InterServer vs. Bluehost (2018)

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

As businesses, InterServer and Bluehost are wildly different. High school friends started InterServer in the late ’90s and continue to answer support tickets and manage the company’s datacenters. Bluehost, one of the flagship companies of Endurance International Group, enjoys the lavish resources of one of the world’s largest tech corporations. Business philosophies aside, however, both InterServer and Bluehost are rather similar. Both offer the full range of shared, VPS, and dedicated hosting options at extremely affordable rates. Check out our breakdown of each company’s products to help you figure out which host would be the best home for your website.

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Bluehost review
Overall Rating
4.9/5.0 ★★★★★
Visit Bluehost »
InterServer review
Overall Rating
4.7/5.0 ★★★★★
Visit InterServer »
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)
InterServer review

Best Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.7/5.0

As tech-savvy teenagers in the days of dial-up internet, Mike Lavrik and John Quaglieri started InterServer to show their former hosting providers how it should be done. Fed up with their hosting options,... read more +

As tech-savvy teenagers in the days of dial-up internet, Mike Lavrik and John Quaglieri started InterServer to show their former hosting providers how it should be done. Fed up with their hosting options, Mike and John created InterServer on a strong foundation of technical expertise and customer support.

Now, InterServer is a refreshing, independent hosting option built on modern infrastructure that is assembled, deployed, and supported at the datacenter housed in company headquarters in New Jersey. InterServer's robust shared plans come with the features you'd expect from higher-tier providers: unlimited storage, bandwidth, email, and SSL certificates, along with power-packed SSDs, free migrations, and $1.99 domains.

Rookie site owners might be intimidated by InterServer's long list of features, but each will help customers large and small succeed in their hosting ventures. InterServer can't match the low prices of some of the mass-market competitors out there when it comes to shared hosting, but they become exponentially more affordable as your website or application grows to VPS or dedicated plans — especially when you consider the perks of 24/7 on-site support and IT-minded Co-Founders who still manage the datacenter and respond to support tickets.

No matter which level of hosting you need, InterServer offers a price-lock guarantee. Whatever price you sign up for, that's what you'll pay as long as you have the account (unless you add or upgrade services). You'll never be surprised with a rate increase or be locked into lengthy contracts. We're struggling to come up with another hosting provider who can make that promise.

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  • Independently owned datacenter and NO contracts
  • 24/7 onsite support through chat, phone, and tickets
  • Same price guaranteed for life
  • Unlimited storage, sites, and email
  • 20% discount for TemplateMonster
  • Get started on InterServer now.
Money Back Guarantee
30 days
Disk Space
Unlimited
Domain Name
$1.99

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)
InterServer review

Cheap Rating

★★★★★ 4.6/5.0

#7 out of 10 in Cheap Hosting reviews

It's hard to argue with a shared hosting plan that includes unlimited storage, bandwidth, websites, and email — but shared hosting is a crowded industry that turns on name recognition, reputation, and... read more +

It's hard to argue with a shared hosting plan that includes unlimited storage, bandwidth, websites, and email — but shared hosting is a crowded industry that turns on name recognition, reputation, and bargain-basement prices. InterServer outperforms some of our higher-rated hosts, but we understand that many first-time site owners are laser-focused on finding the lowest costs.

InterServer's shared options are best for the more experienced user who will appreciate SSD caching servers and RAID-10 storage, along with included perks such as Cloudflare CDN and free SSL certificates. Free migrations and automatic weekly backups add to the list of advantages included under InterServer's premium price.

On the flip side, however, novice customers are essentially on their own when creating their website or launching an online store. Although InterServer's 400-plus installation scripts cover a number of content management systems and eCommerce tools, other hosts take a more hands-on approach to supporting these customers.

InterServer may make up for their somewhat higher rates with their price-lock guarantee — the price when you sign up is what you can expect to pay for the life of your account. What's more, InterServer won't lock you up with lengthy contracts. Customers can get discounted rates by paying up front for services; otherwise, your hosting plan runs month-to-month. Users will appreciate knowing what bills to expect and not having to deal with annual rate hikes.

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  • NO annual contracts and NO sudden price increases
  • Unlimited storage space, data transfers, and email
  • Automatic weekly backups, plus FREE CDN and SSDs
  • 99.9% uptime and price-lock guarantee
  • HostingAdvice visitors pay just $0.01 the first month
  • Get started on InterServer now.
Money Back Guarantee
30 days
Disk Space
Unlimited
Domain Name
$1.99

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)
InterServer review

Dedicated Rating

★★★★★ 4.9/5.0

You know a hosting company means business when they own and operate their own datacenters. Because InterServer employees build and manage their own servers in the same building as their company... read more +

You know a hosting company means business when they own and operate their own datacenters. Because InterServer employees build and manage their own servers in the same building as their company headquarters, dedicated hosting customers get the utmost in flexibility, support, and around-the-clock monitoring.

Because Co-Founders Mike Lavrik and John Quaglieri started InterServer in 1999 out of frustration with their own personal hosting providers, Mike and John insist the company remain independent and customers be supported 24/7 through phone, chat, or tickets with InterServer's US-based team. In fact, chances are a Co-Founder will answer your ticket in fewer than 20 minutes.

Servers are up and running within four hours and come with at least 1GB of RAM, 250GB of storage, 10TB of bandwidth, and five IP addresses. With their base Intel Dual-Core Atom configuration costing less than $40 per month, InterServer brings surprising affordability to the high-end dedicated hosting products.

At the other end of InterServer's spectrum of server setups, we were utterly blown away by the amount of storage you can configure — users can max out their servers with not one, but two, 6TB SATA hard drives. If you need SSD, you can install up to 2TB of the performant drives. Users can also configure up to 13 IP addresses and choose among several different flavors of Linux or Windows operating systems.

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  • 24/7 uptime monitoring and privately owned datacenter
  • Up to 100TB of bandwidth and 5+ unique IP addresses
  • Chose among 10 operating systems and 3 control panels
  • Custom configurations built and maintained in-house
  • Price-lock guarantee without contracts
  • Get started on InterServer now.
Money Back Guarantee
N/A
Disk Space
250 GB - 12 TB
Domain Name
$1.99

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)
InterServer review

VPS Rating

★★★★★ 4.9/5.0

#3 out of 9 in VPS Hosting reviews

InterServer's on-site datacenter and hands-on involvement with configuring and provisioning virtual private servers give customers a level of flexibility not seen with many other hosting providers. ... read more +

InterServer's on-site datacenter and hands-on involvement with configuring and provisioning virtual private servers give customers a level of flexibility not seen with many other hosting providers.

InterServer rations their VPS and cloud resources through slices. Users can select between one and four CPU cores, with disk space ranging between 25GB and 400GB of high-performance SSDs. In addition to that speedy standard feature, we love that virtual servers are provisioned instantly and come with the latest versions of PHP, MySQL, Perl, Python, and Ruby pre-installed. Users can take further control through full root access and InterServer's web-based control panel.

InterServer brings incredibly affordable options to the VPS and cloud space, with plans starting at $10 or less per month and a free migration service from shared hosting accounts. We're not wild about the rest of InterServer's managed VPS services but understand that many customers at this level are plenty capable of handling their virtual servers. The company will support issues related to the operating system or control panel if the account has at least four slices (a single core, 4GB memory, 100GB of storage). InterServer isn't being unreasonable by any stretch, but other hosts make management a simpler, smoother process.

InterServer guarantees hardware, network, and infrastructure uptime of 99.9%, which has become pretty standard for the web hosting industry. We expected to see the in-house expertise bump that guaranteed rate a little higher, but we trust InterServer will overdeliver on their SLA promise.

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  • FREE migrations from shared hosting and instant provisioning
  • Latest versions of PHP, MySQL, Perl, Python, and Ruby pre-installed
  • 16 operating system options for Linux or Windows users
  • NO contracts and your price is guaranteed for life
  • Full root access included
  • Get started on InterServer now.
Money Back Guarantee
N/A
Disk Space
25 GB - 400 GB
Domain Name
$1.99

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)
InterServer review

WordPress Rating

★★★★★ 4.7/5.0

With managed WordPress hosting plans being all the rage lately, we appreciate when a hosting provider actually provides the services to back up the managed services claims. Daily backups and virus scans,... read more +

With managed WordPress hosting plans being all the rage lately, we appreciate when a hosting provider actually provides the services to back up the managed services claims. Daily backups and virus scans, combined with a web applications firewall all show that InterServer is serious about keeping your WordPress site online and secure.

Perhaps most importantly, InterServer promises to get your WordPress site back online if you get hacked or compromised. As the most popular content management system in the world, WordPress is a prime target for attacks. Even the most experienced WordPress users can fall victim to an exploit, and InterServer's support team is available 24/7 to fix any issue when it arises.

Those managed services, however, come with a higher price tag that might scare off rookie WordPress users (~$8/month). Fret not: All the wonders of WordPress hosting can be had with InterServer's standard web hosting plans. Enjoy single-click installs for the WordPress software, easy-to-use cPanel control panel, and solid-state drives (SSDs) to get your site performance extra oomph.

To the value-minded shoppers in the crowd, note that all InterServer customers are assured a price-lock guarantee and will never be asked to sign a control. That's a longer-term value in the shared hosting market that's tough to beat.

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  • FREE website migration and privately owned datacenter
  • The price you pay now is guaranteed for the life of your account
  • 24/7 support teams will fix and restore hacked websites
  • Plans optimized for speed with SSD storage and caching
  • NO contracts
  • Get started on InterServer now.
Money Back Guarantee
30 days
Disk Space
Unlimited
Domain Name
$1.99

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)
InterServer review

Website Builder Rating

★★★★★ N/A

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

Bluehost vs. InterServer - Our Conclusion

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

As you can see, these two veteran hosting providers both excel in offering high-powered and customer-friendly online experiences. Despite the differences in corporate structure and business approach, InterServer and Bluehost’s technology services ensure your site will be successful. Which do you prefer: the plucky, privately held InterServer or the wide-reaching Bluehost? InterServer specializes in high-tech, supremely flexible configurations, particularly at the VPS and dedicated server levels. Bluehost caters slightly more toward the less-experienced shared hosting customer but offers the full range of services to support a customer’s growing site.

Bluehost review
Overall Rating
4.9/5.0 ★★★★★
Visit Bluehost »
InterServer review
Overall Rating
4.7/5.0 ★★★★★
Visit InterServer »

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Bluehost vs. Weebly - 2018

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InterServer vs. GoDaddy - 2018

The late ’90s were an exhilarating time. In addition to NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys dominating the charts, the World Wide Web experienced extreme growth as businesses and people rushed to get online — before they started... see full comparison »

InterServer vs. SiteGround - 2018

Two leaders in tech-savvy web hosting, both InterServer and SiteGround are known for offering a wide range of services that appeal to customers looking for affordability, security, and performance. We particularly appreciate... see full comparison »