BlueHost

Bluehost doesn't offer month-to-month Web hosting options. Instead, it requires you to sign up for an annual plan. If you sign up for a two-year or three-year plan, you get discounts. If you know you are staying put for three years, that $3.95 per month rate is attractive. That said, those who don't want lengthy commitments will probably prefer Arvixe's month-to-month options.

 

Bluehost's offerings are identical to HostMonster's£2.56 at HostMonster UK, right down to the names of its shared Web hosting plans. Of course, the fact that Bluehost and HostMonster have the same parent company—Endurance International Group—may have something to do with that. Endurance International also owns FastDomain and iPage$8.99 at iPage - Shared.

The Starter shared hosting package (starting at $5.99 per month with a one-year contract) includes a free domain name that you can keep as long as you use Bluehost, free domain transfer, 100GB of storage, unlimited monthly data transfers, and the ability to host a single website—Arvixe lets you host six domains with its basic plan. The Plus package (starting at $9.99 per month with a one-year contract) adds an antispam tool as well as unlimited storage, websites, and mailboxes. The Business Pro package (starting at $19.99 per month with a one-year contract) tops all of Bluehost's shared hosting plans with a dedicated IP address, an SSL certificate, site backup, and two anti-spam applications. There are a lot of options, which is great, but every time we log in to Bluehost, we're shown an ad to purchase another service or add-on. The upselling is too aggressive for our tastes.

On the other hand, HostGator£2.54 at HostGator UK, the Editors' Choice for shared hosting, gives small- and medium-sized business room to expand their Web presences without the aggressive upselling. The Linux- or Windows-based Hatchling plan (starting at $7.17 per month) offers unlimited disk space, bandwidth databases, and email addresses, plus support for one domain and third-party applications, such as content management systems and e-commerce platforms. HostGator's Baby plan (starting at $7.96 per month) builds upon Hatchling by adding unlimited domains. The top-tier Business plan (starting at $11.96 per month) includes highly specialized options, such as a free toll-free phone number and a private secure socket layer (SSL certificate). HostGator has a very well-rounded shared Web hosting package.

Virtual Private Servers

If you need more power, expect high-traffic volumes, or have specific compliance requirements that prevent you from using shared servers, Bluehost's virtual private servers (VPS) are good options to consider.

Bluehost offers four tiers of Linux-based VPS hosting, ranging from the $29.99 per month Standard (30GB of storage, 2GB of memory, and 1TB of monthly data transfers) to the $119.99 per month Ultimate (240GB of storage, 8GB of memory, 4TB of monthly data transfers). As with the shared Web hosting plans, VPS hosting plans include discounts for longer-term contracts. Unfortunately, Bluehost doesn't offer Windows-based VPS.

Those are attractive plans, but Hostwinds$4.50 at Hostwinds - Shared—the Editors' Choice for VPS hosting—just beats out Bluehost with packages that include unlimited monthly data transfers and Linux- or Windows-based server options. Don't underestimate the importance of a Windows server option; if you plan to build (or migrate) a site built on an ASP.NET framework, you'll appreciate Hostwinds's Windows-based VPS offerings.

Dedicated Servers

Bluehost has many dedicated server configurations. The servers start at $149 per month and can be outfitted with a Linux operating system and up to 1TB of hard drive space, 16GB of RAM, and 15TB of data transfers per month—the same specs as HostMoster. Those are solid numbers, but HostGator£2.54 at HostGator UK—the PCMag Editors' Choice for dedicated Web hosting—one-ups Bluehost with a choice of Linux and Windows operating systems and an incredibly generous 25TB of monthly data transfers.