Bluehost is one of the most popular hosting providers in the market. If you search online for hosting recommendations, Bluehost is almost always mentioned somewhere. But is it the best option for people looking for a hosting provider? Today, we’ll compare it to another popular hosting company—InMotion Hosting. We’ll see how they perform in different areas of importance such as uptime, speed, features and more. By the end, we’ll see which one is better, and which one is more suited for your hosting needs.
Contents
Bluehost vs InMotion Hosting Comparison Chart
| Bluehost | InMotion Hosting | |
| Â |  |  |
| Price | Check Price at Bluehost.com | Check Price at InMotionHosting.com |
| Sites | Basic: 1 Plus: Unlimited Choice Plus: Unlimited Pro: Unlimited | Launch: 2 Power: 50 Pro: 100 |
| Storage | Basic: 50GB Plus: Unlimited Choice Plus: Unlimited Pro: Unlimited | Launch: 50GB Power: 100GB Pro: 200GB |
| Bandwidth | Unmetered | Unlimited |
| Free Domain | Yes | Yes |
| Free SSL Certificate | Yes | Yes |
| Email Accounts | Basic: 5 Plus: Unlimited Choice Plus: Unlimited Pro: Unlimited | Launch: 10 Power: 50 Pro: Unlimited |
| Free Site Builder | Yes | Yes |
| Free Site Migration | No | Yes |
| Uptime Guarantee | None | 99.9% (99.99% for Pro) |
| Google Ads Credits | $100 | $150 |
| Customer Support | 24/7 phone and chat Email tickets Knowledge base | 24/7 phone and chat Email tickets Knowledge base |
| Money Back | 30 days | 90 days |
Hosting Plans
Bluehost shared plans are priced lower than InMotion Hosting’s.
Both hosts offer different types of hosting solutions. For Bluehost, you can choose from shared hosting, WordPress hosting, dedicated servers, VPS and reseller hosting. With InMotion Hosting, the choices are shared hosting, cloud and managed VPS, WordPress hosting, customized hosting solutions, reseller hosting and enterprise hosting solutions.
When it comes to pricing, Bluehost is the more affordable option. Bluehost’s shared hosting plans start at $3.95/month, while InMotion Hosting’s cheapest shared plan is priced at $5.99/month.
Both hosts offer a money back guarantee. For Bluehost, it’s 30 days, and for InMotion Hosting, the money back guarantee is for 90 days.
Hosting Features
InMotion Hosting offers more advanced features than Bluehost.
Both hosts offer standard features such as SSD storage, unmetered bandwidth, 24/7 support and so on. However, InMotion gives users more useful features. Some of the standout features that you get with InMotion Hosting are the following: 90 days money back, choice of data center location, free site migration and better site security.
With a 90-day money back guarantee, you can see if InMotion Hosting is the right host for you for an extended period of time. Another feature that can be very useful is the choice of data center—InMotion Hosting has data centers in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
InMotion Hosting’s free site migration is a great feature for users with existing sites with other hosts. You don’t have to lift a finger during the migration process, as InMotion’s migration team will handle all of it. InMotion Hosting also offers better security than Bluehost. They regularly scan and patch your files so that your sites and data are not vulnerable. Furthermore, real-time spam filtering comes free with their plans, to help you filter spam and protect you from potential malware, hacking and any other security issues.
With Bluehost, you also get features that you don’t get with InMotion Hosting. Aside from the standard features, you are also given unlimited storage and an unlimited number of sites hosted. While these may not be as good as the features that you get with InMotion Hosting, these are still features worth considering, when picking which of the two hosting providers you will sign up with.
Ease of Use
Bluehost’s control panel is cleaner and easier to use.
Bluehost’s control panel is very user-friendly and easy to navigate. The clean layout allows you to navigate with ease, without being overwhelmed with options. You can see all the sites that you are currently hosting and you’ll also be able to log-in to any of your websites with just one click. Additionally, you can use the menu on the left side to purchase additional services, check your email or access cPanel.
In contrast, InMotion Hosting’s control panel is not as clean and a bit cluttered. However, you’ll be able to access more options immediately. You’ll be able to see your billing status, access cPanel, install programs and purchase additional services right on the main screen. Although it does not look as clean as Bluehost’s control panel, it is very functional and with a bit of getting used to, you’ll be able to navigate it easily as well.
Both hosts provide users with their own site builders. These site builders are great for newbies, as well as experienced website owners. With a drag and drop interface, you don’t need to have any technical knowledge when designing your site. You can just choose from the existing elements, then drag and drop them where you want to place them. It’s possible to design and finish a fully functional and good looking site within an hour with both of these site builders.
Overall, both hosts are great when it comes to user friendliness. Both Bluehost and InMotion Hosting provide users with easy-to-use tools to create sites and manage their account. However, we think that Bluehost’s control panel is a bit better in terms of design, layout and ease of use.
Reliability
InMotion Hosting performs better when it comes to uptime.
When choosing a host, reliability is a major factor that you need to consider. Reliability comes in the form of uptime and speed. InMotion comes with an uptime guarantee of 99.9%. On the Launch plan, the guaranteed uptime is 99.99%, and if they don’t reach that guarantee, your account will be credited. Bluehost does not come with any uptime guarantee.
Actual uptime for both Bluehost and InMotion Hosting are as follows: 99.95% for Bluehost and 99.99% for InMotion Hosting. As you can see, InMotion Hosting is able to match their uptime guarantee. As for Bluehost, an uptime of 99.95% is still considered very good.
Loading time or speed is also very important because people are impatient. If your site takes a while to load, nothing is stopping them from hitting that back button on their browsers. This can lead to a high bounce rate, and thus, have a negative impact on your search rankings and SEO effort.
With that said, both hosts are great when it comes to speed. Both of them had an average speed of 500-700ms on test sites with similar content. Any site that can fully load in under two seconds is in a great spot.
Both hosts performed well, with InMotion Hosting having an edge on uptime.
Verdict
InMotion Hosting offers more features and better performance, albeit at higher prices.
Bluehost is a good hosting provider for beginner website owners. Their prices are relatively cheap and they offer standard features that beginners will find useful. On the other hand, InMotion Hosting offers more expensive hosting plans with more advanced features that are better suited for mid-sized to large websites. If your site is receiving huge traffic and requires more resources, then you should go with InMotion Hosting.
FAQs
For smaller websites, Bluehost is the better option because of their cheaper prices. For larger websites, InMotion Hosting is better because they offer better performance and security, but at a higher cost.
Yes, Bluehost uses SSDs instead of mechanical hard drives.
For their shared hosting service, the best value plan is the Choice Plus. It offers the best set of features for the price.
InMotion Hosting is a reliable host that maintains good uptime and speed. Yes, they are a good hosting company that you should consider if you are looking for one.
