Bluehost vs SiteGround – Which Web Hosting is Better?

So you’re ready to start your e-commerce business or blog, but you’re not sure whether to pick Bluehost or SiteGround as your web host.  

If so, you will constantly be asking, “Which is better?” 

I’ve had the same problem before, and I found that having areas to compare makes it a lot easier to know which web host is better. 

Here are some of the things to look at when deciding:

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

Uptime and Performance

Uptime and performance are two different things, but they’re so closely related that they go hand-in-hand. 

Uptime is the rate that a website is accessible. For obvious reasons, you want your uptime to be as close to 100% as possible. 

Bluehost and SiteGround give an uptime of 99.93% (August 2023) and 100% (August 2023) respectively, so both can be very reliable in keeping your site accessible all throughout the year.

Speed (or performance) is an important aspect of any website. Nobody wants to stay on a site that takes forever to load. 

Based on several speed tests, SiteGround has a shorter loading time of 352 ms (August 2023) compared to Bluehost’s 616 ms (August 2023).

This can be attributed to the many data centers SiteGround has across the world. And since they have more data centers in different locations, clients across the world can take advantage of their proximity to SiteGround’s data centers.

Website Building

Bluehost and SiteGround are both officially recommended by WordPress. 

But it all comes down to other features that will make website-building a lot easier and hassle-free. 

SiteGround has a full suite of features specific to WordPress. That means that you get a one-click installation and a lot of plug-ins at your fingertips. 

Yep, you can find plug-ins that will help you optimize your site or aid in your marketing efforts. You also get automatic updates whenever WordPress has new changes. 

On the other hand, Bluehost offers a more flexible design for your site. 

With thousands of free and customizable WordPress themes, you have a lot of options to choose from. You won’t have to worry about finding a theme that doesn’t match your business’s or personal brand. 

Check out this video for a BlueHost tutorial:

Migration Services

Migration services come in handy when you’re coming from another web host and you decide to move to either Bluehost or SiteGround. 

Both providers have free site migration services but only support WordPress migrations, so if you’re running a non-WordPress site, you’ll need to pay extra.

Products and Features

Let’s talk about features. 

Bluehost has an impressive list of features that you can get even when you just subscribe to their basic plan. 

For their simplest shared hosting plan, you already get 50 GB of SSD storage, a free domain for your first year, a cPanel control panel, and custom and premium WordPress themes.

Now that’s a lot! 

Just the storage and free domain alone make Bluehost an ideal partner, especially when you haven’t gotten yourself a domain yet. 

It also helps that you get 50 GB SSD storage. Just to give you an idea, this is a lot of storage space even for medium-sized businesses. 

What about SiteGround?

Their most basic plan has a 10 GB SSD storage space and SuperCacher technology that’s unique to the web host, with bandwidth to support 10,000 page views a month.

I know, when you compare it to Bluehost, SiteGround’s package seems a little underwhelming. Still, if you don’t need many features for your site, then less is more.

Security

When you create a website, for whatever purpose, security is one of the most important features you’re going to need. 

And what should you be looking for? SSL certificates and backups. 

SSL certificates guarantee that your information is encrypted. This means that nobody gets to read it. 

Fortunately, Bluehost and SiteGround give free SSL certificates.

But what they offer as additional security protocols are different. 

For example, SiteGround has automatic daily backups. They also save 30 backups of your website. 

That’s not all. Since they have a lot of data centers in multiple locations, you get to decide if you want a copy of your site saved in a different data center. 

On the other hand, Bluehost has a full website restoration in case your site loses its data. Although this is rarely the case, it’s good to know that the web host has a full backup of your website. 

Bluehost also has a daily backup which explains why they can restore your site fully.

Since SiteGround and Bluehost take extra measures in protecting and backing up your site, you can be sure your website’s security is in good hands.

Pricing

Sometimes, it all comes down to the pricing. Web hosts can give you the best features but that might jack up their prices, which causes people to shop for other options. 

To make it easier for us to compare, here’s a table of the price range on each type of hosting plan for Bluehost and SiteGround.

*Price as of September 2021

Since shared hosting and WordPress hosting are the two common services the two providers have, we’ll only be comparing those packages.

Obviously, Bluehost offers a more affordable monthly package, especially when you’re getting a 3-year subscription plan. 

SiteGround, on the other hand, doesn’t have 3-year packages, so their monthly prices are already set in stone. 

If you plan to stay in one web host for 3 years, I recommend taking Bluehost since they offer big discounts the longer you subscribe to them.

Customer Support

Imagine your site having trouble in the middle of the night and you have no idea how to solve it. You contact customer support and they’re not available. 

Annoying, isn’t it?

Nobody wants to experience this. That's why you should only consider web hosting providers that have 24/7 support. 

Fortunately, both Bluehost and SiteGround offer excellent customer support.  

Both support teams are known to be genuinely approachable and helpful when you encounter problems. In fact, it’s even one of the most popular features of both providers!

BlueHost vs SiteGround - The Verdict

Which is the better web hosting for you then? 

Based on our comparisons, Bluehost is ideal if you are more price-sensitive and plan to stay with one web host for a long time. They’re also a great choice for people who are looking for high storage space and other great features.