Hosting.com vs Bluehost
Hosting.com and Bluehost compared on measured uptime, response time, pricing and features from our own tests. Hosting.com scores higher overall.
By Jennifer T. · Updated
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Verdict
Hosting.comWins overall
The former A2 Hosting under World Host Group: stated cores and RAM, 30-day backups, staging from Pro, phone support
Newfold's WordPress-recommended host: three shared tiers on 36-month terms, weekly backups, a 5 percent SLA coupon
Hosting.com wins 2 of the six sub-scores and comes out ahead overall (7.7 vs 7.6).
How do the scores compare?
Hosting.com leads on 2 sub-scores, Bluehost on 3. Higher is better.
| Hosting.com | Bluehost | |
|---|---|---|
| Performance | 8.5 (better) | 7.5 |
| Uptime | 8.0 | 8.0 |
| Support | 6.0 | 7.0 (better) |
| Features | 8.5 (better) | 7.5 |
| Value | 7.0 | 7.5 (better) |
| Ease of use | 7.5 | 8.5 (better) |
Which one is faster and more reliable?
| Hosting.com | Bluehost | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 7.7 (better) | 7.6 |
| Uptime (published)Kripesh Adwani 365 d vs HostingStep 243 d; methods differ | 99.99% (better) | 99.97% |
| Response time (published)HostingStep vs HostingStep; methods differ | 500 ms (better) | 501 ms |
Which one costs less?
On renewal, Bluehost is cheaper ($9.99/mo vs $13.99/mo). Intro prices need the listed term.
| Hosting.com | Bluehost | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest plan | Starter | Starter |
| Intro price | $1.99/mo (better) | $3.99/mo |
| Renewal price | $13.99/mo | $9.99/mo (better) |
| Required term | 48 months | 36 months (better) |
| Websites | 5 | 10 |
| Storage | 15 GB | 10 GB |
| Money back | 30 days | 30 days |
What does each include?
| Hosting.com | Bluehost | |
|---|---|---|
| Free domain | First year | First year, with a 12-month or 36-month term |
| Free SSL | Standard on Starter and Pro; premium certificate on Max | Let's Encrypt |
| Daily backups | Stored off-server, restore to any point in the last 30 days | Not stated |
| Staging | 3 sites on Starter, 20 on Pro, 200 on Max | WordPress staging site on every plan |
| Free managed migration | Yes | Not stated |
| Web application firewall and malware removal | Yes | Not stated |
| Caching and hardware | LiteSpeed caching, tuned MySQL, AMD EPYC CPUs, NVMe storage | Not stated |
| AI website builder for WordPress | Yes | Not stated |
| OpenAPI and MCP server | On every plan; Claude skills pack and Node.js from Pro | Not stated |
| Uptime guarantee | 99.9% per month; 5% of the service fee credited per hour of unscheduled downtime, up to the full month, on request | 99.99% SLA; at most one coupon per month for 5% of the monthly hosting fee |
| Service level agreement | Max plan only | Not stated |
| Phone support | +1 (734) 222-4678, 24/7/365 | Business and above; Starter has chat only |
| Windows hosting | No | No |
| Backups | Not stated | Weekly website backups on every shared plan |
| Free migration | Not stated | Site migration tool |
| CDN | Not stated | Yes |
| Caching | Not stated | Advanced static content caching and object caching |
| SSH and WP-CLI | Not stated | Yes |
| Security | Not stated | Malware scanning on Starter; AI malware removal, web application firewall and DDoS protection from Business |
| Choice of data center | Not stated | Region selected at checkout (North America, South America, Europe, Asia) |
Company facts
| Hosting.com | Bluehost | |
|---|---|---|
| Control panel | cPanel with the hosting.com panel on top | Bluehost account manager with cPanel |
| Data centers | 5 (better) | 2 |
| Support channels | chat, ticket, phone, email, knowledge-base | chat, phone, knowledge-base |
| Founded | 2003 | 2003 |