Bluehost and Rackspace both provide hosting services, but the similarity ends there. Bluehost is more of a traditional hosting company, while Rackspace offers a cloud hosting service that is fully customizable. In this article, we’ll compare the two, so that you can determine which one is right for you. We’ll look at their pricing, features, performance and other important factors that you should know before deciding on a host.
Bluehost vs Rackspace Comparison Chart
| Bluehost | Rackspace | |
| Â |  |  |
| Price | Check Price at Bluehost.com | Check Price at Rackspace.com |
| Hosting Plans | Shared, Managed & Shared WordPress, eCommerce, VPS and Dedicated Server Hosting | Cloud Hosting |
| CDN | Paid (free on shared plans) | Paid |
| Control Panel | Custom cPanel | Proprietary control panel |
| Data Centers | 1 US data center | Multiple data centers around the globe |
| Site Migration | Paid | Paid |
| Uptime Guarantee | None | 100% |
| Customer Support | 24/7 chat and phone Knowledge base | 24/7 chat, phone, email and tickets |
| Money Back | 30 days | None |
Features
Rackspace offers every feature that you’ll ever need, but at a premium.
When it comes to features, Bluehost offers all the basic features that you can expect. Their hosting plans come with a free domain for one year, free SSL, free CDN, unmetered bandwidth (not all packages) and 24/7 support.
As for their higher tier hosting plans (VPS and dedicated), they offer advanced features such as root access, resource upgrades, RAID storage (dedicated server only) and paid options, such as SiteLock, spam protection and more. Bluehost offers useful features with their plans, but security features are locked behind a paywall.
Rackspace, on the other hand, has almost any feature that you will ever need. However, the caveat is that you’ll have to pay for every single one of them. That’s just how they work as a service provider. You’ll have access to all the basic features, such as SSL, CDN, extra resources, site transfers and more. Advanced features are also available, but you’ll have to pay more.
With Rackspace, you don’t get to choose from hosting plans with set features. Everything is customized to fit your specific requirements.
Performance
Both hosts perform very well when it comes to uptime and speed.
Performance-wise, Rackspace wins over Bluehost, as they offer better uptime and speed for their users. That said, Bluehost is not bad at all, in fact, they also offer good reliability and speed. Both companies are reliable and fast, but Rackspace outperforms Bluehost in both areas.
Factors that contribute to Rackspace’s excellent performance include several data center locations and the ability to integrate with infrastractures from big corporations such as Amazon (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google (Google Cloud Platform) and more. Bluehost, on the other hand, only has one data center location in the US.
Rackspace also offers 100% uptime for its users, while Bluehost does not have any kind of uptime guarantee in place. Having an uptime guarantee of 100% shows that Rackspace has complete confidence in their ability to deliver.
Security and Support
Bluehost and Rackspace both offer 24/7 customer support.
Both Bluehost and Rackspace will charge you extra for site security. Bluehost offers basic security features, like a free SSL certificate, backups and domain privacy (high-tier plans only) for free. However, if you want more advanced security features, you’ll have to pay for additional subscriptions.
For instance, you’ll have to pay extra for SiteLock and spam protection on their VPS and dedicated server hosting plans. SiteLock is a tool that scans and monitors your site for malware and other forms of threats. It prevents any security issues by fixing invulnerabilities as soon as possible. If you want your site’s data to be safe, this is an essential feature.
Rackspace, on the other hand, gives you the ability to work with a team of security experts, so that they can create a customized security plan for your site, depending on your requirements. With this service, you can be sure that your site will always be in tip-top condition, and exposure to threats is minimized. However, they charge a premium for this service.
When it comes to customer support, both companies offer 24/7 service. With Bluehost, you’ll get 24/7 phone and chat support, along with access to their knowledge base. Rackspace also offers 24/7 phone and chat support, as well as a ticketing system. You can also ask for support via email.
Hosting Plans
Rackspace costs more, but you can fully customize your hosting plan.
Bluehost offers various types of hosting plans with set features, while Rackspace offers fully customized cloud hosting plans. When it comes to pricing, Bluehost is more affordable.
Bluehost offers shared hosting packages, managed and shared WordPress, eCommerce hosting, VPS and dedicated servers. The cheapest Bluehost plan—shared Basic—starts at only $3.95/month, while their most expensive—dedicated Premium plan—is priced at $119.00/month. These prices are already discounted, and they are only for the first term, renewal prices are much higher.
As for Rackspace, you can’t really choose a hosting plan just like with traditional hosts. They offer a fully customizable cloud hosting service, so you’ll need to get in touch with them to determine what’s best for your requirements. Pricing will depend on the set of features that you will need.
Verdict
Both are very good hosting options, but for very different types of users.
Both Bluehost and Rackspace offer very good hosting services for their price. Bluehost offers affordable hosting, along with more expensive ones that can still fit most people’s budgets. They are best for individuals or small and medium sized businesses that are looking to get affordable hosting.
Rackspace, in contrast, offers fully customizable cloud hosting plans that will most likely be out of the budget range for most individuals or small to medium businesses. They are best for large businesses that require top of the line performance, and are willing to pay for it.
FAQs
While they both offer hosting, they target different types of users. Both are very good hosting providers, but Bluehost caters more to people with a set budget, while Rackspace is best for businesses with unlimited budget.
Rackspace offers a customizable hosting plan wherein you can choose the features you want. Unfortunately, they don’t offer any free features.
Yes, you own any domain that you register with Bluehost.
They are expensive because they offer a premium service with excellent performance and support.
