Bluehost Pricing – Which Plan is Right For You in 2024?

Updated Aug 5, 2023.
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Bluehost is one of the best web hosting providers in the market. Not only does it provide amazing hosting tools and features, it also has multiple pricing plans that ensure that everyone gets a plan that works for them.

The problem, however, is that with so many plans to choose from, choosing the right plan can be a bit overwhelming.

In this article, we will take you through the different Bluehost pricing plan to help you understand what you get with each plan and make it easier for you to pick the right plan for your needs.

Bluehost Pricing Comparison: Which Hosting Plan Is Right?

Bluehost offers six categories of hosting, each of which is tailored to a specific type of user. Under each of these categories are different hosting plans with different prices and features.

The best category and plan for you will depend on what you need for your website, the kind of traffic you expect, and of course, how much you are willing to spend on hosting.

Below, let’s take a look at the pricing of the six categories of hosting offered by Bluehost.

Bluehost Pricing For Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is Bluehost’s cheapest and most basic type of hosting. Bluehost’s shared hosting offers the most basic hosting resources, and is therefore a good fit for those who do not have a lot of needs for their website.

As a result, Bluehost’s shared hosting is good for setting up small websites that won’t attract lots of traffic and blogs with a relatively low level of readership.

If you intend to set up a large website with lots of traffic, a site with lots of media files, or an ecommerce site, Bluehost’s shared hosting won’t work for you.

Bluehost offers four pricing plans for shared hosting.

1. Basic Plan within Shared Hosting

With this plan, you get access to 1 website, free domain for the first year, free SSL certificate, free CDN, custom themes, 50 GB of SSD storage, 5 email accounts, and around the clock customer support.

2. Plus Plan within Shared Hosting

With the Plus plan, you get all the features of the Basic plan, plus an unlimited number of websites, unlimited email accounts, unlimited SSD storage, and 30 days of free access to Office 365.

3. Choice Plus Plan within Shared Hosting

The Choice Plus plan gives you access to free automated backups for your first year and free domain privacy, in addition to the features available on the Plus plan.

4. Pro Plan within Shared Hosting

With the Pro plan, you get optimized CPU resources and free dedicated IP, in addition to the features available on the Choice Plus plan.

Bluehost Pricing For VPS Hosting

Unlike with shared hosting, where multiple websites are hosted on the same server, virtual private server (VPS) hosting gives you a dedicated virtual server. You can think of a dedicated virtual server as having your own private room within an apartment.

VPS hosting provides better performance, speed, security and reliability than shared hosting. However, this means that it is more costly than shared hosting.

If you are building a website that will attract a significant level of traffic and want to keep things more secure, VPS hosting will work well for you. However, it needs a bit of technical expertise.

Bluehost offers three VPS hosting plans:

1. Standard Plan within VPS Hosting

With the Standard VPS hosting plan, you get a free domain (for 1 year), cPanel with root access, 2 cores, 2 GB of RAM, 30 GB of storage (SSD), 1 dedicated IP address, free SSL certificate, and 1 TB of bandwidth.

2. Enhanced Plan within VPS Hosting

The Enhanced VPS hosting plan gives you access to all the features that come with the Standard plan, plus 4 GB of RAM, 60 GB of storage (SSD), 2 dedicated IP addresses, and 2 TB of bandwidth.

3. Ultimate Plan within VPS Hosting

In addition to the features that come with the Enhanced plan, the Ultimate VPS hosting plan gives you access to 4 cores, 8 GB of RAM, 120 GB of storage (SSD), 2 dedicated IP addresses, and 3 TB of bandwidth.

Bluehost Pricing For Managed WordPress Hosting

If you’re building a fairly big WordPress site and are looking for better features and performance, but don’t want to do the heavy lifting yourself, the Bluehost managed WordPress hosting package is your best bet.

With this hosting package, the WordPress team handles the hard task of managing WordPress for you, leaving you to focus on building and growing your site.

Bluehost offers three managed WordPress hosting plans:

1. Build Plan within Managed WordPress Hosting

The Build plan is great for WordPress websites that receive up to 50,000 visitors per month. With this plan, you get access to 200+ Global Edge Servers, 20 GB web storage, a WordPress staging environment, free SSL, and daily scheduled backups.

You also get Jetpack Personal, domain privacy and protection, malware detection and removal, and free access to Microsoft email for 30 days.

2. Grow Plan within Managed WordPress Hosting

With this plan, you get all the features of the Build plan, plus 40 GB web storage, Jetpack Premium, Blue Sky ticket support, 10 GB video compression, Bluehost SEO tools, and business review tools.

3. Scale Plan within Managed WordPress Hosting

The Scale plan supports websites with up to 500,000 monthly visitors. In addition to the features of the Grow plan, the Scale plan gives you 80 GB of web storage, Jetpack Professional, unlimited video compression, integration with PayPal, unlimited backups and restore, and elastic search.

Bluehost Pricing For WooCommerce Hosting

If you want to build an online store using WordPress and WooCommerce, this is the best hosting package for you. Bluehost offers two WooCommerce hosting plans:

1. Standard Plan within WooCommerce Hosting

This plan comes with WooCommerce and the Storefront theme already installed and allows you to set up an online store plus blog.

In addition, you get unlimited products, free Jetpack, payment processing, website traffic analytics, customer product reviews, discount codes, manual order creation, 1 year free access to CodeGuard Backup Basic, and round the clock customer support.

2. Premium Plan within WooCommerce Hosting

With this plan, you get all the features of the Standard plan, plus Jetpack Premium, subscription products, product customization, appointment scheduling and online bookings, free Domain Privacy + Protection, and local and country tax management.

Bluehost Pricing For Dedicated Hosting

This is the most expensive and most advanced hosting category offered by Bluehost. You should only go for dedicated hosting if you are building a massive website that will attract tons of traffic and if you want the highest level of performance and security, and if you’re conversant with the technical aspects of web hosting.

Bluehost offers 3 dedicated hosting plans:

1. Standard Plan within Dedicated Hosting

With this plan, you get access to 4 cores @2.3 GHz, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB of storage (mirrored), 5 TB of bandwidth, and 3 dedicated IP addresses.

2. Enhanced Plan within Dedicated Hosting

The enhanced plan gives you 4 cores @2.5 GHz, 8 GB RAM, 1 TB of storage (mirrored), 10 TB of bandwidth, and 4 dedicated IP addresses.

3. Premium Plan within Dedicated Hosting

The Premium plan gives you 4 cores @3.3 GHz, 16 GB RAM, 1 TB of storage (mirrored), 15 TB of bandwidth, and 5 dedicated IP addresses.

Bluehost Pricing For Domains

In addition to its hosting plans, Bluehost also allows you to register your domain with them. The cost of domain registration will depend on your top level domain (TLD).

Bluehost charges $12.99 per year for .com domains, $9.99 per year for .org domains, and $14.99 per year for .net domains.

What Features Does Each Bluehost Plan Include?

Regardless of the plan you’re going for, there are some features that come with each Bluehost plan. Some of these include:

  • Free Domain: Before you can set up your site, or even purchase hosting for your site, you need to purchase a domain name for your site. To help you get started setting up your site, all Bluehost hosting plans give you a free custom domain. Note, however, that the domain is only free for the first year. From there, you will need to pay an annual renewal fee.
  • Domain Manager: All Bluehost plans give you access to Bluehost’s domain manager, which provides you with a central place from which you can easily purchase, transfer, update and manage your domains.
  • Resource Protection: Even for those using shared hosting plans, Bluehost’s resource protection ensures that the performance of your site will not be affected by the other websites on your shared server.
  • Free SSL Certificate: SSL certificates are a security feature that encrypt your site data to keep information about your users and transactions protected. Bluehost offers free SSL certificates in all its hosting plans.
  • Google Ad Credit: If you purchase a hosting plan on Bluehost and then spend $25 or more on Google Ads, Bluehost will give you extra marketing credit. The value of the marketing credit will depend on your chosen plan. It’s good to note, however, that this offer only applies to users in the US and Canada.
  • Collection Of Themes And Plugins: Regardless of your chosen hosting plan, Bluehost gives you access to a great collection of themes and plugins that you can use to improve the style and functionality of your website.
  • Email hosting: Unlike some web hosting providers who require that you purchase email hosting as a separate add-on, Bluehost gives you free email hosting with each of their hosting plans. Bluehost’s email hosting supports both IMAP and POP3 email systems.
  • File management: All Bluehost plans allow you to access and manage your files. This can be done through FTP, shell access or .htaccess.
  • Fast, Reliable Performance: Despite the differences between the various Bluehost plans, Bluehost provides you with the best resources that will ensure that your site delivers the reliability and speed that your site visitors expect.
  • Control Panel Integration: All Bluehost plans give you access to a control panel that allows you to manage different web and server administrative tasks within a graphical user interface.
  • Database Support: All Bluehost plans offer support for different kinds of databases, including SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and so on. You can select and manage your site database from your hosting account control panel.
  • Word Class Technology: Regardless of the hosting plan you opt for, Bluehost will give you access to world class technology, including UPS power backup, dual quad processor performance servers, Linux operating system, around the clock network monitoring, multiple 10 Gigabit Ethernet connections, courtesy site backups, and customized Apache web servers.

Bluehost Pricing Compared To Its Competitors

Squarespace

SiteGround

Hostinger

The best Bluehost plan for you will depend on your needs and your budget.

That said, if you are building a regular website with modest amounts of traffic and without any unusual technical requirements, you should go for the shared hosting plans, and particularly the Choice Plus plan.

If, on the other hand, you expect significant levels of traffic and want more control over your server, I recommend that you go for the Enhanced VPS hosting plan.

If you’re setting up an online store, the best plan for you is the Plus WooCommerce hosting plan.

Unless you expect massive traffic, and are highly knowledgeable about the technical aspects of web hosting, I do not recommend going for dedicated server hosting plans.

Summary of Bluehost Hidden Costs

Nothing is more frustrating than choosing a hosting plan that works for you and is within your budget, only to proceed to checkout and discover that you need to pay way more than you had anticipated.

To avoid finding yourself in such situations, it is always good to know about all costs upfront. Unfortunately, most web hosting providers keep some of these costs hidden until the very last minute. Bluehost is no exception.

To keep you from such surprises, here are some of the hidden costs you should expect when purchasing hosting from Bluehost:

1. Annual Subscription

Although Bluehost plans show the monthly price, the shortest subscription period for most Bluehost plans is 12 months. Therefore, before you proceed to checkout, you should be ready to pay the full price of an annual subscription.

2. Checkout Extras

Before you purchase your chosen hosting plan, most web hosting providers allow you to add some optional but (sometimes) useful extras that are not included in your chosen plan.

These extras are included on your checkout page with a checkbox next to them. Ticking the checkbox next to them adds them to your plan and drives up the price of your plan.

Bluehost can be very cheeky when it comes to these extras. Bluehost checks some of these extras by default. Not only does this drive your costs up, but you might even end up paying for features you are not interested in.

To avoid this, make sure to grow through your checkout page, look for any extras that you do not want to pay for and uncheck the box next to them. This will remove their cost from the total checkout price.

3. Domain Name

Bluehost gives you a free domain name with all their hosting plans. You should note, however, that the free domain is only valid for a period of one year.

After that, you will need to renew the domain at the regular price. If you’re not aware of this, it might be an unexpected cost when it’s time to renew your subscription.

The regular price of renewing your domain on Bluehost will depend on your top level domain. For .com domains, Bluehost will charge you $12.99 per year.

4. SSL Certificate

Just like the domain name, all Bluehost plans will give you a free SSL certificate. Some users, however, might be looking for more advanced encryption. In this case, the free SSL certificate won’t do. You will have to purchase a premium SSL certificate.

This can result in unexpected costs. You can expect a premium SSL certificate to cost about $49.99 (or more) per year.

5. Refund Policy

Bluehost offers its customers a one month money back guarantee. If you purchase a Bluehost hosting plan but realize that it is not a good fit for your needs, you can ask for a refund within 30 days of making the purchase.

It’s good to note, however, that Bluehost’s refund policy only applies on the hosting plan. Any extras purchased together with your plan won’t be refunded.

Therefore, if you’re purchasing a Bluehost plan with the aim of trying it first before committing, do not purchase any extras along with your plan, otherwise you’ll lose this money when you ask for a refund.

Bluehost Website Migration Costs

If you have an existing website hosted elsewhere, but want to switch your web host and move to Bluehost, it is possible to migrate the website to Bluehost. There’s one problem, however.

The process of migrating a website is not so simple. It is a complex, time consuming process that requires lots of technical knowhow.

Fortunately, Bluehost has a team of experts who can help you with the migration process, ensuring that all your files have been transferred correctly and securely.

So, how much is this going to cost you?

Most web hosting providers will charge you up to about $400 for website migration services. With Bluehost, however, you only need to pay $149.99.

For this low price, Bluehost will provide you with migration assistance for up to 5 websites.

If you have email set up on these websites, they will also transfer up to 20 email accounts for you. In case you experience any problem after the migration, they will also be there to offer any support you might need.

Bluehost Pricing FAQ

Which Bluehost plan is the best?

The best Bluehost plan for you will depend on the kind of website you’re building, the features you need, and the amount of money you’re willing to spend.

If you’re building a small website or blog without any advanced requirements, you should go for a shared hosting plan.

If you are building a bigger website that will attract significant traffic and might have more advanced requirements, go for VPS hosting. This will give you greater control over your website. 

If your aim is to build an online store, the WooCommerce hosting plans will serve you better.

Does Bluehost offer a money-back guarantee?

Yes. Bluehost provides a 30 day 100% money back guarantee on all their hosting plans. If you try any of their hosting plans but find it to be unsatisfactory, just get in touch with Bluehost support, let them know and they will issue you with a full refund.

You should note, however, that the money back guarantee does not apply to your domain name, or any other extras that you might have purchased alongside your hosting plan.

Can I cancel my Bluehost account at any time?

Yes, Bluehost allows you to cancel your subscription at any time. There are two ways of cancelling your Bluehost account.

The easiest way is to login to your Bluehost dashboard, navigate to the Billing Information and change the status to ‘Do not renew.’ 

If you do this, your site will remain online until the end of your subscription period. After your subscription expires, however, the subscription will not be renewed.

If you want to cancel your subscription immediately and take your site offline, you will need to get in touch with Bluehost support and ask them to cancel your account for you.

Why is Bluehost so cheap?

Bluehost is so cheap because it offers discounted prices to their first time customers. To take advantage of these prices, however, you will need to pay for a longer subscription period. 

To get the lowest prices from Bluehost, you should opt for the 3 year (36 months) plan.

Once your first term expires, however, Bluehost will renew your subscription at its regular prices, which are usually much higher than the advertised prices for first time customers.

Next Step: Getting Started With Bluehost

With the multiple pricing plans offered by Bluehost, it is not surprising that they are one of the most popular web hosting companies in the market.

The multiple pricing plans mean that you will find a plan that works for you, regardless of the kind of website you are trying to build, your needs, or your budget.

Having provided you with a breakdown of what each Bluehost plan entails, all you need to do now is to decide which Bluehost plan works for you and start building your website. Click here to get started with Bluehost.

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Anastasia Belyh

Editor at FounderJar

Anastasia has been a professional blogger and researcher since 2014. She loves to perform in-depth software reviews to help software buyers make informed decisions when choosing project management software, CRM tools, website builders, and everything around growing a startup business.

Anastasia worked in management consulting and tech startups, so she has lots of experience in helping professionals choosing the right business software.