If you are looking for something more powerful than basic web hosting, you might be considering VPS hosting. Having a virtual private server gives you more speed, power, control and security than regular hosting. The only problem is that it’s very expensive. One less costly alternative you should know about is Bluehost Pro hosting.
A Look at Bluehost
Check out Bluehost at their official website.
If you have been online for a reasonable amount of time, or if you have been following my website long enough, then Bluehost is not a stranger to you anymore. You can read a comprehensive review on Bluehost which I have done sometime ago. Bluehost is rated as the best web hosting company in 2012 and this continues into 2013. Looking at the current trend, I am confident they will continue to occupy this position for many more months in 2013!
Anyway, for those who are new, Bluehost is a very popular and highly rated web hosting company. They host millions of domains and sign up more than 20,000 new customers every month. Their basic hosting plan is called Professional Web Hosting, and offers a generous number of features, such as:
- Unlimited disk space, file transfers, email accounts and domains
- A free domain name
- Site builder with a choice of templates
- 24/7 support by phone, chat and email
- Secure shell
- $100 in Google advertising credits
This all-in-one web hosting plan is adequate for most personal and small business purposes. However, many people reach a point where they’ve “outgrown” basic hosting and need something with more power, control and flexibility. This is why Bluehost offers another option, Bluehost Pro.
Benefits of Bluehost Pro
Bluehost Pro offers all of the features of their Professional Web Hosting plan with some additional features. These additional features include:
- Domain Privacy (Private domain name)
- SiteBackup Pro
- Additional CPU, Memory and Resources
- Dedicated IP Address
- Postini Anti-Spam Accounts
- Private SSL Certificate
When you sign up for Bluehost Pro, your site is connected to their exclusive pro servers. These servers support a much smaller number of users than their regular ones. These pro servers are more powerful, faster and host less accounts per server. This gives you some of the benefits of VPS hosting at a much lower cost.
Bluehost Pro costs $19.95 per month, which is naturally more than regular hosting but a lot less than any VPS hosting you could find.
Why Upgrade From Basic Shared Hosting?
Why should you consider upgrading your hosting at all? There can be several reasons.
- Your site is running slow
- You are expanding your business and plan to build more sites or a larger site
- You want more privacy and security
There are definite benefits to having your own dedicated IP address, additional resources and the other features that come with Bluehost Pro. It will make your site run faster and more efficiently and give you more security.
Oh, you also have the added security of your own IP address and SSL certificate!
Bluehost Pro vs VPS Hosting
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Bluehost Pro is cheaper
Many web hosts offer VPS hosting. You can find a variety of VPS hosting plans, and some are not that expensive. Yet it would be hard to find a VPS plan that’s as reasonable as Bluehost Pro. GoDaddy, for example, has five different VPS plans, but the cheapest one is more expensive than Bluehost Pro!
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Bluehost Pro has better resources
Remember that VPS hosting is not the same as having a dedicated server (which is even more expensive). With VPS hosting you are still sharing resources with other users. In fact, you may not even have your own dedicated IP address, which you get with Bluehost Pro.
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Bluehost is reliable
VPS hosting, like other types of hosting, can vary a great deal from one company to another. Since physical resources are still shared, you can’t always be certain that your site will receive everything it needs at all times. In some cases, you may have to buy a higher priced VPS plan if you want to maximize the benefits. All of this depends, of course, on how reliable the web host is and how advanced their technology is.
Bluehost is a web host that has a very good reputation in the industry. This can give you some reassurance that their Pro plan is dependable.
Editor’s Advice
Should You Upgrade to Bluehost Pro?
If you currently have a regular shared hosting plan, either with Bluehost or another company, it may be time to think about upgrading. Bluehost Pro is a very good alternative to more expensive hosting options such as VPS or having a dedicated server.
Bluehost Professional Web Hosting is one of the best shared hosting plans you can find online, but Bluehost Pro gives you even more for your money.
Before you invest in a costly VPS plan, I’d highly recommend that you check out Bluehost Pro. For less than $20 per month you can get the benefits of costlier plans and stick with a company you can trust!
If you’re already a Bluehost customer, you already know how great this company is. If not, I’d suggest visiting their website to find out more about them. You can first take a look at all of their basic features and then see what you get by upgrading to Bluehost Pro!
My blog is still new, and it’s currently hosted with none other than Bluehost! I am not upgrading anytime soon, but when it grows to a stage where it needs to upgrade, I will surely do it with the pro plan. Bluehost is good and I like their services so far.
Bluehost Pro looks really good as an alternative to VPS hosting.