Bluehost review – is it actually any good?

Let me be upfront about something before we start this Bluehost review.

This post contains affiliate links. If you sign up to Bluehost through a link on this page, I earn a small commission – at no extra cost to you. That’s how this site stays free.

I’m telling you this because it matters. A lot of Bluehost reviews you’ll find online are written purely to earn that commission, which means they gloss over the downsides and talk up the upsides regardless of whether the product deserves it.

This one isn’t going to do that.

I don’t use Bluehost for this site (I use Siteground), but the decision was one of the most difficult I had to make, so I did a lot of research. (In fact, the difficulty of making this decision is one of the reasons I started this site. I was so afraid of making the wrong decision, that for a long time, I didn’t make any decision at all!) In the end, for me and for my needs, I decided that Siteground was the way to go- but that doesn’t mean that it’s right for you and your needs. I know lots of people who use Bluehost and wouldn’t change for the world. So I’ve done the research; I know its strengths and where it falls short. By the end of this Bluehost review, you’ll have a clear picture of whether it’s the right host for your site – and if it’s not, take the quiz so you can find out what might work better.

Bluehost at a glance

	USA	UK
Best for	Beginners building their first WordPress site
Starting price	From ~$2.95/month (introductory)	From ~£2.50/month (introductory)
Renewal price	From ~$8.99–$9.99/month	From ~£8–£9/month
Free domain	Yes – first year included
Free SSL	Yes
WordPress install	One-click
Support	24/7 live chat and phone
Officially recommended by	WordPress.org

What is Bluehost?

Bluehost is one of the largest and most well-known web hosting companies in the world, hosting over 2 million websites. It’s been around since 2003 and is one of only three hosts officially recommended by WordPress.org – the organisation behind the world’s most popular website platform.

That official recommendation carries real weight. It means Bluehost has been tested and verified to work well with WordPress, and that the two products are designed to integrate seamlessly.

For someone building their first WordPress website, that endorsement matters. It takes one variable out of the equation before you’ve even started.

Bluehost pricing – what does it actually cost?

This is where things get a bit more complicated, so let’s be clear.

Bluehost’s pricing works on an introductory rate model – meaning the price you see advertised is the price you pay for the first term, but it increases significantly when you renew. Pricing also differs slightly depending on whether you’re buying through the US or UK site, so I’ve laid both out below.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

Basic plan:

	USA	UK
Introductory price	from ~$2.95/month (paid annually)	from ~£2.50/month (paid annually)
Renewal price	from ~$8.99–$9.99/month	from ~£8–£9/month

Choice Plus plan (most popular):

	USA	UK
Introductory price	from ~$5.45/month (paid annually)	from ~£4.50/month (paid annually)
Renewal price	from ~$14.99/month	from ~£14–£16/month

The introductory pricing is genuinely competitive on both sides of the Atlantic. The renewal pricing is… less so. It’s not outrageous by industry standards, but it’s a significant jump, and it catches people off guard if they’re not expecting it.

My honest advice: Sign up for the longest term available to lock in the introductory rate for as long as possible. If you sign up for 36 months at $2.95/month (or ~£2.50/month in the UK), you’ve bought yourself three years before the renewal kicks in – which is plenty of time to decide whether Bluehost is worth sticking with or whether you want to move to a different host.

What’s included in a Bluehost plan?

Even at the entry level, Bluehost includes a reasonable set of features:

Free domain name – included for the first year, which saves you the typical £10–£15 (or $10–$15) domain registration cost.

Free SSL certificate – the padlock in your browser bar. Essential for any modern website, and increasingly important for Google rankings.

One-click WordPress installation – you can have WordPress installed and running in under five minutes. No technical knowledge required.

cPanel dashboard – Bluehost uses cPanel, the industry-standard hosting control panel. It’s not the prettiest interface, but it’s familiar and well-documented.

24/7 customer support – live chat and phone support around the clock. More on the quality of this below.

Unmetered bandwidth – on most plans, there’s no cap on the amount of traffic your site can receive. For a new site, this is rarely a constraint, but it’s good to know.

The Choice Plus plan (the next tier up) also includes domain privacy protection, which stops your personal details from appearing in public domain registration records. Worth having.

Bluehost performance – how fast is it?

Here’s where I’ll be honest with you: Bluehost is not the fastest host on the market.

In independent speed tests, Bluehost typically delivers acceptable, though not outstanding, load times. For a brand new site with modest traffic, you’re unlikely to notice any issues. For a growing site with regular visitors, you may find yourself wanting something faster.

Page speed matters for two reasons:

User experience – people leave slow sites. Research consistently shows that even a one-second delay in page load time meaningfully increases bounce rates.

SEO – Google uses page speed as a ranking factor. Faster sites, all else being equal, rank higher.

Bluehost performs fine on both counts for a new site. It’s when you start growing that you might feel the limitations.

The practical upshot: For a brand-new site you’re just getting started, Bluehost’s performance is more than adequate. If you’re running a site with tens of thousands of monthly visitors and monetising with display ads, you’d probably be better served by SiteGround or Kinsta.

Bluehost customer support – is it any good?

This is one of Bluehost’s stronger suits, and it’s one of the main reasons it’s a good choice for beginners.

24/7 live chat support means that whenever you hit a problem – and you will, especially in the early days – there’s someone available to help. The chat response times are generally fast, and for common WordPress issues, the support team tends to know what they’re doing.

Phone support is also available, which not all hosts offer. If you’d rather talk to a human than type at a chat window, that option is there.

That said, support quality does vary. You’ll have better experiences on some days than others, and for more complex or unusual technical problems, you may get an unhelpful response before you get a useful one. This is true of most hosts in this price range – it’s not specific to Bluehost.

Compared to SiteGround – which is widely regarded as having the best support of any host in the beginner-to-intermediate range – Bluehost is a step behind. But compared to the cheapest budget hosts, it’s significantly better.

Bluehost security – what protection do you get?

Bluehost includes basic security features on all plans:

Free SSL certificate – encrypted connection between your site and your visitors’ browsers. Standard and essential.

Spam protection – basic spam filtering built in.

SiteLock – Bluehost offers SiteLock security scanning as an add-on. Be aware that this is an extra charge and is sometimes pre-selected during checkout. If you don’t want it, make sure to deselect it before completing your purchase.

Backups – this is worth paying attention to. Bluehost’s backup policy varies by plan. On the Basic plan, backups are not guaranteed. On the Choice Plus plan, CodeGuard Basic (automated daily backups) is included.

My recommendation: regardless of which plan you choose, install the free UpdraftPlus plugin and set up your own automated backups. Don’t rely solely on your host for this.

Bluehost pros and cons

The good:

• Officially recommended by WordPress.org
• Very beginner-friendly – one-click WordPress install, intuitive dashboard
• Free domain name in year one
• 24/7 live chat and phone support
• Affordable introductory pricing in both the US and UK
• Unmetered bandwidth on all plans

The not so good:

• Performance is adequate but not exceptional – faster hosts exist at similar price points
• Renewal pricing is significantly higher than introductory rates
• Backups not included on the Basic plan
• SiteLock add-on is sometimes pre-selected at checkout – easy to miss
• Support quality is inconsistent, and waits can be longer at busy times

Who is Bluehost best for?

Bluehost is a genuinely good choice for:

First-time website builders who want a straightforward, well-supported starting point without having to think too hard about the technical side.

Bloggers and content creators are launching a new site and don’t expect huge traffic in the first year or two.

Small businesses are setting up a basic professional presence online.

Anyone who values having proper support available when they hit a problem.

Bluehost is probably not the best choice for:

High-traffic sites where performance matters and every second of load time has a revenue impact.

Sites aiming for premium ad networks like Mediavine quickly – you may want the stronger performance of SiteGround or Kinsta when you hit those traffic thresholds.

Experienced developers who want more server control and won’t benefit from the beginner-friendly features.

How does Bluehost compare to the alternatives?

Bluehost vs SiteGround SiteGround is faster, has better support, and includes more features at the entry level – but it costs more. If budget is the deciding factor, Bluehost wins. If performance and support quality matter more, SiteGround is worth the extra cost. Read our full Bluehost vs SiteGround comparison →

Bluehost vs Hostinger: Hostinger is cheaper than Bluehost and performs comparably at the entry level. The trade-off is that Hostinger doesn’t have WordPress.org’s official recommendation, and the support offering is thinner. If you’re choosing purely on price, Hostinger edges it. If you want the reassurance of that official endorsement, Bluehost is the safer bet.

Bluehost vs Kinsta: These two aren’t really in the same category. Kinsta is fully managed WordPress hosting for growing or revenue-generating sites, at a significantly higher price point. If you’re comparing these two, you’ve probably outgrown what Bluehost is designed for.

Bluehost review: the verdict

Bluehost is a solid, reliable, beginner-friendly host that delivers on its promises. It’s not the fastest option, it’s not the best value at renewal, and it’s not the right choice for every site.

But for someone building their first WordPress website and looking for a well-supported, straightforward starting point at an affordable price, it’s hard to argue with WordPress.org’s recommendation. Millions of sites run on Bluehost for a reason.

Just go in with eyes open about the renewal pricing, deselect the SiteLock add-on at checkout, and set up your own backups with UpdraftPlus from day one.

Or if you’re not sure Bluehost is the right host for your specific situation, take our two-minute hosting quiz, and we’ll match you to the best option for your site.