Bluehost vs Web.com: guide for 2024

Final verdict

Looking over Bluehost vs. Web.com, it’s clear why both hosts are so popular. They have both hosted millions of
websites that run on WordPress for decades, building up a loyal customer base.

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  Bluehost (Overall grade: 8.2)
  
  
  presents an attractive hosting solution with a variety of hosting plans tailored to different needs, including cloud, VPS, and dedicated hosting options. Users benefit from superior uptime and performance, backed by features such as free SSL certificates, daily backups, and scalable options. Their excellent site speed, thanks to SSD storage and a built-in CDN, makes it a preferred choice for high-traffic websites. Additionally, Bluehost’s user-friendly control panel and integration with AI tools and Google Workspace make it a highly versatile platform, ideal for both beginners and experienced users. However, pricing at renewal can be a point of concern for some users.
  
• 
  Web.com (Overall grade: 7.3)
  
  
  excels in providing an intuitive user experience with a straightforward drag-and-drop website builder, making it particularly suitable for beginners and media-rich websites. With unmetered bandwidth and a variety of SSL options, Web.com supports reliable performance and security. The platform’s extensive customer support channels, including email and ticket-based support, add to its appeal. Still, it falls short with limitations such as the lack of advanced hosting options like cloud and dedicated servers, and fewer scalability features compared to Bluehost. Web.com is ideal for those needing simple, secure, and budget-friendly hosting but may not satisfy the demands of larger or more technically sophisticated sites.
  

Hosting types offered

Both platforms provide a variety of hosting types, each designed to meet the different needs of users.

Although both offer a variety of hosting plans tailored to different needs, in
certain cases, one platform may prove to be more suitable.

Detailed comparison

Section 1: Winner Bluehost: Bluehost provides outstanding uptime and availability with impressive features and reliability.

Section 2: Bluehost boasts high uptime performance, with scores ranging from 99.63% to a perfect 100%. Their service consistently delivers, handling traffic spikes efficiently and maintaining strong server response times. With a solid SLA, Bluehost provides peace of mind, offering account credits for network downtime.

Section 3: Web.com guarantees 99.9% uptime, although third-party tests show a 99.83% performance. They offer unmetered bandwidth and SSL security, ensuring steady site performance and safety. Their customer support is always on, providing help via multiple channels, though higher renewal rates after the first year may concern some users.

🏆 Winner: Bluehost: Exceptional hosting performance with comprehensive features.When comparing the general performance of Bluehost and Web.com, Bluehost comes out ahead. Bluehost boasts top-tier site speed and perfect uptime, thanks to its SSD storage and built-in CDN. This significantly improves page load times globally. They offer a global data center network, which reduces latency effectively. Web.com, while offering fast server response times and PHP 8.0, lacks the same comprehensive range of performance optimizations. Bluehost maintains a clear advantage in hosting speed, thanks to its advanced, location-specific infrastructure and scalable CPU/RAM upgrades.

Website Speed

Bluehost’s website speed is exceptionally high, particularly for WordPress sites, which benefit from their optimized infrastructure, including increased CPU frequency and scalable PHP workers. Their built-in CDN efficiently caches content, significantly reducing load times. Web.com also offers commendable speed enhancements with PHP 8.0 and OPcode Cache, but it doesn’t quite match Bluehost’s superior CDN integration and global data center advantage. Overall, Bluehost offers more consistent speed improvements, making it a better choice for high-traffic sites.

Scalability

Bluehost provides a versatile range of scalable options, from shared hosting to dedicated servers. Their cloud hosting plans promise 100% network uptime and are optimized for high performance, though the cost of scaling can vary based on specific needs. Web.com also supports scalable solutions but primarily through customer-driven upgrades rather than automatic scaling. While both hostings offer dedicated servers, Web.com’s offerings are not as thoroughly documented. Bluehost’s more clearly defined scalability options make it a stronger contender in this area.

🏆 Winner Web.com: Web.com provides a more extensive suite of security features and reliable performance.

Both Bluehost and Web.com, have notable differences in their approaches to technical and operational
security, as well as in their compliance with regulations.

Technical security measures:

Bluehost offers free SSL certificates with Let’s Encrypt and premium SSL certificates via Comodo. Their infrastructure includes DDoS protection, web application firewalls, and automated malware scanning with Jetpack daily backups. Web.com provides a range of SSL certificates, from essential to extended validation, and includes advanced features like OPCache and MySQL 8 for improved performance. Web.com appears to provide a broader variety of SSL options and superior caching mechanisms.

Operational security measures:

Operational security is crucial for both providers, but specifics vary. Bluehost delivers automated WordPress updates, two-factor authentication, and Jetpack for daily backups. They also have traffic encryption and automated daily backups. Web.com adopts similar practices with automatic WordPress updates, SiteLock features like malware scanning, and CodeGuard for backup and recovery. They guarantee 99.9% uptime, which ensures site reliability. Web.com edges out in operational security with their use of SiteLock and their uptime guarantee.

Compliance and certifications:

Both Bluehost and Web.com adhere to GDPR compliance, ensuring the protection of personal data. Bluehost supports PCI compliance on VPS and Dedicated Servers, but not on shared hosting without a full CDN solution such as Cloudflare. Web.com offers PCI compliance scanning through SiteLock. HIPAA compliance is not specified for either hosting provider.

🏆 Winner Bluehost: A reliable hosting provider with comprehensive features suitable for various levels of user needs.

Bluehost and Web.com both offer numerous hosting features catered to different needs, including website builders that enhance user experience. Bluehost offers a free AI Site Creation tool, which boosts user-friendliness, especially for those with minimal web design experience. Its website builder is particularly effective in allowing even complex customizations. On the other hand, Web.com provides a drag-and-drop website builder which is intuitive and straightforward but lacks advanced customization options. Bluehost’s plans also come with a free domain for the first year, and free SSL certificates, which add value to their offerings. Web.com offers similar incentives but has specific limits on features such as FTP accounts based on the chosen plan. Importantly, Bluehost includes a variety of free services, from malware scanning to daily backups, which might appeal to users prioritizing security and reliability.

Both providers support a range of users from beginners to experts with user-friendly website builders and WordPress staging areas. However, in terms of developer tools, both Bluehost and Web.com offer robust options including SSH access, support for multiple programming languages, and Git for version control, thus appealing to developers looking for advanced capabilities.

Email services:

Bluehost provides professional email hosting through Google Workspace, which enables users to manage email campaigns and other business communications effectively. Web.com includes business email within its plans, which can be beneficial for basic correspondence but lacks the expansive integration offered by Google Workspace. Users looking for advanced email features like transactional emails or reselling third-party services may find Bluehost’s approach more comprehensive.

🏆 Winner Bluehost: Offers a wider variety of hosting options with numerous advanced features tailored for different needs.

Evaluating the pricing of plans among various hosting providers can be complex due to their differing pricing and renewal strategies. Additionally, certain plans require annual commitments, which adds to the difficulty of making comparisons. The prices listed are based on monthly commitments; plans requiring annual commitments are indicated. Additionally, although some providers offer identical plans for WordPress and shared hosting, we have created separate tables for each to enhance clarity.

Bluehost’s shared and WordPress hosting plans range from $2.95 per month for their basic plan, which includes 1 website and 10 GB storage, to $13.95 per month for their pro plan, with unlimited websites and unmetered storage. Web.com, on the other hand, also starts at $2.95 per month for their basic plan but renews at a lower rate compared to Bluehost. Notably, Bluehost includes a variety of additional features such as AI tools, daily backups, and enhanced security measures which are not present in Web.com’s offers. For larger hosting needs, Bluehost provides a more comprehensive range of VPS and dedicated hosting options, offering more tailored features at competitive prices.

Enterprise plans

For enterprises requiring more robust hosting solutions, Bluehost offers an array of VPS and dedicated hosting options. The VPS plans start at $18.99 per month for 2 GB RAM and scaling up to $59.99 for 8 GB RAM. Dedicated hosting plans range from $79.99 for 4 GB RAM and 5 TB bandwidth to $119.99 offering 16 GB RAM and 15 TB bandwidth. Web.com’s offerings focus primarily on shared and WordPress hosting, making Bluehost a better choice for larger businesses looking for scalable and high-performance hosting solutions.

🏆 Winner Bluehost: Convenient setup and personalized support for a seamless web hosting experience.

Bluehost offers a user-friendly control panel with its standard cPanel, enhanced by custom AI WonderSuite tools. This combination makes it suitable for both technical and non-technical users, ensuring an easy-to-navigate and efficient admin experience. The cPanel layout is intuitive, allowing users to manage domains, emails, and various settings with minimal hassle. In particular, the guided setup process and simple setup wizard for online stores help streamline the initial setup phase.

Web.com also provides an accessible admin interface, emphasizing user-friendly control panels to manage domains, email accounts, and other administrative tasks. They offer a drag-and-drop website builder, which is advantageous for users less familiar with technical aspects. While Web.com’s control panel is designed for ease of use, it leverages a more traditional approach that might appeal to those who prefer straightforward, non-AI-enhanced interfaces.

Bluehost includes tools and resources for site migration, such as automatic WordPress installations and migration articles in their knowledge base. They also offer professional design and marketing services to facilitate a smooth transition. Web.com, on the other hand, offers managed WordPress with automatic updates but lacks mention of specific migration tools, which might imply the necessity for manual processes or third-party services. Bluehost’s additional migration assistance and service offerings provide a more comprehensive and accessible migration experience.

Both providers have extensive help centers. Bluehost has a comprehensive knowledge base with articles and 24/7 expert support available through chat, phone, and email. Web.com’s knowledge base and help center offer product support and resources, alongside 24/7 support via live chat, email, and phone. Both provide considerable resources but Bluehost’s enhanced support and targeted WordPress resources give it an edge in accessibility and quality.

🏆 Winner
Bluehost: A versatile solution with extensive user role management features and permissions options.

Bluehost and Web.com both provide a range of user roles and permissions for account management, but they differ significantly in flexibility and depth. Bluehost offers three distinct user roles: Primary Contact, Admin Contact, and Tech Contact. Each role has clearly defined permissions, with the Primary Contact having the most comprehensive access while admins and technical contacts cover specialized areas. Conversely, Web.com simplifies their roles into Admin and Tech Contact, offering less granularity. These limited options may be sufficient for smaller teams but lack the flexibility for larger, more complex operations that Bluehost supports more effectively.

The user interfaces for managing users on both platforms are intuitive, with straightforward processes to add and edit users. Bluehost’s Account Manager makes it easy to manage roles through a clear, step-by-step process from their User Roles & Permissions section. Web.com provides a similar workflow through its Account Manager interface but with fewer role distinctions. Both platforms support inviting users via email, allowing them to set up their credentials securely. However, Bluehost’s interface provides more comprehensive options within a single flow, making complex user management more seamless.

Both hosting providers demonstrate capable access control measures, but Bluehost stands out with its three-tier user role system that enhances administrative control. This granularity allows for a more structured and secure delegation of responsibilities, which efficiently supports growing user bases. Web.com’s two-role system may suffice for simpler needs but might struggle with the increasing demands of larger teams or more complex organizational structures. Overall, Bluehost’s system is better suited for scaling and managing diverse user permissions more effectively.

Bluehost user roles table:

Web.com user roles table:

🏆 Winner
Web.com: Web.com offers a variety of customer support channels and availability that make troubleshooting a breeze for users.

Comparing the customer support options of Bluehost and Web.com, it is evident that Web.com provides a more extensive range of support channels. Both companies offer 24/7 support via live chat and phone, but Web.com additionally provides email and ticket-based support, which Bluehost has recently eliminated. This variety in support options allows customers to choose their preferred method of assistance, potentially reducing wait times and enhancing overall satisfaction.

Furthermore, Web.com offers enterprise support through dedicated business consultants, available weekdays from 8am-9pm ET. This could be particularly beneficial for businesses that require specific expertise and tailored assistance. Bluehost’s support is accessible 24/7 through live chat and phone, with some users appreciating the courteous and helpful agents, while others report mixed experiences. Web.com’s overall higher rating reflects a more consistent and comprehensive support experience.

User feedback

User feedback on Bluehost as a hosting provider is highly mixed. On the positive side, many users commend their affordable pricing, ease of use with WordPress integration, and the comprehensive range of features such as free domain names, SSL, and excellent customer support. However, numerous reviews criticize the service for frequent outages, technical support issues, hidden fees, and unreliable performance, which have significantly impacted users’ businesses. Additionally, complaints about complicated navigation, aggressive upselling, and a steep learning curve for first-time users are common. While some users find Bluehost reliable and cost-effective, others have had severely negative experiences, citing problems like non-functional websites, billing issues, and inadequate customer service.

The hosting provider offers a comprehensive solution for purchasing domain names, hosting, and website building, making it highly convenient for users managing multiple domains and websites. Users appreciate the convenience of having all services bundled together, but some express concerns about the limitations on hosting unlimited domains and the cost associated with individual website software. Overall, the service is satisfactory and well-rated, though there is room for improvement in accommodating users with extensive hosting needs.

FAQ