While hosting a website is an excellent way to reach your target audience, choosing a web hosting service provider isn’t easy. Consider InMotion and Bluehost, two of the most popular service providers. Even though they offer similar features, one should know a few key differences.
In this comparison, we’ll figure out all the differences between InMotion and Bluehost, including their hosting options, price, performance, security, and even customer support, so you can decide which suits your needs and fits your budget.
InMotion
Starting price for basic hosting
On InMotion’s secure website
Starting price for basic hosting
Pros & Cons
Pros Of InMotion Hosting
- Competitive money-back guarantee policy
- 24/7 customer support
- Active community forum
Cons Of InMotion Hosting
- No Windows servers
- Month-to-month payment plan is not available for the basic plan
Why We Picked It
Based on our ranking criteria, InMotion Hosting scored highly due to its excellent customer service, competitive pricing and exceptional virtual private server and reseller hosting services. Whether you’re looking to build a small website or a large online store, you should consider InMotion Hosting.
Bluehost
On Bluehost’s secure websites
Pros & Cons
- Endorsed by WordPress
- Intuitive and easy to use
- Automatic backups
- Renewal rates increase significantly
- Will only migrate WordPress sites for free
- No refund after 30 days
InMotion vs. Bluehost: Overview
InMotion Hosting was founded in 2001 by Sunil Saxena and Todd Robinson. Per the official website, the provider caters to over 170,000 customers and has a team of over 350 members. In addition to general web hosting, InMotion provides “optimized hosting for popular platforms such as WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal, with enhanced security features.” The hoster also offers a money-back guarantee so users can try it without second thoughts.
On the other hand, Bluehost came into existence in 2003 in the United States. What sets this particular hoster apart from others is that the known content management system WordPress recommends it. Bluehost’s official website mentions that two million users trust it worldwide. It also provides various services, including Shared, Dedicated, and VPS hosting.
InMotion vs. Bluehost: Detailed Comparison
Features
InMotion offers several hosting options, including Shared, Reseller, WordPress, VPS, and Dedicated hosting. While the first two are the most affordable, the other three are relatively expensive, with Dedicated hosting topping the pricing charts. InMotion also sells domains.
The Shared hosting plans from InMotions are ideal for individuals, enthusiasts, or small business owners who want a website catering to a small audience. The WordPress hosting plans are especially designed for those who rely on the content management system’s services. However, the top-tier VPS or Dedicated plans are for enterprises or organizations that want the best performance and reliability.
Bluehost also offers various products, including Shared, VPS, Dedicated, and WordPress hosting. However, it’s most known for its WordPress hosting expertise. Users can even create online shopping stores and get consultations for website design and digital marketing. One can also purchase domains using Bluehost.
Pricing and Plans
The most affordable Shared hosting plan on InMotion, Core, costs $3.49 per month (about INR 290) and offers free SSL, hosting for two websites, 100GB of SSD storage, unlimited bandwidth, and 10 email addresses. It is important to mention that the pricing is applicable when users opt for the annual plan.
Then there’s the Launch plan that costs $6.99 per month (about INR 581) and offers a free domain, SSL certificate, hosting for 25 websites, unlimited SSD storage, bandwidth, and email addresses. The Pro plan offers unlimited websites, storage, bandwidth, and email addresses for $11.25 per month (about INR 936).
Regarding Reseller hosting, InMotion’s most affordable plan, R-1000N, costs $6.99 per month (about INR 581) when billed monthly. The plan offers 80GB of SSD storage, 1000GB of bandwidth, 24 cPanel licenses, unlimited email accounts, and one dedicated IP address. Similarly, WordPress hosting costs $70 (about INR 5,822) per year on the platform in exchange for a one-core CPU, 1GB of RAM, 30GB of SSD storage, and 1TB of bandwidth.
InMotion’s most affordable VPS plan costs $14.99 per month (about INR 1,247) when billed annually. It offers a server with a quad-core CPU, 4GB of RAM, 90GB of SSD storage, 2TB of bandwidth, and two dedicated IPs.
The most economical Dedicated hosting plan, Aspire, costs $89.99 per month (about INR 7,485) when billed annually. It provides a server with 16GB of DDR3 RAM, 1TB of SSD storage, an Intel Xeon E3-1246 v3 processor with four cores and eight threads, and 1 Gbps unmetered bandwidth.
The most affordable Bluehost Shared hosting plan costs $2.95 per month (about INR 245). Called Basic, the plan provides hosting for one website, 10GB SSD storage, a free first-year domain, Managed WordPress, and a free SSL certificate for one year. A tier above, the Choice Plus plan costs $5.45 per month (about INR 453) and offers hosting for three websites, 40GB of SSD storage, daily website backups, and malware scanning.
Bluehost’s most expensive Shared hosting plan, Pro, costs $13.95 per month (about INR 1,160). It provides hosting for five websites, 100GB of SSD storage, chat/phone support, high-traffic optimization, and free SSL.
The entry-level VPS plan, Standard, costs $29.99 monthly (about INR 2,494) and provides access to a virtual machine with 2GB RAM, dual-core CPU, and 120GB of SSD storage. Last but not least, Bluehost’s Standard Dedicated hosting plan costs $89.98 per month (about INR 7,484) and facilitates a server with an Intel Xeon-D CPU with four cores and eight threads, 8GB of RAM, and 1TB of HDD storage.
Reliability
Per the official InMotion blog, the hoster has a 99.9% uptime guarantee. Hence, users should expect about eight to nine hours of downtime annually, the industry standard for consumer-grade Shared hosting plans. However, a few plans, such as the VPS hosting plans, promise 99.99% uptime, which is great for both businesses and organizations.
On the other hand, Bluehost doesn’t provide any uptime guarantee. Even so, a review by Cyber News suggests that the provider’s real-world uptime is 99.99%, which is excellent for individuals and companies alike. It translates to about 53 minutes to one hour of downtime every year.
In other words, both InMotion and Bluehost are reliable web hosting providers.
Performance
While InMotion averages about 759ms of response time, Bluehost responds in about 361ms, which is a significant difference.
However, when it comes to fully loaded time, i.e., the time it takes for the website to be fully functional, InMotion takes about 825 mms, and Bluehost takes about 1.8s, which paints a different picture.
Clearly, InMotion’s UltraStack speed and performance technology is at play here, giving it the lead in overall website performance.
Security
Both hosters provide essential features such as server monitoring and SSL certificates.
However, some features exclusive to InMotion’s hosting include hack and malware protection, ModSecurity web application firewall, and DDoS protection. Daily backups are available as an optional feature as well.
Bluehost provides malware protection and daily backups as add-ons over the regular plan fee. Users can also get the SiteLock package for enhanced security,
Support
When it comes to support, InMotion offers slightly better options, including 24/7 live chat, phone, email, and a ticketing system. On the other hand, Bluehost support is limited through 24/7 live chat and phone. However, that doesn’t mean that Bluehost doesn’t solve users’ issues. Both InMotion and Bluehost are said to resolve issues and provide solutions quickly. Users can also access a massive knowledge base for their queries.
InMotion vs. Bluehost: Bottom Line
Both InMotion and Bluehost provide affordable plans with enough features. However, if you’re looking for the best performance and reliability, InMotion can be a better choice.
Bluehost, on the other hand, is the most affordable of the two. Hence, it is ideal for beginners or small businesses and offers all the required features. However, one should have some technical knowledge to use either of the hosters.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Which is InMotion’s most affordable hosting plan?
InMotion’s Core is the most affordable Shared hosting plan. It costs $3.49 per month.
Is Bluehost suitable for businesses?
Yes, Bluehost offers VPS and Dedicated hosting plans ideal for large businesses that want the best reliability and performance.
Which is faster, InMotion or Bluehost?
In terms of fully functional time, InMotion is faster than Bluehost.
