- Hey guys, my name is Christian Taylor.
Welcome back to Craylor Made to talk about
all things branding, marketing, and entrepreneurship.
When you're getting started with WordPress,
you might've visited the hosting tab on wordpress.org
and wondered which company is right for you.
Well, first let's clear something up.
You do not need to use one of the three web hosts
on this tab to host your WordPress website.
WordPress is a free open-source platform
that can be hosted on any web server.
But today we're comparing the three options
recommended by wordpress.org.
Let's start with Bluehost.
Bluehost has a wide variety of plans ranging from $36 a year
to $624 a year with their top tier WP Pro offering.
You can get vanilla shared hosting for your WordPress site
that includes Bluehost's intuitive setup wizard,
24/7 live chat and phone support,
all at a $3 per month price tag.
Bluehost does let you sign up for month-to-month hosting
if you wish, but they Mark up the price drastically.
They definitely want you to purchase
a one-year bundle upfront.
So if you can afford it, this might be the way to go.
You are committing to a year,
but Bluehost offers a 30-day refund policy.
And I've used this policy before
to get a refund with no problems.
The Bluehost WP Pro plans are much more expensive
but they're meant to rival managed WordPress options
like WP Engine and Flywheel.
You'll get premium features like a staging environment,
unlimited websites, no traffic limits,
and premium or pro Jetpack plans as an option.
There are a couple of things that bug me
about the Bluehost checkout screen.
First, if you roll your mouse up to the browser bar,
like you're going to leave the site,
you'll almost always get a pop-up
offering you an exclusive discount
to get you to stay and finish your purchase.
Everyone likes discounts,
but I hate that it's literally a hidden Easter egg.
If you didn't happen to roll your mouse
over the browser bar,
you would be overpaying for your web hosting
without knowing it.
And that's not cool.
Additionally, the checkout screen can pre-check some upsells
that will inflate the price.
Here's what the basic shared hosting package looks like.
I'm not too bothered that they preach at Codeguard Basic
because I'm a huge advocate for daily automated backups,
but that's something that should be included with your plan,
even if Bluehost has to charge more for it.
SiteLock security is definitely a bloated
and unnecessary ad-on in my opinion.
As you move up in price to the WP Pro Grow plan,
you'll see that the package extras are included in the cost.
After you pay for your hosting,
the Bluehost setup process is pretty intuitive.
They walk you through installing WordPress
and even picking a free theme.
And they have options
for automatic WordPress migrations free of charge.
I have to give it to Bluehost
for having a streamlined setup process.
But this is where I started facing issues.
I find the Bluehost setup process and panel is just buggy.
After I signed up, the panel would spin and spin
and lead to nowhere.
I had trouble
with signing my hosting account to a subdomain
with little explanation from the support team.
And one of the two automatic migrations I attempted failed.
The first automatic migration did work,
but for some reason it takes around a day to complete.
I much prefer other hosts who license the BlogVault plugin
to offer migrations,
because it's a smooth and timely process.
The second migration failed entirely,
and I had to contact Bluehost support to resolve it.
Speaking of support,
I had vastly different experiences with Bluehost
depending on the support channel I used.
I had nothing but trouble with the Bluehost live chat.
It seemed like the representatives
had a hard time understanding my basic questions.
And I felt frustrated having to repeat myself
or over explaining the problem to get help.
When the second automated migration failed
for transferring my site to their WP Pro plan,
I decided to give them a call and see if they could help.
They weren't able to try the automated migration again,
but they did lock me through doing a manual migration.
And the step-by-step instructions were very clear.
The rep was patient and stayed on the phone with me
for as long as it would take.
So if you prefer phone support,
Bluehost might be a good option for you.
The live chat support is just bad.
And I'm bothered
that I was forced to do the migration myself
for such a high-end hosting plan.
It seems like there are a lot of bugs and glitches
with their onboarding process in management panel.
Bluehost is the only one of the three hosts to use cPanel.
The main management panel is proprietary,
but if you click Advanced,
it takes you to a standard cPanel interface
where you can perform additional tasks.
So if it's a requirement that you be with the cPanel host
for whatever reason, Bluehost is the way to go.
I didn't have any reliability or speed issues with Bluehost,
and the uptime was 99.97% over a one-month period.
So, should you use Bluehost?
Well, if you're looking for very cheap web hosting,
I think the basic 12-month plan is worth considering.
For $36 a year, you get one website, 50 gigs of SSD storage,
and 24/7 phone and chat support.
The big caveat here is that you won't get automatic backups
unless you pay an extra $3 a month,
and you won't get a staging environment.
Another big catch to any Bluehost plan
is that the rates are pretty secretive.
Oftentimes, the first 12-month period
is at a promotional price,
so you have no idea what it will renew at.
I wish Bluehost was more transparent about this.
And generally, I would stay away from them
unless you really need some cheap hosting.
Definitely stay away from the WP Pro plan.
My experience with the Grow plan was just bad.
You do get daily backups in the staging environment,
but the automatic migration failed
prompting me to spend 40 minutes on the phone
getting it resolved.
Quite frankly, that's just not acceptable
for hosting of this price point.
The staging environment was also the worst I've experienced,
requiring you to install a WordPress plugin to use it.
Since I migrated my site, instead of starting fresh,
this plugin wasn't installed on my site,
and I had to again, contact their support
and get it installed.
But wait, there's more, the plugin said beta on it.
This was the same case with their automatic migration tool.
I'm paying big money for important features
that are in beta?
It's true because the staging plugin didn't work.
At this point, I'd seen enough.
I wasn't about to contact their support again,
just stay away from the Bluehost WP Pro plans.
You'll have a better experience at SiteGround, DreamHost,
or another WordPress managed provider
like WP Engine or Flywheel.
Next, let's take a look at SiteGround.
It appears that SiteGround
has experienced a dramatic transformation
since I last reviewed them in spring 2019,
because I was blown away by my experience.
Unlike Bluehost, my setup experience with SiteGround
was super smooth.
I had zero issues signing up
using the automated migration plugin,
and getting my site up and running
on a subdomain of my choice quickly.
The checkout page is refreshing
because there are zero upsells.
SiteGround lets the plan speak for themselves,
and you just choose the plan that fits your needs.
SiteGround uses a proprietary infrastructure,
so there's no cPanel hosting here.
Instead, you get access to SiteGround's custom manager
where you can access your hosting settings.
The features of the GrowBig plan are most appealing
for anyone going after that managed WordPress experience.
You'll enjoy important features
like automatic daily backups,
multiple one-click staging environments,
and 24/7 chat and phone support
that is miles better than my experience with Bluehost.
The live chat reps are knowledgeable,
and the phone support
had a similar straightforward feel to Bluehost.
SiteGround had 99.99% uptime in my testing,
and the hosting is snappy and reliable.
Similar to Bluehost,
SiteGround lets you create custom email addresses
on your domain name included with your hosting.
I didn't test the quality of the email hosting
in this comparison
because I prefer to stick to dedicated email hosting
from Namecheap or G suite,
but it's great to see hosts giving you the option
at no extra charge.
The SiteGround panel
feels like everything cPanels should be.
It's extremely straightforward and easy to navigate,
but it has every feature you could want in a web host.
Honestly, it's a total 180 from my last evaluation in 2019,
but I absolutely loved my experience with SiteGround.
It's clear they've transformed their service.
And I think the GrowBig plan is the best option
if you're willing to pay for 12 months at a time.
You can get the first year for $10 a month,
then it will be $25 a month after that,
which is right in line with WP Engine.
However, WP Engine does not offer phone support
in their $25 a month plan.
Additionally, WP Engine is a stickler
for enforcing a monthly pageview limit,
and only allowing one website on the base plan.
With SiteGround, the visit cap is just a suggestion,
but you can get as many page visits
as the server can handle.
You can also host unlimited websites on the GrowBig plan.
There's a lot of value here.
And if you're wondering why I compare a premium web host
with WP Engine so often,
especially because they're not included in this comparison,
it's because WP Engine is the golden standard
of top tier hosting in my experience,
but SiteGround is close.
So if you're looking for some darn good top tier hosting
that will scale as you add additional websites,
I think SiteGround is a great option.
So, last, let's check out DreamHost.
Like Bluehost, DreamHost offers both budget shared hosting
and premium managed WordPress hosting.
For $5 a month,
and I truly mean $5 a month, no annual payments,
you can get high quality reliable WordPress hosting
for your website.
There's nothing fancy here,
no staging environments and no phone support.
But you do get automated backups included in the price.
It's not a daily backup, but it backs up often enough
to let you restore your site in the event of a compromise.
Live chat support, email correspondence for in-depth issues,
free SSL certificates,
and 50 gigabytes of storage are also included.
DreamHost does offer phone support, but it will cost you $10
for a callback on the basic shared hosting plan.
There are managed WordPress hosting plans
that include three to five callbacks per month.
I didn't test the phone support
as none of my plans included it,
but I found the chat and email support
was perfectly sufficient
to help me with any issues I ran into.
When it comes to the panel,
DreamHost is slightly less intuitive than SiteGround.
They come a long way and under their new Websites tab,
which is currently in beta,
we get that managed WordPress feel
even with the shared hosting, which is pretty cool.
You can manage your FTP, MySQL, restore backups,
change the PHP version.
It's not quite up to the level of full managed WordPress
like their DreamPress offering is,
but it is pretty intuitive.
Now, my gripe with the DreamHost panel is that,
things are just hard to find
and there's a lot of redundancy.
So, like, you have to know that you'll find this view
under Domains and Websites.
Why is it under Domains and not WordPress?
I'm not sure.
The DreamPress UI is under WordPress.
And then we have a separate FTP section.
And overall, I feel it's a little bit cluttered
and a little bit confusing.
Here's where I'd put DreamHost
for their $5 per month shared package.
It's rock-solid reliable with great customer support,
but you need to be a more tech savvy user
to navigate the panel.
It's not rocket science,
but it just doesn't feel the most intuitive.
I'd say you're getting the hosting quality of SiteGround,
but you're not getting as polished of an experience.
I think this is fair
because the DreamHost shared hosting plan
is an amazing value.
Who can argue with $5 a month?
No paying annual, no contracts.
Also again, unlike Bluehost,
you're getting automated backups here,
and you're getting really high quality live chat
and email support.
DreamPress is where things get more exciting.
This is DreamHost's managed WordPress offering,
and it takes the DreamHost experience
up to the level SiteGround.
You'll get automatic daily backups,
a one-click staging environment,
easy access to phpMyAdmin and file manager,
and an overall more polished experience.
Once again, DreamHost presents itself
as a great budget option
in the higher tier hosting category.
The base DreamPress plan is $20 a month paid monthly,
not annually, and gives you the managed WordPress experience
you can get with higher tier hosts
like WP Engine and Flywheel.
The performance and reliability is great
with both DreamHost plans.
I experienced a perfect 100% uptime
with the shared WordPress hosting,
and the 99.99% uptime with the DreamPress plan.
So in conclusion,
I generally recommend staying away from Bluehost,
unless you want to bargain with the cheapest plan
at $36 a year,
or you feel that phone support is really important to you.
SiteGround is hands down the best web hosts out of the three
but they're also the most expensive.
Their simple approach to pricing and premium experience
is something you're sure to enjoy.
And if you're looking for some middle ground,
DreamHost is phenomenal,
$5 per month for pay as you go web hosting
with a 97-day money back guarantee and amazing reliability.
Can't complain with that.
And DreamHost takes their 97-day money back guarantee
so seriously that they will automatically refund
all charges you've paid up to 97 days if you cancel.
They refund all of it automatically.
You never even have to speak to a human
or get pestered about why you're canceling
or why you want to refund.
You just go in, click Cancel,
automatic refund is issued to you.
I've experienced this before, and it's just incredible.
Really goes to show you how much DreamHost believes
in what they have to offer.
Now, what does this mean
in comparison to other web hosts I've discussed?
After all, this comparison is limited
to the three web hosts recommended by wordpress.org.
Be sure to check out my other comparison videos
looking at more hosting options.
My opinions on Bluehost and DreamHost
haven't changed much from the past,
but SiteGround is definitely worth considering now.
Previously I recommended that you stay away from SiteGround,
but I'd now put it in the tier of WP Engine and Flywheel.
I truly believe that SiteGround
has experienced a serious transformation.
I don't know if they've had leadership changes,
but they definitely redid their panel
and their entire interface,
and, wow, they offer an impressive service.
So, which web hosts do you use?
I'd love to know your thoughts in the comments down below.
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With that said, I will catch you guys next time.