Bluehost is one of the most popular hosting platforms on the market. It’s home to millions of users and websites, and it offers several types of hosting plans, including WordPress. However, if you’re working on your first website, you might have difficulty navigating Bluehost pricing and deciding which option is right for you.
Bluehost’s shared hosting and WP Pro plans offer the best value for most users. However, keep in mind that after renewal, Bluehost hosting prices multiply.
Knowing which hosting plan to choose can help you save money in the long run. Moreover, if you choose the right plan, you’ll get access to much better performance and features for your website.
In this article, we’ll talk about Bluehost and the different types of plans it offers, including prices, to help you pick the right one. Let’s get to it!
An Introduction to Bluehost
Bluehost is what we call an all-in-one hosting solution (and it’s available in multiple markets, including India). It offers various types of website hosting plans, domain registration and management services, and email hosting.
On top of that, Bluehost also provides professional marketing and WordPress development services (if you want a site created à la carte):
One of the main reasons behind Bluehost’s popularity is that it offers remarkably cheap starter options. Bluehost shared hosting plans start at $2.95 per month, which is below the average for the industry.
Keep in mind that, as with many web hosts, the promotional prices you see on Bluehost’s website apply to your initial subscription term. Once you renew the hosting contract, costs multiply by two or three times the original value.
In the following sections, we’ll go over every type of hosting plan that Bluehost offers and discuss who it’s suitable for!
Bluehost Pricing: A Breakdown of Different Types of Plans
Bluehost offers multiple tiers of plans for every hosting service it provides. Let’s explore all the different options!
Shared Hosting
Bluehost offers both regular shared hosting and WordPress shared hosting, which are priced the same and supported by the same underlying technology.
Shared hosting plans are the go-to options for most first-time website owners. They’re accessible, and if you choose the right web host, you’ll get decent performance and a good range of features:
In terms of pricing, the Basic plan offers the best deal. We recommend this option if you’re working on your first website and have no plans to launch another. The more expensive shared hosting plans are geared toward clients with a broader range of websites in their portfolios.
It’s important to understand that shared hosting doesn’t offer the best performance you can find. Your website might feel slow at times, depending on its configuration and how much traffic it gets. However, you can always upgrade your hosting plan down the road if you need more firepower.
Bluehost also offers a selection of WordPress-specific shared hosting plans under the WordPress > WordPress Hosting categoryIn WordPress, categories are a fundamental taxonomy used to group and organize posts based on their topics or … More. We categorize them as “basic” because, essentially, they’re shared hosting plans that come with WordPress pre-installed. These plans have the same names, prices, and resources as the regular shared hosting options.
If you intend on using WordPress, it makes sense to opt for these plans over the basic shared hosting options. On top of coming with WordPress pre-installed, Bluehost also offers a decent range of custom themesA WordPress theme is a set of files that determine the design and layout of a website. It controls everything … More:
The more expensive Choice Plus and Pro options also provide curated collections of plugins, staging functionality, and client billing tools. These features could be helpful if you’re a web developer, but they’re generally unnecessary for a personal website.
VPS Hosting
With Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting, you’ll get access to isolated virtual servers. This setup guarantees better performance when compared to shared hosting since you’re not sharing resources with other users. With that in mind, VPS hosting tends to be more expensive:
Unlike other hosting plans, VPS options tell you exactly what hardware specs you’ll get access to. This can be overwhelming if you’re not sure what resources you need for a website. That makes VPS hosting an option more geared towards developers and other users with more experience running sites.
With VPS hosting, you won’t have a WordPress dashboardIn WordPress, the Dashboard is a central hub for managing a website’s content and settings. It is the first sc… More or another control panel to launch and manage websites. Instead, you’ll have root access to your VPS, where you can install software using the command line.
WP Pro
WP Pro is Bluehost’s line of managed WordPress hosting plans. They’re considerably more expensive than shared hosting options and cost the same as the VPS plans:
If you’re not familiar with managed hosting, these plans offer a more hands-on service from your web host. Typically, managed hosting plans provide better performance, security, and access to developer-friendly features. In other words, you pay extra, so you don’t have to micromanage a lot of day-to-day tasks for your website.
Just like Bluehost’s regular VPS plans, WP Pro offers support for unlimited websites and unmetered bandwidth. However, these plans also boast unlimited storage, whereas their VPS counterparts limit you depending on which tier you choose.
You’ll also get access to a lot of additional features designed to help you promote and grow your website:
In terms of pricing, Bluehost’s managed WordPress plans are in line with most competitors. In fact, if you take away the promotional pricing, you can find a lot of cheaper alternatives.
Bluehost also offers three Dedicated Hosting plans.
You’ll notice right off the bat that dedicated hosting tends to be a lot more expensive than the other plans Bluehost offers (and this applies to other providers as well). That’s because “dedicated” means you’ll have an entire physical server all for yourself:
Dedicated plans are not for first-time website owners. They offer top-of-the-line performance for existing websites. They’re ideal if you have a lot of traffic and need multiple resources to keep up and provide a great experience.
Typically, dedicated servers tend to be completely unmanaged. That means you have access to the server itself (remotely), and you can use it for anything you want, just like Bluehost’s VPS plans.
Since Bluehost’s dedicated plans are around triple the price of its VPS and WP Pro offerings, they’re overkill for most users. That is unless you’re absolutely sure your website needs the extra performance and you’ve outgrown other types of hosting.
Conclusion
Bluehost’s reputation for great budget prices only applies if you sign up for one of its regular or WordPress shared hosting plans. These plans can offer you amazing deals if you’re willing to pay for one year or more. However, when renewing your hosting contract, be prepared for prices to rise significantly.
Each type of Bluehost hosting plan is geared toward a different kind of user. Here’s what we recommend according to your budget and needs:
- Regular shared hosting and WordPress shared hosting: Stick with the cheapest plans if you only need access to basic hosting functionality and avoid paying for the extras that Bluehost offers.
- VPS hosting: This plan is the next step once you’ve outgrown shared hosting and want complete control over your server.
- WP Pro: If you’re running a WordPress website and you want better performance than what shared hosting can offer, this is your best bet.
- Dedicated hosting: These are top-of-the-line hosting options, and you should only be paying for them if you’re absolutely sure that you need the resources.
Do you have any questions about which Bluehost plan to choose? Let’s talk about them in the commentsComments are a feature of WordPress that allow users to engage in discussions about the content of a website. … More section below!
