BlueHost Review
All-in-one website platform
300+ quick-start smart templates
24/7 support and guidance
Free SSL certificate included
1-click WordPress Access
Pros & Cons
- Deep integration with WordPress
- Inexpensive to get started
- 24/7 customer support
- Large collection of templates
- No deep customization flexibility
- Online store builder requires a few add-ons for optimal performance
Plans & Pricing
Hosting
Bluehost ranks highly in our research for value for money, with a score of All Bluehost plans come with a 30-day money back guarantee.
Basic
The basic plan starts at $2.95 per month for the first year’s term then increases to $10.99 per month. It comes with support for unlimited websites, hundreds of templates to choose from, a free SSL, a huge stock photo library, custom CCS and HTML, and much more. It’s a great option for smaller websites or those getting started with managing websites.
Plus
The plus plan starts at $5.45 per month for the first year’s term and then increases to $14.99 per month. This plan is perfect for a user wanting to host multiple sites. It comes with support for unlimited websites, hundreds of templates to choose from, a free SSL, a huge stock photo library, custom CCS and HTML, and much more.
Choice Plus
The Choice plus plan starts at $5.45 per month This plan includes additional privacy and security features.
Pro
The Pro plan starts at $13.95 per month. It builds on the Choice Plus plan by adding support for domain privacy, even more templates to start a website design, online payments integrations special themes for online stores, and support for unlimited products.
Website Builder
Content Creation
This plan is perfect for blogs and personal websites. This plan comes in at $2.95 with top features included like unlimited websites, hosting, 300+ design templates and an image library with unlimited uploads.
Business
This plan is perfect for business websites and online stores. This plan comes in at $9.95 with top features included like unlimited websites, hosting, 300+ templates plus 30 premium design templates, image library with unlimited uploads and domain privacy.
Online Store
This plan is perfect for selling products and services online, and booking appointments & reservations. This plan comes in at $9.95 with top features included like an Online store website, website analytics, free domain 1st year, free SSL, Yoast SEO, Jetpack daily backups and much more.
Online Store+Marketplace
This plan is perfect for selling products and services online + selling across marketplaces like Etsy, Amazon, eBay, and more. The top plan comes in at $13.95/month and has all-inclusive features like automated WordPress updates, secure online payments, appointment bookings, shipping labels and multi-channel inventory.
Overview
Bluehost is a company that needs no introduction in the website hosting space. It has been around for nearly two decades and has had its fair share of ups and downs during that time. It serves small and medium businesses with its suite of tools and in 2021, it launched a website builder that’s seamlessly tied to WordPress. This allows site owners more customization options while still allowing them to use a CMS they’re familiar with.
Features & Functionality
Bluehost comes with a large collection of features. Some of them are expected while others can be considered unique to the platform. These include subscription forms to capture email subscribers, a large collection of stock photos to help design a website, built-in call-to-action buttons to guide visitors to specific pages, and support for custom CSS/HTML to further take control of your design.
Email marketing
The Bluehost Website Builder has email marketing tools that are integrated with the platform. Capture email addresses from visitors and keeps them engaged by sending out a regular newsletter that gets them back to your site.
Seamless WordPress access
The website builder is designed to enhance WordPress so the company has made it possible to switch back and forth between WordPress and the site builder with a single click. This makes it easier to edit content and build unique pages.
Unlimited eCommerce products
Many eCommerce solutions limit the number of products you can upload or charge an additional fee. Bluehost doesn’t limit customers and makes it possible to upload and sell an unlimited number of products on your website.
Appointment booking
Along with the eCommerce tools, you’re able to create a booking page on your site. Visitors can come to the page, see availability, and book a time that works for them. From there, coordinating between you and the client (emails, confirmations, reminders, etc.) is handled by the appointment booking app.
Design & Templates
One thing that the Bluehost website builder has going for it is a large collection of templates which number over three hundred. These are designed to serve as a starting point for you based on the kind of website you’d like to build. They’re divided across multiple categories with special templates for the online store builder.
You may not find something that will blow you away but they’re functional and will help you present a professional-looking website to the world. There’s a good amount of customization available but the drag and drop editor can be rigid – especially when you need pixel-perfect positioning of elements on the page. Unfortunately, themes cannot be changed once selected but they can be customized to look like a new theme.
Ease of Use
As an established company, Bluehost has many support options customers can take advantage of. They’re available 24/7 and the frontline support reps can help you with the most common problems. If it’s a core technical issue then you’ll likely have to wait for the second line tech support to get back to you via email.
Customer Support
The Bluehost website builder is a tool that helps webmasters, especially newer ones, get online quickly. Because of this, it’s straightforward to use for most people who are familiar with website builders. Even if you aren’t, the most important features can be learned in a day. There are multiple help documents to move you along if you get stuck and the positioning of elements on the page makes it easy to find what you need.
Of course, like with any software, it does take a bit of time to learn and establish your own workflow with it. After that, you should be able to design your pages quickly. With that being said, the emphasis on ease of use has made it a bit less flexible when it comes to design customization.
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24/7 Help & Support
Round-the-clock support is available via multiple channels -
Phone Support
Phone support is available for all customers 24/7. -
Live Online Chat
Live chat is also available for all customers 24/7. -
Email
Email support is available for all customers and is responsive. -
FAQ
FAQ sections are placed around the website to answer pressing questions and there is a detailed knowledgebase customers can access. -
Blog
The blog deals with company updates, design and marketing tips, as well as customer spotlights.
Final Word
Bluehost is an established player in the hosting space and it has delivered a solid website builder that’s designed for people who need more ease-of-use than design flexibility. The builder is built on top of WordPress so if you’re a WordPress user or are thinking about using it then this website builder was designed for you. It comes with hundreds of templates, is fairly priced, and helps users make the most of WordPress. Features like email marketing, unlimited eCommerce products, and appointment booking take it to the next level. It’s important to note that you may not be able to get pixel-perfect designs but your website will still look professional.
The pricing of the plans for the first year makes this an almost no-brainer if you want to spin up a site quickly. In addition to that, there is support at all hours of the day, robust knowledgebase, and additional marketing features to help a site grow. This is a platform you should check out – especially if you’re using WordPress to build sites.
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