Bluehost is one of the biggest hosting names in the world. It has been recommended on WordPress.org since 2005, longer than any other host, and it serves millions of websites.
So why do so many people search for a Bluehost alternative?
Almost always for the same three reasons. The renewal bill is much higher than the first bill. Shared plans have to be paid a year at a time, upfront. And things you expected to be included, like backups, are sold separately.
None of that makes Bluehost a bad host. It makes it the wrong host for some people.
This guide gives you seven alternatives, each one picked for a different need. Every price below was checked in September 2026, and we list the renewal price next to the sign up price, because the renewal price is the one you will actually live with.
Quick answer
| What you need | Best Bluehost alternative | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Best overall | Hostinger | Cheap, fast, easy panel, now recommended on WordPress.org |
| No renewal price shock | InterServer | Flat $7 a month, and $0.01 for the first month |
| The best support | SiteGround | Costs the most, answers the fastest |
| Pay month to month | DreamHost | Real monthly billing and a 97 day refund window |
| Cheapest with cPanel | Namecheap | Familiar cPanel, and the mildest renewal jump on this list |
| Growing traffic or a store | Cloudways | Your own cloud server, no contract, scale up any time |
| Pure speed for WordPress | Rocket.net | Cloudflare Enterprise on every plan |
Short on time? If you are moving a normal WordPress site and want one answer, go with Hostinger. If your main complaint is the renewal bill, go with InterServer.
Why people leave Bluehost in 2026
1. The renewal price.
The Starter plan sells at about $3.99 a month on a 36 month term and renews near $9.99 a month. On a 12 month term it is about $4.99 to start and about $11.99 to renew. That is roughly two and a half times more, and it lands the day your first term ends.
This is normal in budget hosting. Bluehost is not even the worst offender. It is just the number most people do not plan for.
2. You have to pay for a whole year, upfront.
Bluehost does not offer monthly billing on shared or WordPress hosting. The shortest term for a new account is 12 months, paid in one go. Monthly billing exists only on VPS, cloud and dedicated plans, which cost a lot more.
If you are testing an idea and might drop it in three months, that is a real problem. See our list of hosts that accept month to month payment if this is your main reason for leaving.
3. The extras are priced separately.
Automatic daily backups through CodeGuard run about $47.88 a year on the entry tier. Domain privacy is about $15 a year unless your plan includes it. Malware scanning is another line item. Add two or three of these and the add ons can cost more per year than the hosting itself.
4. Your site outgrew shared hosting.
Shared hosting puts many websites on one server. That is fine at 5,000 visitors a month. At 50,000, with a store or a busy blog, you will start seeing slow pages at exactly the wrong moment.
When Bluehost is still the right choice
We are not going to pretend Bluehost is a disaster. It is not, and if any of these describe you, staying is a sensible decision.
- You want a phone number to call. Bluehost has 24/7 phone support. Most budget hosts have quietly dropped it.
- You are building your first website. The guided setup is genuinely the easiest way to get from nothing to a live WordPress site.
- You care about the WordPress.org endorsement. As of August 2026, WordPress.org lists three hosts on its hosting page: Bluehost, Pressable and Hostinger.
- You are already on a 36 month term. At $9.99 a month renewal, Bluehost is actually cheaper long term than SiteGround, Hostinger or DreamHost.
- Speed was your worry. Bluehost moved its infrastructure to Oracle Cloud in early 2026, and independent monitoring recorded a clear improvement in response times through the year.
If none of that applies, keep reading.
The 7 best Bluehost alternatives
1. Hostinger (best overall)
|
Starts at $2.99/mo |
Renews around $10.99/mo |
Best for Almost everyone |
Hostinger is the pick if you want the same kind of simple, cheap hosting Bluehost sells, but with better hardware and a friendlier control panel.
What you get:
- LiteSpeed servers and NVMe storage, which most budget hosts do not offer at this price
- hPanel, Hostinger’s own control panel, which beginners usually find easier than cPanel
- Data centres in many countries, so you can pick one near your readers
- Free SSL, free email, free CDN and a free domain for the first year
- Added to the WordPress.org recommended hosting page, so you are not giving up that endorsement
Watch out for: the lowest advertised price needs a 48 month sign up, paid upfront. There is no phone support. And the renewal, near $10.99, is roughly what Bluehost renews at, so this is an upgrade in speed and tooling more than a way to save money in year two.
2. InterServer (best if you hate renewal surprises)
|
Starts at $0.01 first month |
Renews around $8/mo, flat |
Best for Predictable bills |
InterServer runs one shared plan, at one price, and that price does not climb. Monthly billing renews at $7 a month and stays at $7 a month. On the 12 month term you pay $30 for the first year and $84 after that, which works out to the same $7.
There is no cheap first year followed by a nasty second year. That is the whole pitch, and for a lot of unhappy Bluehost customers it is the only pitch that matters.
What you get:
- Unlimited storage, bandwidth, email accounts and websites
- Free SSL, weekly backups and a free Cloudflare CDN
- Free migration help if you are moving an existing site
- InterShield, their own malware and attack protection
- A company that has run its own data centres since 1999
Watch out for: the Standard plan uses DirectAdmin, not cPanel. Plenty of older posts get this wrong. cPanel is available on a separate, pricier plan. Data centres are in the United States only, there is no free domain, and backups are weekly rather than daily.
THE PENNY TRICK
You can test InterServer for one cent. Pick the 1 month billing cycle, enter ISPENNYHOSTING, and turn off the Domain Transfer toggle, which is switched on by default and adds $15. Full walkthrough here: InterServer 1 cent coupon code.
3. SiteGround (best support)
|
Starts at $2.99/mo |
Renews around $17.99/mo |
Best for Sites that earn money |
SiteGround is the most expensive shared host on this list and people keep recommending it anyway. The reason is support. You ask a question, and a person who understands the answer replies quickly. That is rarer than it should be.
What you get:
- Support that is good, not just fast
- Daily backups included from the cheapest plan, no add on fee
- Google Cloud infrastructure and their own WordPress speed tools
- Staging on the GrowBig plan and above, so you can test changes safely
Watch out for: the renewal is the steepest in mainstream hosting. StartUp goes from about $2.99 to about $17.99 on a 12 month term, and the higher plans climb further. StartUp also allows one website only. If your reason for leaving Bluehost was the renewal bill, this is the wrong door.
4. DreamHost (best for paying monthly)
|
Starts at $2.89/mo |
Renews around $10.99/mo |
Best for Short commitments |
DreamHost solves the exact thing Bluehost will not: it lets you pay month to month without a painful penalty. It has also been running independently since 1997, which in this industry counts for something.
What you get:
- Real monthly billing on shared hosting
- A 97 day money back guarantee, the longest in the business by a wide margin
- Daily backups on the entry plan
- A free domain for the first year on annual plans
Watch out for: no phone support on the standard plans, and the control panel is DreamHost’s own rather than cPanel. Tutorials written for cPanel will not match what you see on screen.
5. Namecheap (cheapest, and it keeps cPanel)
|
Starts at $2.28/mo |
Renews around $5.88/mo |
Best for Low cost, familiar panel |
If you like cPanel and simply want to pay less, Namecheap is the quiet answer. The renewal roughly doubles, which sounds bad until you compare it to SiteGround’s six times or Bluehost’s two and a half times from a higher base.
What you get:
- Standard cPanel, so every tutorial online matches your screen
- Three sites and 20 GB SSD on the entry Stellar plan
- Free SSL and free website migration
- A domain registrar and a host in one account, if you want that
Watch out for: shared plans are unmanaged, so there is no hand holding. Performance is fine for small sites and not much more. If you want managed WordPress from Namecheap, that is their separate EasyWP product. And if you buy your domain here, register it separately from your hosting anyway.
6. Cloudways (best for growing traffic and stores)
|
Starts at $11/mo |
Renews around Same, no hike |
Best for WooCommerce, busy blogs |
Cloudways is not shared hosting. You rent a small cloud server, and Cloudways manages it for you. You pick the provider (DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS or Google Cloud) and the server size, and you can host as many sites on it as it can handle.
What you get:
- Your own server resources, not a slice shared with hundreds of strangers
- No contract and no renewal hike, you pay for what you use each month
- Unlimited websites on one server
- Free migration for one site, and a 3 day trial with no card required
- Scale up when traffic grows, scale back down when it does not
Watch out for: no cPanel and no email hosting, so you will need something like Google Workspace for email. The $11 plan is a 1 GB server, which is tight for a real WordPress site. Budget for 2 GB, or 4 GB for a store. You also make more decisions here than on shared hosting, which is the price of the control.
7. Rocket.net (best pure speed)
|
Starts at $25/mo |
Renews around $30/mo |
Best for One important |
Rocket.net serves your WordPress site from Cloudflare’s Enterprise network, at more than 200 locations worldwide. That is the expensive version of Cloudflare, included on every plan, even the cheapest one. A visitor in Dhaka and a visitor in Chicago both get served from somewhere close to them.
What you get:
- Cloudflare Enterprise CDN on every plan
- Caching, image optimisation and compression turned on by default, no plugin stack to maintain
- The WP Rocket plugin included
- Free migration handled by their team, and daily backups
Watch out for: the Starter plan covers one site and around 25,000 visits a month, with overage charges above that. There is no email hosting. And at $25 a month it costs more than everything else on this list, so it only makes sense when speed genuinely earns you money.
Price comparison
| Host | Starts at | Renews around | Billing | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bluehost (for reference) | $3.99/mo | $9.99/mo | 12 months minimum | Beginners who want phone support |
| Hostinger | $2.99/mo | $10.99/mo | Up to 48 months upfront | Best all round replacement |
| InterServer | $2.50 first month, or $0.01 | $7/mo, flat | Monthly or yearly | No renewal shock |
| SiteGround | $2.99/mo | $17.99/mo | 12 months | Support |
| DreamHost | $2.89/mo | $10.99/mo | Monthly available | Flexibility |
| Namecheap | $2.28/mo | $5.88/mo | 12 months | Cheap cPanel |
| Cloudways | $11/mo | $11/mo, no hike | Pay as you go | Traffic and stores |
| Rocket.net | $25/mo | $25/mo | Yearly or monthly | Speed |
Prices checked in September 2026. Hosts change prices several times a year, and the cheapest advertised rate almost always needs the longest term paid upfront. Check the renewal number at checkout before you pay.
How to move your site off Bluehost
Moving hosts sounds scary. It is mostly waiting.
- Pick the new host and buy the smallest plan that fits. You can upgrade later. You cannot easily get a refund on a three year term you did not need.
- Ask for a free migration. Hostinger, InterServer, SiteGround, Cloudways and Rocket.net all move your site for you at no charge. Use it. This is the step where people break things.
- Test on a temporary URL. Every host gives you a way to preview the copied site before it goes live. Click through your important pages first.
- Change your nameservers. This is the actual switch. It happens wherever your domain is registered, not at your host.
- Wait a few hours. Your site stays online the whole time. Some visitors reach the old server and some reach the new one until it settles.
- Move your email. If you use Bluehost email addresses, sort this out before you cancel, not after.
- Cancel Bluehost last. Only once the new site has been running properly for a few days.
Two things worth knowing. If you are inside 30 days, Bluehost’s money back guarantee applies to the hosting fee, and if you took the free domain, the domain fee is usually deducted from your refund. And a domain has to be at least 60 days old before it can be transferred to another registrar, which is an ICANN rule, not a Bluehost one.
Keep your domain and your hosting apart
The free domain that comes with hosting is the friendliest looking trap in this industry.
It is free for one year. After that it renews at whatever your host decides, and more importantly, your domain now lives inside the account you might one day want to leave. That is exactly why it is offered.
Keep the domain at a registrar and the website at a host, in two separate accounts. Then leaving a host takes minutes instead of a weekend. We cover the registrar side in detail in our GoDaddy alternatives guide.
Just testing an idea?
If you are not sure the site will exist in three months, do not buy a year of hosting for it.
Use InterServer’s one cent first month, or DreamHost’s monthly plan, or one of the free hosting options we keep a list of. Commit money once you know the project is real.
Our picks
If you only remember three things:
- Replacing Bluehost with something similar but better: Hostinger.
- Leaving because of the renewal bill: InterServer, at a flat $7 a month.
- Leaving because the site got big: Cloudways, or Rocket.net if speed is the priority.
And whatever you pick, write the renewal price on a note somewhere. That one habit saves more money than picking the perfect host.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Bluehost alternative overall?
Hostinger. It does the same job for a similar price, with faster LiteSpeed servers, a simpler control panel, data centres in more countries, and a place on the WordPress.org recommended hosting page.
What is the cheapest Bluehost alternative?
InterServer, once you count the renewal. It is $2.50 for the first month, or one cent with coupon code ISPENNYHOSTING, and then $7 a month that does not climb. Namecheap Stellar is cheaper month to month at about $5.88 after the first year, if you want cPanel.
Is Bluehost bad?
No. It is a real host with 24/7 phone support and the longest running WordPress.org recommendation of any provider. The complaints are about renewal pricing, yearly upfront billing and paid add ons, not about your site falling over.
Does Bluehost let you pay monthly?
Not on shared or WordPress hosting. New accounts start at 12 months, paid upfront. Monthly billing is only available on VPS, cloud and dedicated plans. DreamHost and InterServer both offer genuine monthly billing on shared hosting.
Is Bluehost still recommended by WordPress.org?
Yes. As of August 2026 the WordPress.org hosting page lists three hosts: Bluehost, Pressable and Hostinger. That list has changed before and will change again, so check it if the endorsement matters to you.
Will my site go down while I move hosts?
No, if you copy the site to the new host first and only change your nameservers once it is working there. During the switch some visitors see the old server and some see the new one, but nobody sees an error page.
What happens to the free domain Bluehost gave me?
It is yours, but it was only free for the first year. You can move it to another registrar once it is at least 60 days old. If you cancel your hosting within the 30 day refund window, Bluehost usually deducts the domain fee from your refund.
Who owns Bluehost?
Newfold Digital, which was called Endurance International Group until 2021. Newfold also owns HostGator, Domain.com and Network Solutions. That is worth knowing before you switch to another Newfold brand and expect a different experience.
Can I try a host before committing?
Yes. InterServer costs one cent for the first month with ISPENNYHOSTING. Cloudways gives you a 3 day trial with no card. DreamHost gives you 97 days to get your money back, which is long enough to properly find out.
Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links, and we earn a commission if you buy through them. It costs you nothing extra.
Update log
September 2026: Full rewrite. Replaced all five previous picks with seven current ones, chosen by use case rather than by rank. Added Hostinger, InterServer, DreamHost, Cloudways and Rocket.net. Removed HostGator, which no longer runs its one cent offer and is owned by the same parent company as Bluehost, so switching between them changes little. Removed A2 Hosting, which rebranded to Hosting.com in May 2025 after being acquired by World Host Group. Removed WPX Hosting.
Corrected several claims from the old version: Bluehost does accept PayPal, so payment methods are no longer a reason to switch. EIG is now called Newfold Digital. SiteGround is no longer on the WordPress.org recommended list, and Hostinger and Pressable now are. Added current sign up and renewal prices for every host, a price comparison table, a migration walkthrough and an FAQ section.
February 2018: Previous update.
April 2017: First published.
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