If you’re looking for a cheap web hosting solution, there are a lot of options out there, and Bluehost and JustHost are two of the most popular choices. Both hosting companies are known for affordable hosting and if you’ve narrowed down your choices to these two, we’re here to help you decide which one you should go for.
Bluehost and JustHost are sister companies under the EIG umbrella. You’ll find that their services are pretty similar when it comes to features but their performance in different areas are not quite the same. We’ll compare both and see where they differ so that you can make an informed choice.
Bluehost vs JustHost Comparison Chart
| Bluehost | JustHost | |
 |  | |
| Price | Check Price at Bluehost.com | Check Price at JustHost.com |
| Websites | Basic: 1 Plus: Unlimited Choice Plus: Unlimited Pro: Unlimited | Basic: 1 Plus: Unlimited Choice Plus: Unlimited Pro: Unlimited |
| Storage | Basic: 50GB Plus: Unmetered Choice Plus: Unmetered Pro: Unmetered | Basic: 50GB Plus: Unmetered Choice Plus: Unmetered Pro: Unmetered |
| Bandwidth | Unmetered for all plans | Unmetered for all plans |
| SSL Certificate | Free for all plans | Free for all plans |
| Included Domains | 1 for all plans | 1 for all plans |
| Email Accounts | Basic: 5 Plus: Unlimited Choice Plus: Unlimited Pro: Unlimited | Basic: 5 Plus: Unlimited Choice Plus: Unlimited Pro: Unlimited |
| Ad Credits | $200 Google and Microsoft | Basic: none $200 Google and Microsoft for the rest of the plans |
| Spam Prevention | Basic: add-on Plus: Spam Experts Choice Plus: Spam Experts Pro: Spam Experts | Basic: add-on Plus: Spam Experts Choice Plus: Spam Experts Pro: Spam Experts |
| Domain Privacy | Basic: none Plus: 1 domain Choice Plus: 1 domain Pro: 1 domain | Basic: none Plus: 1 domain Choice Plus: 1 domain Pro: 1 domain |
| Backup | Basic: add-on Plus: add-on Choice Plus: CodeGuard Basic Pro: CodeGuard Basic | Basic: add-on Plus: add-on Choice Plus: CodeGuard Basic Pro: CodeGuard Basic |
| Dedicated IP | Basic: none Plus: none Choice Plus: none Pro: 1 | Basic: none Plus: none Choice Plus: none Pro: 1 |
| Money-Back Guarantee | 30 days | 30 days |
Hosting Plans
Both Bluehost and JustHost offer similar features for their plans but Bluehost has cheaper prices.
Bluehostoffers shared, managed WordPress, eCommerce, VPS, dedicated, and reseller hosting services. JustHost, on the other hand, offers shared, VPS, and dedicated packages. Both hosts offer several hosting packages but in this price comparison, we’ll be taking a look at their shared plans. If you are choosing between these two hosts, you’re most likely looking at their shared hosting service.
For Bluehost, they have four plans: Basic, Plus, Choice Plus, and Pro. The cheapest plan, Basic, starts at $2.95/month for a three-year subscription. Plus and Choice Plus starts at $5.45/month and Pro is at $13.95/month. All of these prices are for three-year subscriptions. Take note, these prices are only for the first term, renewal prices are much higher.
JustHost has four plans as well – Basic, Plus, Choice Plus and Pro. Basic is $3.95/month, Plus and Choice Plus start at $6.95/month and Pro is at $14.95/month. Same with Bluehost, these prices are for three-year terms and when it comes time to renew, prices go higher.
Bluehost offers cheaper prices but the minimum term for each plan is one year. JustHost, in contrast, is more expensive but you have the option of subscribing for monthly payments. For the features offered in each plan, refer to our comparison table above.
Performance
Bluehost performs better but only by a small margin.
Before deciding on a host, you should first look into their performance when it comes to uptime and speed. You don’t want a host that is always down and does not provide acceptable loading speed. Users on the internet are very impatient, if your site is slow, they’ll just click away. If your site is always down, you won’t get conversions, sales or leads. Both speed and uptime are also factors when it comes to SEO so they are very important.
Both JustHost and Bluehost give you SSD storage so that’s a good thing. They also integrated Cloudfare CDN into their platforms to help with loading times.
For Bluehost, the uptime average is at 99.95% and loading times hover around 600ms, which is pretty standard. JustHost had an uptime of 99.95% as well and load times were around 700ms. As you can see, they are pretty much the same with Bluehost having a small advantage with faster load times.
Security
When it comes to security, both offer the same features.
For security, both Bluehost and JustHost offer the basics. They both offer free SSL certificates so that your website will protect your visitors’ information and help you in your search engine rankings. Aside from that, they both offer very little when it comes to their cheapest packages. Most of the security features are available on their more expensive plans.
Bluehost includes Spam Experts, CodeGuard Basic, SiteLock Lite, and domain privacy on their higher-tier plans. Comodo SSL is free on the Pro plan. If you want SiteLock Essential, you need to check it as an add-on as it is not free. JustHost offers exactly the same, which comes as no surprise as they are sister companies under the EIG umbrella.
When it comes to security, both hosts don’t offer much if you avail of their cheapest plans. If you are dead-set on either of these two hosts and you want some form of security, you will need to go with their more expensive plans.
Support
The level of support that you get from both companies is pretty much the same.
When it comes to support, you want your host to have the ability to assist you if ever any issue/s arise. You also want them to respond in a timely manner especially if your problem needs immediate resolution. If you are an experienced webmaster, customer support may not be as big a deal for you but it should still matter. For newbies without much experience, customer support is essential.
Both Bluehost and JustHost offer phone, email, live chat and a ticketing system. They also have knowledge bases that are full of articles and video tutorials that can help you with your particular problems. All of these are great because there are a lot of channels where a customer can get support.
Bluehost chat support was fast when we tried contacting them. They were also helpful but sometimes, instead of helping you outright, they will just give you a link to existing articles so you can figure things out yourself. While this may not be a problem for people with some experience, this is not exactly helpful for total newbies.
As for JustHost, they are pretty much the same. However, it took them longer to respond to our queries. Overall, both Bluehost and JustHost offer decent support, with Bluehost having a very slim advantage.
Verdict
Bluehost is the better hosting provider with cheaper plans and slightly better performance.
If you are choosing between Bluehost and JustHost, you should go with Bluehost as it is the better overall hosting provider. Their plans are cheaper and their performance is slightly better. Customer support is slightly better as well. If you don’t want to commit to a long-term hosting plan, you should consider JustHost as they offer monthly payment plans.
FAQs
Bluehost is owned by Endurance International Group (EIG).
Yes, their control panel is easy to use and they have site builders as well.
Yes, they are a decent host. They are not the best but they offer cheap plans and their performance is around industry averages.
Yes, their plans are cheap and they have an easy to use interface. Performance is also good across the board.
