Bluehost – Web Hosting
If you are trying to create a website for your business, you will soon realise the fact that it is not as simple as creating an email account. There are many things that a website needs to operate. One such thing is web hosting.
On the internet, web hosting is required by all sites. Without going into too much technical jargon, web hosting is essentially the process of renting or purchasing space to house a website on the World Wide Web. This is the job of a web hosting service, and today, we shall look into one of the best in the market – Bluehost.
What is Bluehost?
Bluehost is one of the 20 largest web hosts, hosting well over 2 million domains on a collective basis.
To help you make your own website or even online store, Bluehost offers several products and services: starting from shared hosting to website builders. The company’s services are mainly catered towards small companies in need of digital marketing. Bluehost is also known to be one of the few hosting companies endorsed by WordPress.
Features
From domain names to dedicated servers, this hosting service offers tons of various hosting-related features. Let us take a look at them one by one.
- Domain Name Registration: Bluehost allows you to purchase domain names straight from its website. Renewals are charged as $17.99 a year
- Website Builder: If you have some idea about what you want to make but don’t possess the CSS and HTML skills to pull it off, the drag-and-drop builder can help you out
- Data Transfer: On many of their plans, Bluehost includes unrestricted data transfer. CPU security is also supported by Bluehost
- cPanel: Bluehost uses the “cPanel” (Control Panel), a common method for site management. The company also provides free backups so that you do not lose any files from the site
- Storage: Bluehost provides storage space ranging from 50GB to infinite for website files, depending on the plan you use. If you have a simple site, then you should go for the 50GB storage plan since it takes some time to use up most of the space
Hosting Plans
Since Bluehost is actually a web hosting service, their primary offering is none other than web hosting. Bluehost offers many different types of hosting plans. Let us take a look at them one at a time.
Shared Hosting
It is equivalent to renting a workstation in a coworking room or an open-plan workplace. You get modern conveniences and you share your space with colleagues. This is a popular choice for small websites – maybe not for large commercial establishments. You should keep in mind that your website shares server resources with other sites; so, if one of its server mates experiences a traffic spike, the performance of your site may be impacted.
Bluehost doesn’t provide shared web hosting services from month to month. It needs you, instead, to sign up for an annual plan. You get discounts if you subscribe to a two-year or three-year contract.
VPS Hosting
A nice step up from shared hosting is VPS hosting. VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. When it comes to VPS hosting, all the resources are allocated to one account instead of allocating shared resources across thousands of accounts. Users are generally kept separate from each other.
Bluehost has VPS options that are definitely worth exploring, especially if you’re looking for more resources, expecting high traffic levels, or facing strict compliance criteria because of which you can’t use shared servers.
Bluehost comes with three levels of VPS hosting, which are Linux-based. The standard plan costs $29.99 per month and offers 30 GB storage, 2 GB memory, as well as unlimited data transfers each month. The Ultimate plan is priced at $119.99 per month with 120GB SSD storage, 8GB memory, alongside unlimited data transfers. VPS hosting plans, as with shared hosting plans, have discounts on longer-term contracts.
Dedicated Hosting
Hosting a dedicated server is almost like renting a whole office building. It is a more expensive alternative that is suitable for websites targeting high performance as well as reliability.
Dedicated hosting can be considered a powerful web hosting option since it offers complete server resources for your site. It is the only way your site can manage the challenges of the internet if you expect big traffic figures.
Bluehost has several configurations for dedicated servers, too. Its servers are offered at $109 per month – they can be configured with a maximum of 1 TB hard drive space, 16 GB RAM, and 15 TB data transfers per month with a Linux-based operating system.
WordPress Hosting
WordPress is a content management system, which controls a majority of the websites online. It’s quick to use, has an impressive theme, as well as a plug-in ecosystem to extend the functionality of your site. Those who want to build a website driven by WordPress can consider the three Linux-based packages from Bluehost: Basic, Plus, and Option Plus.
Pricing
During the first year, Bluehost rates have enormous discounts. You get to have a money-back guarantee for up to 30 days with all Bluehost plans. Shared hosting, at $2.95/month in the initial year and $7.99/month after that, is Bluehost’s cheapest package. The most expensive package, starting at $79.99/month, is Dedicated Hosting.
Verdict
Bluehost offers reliable hosting services with good server speeds. The service comes with solid protection options, an amazing money-back guarantee, a plethora of user-friendly applications, and hosting packages suitable for various customers at various levels. Although it all depends on the objectives of your website, Bluehost is a strong provider if you are looking for affordability and reliability.
