Bluehost doesn’t promise a specific number in terms of uptime percentages, but they claim to be the best in the business. Our tests show 99.9% uptime for BlueHost.com. Users can boost security with SSL and SSH encryption, their servers utilize 10 GB connections, they have a UPS power backup system, and a super-strong server. Still, there’s a plethora of former customers out there who gripe about the slow load time.

In addition to the unlimited basics, BlueHost has all sorts of neat features available like support for multiple types of coding (like PHP, Perl 5, Python, Javascript, and Flash). There’s also an easy website builder with templates, e-commerce, and media options for users who want a website but aren’t familiar with coding,

On paper, Bluehost has everything you could want in terms of support – live 24/7 chat, phone support, a ticketed email system, and a user forum – but looking at online forums, there are a lot of angry and disappointed voices, and the masses usually aren’t wrong. The video tutorial library was pretty weak.

BlueHost’s basic package price is average, but what really stands out is the lack of a money-back guarantee. This is especially bad when you consider the big price break comes with a three year contract: if you sign up for the long-term and suddenly find that your site is down regularly, there’s no way to switch hosts or to get your money back. If you have major bandwidth needs, the pro-level plan isn’t really competitively priced. This is really a better web host for individuals and companies that never anticipate growing past a certain level.

BlueHost uses cPanel, a familiar interface and the gold standard in control panels. However, BlueHost has so many add-on services available through promotions that they take up too much space in the cPanel, obscure what’s obviously necessary—all in an atempt to get you to shell out more money.