Looking to start a new blog, switch hosting providers, or transfer from WordPress.com? Let us make it easy for you. Our friends over at Bluehost has agreed to offer all WPBeginner users a limited time deal: 60% discount and a free domain name.
This super exclusive offer expires on July 26th, 2016 (11:59 PM MST) and is only being offered through WPBeginner.
You can start your blog for as low as .95 / month which is their lowest price ever → Claim this Offer ←
Why Bluehost? Because they are an official WordPress recommended hosting provider.
Bluehost is one of the oldest web hosting companies on the web (started in 1996 – older than Google). They are the largest brand name in WordPress hosting and host millions of websites including several of our own.
Full Disclosure: When you purchase using our referral link, at no additional cost to you, we will receive a small commission. We would get this referral fee for recommending just about any other company, but we only recommend products that we personally use and/or believe will add value to our readers.
Who is this offer great for?
Well everyone, but in particular: those starting a new blog or switching from WordPress.com to a self-hosted WordPress.org blog.
We have written a full article on WordPress.com vs WordPress.org, but here’s the summary of why you should use self-hosted WordPress:
- You get a free domain name (only if you go with Bluehost)
- You have access to more themes and design customization options.
- You can install plugins.
- You can run your own ads without any restrictions.
- You can create your own store.
- You own and control your content (whereas on WordPress.com you are restricted to their Terms of Service, and they often show ads to your users unless you pay them not to).
Not convinced yet?
Bonus offer: Our expert team will help you get started. Bluehost promised us that if you signup using our referral link, then they will compensate us to do the blog setup for you. We will even migrate your WordPress.com blog over to self-hosted WordPress. Here’s how to claim this offer:
1. Signup using our referral link
2. Fill out the form on this page and that’s it!
Who Shouldn’t Use this Offer?
This offer is not good for everyone. Our goal at WPBeginner is to guide the users to make the best decision regardless of whether we get paid or not.
The biggest catch here is the term “unlimited space and bandwidth”, and we want to explain that.
The way these shared hosting companies are able to offer such affordable prices is by allowing multiple users to share a large server. By having multiple sites on the same server, it allows them to reduce costs for everyone.
Think of the savings as riding a bus vs your own car.
Having that said, there is no such thing as unlimited. While it says unlimited, you still have usage restrictions. If your site starts to take up substantial server load, then they will politely force you to upgrade. If they don’t take this action, then it has negative effects on the overall performance of every other site sharing the same server.
As conventional wisdom goes, your overhead costs will grow with your business!
If your website is getting millions of pageviews per month, then this .95 hosting plan won’t work for you. You should look into getting a VPS or even managed WordPress hosting.
However if you are just starting out or have a small business website, then there is no reason for you to pay hundreds of dollars each month for resources you won’t use. You should absolutely definitely take advantage of this shared hosting offer.
→ Signup with Bluehost Now ← – Lowest prices ever + a free domain name.
The post WPBeginner Exclusive – Bluehost .95 / month + Free Domain (Limited Time Deal) appeared first on WPBeginner.
alt="FatCow vs BlueHost: Who’s better?" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/fatcow-vps-dedicated-hosting-offer-500x262_c.jpg" />
Both BlueHost and FatCow are not stranger to most web hosting shoppers. Both companies started business in the late 90s, both focus in shared hosting services, and both are highly rated among webmasters. It’s easy to see why people tend to compare BlueHost and FatCow. In this article, we are going to dig deep and find out who has the best between FatCow and BlueHost hosting.
class="border" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/images/2009/0912-4.jpg" alt="BlueHost vs FatCow" width="750px" />
(Alternatively, you might want to see them reviewed separately in my hosting reviews: href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/fatcow/">FatCow Review; href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/bluehost/">BlueHost Review.)
Compare FatCow and BlueHost Hosting Plans
To get things started, let’s have a quick check on FatCow and BlueHost hosting features.
border="0" width="98%" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="3">
class="table">Web Hosting Features class="table" align="center" width="100">FatCowclass="table" align="center" width="100">BlueHost
| Disk Storage | align="center" width="100">Unlimitedalign="center" width="100">Unlimited
| Bandwidth | align="center" width="100">Unlimitedalign="center" width="100">Unlimited
| Free Domain | align="center" width="100">Unlimitedalign="center" width="100">Unlimited
| Addon Domain | align="center" width="100">Unlimitedalign="center" width="100">Unlimited
| MySQL Database | align="center" width="100">Unlimitedalign="center" width="100">100
colspan="3">size="1" />
| Email Accounts | align="center" width="100">Unlimitedalign="center" width="100">2,500
| Forwarders | align="center" width="100">Yesalign="center" width="100">Yes
| Auto Responders | align="center" width="100">Yesalign="center" width="100">Yes
| Web-Based Email | align="center">Yesalign="center">Yes
colspan="3">size="1" />
| Control Panel | align="center" width="100">vDeckalign="center" width="100">cPanel
| Auto Script Installater | align="center" width="100">In-Housealign="center" width="100">SimpleScripts & Fantastico
| Agora Shopping Cart | align="center" width="100">–align="center" width="100">Yes
| osCommerce | align="center" width="100">–align="center" width="100">Yes
| ShopSite | align="center" width="100">Yesalign="center" width="100">–
| PowerPay | align="center" width="100">Yesalign="center" width="100">–
| PayPal Integration | align="center" width="100">Yesalign="center" width="100">–
As you can see the major differences between the two are the quantity of mySQL databases and the control panel software. From what I know, BlueHost runs a tight restriction on the amount of MySQL databases you can add into your account. While they are offering unlimited disk storage and hosting bandwidth, they limit your database capacity at 100.
While most webmasters prefer cPanel (because of familiarity I guess), I don’t see any big dissimilarity between cPanel and vDeck. Hence, I wouldn’t suggest you to use this as a deciding factor for your purchase.
Pricing: FatCow vs BlueHost
border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="3">
class="table">Hosting Price class="table" align="center" width="100">FatCowclass="table" align="center" width="100">BlueHost
| 12 months | align="center" width="100">.83/moalign="center" width="100">.95/mo
| 24 months | align="center" width="100">.83/moalign="center" width="100">.95/mo
| 36 months | align="center" width="100">.83/moalign="center" width="100">.95/mo
BlueHost cost .4 to .4 annually (depends on your subscription period); while FatCow, after special discount offer at W.H.S.R., cost .96 per year (35% discount from the original .5/mo).
Popularity: FatCow vs BlueHost
Web Search Interest
From href="http://www.google.com/insights/search/#content=1&cat=53&q=bluehost%2C+fatcow&cmpt=q">Google Insights (in hosting related categories), BlueHost clearly outranked FatCow in term popularity, with a score of 63 – in contrast of FatCow’s score of 12.
class="border" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/images/2009/0912-3.jpg" alt="Google Insights for BlueHost and FatCow" width="750px" />
Regional Interest
BlueHost searches come from all around the world; while FatCow hosting is interested mainly by the west.
class="border" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/images/2009/0912-1.jpg" alt="Google Insights Regional Searches for BlueHost" width="750px" />
class="border" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/images/2009/0912-2.jpg" alt="Google Insights Regional Searches for FatCow" width="750px" />
Customer Supports: FatCow vs BlueHost
Both BlueHost and FatCow customers are supported 24/7 via phone, live chat, and email ticketing system.
BlueHost live chat system is powered by AliveChat; while FatCow system is supported by LivePerson. I have personally tested both live chat systems several times and I found both are doing okay. Not that they are doing extraordinary well; but it’s totally acceptable for web hosts in this price range.
Additionally, BlueHost host a user-support forum. BlueHost users can share and solve their problems via message board discussions.
Green Energy Hosting: FatCow vs BlueHost
src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/images/2009/0729-1.jpg" alt="FatCow Goes Green" />
Electricity consumption (servers and offices) at FatCow is fully offset by wind-generated Renewable Energy Certificates (REC) from Community Energy Inc (CEI) – this makes href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/updates-news/fatcow-web-hosting-goes-green/">FatCow hosting 100% green.
On the other hand, there is no news of BlueHost going green so far.
My conclusion: FatCow or BlueHost?
What I think about Bluehost and FatCow hosting?
I spent years with BlueHost as customer and have been using FatCow for more than a year now. In overall, I am happy with both at the moment.
It’s worth noting that I had some really href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/updates-news/bluehost-server-getting-loaded/">bad time with BlueHost hosting back in January/Febuary 2009 where the server is heavily loaded (sign of unmanaged overselling!) and my database server is on and off broken. Nevertheless, href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.com/updates-news/updates-on-bluehost-server/">the problem is solved by now.
FatCow hosting, on the other hand, is doing superbly well in my record. Fast and reliable server, responsive customer supports, and peace-of-mind daily backup service – all in just .83/mo. This is why I rated them as my top hosting service along with Hostgator.
So who should you go with – FatCow or BlueHost?
At this point of writing, I’m strongly convinced that FatCow is the better choice. Not to say that BlueHost is bad; but the pricing is a huge aspect that separate the two and FatCow is a lot cheaper. Unless you are biased towards BlueHost’s cPanel; else I don’t see why you should choose them over FatCow.
Visit FatCow and BlueHost online
FatCow Official Site: href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/go/fatcow" target="_blank">http://www.fatcow.com BlueHost Official Site: href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/go/bluehost" target="_blank">http://www.bluehost.com.
Page 29 – Web Hosting Secret Revealed
alt="BlueHost & HostMonster User Alert: CPU Throttling" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/cputhrottling-500x166_c.jpg" />
Note: This post is published in 2009. Since then there were lots of changes with BlueHost, HostMonster, as well as other Endurance’s hosting brands. As I no longer update this post anymore, I suggest you to check out href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/bluehost/">my latest findings and reviews on BlueHost.
Are you a HostMonster or BlueHost customer? Are you experience slow site loading time recently? Well if your answer is yes, there’s a big chance that your site is being affected by HostMonster’s latest server feature – CPU throttling!
What is CPU Throttling?
Depends on what kind of CPU you are talking about – the term “CPU throttling” is used to describe the process of reducing CPU usage to avoid the computer processor getting overheated and damaged. Such technique is also used by Intel chips to optimize energy consumption.
CPU throttling in hosting
However the term has a different meaning when it comes to web hosting. When your website on a shared server is pulling “too much” CPU resources at one time, the CPU will freeze (or slash down) your account CPU usage. At this particular time, your website will respond extremely slow and your jailed website will only be released when the staffs think it is okay. Such hosting feature was not seen before until Matt Heaton spent thousands of hours (according to himself) developing the system and introduced this so called href="http://www.mattheaton.com/?p=185" target="_blank">Hosting Nirvana (One might argue DreamHost has been doing this for some time – but technically, it’s not the same at all).
Who is implementing CPU throttling now?
So far from what I know, BlueHost and HostMonster (they are under same management).
Is CPU throttling a good thing?
Well, apparently the web host will tell you that this feature is “for the good of all shared hosting users”.
But don’t you think this is such a convenient excuse for the web hosts to push away their responsibility; and blame their users for not using the server “properly”? Would the president of BlueHost (with over 1.5 million websites hosted on it!) spent thousands of hours developing this new system just because he wants to “change the hosting world for good”?
(Sorry to be such a cynic but things just look too fishy and I can’t help but keep doubting their real intention of doing so.)
WebHostingSecretRevealed.com is affected! Website loading extremely slow occasionally.
At this time of writing, this little blog is throttled about 30 minutes daily. According to reader Troy of href="http://alterego-of-pwi.info" target="_blank">alterego-of-pwi.info, my blog took up to 45 seconds to load (it normally takes less than 3 seconds in normal time)!
class="border" src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/images/2009/1001-4.jpg" alt="CPU throttling at Hostmonster" width="750" height=" " />
What has been done so far to handle this problem
FYI, I am now in the mid of discussion with the HostMonster supports to solve the issue. They’ve been very friendly and helpful so far but they just can’t explain some of my questions. For example they told me that the throttle could be caused by buggy scripts or heavy MySQL errors – but from my observation, my site still get throttled on the day where no error was logged! Is the site throttled because HostMonster couldn’t handle the amount of traffics I’m getting? Why are my other sites (with bigger databases and a lot more web applications) are working perfectly with href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/hostgator/">Hostgator and title="iPage review" href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/ipage/">iPage but things look so screwed up with HostMonster?
Sorry for the slow load time!
Apologizes if you experienced slow load time with my blog recently. Please bear with me for this – I’m trying as fast as I can to investigate the matter and come out with the right solution. I’ll keep things posted here.
Big thanks to Troy T. Hall
To Troy who wrote me long emails explaining the situation – million thanks! And, I wish things are working smoothly with your site right now.
How to check if your hosting account is throttled or not?
Login to your BlueHost or HostMonster cPanel account, scroll down to the ‘Log’ session and click the ‘CPU throttling’ icon (see figure).
src="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/images/2009/1001-5.jpg" alt="CPU throttling at Hostmonster" width="750" height=" " />
Click in and you can check your site status from the popped up page.
Alternatives to BlueHost and HostMonster
If you were considering BlueHost or HostMonster before this, WebHostingHub and iPage are the two best alternatives. These two offer more or less the same features like BlueHost and HostMonster; and their prices are cheaper with our special discount codes.
A2 Hosting and GreenGeeks are slightly pricier but recommended if you don’t mind paying a little more for faster or eco-friendly (300% green) hosting.
Details for your reference are as below.
class="default-lines" summary="Cheap Hosting Price List">
scope="col" width="220">Cheap Web Hostscope="col" width="200">Featuresscope="col">Price/moscope="col">Details
width="220">href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/go/webhostinghub">class="border" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/webhostinghub.jpg" alt="Budget Hosting at WebHostingHub" width="218" height="125" border="0" />width="200">Bandwidth: UnlimitedDisk Space: UnlimitedAddon Domain: Unlimited
.99* | class="meteor-icon noshape" style="font-size:12px !important;">
class="icon-external-link" style="color:#0882c4 !important;">
title="WebHostingHub Review" href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/webhostinghub/">WebHostingHub Reviewclass="meteor-icon noshape" style="font-size:12px !important;">
class="icon-external-link" style="color:#0882c4 !important;">
title="http://www.webhostinghub.com" href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/go/webhostinghub">Visit WHH OnlineNote: Special discount available, read review for more. |
width="220">href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/go/ipage">class="border" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/ipage.jpg" alt="Budget Hosting at iPage" width="218" height="125" border="0" />width="200">Bandwidth: UnlimitedDisk Space: UnlimitedAddon Domain: Unlimited
.89 | class="meteor-icon noshape" style="font-size:12px !important;">
class="icon-external-link" style="color:#0882c4 !important;">
title="iPage Review" href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/ipage/">iPage Reviewclass="meteor-icon noshape" style="font-size:12px !important;">
class="icon-external-link" style="color:#0882c4 !important;">
title="http://www.ipage.com" href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/go/ipage">Visit iPage Online |
width="220">href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/go/a2hosting">class="border" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/a2hosting.jpg" alt="Budget Hosting at A2 Hosting" width="218" height="125" border="0" />width="200">Bandwidth: UnlimitedDisk Space: UnlimitedAddon Domain: Unlimited
.97 | class="meteor-icon noshape" style="font-size:12px !important;">
class="icon-external-link" style="color:#0882c4 !important;">
title="A2 Hosting Review" href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/a2hosting/">A2 Hosting Reviewclass="meteor-icon noshape" style="font-size:12px !important;">
class="icon-external-link" style="color:#0882c4 !important;">
title="http://www.a2hosting.com" href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/go/a2hosting">Visit A2Hosting OnlineNote: Special discount available, read review for more. |
width="220">href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/go/greengeeks">class="border" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/greengeeks.jpg" alt="Budget Hosting at Greengeeks Hosting" width="218" height="125" border="0" />width="200">Bandwidth: UnlimitedDisk Space: UnlimitedAddon Domain: Unlimited
.95 | class="meteor-icon noshape" style="font-size:12px !important;">
class="icon-external-link" style="color:#0882c4 !important;">
title="GreenGeeks Review" href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/hosting-review/greengeeks/">GreenGeeks Reviewclass="meteor-icon noshape" style="font-size:12px !important;">
class="icon-external-link" style="color:#0882c4 !important;">
title="http://www.greengeeks.com" href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/go/greengeeks">Visit GreenGeeks OnlineNote: Special discount available, read review for more. |
Check them out and do let me know at comment box below if you need help.
Page 30 – Web Hosting Secret Revealed
alt="BlueHost Review" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/bluehost-vps-500x264_c.jpg" />
BlueHost was started by Matt Heaton, who also started HostMonster and FastDomain, in 1996.
Back in the 2000′s, BlueHost was so popular that the web host ranked #1 in nearly all hosting review sites and forums.
For those who have searched around – I am sure you saw dozens, if not hundreds, of reviews of BlueHost hosting on Internet. Most of these reviews talk about the same stuffs – unlimited hosting features, free domain for first year, and the almighty Anytime-Money-Back-Guarantee.
Sure, those facts are important to know as a consumer but I am not going to beat the dead horse once more in this review.
If you wish to learn about BlueHost hosting features, the best place to be is (guess where?) title="http://www.bluehost.com" href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/go/bluehost" target="_blank">https://www.bluehost.com – the website has the most updated and accurate info for that ;) If, on the other hand, you are looking for real user feedbacks and reviews from an existing BlueHost customer (for almost 10 years!) – this is the review to read.
So are you ready? Now let’s dive in.
First – I got a treat for you guys – special discounts! :)
Exclusive Discount: BlueHost at .49/mo
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class="content">
BlueHost Basic Plan Discount – .49/mo* for first contract
No coupon or promotion code needed – Just purchase via our promo link (see below) and you’ll get an extra 55% discount from your first BlueHost bill.
To enjoy this special discount, href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/go/bluehost" target="_blank">click this promo link (opens in new window).
Compare – Discounted Price vs Non-discounted Price
Not all BlueHost prices are the same. As BlueHost’s exclusive partner, we are able to give you the best BlueHost deal. This special discount is applicable to all shared hosting plans – Starter, Plus, and Business Pro.
For easy reference, here’s the before- and after-discount prices (36-month subscription) in comparison.
class="default-lines" style="font-size: 0.9em;" summary="BlueHost Price Comparison - with and without discounts">
scope="col">BlueHost Shared Hostingstyle="text-align: center;" scope="col">Without Discountstyle="text-align: center;" scope="col">With Discountstyle="text-align: center;" scope="col">Savings (in 3 yr)
| Starter | style="text-align: center;">.99/mostyle="text-align: center;">.49/mostyle="text-align: center;">2
| Plus | style="text-align: center;">.99/mostyle="text-align: center;">.95/mostyle="text-align: center;">1.44
| Business Pro | style="text-align: center;">.99/mostyle="text-align: center;">.95/mostyle="text-align: center;">1.44
class="bw" style="text-align: center;">
title="Click here, visit BlueHost online" href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/go/bluehost" target="_blank">
class="aligncenter wp-image-8395" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/visit-bluehost.jpg" alt="Visit BlueHost Online" width="193" height="49" />
(
title="Click here, visit BlueHost online" href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/go/bluehost" target="_blank">Activate BlueHost special discount, click here.)
BlueHost, the Company / Some Background Story
BlueHost was started by Matt Heaton, who also started HostMonster and FastDomain, in 1996. Back in the 2000′s, BlueHost was my #1 host for small-to-mid size websites. I started using the web host in 2005 and was a satisfied customer – top class technical support, comprehensive hosting features, and very reasonable price – it’s hard not to love BlueHost in those days.
Enter CPU throttling – 2009*
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class="icon-warning-sign" style="color:inherit !important;">
Note that this issue was recorded 7 years ago and it is no longer bothering most BlueHost users. I host 6 niche sites at my BlueHost account at this time of writing. There was no CPU throttling witnessed for me in the past few years. This convinced that CPU limiting factor (as BlueHost named it) is no longer a major concern. I am keeping this section for record purposes. For my most recent feedback and details, read the next session href="#recent">My experience with BlueHost Hosting.
In 2009, BlueHost (alongside with HostMonster) introduced a new feature to all customers – CPU throttling.
In case you are new with the term, CPU throttling (at BlueHost/HostMonster) simply refers to the process of reducing user’s CPU usage in whenever the particular user is pulling “too much” server resources at one time. At this particular time, BlueHost will freeze (or slash down) your CPU usage substantially and technically “jail” your websites in the server.
Such hosting feature was not seen before 2009. According to Matt (BlueHost founder) – the company has spent thousands of hours to develop the system and called this the href="http://www.mattheaton.com/?p=185" target="_blank">Hosting Nirvana for shared hosting users.
You can easily tell if your website has been frozen by BlueHost or HostMonster by checking your CPU throttling log in cPanel. If your site is throttled but it is ultimately up to BlueHost staffs to decide should your jailed site be released or not.
Unfortunately, CPU throttling wasn’t quite “Nirvana” to me.
Back then, I had WebHostingSecretRevealed.com (WHSR) hosted at HostMonster and a few small affiliate sites hosted at BlueHost. My websites were totally frozen for hours daily (see image below – my CPU throttle log at BlueHost) ever since the CPU throttling feature was introduced.
id="attachment_5258" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption aligncenter">
class="border wp-image-5258 size-full" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bluehost-cpu-throttling.jpg" alt="bluehost cpu throttling" width="750" height="429" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bluehost-cpu-throttling.jpg 750w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/bluehost-cpu-throttling-300x171.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" />
class="wp-caption-text">Screenshot of BlueHost CPU throttling log in 2009.
You can read my old post to learn more about this issue – href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/blog/featured-articles/bluehost-hostmonster-user-alert-cpu-throttling/">BlueHost and HostMonster users alert: CPU Throttling.
In a nutshell, I thought BlueHost and HostMonster were over-throttling its customers and stopped recommending them (both hosts were dropped to 3-stars rating) to my readers.
EIG Acquisition and Today’s BlueHost
In 2010, BlueHost, alongside with its sister companies, FastDomain and HostMonster, were sold to the Endurance International Group (EIG). In June 2011, roughly six months after the acquisition, Matt href="http://www.mattheaton.com/?p=253">resigned his CEO position in the company.
Since then, BlueHost underwent some major revamps for better business prospect.
Today, BlueHost stands as one of the most largest hosting providers in market, powering more than 2 million websites worldwide. The company is no longer the simple shared hosting provider it used to be in 2005. A freshly-designed website was launched in 2013/2014 (which I think is a lot more better and use-friendly), the original shared hosting plan is replaced by three different plans (Starter, Plus, and Business Pro), and three new levels of hosting services (VPS, reseller, and dedicated hosting) were added in BlueHost service.
My Experience with BlueHost Hosting
Okay, enough history.
Key question: Is BlueHost hosting right for you? We will now take a quick look on BlueHost’s pros and cons.
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What I like about BlueHost
Solid Server Performance
I have been holding a BlueHost shared hosting account for almost 10 years (old plan – Platinum Pak, hosted on Box508.Bluehost.com server). And I am impressed with BlueHost’s server performance recently. The web host scored 99.9% uptime on average in 2014 and is easily one of the most stable web hosts in my test sheets (I track more than 30 web hosts at time of writing). The back-to-back 100% uptime (you’ll see below) is outstanding and definitely not too bad a host that charges you less than per month.
BlueHost Uptime Score (Jun/Jul, 2016)
id="attachment_19487" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption aligncenter">
class="wp-image-19487 size-large" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/bluehost-uptime-072016-750x288.jpg" alt="bluehost uptime 072016" width="750" height="288" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/bluehost-uptime-072016.jpg 750w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/bluehost-uptime-072016-300x115.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" />
class="wp-caption-text">BlueHost uptime score for June / July 2016 = 100%. Test site has not gone down since early May; uptime duration logged = 1,684+ hours.
BlueHost Uptime Score (Mar, 2016)
id="attachment_18451" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption aligncenter">
class="wp-image-18451 size-full" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/bluehost-201603.jpg" alt="bluehost - 201603" width="750" height="285" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/bluehost-201603.jpg 750w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/bluehost-201603-300x114.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" />
class="wp-caption-text">BlueHost March 2016 uptime score = 100%. The host has been performing extremely well for past 9 months.
BlueHost Uptime Score (Feb, 2016)
id="attachment_17709" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption aligncenter">
class="wp-image-17709 size-full" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/bluehost-feb-2016-uptime.jpg" alt="bluehost feb 2016 uptime" width="750" height="284" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/bluehost-feb-2016-uptime.jpg 750w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/bluehost-feb-2016-uptime-300x114.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" />
class="wp-caption-text">BlueHost February 2016 uptime score = 99.99%; test site went down once (for 2 minutes) during this period.
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BlueHost Uptime Score (Jan, 2016)
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class="wp-image-17470" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Screen-Shot-2016-01-29-at-6.16.54-PM.png" alt="Uptime of our test site on BlueHost hosting (December 30th, 2015 - January 29th, 2016) - 100% " width="370" height="158" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Screen-Shot-2016-01-29-at-6.16.54-PM.png 750w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Screen-Shot-2016-01-29-at-6.16.54-PM-300x128.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 370px) 100vw, 370px" />
class="wp-caption-text">Uptime of our test site on BlueHost hosting (December 30th, 2015 – January 29th, 2016) – 100%. Host has not gone down for more than 1,557 hours.
BlueHost Uptime Score (Sept, 2015)
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class="wp-image-16081" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/bluehost-sept-uptime-site-has-not-down-for-1637-hours.jpg" alt="bluehost sept uptime - site has not down for 1637 hours" width="370" height="141" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/bluehost-sept-uptime-site-has-not-down-for-1637-hours.jpg 750w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/bluehost-sept-uptime-site-has-not-down-for-1637-hours-300x114.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 370px) 100vw, 370px" />
class="wp-caption-text">BlueHost uptime score for the past 30 days: 100%. Also, note that my sites hosted on BlueHost has not go down for more than 1637 hours (great record!).
BlueHost Uptime Score (Mar – Apr, 2015)
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class="wp-image-13365" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/bluehost-uptime-score-apr-2015-750x284.jpg" alt="BlueHost Uptime Score for the past 30 days (Mar / Apr 2015)" width="370" height="140" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/bluehost-uptime-score-apr-2015.jpg 750w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/bluehost-uptime-score-apr-2015-300x114.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 370px) 100vw, 370px" />
class="wp-caption-text">BlueHost Uptime Score for the past 30 days (Mar / Apr 2015) – 100%
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BlueHost Uptime Score (Dec, 2014 – Jan, 2015)
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class="wp-image-12079" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/bluehost-uptime-dec-2014-jan-2015.jpg" alt="BlueHost Uptime Score for the past 30 days (Dec 2014 / Jan 2015) " width="370" height="142" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/bluehost-uptime-dec-2014-jan-2015.jpg 750w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/bluehost-uptime-dec-2014-jan-2015-300x115.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 370px) 100vw, 370px" />
class="wp-caption-text">BlueHost Uptime Score for the past 30 days (Dec 2014 / Jan 2015) – 99.97%
BlueHost Uptime Score (Jul – Aug, 2014)
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class="wp-image-10411" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/BlueHost-Uptime-August-2014.jpg" alt="BlueHost Uptime Record for the past 30 days (August 2014)" width="370" height="140" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/BlueHost-Uptime-August-2014.jpg 750w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/BlueHost-Uptime-August-2014-300x113.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 370px) 100vw, 370px" />
class="wp-caption-text">BlueHost Uptime Score for the past 30 days (August 2014) – 99.98%
BlueHost Uptime Score (Feb – Mar, 2014)
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class="wp-image-8945" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/bluehost-uptime-feb-mar.jpg" alt="BlueHost Hosting Uptime Score(Past 30 days, February - March 2014)" width="370" height="141" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/bluehost-uptime-feb-mar.jpg 750w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/bluehost-uptime-feb-mar-300x114.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 370px) 100vw, 370px" />
class="wp-caption-text">BlueHost Hosting Uptime Score (Past 30 days, February – March 2014) – 99.9%
BlueHost Site Speed Test
We added a new testing method recently and check our test site response times from 8 different locations. On February 2016, test site hosted on BlueHost scored 23 and 26 milliseconds from United States West and East Coast servers (pretty good result) and scored a “B” in overall.
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class="wp-image-17694 size-full" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/bluehost-feb-2016-speed.jpg" alt="bluehost feb 2016 speed" width="750" height="200" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/bluehost-feb-2016-speed.jpg 750w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/bluehost-feb-2016-speed-300x80.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" />
class="wp-caption-text">BlueHost server speed test – B (Feb 2016). Credit:
href="http://bitcatcha.com/" target="_blank">Bitcatcha.
Enhanced User Control Panel + Useful Addon
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class="border wp-image-19565 size-large" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/bluehost-dashboard-750x511.jpg" alt="bluehost dashboard" width="750" height="511" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/bluehost-dashboard.jpg 750w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/bluehost-dashboard-300x204.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" />
class="wp-caption-text">BlueHost cPanel dashboard. All frequent use apps and features are grouped into “website” section.
id="attachment_19564" style="width: 760px" class="wp-caption aligncenter">
class="border wp-image-19564 size-large" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/bluehost-one-click-install-750x472.jpg" alt="bluehost one click install" width="750" height="472" srcset="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/bluehost-one-click-install.jpg 750w, http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/bluehost-one-click-install-300x189.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" />
class="wp-caption-text">BlueHost One-Click Install (something like Fantastico and Softaculous) – powered by Mojo Marketplace.
I like how user dashboard works on BlueHost (this is a personal preference though). BlueHost hosting runs on a standard cPanel with a custom-designed user interface, which makes BlueHost a lot easier to start with (see image).
It’s also worth mentioning that BlueHost offers plenty of handy add-on features that you can’t get from others (though some of these mean additional charges) – including phpPgAdmin, language preferences, 404 settings, dedicated domain management system, Spam Hammer, goMobi, Weebly, Cloud Flare, Solo SEO, and so on.
HUGE User Support Portal
Another thing most hosting review sites failed to point out is that BlueHost runs a HUGE knowledge base for customer support. The company provides extremely comprehensive documentations for its services and operates a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/bluehost">YouTube channel to deliver video tutorials.
This is a huge time-saver for all BlueHost users as we don’t have to go to live chat or phone support every time we have problems with the web host. I have checked several BlueHost video tutorials when I was writing this review and found them quite helpful.
Flexible Hosting Choices
As mentioned, BlueHost now provides all four level hosting plans – shared, VPS, dedicated, and reseller hosting. You no longer have to worry about server upgrades or out-growing your hosting company with BlueHost.
For beginners, the change in shared hosting plans mean you can now start with a much cheaper (but less powerful) shared hosting plan.
class="default-lines" style="font-size: 0.9em;" summary="BlueHost latest shared hosting plans" width="100%">
scope="col">style="text-align: center;" scope="col" align="center" width="25%">Basicstyle="text-align: center;" scope="col" align="center" width="25%">Plusstyle="text-align: center;" scope="col" align="center" width="25%">Business Pro
style="font-size: 90%;">
| Websites | align="center" width="25%">1align="center" width="25%">Unlimitedalign="center" width="25%">Unlimited
| Storage | align="center" width="25%">50 GBalign="center" width="25%">Unlimitedalign="center" width="25%">Unlimited
| Email Account | align="center" width="25%">5align="center" width="25%">Unlimitedalign="center" width="25%">Unlimited
| Email Storage | align="center" width="25%">100 MB / accountalign="center" width="25%">Unlimitedalign="center" width="25%">Unlimited
| Included Domain | align="center" width="25%">1align="center" width="25%">1align="center" width="25%">1
| Addon Domains | align="center" width="25%">0align="center" width="25%">Unlimitedalign="center" width="25%">Unlimited
| Sub Domains | align="center" width="25%">25align="center" width="25%">Unlimitedalign="center" width="25%">Unlimited
| Free Dedicated IP | align="center" width="25%">Noalign="center" width="25%"> Noalign="center" width="25%">Yes
| Inodes Limit | align="center" width="25%">50,000*align="center" width="25%">50,000align="center" width="25%">300,000
| Spam Experts | align="center" width="25%">0align="center" width="25%">1 domainalign="center" width="25%">2 domains
| Site Backup | align="center">Basicalign="center"> Basicalign="center">Pro
| Private SSL | align="center"> –align="center">–align="center">1
Promo Price
(36-month term) | align="center">.49/moalign="center">.95/moalign="center">.95/mo
Renewal Rate
(24-month term) | align="center">.49/moalign="center">.99/moalign="center">.99/mo
According to BlueHost’s price guide, the Pro Package has 80% less accounts per server which allows the use of more resources per account (more CPU usage, disk usage, bandwidth) – which in turn, allow users to get more speed and CPU power for their websites.
Also, official statement indicates that in most cases actions will not be taken until Basic and Plus users exceeds 200,000 inodes.
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Update Jan 2016 –
BlueHost revised their pricing recently. Signup prices for all plans remain the same; but renewal rates go up by 25%. Huge thanks to class="s1">Earl Wertheimer for notification.
Anytime Money Back Guarantee
BlueHost allows users to cancel their account anytime and ask for a pro-rated refund. In other words, BlueHost has to work very hard to win businesses as it is very easy for users to snub the web host.
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Problems with BlueHost / Important to know
While BlueHost is one of the top rated web hosts in many other hosting review sites (and to certain extend I agree with these reviews), there are a few important issues I need to point out in this review.
Unlimited Hosting
Like all “unlimited” hosting provider, BlueHost’s unlimited hosting offer is limited by a number of terms and conditions. As a BlueHost user, you need to understand that the unlimited data transfer and storage only stays unlimited up to certain level. For better server performance (as your site grows), you are recommended to upgrade your web host to Business Pro, VPS, and dedicated hosting.
For your reference, the following paragraph is quoted from BlueHost’s User Agreement, Clause 7 Usage Policies and Definitions, #1 “Unlimited” Usage Policies and Definitions.
b) What “Unlimited” means
Bluehost does not set an arbitrary limit or cap on the amount of resources a single Subscriber can use. In good faith and subject to these Terms, Bluehost makes every commercially reasonable effort to provide its Subscribers with all the storage and bandwidth resources needed to power their web sites successfully, as long as the Subscriber’s use of the service complies with these Terms. By not setting limits on key resources, we are able to provide simple, consistent pricing to our Subscribers as they grow their websites. As a result, a typical website may experience periods of great popularity and resulting increased storage without experiencing any associated increase in hosting charges.
d) Unlimited Hosting Space; excessive MySQL files
… Accounts with a large number of files (inode count in excess of 200,000) can have an adverse affect on server performance. Similarly, accounts with an excessive number of MySQL/PostgreSQL tables (i.e., in excess of 1000 database tables) or of database size (i.e., in excess of 3GB total MySQL/PostgreSQL usage or 2GB MySQL/PostgreSQL usage in a single database) negatively affect the performance of the server. Bluehost may request that the number of files/inodes, database tables, or total database usage be reduced to ensure proper performance or may terminate the Subscriber’s account, with or without notice.
Two Massive Outages in 2014
BlueHost had two lengthy outages in December 2013 and April 2014. This was due to router issues in the EIG-owned data center located at Provo, Utah; the incident also affect other EIG hosting brands including Hostgator. I thought you might want to read more about the two major outages occurred in 2014 href="http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/bluehost-hostgator-among-eig-brands-hit-massive-new-years-eve-outage" target="_blank">here and href="http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/downtime-hostgator-bluehost-customers-router-issues-plague-utah-data-center" target="_blank">here.
Expensive Renewal Rates
BlueHost’s renewal prices are much higher (up to 90% increase) than the signup promotion price. This is actually a norm in hosting industry where most hosting companies, including WebHostingHub, A2 Hosting, GreenGeeks, FatCow, Hostgator, iPage, InMotion Hosting, etc, practice such policy to lure new customers.
As mentioned in myhref="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/ultimate-cheap-web-hosting-guide/"> cheap hosting guide, there are basically two ways to handle this issue: 1. Keep switching web host to enjoy the low entry promotion price; 2. Stick with a web host that does not jack-up its renewal price (but this means you are paying more during signup).
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title="Click here, visit BlueHost online" href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/go/bluehost" target="_blank">
class="aligncenter wp-image-8395" src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/visit-bluehost.jpg" alt="Visit BlueHost Online" width="193" height="49" />
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Survey / Other Users Feedbacks
BlueHost ranked #2 in WHSR 2013 Survey
I did a crowd-sourcing post in late 2013 and asked 35 experienced web experts for their hosting advice. BlueHost came up as the #2 most recommended web host in the survey. Lori Soard, Paul Crowe, Kevin Muldoon, and Sharon Hurley recommended BlueHost hosting. Below are their feedbacks.
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src="http://whsr.webrevenueinc1.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/web-hosting-votes.jpg" alt="" width="750" height="431" />
class="wp-caption-text">WHSR Web Hosting Survey 2013
It would be a good pick if you are looking for a popular web hosting services.
