Bluehost and SiteGround are two of the biggest web hosts around. Between the two of them, they host several million websites that operate across the globe. SiteGround vs. Bluehost
But when it comes to your own website, you want to look at Bluehost vs. SiteGround carefully. There are some key differences between their pricing, hosting plans and other features that you should consider before deciding which hosting provider is right for you.
SiteGround
Like Bluehost, SiteGround was founded around the turn of the millennium, in Bulgaria in 2004, to be precise.
And also like Bluehost, SiteGround markets itself as a beginner-friendly host with a focus on WordPress hosting for its users. Its servers host over 2 million websites as well, so in terms of size, the company is roughly on par with Bluehost.
SiteGround vs. Bluehost: Features comparison
Now that we’ve gone over the basics, let’s break down the features that each company offers its clients.
SiteGround vs. Bluehost: Website builders
The market for website builders keeps growing each year. One study estimates that 71% of small businesses have a website and that almost half of those without one plan to make one soon. Plus, 32% of small businesses use website builders when designing their sites.
One reason for the popularity of website builders is how easy they make it for users to create their own websites. You don’t need to have any coding knowledge or complicated software.
Bluehost
Bluehost makes it easier than ever to get started on your own website with its new WonderSuite feature. To get started, all you need to do is fill out a few forms, which let Bluehost know what type of website you want to make and what you want to achieve.
Once you’re done, Bluehost will help you choose the right theme and template to get the job done, as well as help you to get publishing faster.
SiteGround
SiteGround doesn’t offer its own website builder. Instead, it offers users the choice between WordPress or Weebly, two popular builders that run on Bluehost as well.
While this does allow SiteGround to focus on hosting, getting started without a dedicated builder for beginners can be a bit tricky if you’ve never made a WordPress website before.
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SiteGround vs. Bluehost: Domains
Having your own domain name is crucial to standing out from the crowd. Whether you choose to join the 36% of people who go with a .com or if you want to be a bit different and go with a .xyz, both Bluehost and SiteGround offer dozens of domains for you to choose from.
Bluehost
Bluehost offers a free domain name for the first year on all plans. After that, .com domains renew at the industry standard $19.99 per year. You can manage your domains from Bluehost’s control panel, and all Bluehost plans come with dedicated customer service for your domain as well.
SiteGround
This hosting provider doesn’t offer free domains, even for the first year. Instead, it offers a slight discount at $17.99 for your first year, followed by $19.99 per year for a .com domain.
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SiteGround vs. Bluehost: Bandwidth
Bandwidth refers to how much data on your website transfers to any visitors you receive. If you run a large website, you’ll inevitably need more bandwidth than a smaller website would. Conversely, you might run an eCommerce website that has periods where you need a lot of bandwidth, like during a sale, while other times you’ll have fewer visitors.
If you aren’t sure about how much bandwidth you need, check out a bandwidth calculator to get an estimate.
Bluehost
Bluehost offers unmetered bandwidth, which means you aren’t charged according to the number of visitors you receive. Instead, you basically receive a set amount of bandwidth each month to work with. This is good for most websites, and only those with thousands of daily visitors would experience any issues with connectivity. In which case, Bluehost offers a variety of upgrade options for customers who need to handle more traffic.
SiteGround
SiteGround doesn’t specify how much bandwidth you can use each month. Instead, it limits users by how many visitors their website receives. For example, SiteGround’s StartUp plan allows for approximately 10,000 visitors per month. This works out to only about 330 visitors per day, which may not be enough if you run a large eCommerce store or popular blog.
Both SiteGround and Bluehost offer WordPress hosting, with Bluehost’s plans starting from $2.95 per month for the first year, while SiteGround’s start at $2.99 per month for the first year.
| Bluehost | SiteGround | |
| Free domain name | For the first year | No |
| Bandwidth | Unmetered | 10,000–400,000 visitors per month |
| Number of websites | 1–5 websites | 1–unlimited websites |
| SSD storage | 10–100 GB | 10–40 GB |
| CDN | Free on all plans | Free on all plans |
| SSL certificate | Free for the first year with the Basic plan, free for the plan duration on higher plans | Standard SSL included for free on all plans |
| Money-back guarantee | 30 days | 30 days |
Cloud or VPS hosting
VPS, or virtual private server hosting, is where you have your own dedicated server (or section of a server) that’s only going to host your website.
This type of hosting is best for users with high-traffic, established websites that will require dedicated resources. If you’ve been running your own website for a while and have had users complain about downtime issues, it might be the moment to switch over to a more resource-rich plan like one of these.
With Bluehost, VPS hosting starts at just $29.99 per month. With this plan, you can host unlimited websites and domains.
While SiteGround doesn’t offer VPS hosting, it does have something called cloud hosting. These plans, starting from $100 per month, offer “dedicated resources” and are fully managed, but there is no mention of having your own server.
| Bluehost | SiteGround | |
| SSD storage | 120–240 GB | 40–160 GB |
| Dedicated RAM | 2–8 GB RAM | 8–20 GB |
| Core CPU | 2–4 CPUs | 4–16 CPUs |
| Money-back guarantee | 30 days | 14 days |
SiteGround vs. Bluehost: Pricing comparison
Pricing can be a sticking point for many users. Running a website can be quite cheap, or it can run into the hundreds of dollars a month. It all depends on your budget and needs.
But this can be a sore spot for SiteGround. In general, SiteGround’s initial offerings are pretty close to Bluehost’s. After your initial 12-month period though, you’ll find prices go up quickly.
For example, with the GrowBig plan, you start out at a reasonable $4.99 per month. After a year, however, the price jumps to $29.99 per month. With Bluehost’s comparable plan, you start at $4.95 per month and go up to just $21.99 per month after twelve months.
Here’s a quick summary of SiteGround’s and Bluehost’s pricing:
| Bluehost | SiteGround | |||
| Monthly starting price (12-month plan) | Monthly normal price (12-month plan) | Monthly starting price (12-month plan) | Monthly normal price (12-month plan) | |
| Shared hosting | $2.95 – $9.95 | $11.99 – $28.99 | $2.99 – $7.99 | $2.95 – $9.95 |
| WordPress hosting | $2.95 – $9.95 | $11.99 – $28.99 | $2.99 – $7.99 | $17.99 – $44.99 |
| VPS hosting | $34.99 – $99.82 | $79.99 – $142.99 | Not available | Not available |
| Cloud hosting | Not available | Not available | $90.00 – $380.00* | $100.00 – $400.00 |
| Dedicated hosting | $109.97 – $159.98 | $149.99 – $259.99 | Not available | Not available |
*Note: SiteGround’s Super Power plan is only available for one- or three-month terms.
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