Bluehost

What Bluehost actually is

Bluehost was founded in 2003 by Matt Heaton in Provo, Utah and is currently owned by Newfold Digital (which also owns HostGator, iPage, JustHost, and Yoast SEO after a series of acquisitions). Bluehost is one of three WordPress.org-recommended hosts (alongside DreamHost and SiteGround) and serves millions of customers globally.

Bluehost's competitive position is essentially identical to GoDaddy's — budget shared hosting and WordPress-specific tiers, broad brand recognition, mass-market support model. The WordPress.org recommendation gives Bluehost slightly more credibility in the WordPress-specific space than GoDaddy.

How it fits in the broader stack

The platform sits at the budget tier of WordPress hosting alongside GoDaddy, HostGator, and HostMonster. For brands graduating from this tier, the upgrade path is typically SiteGround or Cloudways at the mid-tier, then Kinsta or WP Engine at premium.

Bluehost's Managed WordPress tier (called WP Pro) is meaningfully better than its generic shared hosting — WordPress-specific optimizations, automatic updates, security scanning, basic caching.

Key features and capabilities

Core features: 1-click WordPress install, automatic core updates, daily backups (on higher plans), free SSL, free domain for first year, basic caching, malware scanning, integrated SEO tools (via Yoast SEO integration), 24/7 support.

Recent additions: AWS-backed infrastructure migration (improving baseline performance), WP Pro plans (managed WordPress tier), Bluehost Cloud (higher-end VPS option), improved migration tools.

Pricing and tier comparison

Pricing: Basic at $7.99/month intro ($11.99 renewal), Choice Plus at $11.99/month intro ($19.99 renewal), Online Store at $14.99/month intro ($24.99 renewal), Pro at $26.99/month intro ($31.99 renewal). Annual or multi-year prepay typical for intro pricing.

Trade-offs vs SiteGround/Cloudways: similar to GoDaddy — performance is slower, support quality is variable, upsells are aggressive. Bluehost's AWS-backed infrastructure (since 2023-2024) has narrowed the performance gap somewhat but not closed it.

When we recommend it (and when we don't)

We recommend Bluehost for: very early-stage businesses, sites where the WordPress.org recommendation matters psychologically, hobby projects. We recommend upgrading to SiteGround or Cloudways once business traction makes performance meaningful.

RGM Experts Say: Bluehost and GoDaddy are interchangeable at the budget tier. Neither is the right choice for serious brand sites. Both are fine for hobby use. If you're on either platform and your business is generating real revenue, the migration to SiteGround or Cloudways is the highest-ROI hosting decision available — typically 20-40 point PageSpeed Insights improvement with no code changes.

How we work with this technology

We use the tools that fit the job. If our approach feels aligned with your business, apply for an engagement.