BlueHost vs SITE123: Comprehensive comparison guide for 2024

Final verdict

BlueHost and SITE123 offer unique strengths, making them suitable for different user needs.

• 
  BlueHost (Overall Grade: 6.8/10)
  
  excels with its comprehensive web hosting services and WordPress integration, offering a wide range of customization options and access to thousands of themes and plugins. It stands out for its hosting quality, website speed optimization, extensive plugins and integrations, and robust security measures. BlueHost is ideal for users looking for a versatile platform that supports websites at various stages of growth, from personal blogs to large online businesses.
• 
  SITE123 (Overall Grade: 6.5/10)
  
  is praised for its user-friendly website builder, making it easy for individuals and businesses to create professional-looking websites without any coding or design skills. It shines with its AI-powered content generation feature, multilingual site support, and user management capabilities. SITE123 is a great choice for users seeking simplicity and ease of use in website creation, though it may lack the depth of customization and advanced features found in BlueHost.

	Overall grade: 6.8	Overall grade: 6.5
Design functionalities & templates	7.2	7.2
Ease of use	8.2	8.1
Ecommerce	6.8	7.0
Website Editors	7.3	7.0
Product testing options	6.2	6.4
Price	7.2	6.2
Hosting quality	8.0	7.0
Website speed optimization	6.5	5.8
Plugins and integrations	9.1	7.1
Marketing features	7.3	6.0
Customer support	7.6	7.3
Security	8.3	7.5
AI capabilities	1.5	2.8
User Management	4.4	6.3
Overall	6.8	6.5

Best for ecommerce

6.8

7.0

Verdict

: With a narrow lead, SITE123 edges out as the better choice for ecommerce, primarily due to its slightly higher ecommerce score and user-friendly features.

• 
  BlueHost
  
  : Offers a solid foundation for ecommerce with its integration with WordPress and WooCommerce, providing access to a vast array of themes and plugins. It’s suitable for users who are looking for a blend of web hosting and ecommerce capabilities, especially those familiar with WordPress.
• 
  SITE123
  
  : Stands out for its simplicity and ease of use, making it ideal for beginners or small businesses looking to set up an online store quickly. With a slightly higher score for ecommerce and a focus on user-friendly templates and payment options, SITE123 offers a streamlined approach to ecommerce.

Best for informational & business websites

7.5

7.4

• 
  BlueHost
  
  : BlueHost offers a robust platform that integrates seamlessly with WordPress, providing access to a vast array of themes and plugins. This makes it highly versatile for creating informational websites that may also require a blog or specific functionalities. Its comprehensive hosting solutions further ensure that websites remain fast and reliable.
• 
  SITE123
  
  : SITE123 is very user-friendly and offers a wide range of templates, making it easy for businesses to set up their informational websites quickly. While it scores just slightly lower than BlueHost, it remains a strong contender for those who prioritize simplicity and ease of use over extensive customization options.

Detailed comparison

7.2

7.2

Winner: Tie.

Both BlueHost and SITE123 offer a range of design functionalities and templates, catering to different user needs and preferences.

BlueHost’s WordPress website builder offers over 300 pre-installed templates and designs to cater to the diverse needs of its users, ensuring that there’s something for everyone, regardless of the niche or industry. With hundreds of customizable templates available, users can easily find a design that aligns with their vision and brand identity.

On the other hand, SITE123 offers a wide variety of templates and designs for their website builder, with over 180 options to choose from. Their templates are organized by industry and category, making it easy to find the perfect design for your website. SITE123 also allows for customization of templates, giving users the ability to make their website unique and tailored to their brand.

SITE123 Themes

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8.2

8.1

🏆 Winner: BlueHost

. Scoring a close 8.2, BlueHost edges out SITE123, which scored 8.1. Both platforms are user-friendly and cater to beginners and small businesses. However, BlueHost offers a wider range of customization options and integrates seamlessly with WordPress, which may be a plus for some users.

Learning Resources

🏆 Winner: BlueHost

. Both platforms offer comprehensive guides and tutorials, but BlueHost’s WordPress Academy seems to offer a more structured learning experience.

6.8

7.0

When it comes to ecommerce, both BlueHost and SITE123 offer a range of features to help users build and manage online stores. However, there are some differences in their offerings that could make one a better choice depending on your specific needs.

Ecommerce themes and templates	6.5	6.5
Product page customization	7.0	6.8
Payment processing and commissions	6.8	6.0
POS capabilities	0.0	5.0
Payment gateways	7.5	7.0
Product numbers	6.0	6.0
Additional ecommerce features	6.5	6.5

BlueHost ecommerce features:

• Product Listings
• Shopping Carts
• Secure Payment gateways
• Shipping Options and Tax Calculations
• Inventory Management

SITE123 ecommerce features:

• Product Management
• Payment Gateways
• Shipping and Tax Configuration
• SEO tools
• Analytics
• Social Media Integration

Ecommerce themes & templates

BlueHost’s website builder for eCommerce provides a selection of specific templates designed to streamline the creation of online stores. These templates are optimized for sales, featuring designs that accommodate product galleries, shopping carts, and checkout processes. However, the customization options might be limited compared to more specialized eCommerce platforms, potentially restricting how much users can tailor the design and functionality to their precise preferences.

On the other hand, SITE123 offers a variety of ecommerce templates suitable for various types of businesses. These templates are designed to be professional and user-friendly, ensuring that your products stand out and that customers have a seamless shopping experience.

Product page customization

BlueHost’s website builder offers robust customization features for product pages, allowing users to tailor product details like titles, descriptions, images, and pricing according to their preferences. It supports the creation of product variants and options, facilitating the sale of items with multiple choices such as size, color, and material directly from the product page. Additionally, the platform allows for the integration of customer reviews and ratings, enhancing trust and potentially boosting sales by providing valuable social proof.

SITE123 offers extensive customization options for ecommerce product pages, suitable for both physical and digital goods. Adding products is streamlined through the Website Editor, under the ecommerce (Store) page within the Pages section. Products can be organized into categories for better navigation. Detailed product pages can include essential information like product name, description, images, videos, pricing options, SKUs, brands, and additional descriptions, with customizable SEO settings to improve online visibility.

Payment processing

BlueHost doesn’t directly support numerous payment gateways. However, it does integrate with WooCommerce, a platform that facilitates integration with various payment gateways like PayPal and Stripe. While BlueHost doesn’t impose transaction fees, the payment gateways might. Furthermore, it lacks Point of Sale (POS) capabilities.

SITE123 supports various payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal, and Amazon Pay, enabling seamless online transactions without charging sales commissions. Users can expect payment processing fees around 3%, which are standard across ecommerce platforms. The platform offers a 14-day money-back policy on certain package purchases, with detailed terms around invoicing, taxes, and refunds.

7.3

7.0

🏆

Winner: BlueHost

. BlueHost, with a score of 7.3, offers a user-friendly website builder that integrates seamlessly with WordPress, allowing for a wide range of customization options and access to thousands of themes and plugins. It features a drag-and-drop interface, making it accessible for users with little to no coding experience.

SITE123’s editor, scoring 7.0, is a straightforward and user-friendly website builder designed for individuals without coding or design expertise. It offers a selection of ready-made templates, mobile responsiveness, free hosting, and SEO tools, alongside ecommerce capabilities for users willing to subscribe to higher plans. However, customization is somewhat limited due to the inability to access template source codes or integrate external templates, and advanced features may incur additional costs.

Mobile editor/app

5.0

5.5

🏆

Winner: SITE123

. Both BlueHost and SITE123 do not have a dedicated mobile app for website editing, but they allow users to edit their websites on a mobile browser. However, SITE123 has a slightly higher mobile editor score than BlueHost, indicating that it provides a better mobile editing experience.

BlueHost’s mobile editing capabilities are somewhat limited, and users might find it challenging to make significant changes to their websites on a mobile device. On the other hand, SITE123’s mobile editing interface is more user-friendly and intuitive, allowing users to make quick changes to their websites on the go.

In summary, while both platforms offer mobile editing capabilities, SITE123 provides a better user experience in this regard.

6.2

6.4

Overall Result

:

SITE123 wins

. SITE123 scores slightly higher than BlueHost in product testing options, with a score of 6.4 compared to BlueHost’s 6.2. Both platforms do not offer a trial version, but SITE123 offers a free version, which BlueHost does not. Both platforms allow testing of premium features, but BlueHost offers a longer refundable period of 30 days compared to SITE123’s 14 days.

Free Plan	No	Yes
Trial Duration	No	No
Testing Premium Features	Within 30-day refundable period	During 14-day refundable period
Money Back Guarantee	30-day money back guarantee	No

7.2

6.2

BlueHost offers a wider range of pricing options and significant discounts for annual subscriptions, while SITE123 keeps it simple with a free and a premium plan.

	Offerings	Offerings
Free	No offering at this amount.	Free ($0/month): 250 MB storage, 250MB bandwidth, SITE123 branding, basic SEO for homepage. This plan allows to manage 1 website and there is no limitation on number of pages. It offers hosting with 250MB storage and bandwidth. However, it does not offer ecommerce features, has limited templates and does not have AI website builder.
$0-$10	No offering at this amount.	Premium ($7.8/month): 3 GB storage, 3 GB bandwidth, connect your domain, remove SITE123 floating tag. This plan allows to manage 1 website and there is no limitation on number of pages. It offers hosting with 3GB storage and bandwidth. However, it does not offer ecommerce features, has limited templates and does not have AI website builder. Value for price: 6.5
$10-$20	Basic ($15.99/month): Made for a simple website or blog, 1 website with 10GB SSD storage, Free CDN, Free Domain 1st year, Managed WordPress Hosting, Free SSL 1st year and Chat Support Value for price: 6.5	No offering at this amount.
$20-$30	Choice Plus ($27.99/month): Ideal for multiple sites needing storage, security, backups, 3 websites with 40GB SSD storage, Free CDN, Free Domain 1st year, Managed WordPress hosting, Free SSL, Free Domain privacy 1st year, Malware scanning, daily site backups are free for the 1st year with the purchase of a 12 or 36-month package. Otherwise, users are required to pay a one-time fee of $35.88 for backup services. Value for price: 7.5	No offering at this amount.
$30-$35	Online Store ($32.99/month): Great for all online selling, built-in eCommerce tools, 3 websites with 40GB SSD storage, Free CDN, Free Domain 1st year, Managed WordPress hosting, Free Domain privacy 1st year, Malware Scanning, Exclusive Theme Store, Store Analytics, Unlimited products, Secure Payment options, Bookings & appointments, Shipping labels, product search and filtering, daily site backups are free for the 1st year with the purchase of a 12 or 36-month package. Otherwise, users are required to pay a one-time fee of $35.88 for backup services. Value for price: 8.5	No offering at this amount.
$35+	Pro ($39.95/month): Perfect for high traffic, advanced storage, security, 5 websites with 100GB SSD storage, Free CDN, Free Domain 1st year, Managed WordPress hosting, Free SSL, Free Domain privacy 1st year, Malware Scanning, daily site backups are free for the 1st year with the purchase of a 12 or 36-month package. Otherwise, users are required to pay a one-time fee of $35.88 for backup services. Value for price: 9.0	No offering at this amount.

8.0

7.0

Winner: BlueHost

. BlueHost offers a range of hosting options with features designed to support websites at various stages of growth, from shared to dedicated hosting. Their hosting plans include technologies to ensure fast load times, such as SSD storage, CDN services, and Cloudflare integration. On the other hand, SITE123 does not provide detailed information on their hosting solutions. They provide 250MB storage and bandwidth on the free plan, and 3GB on the premium plan. Both builders offer a 99.9% uptime guarantee. However, BlueHost has 6 data centers located in Orem and Provo, Shanghai, Mumbai and Hong Kong, London, while SITE123 does not disclose any information related to their data centers.

Do they offer hosting?	Yes, offers a range of hosting options with features designed to support websites at various stages of growth, from shared to dedicated hosting.	Yes, Site123 does not provide detailed information on their hosting solutions. They provide 250MB storage and bandwidth on free plan, and 3GB on premium plan.
Data Centers:	6 data centers: Orem and Provo, Shanghai, Mumbai and Hong Kong, London	Site123 does not disclose any information related to their data centers.
Type of hosting:	Managed WordPress Hosting	Managed Hosting
Uptime:	99.9%	99.9%
Uptime Guarantee:	Yes, 99.9%	Yes, 99.9%

6.5

5.8

🏆 Winner: BlueHost

Both BlueHost and SITE123 have strategies in place for website speed optimization, but BlueHost takes the lead due to its emphasis on Core Web Vital improvements.

Key Strategies	CDN, Server Optimization	CDN, Image Optimization, Caching, Minification of CSS, JavaScript, and HTML, Use of Asynchronous Loading, Database Optimization
Load Times	Varies widely, depending on the optimization, website complexity	Varies widely, depending on the optimization and user’s location
Page Speed Scores Range	Varies widely, depending on the optimization, website complexity	Varies widely, depending on the optimization and user’s location
Core Web Vitals Improvement	Emphasis on LCP, FID, CLS improvements	No information disclosed

BlueHost’s approach to enhancing site speed includes server optimization and the use of a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to boost load speed. BlueHost also places a strong emphasis on improving Core Web Vitals, specifically focusing on Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS).

On the other hand, SITE123’s strategy for speed optimization includes the use of a CDN, image optimization, caching, minification of CSS, JavaScript, and HTML, use of asynchronous loading, and database optimization. However, SITE123 does not disclose any information about improvements to Core Web Vitals.

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9.1

7.1

🏆 Winner: BlueHost.

With a score of 9.1, BlueHost takes the lead in this category. Its seamless integration with WordPress opens up a vast ecosystem of plugins and extensions, ranging from SEO tools to e-commerce solutions. SITE123, scoring 7.1, also offers a good range of plugins and extensions, but it doesn’t match the extensive options provided by BlueHost.

However, SITE123 does stand out with its robust integration with over 6,000 apps through Zapier, offering great flexibility in connecting your website to a vast ecosystem of applications.

SITE123 Applications

7.3

6.0

🏆

Overall Winner: BlueHost

. BlueHost stands out for its comprehensive SEO tools, email marketing capabilities, and analytics and reporting features. SITE123, while offering a range of marketing features, falls short in comparison, particularly in the area of email marketing.

SEO Tools	Yes, both built in and third party WordPress plugins integrations	Yes
Email Marketing	Yes, with using the Creative Mail plugin	Yes, can be enhanced with third party integrations
Blogging	Yes, using WordPress blogging tools	Yes
Social Media Integration	Yes	Basic linking with accounts, enhanced through app integrations
Analytics and Reporting	Yes, integration of Google Analytics and other WordPress plugins	Basic analytics provided, with more detailed insights on higher plans
Ads and Promotions	Yes	Limited direct marketing tools, with some promotional features available on premium plans

7.6

7.3

🏆 Winner: BlueHost

. BlueHost edges out SITE123 in this category with a score of 7.6 against SITE123’s 7.3. BlueHost offers 24/7 customer support through chat and phone for general inquiries, with specific hours for account verification, renewals, and cancellations. Technical assistance is available from 7 a.m. to midnight EST, seven days a week, via phone or by opening a Help Ticket for email support.

On the other hand, SITE123 offers 24/7 support in English with their online support chat. Additionally, they provide support in 16 more languages during normal business hours. However, neither BlueHost nor SITE123 provide support for enterprises.

8.3

7.5

🏆

Winner: BlueHost

. BlueHost’s security measures are comprehensive, offering SSL certificates, regular backups, and additional features like SiteLock for malware scanning. They also provide 24/7 monitoring to promptly detect and respond to security threats, along with malware scanning and removal processes to protect websites from malicious software. This ensures a secure and reliable hosting environment for users.

Although it may not offer the same level of specialized security features as BlueHost, SITE123 is committed to maintaining a secure platform for all types of websites. This includes SSL/HTTPS encryption and modern firewalls, but does not provide as many additional security features. However, it does prioritize data privacy and protection against cyber threats, making it a secure option for website building.

1.5

2.8

AI Builder
AI Ecommerce features
AI content generation	Supports integration with AI content generation plugins	AI-powered content generation
Additional AI features

🏆 Winner: SITE123

. Although both BlueHost and SITE123 have limited AI capabilities, SITE123 has a slight edge with its AI-powered content generation feature. This tool can quickly generate SEO-friendly, relevant content that aligns with the user’s industry and needs, enhancing the website’s visibility and appeal. On the other hand, while BlueHost does not have any built-in AI features, it supports integration with WordPress plugins, some of which may offer AI capabilities. However, this requires additional setup and may not be as seamless as SITE123’s built-in feature.

4.4

6.3

🏆 Winner: SITE123

. Both BlueHost and SITE123 support multi-user management, but they approach it differently.

• BlueHost does support multi-user management, however there’s no mention about the number of users or their roles and permissions.
• SITE123 allows multiple users to have two different roles: Admin and Contributor, each with its own set of permissions. However, there is no mention of limitations on the number of users who can edit the website on SITE123.

Unfortunately, there is no detailed information available about the user roles and access levels for both platforms.

Additional Features

SSL Certificate
Custom Domain
Free Custom Domain Included
International Domains
Mobile Responsive
Page Speed
Website Builder Mobile App
Convert a Website To An App
Website Analytics
Multilingual Sites
Multiple Users

User Feedback

BlueHost

263 reviews

3.5 out of 5 stars

SITE123

11 reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars

Users appreciate Bluehost for its comprehensive free offerings, including SSL, subdomains, and custom email, along with additional services like free domain registration and CDN. The platform’s intuitive interface and user-friendly website builder cater to both beginners and experienced developers. However, concerns arise regarding the significant price increase upon renewal, limited free website templates, and unresolved technical issues with poor customer support, hindering users’ ability to effectively manage their websites and businesses. Addressing these concerns could enhance overall user satisfaction with Bluehost.

SITE123 seems to offer a user-friendly platform with drag-and-drop features, making website building quick and easy. Users appreciate its wide library of free images and templates, mobile responsiveness, and excellent customer support. However, some users find its customization options limited, especially in the free version, and wish for more robust features like additional plugins and payment methods tailored to different regions. Overall, SITE123 appears beneficial for those seeking to create professional-looking websites without extensive coding knowledge, though it may lack certain advanced functionalities for more specialized needs.

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