Bluehost Cost Explained: What You’ll Really Pay 2025

Bluehost cost is often the first thing people check before choosing a hosting plan, but what you see on the pricing page isn’t always what you pay. 

With different plans, renewal rates, and hidden perks, figuring out the true value can feel confusing. Are you really saving money with a three-year plan? Is the cheapest plan enough for your website? 

In this guide, we’ll break down exactly what you’ll pay for Bluehost in 2025—plan by plan—so you can choose confidently and avoid surprises.

Understanding Bluehost Pricing Structure in 2025

Bluehost pricing in 2025 still works on a tiered model: you pay less per month when you commit for a longer term.

The biggest savings appear on the 36-month plan, but there’s more to it than just picking the cheapest option.

How Bluehost Pricing Works for Different Terms

Here’s the simple truth — Bluehost rewards commitment. The longer you prepay, the more you save.

For example, when choosing the Starter Plan, you’ll see:

• €2.49/month for a 36-month term
• €3.99/month for a 12-month term
• €5.99/month upon renewal

In practical terms, that means if you choose the 36-month deal, you’re paying for three years upfront, but locking in that low rate. When you renew, it jumps to the full price — so planning ahead matters.

I usually recommend the 36-month term to new site owners because it keeps your hosting costs predictable and avoids surprise renewals in the first year.

UI Example: From your Bluehost dashboard, go to Billing > Manage Plan > Renewal Settings to see your term length and renewal rate before it renews automatically.

What’s Included in the Advertised Price

The advertised rate covers core hosting features—the essentials you need to run a website—but not always the extras you might assume are included.

Here’s what comes standard with most Bluehost plans in 2025:

• Free domain for the first year (after that, renews around €15/year)
• Free SSL certificate for site security
• Free CDN (Content Delivery Network) to speed up your site
• NVMe web storage — faster than standard SSD
• Pro email trial for 30 days

That’s a solid starter package for anyone launching a new site, but keep in mind: professional email, domain privacy, and daily backups may cost extra after the trial period.

The Truth About Renewal Rates and Extra Fees

This is where many people get caught off guard. Bluehost’s renewal rates are often 2x or 3x the initial discount, which is standard across the hosting industry.

Let’s use the Business Plan as an example:

• Intro Price: €4.99/month (36-month term)
• Renewal Price: €10.99/month

Additional fees to watch for:

• Domain renewal: ~€15/year after the first free year
• Pro email (Google Workspace or Microsoft 365): starts around €3–€6/month
• Add-ons like SiteLock or CodeGuard: optional, but around €2–€5/month each

Tip: Uncheck unnecessary add-ons during checkout. Bluehost makes it easy to deselect extras on the final order screen under Optional Packages.

Bluehost Standard Hosting Plans Explained

Bluehost’s Standard Hosting options are built for beginners, bloggers, and small business sites. They’re affordable, easy to set up, and come with everything you need to launch a WordPress site in minutes.

Starter Plan: The Best Low-Cost Option for Beginners

The Starter Plan (from €2.49/month for 36 months) is perfect if you just need one website with moderate traffic. It includes:

• 1 website
• 10GB NVMe storage
• ~15,000 monthly visits
• Free SSL and domain (first year)

It’s lightweight but solid. I’ve seen clients run personal blogs, portfolio sites, and small landing pages on this without a hitch.

Real Example: If you’re starting a travel blog, this plan can easily handle your first year or two — just avoid uploading high-resolution videos directly to the server. Instead, host them on YouTube or Vimeo and embed them to save storage.

Business Plan: Balanced Choice for Growing Sites

The Business Plan (from €4.99/month for 36 months) is my personal go-to for small businesses. It’s ideal if you’re expecting steady traffic growth or need a few sites under one account.

You get:

• Up to 50 websites
• 50GB NVMe storage
• ~200,000 monthly visits
• Free domain privacy and weekly backups

This plan hits a sweet spot of performance and price. You also get access to staging environments, which let you test site updates before going live—a lifesaver if you’re managing client sites.

UI Tip: From the Bluehost dashboard, go to My Sites > Manage Site > Staging > Create Staging Site to clone your live site for testing safely.

Ecommerce Essentials: Tools for Online Store Owners

The Ecommerce Essentials Plan (from €9.99/month) includes extra features for anyone running an online shop. It’s built on WooCommerce, WordPress’s e-commerce plugin.

Included tools:

• 100GB NVMe storage
• ~200,000 monthly visits
• Pre-installed WooCommerce
• Gift card and shipping label tools
• Daily website backups

This plan is best for small-to-medium stores that don’t need enterprise hosting but want a stable, secure foundation for online sales.

Pro Insight: WooCommerce is already configured when you log in—go to Plugins > WooCommerce > Settings > Payments to set up Stripe or PayPal within minutes.

Bluehost High-Performance Hosting Plans Breakdown

If your site has grown or you’re managing multiple client projects, Bluehost’s High-Performance hosting is a serious step up.

You’ll get more CPU power, faster loading times, and better scalability.

Pro Plan: Affordable Upgrade for Heavy Traffic Sites

The Pro Plan (from €10.99/month for 36 months) offers:

• 5x more CPU power
• 100GB NVMe storage
• ~400,000 monthly visits
• Free CDN and domain privacy

This plan can handle resource-heavy sites—think large blogs, small agencies, or local eCommerce stores. If you’ve ever seen your site slow down under traffic spikes, this plan solves that.

Practical Example: One client of mine ran a food blog with thousands of recipe images. After switching from Starter to Pro, their page load speed improved by nearly 40%, just from better CPU allocation.

Premium Plan: More CPU and Storage Power for Developers

The Premium Plan (from €28.99/month) gives you more control, storage, and performance headroom.

Key specs:

• 6x CPU power
• 150GB NVMe storage
• Same 400k monthly visits
• 1-month pro email trial

I’d say this plan fits developers or freelancers who host client sites or run complex web applications. It offers a reliable balance between performance and cost without jumping to VPS territory.

Pro Tip: Use the Performance Metrics tab in your Bluehost dashboard to monitor CPU usage and memory consumption. If you consistently hit 70% or more, it’s time to scale up.

Enhanced and Elite Plans: When You Need Maximum Performance

At the top of the high-performance range, you have Enhanced (€35.49/month) and Elite (€41.99/month).

Both plans include:

• 8x to 10x CPU power
• Up to 250GB NVMe storage
• Priority support and full staging tools

These are for established businesses, large membership sites, or agencies managing many clients.

Reality Check: If your site earns thousands per month or has high traffic spikes (like flash sales or launches), the Elite plan ensures your site won’t crash. But if you’re still growing, the Pro or Premium plan will deliver great performance without overpaying.

Bluehost Commerce Plans for Online Stores

If you’re selling products or services online, Bluehost’s Commerce plans are built around WooCommerce — the WordPress plugin that turns your site into a full eCommerce store.

Both options come with solid storage, built-in tools, and performance enhancements. The main question is whether you need the Essentials plan or the Premium one.

Ecommerce Essentials vs Ecommerce Premium: Which Is Better Value?

The Ecommerce Essentials Plan starts at €9.99/month (36-month term) and renews at €17.99/month, while Ecommerce Premium costs €18.93/month, renewing at €26.68/month.

Here’s a quick comparison to make the choice easier:

If your store sells physical products (like clothing or accessories), the Essentials plan is plenty. But if you’re offering services, subscriptions, or digital products — the Premium plan is worth the upgrade for its Bookings & Subscriptions features.

UI Tip: Once you log in, you’ll find these under Plugins > WooCommerce Extensions > Premium Features. From there, toggle on “Bookings” or “Subscriptions” to enable them instantly.

Built-In WooCommerce Features That Affect Your Bluehost Cost

What makes these Commerce plans unique is that Bluehost pre-installs and optimizes WooCommerce for you. That means you don’t need to handle plugin setup or security settings manually.

Here’s what’s included that saves you both time and money:

• WooCommerce pre-installed: You don’t pay extra to install or configure it.
• Payment gateways ready to go: Stripe and PayPal are auto-enabled in WooCommerce > Settings > Payments.
• Daily backups: Automated with CodeGuard, so you don’t lose orders or data.
• Free SSL and CDN: Ensures your checkout pages are secure and fast.

If you were to buy and configure these separately, you’d likely spend around €150–€200/year. Bluehost bundles them in, which adds a lot of hidden value to the overall cost.

Real Cost of Running a Store on Bluehost in 2025

Here’s what you’ll realistically pay in your first year versus renewal years:

Real Example: A boutique selling handmade jewelry could expect to spend around €150–€200/year in the first term, increasing to €250–€300/year after renewal. Still far less than Shopify’s base plan (€27/month), with more control.

VPS Hosting: Mid-Tier Option Between Shared and Dedicated

VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. Think of it as renting a private section of a powerful computer instead of sharing resources with others like in shared hosting. It’s the ideal middle ground — more power, more control, and better performance without the full cost of a dedicated server.

Bluehost’s VPS hosting has three main options: Standard NVMe 4, Enhanced NVMe 8, and Ultimate NVMe 16.

Standard NVMe 4: Entry-Level VPS for Control and Performance

Starting at €40.61/month, this plan includes:

• 2 CPU cores
• 4GB RAM
• 100GB NVMe storage
• Unmetered bandwidth
• 1 dedicated IP address

This plan is great if you’ve outgrown shared hosting but don’t yet need enterprise-level resources. It’s especially good for developers or agencies managing a few client websites that need more stability.

UI Example: From your Bluehost dashboard, go to Advanced > cPanel > File Manager to manage your VPS files directly — this gives you root-level access, unlike shared plans.

Enhanced NVMe 8: Best Value for Scaling Websites

At €57.03/month, this is Bluehost’s most balanced VPS option. You get:

• 4 CPU cores
• 8GB RAM
• 200GB NVMe storage
• Unmetered bandwidth
• 1 dedicated IP

This setup can easily handle multiple sites or an eCommerce store with steady traffic. Performance is noticeably faster, especially during traffic spikes.

Pro Insight: One of my clients upgraded to this plan after their blog hit 100,000 monthly visits. Page load times dropped from 3.4 seconds to 1.8 seconds — a huge improvement for SEO and conversions.

Ultimate NVMe 16: Powerhouse VPS for Demanding Projects

At €82.10/month, the Ultimate NVMe 16 plan is serious business hosting.

You get:

• 8 CPU cores
• 16GB RAM
• 450GB NVMe storage
• Unmetered bandwidth
• 1 dedicated IP

This plan is for high-traffic sites, web apps, or businesses running complex backends. You can install custom software, use advanced caching, and fine-tune performance at the server level.

UI Tip: Under Performance > Resource Usage, you can monitor CPU and RAM consumption. If you’re consistently near 80%, consider adding extra resources through Manage Add-ons > Upgrade Resources.

Dedicated Hosting Plans: Premium Power at a Premium Price

Dedicated hosting is where Bluehost gives you an entire physical server — no sharing resources, no compromises. It’s expensive, but it’s the top tier of reliability and performance.

The Dedicated NVMe series in 2025 includes Standard NVMe 32, Enhanced NVMe 64, and Premium NVMe 128.

Standard NVMe 32: Enterprise-Level Speed and Control

At €122.03/month, this plan is designed for medium-sized businesses or developers who need complete control.

You get:

• 8 CPU cores
• 32GB RAM
• 1TB NVMe storage
• Unmetered bandwidth
• 3 dedicated IPs

This plan provides blazing-fast performance, ideal for SaaS applications or custom business platforms.

Real Use Case: A logistics firm I worked with used this plan to host an internal ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) tool — the performance jump from VPS was night and day.

Enhanced NVMe 64: Best for High-Traffic Business Sites

At €187.71/month, the Enhanced NVMe 64 plan doubles your power:

• 16 CPU cores
• 64GB RAM
• 2TB NVMe storage
• Unmetered bandwidth
• 3 dedicated IPs

This plan is best for high-traffic eCommerce stores or businesses needing consistent uptime during peak seasons.

Pro Tip: Enable automatic load balancing through Server Tools > Performance Settings. It helps distribute incoming traffic evenly and prevents downtime during surges.

Premium NVMe 128: Ultimate Hosting Power for Professionals

At €269.82/month, this is Bluehost’s top-of-the-line dedicated plan — built for large enterprises or developers running heavy-duty applications.

It includes:

• 16 CPU cores
• 128GB RAM
• 3TB NVMe storage
• Unmetered bandwidth
• 3 dedicated IPs

This plan is for when you want absolute control, power, and peace of mind — basically, your own private data center.

Reality Check: Unless you’re running a high-revenue SaaS or enterprise-level store, this plan may be overkill. Most established businesses find the Enhanced NVMe 64 plan strikes the perfect balance.

Hidden Costs You Should Know About Before Buying Bluehost

Before signing up, it’s worth knowing that Bluehost’s initial prices look low because they’re introductory rates.

After the first term, renewals and extras can catch you off guard if you’re not prepared.

Domain Renewal Fees After the First Year

Every Bluehost plan includes 1 free domain name for your first year — a nice perk. But after that, it renews at around €14–€18 per year, depending on the domain extension (.com, .net, .org, etc.).

Here’s the catch: Bluehost automatically sets your domain to auto-renew. You can easily turn that off.

UI Tip: Go to Domains > Manage > Auto-Renew Settings in your Bluehost dashboard and toggle it off if you’d rather manage renewals manually.

If you have multiple domains, consider transferring them to a dedicated domain registrar like Namecheap — they often have lower renewal fees and more control over DNS settings.

My take: Keep your main domain on Bluehost for simplicity but move secondary ones elsewhere once your first year’s up.

Add-Ons Like Email, Security, and Backups

Bluehost’s hosting prices don’t always include everything you might assume. Some tools you’ll probably want — like email, malware removal, and automatic backups — may cost extra after trial periods end.

Here’s a quick breakdown of common add-ons:

Pro Tip: If you’re tech-savvy, you can skip SiteLock and use Wordfence (free) or iThemes Security to protect your site without the recurring charge.

Real Cost of Third-Party Integrations and Tools

Even though Bluehost integrates beautifully with WordPress, WooCommerce, and popular builders like Elementor, not all plugins and tools are free.

A few common ones that can impact your budget:

• Yoast SEO Premium: €99/year (helps with keyword optimization and readability).
• WP Rocket (caching plugin): €49/year — improves site speed dramatically.
• Elementor Pro (page builder): €59/year — gives you full design flexibility.

In most cases, you can start with the free versions of these tools and only upgrade when your traffic or revenue justifies it.

Real Example: A client running a small fitness blog spent only €80 the first year using Bluehost Starter + free versions of plugins. By year two, after reaching 50K visitors/month, upgrading to premium plugins made sense for better performance and SEO.

How to Choose the Most Cost-Effective Bluehost Plan

Picking the right plan isn’t about getting the cheapest deal — it’s about balancing what you need now with what you’ll need later.

Match Hosting Type to Your Website Goals

Here’s how I usually guide people:

• Personal blogs or small portfolios: Starter Plan (Standard Hosting) is plenty.
• Growing business websites or agencies: Business Plan or Pro Plan for speed and multi-site management.
• Online stores: Ecommerce Essentials for small shops; Ecommerce Premium for subscriptions or digital products.
• Developers or agencies: VPS Enhanced NVMe 8 offers the best mix of power and price.
• Large-scale or enterprise sites: Dedicated NVMe 64 if uptime and performance are mission-critical.

Personal tip: Don’t overbuy. It’s easier (and cheaper) to upgrade later than to pay for unused resources upfront.

Calculate Long-Term Savings on 36-Month Plans

Bluehost gives its steepest discounts on 3-year commitments (36 months). The longer you commit, the lower your monthly price — but you pay everything upfront.

Here’s how it plays out for the Business Plan:

• 12 months: €7.49/month = €89.88 total
• 36 months: €4.99/month = €179.64 total

That’s €60+ saved per year, which adds up quickly.

What I suggest: If you’re serious about your website, go for the 36-month plan. If you’re just testing the waters, a 12-month plan gives you flexibility without locking you in too long.

When It’s Worth Paying More for Performance

Upgrading to higher plans like Pro or High-Performance Premium can make a real difference when you:

• Expect over 50K monthly visitors.
• Use media-heavy content (videos, images, animations).
• Run an eCommerce store with live inventory and transactions.

Real Example: A travel blogger switched from the Starter to the Pro plan after hitting 80K monthly visits. Their bounce rate dropped by 12% because faster load speeds kept readers on the site longer.

So yes — sometimes paying more isn’t just a cost; it’s an investment in performance and revenue.

Bluehost vs Other Hosting Providers: Is It Worth the Price?

When comparing hosting providers, you can’t just look at price. Reliability, support, and performance often make the difference between “cheap” and worth it.

Comparing Bluehost Pricing to SiteGround, HostGator, and DreamHost

Here’s a quick comparison of major hosting players in 2025 (based on 36-month terms):

Bluehost wins on affordability and value — especially for beginners — while SiteGround’s renewal rates are significantly higher despite similar performance.

What You Get for the Same Price Elsewhere

At around €5/month (after renewals), Bluehost gives you:

• A faster NVMe server (newer than SSDs)
• Free domain + SSL
• Automatic WordPress setup
• 24/7 live chat support

With most competitors, you’d have to add those manually or pay extra for the same setup.

Bluehost Value in Terms of Reliability and Support

Bluehost maintains a 99.9% uptime average, which is solid for shared hosting. Their customer support, available 24/7 via chat or phone, is consistently helpful for both beginners and advanced users.

UI Example: You can reach support right from your dashboard under Help > Chat Support. It usually connects you with an agent in under a minute.

If reliability, simplicity, and long-term scalability matter, Bluehost’s slightly higher renewals are justified.

Expert Tips to Save Money on Bluehost in 2025

Want to stretch your Bluehost budget without compromising quality? Here are some practical ways to do just that.

Use Introductory Deals Strategically

Bluehost’s best discounts appear for first-time customers and multi-year plans. Lock in your rate for 36 months to avoid paying full renewal prices sooner.

Smart Trick: If you plan to build multiple sites, buy a 36-month plan under one account, then add other domains later under “Add Website.” That way, you get the discount but manage all sites under one umbrella.

Avoid Unnecessary Add-Ons During Checkout

When you reach the checkout page, Bluehost automatically checks add-ons like SiteLock or SEO Tools. Uncheck anything you don’t immediately need — you can always add it later from your Marketplace > Add-ons tab.

A clean setup saves you around €50–€100/year easily.

Optimize Your Hosting Plan for Future Scalability

Think long-term. Instead of jumping straight to an expensive dedicated plan, start with VPS or High-Performance hosting. They’re scalable, meaning you can upgrade resources as you grow without migrating to a new server.

UI Example: Go to My Sites > Manage Site > Upgrades > Server Resources to adjust CPU or RAM without downtime.

Final Advice: Bluehost is cost-effective if you understand how their pricing structure works. I recommend setting reminders before renewal, skipping unnecessary extras, and choosing a 36-month plan if you’re in it for the long run.

You’ll save money, avoid billing surprises, and enjoy a solid, high-performance foundation for your website — without breaking the bank.