A Detailed Review of BlueHost

Is cheap, reliable web hosting possible? HostGator may be a contender for that title.

But, many people ask about BlueHost because when they see its prices they can’t believe them.

However, before you decide to go with this hosting option, learn as much as possible about it first.

We give you the essentials on what you need to know in a review of BlueHost.

BlueHost Cost

The first thing people notice when they consider BlueHost for web hosting is the low price. It’s shared hosting starts at $4.95 a month. If you catch them during a sale, it’s $3.95 a month!

For this price, you get a lot of unlimited features such as:

• Domain hosting
• Hosting space
• File transfer
• Email accounts

You can also get a free domain for 12 months, site builder with templates, secure shell, SSL, FTP, and statistics. Hosting includes CGI, Ruby, Perl and MySQL. You’ll also get $100 in Google advertising.

BlueHost also has some Dedicated Hosting plans, which provide much more to users.

These are more for medium sized businesses. There are also VPS plans available.

Business Overview

BlueHost’s founder Matt Heaton started his web hosting business in 1996. He wanted to provide a free, easy to use hosting solution to businesses online.

Only five years later, Endurance International Group bought out BlueHost.

This company was already owner to many other hosting brands, so it just added BlueHost to its mix. Heaton remained CEO through the merger, but decided to step down in 2011 to work on other parts of the company.

Ease of Registration

Registration is easy. You can’t miss the “get started now” icon on the homepage.

All you need to do is enter your name and details into the form and you’ll be well on your way to hosting your site.

You will have to give them your credit card number during registration. Make sure to read the fine print because many people are surprised they end up being charged for a whole year of hosting rather than just a month.

Customer Service

When you look for a detailed review of Bluehost you’re going to be curious about its customer service.

BlueHost’s customer service is good, but there’s room for improvement. You can chat with the representatives on the website to handle any problems you may have regarding billing or technical issues. Phone conversations are also an available option.

One user was dissatisfied with having to pay for 36 months of service at one time (part of a special), and when he asked to cancel his membership, they were quick to return his money. However, there are some other people who were given the run around when trying to close their account.

Like any company, there are some happy and unhappy customers. Deciding to go with BlueHost depends on how willing you are to give them a try for a shot at cheap hosting.

The Good News and Bad News of BlueHost

The price is cheap.

That’s the one thing that attracts most people to BlueHost. There are tons of features too.

It’s very tempting to go with BlueHost when you can get all of the features you can get from others for a much lower price.

The only thing is that there are some not so great qualities.

• It can be hard to use. The site isn’t user friendly, so you have to be pretty tech savvy to use it.
• Most people complain that their credit card is charged without them being warned. This can cause confusion and anxiety.
• The biggest problem with the site is that it can be unreliable at times. There are some outages and slow response times with BlueHost.

Conclusion

BlueHost is best for beginners. When you’re setting up your website for the first time and you’re on a budget, you can probably deal with the fails of BlueHost. Once you start to grow your website and business, you’ll probably want to move on to some of the bigger, well-known hosting providers. You never know though, you may just end liking it enough to stay and relish in a really cheap hosting plan.

Have you used BlueHost? What’s your experience with it? Tell us your good and bad stories about BlueHost in the comments.