Which web hosting provider is the best in 2023 – Bluehost Vs SiteGround?

Bluehost Vs SiteGround is a common comparison when it comes to web hosting. Both companies offer reliable services and have been around for many years. Bluehost is one of the oldest web hosting providers, while SiteGround is relatively new but has quickly become one of the most popular choices.

When it comes to features, both Bluehost and SiteGround offer a wide range of options. Bluehost offers shared hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated hosting, and WordPress hosting. SiteGround offers shared hosting, cloud hosting, and managed WordPress hosting. Both companies offer a variety of plans to suit different budgets and requirements.

When it comes to performance, both Bluehost and SiteGround have excellent uptime records. Bluehost has an average uptime of 99.99%, while SiteGround has an average uptime of 99 .99%. Both companies also offer great customer support, with 24/7 live chat and phone support.

When it comes to pricing, Bluehost is generally cheaper than SiteGround. However, SiteGround offers more features for the same price. For example, SiteGround offers free SSL certificates and daily backups as part of their plans, while Bluehost does not.

Overall, both Bluehost and SiteGround are excellent web hosting providers. However, SiteGround offers more features for the same price and has better performance, making it the better choice in 2023.

Even for something minor like selecting the right camera, gym membership, or dessert to order, I find it overwhelming and indecision keeps me from making a choice quickly.

To decide which hosting to use, I looked at features, storage limits, server locations, and costs.

Repeatedly, I questioned which web hosting provider to select: SiteGround or Bluehost.

To help you decide which hosting provider to choose, here is a summary of my research.

I’ll explain my decision and the reasons for making it.

 

Let’s start!

Which website hosting service is better in 2020 – Bluehost Vs SiteGround?

When compared to Bluehost ($9.99), SiteGround’s starting rate of $14.99 stands out for its faster performance, great customer support and additional features such as staging area and speed optimization.

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Look at this comparison chart to quickly examine these two providers:

Which hosting provider is more widely used: Bluehost Vs SiteGround?

Established in 2003, Bluehost quickly rose to success and now serves more than 2M websites. In 2010, it was taken over by EIG, which has been met with criticism from many. Despite its size of over 750 staff, Bluehost continues to remain powerful in the web hosting industry.

 

Founded in 2004, SiteGround has become one of the most popular web hosting providers with 500 employees and 2 million registered domains. A highlight of the Bulgarian business, they are a major player in shared hosting. Let’s take a look at its success story.

Comparing with SiteGround, Bluehost is much more popular in a comparison using Google Trends.

Examining the contrast between SiteGround and Bluehost using Google Trends.

When hosting companies take on too many customers, it can hurt their performance and support quality. This serves as a warning to not stretch your business beyond its capacity. Giants like Bluehost have experienced this firsthand.

Let’s disregard popularity and go on to identify the best option.

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To start, let’s figure out which one is more user-friendly.

Bluehost has HTTP access, a file manager, email access and PHPMyAdmin. SiteGround provides an additional and more advanced control panel.

It’s easy to set up CloudFlare (a well-known content delivery network) with either of the providers.

Bluehost Upsell cPanel section

I believe SiteGround has a more structured methodology. Bluehost’s backend is end-user amicable, utilizing a personalized cPanel variant. Sadly, it’s stuffed with promotional options and unneeded applications (such as AppMachine, Weebly, ConstantContact, etc.). This makes the platform very bewildering.

I find it off-putting that Bluehost tries to encourage customers to sign up for longer contracts by advertising prices that are not accurate.

SiteGround is superior to Bluehost in terms of usability and pricing, as the latter’s structure is confusing while their mindset feels too sales-oriented. In conclusion, SiteGround is the better choice.

When it comes to security, both Bluehost and SiteGround offer SSL certificates, malware scanning and protection from DDoS attacks. However, SiteGround has an edge over Bluehost in terms of security as they provide additional features such as a firewall, daily backups and a web application firewall.

In terms of customer support, Bluehost offers 24/7 live chat and phone support while SiteGround provides 24/7 live chat, phone and email support.

SiteGround is the better choice for web hosting when compared to Bluehost. It offers more user-friendly features, better pricing options, superior security measures and better customer support.

In terms of pricing, Bluehost offers a basic shared hosting plan for $2.95/month while SiteGround’s basic plan starts at $3.95/month. Both providers offer discounts if you sign up for longer contracts.

When it comes to scalability, Bluehost offers VPS and dedicated server plans while SiteGround provides cloud hosting solutions. This makes SiteGround the better choice for businesses that are looking to scale up quickly.

Overall, SiteGround is the better option for web hosting when compared to Bluehost. It offers more user-friendly features, better pricing options, superior security measures and better customer support. Additionally, it provides cloud hosting solutions which makes it the ideal choice for businesses that are looking to scale up quickly.

The second round is about hosting possibilities.

When selecting a shared hosting provider, the following criteria should be taken into account:

What storage capacity do you need?

For hosting, it’s important to think about storage requirements. Find a plan that meets your current needs and allows for some growth.

Unless you plan to upload large amounts of HD images and videos, 10GB should be enough storage capacity for your project.

Bluehost’s Basic plan is more cost-effective than SiteGround’s offerings if you need extra room for data; it gives you more disk space than SiteGround’s pricier packages.

SiteGround and Bluehost employ SSDs which offer better performance than traditional hard drives but cost more. Similarly, a Ferrari is faster than a bus yet can only fit a few people compared to the latter’s much larger capacity.

What type of hosting do you need?

The type of hosting you need depends on the size and complexity of your website. If you’re just starting out, shared hosting is usually enough. However, if your website is growing quickly, then VPS or dedicated server hosting might be a better option.

Bluehost offers shared, VPS and dedicated server plans while SiteGround provides cloud hosting solutions .

Customer support is an important factor to consider when selecting a hosting provider. Bluehost offers 24/7 live chat and phone support while SiteGround provides 24/7 live chat, phone and email support.

Overall, both Bluehost and SiteGround offer reliable hosting services with great customer support. However, if you’re looking for more advanced features such as cloud hosting, SiteGround is the better choice.

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What kind of web traffic can you anticipate?

If you need more traffic to your website, most hosting providers will require you to upgrade.

We have great news! Both SiteGround and Bluehost do not have restrictions on data transfer, so go ahead and let the visitors come in! A huge victory indeed!

Backups – Be safe!

Murphy’s Law reminds us that, inevitably, something will go wrong. This is why having a reliable backup system is so important; it has been the key to saving my job on multiple occasions.

SiteGround offers an easy-to-use backup system that includes a month’s worth of your site’s history, making it simple to retrieve an earlier version if needed.

SiteGround offers a Backup System that can be utilized.

The GrowBig and GoGeek plans have a great Backup on Demand System that lets you back up your system and quickly restore it with one click. Unfortunately, these backups are not available for download locally.

I’m frustrated with Bluehost’s plan pricing since you have to pay $3/mo extra for backups on the lower tier plans, while they’re complimentary on higher plans. Additionally, there’s no longer an option to make manual backups with cPanel which is not okay.

SiteGround stands out in comparison with Bluehost, as they try to force customers into purchasing their pricey backup premium service.

Main, Sub and Parked Domains are the main categories of Domains.

SiteGround provides unlimited subdomains and domain name parking, however you must purchase a domain name which is approximately $16 annually.

Bluehost includes a free domain name with its package.

Bluehost offers a free domain when you purchase a plan. Entry plans limit users to 5 subdomains and 25 parked domains, while more advanced plans have no such restrictions.

Bluehost is the winner here due to their inclusion of a free domain name with every plan.

You can use an email account to send and receive messages.

SiteGround’s cPanel provides an unlimited number of email accounts, and you can configure aliases and forwards for each. You may access these with one of Horde, RoundCube or SquirrelMail, the three email clients available.

SiteGround email accounts

Bluehost’s Basic package offers 5 email accounts and 100MB of storage, while upgraded plans provide unlimited email addresses and space.

Through the years, numerous adaptations have developed, occasionally fortuitously and sometimes intentionally. In my opinion, both SiteGround and Bluehost are equally satisfactory. SiteGround offers unlimited accounts with all their packages but restricts storage capacity, while Bluehost limits both the accounts and capability for their Basic tier. There is a tie.

 

FTP & SFTP accounts

SiteGround and Bluehost both provide FTP account creation with SiteGround additionally allowing SFTP for any account type. Meanwhile, Bluehost’s SFTP option is restricted to their main FTP account.

The outcome is a draw, with each team receiving one point.

 

SSL & HTTP/2

Hosting companies that provide SSL and HTTP/2 as part of their services can give you better security and leverage your SEO rankings. This puts them at a great advantage compared to other providers.

There is no disadvantage – both SiteGround and Bluehost offer free SSL (through Let’s Encrypt) and HTTP/2. A unanimous verdict.

Git and SSH access

The use of these technologies makes it simpler for developers to deploy and track changes, especially when collaborating as a team.

SiteGround’s SSH access feature enables quick management of big files. Additionally, you can leverage professional version control with a Git repository set up in your account – guaranteeing success.

Bluehost SSH key generation

With Bluehost, you get SSH access, but not a Git repository on their shared hosting plan.

SiteGround is the winner of this contest!

Looking at the WordPress hosting services of SiteGround and Bluehost.

Both hosting services provide excellent WordPress capabilities. We often utilize WordPress as our content management system, which is optimized for it along with some helpful tools to improve our efficiency. Let’s examine the chief advantages of WordPress that we can receive from these providers.

• SuperCacher
• A plugin needs to be added.
• (GrowBig and GoGeek plans)

With a sandbox environment, you can test changes to code without affecting the live website. But Bluehost’s WordPress plans have a higher price tag for containing certain benefits.

SiteGround provides a wide variety of WordPress tools, like their migration plugin, starter plugin for beginners, lazy-load image option, code minification features, specialized WP caching functions and an update manager.

When compared to other affordable web hosting providers for WordPress, SiteGround tops them all.

Let’s review the features:

• Both services provide great capabilities for bandwidth, emails, FTPs, SFTPs, SSLs, and HTTP/2.
• Bluehost provides more generous storage space than other hosts.
• SiteGround has more advantages than Bluehost in terms of backups, Git and SHH access, and WordPress functions.

SiteGround excels when it comes to features.

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Round 3 – Speed

When deciding between Bluehost and SiteGround, speed should be taken into consideration, as slow hosting can be a source of frustration to both visitors and Google.

We conducted speed tests on all the web hosting providers we evaluated in 2022 and have provided the results here:

Our team used the integrated SiteGround caching system, which Bluehost doesn’t provide. For more details on SiteGround’s speed optimization tools, please continue reading.

SiteGround had an impressive page load time of 1.56 seconds, outperforming most other web hosts. Unfortunately, Bluehost’s average page load time was a slow 2.07 seconds.

SiteGround emerged victorious over Bluehost in this comparison.

Round 4 – Downtime

Achieving quality hosting speed and uptime is critical. Disregarding best practices on shared hosting can result in frequent service disruptions, negatively impacting user experience and affecting search engine rankings.

For optimal performance, we suggest a 99.95% uptime web host. We tested hosts in 2022 and the results of these tests are presented in the chart below:

Again and again, I’m amazed by SiteGround’s reliable uptime when I check the stats – their shared web hosting services give some of the finest results in the sector.

Previously, I was unhappy with Bluehost’s reliability. But there have been noticeable improvements lately.

SiteGround is the clear winner of this competition; they offer more features than Bluehost, giving them a superior edge.

For the 5th round, focus on server location.

SiteGround is renowned for having data centers around the world, including the United States (Chicago and Iowa), the United Kingdom (London), The Netherlands (Amsterdam) and Singapore.

Isn’t it amazing to have six different locations around the world?

SiteGround’s Data Centers

If you peruse Bluehost’s website, it doesn’t provide much data on the subject of their data centers. You can contact their support team, however, and they’ll confirm that all servers are located in Utah. It seems like they don’t want to make this info public.

SiteGround won in 6 out of 7 locations, sweeping the competition away and emerging as the clear winner over Bluehost who only got 1.

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Step 6 – Moving the website to a new location

Changing the hosting provider of a website can be difficult, especially if it is the first time.

SiteGround offers a free, user-friendly WordPress plugin to make site migration hassle-free at the cost of $30 per migration.

With Bluehost, you will pay an extra cost of approximately $150 to move up to five sites and twenty emails.

SiteGround is the best value and they offer a free migration plugin for WordPress, however both services could provide more.

Round 7 – Scalability

Having a hosting provider that can accommodate your growth is essential, as otherwise your success might be short-lived if your provider can’t handle increased levels of web traffic.

If the SiteGround GoGeek plan does not fit your needs, there are other options available.

• SiteGround cloud hosting starts at $80 a month. It offers more flexibility than shared hosting, allowing you to increase your resources such as space and RAM memory quickly with one click. It’s perfect for when you experience sudden spikes in traffic. Remember that the data transfer limit is restricted to 5TB, which is a generous amount.
• SiteGround Enterprise hosting offers tailored solutions for big businesses.

Apart from shared hosting, Bluehost has other services available.

• Bluehost VPS gives you access to an SSD with extra power for approximately $30 a month.
• If you have a large project, then Bluehost’s dedicated server is ideal and comes with a cost of around $120 per month.

Both Bluehost and SiteGround provide similar high-level services like dedicated servers, rendering it a tie.

Round 8 – Security

SiteGround provides essential security measures such as SSL, SFTP, SSH and PHP 7 (with support for PHP 8). As part of their cybersecurity efforts, they check traffic to detect brute force attacks, update their security protocols on a regular basis and give the option of SG Site Scanner malware protection at an additional fee of $1.50 per month.

Bluehost’s SiteLock plans

Bluehost provides features like SSL, SFTP and SSH access. They also offer SiteLock at a yearly cost of $30, and they are transparent about it.

Conclusion

Bluehost Vs SiteGround is a close call, but SiteGround is the clear winner. It offers more features and better value for money. SiteGround’s free migration plugin makes it easy to move your website from one hosting provider to another, and their scalability options are perfect for businesses that experience sudden spikes in traffic. They also provide essential security measures such as SSL, SFTP, SSH and PHP 7 (with support for PHP 8). Bluehost provides similar features, but their SiteLock plans are more expensive and rumors have been spread over the internet that their websites can be vulnerable to hacking.