Web Hosting: bluehost review

Web Hosting

Bluehost is a giant web hosting company, providing web hosting to several personal and corporate websites. Founded in 1996, they are currently running 826,000 domains and still expanding. They claim to have the highest customer service, maximum guaranteed up time, Quality resources, good functional tools for administration, reliable and secure backups. Check out the below bluehost review:

LOOK & FEEL

When you check their website, it gives you a real professional feel. They have a very descent looking site clearly appealing to the one who visits it. The marketing banners and ads are also attractive and surely makes a person click them. They have clear contact details mentioned which is generally not the case with most of the hosting companies. It has a live chat facility right on the homepage. With loads of award flashing on their site, Bluehost as surely given the “trust me” message.

CONTROL PANEL

Control panel of Bluehost is just like any other hosting Cpanel. It has nearly all the tabs required to host a personal as well as corporate website. It also has the latest version of Fantistico with all stable versions of applications within it. There is nothing much to say about this as its no different from other Cpanels.

The toll free number given was something i tried. I called up and within 30 seconds i was on call with support. So support is at your fingertips.

HOSTING FEATURES

All professional web hosting features (depending on what you choose) provided by them essentially include the following:

FEATURES INCLUDED / ALL ACCOUNTS	INCLUDED
Disk Storage (Now More!)	Unlimited
Host UNLIMITED Domains (WOW!)	Yes
Free Drag and Drop Site Builder (New!)	Yes
Free Domain Name	Yes
Support International Domain Names	Yes
POP3/POP3 Secure Email Support	2,500
IMAP/Secure IMAP Email Support	2500
3 Different Web Based Email Solutions	Yes
Forwarding Email Accounts	Unlimited
Email Autoresponder	Unlimited
Gigs of Site Transfer (Now More!)	Unlimited
Add-on Domains	Unlimited
Parked Domains	Unlimited
Subdomains	Unlimited
Additional FTP Accounts	1000
MySQL Databases	100
PostgreSQL Databases	100
CGI-BIN	Yes
CGI Library	Yes
Server Side Includes	Yes
Frontpage 2000/2002 Extensions	Yes
Account “Control Panel”	Yes
FTP Access	Yes
Shell Access (SSH)	Yes
Override .htaccess Support	Yes
Anonymous FTP	Yes
Webmail (Browser Based Email)	Yes
Log Files + Site Stats	Yes
Customizable Error Pages	Yes
Web File Manager	Yes
Custom Cronjobs	Yes
Hotlink Protection	Yes
Spam Assassin Protection	Yes

CGI / DATABASES	INCLUDED
PHP 5	Yes
Perl 5	Yes
Python	Yes
Ruby / Ruby on Rails	Yes
Support For Custom PHP.INI Files	Yes
MySQL 5 Database Server	Yes
PostgreSQL Database Server	Yes
Javascript/ DHTML	Yes
Flash / Shockwave	Yes

FREE WEBSITE PLUG-IN SCRIPTS	INCLUDED
Message Forum (PHPBB and More)	Yes
Form-mail Scripts	Yes
Social Networking	Yes
Guestbook (Multiple Options)	Yes
Web Blogs / WordPress / b2evolution	Yes
Mailing Lists	Yes
Image Galleries / Coppermine (More!)	Yes
Poll and Survey Software	Yes
Moodle	Yes
Tikiwiki	Yes
Drupal and Joomla	Yes
Project Management	Yes
Help Center/Support Ticket	Yes
Many, Many Others…	Yes

E-COMMERCE FEATURES	INCLUDED
SSL Secure Server	Yes
OS Commerce Shopping Cart	Yes
Agora Shopping Cart	Yes
Cube Cart Shopping Cart	Yes
Zen Cart Shopping Cart	Yes
Free Generated Certificate	Yes
Password Protected Directories	Yes
OpenPGP / GPG Encryption	Yes

MULTIMEDIA FEATURES	INCLUDED
Supports Streaming Video	Yes
Supports Streaming Audio	Yes
Real Audio & Video Support	Yes
Flash Support	Yes
Macromedia Shockwave	Yes
MIDI File Support	Yes
Add Own MIME Types	Yes

WORLD CLASS TECHNOLOGY	INCLUDED
Quad Processor Performance Servers	Yes
UPS Power Backup	Yes
Diesel Generator Backup Power	Yes
Linux Operating System	Yes
Customized Apache Web Server	Yes
24/7 Network Monitoring	Yes
Courtesy Site Backups	Yes
OC-48 Backbone Connection	Yes

SITE PROMOTION	INCLUDED
Search Engine Submission	FREE

Much of the features above are self explanatory!

WEB HOSTING PRICE

Pricing varies depending on the duration for which you require the services for:

3 Months: $9.95/month + $30.00 Setup + Domain ($10.00 if purchased from BlueHost)
6 Months: $8.95/month + $30.00 Setup + Domain ($10.00 if purchased from BlueHost)
12 Months: $7.95/month (no setup fee, free domain included)
24 Months: $6.95/month (no setup fee, free domain included)

TERMS & CONDITIONS

BlueHost has a different Terms of Service, with no legal jargon. There are some bullet points on a page with the important points included in most Terms of Service agreements. The catchy point is “All activities may be monitored, recorded, and examined by any authorized person, including law enforcement.” Also this one is something we must read “Any violation found or fraudulent activity that system personnel deem inappropriate may have your account immediately terminated without notice and any recorded evidence reported to authorized persons.” However, the points are pretty clear without any hidden or behind the curtain rules.

INSTALLING SCRIPT

By default, BlueHost doesn’t allow SSH/Shell Access. However it does provide the facility to enable shell access for the account on authenticating few documents. It asks you to send the copy of driver’s license, passport etc. Speed of scripts running was average (checked by running simple blogs etc)

CONCLUSION

Pros: Good control panel (cPanel) with a few nice extras, plenty of space and bandwidth, good support, fair pricing

Cons: Semi-shady points in TOS (nothing too major, and clearly outlined), 3 month minimum contract length, pricing is relatively hard to find

Bottomline: BlueHost is a good web host that provides a good hosting experience with a top-of-the-line control panel as well as helpful support for a reasonable price.

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