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Bluehost

Expert Rating: 9.3 User Rating: 8.4

Review by Steven Johnson
Written: January 30, 2008
Updated: January 11, 2013
 
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ProsBluehost is an excellent host with fast servers at a great price. No issues running Joomla, perfect for those with basic hosting needs

ConsNo Advanced hosting plans such as VPS or Dedicated servers

Bottom LineBluehost is one of the best in the business. The provide a great service with minimal hassle, servers are fast and the price is competitive, however they do not offer any advanced hosting plans.

GO

Editor review

****Update May 2012****
We have continued to have the same positive experience with Bluehost. They have a great simple all-in-one plan, solid servers, easy to use control panel and excellent tech support. Their not the best for dedicated or VPS hosting. Joomla is easy to use and install on their servers.

****Initial Review April 2010****
When it was time review Bluehost, we were interested to see what they would deliver. Their site is not flashy or overstated, they offer one shared hosting plan and they have a great reputation among the Open Source crowd.

After signing up and installing Joomla, we were impressed with the Bluehost setup. The control panel is easy to understand and use. The servers are reliable and fast. We really like that Bluehost also offers simplescripts in addition to Fantastico to install Joomla. Tech support lived up to our expectations and even surpassed them in some instances.

Available Upgrades
While Bluehost offers one plan option. After you have your account you can upgrade to the Pro Package for $14.95/month. The other upgrade is to purchase a dedicated IP address for $2.50/month or $30/year. SSL Certificates are $45/year. The price on the pro package seems a little high while the price on the dedicated IP address and SSL cert seems inline with industry standards.

The top benefits we found with Blue host are:
* Organized, easy to use control panel (cPanel)
* Fast Reliable Servers
* Helpful Tech Support
* Ability to add dedicated IP address if needed

Conclusion
Bluehost is worth checking out if you are looking for a new Joomla Hosting company, we have been please with their service and expect them to continue providing the same great product.
Overall rating 
 
9.3
Site Speed & Uptime 
 
9.0
Control Panel Features 
 
9.0
Customer Support 
 
10.0
Price 
 
9.0

One of the Best

Reviewed by: Steven Johnson
Experience Level: Joomla Professional
Customer for: more than 1 year
Reviewed on: May 15, 2012

Review Summary:

We like Bluehost for hosting sites on a shared server. The servers are stable and fast. The control panel is easy to use and the price is right. If you have VPS or dedicated server hosting requirements bluehost is not the best fit since they do not offer these plans. If you are looking for shared hosting, Bluehost is a great fit.

Pros and Cons

Pros
Fast servers
Easy to use control panel
Simplescripts to install Joomla
Resonable Price
Cons
No VPS or Dedicated Servers

Full Review

****Update May 2012****
We have continued to have the same positive experience with Bluehost. They have a great simple all-in-one plan, solid servers, easy to use control panel and excellent tech support. Their not the best for dedicated or VPS hosting. Joomla is easy to use and install on their servers.

****Initial Review April 2010****
When it was time review Bluehost, we were interested to see what they would deliver. Their site is not flashy or overstated, they offer one shared hosting plan and they have a great reputation among the Open Source crowd.

After signing up and installing Joomla, we were impressed with the Bluehost setup. The control panel is easy to understand and use. The servers are reliable and fast. We really like that Bluehost also offers simplescripts in addition to Fantastico to install Joomla. Tech support lived up to our expectations and even surpassed them in some instances.

Available Upgrades
While Bluehost offers one plan option. After you have your account you can upgrade to the Pro Package for $14.95/month. The other upgrade is to purchase a dedicated IP address for $2.50/month or $30/year. SSL Certificates are $45/year. The price on the pro package seems a little high while the price on the dedicated IP address and SSL cert seems inline with industry standards.

The top benefits we found with Blue host are:
* Organized, easy to use control panel (cPanel)
* Fast Reliable Servers
* Helpful Tech Support
* Ability to add dedicated IP address if needed

Conclusion
Bluehost is worth checking out if you are looking for a new Joomla Hosting company, we have been please with their service and expect them to continue providing the same great product.

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User reviews

Average user rating from: 10 user(s)

Overall rating 
 
8.4
Site Speed & Uptime 
 
8.1  (10)
Control Panel Features 
 
9.2  (10)
Customer Support 
 
7.9  (10)
Price 
 
8.5  (10)
Ratings (the higher the better)
  • Site Speed & Uptime
    How fast and how much time are there servers up?
  • Control Panel Features
    Is the control panel easy to navigate? How useful are the features provided?
  • Customer Support
    How responsive and quick is Customer Support?
  • Price
    In regards to the money spent each month how well is your money spent?
Overview
Pros and Cons
Comments
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I've been with BlueHost for about 5 years and have hosted many sites and clients with them. They by far have the best customer service from any of the hosting companies I have worked with between my sites and my clients' sites. You can't beat the service and price and the ease of use of their services and control panel features. The one time I had a site with major email issues, BH worked with me consistently until the problem was resolved. They are a great state-side company that doesn't sub out over seas and they know their stuff. If you want to know snow-ski conditions for Utah, they'll even provide that when asked ;)
Overall rating 
 
10.0
Site Speed & Uptime 
 
10.0
Control Panel Features 
 
10.0
Customer Support 
 
10.0
Price 
 
10.0

5+ years and many happy clients

Overall Rating: 10.0 out of 10
Reviewed by: ellare
Experience Level: Joomla Professional
Customer for: more than 1 year
Reviewed on: August 04, 2010

Full Review

I've been with BlueHost for about 5 years and have hosted many sites and clients with them. They by far have the best customer service from any of the hosting companies I have worked with between my sites and my clients' sites. You can't beat the service and price and the ease of use of their services and control panel features. The one time I had a site with major email issues, BH worked with me consistently until the problem was resolved. They are a great state-side company that doesn't sub out over seas and they know their stuff. If you want to know snow-ski conditions for Utah, they'll even provide that when asked ;)

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I am new to Joomla and to hosting, I decided to go with blue host since hey were a large well know hosting company and they seemed to work well for others.

The signup was easy and so was the set up of my joomla site.

No issues yet so I am very happy with them.

Just wish I had not spent so much time trying to select a hosting company. I am up and going and now it is time to learn more about Joomla.
Overall rating 
 
9.5
Site Speed & Uptime 
 
10.0
Control Panel Features 
 
10.0
Customer Support 
 
9.0
Price 
 
9.0

Glad I went with bluehost

Overall Rating: 9.5 out of 10
Reviewed by: Andrew X
Experience Level: Joomla Beginner
Customer for: 1 to 3 months
Reviewed on: July 30, 2010

Pros and Cons

Pros
Very helpful
simple to use hosting

Full Review

I am new to Joomla and to hosting, I decided to go with blue host since hey were a large well know hosting company and they seemed to work well for others.

The signup was easy and so was the set up of my joomla site.

No issues yet so I am very happy with them.

Just wish I had not spent so much time trying to select a hosting company. I am up and going and now it is time to learn more about Joomla.

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Account was PERMANENTLY suspended after being hacked for the third time. No warning, no mention of '3 strikes' rule in TOS, no nothing. I went through all the clean up, called to reactivate and was told 'we can't host your domain any more - a church site that was hacked.
Overall rating 
 
3.5
Site Speed & Uptime 
 
1.0
Control Panel Features 
 
7.0
Customer Support 
 
1.0
Price 
 
5.0

Secure your site

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 10
Reviewed by: Dana
Experience Level: Joomla Intermediate User
Customer for: more than 1 year
Reviewed on: June 24, 2010

Pros and Cons

Pros
price is right; lots of features; unlimited B/W & storage
Cons
service turned from good to non-existent in an instant

Full Review

Account was PERMANENTLY suspended after being hacked for the third time. No warning, no mention of '3 strikes' rule in TOS, no nothing. I went through all the clean up, called to reactivate and was told 'we can't host your domain any more - a church site that was hacked.

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Don't bother with bluehost. I'd rather go back to Netfirms at this point who is really bad. They pulled shady stuff trying to get more cash out of you but never tried changing their TOS really dumb like this.

Half way through my yearly contract Bluehost changed my terms of service to limit the number of "files" on my account. Although I don't have even a few percent of the maximum disk space use, after this terms of service change my account has been suspended multiple times due to "excessive numbers of files". What happens is Joomla and other open source web apps create a bunch of temp files and in my case I've determine without warning bluehost has suspended my account. This is completely unexceptable hosting and questionably breach of contract on bluehost's side. If they're going to suspend an account after a TOS change, it would seem required to refund at minimum the pro-rated contract and more likely the full contract if they cannot meet their original agreement. Once i get this resolved I'm changing hosts and never coming back. BLUEHOST IS NOT REALLY JOOMLA FRIENDLY. If you're going to put up a static site with a few photos of your cat and dumb children, it would be a good host. Otherwise go somewhere else.
Overall rating 
 
3.3
Site Speed & Uptime 
 
1.0
Control Panel Features 
 
5.0
Customer Support 
 
2.0
Price 
 
5.0

Multiple Account Suspensions after not honoring or

Overall Rating: 3.3 out of 10
Reviewed by: Kenny
Customer for: 3 months to 1 year
Reviewed on: December 08, 2009

Pros and Cons

Pros
When it works, it works.
They answer the phone
Reasonably unexpensive
Cons
I'm putting one star for uptime as Bluehost has not honored their TOS which I agreed to but rather changed it under a fog of "we can change at any time" type terms.

Full Review

Don't bother with bluehost. I'd rather go back to Netfirms at this point who is really bad. They pulled shady stuff trying to get more cash out of you but never tried changing their TOS really dumb like this.

Half way through my yearly contract Bluehost changed my terms of service to limit the number of "files" on my account. Although I don't have even a few percent of the maximum disk space use, after this terms of service change my account has been suspended multiple times due to "excessive numbers of files". What happens is Joomla and other open source web apps create a bunch of temp files and in my case I've determine without warning bluehost has suspended my account. This is completely unexceptable hosting and questionably breach of contract on bluehost's side. If they're going to suspend an account after a TOS change, it would seem required to refund at minimum the pro-rated contract and more likely the full contract if they cannot meet their original agreement. Once i get this resolved I'm changing hosts and never coming back. BLUEHOST IS NOT REALLY JOOMLA FRIENDLY. If you're going to put up a static site with a few photos of your cat and dumb children, it would be a good host. Otherwise go somewhere else.

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Best hosting company I've ever seen hands down.
Overall rating 
 
10.0
Site Speed & Uptime 
 
10.0
Control Panel Features 
 
10.0
Customer Support 
 
10.0
Price 
 
10.0

Bluehost

Overall Rating: 10.0 out of 10
Reviewed by: Anonymous
Reviewed on: September 30, 2009

Full Review

Best hosting company I've ever seen hands down.

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I've only been with BlueHost for two months now. I switched one of my websites over from Siteground (who are terrible by the way, don't ever use them) so that I could test BlueHost out. The setup was easy and fast. The admin management area is easy to figure out They transferred my domain no problem and it is included in my hosting. They use the usual CPanel and Fantastico which so far seem to work fine. And the customer support so far seems great. So far so good and zero complaints. I will return in a year to post another review after I've had more time with them. The only thing I would quibble about is that you can't have all your websites in one admin account. They require a separate admin account for each website you have, and that means you also can't have separate CPanel login that is separate from your admin account login, which is a problem as sometimes I have to give access to programmers to my CPanel, but don't want them to have access to my admin area for my website. I hope that they will change this in the future since other hosting companies do allow that one have all their websites under the same main admin account, each with its own CPanel access. But, everything else has, so far, been great.
Overall rating 
 
9.5
Site Speed & Uptime 
 
10.0
Control Panel Features 
 
10.0
Customer Support 
 
10.0
Price 
 
8.0

So far so Good....

Overall Rating: 9.5 out of 10
Reviewed by: Gadabout
Reviewed on: November 26, 2008

Full Review

I've only been with BlueHost for two months now. I switched one of my websites over from Siteground (who are terrible by the way, don't ever use them) so that I could test BlueHost out. The setup was easy and fast. The admin management area is easy to figure out They transferred my domain no problem and it is included in my hosting. They use the usual CPanel and Fantastico which so far seem to work fine. And the customer support so far seems great. So far so good and zero complaints. I will return in a year to post another review after I've had more time with them. The only thing I would quibble about is that you can't have all your websites in one admin account. They require a separate admin account for each website you have, and that means you also can't have separate CPanel login that is separate from your admin account login, which is a problem as sometimes I have to give access to programmers to my CPanel, but don't want them to have access to my admin area for my website. I hope that they will change this in the future since other hosting companies do allow that one have all their websites under the same main admin account, each with its own CPanel access. But, everything else has, so far, been great.

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Uptime is great, with lots of backend features. Customer support is good, but help seems to be selective. I've asked about ftp issues twice and they haven't responded. Other minor issues have been fixed immediately. A little costlier than others, but you get more for your money.

I've used quite a few hosts in the last two years, and bluehost is the best. Unlike some other well-known hosts, they don't constantly bombard you with annoying marketing. It's good hosting, pure and simple.

In regards to Joomla!, I've never had an issue with the hosting. Can't say the same for other hosts.
Overall rating 
 
8.8
Site Speed & Uptime 
 
9.0
Control Panel Features 
 
10.0
Customer Support 
 
8.0
Price 
 
8.0

Best around, but not perfect

Overall Rating: 8.8 out of 10
Reviewed by: Jesse
Reviewed on: November 23, 2008

Full Review

Uptime is great, with lots of backend features. Customer support is good, but help seems to be selective. I've asked about ftp issues twice and they haven't responded. Other minor issues have been fixed immediately. A little costlier than others, but you get more for your money.

I've used quite a few hosts in the last two years, and bluehost is the best. Unlike some other well-known hosts, they don't constantly bombard you with annoying marketing. It's good hosting, pure and simple.

In regards to Joomla!, I've never had an issue with the hosting. Can't say the same for other hosts.

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Great site. Easy to use. Very fast. It has everything.
Overall rating 
 
10.0
Site Speed & Uptime 
 
10.0
Control Panel Features 
 
10.0
Customer Support 
 
10.0
Price 
 
10.0

BlueHost is great

Overall Rating: 10.0 out of 10
Reviewed by: clint
Reviewed on: November 11, 2008

Full Review

Great site. Easy to use. Very fast. It has everything.

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BlueHost is currently my favorite shared hosting provider. I have had very small downtime issues (maybe 2 times per year for about 1 hour on 1 of 10 sites) but I think that's pretty good for shared.

They continually add new features (like SimpleScripts, Postini, etc...) and have updated their UI regularly. Their cPanel functions/scripts work very well. I have also had very good experience with their support.

I think the only minor (very minor) quibble I have with them is their CEO's (Matt Heaton) blog. It doesn't seem very professional although, in his defense, he says it is his "personal blog." He is obviously very bright, but I simply think the image should be a bit more corporate/professional. I would be embarrassed if a client stumbled upon it and said "THIS is who you are hosting our corporate site with."

Overall, I feel like BlueHost is committed to providing a continually better product. I feel like others (Lunar, for example) spend more effort on marketing than on the actual product.
Overall rating 
 
10.0
Site Speed & Uptime 
 
10.0
Control Panel Features 
 
10.0
Customer Support 
 
10.0
Price 
 
10.0

I Love BlueHost

Overall Rating: 10.0 out of 10
Reviewed by: Wendy B
Reviewed on: April 29, 2008

Full Review

BlueHost is currently my favorite shared hosting provider. I have had very small downtime issues (maybe 2 times per year for about 1 hour on 1 of 10 sites) but I think that's pretty good for shared.

They continually add new features (like SimpleScripts, Postini, etc...) and have updated their UI regularly. Their cPanel functions/scripts work very well. I have also had very good experience with their support.

I think the only minor (very minor) quibble I have with them is their CEO's (Matt Heaton) blog. It doesn't seem very professional although, in his defense, he says it is his "personal blog." He is obviously very bright, but I simply think the image should be a bit more corporate/professional. I would be embarrassed if a client stumbled upon it and said "THIS is who you are hosting our corporate site with."

Overall, I feel like BlueHost is committed to providing a continually better product. I feel like others (Lunar, for example) spend more effort on marketing than on the actual product.

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As a relatively inexperienced Joomla user, (I have installed 3 sites) I found BlueHost easy to use and full of features. I was able to get SEO working properly, which I could not do on another hosting company which a client chose. Pages load very quickly. It did take a while for support to reply to a question. I'm very happy with this company.
Overall rating 
 
9.8
Site Speed & Uptime 
 
10.0
Control Panel Features 
 
10.0
Customer Support 
 
9.0
Price 
 
10.0

Good Support for Joomla

Overall Rating: 9.8 out of 10
Reviewed by: Stan Taylor
Reviewed on: February 15, 2008

Full Review

As a relatively inexperienced Joomla user, (I have installed 3 sites) I found BlueHost easy to use and full of features. I was able to get SEO working properly, which I could not do on another hosting company which a client chose. Pages load very quickly. It did take a while for support to reply to a question. I'm very happy with this company.

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Hosting Plan Features

Disk Space:
Unlimited
Data Transfer:
Unlimited
Refund Policy:
Anytime
Domains Hosted:
Unlimited
Domain Registration:
Free
Price:
$6.95
Edit DNS Zone File:
Yes
Control Panel:
cPanel
Hosting Plan Types:
Datacenter Locations:

Joomla Features

Joomla Auto Install:
Yes
Fantastico:
Yes
Ion Cube Support:
Yes

MySQL Features

MySQL Databases:
100
phpMyAdmin:
Yes

Support Options

Email / Help Desk:
Yes
Phone Support:
Yes
Member Forum:
Yes
Live Chat:
Yes

Company Details

Company Headquarters:
Provo, Utah
First Year in Business:
1996

Notable Features:

  • Unlimited space and bandwidth for $6.95/Month
  • An attractive array of pre-installed scripts
  • Easy to reach phone tech support
  • 15 years of hosting experience
  • No VPS or Dedicated Server plans

Company Highlights:

Bluehost is one of the most versatile Shared Hosting companies. Offering a wide range of web applications from within their dashboard. They have been in the hosting business for 15 years. Use Bluehost for the best value shared hosting plan.

View All BlueHost Prices & Plans

About Bluehost

BlueHost, considered on of the best in the industry, focuses on shared hosting at fair prices while providing excellent technical and customer support. They were founded in 1996, owned by Hosting Solutions, Inc and headquartered in Provo, Utah.

Bluehost datacenters host over one million domains on hundreds of state-of-the-art servers. Highly qualified full-time system administrators are on staff to help with any technical issues.  Support is available via Phone, email or chat 24 hours a day.

Bluehost Plans & Features

Bluehost is unique because they offer only one hosting plan. The price is $6.95 per month and has all the features you expect to find in shared hosting.  Should you need additional resources, such as an SSL certificate or dedicated IP Bluehost offers upgrades to your account.

The plan comes with a free domain name, unlimited diskspace and monthly bandwidth (data transfer).  You’re allowed to host unlimited websites, parked domains and subdomains with this plan. You may create up to 2500 email addresses and set up unlimited vacation autoresponders. 1000 separate FTP accounts and 100 MySQL databases are also allotted to you.

For web developers, you’ll find support for all the major scripting languages including PHP 5, Perl 5, Python, Ruby / Ruby on Rails and a lot more. An attractive array of free pre-installed scripts are also offered to you including phpBB, phpNuke, Wordpress, b2evolution, tikiwiki, web auction software, mambo, joomla etc. You also get a totally free SSL certificate, and various shopping carts including OSCommerece, Agora, Cube Cart and Zen Cart.

Hosting Environment

Account management at BlueHost is done through the cPanel 11 software. You can view a free demo of this on the BlueHost website.

cPanel allows you to manage and configure your entire account including website files, email addresses, FTP accounts, statistics, databases etc. For the MySQL databases, you can find phpMyAdmin installed which facilitates easy administration through a GUI.

Recent Bluehost Server Improvements (posted April 16, 2010)

These improvements guard against runaway processes and other events that could slow all the sites on a shared server. By stopping server slowing events, all sites/accounts on the server remain consistently fast.

  • Memory Protection - a single user or program are not allowed to use a large amount of sever memory, which prevents all sites on the server slowing down
  • CPU Processor Protection - the processor is protected so that a single runaway site can not take all of the CPU resources. This safeguard improves the server consistency and speed for customers.
  • Bandwidth Compression - Data transfer from the server can now be compressed which allows your site to load 10 to 25% faster.
  • Process Protection - A can no longer spawn a runaway process causing the processors or cores to slow down. This is very helpful for those running mysql based websites such as Joomla.

Joomla Features

Joomla runs very well in the Bluehost Environment. It can be intalled automatically using Simplescripts or Fantastico.

IonCube -- if one of your extensions requires the ionCube loaders, Bluehost has them installed in all accounts by default.

Tech Support

BlueHost’s technical support staff has been acclaimed by many reviewers as being one of most qualified and well-trained support teams in the hosting business. They can be contacted through toll-free telephone 24/7 and they boast impressive response times. You can also reach them through email.

From the BlueHost website, you can access their Cerebrus helpdesk where you may open support tickets or go on to their FAQ knowledgebase where plenty of helpful articles are available to you.

  • Phone: 888-401-4678 or 801-765-9400
  • Email: support at bluehost.com

Conclusion

While the support, the friendly treatment and the technical expertise are all impressive with BlueHost, what really stands out is Bluehost's attention to detail when it comes to keeping the servers fast in a shared hosting enviroment.

BlueHost should definitely hold a lot of weight when choosing a host for your Joomla site.

Photos

Bluehost
Bluehost SimpleScripts
Bluehost cPanel
Bluehost Homepage
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