Finding a good website host is an essential step for the success of your online business. There are some popular choices, but popular doesn’t always mean better. Siteground and Bluehost are two such popular choices as web hosts. Let’s look at these two hosts and provide a comparison of Siteground vs Bluehost to help you make an informed choice for your online business website.
Siteground
Siteground is a web hosting provider with over 2 million users. If you are looking for stable, secure, feature-rich services at an affordable price, Siteground is a fantastic option.
Siteground has server locations around the world, which is unique for hosting providers. Their innovative approach to security and speed and constant improvements are what make them so popular. Let’s take a closer look at what Siteground has to offer for web hosting services.
Siteground Pros
- Nearly 100% uptime
- High-speed site hosting
- Easy-to-use interface
- Excellent customer support
- Server locations around the world
- Advanced feature availability and free site integrations with Cloudflare or Let’sEncrypt
- Unlimited website traffic volumes
- The ability to add multiple users to manage your website
Siteground Cons
- Price
- Cost for site migration if you do not have a WordPress site
- Each plan comes with a max database size limit
- A limited number of websites per plan
Speed
High-speed website loading is key to the success of your online business website. Users don’t stick around to view sites that don’t load well. It doesn’t matter how good your content is if your site isn’t accessible.
There’s no getting around it; Siteground is fast. They have recently upgraded to Google Cloud data centers and implemented Ultra-fast PHP, making their websites 40% faster than before the upgrade. Websites have gained 30% in performance, which adds tremendous value to your website. Looking at different locations worldwide, Siteground has an average load speed between 0.35 seconds and 0.9 seconds.
Siteground is one of very few hosting provides that allows you to choose your server location to make your website faster. You can select a server closest to your client base, and Siteground has multiple server locations in Europe, India, the US, Brazil, Singapore, and Australia.
Security
Siteground takes a very proactive approach to web security. They have an in-house security monitoring system that runs checks every 0.5 seconds and automatically fixes some issues. AI-anti-bot blocks block traffic from reaching their client’s websites, and they have a 24/7 security administration team. Their recent shift to Google Cloud data centers gives them access to the same security measures enacted by Google.
Siteground and WordPress
Siteground is among the website hosts explicitly recommended by WordPress. They only recommend three hosting sites for use with their web design platform. Siteground does offer managed WordPress hosting with very competitive rates and includes auto-updating and free WordPress site migrations. They also have an optimizer that will improve your site performance by 200-300%.
Siteground Plans
If you choose Siteground as your web hosting services, you will find they offer three shared hosting plans. There is no limit to website traffic, unlimited email accounts, a 30-day-money-back guarantee, and 24-hour customer support provided with all plans. The amount of storage offered is different for each plan, with 10, 20, and 40 GB limits.
Who is Siteground Not Suitable For?
There are a few situations where Siteground might not be the best hosting service for your online business. These include:
- If you need cheap hosting
- If you need a Windows-based server
- If you need a lot of webspace
- If you need to host more than five websites
If your needs meet any of these criteria, Siteground may not be the hosting service for you.
Bluehost
Bluehost is a widely popular web hosting provider. It boasts strong customer service, great uptimes, and value for your money. Bluehost is a top competitor for WordPress site hosting, but some of the features they offer are stronger than others. Let’s look at what sets Bluehost apart from the pack regarding Web hosting for your online business.
Bluehost Pros
- Bluehost has an uptime guarantee of 99.98%
- Bluehost is rated as the best in WordPress hosting and has been recommended since 2005 by WordPress.org for hosting services
- Bluehost’s pricing scheme is competitive, even after the first year of your plan. There are multiple tiered pricing plans with affordable options for every type of hosting service
Bluehost Cons
- Many add-ons will be snuck into your cart if you don’t uncheck them before purchasing your plan.
- Bluehost only offers a small amount of storage on its basic plans compared to other hosting services.
Types of Hosting on Bluehost
- Shared: The cheapest and most basic service.
- Shared WordPress: The most basic service for WordPress sites.
- WooCommerce: Hosting for online stores using WordPress.
- VPS: Designed for business websites that need more services than offered in the basic plan.
- Managed WordPress: An upgrade on WordPress hosting with extra features.
- Dedicated servers: The most powerful hosting option, but also the most expensive.
Bluehost and WordPress
We’ve already stated that WordPress recommends Bluehost as its top hosting provider, which says something because there are a lot of WordPress hosts available. Bluehost is probably the best host for your online business if you are dead set on a WordPress site. If you decide Bluehost is the best hosting site, then it’s probably best to go with WordPress for your site design using WordPress.org, then install it with one click on Bluehost.
Bluehost Features
Domain Registration
There is free domain registration offered to some users when signing up for a one-year plan with Bluehost. You will, however, have to pay a domain registration fee of $10-15.
Website Builder
Bluehost has a drag-and-drop website building tool that’s easy to use for beginner web designers.
Data Transfer
Most of Bluehost’s plans offer unlimited data transfer. Bluehost also provides CPU protection, which we will discuss later.
cPanel
Bluehost uses the standard cPanel control panel design for site management. Free backups are also offered.
Storage
Basic plans off 50 GB of storage up to unlimited if you pay for add-ons.
CPU Protection
CPU protection is a policy employed by Bluehost for all shared hosting plans. Shared hosting means your site is not alone on its server. Because multiple users are paying for that server, shared plans can be offered at much lower prices. The catch to this is that not all websites need equal access to the server’s hardware, so Bluehost brought in CPU protection.
If you are running a website on a shared server that requires excessive demands on the server, your site will be denied access to extra hardware resources. The end result of this policy may render your site inaccessible or very slow to load.
The good news regarding Bluehost’s CPU protection policy is that it’s rare to be targeted by it. If, however, your website receives an unexpected spike in traffic volume, whether because of a sale or a popular blog article, you may end up with a crashed website. Poorly coded JavaScript that overruns has also cause CPU protection to be enabled, but it’s not an issue for most users.
Pricing
Bluehost offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on all of its hosting plans. Its cheapest plan starts at $2.95/month for the first year, rising to $7.99/month after that. Dedicated hosting plans start at $79.99/month.
As with most hosting providers, added costs can accidentally land in your cart if you don’t uncheck all the boxes. Some of the add-ons may be worth the price, and some won’t. Here are the most common add-on features you will find: SSL certificates, CodeGuard backups, Office 365, and extra domains. It’s important to note that the 30-day money-back guarantee does not apply to additional add-on features.
Security
Bluehost offers several free security features, including Spam Assassin protection, hotlink protection, and Secure Shell access. If you are looking to grow your site or sell products online, you may want to invest in extra security features. SSL certificates and advanced e-commerce security are available but will cost up to $23.88 annually to add in.
Site Migration
If you currently have a website for your online business and are looking to switch host providers, this feature will be necessary. The cPanel system makes it easy to migrate your site without surprises, but Bluehost does not provide free site migration. While it’s not free, their system for migration is flawless.
It will cost you $149.99 to migrate your site onto Bluehost servers. You can move up to five websites and 20 email accounts for this price. Bluehost will take complete control of moving your site, and they guarantee almost no downtime through the process.
They offer 24/7 support once the migration is complete. The fact that you don’t have to migrate your website yourself may be enough to justify the cost. Bluehost is unique in taking complete control of the process.
WordPress sites are eligible for free migration with Bluehost. Once you have signed up for a hosting plan, you will be connected with a Bluehost expert to migrate your WordPress site free of charge.
Customer Support
Bluehost offers a knowledge base and a live chat for customer support. Wait times appear to average no more than 10 minutes on the live chat, which places responsiveness levels for Bluehost far above its competition. If you prefer to find your own answers, their website’s knowledge base is extensive. It’s divided into categories and provides instant answers to common help questions.
Siteground vs. Bluehost
Speed Test
Siteground is twice as fast as Bluehost when testing an identical website from the same location. This high-speed loading remains when tested from around the world.
For example, in Frankfurt, the load time of Siteground is 0.6 seconds compared to 2.5 seconds for Bluehost. The lowest load time anywhere for Siteground is 0.35 seconds; Bluehost’s lowest is 2.0 seconds.
While Bluehost has average load times, Siteground’s are far above average, with loading times below one second, anywhere in the world. Bluehost only has servers in the US, whereas Siteground has several spanning the globe. The ability to change servers at any time also gives Siteground a leg up in the speed department.
Popularity
Siteground has grown from hosting 500,000 websites in 2015 to over 2.6 million in 2021, increasing over five times in the past six years. Bluehost has recorded no growth in the past five years.
Bluehost is still more popular than Siteground overall, but the gap is narrowing.
Plans and Pricing
The Siteground starter plan is $3.99/month compared to $5.95 for Bluehost. Choosing the right Siteground plan is critical, as Siteground limits the amount of data per plan. Siteground provides automatic backups and one-click restoration for all their websites. Bluehost uses a third-party tool for backups, and it will cost you $8/month to use it.
Overall, Siteground has higher performance and better features with their plans, but Bluehost is cheaper in the long term.
Uptime
Bluehost and Siteground are comparable concerning uptimes. Both boast a 99.99% uptime. The only difference is that Siteground offers you free hosting service if your site performs below the 99.9% uptime guarantee.
Comparison at a Glance
| Siteground | Bluehost | |
| User Interface | Very beginner-friendly. Uses SiteTool, not cPanel. | It is not recommended for beginners. Uses cPanel. |
| Server location and speed | USA, UK, Netherlands, Germany, Singapore, Australia Averages less than one second load time | USA Averages 2-3 seconds load time |
| Uptime | 99.9% guarantee, free hosting if the guarantee is not met | 99.9% guarantee, no refunds if not met |
| WordPress and Cloud | WordPress recommends it. The entire platform has shifted to Google Cloud hosting. | Recommended by WordPress. Cloud hosting is merely an extension of their shared hosting. |
| Pricing | 30-day money-back guarantee. $30 site transfer, free backups, no free domain name | 30-day money-back guarantee. $149 site transfer, $8/month for on-demand backups, free domain name |
| Customer Support | Average wait time: 5-10 secs Ranked #1 for customer support | Average wait time: 2-3 minutes Ranked #4 for customer support |
The Final Verdict
In a nutshell, Siteground is an overall better company to work with over Bluehost. Their services are better, their pricing is competitive, and their customer service is top-notch. Here are some of the reasons we would choose Siteground over Bluehost:
- High uptime record
- Money-back guarantee
- Multiple servers for high-speed website loading
- Automated data backups and quick restores
- Effective web security
- Knowledgeable, efficient customer support team
- Discounted pricing for your first billing cycle.
FAQ
Is Siteground Slow?
No, Siteground is one of the fastest web hosts in the market, with consistent load times of under one second from anywhere in the world.
Is Siteground Expensive?
Siteground has three pricing tiers for shared hosting plans.
| Startup | GrowBig | GoGeek | |
| First Year | $3.99/month | $6.69/month | $10.69/month |
| Renewal | $14.99/month | $24.99/month | $39.99/month |
How Do I Switch From Bluehost to SiteGround?
Siteground will give you full site migration with their DG Migrator plugin. Once you have purchased and signed up for a Siteground hosting plan, you simply contact customer support, and they will manually transfer your site from any platform. If you have a WordPress website, this migration is free of charge. It will cost $30 for other sites.
Is SiteGround or Bluehost Faster?
Siteground has faster loading times than Bluehost. Siteground consistently has website loading times under one second, whereas Bluehost’s load times are between 2-3 seconds.
Recommendations – Our Top Choices for Web Hosting
Liquid Web
Liquid Web is a hosting company that is focused on internet-based and cloud-based businesses. It’s well designed for startups and online businesses. The mission statement for Liquid Web is ‘Powering Your Business Potential.’
Kinsta
If you’re looking for a WordPress hosting platform, Kinsta might be a great option. They have remote support experts in every time zone, making it easier to access customer service and pride themselves on speed and performance.
WP Engine
As implied by the name, this is another option for WordPress hosting. WP Engine boasts of high security, user-friendly web development tools, and extensive customer support.
A2 Hosting
A2 Hosting is a Canadian Web hosting company with a focus on customer service and user-friendliness. Testimonial data suggests that they are promptly available and that their platform is user-friendly. If you want to focus more on growing your online business than becoming tech-savvy to design your website, the easy to build website features offered by A2 hosting might be helpful.
Bluehost
Bluehost is one of the 20 largest hosting sites in the world. It offers a variety of hosting solutions and online web development programs. Bluehost has fast servers, excellent value hosting packages, and good customer support. Their use of the standard cPanel is user-friendly, and overall they have a stable performance record.
HostGator
This hosting platform tops the list for WordPress hosting providers. HostGator offers one-click WordPress installations, a guarantee of 99.9% uptime, and 24/7 customer support. The very accessible and helpful customer support team at HostGator is the reason for their popularity.
Siteground
Siteground is a web hosting provider with over 2 million users. If you are looking for stable, secure, feature-rich services at an affordable price, Siteground is a fantastic option.
Hostinger
Hostinger is one of the fastest-growing web hosting companies with a variety of services. It’s also one of the most small-business-friendly solutions.
Conclusion
There are so many hosting options that it can be hard to decide which one to choose. When it comes to Siteground vs Bluehost remember that some hosting services offer the opportunity to cancel anytime, while others have contracts that lock you in. Money-back guarantees do offer you some leeway if you aren’t satisfied with your first choice. Hopefully, our reviews can help you to choose the best hosting service for your business to stand out and stay on top.
