Bluehost and DigitalOcean offer different web hosting services that suit different users, but they are both excellent options for website owners who want cost-effective hosting options. Experienced developers who know their way around servers will more likely prefer cloud hosting providers like DigitalOcean. Meanwhile, Bluehost has hosting plans that are good enough for the average user.
To help you decide where you should host your website, we hone in on the pricing, hosting features (including WordPress hosting), performance, and reliability of Bluehost and DigitalOcean.
Contents
Bluehost vs DigitalOcean Web Hosting Comparison Chart
| Name | Bluehost | DigitalOcean |
| Â |  |  |
| Pricing | Check Pricing at Bluehost.com | Check Pricing at DigitalOcean.com |
| Best For | Affordable hosting plans | All-SSD cloud hosting services |
| Cloud Hosting | No | Yes |
| Unlimited Traffic | Yes | No |
| Storage Tiers | Shared: 50GB SSD to Unlimited VPS: 30 to 120GB Dedicated: 500GB to 1 TB | Basic Droplets: 25GB to 320GB General Purpose Droplets: 25GB to 500GB CPU-Optimized Droplets: 25GB to 800GB Memory-Optimized Droplets: 50GB to 4.69TB Storage-Optimized Droplets: 300GB to 7.03TB |
| Monthly Bandwidth | Shared: N/A VPS: 1 to 3 TB Dedicated: 5 to 15 TB | Basic Droplets: 1TB to 6TB General Purpose Droplets: 4TB to 9TB CPU-Optimized Droplets: 4TB to 9TB Memory-Optimized Droplets: 4TB to 10TB Storage-Optimized Droplets: 4TB to 10TB |
| Hosting Services | WordPress Hosting Managed WordPress Hosting WooCommerce Hosting Shared Hosting VPS Hosting Dedicated Hosting | Cloud Hosting Kubernetes App Platform Container Registry |
| 1-Click WordPress Install | Yes | Yes |
| Hosting Interface | cPanel | DigitalOcean Interface |
| Free Content Delivery Network | Yes, Cloudflare | Yes |
| Free SSL Certificates | Yes | No |
| Free Domain | Yes, on the first year | No |
| Free Email | Yes | No |
| Lets You Choose a Data Center | No | Yes |
| Customer Support | 24/7 chat, phone, ticket | Chat, phone, ticket |
| Money Back Guarantee | 30 days | No |
Pricing
Bluehost plans start at $2.95/month while DigitalOcean’s starts at $5/month or at an hourly basis
Bluehost offers a wide range of hosting plans to cater to different website owner’s needs. The shared hosting plans (Basic, Plus, Choice Plus, and Pro) are the cheapest option, starting at $2.95 for one website install and up to 50GB SSD storage. If you want to install more websites and need more storage, the rest of the plans can support these. All of the shared hosting plans also include a free SSL certificate, CDN through Cloudflare, and one year of free domain registration.
Bluehost also offers VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting services, perhaps the most similar to DigitalOcean’s cloud hosting services. Bluehost’s VPS hosting plans include:
- Standard: starts at $18.99/month and includes 2 cores, 2GB RAM, 1 TB bandwidth, and 30GB SSD
- Enhanced: starts at $29.99/month and includes 2 cores, 4GB RAM, 2 TB bandwidth, 60GB SSD, and 2 IP addresses
- Ultimate: starts at $59.99/month and includes 4 cores, 8GB RAM, 3 TB bandwidth, 120GB SSD, and 2 IP addresses
DigitalOcean has a couple of pricing plans for its different Droplets, the provider’s virtual cloud servers that host your websites or apps. You can choose to be charged hourly or monthly, depending on how you prefer to be billed. There’s also an option to pre-pay using PayPal. Here are the different Droplets you can choose from depending on your hosting requirements:
- Basic Droplets: 1GB to 16GB memory, 1 to 8 virtual CPU, 25GB to 320GB SSD, and 1TB to 6TB bandwidth ($5 to $80/month)
- General Purpose Droplets: 8GB to 160GB memory, 2 to 40 virtual CPU, 25GB to 500GB SSD, and 4TB to 9TB bandwidth ($60 to $1200/month)
- CPU-Optimized Droplets: 4GB to 64GB memory, 2 to 32 virtual CPU, 25GB to 800GB SSD, and 4TB to 9TB bandwidth ($40 to $720/month)
- Memory-Optimized Droplets: 16GB to 256GB memory, 2 to 32 virtual CPU, 50GB to 4.69TB SSD, and 4TB to 10TB bandwidth ($80 to $2000/month)
- Storage-Optimized Droplets: 16GB to 256GB memory, 2 to 32 virtual CPU, 300GB to 7.03TB SSD, and 4TB to 10TB bandwidth ($125 to $2,480/month)
WordPress Hosting & Pricing
Both offer one-click WordPress installs, but only Bluehost offers Managed WordPress Hosting Plans
Bluehost and DigitalOcean feature one-click WordPress install so you don’t have to manually add your WordPress files. With that said, users who are not web developers will find Bluehost easier to use and less intimidating to set up. Bluehost even offers managed WordPress hosting plans so you don’t have to worry about backups, security, and plugin updates.
Bluehost’s Managed WordPress hosting plans range from $19.95/month to $49.95/month, with the higher-tier plans offering more storage, traffic, and bandwidth.
When it comes to WordPress website staging, Bluehost still edges out DigitalOcean in terms of ease of use. You can stage your website on Bluehost even in its Basic Plan. With DigitalOcean, you can use software like DesktopServer or WP Stagecoach for your staging site.
Additional Hosting Features
Bluehost offers dedicated hosting and private IP addresses; both hosting providers let you host an app through their app platforms
As we have mentioned above, Bluehost and DigitalOcean offer different hosting services. Unlike DigitalOcean, Bluehost doesn’t offer cloud hosting services. Meanwhile, Bluehost offers shared, VPS, and dedicated hosting plans. With dedicated hosting, you can get a private IP address and dedicated CPU and RAM, features not available to DigitalOcean.
If you’re an app developer or want to start building your own apps, both hosting providers allow you to host them on their platform. Bluehost lets you use AppMachine for free while designing and only charges you when you publish the app to your preferred app store. DigitalOcean, likewise, has an App Platform that lets you build up to three static sites for free.
Performance & Reliability
Both hosting providers are reliable and have excellent uptime
Where DigitalOcean edges out Bluehost is in its high benchmark scores and the fact that it lets you choose your server location, something that can make a difference in your website’s loading speed. With that said, both hosting providers have a proven history of excellent uptime. Perhaps an important thing to note is DigitalOcean is transparent with your chosen Droplet’s RAM and how it can support larger memory requirements (up to 256GB) than Bluehost.
Where DigitalOcean falls short is in customer support. Bluehost provides 24/7 phone, live chat, and ticket support for its users while DigitalOcean only supports email and support tickets.
Verdict
Bluehost is simpler and easier to set-up while DigitalOcean is best for users who have more experience with hosting and web/app development
First and foremost, if you’ve never set up your own server before, stick to Bluehost. DigitalOcean may provide a cost-effective and fast cloud hosting service, but it’s not the most beginner-friendly option.
With that said, choosing between the two depends on your hosting requirements. If you need dedicated hosting and private IP, Bluehost has plans that fit your needs. Meanwhile, if you want a fast cloud hosting provider and need larger memory and storage capacity DigitalOcean is one of the top options out there that won’t break the bank.
FAQs
One is not necessarily better than the other. Bluehost offers shared, VPS, and dedicated hosting plans, while DigitalOcean only offers cloud hosting services.
Yes, you can easily install WordPress to DigitalOcean.
Not anymore. Bluehost used to offer cloud hosting, but they stopped in 2018.
Both hosting providers let you install WordPress easily. If you’re after an easier and more convenient set-up experience, then Bluehost better fits you as its plans include a free SSL certificate and one-year domain registration.
