BlueHost Review

You're at the stage of deciding on your hosting provider and your still not sure so you start looking for some consumer reviews.

This is not the normal hosting review you find with * (star) ratings comparing different hosts as I can't really compare it with other hosts as I don't use them.

However I do use bluehost for several sites a mixture of html/php and WordPress sites that are targeted at a Worldwide audience for UK targeted sites I use 1and1 UK.

Why I use  Bluehost

I have several bluehost sites and the reason I chose Bluehost was

• It supported multiple domain names and I wanted to host more than one site.
• I wanted to use WordPress and Bluehost offers simple WordPress Install via fantastico scripts (now  simple scripts is used), but more importantly for me was that it also supports up to 100 MySQL databases. Not that I will ever need that many but it's nice to have too many than not enough.
• In addition it supports Moodle and various bulletin board applications that I am thinking about using,again using simple script installs.

My first Bluehost site was a move from 1and1 uk to Bluehost which went very smoothly and which I talked about in Moving hosting providers.

 I did need to talk to Bluehost support before the move and was very happy with the support I received.

I did find the multiple domain name support a little strange to set up and not as straight forward as on 1and1 but after reading the instructions I got there. 

 I have experienced no problems with the sites that I am aware of. I have had no problems updating the sites either through the WordPress management console or via FTP.

BlueHost Features/Services

Bluehost probably offers all of the services that you will ever need and seems to stay up to date with new developments e.g. they now support ROR (Ruby on Rails). You can see a full up to date list on their Web Site  so I wont repeat it here.

BlueHost Sucks

Not really my choice of words but it seems to be a common term when running something down, and  it probably does for some but so do others.

I did a little searching on Yahoo for "hostname+sucks" and besides getting some rather strange results when I made a few typos here is what I got.

• "Bluehost sucks"- No of sites 893
• "ipower sucks" - No of sites 358
• "anhosting sucks"- No of sites 28
• "1and1 sucks"- No of sites 1100

So you can see they all have their detractors and the bigger you are the more you have- No surprise there- poor old Microsoft (over 200,000)-

Summary

You will no doubt find many negative Bluehost comments on the net but that can probably be said for any provider.

Bluehost is reliable, cheap and offers all the web services you will probably need at no extra cost.

In my opinion if you are running a small business or personal website it is more than adequate for the job.

Disclosure: This site isn't hosted on Bluehost (because it is a uk domain name) and I am a Bluehost affiliate.