Is Bluehost worth it? I started there and then left
A review from someone with no reason to flatter it and no reason to attack it. It did the job for over two years, and I’d still recommend it to a specific kind of beginner.
11 June 2026
Bluehost is the most recommended host for new bloggers and the most criticised, usually by the same kind of person: someone with an affiliate link to a different host. I have an affiliate link to a different host. Here is the review anyway.
I built my first site on Bluehost and ran it there for more than two years before moving. Nothing dramatic happened. It worked, and then the renewal notice arrived.
The short answer
Yes, if you want the most-documented path into blogging and you’ll read the renewal price before you buy. No, if you’re the sort of person who finds upsell prompts genuinely irritating, because there are many.
What it genuinely does well
Onboarding. If you’ve never built a website, this matters more than any benchmark. You buy a plan, it installs WordPress, and you’re writing within the hour. I got started faster here than I’d have anywhere else.
Being the default. Every beginner tutorial, video and forum thread assumes Bluehost. When you’re new, following instructions that match your screen exactly is worth more than a marginally faster server.
The free domain. First year included, same as most hosts now, and it removes a decision at the point where decisions are what stop people.
What it does badly
The renewal. The introductory rate is what every review quotes. Year two is substantially higher, and that’s the single fact about Bluehost most worth knowing before you buy. It isn’t hidden — the price is published — but almost nobody looks.
The selling. Add-ons pre-selected at checkout, upgrades in the dashboard, prompts for things you didn’t ask about. None of it’s harmful and all of it’s wearing.
Email as an add-on. On most plans, professional email is a separate line. Some hosts bundle it now, which makes for fewer bills to track.
Who should buy it
Buy it if this is your first website, you’re following a tutorial that uses it, and you want the fewest possible unfamiliar steps between you and a published post. The 12-month plan is the one to take; the monthly rate is poor value and the multi-year terms are a bet on a future you can’t see yet.
Skip it if you’ve built a site before, or the year-two total is more than you want to pay. That’s why I moved to Hostinger, and the full comparison is in Hostinger vs Bluehost.
Bluehost is a good first host and a mediocre second one. That’s a reasonable thing for a product aimed at beginners to be.
The honest disclosure
Both links in this post pay me. They pay different amounts, which is exactly why I’m telling you that I no longer use Bluehost and why the renewal section sits above the recommendation rather than below it.
If you buy through either link, you’re paying the same price you would have paid anyway. If you would rather not, search the brand name directly — the review doesn’t change.
Common questions
Is Bluehost good for beginners?
Yes, and that’s its main argument. The onboarding installs WordPress for you and every beginner tutorial on the internet assumes this dashboard, so the instructions you follow will match your screen.
How much does Bluehost cost after the first year?
Substantially more than the advertised rate. The renewal price is published rather than hidden, and checking it before you buy is the single most useful thing you can do.
Is Bluehost slow?
Not noticeably, for a text-heavy blog at small traffic. Anyone presenting budget shared hosting as a speed decision is writing to a commission.
Can I move away from Bluehost later?
Yes. I did, and the hands-on work was under an hour because the new host handled the migration. Your site stays up throughout.
Is the free domain really free?
For the first year. After that it renews at the normal rate, and on some hosts the domain is bundled into the plan price instead.
Jean
I started blogging in 2019 and began taking it seriously in January. Everything I recommend I have paid for myself, including both hosts I write about — the full list is in my stack. The site has earned $145 so far, and I publish the numbers every quarter. More about this site.
I review the tools I’ve paid for, and publish what the site earns every quarter.
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