Hostinger vs. Bluehost (2018)

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Ryan Frankel Ryan Frankel Hosting Expert
“We tested Bluehost & Hostinger — The winner is Bluehost!”

Two shared hosting specialists, Hostinger and Bluehost take slightly different approaches when it comes to constructing a user-friendly hosting platform. Hostinger, which is home to roughly 25 million websites, emphasizes speedy solid-state drives and cloud-based infrastructure. Bluehost, however, takes a more methodical, nuanced approach by offering a wider range of services and optimizations geared for WordPress and WooCommerce users, among others. Bluehost has the reputation and name recognition, while Hostinger has a more modern network. Read on to see how we view the two companies’ differences.

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Bluehost review
Overall Rating
4.9/5.0 ★★★★★
Visit Bluehost »
Hostinger review
Overall Rating
4.8/5.0 ★★★★★
Visit Hostinger »
Compare: Overall | Cheap Hosting | Dedicated | VPS | WordPress | Site Builder | Conclusion

Overall Hosting Comparison

Bluehost review

Best Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.9/5.0

Bluehost has long been a favorite of mine in the shared and WordPress hosting spaces. They adhere to modern standards for hardware, and their customer support is fantastic. For the vast majority of... read more +

Bluehost has long been a favorite of mine in the shared and WordPress hosting spaces. They adhere to modern standards for hardware, and their customer support is fantastic. For the vast majority of customers, Bluehost’s shared server options will accommodate their hosting needs for a web presence. Once you outgrow the traffic allowances of shared web hosting, however, Bluehost excels in the VPS and dedicated hosting niches, too.

What makes Bluehost packages most appealing is their reputation for affordability and usability. Web novices and veterans alike can appreciate that. Added incentives, such as free domains, marketing credits, and unlimited emails, make this provider a bang-for-the-buck favorite throughout the hosting community.

For those just getting started, perhaps on their first website, we’d like to point out that Bluehost has revamped their user experience — beefing up the user-friendliness factor significantly in recent years. Users will find the dashboard and overall customer experience to be welcoming — about as non-daunting for newcomers as web hosting gets. If you’re looking for WordPress hosting specifically, whether on a shared, cloud, or dedicated server, you’ve come to the right host. Bluehost is one of the few providers endorsed by the WordPress Core team. Install the popular blogging platform in a single click via the control panel, or have their managed services team take care of it for you.

As previously mentioned, Bluehost also tops the charts in server hosting — offering fantastic performance at competitive prices. With two to four cores and guaranteed resources, your virtual or dedicated server will be performant, powerful, and online virtually 24/7. The Bluehost team leverages industry-leading open-source technologies, such as KVM and OpenStack, to eke out as much performance as possible, leaving you with the utmost flexibility and reliability. Sold? VPS and dedicated plans include instant provisioning, because waiting for your server is so 2000s.

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  • FREE domain and site builder
  • 1-click WordPress installs
  • Unlimited site traffic and in-house support available 24/7
  • Usually $7.99/month, but our visitors pay $2.95/month!
  • Industry-leading hardware and uptime
  • Get started on Bluehost now.
Money Back Guarantee
30 days
Disk Space
Unlimited
Domain Name
FREE (1 year)
Hostinger review

Best Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0

Behind a mission to make life easier for website developers and their customers, Hostinger provides fast, stable, and streamlined services at a price that is very hard to beat. ... read more +

Behind a mission to make life easier for website developers and their customers, Hostinger provides fast, stable, and streamlined services at a price that is very hard to beat.

Founded in 2004, the bootstrapped company hit the 10 million users mark a decade later, achieving ICANN accreditation and localizing services in 39 countries. Now, Hostinger serves more than 29 million customers and sees an average of 20,000 new users sign up each day — roughly a new customer every five seconds.

Headquartered in Lithuania, the company's team of roughly 250 employees maintains several international offices and a strong force of remote workers to ensure Hostinger services and support are always running and responsive. As such, Hostinger is able to offer around-the-clock live chat support and a 99.9% service uptime guarantee.

The company concentrates on resource-rich shared hosting and scalable virtual servers. The former boasts WordPress-friendly optimizations and an intuitive drag-and-drop website builder, along with daily or weekly backups and a free domain name for annual plans.

Hostinger clearly aims to strike the perfect balance on price versus performance. Instead of offering subpar services at the lowest price in the industry, the company equips its infrastructure with high-powered solid-state drives and recently even completed a self-imposed challenge to achieve a perfect score on Google PageSpeed Insights. Finding SSDs and that level of performance at a price lower than most competitors is a striking victory for the company.

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  • 24/7/365 ticket and live chat support
  • 99.9% network uptime guarantee
  • FREE domain, site builder, backups, and SSL certificate
  • Unlimited bandwidth, databases, and email accounts
  • Speedy SSDs optimize performance
  • Get started on Hostinger now.
Money Back Guarantee
30 days
Disk Space
10 GB - Unlimited
Domain Name
FREE (1 year)

Cheap Hosting Comparison

Bluehost review

Cheap Rating

★★★★★ 4.9/5.0

#1 out of 10 in Cheap Hosting reviews

If you’re looking for an affordable host, Bluehost is a solid, reputable choice, but their low cost coupled with their supremacy in the shared hosting arena is what makes this provider such a value deal.... read more +

If you’re looking for an affordable host, Bluehost is a solid, reputable choice, but their low cost coupled with their supremacy in the shared hosting arena is what makes this provider such a value deal. The Bluehost name is listed toward the top of many of our reviews categories, and with good reason. They offer excellent hardware configurations, a generous list of extras, and fantastic support and reliability — all at a price point that’s, generally, lower than the competition.

The speed and performance result from very modern hardware and a global content delivery network. They also offer nearly unlimited everything, including storage, emails, and bandwidth, and many other perks. For example, they include a free domain and marketing credits to get your site off the ground — adding to their value.

We rank Bluehost at or near the top for their WordPress, VPS, and dedicated options and if those fit your needs, please check them out. You’ll be happy to note their incredibly competitive pricing across the board.

We are convinced Bluehost has the goods to meet your hosting needs today and in the future, but more importantly, they are too. They offer a 30-day money-back guarantee should you become dissatisfied with any of their plans for any reason; however, we’re willing to bet you won’t be.

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  • Known for performance at a low price
  • Endorsed by WordPress.org team
  • FREE Weebly site builder and templates
  • FREE Cloudflare CDN
  • Get 63% off today (was $7.99/month)
  • Get started on Bluehost now.
Money Back Guarantee
30 days
Disk Space
Unlimited
Domain Name
FREE (1 year)
Hostinger review

Cheap Rating

★★★★★ 4.5/5.0

#8 out of 10 in Cheap Hosting reviews

As the shared hosting market becomes increasingly saturated, unlimited storage, bandwidth, and email accounts have become surprisingly average. Hostinger, however, extends the routine, expected metrics to... read more +

As the shared hosting market becomes increasingly saturated, unlimited storage, bandwidth, and email accounts have become surprisingly average. Hostinger, however, extends the routine, expected metrics to greater lengths — the number of websites, databases, FTP users, subdomains, and parked domains are all unrestricted for most customers.

Hostinger clients who opt for the slightly more expensive (but still quite reasonable and remarkably affordable) Premium and Business hosting packages enjoy unlimited computing power and a free domain name registration, along with free backups. Premium customers will see performance that measures up to three times faster than the company's cheapest shared hosting plan, while Business users benefit from speeds up to five times faster. Those consumers will also receive daily backups (instead of weekly), deluxe support, a free SSL certificate, and twice the processing power and memory.

The company's lowest tier of shared hosting services, geared for small, single sites, gets below the $3-per-month benchmark. While perfectly adequate for new projects, professional résumés, and new blogs, we recommend users sign up for one of the more upscale plans; room to grow is important, and the forward-thinking decision eliminates any potential hassles with upgrading services or migrating files.

Overall, we appreciate how Hostinger doesn't sacrifice performance and functionality when trying to appeal to budget-minded site owners. The company's all-SSD infrastructure, combined with the inclusion of an easy-to-use site builder, maxed-out speed boosts, and options for a free SSL certificate and domain name, are sure to facilitate lasting and long-term hosting relationships.

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  • Unlimited everything: from bandwidth to databases
  • FREE site builder & WordPress performance upgrades
  • FREE daily or weekly backups
  • 90+ auto-installation scripts
  • SSH access & SSL certificates
  • Get started on Hostinger now.
Money Back Guarantee
30 days
Disk Space
10 GB - Unlimited
Domain Name
FREE (1 year)

Dedicated Hosting Comparison

Bluehost review

Dedicated Rating

★★★★★ 4.9/5.0

#3 out of 7 in Dedicated Hosting reviews

Built on OpenStack technology, with a minimum of four cores per server, Bluehost offers reliable and flexible dedicated hosting options at an extremely reasonable price. We continually praise their shared... read more +

Built on OpenStack technology, with a minimum of four cores per server, Bluehost offers reliable and flexible dedicated hosting options at an extremely reasonable price. We continually praise their shared hosting options for having fantastic hardware and a great management console, and their dedicated offerings are no different.

Designed and maintained in house, Bluehost uses only the latest technologies on their dedicated servers. Their most recent upgrade moved all CPUs to four cores, 1TB of RAID storage, and between four and 16 gigs of available RAM. Each server is provisioned instantly and can be upgraded at any time with essentially just a few mouse clicks.

One reason we’ll always consider Bluehost for our hosting needs is their fantastic 24/7 support team. They do have a premium team of engineers for their dedicated servers. The expert technicians are incredibly helpful and available at a moment’s notice.
Already one of our favorite hosting companies, when you combine their fanatical support and the value offered in their dedicated hosting plans, Bluehost is hard to pass up.

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  • RAID 1 mirrored storage
  • Minimum 3 IP addresses per plan
  • Modern hardware, spec'd and maintained in house
  • 24/7 expedited support from the dedicated team
  • Sign up today for 50% off first month
  • Get started on Bluehost now.
Money Back Guarantee
30 days
Disk Space
1 TB
Domain Name
FREE (1 year)
Hostinger review

Dedicated Rating

★★★★★ N/A

Hostinger does not currently offer this type of hosting. We would not recommend choosing this host for this hosting category.

VPS Hosting Comparison

Bluehost review

VPS Rating

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0

#4 out of 9 in VPS Hosting reviews

When comparing the performance versus price of VPS plans, Bluehost brings supreme value to the table. In addition to competitive pricing, they offer premium support and excellent uptime compared to other... read more +

When comparing the performance versus price of VPS plans, Bluehost brings supreme value to the table. In addition to competitive pricing, they offer premium support and excellent uptime compared to other VPS options in the industry. If you’ve outgrown shared hosting, or need the flexibility and security of a VPS, Bluehost is a great choice for you.

Bluehost’s virtual servers boast several benefits compared to standard shared hosting and other VPS offerings. The first is speed; Bluehost offers your choice of two or four cores and 4GB to 16GB of RAM with guaranteed resources, so you have the power you need when you need it. The second perk is security; Bluehost offers redundant storage and optional SiteLock protection to secure your data.

For those new to VPS hosting who may not know exactly what is needed, Bluehost makes it incredibly easy and seamless to switch between their plans to find the perfect package for you. If you have questions or need some advice, their wonderful support staff is standing by to assist 24/7.

Formed in 2003, Bluehost has long since been a hosting innovator and leader. Today, the company powers more than two million websites and carries the official seal of approval given by the WordPress.org team for their managed WordPress services hosted on their VPS platform. With years of experience, competitive pricing, and excellent support, Bluehost is a pick you can take to the bank in the VPS hosting space.

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  • 2-4 cores and 4-16GB of RAM
  • Endorsed by the WordPress team
  • Redundant storage and optional SiteLock security
  • Seamless migration from Bluehost shared plans
  • Get 50% off your first month (was $29.99, now $14.99)
  • Get started on Bluehost now.
Money Back Guarantee
30 days
Disk Space
30 GB - 240 GB SSD
Domain Name
FREE (1 year)
Hostinger review

VPS Rating

★★★★★ 4.7/5.0

Hostinger's laser focus on providing affordable hosting solutions shines brightest with the company's VPS packages. The company provides six different virtual server plans, including one that costs less... read more +

Hostinger's laser focus on providing affordable hosting solutions shines brightest with the company's VPS packages. The company provides six different virtual server plans, including one that costs less than $5. Regardless of which plan customers choose, both site owners and visitors will enjoy the all-SSD infrastructure that loads pages up to 30 times faster than many shared hosting services.

Although disk space, RAM, and bandwidth capacities are all a slight touch lower than those of many mainstream competitors, Hostinger's prices reflect the limitations. Site administrators likely won't miss an extra 10GB of storage, but they're more likely to notice and appreciate the $5 or so per month they save on high-powered hosting. A key distinction to be aware of, though, is the lack of managed services. Experienced developers should have no problems using the company's powerful control panel, however, and we have faith that the Hostinger support team is prepared to handle any task or challenge thrown its way.

Customers can manage computing resources through the admin portal, which enables admins to reboot servers or turn them on or off. Users can quickly install or update operating systems or applications with just a few clicks, or view performance statistics or manage root access passwords. Those who prefer cPanel can opt to manage backups and restores, among other components, in the familiar interface.

Unlike Hostinger's shared hosting services, virtual server plans do not include a free domain registration. However, the ICANN-accredited registrar offers incredibly cheap domain registrations. Addresses ending in .com and .net cost less than $10 per year, while .biz and .org domains are still a few dollars more affordable when registered through Hostinger, compared with most competitors. Domains with those extensions cost about $12 per year.

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  • Cloud-powered SSD infrastructure
  • Double your RAM with burst periods
  • Full SSH and root access
  • FREE dedicated IPv4 address
  • Custom management interface for reboots, OS installs, and more
  • Get started on Hostinger now.
Money Back Guarantee
30 days
Disk Space
20 GB - 160 GB
Domain Name
$8.99

WordPress Hosting Comparison

Bluehost review

WordPress Rating

★★★★★ 4.9/5.0

#2 out of 10 in WordPress Hosting reviews

Aimed at personal bloggers and first-time users, Bluehost’s WordPress hosting packages are a great alternative to simple shared hosting. These service come at a premium, compared to Bluehost’s standard... read more +

Aimed at personal bloggers and first-time users, Bluehost’s WordPress hosting packages are a great alternative to simple shared hosting. These service come at a premium, compared to Bluehost’s standard shared plans, but the WordPress optimization and platform-specific resources are arguably worth the cost.

Built on top of their VPS platform, Bluehost's WordPress managed hosting, though not as customizable as others, focuses on simplicity and speed. Their interface is easy to navigate and the instant provisioning allows for speedy setup. Integrated features, such as the MOJO Marketplace and ManageWP, are nice touches as well.

Though simple by design, Bluehost isn’t shorting you on some of the more important technical features. Integrated W3 caching, SiteLock security, and a CDN are standard across all WordPress packages. It’s also important to note that data backups are automated and resources are guaranteed.

Formed in 2003, Bluehost has long been one of the foremost shared hosts on the planet, and they now power more than two million websites. What’s more, Bluehost is on a short list of providers with the official WordPress seal of approval, doled out by the WordPress Core team. With an experienced team, competitive pricing, and always-there support, Bluehost is King when it comes to WordPress hosting services.

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  • Formally endorsed by WordPress
  • VPS technology and included CDN
  • ManageWP pre-installed
  • Automated data backups
  • 63% discount exclusively for HostingAdvice shoppers
  • Get started on Bluehost now.
Money Back Guarantee
30 days
Disk Space
Unlimited
Domain Name
FREE (1 year)
Hostinger review

WordPress Rating

★★★★★ 4.6/5.0

#9 out of 10 in WordPress Hosting reviews

As much as we love WordPress, one of our biggest pet peeves is when hosting providers exploit the popularity of the world's most-used content management system by offering so-called WordPress hosting that,... read more +

As much as we love WordPress, one of our biggest pet peeves is when hosting providers exploit the popularity of the world's most-used content management system by offering so-called WordPress hosting that, in reality, is exactly the same as the host's shared server plans. Fortunately, Hostinger's ultra-fast infrastructure and easy access to SSL certificates and backups sets up the company to outperform the vast majority of the violators of our admittedly made-up rule.

One prime benefit to WordPress hosting with Hostinger is that customers can enjoy the same affordable rates for which the company offers shared hosting. For less than $5 per month, users will benefit from optimal hardware, unlimited features, and better-than-average security programs. When setting up a new hosting account, users are asked if they want to install WordPress as soon as they log into the account management portal. Hostinger does an exceptional job at streamlining the installation and setup process for even the least-experienced site owners.

In addition to the more performant storage on solid-state drives, Hostinger's top two shared plans come optimized for WordPress by increasing page load performance between three and five times more than the base package. In addition, the top-tier Business plan comes with twice the processing power and memory. Otherwise, site administrators can enjoy unlimited MySQL databases, phpMyAdmin, and the ideal InnoDB storage engine.

Although we'd like to see more features specific for WordPress, such as caching tools and automatic updates, Hostinger includes server security from BitNinja and SpamAssassin protection for email. Most WordPress users will be very well served by choosing Hostinger to house their website.

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  • 1-click WordPress install & easy setup
  • Knowledgeable 24/7 live chat support
  • WP optimizations boost performance
  • No price markup for WP services
  • Daily backups & FREE SSL certificate
  • Get started on Hostinger now.
Money Back Guarantee
30 days
Disk Space
10 GB - Unlimited
Domain Name
FREE (1 year)

Site Builder Hosting Comparison

Bluehost review

Website Builder Rating

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0

#4 out of 9 in Website Builder Hosting reviews

With Bluehost, new site owners have the drag-and-drop simplicity of Weebly (website builder) and goMobi (mobile site builder) at their fingertips. This makes launching a new online brand, store, or... read more +

With Bluehost, new site owners have the drag-and-drop simplicity of Weebly (website builder) and goMobi (mobile site builder) at their fingertips. This makes launching a new online brand, store, or personal site from scratch relatively painless. Sure, site building has its headaches for newbies, but the Bluehost team is ready and willing to assist you every step of the way.

To help prime your site launch for success, Bluehost offers a plethora of unlimited freebies, including a free domain, unlimited domain hosting, unlimited email hosting, and unlimited storage, bandwidth, and databases. This, coupled with their several options for site building services, is everything a new website owner needs to get started — and the cost is hard to beat.

If WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) isn’t for you, perhaps a CMS option sounds appealing. Choose from the most popular content management and blogging software, including Joomla, Drupal, and WordPress, and download and install with a single click. Some Bluehost plans have even been customized to cater to WordPress — and their WordPress services have been endorsed by the WordPress team.

For quick, cheap, and easy site building — backed by one of the web’s most reliable web hosts — you can’t go wrong in choosing Bluehost.

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  • Weebly or goMobi site builder
  • FREE domain name
  • Integrated CloudFlare CDN standard across all plans
  • Gain exposure with $200 in FREE advertising credits
  • 24/7 customer support
  • Get started on Bluehost now.
Money Back Guarantee
30 days
Disk Space
100 GB - Unlimited
Domain Name
FREE (1 year)
Hostinger review

Website Builder Rating

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0

Whether you're making your first foray into website hosting or are a developer looking to save some time, a strong website builder can dramatically streamline the creation process and enable users to... read more +

Whether you're making your first foray into website hosting or are a developer looking to save some time, a strong website builder can dramatically streamline the creation process and enable users to launch a website in five minutes or less. Fortunately for customers, Hostinger has invested heavily in crafting an impressive visual editor sure to appeal to users of all levels of experience.

More than 2 million websites have been created through Hostinger's free tool, called Zyro. The drag-and-drop interface can be launched in a single click from customers' hosting account management panel. Site owners can choose from nearly 200 templates, which are organized into 24 categories. The overall designs might not be as flashy as the templates found on well-known site builders, including Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace, but users will have plenty of modern options from which to choose.

From there, Zyro's WYSIWYG platform intuitively guides users through various steps of adding and editing text, organizing navigational menus, and managing SEO settings. While some drag-and-drop editors actually make adding and aligning elements surprisingly difficult, Zyro assists users by having images, text boxes, and the like snap to a grid — ensuring your design has the greatest impact.

All in all, we have a soft spot for hosts that deploy in-house solutions for website builders, as opposed to those companies that white-label third-party products. As with other Hostinger services, the company shows a refreshing dedication to providing top-notch services and experiences for their customers.

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  • Responsive drag-and-drop design
  • Nearly 200 specialized templates
  • Built-in eCommerce widgets and payment processing
  • Easily switch among widescreen, desktop, tablet, and mobile previews
  • Support for 31 languages
  • Get started on Hostinger now.
Money Back Guarantee
30 days
Disk Space
10 GB - Unlimited
Domain Name
FREE (1 year)

Bluehost vs. Hostinger - Our Conclusion

Ryan Frankel Ryan Frankel Hosting Expert
“We tested Bluehost & Hostinger — The winner is Bluehost!”

As is common among hosts looking to appeal to beginners and first-time site owners, both Bluehost and Hostinger tout unmetered storage and bandwidth with most of their shared hosting plans. We appreciate the modern hardware — along with extra features like SSL certificates — Hostinger provides to customers, but it’s hard to argue with a proven platform like Bluehost. With the likes of WordPress in its corner, Bluehost is a tough foe to tackle. Where do you fall — the trusted veteran or hotshot upstart?

Bluehost review
Overall Rating
4.9/5.0 ★★★★★
Visit Bluehost »
Hostinger review
Overall Rating
4.8/5.0 ★★★★★
Visit Hostinger »

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