Bluehost is one of the most popular web hosting companies, but can you pay per month or once a year? Is it possible to have a short-term hosting plan every 30 days without setup fees?
In reality, Bluehost does not offer monthly hosting for shared hosting plans, instead, they provide yearly web hosting plans only and you can choose the 3-year plan if you want to save money. That’s one of their disadvantages, and keep in mind that in terms of server speed, they’re not the best and there are many web hosts with faster servers.
That being said, Bluehost does offer a monthly VPS hosting and dedicated servers that customers can pay month to month. But that will cost higher than the normal prices they show on their site; So, expect to pay too much for monthly VPS and dedicated plan with Bluehost.
If you like to host a blog or a website and have a monthly billed hosting, then, forget Bluehost and instead, choose one of the following providers we tested and found real competitors to any popular web host.
Bluehost alternatives who charge monthly
1. HostGator
HostGator is the Bluehost sister company, so, they have the same manager and of course the infrastructure is not the same, but they implement the same security systems.
The web host lets you try their service for 30 days and honestly, they have better service than Bluehost. However, what we don’t’ like with HostGator is their pre-installed commercial plugins that the users think they’re free, but they require registration and payment like Opt-in Monster.
But you can just remove these tools from your WordPress plugins page and that’s it. You don’ need to pay for something that you don’t need.
Unlike Bluehost, HostGator does not offer a free domain, so, you’ll need to pay for that. But what we recommend is to get your domain from one of the most popular registrars, then, use it with them. That’s better, and you’ll get advanced and secure DNS for your domain.
Now, we all, like to manage our sites using cPanel, and Bluehost has a customized version, but frankly, it’s a little complicated and not clear for beginners.
On the other side, HostGator offers the latest cPanel version with more options and tools. For hosting payments, HostGator lets you pay using PayPal or Credit cards.
2. InMotion
If you really care about site speed, security, and the best customer support, and you want to save money in the long term, then, choose InMotion Hosting.
They have SSD powered servers, faster, more CPU and RAM resources, and best of all a private SSL certificate for free. It’s not like any other web host, but with superior quality services.
InMotion Hosting is recommended for WordPress, but you can only pay for one year, and that will cost around $70.
3. InterServer
InterServer is one of the cheapest web hosts for WordPress and other CMS. There is cPanel, cheap $1.99 domain registration and of course auto-installer software for WordPress and other blogging platforms. InterServer charges your web hosting billing on a monthly basis, and that costs $5 with good support.
4. GoDaddy
GoDaddy offers a web hosting plan called “Deluxe” that cost $10.99 monthly, it comes with unlimited disk space, bandwidth, and domains. In addition, there is cPanel, optimized servers and more.
We should also mention that GoDaddy offers the free domain name with annual payments, exactly like Bluehost, but this time, you have the option to pay every 30 days.
How much does Bluehost cost per month?
As we said earlier, Bluehost does not charge on monthly payments for shared hosting, instead, the company charges customers on yearly billing cycles. That’s why it’s better to signup for a long term web hosting plan to get their cheapest hosting deals, there are differences in subscription terms. Now, let’s have an idea about the Bluehost pricing:
- The cheapest hosting plan of Bluehost is called Basic and it’s for a single site hosting. The Bluehost 12 Month prices cost $5.95/month billed annually.
- The Bluehost Plus hosting plan costs $6.95/month and it’s billed once a year
- The Choice Plus plan costs $5.95/month billed for 36 months, and for an annual payment, the cost will be $4.95/m.
- The Business Pro hosting plan costs $16.95/m if billed yearly, and $13.95/m if billed for 36 months in advance.
For VPS, these are the Bluehost costs that can be billed on monthly payments:
- VPS Standard cost $29.99 billed monthly
- The VPS Enhanced package cost $59.99 per month
- The VPS Ultimate plan price is $119.99/month
If you need a dedicated server, then, these are the prices of Bluehost dedicated hosting:
- The Dedicated Standard cost $119.99 every month
- The Dedicated Enhanced cost $159.99/month
- The Dedicated hosting Premium price is $209 every month
Of course, Bluehost offers a managed WordPress hosting that you can pay per month, and these are the prices:
- The Built managed WordPress hosting plan cost $29.99 for monthly payments
- The Bluehost Grow plan for WordPress cost $39.99 a month
- The Scale hosting plan cost $59.99 a month
Conclusion
Even if there is no way to pay monthly with Bluehost, you still have better options and faster web hosts to choose from.
There is no need to keep thinking about how great this host or that is good, all of them come with advantages and disadvantages, but if there is one hosting that really makes the difference and work better, it will be HostGator without a doubt. They have great customer support, faster server connectivity, more features, and specific WordPress server optimizations.
