Bluehost vs KnownHost
Bluehost and KnownHost compared on measured uptime, response time, pricing and features from our own tests. Bluehost scores higher overall.
By Jennifer T. · Updated
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Verdict
BluehostWins overall
Newfold's WordPress-recommended host: three shared tiers on 36-month terms, weekly backups, a 5 percent SLA coupon
Managed cPanel hosting since 2006 on LiteSpeed and NVMe with stated cores and RAM, daily backups and three locations
Bluehost wins 3 of the six sub-scores and comes out ahead overall (7.6 vs 7.4).
How do the scores compare?
Bluehost leads on 3 sub-scores, KnownHost on 2. Higher is better.
Which one is faster and more reliable?
Which one costs less?
On renewal, KnownHost is cheaper ($7.16/mo vs $9.99/mo). Intro prices need the listed term.
What does each include?
| Bluehost | KnownHost | |
|---|---|---|
| Free domain | First year, with a 12-month or 36-month term | No |
| Free SSL | Let's Encrypt | Every plan, every domain |
| Backups | Weekly website backups on every shared plan | Daily JetBackup with 2-day and 1-week retention on every plan; extended retention sold as an add-on |
| Staging | WordPress staging site on every plan | No |
| Free migration | Site migration tool | Migration team copies files, databases and email and tests the site |
| CDN | Yes | Not stated |
| Caching | Advanced static content caching and object caching | LiteSpeed Web Server with LSCache on every plan; Redis and Memcached optional |
| SSH and WP-CLI | Yes | Not stated |
| Security | Malware scanning on Starter; AI malware removal, web application firewall and DDoS protection from Business | Imunify360 with real-time malware scanning and a web application firewall; Patchman optional on Basic and Standard, included above |
| Phone support | Business and above; Starter has chat only | A US toll-free number on every page, with 24/7 ticket support |
| Uptime guarantee | 99.99% SLA; at most one coupon per month for 5% of the monthly hosting fee | The network page claims a 99.999% availability SLA and 99.99+% uptimes; the terms of service contain no uptime clause or credit schedule |
| Choice of data center | Region selected at checkout (North America, South America, Europe, Asia) | Not stated |
| Windows hosting | No | No |
| Free CDN | Not stated | No |
| SSH, Git and cron | Not stated | Every plan, with current PHP versions |
| Resource limits | Not stated | CloudLinux isolation with 1, 2, 4 and 6 cores and 1, 2, 4 and 6 GB memory limits by plan |
| Data center choice | Not stated | Atlanta, Seattle or Amsterdam at checkout |
| Not stated | 5, 25 or unlimited mailboxes by plan, with webmail |