Compare Hosting Providers on July 15, 2021 by Joanna Gatapia

If you’re looking for reliable hosting, you’re bound to hear about Bluehost and iPage. 

These two web hosting providers are both owned by Endurance International Group, which might explain why they’re similar in terms of pricing and market.

Cell

BlueHost

iPage

Owner

Endurance International Group (EIG)

Endurance International Group (EIG)

Basic Plan

Basic Shared Hosting

Go Plan

Price

$2.95/mo

$1.99/mo

Free Domain?

Yes

Yes

Average Uptime

99.93% (August 2023)

99.87% (August 2023)

Average Speed

616 ms (August 2023)

1,810 ms (August 2023)

One-Click WordPress Installation?

Yes

Yes

Free SSL?

Yes

Yes

Number of Sites

1

Unlimited

Free Email?

No

Yes

Free Backup?

Manual Backup

Manual

Moneyback Guarantee

30 days

Yes

Support Channels

Live chat and Phone

Live chat and Phone

Control Panel

cPanel

vDeck

Space

50 GB

Unlimited

Free CDN?

Yes

No

Migration Services

Free for WordPress Sites

For an additional fee

Overall Rating

Get Hosting

Other Plans

Managed WordPress ($9.95), VPS ($18.99)

WordPress ($3.75), VPS ($19.99)

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*Uptime and Speed data from Pingdom and Hrank


But even if these two come from the same overarching company, they have several differences that will give you different experiences in hosting. 

So which one is better?

We’ll help you answer that with our Bluehost vs iPage comparison. 

To compare both web hosts, we’ll look at:

  • Uptime and performance
  • Website building
  • Migration services
  • Products and features
  • Security
  • Pricing
  • Customer Support

Let’s begin!

Bluehost vs iPage: Uptime and Performance

If there are two most important factors to consider in a web host, it’s uptime and performance. 

Nobody wants a website that is always inaccessible due to server problems. And, your audience demands a site that is available 24/7 for every day of the year. 

So a high uptime rate is a must for any web host. 

While Bluehost doesn’t have a guarantee to it, individual audits have proven that the web host sticks to its uptime of 99.93% (August 2023). On the other hand, iPage has an uptime of 99.87% (August 2023).

Bluehost vs iPage - Which Web Hosting is Better Bluehost


And now for performance. 

Performance is often referred to as your site’s loading speed. Nowadays, a slow-loading website is a reason to have low SEO rankings. 

Bluehost boasts speeds of 616 ms (August 2023), while iPage slacks at 1,810 ms (August 2023).

It’s unfortunate that iPage’s performance isn’t able to compete with Bluehost. It becomes especially slow to load if the site experiences an increase in traffic.

So if you’re anticipating heavy traffic on your website, this is an important note to remember when choosing between Bluehost or iPage. 

WINNER: Bluehost. With better uptime and performance, Bluehost wins this round. They will ensure your site is available and speedy to all your site users at all times. 


Bluehost vs iPage: Website Building

Even if iPage has one-click WordPress installations and its own drag-and-drop website builder, nothing beats Bluehost’s WordPress suite and Weebly site builder. 

Bluehost is one of three recommended partners of WordPress. This alone will tell you that anyone planning to use WordPress should head over to Bluehost. 

Their WordPress suite has hundreds of free and premium themes. And if you don’t want to be the one managing it, Bluehost also has a Managed WordPress plan. 

WINNER: Bluehost. Recommended by WordPress, it’s pretty obvious you’ll get an easier experience when creating your site with their CMS. That, along with loaded features such as site staging and even a Weebly site builder option. 


Check out Bluehost’s easy site creation process:


Bluehost vs iPage: Migration Services

What if you’re migrating your site to one of these providers?

For Bluehost, you have to pay an additional fee to migrate your site. The good news is that you don’t have to do it yourself. 

Now, if you’re using WordPress, you can migrate it for free within the first 30 days. (You can see why Bluehost is beneficial to WordPress users.) 

With iPage, you have to pay $150 to transfer any site to their servers. 

WINNER: Bluehost. Bluehost is the clear winner here with free WordPress migrations (and cheaper non-WordPress migrations) compared to the hefty fee you have to pay with iPage.


Bluehost vs iPage: Products and Features

Bluehost and iPage offer shared hosting, VPS, and Dedicated servers. 

In this section, we’ll only be referring to the features of their bestselling plans, which are under shared hosting. 

Storage

There’s a stark difference between the storage space for the basic plans of Bluehost and iPage. 

While iPage allows unlimited disk space, Bluehost only gives 50 GB SSD storage. 

Don’t get me wrong here, 50 GB isn’t bad at all. It’s already big for small to medium websites. But when you compare it to iPage’s unlimited storage and unlimited websites, then that might be more appealing to you. 

Backups

Both Bluehost and iPage don’t have free daily backups on their basic plan.

Instead, Bluehost offers it free in their Choice Plus and Pro shared hosting plans. 

Note: Bluehost advises you to do your own daily backup plans as well, as theirs isn’t very reliable. 

For iPage, you have to buy SiteLock, their security software, to get free backups and other security features. 

WINNER: Tie. When it comes to features, iPage offers more with unlimited bandwidth and storage that site creators can enjoy. 


However, Bluehost offers you a wider range of different packages types to support various site needs with greater scalability.

So depending on your needs, either one can come out on top here.

Bluehost vs iPage: Security

Speaking of security, Bluehost and iPage have different security measures for their basic plans. 

For example, iPage only has a free SSL certificate in their shared hosting plan. And if you want the backups, 24/7 security monitoring, and malware protection, you have to pay for additional security through SiteLock. 

Bluehost is the same except that you have to get the more expensive shared hosting plans if you want additional security features.

But since these two web hosts offer free SSL certificates in their basic plans, that is enough for a certain layer of protection to your website. 

WINNER: Tie. Both hosts offer a basic level of security. You’ll have to pay more if you want more security features from both hosts.


Bluehost vs iPage: Pricing

We’ve been talking about shared hosting plans in this article, but Bluehost and iPage have other types of web hosting available to their clients. 

Here is a price table of the other hosting plans:


Bluehost

A2 Hosting

Shared Hosting

$2.95 - $13.95/mo

$1.99 - $2.99mo

WordPress Hosting

$2.95 - $5.45/mo

$3.75-$6.95mo

VPS Hosting

$18.99 - $59.99/mo

$19.99 - $79.99/mo

Dedicated Server

$79.99 - $119.99/mo

$119.99 - $191.99/mo

If you’ll notice, iPage has very affordable shared hosting plans. This is because the company only has one plan. Yep, their shared hosting plan only has the Go Plan which is their all-around plan for beginners. 

WINNER: Tie. When it comes to pure affordability, iPage offers one of the cheapest packages in the industry, which is great for small site creators looking for hosting on a tight budget. However, Bluehost offers a better deal on the higher-priced plans.


Bluehost vs iPage: Customer Support

When it comes to customer support, both web hosts have responsive and strong representative teams. 

If you have any queries or problems, you can always reach out to customer support and they will always be more than ready to help you. 

That said, BlueHost is known to have exceptional speedy response times. 

WINNER: Bluehost. While both hosts offer 24/7 customer support, you’ll get better response times with Bluehost, getting you the answers you need faster than iPage.


Verdict

Features

Winner

Uptime and performance

BlueHost

Ease of use

BlueHost

Migration service

BlueHost

Products and features

Tie

Security

Tie

Pricing

BlueHost

Customer support

BlueHost


Overall, these two web hosts are great for affordable and reliable shared hosting plans. Choosing one will have to depend on what categories you consider to be the most important to you. 

Are you looking for faster speeds, more scalability, and great WordPress perks? Bluehost is your best bet. 

But if you are more into unlimited features for the basic plan, cheaper shared hosting plans, and secure customer support, we recommend iPage.
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