Blue Host Web Hosting Review

Blue Host is a solid performer in the shared web hosting market, offering excellent services and a trusted reputation. While their hosting accounts perform very well, they leave a bit to be desired in billing terms and customer support. Read on to learn of our experience setting up web hosting with Blue Host.

Signup Process - Blue Host Web Hosting

Signup Process Score: 96

Blue Host's signup process is beautifully simple: enter your domain name on the first screen, fill in all of your billing information and select your term on the next, confirm the details, and your account is setup.

The only point that could cause confusion is where they list the billing terms - selecting either 12 month or 24 month terms (7.95 per month or 6.95 per month, respectively). These amounts are billed upfront, not on a monthly recurring basis with a minimum commitment. It would be nice if this were made a little more clear, as some people may not realize exactly what they are agreeing to at this point.

Quality of Services - Blue Host Web Hosting

Services Score: 95

Blue Host's services are a great value for the price. Each account comes with 300 GB of storage space and 3000 GB of monthly transfer, which should be plenty for most websites. Additionally, Blue Host allows unlimited domains, 2500 email accounts, unlimited subdomains, and 50 MySQL databases.

Each account is configured to make use of PHP5, which is a key differentiator from some other web hosts. This is particularly significant if you plan to handle XML file loading, which PHP5 makes easy work of.

From a performance and reliability standpoint, we encountered no problems with our Blue Host account. It was an excellent performer.

Billing Evaluation - Blue Host Web Hosting

Billing Score: 85

Blue Host's billing was accurate, but unfortunately requires annual or biennial billing. We far prefer shorter terms, as it gives the user more control in the event of poor service. Our experience with Blue Host indicates that their level of service should alleviate this concern, but it is certainly worth noting.

For committing to the same term length, many other hosts will discount services much below Blue Host's price.

Support - Blue Host Web Hosting

Support Score: 78

While Blue Host's technical support representatives were able to easily resolve the hypothetical problems we posed to them, it was only after long wait times that we were able to speak with them.

Our average wait time when attempting to contact Blue Host for support, over 10 attempts at various times of the day, exceeded 5 minutes, with a long hold time of 12 minutes. Blue Host does notify you of the number of callers in queue in front of you when you first call in, and they also update your status while holding. As a result, practical hold time could be reduced by hanging up and trying back later if a large queue is noted.