Before settling on a hosting provider, it’s important that you look at what they are offering and how they perform when it comes to important areas such as speed, uptime, reliability and so on. Today, we’ll be taking a look at two very popular hosts—Bluehost and GreenGeeks. Which one is right for you? Is Bluehost still the go-to shared hosting provider? Or is GreenGeeks the better choice? Read on to find out.
Contents
| Host | Bluehost | GreenGeeks |
| Â |  |  |
| Price | Check Price at Bluehost.com | Check Price at GreenGeeks.com |
| Sites | Basic: 1 website Plus: Unlimited Choice Plus: Unlimited Pro: Unlimited | Lite: 1 website Pro: Unlimited Premium: Unlimited |
| Web Space | Basic: 50GB Plus: Unlimited Choice Plus: Unlimited Pro: Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Bandwidth | Unmetered | Unmetered |
| Free Domain | 1 year | 1 year |
| Free SSL Certificate | Yes | Yes |
| Automated Backups | Basic: None Plus: None Choice Plus: 1 year Pro: Free | Yes |
| Free CDN | Yes | Yes |
| Email Accounts | Basic: 5 Plus: Unlimited Choice Plus: Unlimited Pro: Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Site Migration | Paid | Free |
| Customer Support | 24/7 phone and chat Knowledge base | 24/7 phone and chat Tickets Knowledge base |
| Money Back | 30 days | 30 days |
Hosting Plans
GreenGeeks’ shared plans are cheaper than Bluehost’s.
Bluehost’s hosting services consist of shared hosting, shared & managed WordPress, eCommerce hosting, VPS, dedicated servers and reseller hosting. They are mostly known for their shared hosting, which we’ll be taking a look at.
Their cheapest shared plan—Basic—starts at $3.95/month. This plan is limited to 1 hosted site and 50GB of disk space. The Plus ($5.95/mo), Choice Plus ($6.95/mo) and Pro ($13.95/mo) plans all come with unlimited sites hosted and storage. These plans also come with extra features such as free Office 365 access, free domain privacy (Choice Plus and Pro only) and automated backups and dedicated IP (Pro only).
As for GreenGeeks, they have one less hosting option when compared to Bluehost. GreenGeeks offers shared hosting, shared WordPress, VPS, dedicated servers and reseller hosting. Absent from the list is managed WordPress hosting.
When it comes to pricing, GreenGeeks’ shared hosting plans are more affordable. You can choose from three plans—Lite, Pro and Premium. The Lite plan starts at $2.49/month, while the Pro and Premium plans start at $4.95 and $8.95, respectively.
While GreenGeeks does offer cheaper shared hosting plans, it’s a different story when it comes to VPS and dedicated servers. Bluehost offers cheaper VPS and dedicated server hosting than GreenGeeks. The cheapest Bluehost VPS plan starts at $19.99/month, while GreenGeeks’ cheapest VPS plan starts at $39.95/month. Both Bluehost and GreenGeeks hosting plans come with a 30 day money back guarantee.
Features
GreenGeeks hosting plans come with more features.
Features-wise, you get more with GreenGeeks, as they offer some nice features that you won’t get with Bluehost. Both hosts provide you with the basics, such as a free domain for the first year, free SSL, unmetered bandwidth and so on. As for the extra features that you get, we’ll take a look at both, starting with GreenGeeks.
GreenGeeks
- Unlimited SSD storage – Even with their cheapest plan, you’ll get unlimited storage. With Bluehost’s cheapest shared plan, you only get 50GB of storage.
- Unlimited email accounts – Same with storage, you’ll get unlimited email accounts even on their cheapest shared plan.
- Free site migration – GreenGeeks offers free site migration for users with existing sites for free.
- Automated nightly backups – You can always restore your site to a recent version if you ever need to, thanks to GreenGeeks’ automated nightly backups. This feature is only available on Bluehost’s more expensive shared plans.
Bluehost
- Managed WordPress hosting – Bluehost offers managed WordPress hosting, while GreenGeeks is limited to shared WordPress.
- Free marketing credits – You’ll get $100 Google Ads credits when you sign up with Bluehost. This can help you get visitors to your site faster.
As you can see, GreenGeeks gives your more features, while also offering lower shared hosting prices. It’s clear that GreenGeeks wins this round.
Reliability
Both hosts perform very well when it comes to speed and uptime.
When it comes to performance, both hosts are good. They both use SSDs, which are better than mechanical hard drives. Both hosts also come with free CDN integration, for faster loading.
Bluehost does not offer any kind of uptime guarantee, while GreenGeeks promises that you will have a 99.9% uptime with them. As for their actual uptime, both maintained an average uptime of 99.95%.
Both hosts performed similarly as well when it came to speed or load times. The test sites hosted on both Bluehost and GreenGeeks had an average load time of around 600ms.
Performance-wise, both hosts are reliable. They both managed good uptime and fast load times.
Ease of Use and Support
Both hosting companies use cPanel and both hosts provide 24/7 customer support.
Bluehost comes with a customized cPanel, while GreenGeeks uses the standard cPanel. You’ll be able to navigate your account easily with both hosts, as the standard cPanel is very easy to use, and Bluehost’s customized cPanel does not drastically change how the standard cPanel works.
Both hosts also come with website builders for users that want to create a good looking site without any coding or technical knowledge. Both site builders come with several themes to choose from, a drag and drop interface and several other useful features. These site builders are great for both newbies and experienced website owners.
Bluehost and GreenGeeks both offer 24/7 customer support via chat and phone. Both of them also have useful knowledge bases for basic guides and tutorials. GreenGeeks, however, also provide users a ticketing system, if you prefer that mode of communication.
Verdict
If you are looking for a shared hosting provider, GreenGeeks offers cheaper plans with more features. However, if you are looking at VPS or dedicated servers, Bluehost prices are more affordable.
Choosing between GreenGeeks and Bluehost will come down to what type of hosting service you are looking for. For shared hosting, GreenGeeks is the better choice, simply because their plans are cheaper and they come with more useful features, such as free site migration and free daily/nightly backups. If you are looking to get a VPS or a dedicated server, you should definitely consider Bluehost. Their VPS and dedicated server plans are cheaper by a significant margin without skimping on too much features, unlike their shared plans.
FAQs
Yes, you are the owner of the domain name that you registered with Bluehost.
It depends on the type of hosting you are looking at. For shared hosting, GreenGeeks offers the better service. If you are looking at VPS or dedicated servers, Bluehost offers better pricing.
Yes, they offer reasonably priced hosting plans with good performance and features.
Yes, GreenGeeks uses cPanel.
