Bluehost offers a number of different hosting options, including a standard VPS hosting plan. Unlike their WordPress or basic hosting plans, the VPS option is considered a higher tier of service. This means it’s aimed at individuals and small businesses who need a little more than they would get with those options. Of course, it also means these plans cost more. To find out if it’s worth it or not, continue on to read our Bluehost VPS hosting plan review.
Pros
- More resources and flexibility than basic plans.
- 30-day money back guarantee.
- Free domain name for a year.
- Backups are included.
- Customize the plans as needed by adding additional CPU cores, storage, etc.
- Fast servers with near-100% uptime.
Cons
- The sign-up price is fairly low, but the price does increase after the introductory period.
- The price also increases quickly as you add more features or upgrade.
- Some security features are extra instead of standard.
- You’re still using a shared server, so you may still experience some issues if the shared resources are maxed out.
Bluehost VPS Hosting Plan Review & Analysis
If you’ve outgrown everything that a basic shared hosting plan has to offer or if you needed more to start with, a VPS hosting plan may be a good option. Because it makes use of a virtual private server, you have more control over everything. Your website has more dedicated resources to use. While you don’t have the resources of a full dedicated server, you get many of the same perks for a much lower price.
Who This Hosting Plan is For
- Websites that have outgrown basic shared hosting plans.
- Websites that require unique configurations or operating systems.
- Websites that are resource-heavy.
- Individuals who have some technical knowledge of website hosting.
- Websites that need more security or higher performance than basic plans offer.
Who This Hosting Plan is Not For
- Small business websites and individual sites that don’t need advanced features.
- Websites that won’t be content-heavy or need a large amount of resources.
- Large business eCommerce websites that will need a full dedicated server to function.
- Anyone who doesn’t have a large budget to dedicate to hosting.
Bottom Line
The bottom line is that Bluehost VPS hosting can be a good option if you need more than shared hosting offers and can handle the cost. You’re not taking on the much larger cost of a dedicated server, though. A VPS host is a nice middle ground between a basic plan and a dedicated server, and it offers the best of both. You will have the resources you need to run your website effectively, but you won’t need a huge budget to cover the costs.
BlueHost VPS Hosting Features
- FREE Domain Name for 1st Year
- 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
- 24/7 Support
- Free SSL Certificate
- Instant Provisioning
- Enhanced Control Panel
- Root Access
- Guaranteed Resources
- Extreme Performance
- Dynamic Resources
Additional Features
- Multi-Server Management
- Access Control
- File Management
- Advanced Capabilities
- Database Managemen
Optional Features
- Additional Resources
- Domain Privacy + Protection
- SiteLock
BlueHost Standard VPS Hosting Prices
Shared vs VPS Hosting vs Dedicated Hosting
When you’re considering which hosting plan to sign up for, the most important thing is to understand your website needs. This includes resources, storage space, bandwidth, and support. These factors will be what determines the type of hosting solution you use: shared hosting, VPS hosting, or dedicated hosting.
Shared hosting is the least expensive option. However, it is also the least powerful option. Your website is stored on the same server as many other websites. All of these websites share the same resources. If any one of these websites suddenly has a massive spike in traffic, the other websites may become noticeably slower. It’s also not possible to make specific server configurations for your needs, since those changes would affect all of the websites on the server. These plans are ideal for individuals and small businesses that don’t expect to post a large amount of content online.
With web VPS hosting, your website is also stored on a shared server. However, that server is virtually portioned off into smaller sections. Each section acts like a dedicated server, even though it’s not. This means you can change the operating system and reconfigure some of the options for your website without it affecting anything else on the server. Because the server is shared, you’re not shouldering all of the cost. VPS hosting such as that offered by Bluehost or by InterServer Cloud VPS can be the ideal solution for eCommerce sites with a wide range of inventory and websites that will be very content-heavy.
Finally, a dedicated host provides the most resources and storage space because your website is the only one stored on it. Therefore, you can customize the server to your larger website’s needs. Keep in mind, because no other website is on the server, you are fully responsible for all of its costs. Consequently, this may be outside of your budget if you are just starting out.
Is Bluehost Standard the Best VPS Hosting Option?
When comparing plans such as the ones offered by Bluehost and DreamHost shared unlimited hosting, you may wonder if there’s a clear best VPS hosting option out there. In this case, it’s difficult to point to one hosting plan and say that it’s unequivocally better than any other hosting plan. However, Bluehost does offer three levels of VPS hosting, so one of them may fit your exact needs.
The Enhanced plan doubles the amount of SSD storage (from 30 to 60 GB), RAM (from 2 to 4 GB), and bandwidth (from 1 to 2 TB). This is Bluehost’s recommended option, too. The larger amount of resources can be helpful if you’re planning on building a good-sized eCommerce website.
The most expensive VPS hosting plan offered by Bluehost is their Ultimate plan. It increases your SSD Storage to 120 GB, upgrades the RAM to 8 GB, offers 3 TB of bandwidth, and increases the number of CPU cores to 4. The price is fairly hefty, however, and you may find a dedicated host for less. In fact, the Bluehost Standard dedicated server is the same price. You will want to compare the two to determine which one best meets your needs.
Overall, Bluehost’s standard VPS plan offers a solid hosting option for medium-sized websites that won’t push you over-budget.
Review BlueHost Standard (VPS Hosting) Review.