Hostinger vs Bluehost – Will The Cheap Or The Popular Win?

I usually recommend Bluehost and Hostinger a lot. They are both great reputable companies offering affordable options for web hosting beginners. But the question is, what are the differences and which would be better for your website?

In this Hostinger vs Bluehost comparison, I will find that out.

I’ve compared the performance and technologies these two use, looked at the pricing differences, support, and extra features. So let’s find out which provider works best for what type of user. 

PricingHostinger vs Bluehost Pricing

Hostinger immediately looks like a cheaper option. Its cheapest Single shared hosting plan is priced at $0.99 a month. But only if you buy for 4 years which would be a single payment of $47.52. Meanwhile, Bluehost’s cheapest plan is $2.95 a month with a 3-year subscription. That’s $106.2 in total.

On average, Bluehost will be around 50% to 55% more expensive than Hostinger on every plan tier. 

Why’s that and does this mean you should turn away from them?

Not necessarily. You see, Bluehost is a company with an established reputation doing lots of marketing. So they tend to have a little premium on top of the regular price.

Meanwhile, Hostinger is a relatively young company that’s focusing on building a user base with affordable yet powerful plans. It’s now the golden time to get their plans for affordable rates before they turn into something that Bluehost is now. 

So how do the server resources and features of these 2 compare?

• Hostinger: with the cheapest plan, you get 10GB of disk space and 100GB of bandwidth with a free SSL certificate. That’s enough for a blog, portfolio, or another type of personal website.
• Bluehost: the cheapest plan will give you 50GB of disk space and unlimited bandwidth with a free domain for a year and a free SSL certificate. However, it only allows hosting one site, so the plan is best for all types of personal websites like blogs and portfolios.

Despite the obvious difference in disk space, the only real advantage of Bluehost is the free domain. You see, 40GB disk space difference will not mean much as most users won’t ever go over the 10GB mark for 1 website.

So with Hostinger, the domain will be an extra expense while Bluehost is already more expensive. Fortunately, Hostinger offers cheap domains that are around 2 times cheaper than Bluehost’s. 

Also, Hostinger will give you a free domain starting with 2-tier plan.

So Hostinger tends to be cheaper while offering the same value. However, pricing alone is not the main thing that decides what the provider is actually worth.

PerformanceHostinger vs Bluehost Performance

The performance comparison of Hostinger vs Bluehost is where the real differences showed up. Hostinger loaded a completely new WordPress installation in 1.2 seconds while Bluehost loaded its WordPress installation in 2.9 seconds.

Bluehost is twice as slow as Hostinger is fast. And let’s keep in mind that Hostinger is achieving this result on a $1 a month plan. 

So how is this possible?

While being cheap, Hostinger is actually a performance-focused company. They have all the latest technology like LiteSpeed servers, PHP 7.4, and SSD storage instead of HDD. They also run in part on Google Cloud infrastructure.

On the other hand, Bluehost had their last performance upgrade back in 2017 and are focusing more on features now. So while that was not too long ago, technology in terms of performance boomed in that time, leaving Bluehost behind.

But just speed on a completely empty website is not a definitive answer. We need users on them to see how they’ll handle the stress.

Using K6 Cloud software, I’ve sent 50 users to both Hostinger and Bluehost websites to see if the performance takes a dip.

And with Hostinger, yeah. Took a dip it did. Hostinger’s $1 plan was not apple to reliably handle 50 virtual users at the same time without slowing the website down.

You see that blue line skyrocketing at one point? That’s where Hostinger failed the test.

As a point of reference, 50 visitors at the same time would equal tens of thousands (if not a hundred) visitors monthly. That’s a lot.

Meanwhile, Bluehost being a little slower, was able to keep its speed and handled the traffic without any problems.

See that blue line? It’s perfectly stable.

So what does this mean?

Hostinger is faster while Bluehost is more reliable. If you have just a few visitors, you’ll get better value with Hostinger. However, if your site is constantly visited by dozens of users at the same time, Bluehost is more logical.

Ease of UseEase of Use

When it comes to ease of use and user interfaces for hosting management, both Hostinger and Bluehost are on a similar level. Both of the providers feature modern interfaces that work to guide new users towards creating their first website.

First up, Hostinger.

Once you first log in to your account, the provider will have 3 basic setup steps ready for you – hosting setup, domain setup, and SSL setup (given that you got or purchased a domain from Hostinger).

All you need to do go through each setup wizard and you'll have a brand new website with a domain and SSL.

Then, just simply install your chosen application using the control panel and continue building your site.

Talking about the control panel, it's simple and easy to understand – you definitely won't get lost.

Next, Bluehost.

The web hosting giant does not disappoint either. Similar to Hostinger, it also has a setup wizard/guide. So you are greeted by these step-by-step interactive instructions which you can reach any time.

They make sure you won't get lost if it's your first time building a site and you don't know what goes after what. So just simply start by clicking "Create New Site" and follow the steps.

If you need something more advanced, there's the "Advanced" tab for that. Here, you'll reach the old classics – cPanel.

cPanel is meant for the domain, email, database, and other advanced stuff management. So Bluehost combines that initial ease of use and also the more sophisticated features for full control.

Most importantly, is there a winner?

Uh, no. In terms of Bluehost vs Hostinger ease of use, they are both great. No matter you are a beginner or a pro – these web hosting providers are easy to use and have all the tools to manage your hosting.

Extra FeaturesExtra Features

Speed and pricing are important, but the value you get from additional features can also highly impact your experience. So at this point of the comparison, I’m looking at all the added bonuses you get with Hostinger and Bluehost.

Starting off, Hostinger takes the points for one of the best features it offers – global data centers. 

You can select any server location for your website – the United States, Netherlands, Lithuania, UK, and Singapore. This allows you to bring your website as close to your users as possible. The less distance is between them, the faster it can load. 

Furthermore, Hostinger implements all the latest technology on theirs servers so they can be as fast as physically possible. In my full Hostinger analysis, you can see that it. works.

Meanwhile, Bluehost has data centers only in the United States. So, it is going to perform best for clients from the United States only while Hostinger will cater to users from across the globe. Also, their last performance upgrade came in 2017 so technology is not brand-new.

However, Bluehost has some advantages when it comes to managing your WordPress website.

One of the key features possible with Bluehost is staging.

It allows you to create a copy of your website and test out all the changes there. Once everything works as it should, you’ll be able to release them to the original version. Visitors will be able to browse the original website while you’re working on the changes without being affected and you’ll reduce the risk of stuff going wrong.

Another helpful thing that Bluehost offers is the Marketing Center.

Here, you’ll be able to launch Google Ads campaigns or add your business to Google Maps without leaving Bluehost’s dashboard. You can also order SEO services so the provider will help you rank better on your chosen keywords.

In short, Hostinger is a company focused on speed that can deliver great results for international websites. Bluehost, on the other hand, specializes in helping your business grow in the US markets.

Customer SupportCustomer Support

Bluehost is the immediate winner in terms of support. It has 24/7 email, live chat, and phone support options. Meanwhile, Hostinger is only available via 24/7 live chat or email. All would be great, but Hostinger was actually turning the live chat off during the 2020 spring lockdown which immediately gives the win off to Bluehost.

So, Hostinger live chat – long story short:

When 2020 lockdown hit, they weren’t able to keep up with all the clients and had to switch to email-only mode. The live chat became a paid option despite the promise of 24/7 chat support year-round.

But at the time of me writing this Hostinger vs Bluehost comparison, all is back to normal. The live chat is available for every user 24/7.

Meanwhile, Bluehost did keep all of their options open. My experience with the provider tells that the response times did get longer, but not too significantly.

So in terms of reliability, Bluehost takes the win. As for the experience and accuracy, I’d often get better answers with Hostinger. But again, that depends on the agent you get. 

In any case, Hostinger lost some of my trust by disabling the live chat and I just have to go with the more reliable option here – Bluehost.

RecommendationHostinger vs Bluehost – My Recommendation

Both providers proved to be great in this Hostinger vs Bluehost comparison. But with all the wins and losses taken into account, who should choose Hostinger and who – Bluehost?

Well, Hostinger will work best if you have a really tight budget but need great performance in various locations across the globe.

Bluehost is best if you’re building a United-States-located business and want help with your online presence and strategy. Your site might be slower than with Hostinger but it will run reliably even when the traffic peaks.

Really, you can not go too wrong with either of the options. Hostinger will be cheaper while Bluehost a little bit more reliable and business-focused.