Howdy,
BlueHost was founded in 1996 and is known for their inexpensive hosting plans. Actually, let me correct that, very inexpensive (might I say, cheap?) hosting plans.
BlueHost
provides large amounts of storage capacity and bandwidth for the amount
they charge, making their hosting solution a valuable commodity for
those on a very tight allowance. |
“BlueHost
is certainly on my list of potential candidates for when the time
arises – so they should certainly be on yours!” |
They
offer several free script plug-ins such as, chat, blogs, polls, web
auctions and bulletin boards. BlueHost packages also support multiple
features like, CGI, PHP, Perl, Front Page, MySQL Databases, ecommerce
tools with a free shopping cart and the ability to track website
traffic, BlueHost makes an all-in-one deal.
Despite
BlueHost’s great features and seemingly great prices, there’s a catch
(which can be easily overcome). Their plans can cost more than some
other companies when you purchase on a monthly basis. Their average
package will run you $9.95/month plus a $30 setup fee. However, if you
prepay for 24 months, you will get the setup fee waived and pay an
average of $6.95 per month, or less, depending on the plan. From this
perspective, it’s a real bargain!
Bluehost
offers TOLL FREE telephone, chat and email support in their help
section which includes FAQ’s; with the option of submitting your own
questions with a ‘ticket’ number, that is used as a reference number
for better organization. I’ve used the system myself and find it very
efficient. However, it can sometimes be slower than other methods such
as phone support.
BlueHost
uses Cpanel, a popular control panel used by many hosts. Some functions
accessible through the control panel include account, email and
database management and web protection/security and statistics. These
are the main functions and other would include password changing,
billing info, web stats and more!
The
only drawback is that this control panel only works on a Linux/Unix
environment. Most of the time, this would not affect you, the user, but
if you develop in the Microsoft environment, using Microsoft tools, you
will need to use a windows based OS. If you are using Windows, this
would not make a difference.
Overall,
BlueHost is a solid choice. The occasional burp in their network, or
the rare instance of data loss are to be expected. What matters is they
stay on top of these things and keep the services up and running. For
the prices they charge, you really can’t ask for more.
While
I don’t personally have an account with BlueHost at the moment, they’re
certainly on my list of potential candidates for when the time arises –
so they should certainly be on yours!
The Hosting Chart hereby awards BlueHost the #5 Web Hosting Rank.
Williamson -- out, |
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David Williamson |
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