine thing because every other web hosting service gives discounts to new users and charges regular pricing for renewals.
| Pricing | Basic | Choice Plus | eCommerce Essential | Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular (12 Months) | $1.99/mo | $3.95/mo | $6.45/mo | $9.99/mo |
| Renewal (12 Months) | $11.99/mo | $15.99/mo | $18.99/mo | $28.99/mo |
| Regular (36 Months) | $4.95/mo | $7.45/mo | N/A | $18.95/mo |
| Renewal (36 Months) | $9.99/mo | $14.99/mo | N/A | $26.99/mo |
Furthermore, Bluehost’s plans include many free features that are free only for the first year; afterward, you’ll have to pay extra for these features.
For example:
- Free Domain: $10/year afterward
- Professional Email: $2.49/mo afterward
- Daily Website Backups: $59/year afterward
- Domain Privacy: $11.88/year afterward
You must have understood why we were saying that Bluehost has hidden charges. So keep aware of them before swiping your credit card.
3.) Migration Charges
Bluehost is used to provide free migrations. However, things have changed. In 2025, they now state that if your site failed to meet the free migration criteria, then you have to take Bluehost’s paid migration service. For this, You will need to pay $149 per site.
Bluehost is an excellent option for beginners, but to explore other top recommendations, see our best web hosting for beginners guide.
Bluehost vs Competitors
So many web hosting services are available in the market. If you still feel Bluehost is not for you, here are best Bluehost alternatives you can go for;
1. Hostinger
If you’re really tight on budget, then you can choose Hostinger, which starts from only $2.69 per month. Not just in starting, Hostinger can save your pocket in further years because of low renewal costs compared to Bluehost. The average loading time of Hostinger servers is 2.014 seconds.
Unlike Bluehost, Hostinger allows you to manually pick a data center of your choice, which ultimately is another good reason to go with Hostinger instead of Bluehost. We are using Hostinger on one of our side blogs, and we genuinely found it very cost-effective.
| Bluehost vs Hostinger | Bluehost | Hostinger |
| Affordability | $1.99/mo to $9.99/mo | $2.69/mo to $7.19/mo |
| Renewal Costs | Starts at $11.99/mo (12 months) | Starts at $10.99/mo (12 months) |
| Hidden Costs | Yes (associated with freebies for a limited period) | No |
| Number of Websites | 10-100 | 25-100 |
| Support | Live Chat, Phone Support | Only live chat |
| Free CDN | All Plans | Not in all plans |
| Free Domain (1 Year) | Yes | Yes |
| Free Migration | Depends on your eligibility | Yes |
| Free Backups | Not in Basic plan | Yes |
| AI Website Builder | Not supported | Supported |
| Security | Basic | Basic |
Explore More: How to Migrate From Bluehost to Hostinger [Simple Tutorial]
2. WordPress.com Hosting
If you are seeking WordPress hosting and do not find Bluehost suitable then why don’t you move your site to the hosting provider who developed the WordPress CMS? I am talking about WordPress.com.
WordPress.com also offers hosting, and according to customer reviews and my testing experience, their servers are the most reliable. Their hosting is also one of the top secure hosts.
Compared to Bluehost, WordPress.com does not charge you a high renewal cost as their base pricing & renewals are the same, and you’ll get more efficient servers than Bluehost, which have been found to handle bulk traffic load better.
| Bluehost vs WordPress.com | Bluehost | WordPress.com |
| Affordability | $1.99/mo to $9.99/mo | $2.75/mo to $31.50/mo |
| Renewal Costs | Starts at $11.99/mo (12 months) | Same as per subscription |
| Hidden Costs | Yes (associated with freebies for a limited period) | No |
| Number of Websites | 10-100 | Only 1 per license |
| Support | Live Chat, Phone Support | Live Chat, AI Support Assistant |
| Free CDN | All Plans | Inbuilt |
| Free Domain (1 Year) | Yes | Yes |
| Free Migration | Depends on your eligibility | Available |
| Free Backups | Not in Basic plan | Real time automated backups |
| AI Website Builder | Not supported | Not supported |
| Security | Basic | Advanced |
Few More Web Hosting Services You Might Wants to Consider:
- WPX Hosting Review With 50% OFF: Our 8 Years Hosting Experience
- DreamHost Web Hosting Review: Insights from an Industry Pro
- InMotion Hosting Review 2025 with Uptime & Speed Test
- Liquid Web Review: Experience, Pros & Cons, Performance & More
- Kinsta Review: Is it the Best & Most Secure Hosting Service
- Cloudways Review: Why Should You Try this Cloud Hosting?
FAQs About Bluehost Web Hosting
Is Bluehost good?
Yes, if we consider Bluehost features, speed, uptime, and support for the price of just $1.99/mo, Bluehost does its 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 plans for shared hosting, Basic, Choice Plus, eCommerce Essentials and Pro that will cost you $1.99/mo, $3.95/mo, $6.45/mo, and $9.99/mo, 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 are looking forward to hosting multiple websites, go for the Choice Plus plan.
Is the Bluehost domain free?
Yes, you will get a free domain for one year with Choice Plus, Online Store, & Pro plans. The Basic plan doesn’t offer a free domain name advantage.
Can I pay Bluehost monthly?
Yes, You can buy a one month plan from Bluehost, but it will be really costly.
Is Bluehost suitable for eCommerce websites?
Yes, Bluehost has 2 dedicated plans for the store’s site. They are cheap compared to platforms like shopify and offer features like payment processing, cart setup, product catalogs, inventory management, and much more.
Does Bluehost provide live chat support?
Yes, customers can reach out to Bluehost support team via live chat, email, and phone medium.
What is Bluehost refund policy?
Bluehost backs its services with a 30-day money-back guarantee. However, domain registration fees are non-refundable.
Is Bluehost cheaper compared to Hostinger, GoDaddy, and HostGator?
Bluehost generally offers more affordable plans, starting at $1.99/month. However, Hostinger costs you $2.99/month, while GoDaddy starts at $4.99/month, and HostGator at $3.75/month.
Who is Bluehost For? My Final Words on Bluehost
After testing & reviewing Bluehost hosting in-depth, I can say beginners should give a shot to Bluehost. All the required resources with a high performance server are available. The technical hurdles won’t bother them at all as everything (from wordpress installation to backups) is automated here.
Starting with Bluehost is easy, you just need a couple of bucks for onboarding.
For high traffic requirement sites or eCommerce sites, Bluehost top tier performance oriented plans are available. There won’t be any lack of resources. 99.99% uptime ensures smooth web page deliverability across all parts of the world.
Avoid Bluehost if you are looking to purchase hosting for a year only. Purchase the hosting for 36 months, which will give you a relief from Bluehost’s most disappointing thing: High renewal cost.
Do you have any more questions about Bluehost Hosting? Let us know in the comments.
