Bluehost hosts over 2 million websites and have earned a reputation as a trusted web hosting brand. Here I explore and explain the Bluehost pricing plans, and ways how you can save money.
If you have read my Bluehost review then might be ready to pull out your credit card and get started with Bluehost. But before you do, I’m going to show you how the Bluehost pricing structure works so you can pick the plan that’s best for you and your budget.
Bluehost Pricing Summary
Bluehost offers 5 different types of web hosting services.
- Shared web hosting ⇣: $2.95 – $13.95 per month.
- WordPress hosting ⇣: $2.95 – $5.45 per month.
- VPS hosting ⇣: $18.99 – $59.99 per month.
- Dedicated server hosting ⇣: $79.99 – $119.99 per month.
- Reseller hosting (via ResellerClub): $11.99 – $26.69 per month.
- Deal
Price:
Recommended by WordPress, Bluehost is a Utah-based hosting provider used by over two million websites worldwide.
It is known for its beginner-friendly setup process and super competitive prices. However, cost alone doesn't tell you whether the offering is good value for money.
In this article, I analyze Bluehost's range of shared, WordPress, VPS, and dedicated server hosting plans, comparing prices with features to help you decide whether this host is really the right one for you.
How Much Does Bluehost Cost?
Bluehost offers an impressive range of web hosting options, with everything from cheap shared hosting to high-end dedicated servers.
Prices start from just $2.95 per month (for your initial term, I'll go into this more later), and there's even a 30-day money-back guarantee so you can try before committing to a subscription.
Bluehost Shared Hosting
At the cheapest end of the spectrum, Bluehost offers four shared hosting plans. Advertised prices start from just $2.95 per year, but these are only accessible with an initial three-year plan.
For starters, the Basic shared hosting plan allows you to build one website with up to 50 GB of SSD storage and unlimited bandwidth. You will also get a free SSL certificate and a free domain for the first twelve months.
I've personally used this plan before, and I actually quite like it. It includes everything you need to create a simple site, and it's affordable.
But before I move on, I want to just take a minute to explain the deceptive (industry-standard) Bluehost pricing plans.
Now, the advertised price of $2.95 per month for the Basic plan is only available with an initial three-year subscription. This first-term low introduction pricing is industry-standard, but with exceptions.
- 12 months costs $4.95 per month.
- 24 months costs $3.95 per month.
- 36 months costs $2.95 per month.
Get started with Bluehost
(Plans start at $2.95/mo)
On top of this, the plan renews at $7.99 per month. That's almost three times higher than the advertised price, which could be a major issue for some.
Moving on, the Plus plan (from $5.45 per month, renews at $10.99) and Choice Plus (from $5.45 per month, renews at $14.99) plans support unlimited websites and storage with unlimited domains, subdomains, and parked domains. A Choice Plus subscription also comes with domain privacy and site backup through the CodeGuard Basic program.
And finally, the Pro plan (from $13.95 per month, renews at $23.99) comes with everything in the Choice Plus plan, as well as a dedicated IP address and lower-density servers.
| Basic | Plus | Choice Plus | Pro | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Websites | 1 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| SSD Storage | 50GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Bandwidth | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered |
| Free SSL | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Performance | Standard | Standard | Standard | High |
| Free Domain | Included | Included | Included | Included |
| Domain Privacy | N/A | N/A | Included | Included |
| Codeguard Site Backup | N/A | N/A | Included | Included |
| Dedicated IP Address | N/A | N/A | N/A | Included |
| Monthly Price | $2.95 | $5.45 | $5.45 | $13.95 |
Bluehost WordPress Hosting
Bluehost also offers a selection of shared and managed WordPress hosting plans. The three low-end WordPress shared plans are actually identical to the standard shared hosting options, and they even have the same name and price tag (Basic, Plus, Choice Plus).
However, there are also three fully-managed WordPress plans which are much more powerful. Prices start from $19.95 per month for a Build plan (renews at $29.99), which comes with a range of advanced WordPress tools. For example, it includes daily backups, malware detection and removal, and an integrated marketing center, among other things.
The Grow plan (from $29.95 per month) adds Jetpack Premium, Bluehost SEO tools, and Blue Sky Ticket support. And finally, a Scale subscription starts from $49.95 per month and comes with everything in the Grow plan, as well as Jetpack Pro, unlimited video compression, and a range of other advanced tools.
Ultimately, the Bluehost prices for managed WordPress hosting are significantly higher than for shared hosting, but you absolutely get what you pay for here.
| Basic | Plus | Choice Plus | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Websites | 1 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| SSD Storage | 50GB | Unmetered | Unmetered |
| Bandwidth | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered |
| Free Domain | Included | Included | Included |
| Free SSL | Included | Included | Included |
| Automatic WordPress Installs | Included | Included | Included |
| Automatic WordPress Updates | Included | Included | Included |
| Codeguard Site Backup | N/A | N/A | Included |
| Office 365 Mailbox | N/A | Included | Included |
| Monthly Price | $2.95 | $5.45 | $5.45 |
Bluehost VPS Hosting
If you need something a little more powerful than shared hosting, one of Bluehost's VPS plans could be the right option. They are a little simplistic and lack the customizability of some competitors, but they aren't too expensive.
For starters, the cheapest Standard VPS plan costs from $18.99 per month for an initial subscription and renews at $29.99 per month. It includes two CPU cores, 30 GB of dedicated SSD storage, 2 GB of RAM, 1 TB of bandwidth, and one IP address.
The Enhanced plan (from $29.99 per month) adds more server resources, while the Ultimate plan ($59.99 per month) includes four CPU cores, 120 GB of SSD storage, 8 GB of RAM, 3 TB of bandwidth, 2 IP addresses, and more.
| Standard | Enhanced | Ultimate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cores | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| SSD Storage | 30GB | 60GB | 120GB |
| Bandwidth | 1TB | 2TB | 3TB |
| Free SSL | Included | Included | Included |
| RAM | 2GB | 4GB | 8GB |
| Free Domain | Included | Included | Included |
| Enhanced Control Panel | Included | Included | Included |
| Free Backups | Included | Included | Included |
| IP Addresses | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Monthly Price | $18.99 | $29.99 | $59.99 |
Bluehost Dedicated Server Hosting
At the higher end of its hosting range, Bluehost offers three dedicated server options. Prices range from $79.99 to $119.99 per month but, like the VPS plans, these are quite simplistic compared to the options many competitors offer.
For example, there is very little information available about what sort of hardware is used. The cheapest Standard plan (from $79.99 per month) simply comes with a four-core 2.3 GHz CPU (which is quite slow), 500 GB of storage, 4 GB of RAM, 5 TB of bandwidth, and three IP addresses.
Overall, Bluehost's dedicated server plans are a little too simplistic for my liking, and I'd recommend looking elsewhere if you need a high-end hosting solution.
| Standard | Enhanced | Premium | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cores | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| SSD Storage | 500GB (mirrored) | 1TB (mirrored) | 1TB (mirrored) |
| Bandwidth | 5TB | 10TB | 15TB |
| Free SSL | Included | Included | Included |
| RAM | 4GB | 8GB | 16GB |
| Free Domain | Included | Included | Included |
| Root Access | Included | Included | Included |
| Free Backups | Included | Included | Included |
| IP Addresses | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Monthly Price | $79.99 | $99.99 | $119.99 |
What Are the Best Ways to Save Money With Bluehost?
Although Bluehost is already one of the cheapest web hosting providers in the world, there are still plenty of ways to save money on your subscription. These include:
Sign Up for a Long-Term Plan
Since Bluehost offers significant discounts for long-term subscriptions, I'd highly recommend signing up for three years to begin with. With the Basic shared hosting plan, essentially gives you a year for free. And don't forget, you can also request a refund within the first 30 days with most plans.
Buy Your Domain Elsewhere
At first glance, Bluehost's domains appear quite cheap. For example, .com domains start at just $11.99 per year. But, domain privacy and protection isn't included, and it costs an extra $11.88 per year. And, the renewal price for second and subsequent years is $15.99 per year.
This means that you will be paying almost $28 per year for your domain when competitors like Namecheap only charge $8.88 ($12.98 on renewal) with privacy included.
How Do Bluehost Prices Compare to Competitors?
In general, Bluehost's shared and WordPress hosting prices are very competitive and lower than those of most of its competitors. In saying that, the VPS and dedicated server plans are very simplistic, and there's better value for money to be had elsewhere.
Below, I've compared monthly Bluehost prices (the lowest for each category) with HostGator and Hostinger, two extremely popular competitors. If you're looking for low prices above all else, Hostinger is a great option.
| Bluehost | Hostinger | HostGator | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shared | $2.95 | $0.99 | $2.75 |
| Shared WordPress | $2.95 | N/A | $5.95 |
| Managed WordPress | $19.95 | $2.15 | NA |
| VPS | $18.99 | $3.95 | $19.95 |
| Dedicated | $79.99 | N/A | $89.98 |
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Bluehost cost?
Bluehost offers standard shared hosting (from $2.95 per month), WordPress hosting (from $2.95 per month), managed WordPress hosting (from $19.95 per month), VPS hosting (from $18.99 per month), and dedicated servers (from $79.99 per month).
Does Bluehost have a money-back guarantee?
Yes, Bluehost offers a 30-day money-back guarantee with its shared and WordPress hosting. Note that not all plans are covered, and things like domain registration fees aren't refundable. Read the fine print.
Does Bluehost offer email-only hosting?
No, Bluehost doesn't currently offer email-only hosting options. However, all of its standard hosting plans do come with comprehensive email tools.
Are there any hidden fees I should be aware of?
Unfortunately, Bluehost is great at charging hidden fees. Make sure you pay attention to renewal prices before you purchase a subscription. Watch out for automatic add-ons during the checkout process, and be very wary about purchasing extra hosting tools.
Are there any Bluehost coupon codes available?
A quick internet search will reveal a selection of Bluehost coupon codes. However, these change regularly, so we'd recommend selecting the plan you're interested in and testing it with the 30-day money-back guarantee as a safety net.
Bluehost Pricing: The Verdict?
Bluehost is a very popular web hosting provider, but it's probably not quite as good as you expected. Its shared and WordPress hosting options are excellent, but the VPS and dedicated server plans simply aren't worth considering.
What's more, Bluehost has a very deceptive fee structure that catches a lot of people off-guard. For example, introductory prices are significantly discounted, and you will have to sign up for three years to access the advertised deals.
- How much does Bluehost cost?
Cheap shared hosting with Bluehost starts from just $2.95 per month. However, you have to pay 36 months in advance to access this price, and your subscription will renew at $7.99 per month. Managed WordPress hosting starts from $19.95 per month, VPS costs from $18.99 per month, and dedicated servers are priced from $79.99 per month. - What is the cheapest Bluehost plan?
There are numerous Bluehost plans on offer, but the cheapest shared hosting starts at just $2.95 per month (36-month / 3 year sign up period). - How can I save money with Bluehost?
There are numerous ways to save money with Bluehost, but we'd recommend starting by signing up for a multi-year plan and registering your domain through a third-party registrar.
The bottom line: Seriously consider using Bluehost if you're looking for a reliable, beginner-friendly shared or WordPress hosting provider, but look elsewhere if you need a high-end VPS or dedicated server.
