Bluehost is one of the most popular web hosting companies out there. But there are better Bluehost alternatives ⇣ in terms of speed, security, and support you should consider using instead. Here’s a rundown of the best Bluehost competitors right now.
I think you will agree when I say: Choosing the right hosting provider for your website or blog is a crucial yet challenging task. There are many things to consider ranging from cost, security, speed, support, and the specific needs of your site.
Quick summary:
- Best overall: SiteGround ⇣ is similarly priced to Bluehost but offers better hosting features, speed, security, and reliability using servers that are powered by Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
- Runner-up, Best Overall: GreenGeeks ⇣ offers budget web hosting with loads more features, and servers powered by LiteSpeed.
- Cheapest Bluehost alternative: Hostinger ⇣ offers ridiculously cheap web hosting (from just $2.99 per month) without compromising on the essential hosting features.
Still, it isn’t the only good hosting service out there. There are many Bluehost alternatives. If you would like to move away from Bluehost or choose a web host with more/better features and/or is cheaper, then here are seven of the best Bluehost alternatives.
One of the most affordable and popular web page hosting providers for beginners is Bluehost. They offer a wide range of features and hosting pricing plans to help you hit the ground running.
Top Bluehost Alternatives in 2024
Here is my rundown of the top 7 Bluehost alternatives for web page hosting right now.
1. SiteGround (#1 Bluehost Alternative)
Founded by Ivo Tzenov back in 2014, SiteGround is one of the best hosting services out there. Thanks to a team of over 500 employees, the company can comfortably provide top-notch hosting options to over 2 million sites.
Unlike Bluehost, SiteGround offers you high-performance managed WordPress hosting on all plans. It’s the perfect hosting provider if you care about security, speed, uptime, and superb customer support. It is a reliable website hosting provider for all types of websites ranging from simple websites to complex WooCommerce stores.
Their plans cost more than Bluehost, but they are well worth the extra money. The company offers you plenty of features to get online in a matter of clicks. In comparison, Bluehost has nothing on SiteGround. Not even close.
Main Features
- Multiple plans including shared hosting, cloud hosting, managed WordPress hosting, reseller hosting, managed WooCommerce hosting, enterprise hosting, dedicated server hosting, and VPS hosting
- Free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate
- Free Cloudflare and SiteGround CDN
- Google Cloud server infrastructure
- Fast loading servers powered by Google Cloud Platform
- SSD storage
- Daily backup
- Free professional site transfer
- Staging and Git
- White-label
- Custom web application firewall (WAF)
- Dynamic caching
- Multiple data centers in four continents
- And so much more! (read my SiteGround review)
SiteGround Plans
SiteGround offers a good number of robust plans perfect for any need and budget.
- Website hosting packages start from $2.99/month
- Managed cloud hosting costs from $100 a month
- You will have to contact SiteGround for a custom quote if you need enterprise hosting
SiteGround Pros
- Automatic WordPress installation
- Super-fast servers
- Fast world-class customer 24 7 support via phone or live chat
- 30 days money back guarantee
- 99.99% server uptime guarantee
- Military-grade security
SiteGround Cons
- Data storage limits
- $14.95 set up fee for monthly billing
- Strict data over-usage policy
Why SiteGround is Better Than Bluehost
SiteGround outshines Bluehost in two main areas. For starters, SiteGround offers you better website performance than Bluehost. They offer you fast-loading websites thanks to their robust infrastructure, which banks on Google Cloud, SSD storage, built-in CDN, and caching, among other things.
On top of that, SiteGround offers you more security options to secure your WordPress site with a few clicks than Bluehost. Thirdly, the Bluehost 24 7 support team needs to borrow a leaf from the guys at SiteGround, because the latter offers stellar customer service.
2. Hostinger (Cheapest Bluehost alternative)
I have had the pleasure of working with the team at Hostinger directly, and can only say good things. They are a lovely team and helped me so much at a point in my blogging career. But that’s not why we are here; I just had to put in a good word for these guys.
Hostinger is a web-hosting company headquartered in Kaunas, Lithuania. On top of that, they have 40 offices around the globe, full of people working to provide you with a fantastic hosting experience. At the time of writing, the company has over 29 million users.
Hostinger offers a lot of hosting options, including shared hosting, cloud hosting, WordPress hosting, email hosting, VPS, Windows VPS, and Minecraft hosting, so you can share your Minecraft experience.
Additionally, they provide a website builder that helps you to create beautiful websites quickly and free zero-ad hosting via 000webhost.
Main Features
- 1 to unlimited websites
- 100GB to unlimited bandwidth
- Unlimited databases
- Free SSL certificates
- Free domain registration
- Daily and weekly backups
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
- Powerful control panel
- 1-click app installer
- And so much more! (read my Hostinger review)
Hostinger Plans
Hostinger offers you a lot of hosting plans at incredibly low prices:
- Hosting pricing plans start at just $2.99/month
- Cloud hosting starts at $9.99/month
- WordPress plans start at $3.99/month
- They have up to 6 VPS plans starting at $3.99/month
- Minecraft hosting starts at $6.99/month
Note that these are special introductory prices, and you have a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Hostinger Pros
Hostinger has a lot of good things going for them. Here are a couple of pros:
- Fast servers and speeds
- Easy and intuitive admin dashboard
- Great security and privacy
- Detailed knowledge base
- Incredible cheap hosting
- Free website builder
Hostinger Cons
- Sluggish customer service, but once you get connected, the support team is outstanding
- Unclear pricing structure
- You have to install SSL certificates on addon domains manually
Why is Hostinger Better Than Bluehost?
Hostinger is an excellent alternative to Bluehost if you are looking for low prices (from $1.39/mo) and fast page speeds. They also offer a wide range of hosting options except dedicated server hosting. Hostinger’s support team can be hard to reach at times, but when you’re connected, they are great to work with, something I wouldn’t say about Bluehost.
3. GreenGeeks (Best eco-friendly alternative)
GreenGeeks is the world’s number one green energy website hosting providers. They are an environmentally responsible company founded by Trey Gardner in California back in 2008.
GreenGeeks prides itself as a reputable provider of green hosting since they replace, with wind energy credits, 3x the power your website uses.
The company hosts over 500,000 websites, has over 40,000 customers, and manages to replace over 600,000 KWH/year using green energy.
They offer a wide range of screaming fast SSD-based hosting options, including shared, reseller, VPS, WordPress and WooCommerce.
GreenGeeks uses cutting-edge technology in their data centers to ensure you get blazing-fast page speeds, security, and superior website performance. They provide you with a 99.9% uptime guarantee and an unconditional 30-day money-back guarantee so that you can test the waters without any risk.
Main Features
- Scalable computer resources
- Exhilarating website speeds
- SSD drives
- LiteSpeed and MariaDB databases
- Free CDN
- In-house caching technology
- HTTP/3 and PHP 7
- Hosting account isolation for an extra layer of security
- Real-time security scanning
GreenGeeks Plans
GreenGeeks focuses on four types of website hosting options, i.e., shared, reseller, VPS, and WordPress hosting. Here is a quick list of the prices you can expect:
- Entry-level plans start at $2.95/month, but you must commit yourself for three years to get that price 🙁
- Reseller hosting costs from $19.95 per month
- WordPress hosting starts at $2.95/month but, again, you must commit yourself for three years
- VPS hosting at GreenGeeks starts at $39.95 per month (billed monthly)
- And so much more! (read my GreenGeeks review)
GreenGeeks Pros
The eco-friendly company is best known for the following advantages:
- 300% green website hosting provider powered by renewable energy
- Latest speed technology
- Reliable infrastructure with 5 data centers in Phoenix, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, and Amsterdam
- Tight security and reliable uptime
- Excellent customer support and live chat
- Website Builder
GreenGeeks Cons
Even good things like GreenGeeks website hosting comes with downsides. Here are a few demerits of choosing GreenGeeks as your alternative.
- Misleading price structure
- $15 setup fee for monthly billing
- Domain and setup fees are nonrefundable
- Limited domain TLDs
Why is GreenGeeks one of the best Bluehost alternatives?
If you are looking for excellent support, super-fast speeds, and top security, you’ll find a home at GreenGeeks as opposed to Bluehost. Also, you have a chance to conserve the environment by using a website hosting service that runs on clean green energy.
4. Hostgator (Best Bluehost competitor for beginners)
Another Newfold Digital brand, Hostgator is one of the better-known web hosting companies with a global reach.
Brent Oxley founded the company in 2002 in a dorm room at Florida Atlantic University. Over the years, the company has grown into a leading provider of hosting options.
They also offer cloud and managed hosting for WordPress, their two best plans. Their hosting options are cheap and comparable to Bluehost in terms of performance. If you’d like better performance and security, you should shun their entry-level packages and opt for cloud hosting.
Still, their entry plans are great for basic websites that don’t need a lot of power. If you’re a beginner and need to start a quick blog, you can spring for their beginner hosting packages. When your website grows, however, you want to consider VPS and dedicated hosting.
If you plan to go big, it’s best to use managed WordPress or cloud hosting.
HostGator Main Features
- Free SSL certificate
- Free domain name
- Easy WordPress installs
- A fantastic website builder
- Free site transfers
- 99.9% server uptime guarantee
- Google AdWords and Bing Ads credits
- 24/7/365 technical support
- Unmetered bandwidth
- And so much more! (read my HostGator review)
HostGator Plans
HostGator offers you plenty of pricing plans from which to choose. There is something from everybody:
- Entry hosting packages start at $3.75/month
- The website builder plan starts at just $4.50/month and helps you to build an e-commerce-friendly website drag-and-drop style
- WordPress hosting starts at $6.25/month
- VPS hosting will set you back $23.95 per month
- Dedicated server hosting costs $89.98 monthly
Keep in mind all these are special introductory prices to get you through the door. Regular prices are a tad bit higher but still affordable.
HostGator Pros
Why would you choose HostGator over Bluehost? Here are the pros:
- 45-day money-back guarantee
- One-click WordPress installs
- Custom firewalls to stop DDoS attacks
- Daily backup
- Automatic malware removal but only in the cloud and WordPress plans
HostGator Cons
- You can only get the best speeds and performance in the cloud and managed WordPress packages
- Annoying upsells
- Expensive domains
- Limited features
- Consider these HostGator alternatives instead
Why HostGator is a Better Bluehost Alternative
Both HostGator and Bluehost are longtime players in the website hosting industry. They are both owned by the same parent company Newfold Digital (formerly EIG). They both offer similarly priced plans meaning the cost of hosting isn’t much of a deciding factor.
HostGator offers you a 45-day money-back guarantee, meaning you have 15 more days to test their hosting service, which makes them a good Bluehost alternative. At the same time, HostGator provides more features in its hosting options than Bluehost.
5. A2 Hosting (Best Turbo hosting option)
A2 Hosting is one of the best web hosting companies in the industry, promising you up to 20x faster web page hosting.
To offer these seemingly unrealistic speeds, they have invested in new NVMe AMD EPYC servers with 40% faster CPU performance.
To sweeten the deal, they are offering a massive discount of 66% at the time of writing, making their web page hosting affordable for all and sundry.
A2 Hosting offers you typical hosting, including shared, WordPress, VPS, dedicated, and reseller.
Main Features
- Unlimited SSD disk space
- Unmetered bandwidth
- Turbo hosting powered by LiteSpeed
- Free site migration
- Free SSL certificates
- Automatic daily backups
- And so much more! (read my A2 Hosting review)
A2 Hosting Plans
- The Shared Hosting plans are ideal for personal websites, blogs, and small businesses, with prices starting at $2.99/month.
- The Managed WordPress plans, starting at $6.99/month, are optimized for WordPress websites with easy installation, automatic updates, and a staging environment.
- The VPS hosting plans, starting at $4.99 per month, provide scalable and customizable hosting with dedicated resources, root access, and full control.
- The Dedicated Server hosting plans, starting at $99.59 per month, are suitable for businesses with high-traffic websites requiring high-performance, control, and custom configurations.
A2 Hosting Pros
Why would anyone consider choosing A2 Hosting over Bluehost? Here, the juicy merits:
- Anytime money-back guarantee
- 99.9% uptime
- 24/7/365 Guru Crew support.
- Turbo servers that offer you 20x website speeds
- Perpetual security with HackScan Protection, firewalls, virus scanning, and brute force protection
- Scalability
- Developer friendly hosting
- You can pre-install your website on the order form.
A2 Hosting Cons
A2 Hosting is an excellent web page hosting service, but do they have some shortcomings? Are there cons? Of course, yes:
- There are migration fees – For example, you pay $25 when you move to another data center without upgrading to a high-priced plan.
- Misleading plan info – For instance, you can only enjoy 20x faster speeds if you buy the most expensive of the three hosting plans.
- You must have a support PIN to live chat, which means you need an account.
- Pricier domains compared to, say, Namecheap and Hostinger. Those two, by the way, are the best A2 hosting alternatives.
Why is A2 Hosting a Better Bluehost alternative?
Every time, Bluehost is losing the fight for poor customer support. A2 Hosting, on the other hand, provides exceptional support to its customers.
Also, A2 Hosting provides a lot of domain extensions when you’re starting, unlike Bluehost, which is limiting. Without a doubt, Bluehost is the cheaper option, but remember you get what you pay for.
A2 Hosting is the absolute winner here in terms of features and customer support. Plus, they have Turbo Servers for 20x faster speeds.
6. DreamHost (Best monthly payment option)
- Website: https://www.dreamhost.com/
- Industry-leading 97-day money-back guarantee
- Affordable monthly payment options
- Powerful managed WordPress hosting options
DreamHost is a popular web page hosting provider offering everything from basic shared hosting to a high-end dedicated server and cloud options. Its managed WordPress hosting is up there with the best I’ve seen.
On top of this, DreamHost’s security integrations stand out as excellent. You will also benefit from an impressive 100% uptime guarantee, 24/7 support, and very competitively priced domain registrations.
DreamHost pros:
- Excellent server performance, including their DreamPress plans
- Loads of extras including domain registrations
- Option to pay monthly – without renewal increases
- Generous 97-day money-back guarantee
- Free Domain and Privacy (on an unlimited plan)
- Unlimited SSD space & data transfer
- Free SSD storage Fast servers (PHP7, SSD & built-in caching)
DreamHost cons:
- No option to use cPanel
- Phone support is notably absent
- Some advanced features aren’t available
- See my list of the best alternatives to DreamHost here.
For more pros and cons check out my review of DreamHost.
DreamHost offers a selection of hosting options, covering everything from low-end shared hosting to advanced cloud servers. Prices start from $2.59/month with a three-year Shared Starter subscription.
Shared Hosting | From $2.59/month |
Unmanaged WordPress Hosting | From $2.59/month |
Managed WordPress Hosting |
From $12.00/month |
VPS Hosting |
From $10.00/month |
Dedicated Servers |
From $149.00/month |
Cloud Hosting |
From $0.0075/hour |
Why DreamHost is better than Bluehost:
If you’re looking for fast, reliable managed WordPress hosting, it’s hard to go past DreamHost as one of the best SiteGround alternatives.
7. FastComet
FastComet is a privately owned web page hosting provider run by a small group of creative people that offer you a personalized web page hosting experience.
FastComet offers affordable plans ideal for startups and beginners looking to start right away, without the enormous costs and confusion that come with big hosting companies.
With relatively cheap hosting plans, FastComet offers the lowest entry price of all Bluehost alternatives in our post.
On top of that, they offer a broader set of features than many competitors, including Bluehost. The company was founded in 2013 by Micheal Quinn, and the HQ is in San Francisco.
Plans start at just $2.74/month. Fully managed SSD cloud VPS plans start at $46.16 per month. Dedicated CPU servers start at $107.06 per month.
Main Features
- SSD-only cloud
- 10+ data centers across the globe
- Free Cloudflare CDN
- Daily and weekly backups
- Free managed migrations
- Advanced web app hosting
- Integrated security features
- And so much more! (read my FastComet review)
FastComet Pros
- Steady uptime of 99.97%
- Fast and personalized support and live chat
- 45-day money-back guarantee
- Free SSL certificate
- Free domain for life
FastComet Cons
- Some users have reported slow speeds
- RocketBooster speed and advanced security features are only available in the most expensive hosting plan; FastCloud Extra
Why FastComet is One of the Best Bluehost Alternatives
FastComet wins when it comes to supporting its customers. They have friendly live agents that respond to your queries within seconds. Sadly, I can’t say the same for Bluehost. Additionally, FastComet offers more features at a lower price making them one of the top Bluehost alternatives.
Worst Web Hosts (Stay Away!)
There are a lot of web hosting providers out there, and it can be hard to know which ones to avoid. That’s why we’ve put together a list of the worst web hosting services in 2024, so you can know which companies to steer clear of.
1. PowWeb
PowWeb is an affordable web host that offers an easy way to launch your first website. On paper, they offer everything you need to launch your first site: a free domain name, unlimited disk space, a one-click install for WordPress, and a control panel.
PowWeb offers only one web plan for their web hosting service. This might look good to you if you’re building your first website. After all, they offer unlimited disk space and have no limits for bandwidth.
But there are strict fair-usage limits on server resources. This means, if your website all of a sudden gets a huge surge in traffic after going viral on Reddit, PowWeb will shut it down! Yes, that happens! Shared web hosting providers who lure you in with cheap prices shut your website down as soon as it gets a small surge in traffic. And when that happens, with other web hosts, you can simply upgrade your plan, but with PowWeb, there’s no other higher plan.
Read more
I would only recommend going with PowWeb if you’re just starting and are building your first website. But even if that’s the case, other web hosts offer affordable monthly plans. With other web hosts, you might need to pay a dollar more every month, but you won’t have to sign up for an annual plan, and you’ll get better service.
One of the only redeeming features of this web host is its cheap price, but to get that price you’ll need to pay upfront for 12 months or more. One thing I do like about this web host is that you get unlimited disk space, unlimited mailboxes (email addresses), and no supposed bandwidth limits.
But it doesn’t matter how many things PowWeb does right, there are just too many poor 1 and 2-star reviews plastered all over the internet about how terrible this service is. All those reviews make PowWeb look like a horror show!
If you are looking for a good web host, I would highly recommend looking elsewhere. Why not go with a web host that’s not still living in the year 2002? Not only does its website look ancient, it still uses Flash on some of its pages. Browsers dropped support for Flash years ago.
PowWeb’s pricing is cheaper than a lot of other web hosts, but it also doesn’t offer as much as those other web hosts. First of all, PowWeb’s service isn’t scalable. They only have one plan. Other web hosts have multiple plans to make sure you can scale your website with just one click. They also have great support.
Web hosts like SiteGround and Bluehost are known for their customer support. Their teams help you out with anything and everything when your website breaks down. I’ve been building websites for the last 10 years, and there’s no way I would ever recommend PowWeb to anyone for any use case. Stay away!
2. FatCow
For an affordable price of $4.08 per month, FatCow offers unlimited disk space, unlimited bandwidth, a website builder, and unlimited email addresses on your domain name. Now, of course, there are fair-usage limits. But this pricing is only available if you go for a term longer than 12 months.
Although the pricing seems affordable at a first glance, be aware that their renewal prices are much higher than the price you sign up for. FatCow charges more than twice the sign-up price when you renew your plan. If you want to save money, it would be a good idea to go for an annual plan to lock in the cheaper sign-up price for the first year.
But why would you? FatCow may not be the worst web host in the market, but they are also not the best. For the same price, you can get web hosting that offers even better support, faster server speeds, and more scalable service.
Read more
One thing I don’t like or understand about FatCow is that they only have one plan. And even though this plan seems to be enough for someone who’s just starting, it doesn’t seem like a good idea for any serious business owner.
No serious business owner would think that a plan that is suitable for a hobby site is a good idea for their business. Any web host that sells “unlimited” plans is lying. They hide behind legal jargon that enforces dozens and dozens of limits on how many resources your website can use.
So, It begs the question: who is this plan or this service designed for? If it’s not for serious business owners, then is it just for hobbyists and people building their first website?
One good thing about FatCow is that they offer you a free domain name for the first year. The customer support may not be the best available but is better than some of their competitors. There’s also a 30-day money-back guarantee in case you decide you’re done with FatCow within the first 30 days.
Another good thing about FatCow is that they offer an affordable plan for WordPress websites. If you’re a fan of WordPress, there might be something for you in FatCow’s WordPress plans. They are built on top of the regular plan but with some basic features that might be helpful for a WordPress site. Same as the regular plan, you get unlimited disk space, bandwidth, and email addresses. You also get a free domain name for the first year.
If you are looking for a reliable, scalable web host for your business, I wouldn’t recommend FatCow unless they wrote me a million-dollar check. Look, I am not saying they are the worst. Far from it! FatCow may be suitable for some use cases, but if you are serious about growing your business online, I can’t recommend this web host. Other web hosts might cost a dollar or two more every month but offer a lot more features and are much more suitable if you run a “serious” business.
3. Netfirms
Netfirms is a shared web host that caters to small businesses. They used to be a giant in the industry and were one of the highest web hosts.
If you look at their history, Netfirms used to be a great web host. But they are no longer what they used to be. They got acquired by a giant web hosting company, and now their service no longer seems competitive. And their pricing is just outrageous. You can find better web hosting services for much cheaper prices.
If you still believe for some reason that Netfirms might be worth a try, just look at all the horrible reviews about their service on the internet. According to the dozens of 1-star reviews I’ve skimmed, their support is terrible, and the service has been going downhill ever since they got acquired.
Read more
Most Netfirms reviews you’ll read all start the same way. They praise how good Netfirms was about a decade ago, and then they go on to talk about how the service is now a dumpster fire!
If you take a look at Netfirms’ offerings, you’ll notice that they are designed for beginners who are just getting started with building their first website. But even if that’s the case, there are better web hosts that cost less and offer more features.
One good thing about Netfirms plans is how generous they all are. You get unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, and unlimited email accounts. You also get a free domain name. But all these features are common when it comes to Shared Hosting. Almost all shared web hosting providers offer “unlimited” plans.
Other than their Shared Web Hosting plans, Netfirms also offer Website Builder plans. It offers a simple drag-and-drop interface to build your website. But their basic starter plan limits you to only 6 pages. How generous! The templates are also really outdated.
If you’re looking for an easy website builder, I wouldn’t recommend Netfirms. Many website builders on the market are much more powerful and offer a lot more features. Some of them are even cheaper…
If you want to install WordPress, they offer an easy one-click solution to install it but they don’t have any plans that are optimized and designed specifically for WordPress sites. Their starter plan costs $4.95 a month but only allows one website. Their competitors allow unlimited websites for that same price.
The only reason I can think of to host my website with Netfirms is if I was being held hostage. Their pricing doesn’t seem real to me. It’s outdated and is much higher when compared to other web hosts. Not only that, their cheap prices are only introductory. That means you’ll need to pay much higher renewal prices after the first term. The renewal prices are twice the introductory sign-up prices. Stay away!
What is Bluehost?
Bluehost is one of the largest web hosting providers powering over two million websites worldwide. Founded in 2003 by Matt Heaton and Danny Ashworth, the web page hosting company has grown in leaps and bounds and employs more than 750 people today. It’s now part of Newfold Digital (formerly Endurance International Group EIG), which owns a large number of renowned brands.
Bluehost offers you a wide range of hosting packages to suit your needs, no matter how diverse. They offer shared hosting, virtual private server (VPS) hosting, dedicated hosting, reseller hosting, and managed WordPress hosting. On top of that, they provide domain names, Bluehost webmail, and professional marketing services.
Additionally, you get cPanel where you can install WordPress and manage your site easily. As such, you can quickly deploy customizable websites and be awesome. To offer fast hosting, they offer free worldwide CDN and SSD-only servers. When starting, they offer you a free domain and an SSL certificate for a year.
They offer great prices as well. Bluehost plans start at $1.99/month, VPS hosting at $29.99/month, dedicated hosting at $89.98/month, managed WordPress hosting at $19.95/month, and WooCommerce eCommerce hosting at $9.95/month. For the latest promo prices visit the Bluehost website.
Pros and Cons of Bluehost
Buying the best web page hosting service isn’t a decision you should make at random. I have been with several hosts in the past.
I started at HostGator, but I moved to Bluehost since the former didn’t support Oxwall VPS Hosting, a social networking script I was using back then. At Bluehost, hackers wreaked havoc, and I had to move once again.
I would have saved myself the trouble of starting at HostGator if I had done my due diligence beforehand. In my defense, I was a complete noob. So, I bought hosting at HostGator but sadly couldn’t build the website I needed.
The customer support that I got at that depressing time didn’t help much either, and I ended up ranting on social media before finally moving to SiteGround.
To be fair, however, it wasn’t entirely Bluehost’s fault because I hadn’t updated some of my test websites in a long time. Still, I feel I could have stuck with Bluehost if only they could recover my backups, which they sadly couldn’t. And the customer support sucked big time, but this is just my isolated case. Many other people have had great experiences at Bluehost.
That being said, let us start by talking a little bit more about Bluehost. After that, I will cover the alternatives, which include SiteGround, HostGator, Hostinger, and GreenGeeks, among others. I hope you find an excellent choice from our list, but if you don’t see your favorite host, let us know.
For this very reason, I urge you to carry out your own research and read our honest website hosting reviews before going with any company. You can also check out my Bluehost review for a full list of pros and cons.
That out of the way, here are the pros and cons of Bluehost, so you can make the right decision when choosing an alternative.
Bluehost Pros
Bluehost comes with a list of pros. It’s only standard for any hosting provider.
- Dirt-cheap hosting – Bluehost offers some of the cheapest hosting plans around.
- Free domain – You get a free domain name for one year with Bluehost.
- 30-day money-back guarantee – You can test any plan without risk
- Unlimited web traffic and unlimited storage – Some plans have limits though
- Unmetered bandwidth – Bluehost doesn’t limit the traffic your website gets
- Reliable uptime – Bluehost performs well in uptime tests.
Bluehost Cons
While they offer an excellent service, Bluehost comes with several cons making some users say that ‘Bluehost sucks’ and look for alternatives.
- Poor support – Bluehost has one of the worst support teams, one of the reasons I moved away. One of the live chat support reps at Bluehost told me to take my business elsewhere if I wasn’t happy. The nerve.
- No free website migration – This can be a problem if you’re an absolute beginner looking to move your website.
- No free daily website backups & restore – Again, another reason why I moved away from Bluehost. They had no backups to restore my hacked sites. They said the reserves were corrupt too.
- Slow-ish speeds – Tests show that Bluehost offers some of the slowest page speeds in the industry.
- Only US servers – Visitors from other regions could face a slow website. (However, using the free CDN will take care of this)
My biggest problem with Bluehost was the shoddy support when I was desperate to get my websites back online. It was one hell of a day.
The fact that I had to rebuild the websites from scratch turned me off completely, and I didn’t think twice before moving to another web host. I also signed up with ManageWP for regular off-site backups.
Bluehost is ideal for small websites and blogs without a lot of traffic. If you need advanced hosting features, say you run a big e-commerce website, you should check out the Bluehost alternatives I cover in the following section.
Questions & Answers
Our Verdict ⭐
Here I have covered the main features, pros, cons, and one big reason why these alternatives are better than Bluehost. Don’t get me wrong, Bluehost is a good host and is recommended by WordPress.org. However, their service can disappoint you at times, forcing you to go with another web host.
If you’re looking to get online quickly, all the above web page hosting providers (and Bluehost alternatives) are great options. While Bluehost offers a really good hosting service, the above Bluehost competitors provide more options, modern tools, and better features and prices (for what you’re getting).
If you’d like to hit the ground running, complete with a pre-installed website, you should consider A2 Hosting. Consider checking out HostGator if you need more features in your VPS plans than what Bluehost offers.
Hostinger is a cheap and fast web host, but their live chat team can take a bit of time to get back to you. If you don’t mind waiting, they are outstanding. GreenGeeks is the perfect choice for eco-friendly people looking for fabulous web page hosting.
The best Bluehost alternative, overall, is SiteGround. They offer an all-around website hosting package that’s suitable for personal blogs, business websites, and large e-commerce portals. SiteGround provides a lot of features at incredibly affordable prices coupled with exceptional customer support.
Reviewing Bluehost: Our Methodology
When we review web hosts, our evaluation is based on these criteria:
- Value for Money: What types of web hosting plans are on offer, and are they good value for money?
- User Friendliness: How user-friendly is the signup process, the onboarding, the dashboard? and so on.
- Customer Support: When we need help, how quickly can we get it, and is the support effective and helpful?
- Hosting Features: What unique features does the web host provide, and how do they stack up against competitors?
- Security: Are essential security measures like SSL certificates, DDoS protection, backup services, and malware/virus scans included?
- Speed and Uptime: Is the hosting service fast and reliable? What types of servers do they use, and how do they perform in tests?
For more details on our review process, click here.