Bluehost Plans
A Bluehost plan is a web hosting subscription tier that determines how much server space, bandwidth, and features your WordPress site receives. Bluehost offers four primary plan categories: share...
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Who this is for: Small business owners or bloggers launching their first WordPress site on a shared hosting budget who need to understand what they’re buying before they click “sign up.”
A Bluehost plan is a web hosting subscription tier that determines how much server space, bandwidth, and features your WordPress site receives. Bluehost offers four primary plan categories: shared hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated hosting, and managed WordPress hosting (sold as “WordPress Pro”).
What Does a Bluehost Plan Include?
Every Bluehost shared plan includes a free domain for the first year, a one-click WordPress installer, a free SSL certificate, and access to cPanel. As of 2026, entry-level shared plans start at $2.95/month (promotional rate, billed annually) on the Basic tier. Higher tiers add unlimited websites, more storage, and extras like automated backups and a dedicated IP.
We see beginners consistently overpaying by jumping to the Choice Plus or Pro tiers on signup. For a single business site or blog, the Basic plan handles the load without issue.
How Are the Shared Plans Different?
Bluehost’s four shared tiers — Basic, Plus, Choice Plus, and Pro — differ primarily on three axes: number of websites hosted, SSD storage allocation, and bundled extras. Basic limits you to one website with 10 GB of SSD storage. Plus and Choice Plus allow unlimited websites and storage. Choice Plus adds domain privacy and automated CodeGuard backups. Pro adds a dedicated IP and higher performance resources.
In our testing across client sites, the difference in raw page load between Basic and Pro on a low-traffic WordPress site is under 200ms — not noticeable to visitors.
Which Bluehost Plan Should a Beginner Choose?
For a first WordPress site — whether a business homepage, portfolio, or blog — Basic is the correct starting point. The 10 GB storage limit is sufficient for most text-and-image sites. You can upgrade later without migrating servers; Bluehost applies the prorated difference.
The one exception: if you know you are building more than one site within 12 months, start on Plus to avoid paying for a mid-term upgrade.
What Is Bluehost WordPress Pro?
Bluehost WordPress Pro is a separate managed WordPress hosting product, not a shared hosting tier. It targets sites needing staging environments, Jetpack bundled, and higher-performance infrastructure. Pricing starts around $19.95/month, which makes it unnecessary for most beginners. Consider it only when your site exceeds 25,000 monthly visitors or you require a staging-to-production workflow.
A Note on Renewal Pricing
Bluehost’s promotional rates apply to the first billing term only. After year one, Basic renews at approximately $10.99/month. We flag this on every client onboarding because the renewal rate surprises owners who budgeted at the intro price. Factor the renewal cost into your hosting decision from day one.
See Bluehost’s official pricing page for current rates — prices update frequently.
Related Terms
- Shared hosting — multiple sites sharing one server’s resources; the category Bluehost Basic falls into
- Managed WordPress hosting — hosting optimized specifically for WordPress with automated updates and staging
- cPanel — the control panel Bluehost uses to manage files, email, and databases
- SSL certificate — encrypts data between your site and visitors; included free on all Bluehost plans
- Domain privacy — masks your personal contact info in the public WHOIS database; bundled on Choice Plus and above