Bluehost vs. Pantheon

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Bluehost
Score 5.4 out of 10
N/A
Bluehost, headquartered in Orem, Utah, offers website hosting. Bluehost also offers managed WordPress hosting, with optional SEO and marketing tools for WordPress plans.
$19.95
per month for 36 month term
Pantheon
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
Pantheon is a WebOps platform where marketers and developers collaborate to drive results. The vendor states that with Pantheon, site owners maximize their capacity to update website design and functionality, responding to market trends, catering to consumer behavior, and adding real value to the business's bottom line. Today, companies compete on the basis of digital experiences, and the best results emerge from an agile build-test-learn process. Whether it's publishing content,…
$29
per month
Pricing
BluehostPantheon
Editions & Modules
Shared WordPress Hosting
$3.95-$16.99
per month
Shared Web Hosting
$3.95-$26.99
per month for 36 month term
eCommerce - WooCommerce Hosting
$15.95-$49.95
per month, 1 month to 36 month terms available
Managed WordPress (beta)
$19.95
per month for 36 month term
VPS Hosting
$19.99 - $119.99
per month
Blue Sky Live WordPress Support
$29.00-$149.00
per month
Dedicated Hosting
$79.99-$209.99
per month
Basic
$29
per month
Performance
$114
per month
Elite
Contact for quote
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BluehostPantheon
Free Trial
NoYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BluehostPantheon
Considered Both Products
Bluehost
Chose Bluehost
Bluehost stacks up against them by providing a variety of plans which gives decision-making power to the customers. Also, it has a built-in website builder.
Chose Bluehost
I enjoy DreamHost Over Bluehost, but our business already had many settings set up through Bluehost.
Chose Bluehost
Bluehost is better - easier to use, more reliable, have better customer service and offer more for the price you pay.
Chose Bluehost
Bluehost is somewhat similar in terms of their tech stack and somewhat similar in terms of pricing. I think for websites that want to remain small and operate on the lowest budget possible, Bluehost is sufficient. For websites that are interested in scaling, or need top-tier, …
Chose Bluehost
Bluehost did not stack up against HostGator; in fact, HostGator was where we ended up migrating after we realized Bluehost was not for us. Bluehost is not geared toward businesses, especially ones like ours that have a very customized site. HostGator allowed us the …
Chose Bluehost
Bluehost is more expensive, but they offer a more complete set of tools and seem far better equipped to handle WordPress sites. We wanted the ability to grow our site if necessary and felt Bluehost offered more potential than GoDaddy for long-term support.
Chose Bluehost
GoDaddy & Network Solutions are both priced similarly. I recommend Bluehost over both of these because of its support and upgrade cycles. NS hasn't been updated in what seems like a decade. GoDaddy, on top of its shady advertising and predatory behavior, has terrible support.
Chose Bluehost
Prior to moving over to Bluehost, I was using GoDaddy for 3 years which initially suited me but as I wanted more features and planned on selling products online I noticed the add-ons started adding up. For example, I had to find a free SSL certificate outside of Godaddy as they …
Chose Bluehost
I originally started in Bluehost when I took on a portfolio of existing business websites to manage. In an effort to consolidate my client base into one hosting service, I opted to move hosting and domains to GoDaddy, who is my preferred hosting service. When I started the …
Chose Bluehost
I found WordPress installation to be easier with Bluehost. 1&1 offers a monthly payment plan whereas you have to pay for the entire year with Bluehost.
Chose Bluehost
Bluehost was much better at customer support, and easy of use and initial setup compared to Site5. We were much happier when switching to Bluehost.
Chose Bluehost
I found that Bluehost had a better UX and better prices. It was easier to navigate, easy to update key settings and the 1 touch Wordpress install and automatic Wordpress updates (at the time) made Bluehost a better choice. Also, GoDaddy was having issues with uptime at that …
Chose Bluehost
We now use WP Engine exclusively. We have found the hosting platform and customer service to be well worth the extra money.
Chose Bluehost
We have used other hosting systems such as HostGator and GoDaddy. We had security problems with GoDaddy and HostGator had performance difficulties. With Bluehost we were able to get a solid, secure hosting service overcome our security and performance concerns. While GoDaddy …
Chose Bluehost
Bluehost's VPS offering gives me full control over my container which I don't get with Dreamhost. The size of the container is much more desirable for hosting multiple products, over and above DigitalOcean, and the control panel for Bluehost is far more intuitive than AWS'.
Pantheon
Chose Pantheon
Acquia was terrible. We use DigitalOcean for some all-purpose computing needs and Platform.sh for an application that does more computing and high-throughput processing where we do not want page views (API calls) to count against our usage.
Chose Pantheon
Although it may seem a good fit for a company that needs extra control over the deployment process and development process, for a firm that is mainly concentrating on SEO, it would be an overkill. Pantheon provides that sweet automation that allows us to shed some weight on …
Chose Pantheon
We use several hosting solutions depending on the client needs or what they were already setup on. Pantheon is very similar to them and offers similar services however one of the main features we use is the Multidev service which allows us to test pieces of work separately and …
Chose Pantheon
I found Cloudways to be a better solution for our needs in comparison to Pantheon. With their integration of multiple hosting providers we had a wider selection of locations to choose from and finally a server nearer to our core audience.
Chose Pantheon
Pantheon dashboard is leaner and faster. Pantheon cost is lower comparatively.
Chose Pantheon
Linode is good if you want to keep control of the infrastructure, webservers, etc. However, if you want to forget about it and focus in your website content; Pantheon will make your life much easier. acquia support system is terrible, it is slow and they send outdated …
Chose Pantheon
The differentiating advantage that Pantheon has is the incredibly intuitive workflow UI, with seamless GIT integrations between each environment: Dev, Test, and Live.
Chose Pantheon
Much more comfortable with Pantheon, more user-friendly and completely moved to the next generation development tools.
Chose Pantheon
Pantheon stacks up fairly equally, and we chose Pantheon originally because, at the time of making our decision, they were the best partner for our business size, and who could help us through challenges that VIP could not. Today, we are with VIP as that was a faster and more …
Chose Pantheon
Pantheon unlike the above platforms is very easy to use the features and even on initial features configuration and also the deployment on Cloud is excellent. Pantheon has great data and other marketing content management capabilities through Cloud services and the …
Chose Pantheon
A lot of the other providers on this list are different from each other with very different target audiences. The only thing Pantheon can compare with is managed WordPress hosting, WordPress-related support, and hosting on Google Compute Engine. Pantheon wins hands down in …
Chose Pantheon
GoDaddy can't compete with Pantheon's speed, support, and backed tools. We built a WordPress site for a client in Pantheon, they insisted on us moving it to their existing GoDaddy account, and within three months, they paid us to move it back to Pantheon because of the site's …
Chose Pantheon
Pantheon is great because I can do everything and anything needed as a developer to get my clients satisfied. Drupal is the main CMS we use on Pantheon, and my experience has been pretty positive so far. I manage WordPress sites on my own, and that's easier to maintain for most …
Chose Pantheon
Pantheon is leaps and bounds ahead of its competition in platform reliability, support, and platform features. The most important factor for us is uptime and support response times.
Chose Pantheon
Pantheon provides stellar premium hosting for Drupal and WordPress. The platform is highly performant. Support is responsive and knowledgeable. System-enforced best practices improve site stability alongside rock-solid platform reliability. However, Pantheon absolutely charges …
Chose Pantheon
Pantheon compares well with uptime but far exceeds RackSpace when it comes to ease of use.
Chose Pantheon
Pantheon offers an advantage over WP Engine and Flywheel by offering hosting support for both Drupal and WordPress websites. Pantheon's pricing model could be much more competitive, however. Pantheon ended up winning out over Media Temple in World Literature Today's hosting …
Chose Pantheon
Our former hosting company was Dreamhost. While we loved Dreamhost, especially since it was free for nonprofits, we were always flying by the seat of our pants developing and updating plugins on the live website. Pantheon's multi-dev platform allows us to work on several …
Chose Pantheon
Pantheon's use of Git is much better than WP Engine, and Pantheon's interface is better. However, Pantheon costs more and would likely suit medium to larger organizations.
GoDaddy's dedicated WordPress offering is much more restrictive compared with Pantheons and suits …
Chose Pantheon
Pantheon has been only the product I have had experience within my entire working career. It performs effectively with great ROI on the overall production of our company. The deployment process was easy, and all our team members had less time learning how it operates. I have …
Chose Pantheon
I have no experience with similar products though Pantheon has proven to be the best WebOps. It has all tools that we require in website infrastructure from development to launching. Our teamwork has enabled us to create websites that have boosted the growth of our organization …
Chose Pantheon
Bluehost, GoDaddy and Microsoft Azure
Chose Pantheon
Bluehost, GoDaddy and Microsoft Azure
Best Alternatives
BluehostPantheon
Small Businesses
SiteGround
SiteGround
Score 9.8 out of 10
ManageWP
ManageWP
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
WP Engine
WP Engine
Score 8.9 out of 10
Bloomreach - The Agentic Platform for Personalization
Bloomreach - The Agentic Platform for Personalization
Score 8.5 out of 10
Enterprises
AccuWebHosting.Com
AccuWebHosting.Com
Score 9.9 out of 10
Bloomreach - The Agentic Platform for Personalization
Bloomreach - The Agentic Platform for Personalization
Score 8.5 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
BluehostPantheon
Likelihood to Recommend
4.9
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(0 ratings)
9.8
(0 ratings)
Availability
4.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
8.1
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
3.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
BluehostPantheon
Likelihood to Recommend
Bluehost is a decent all-around choice for web hosting with professional web development and domain management features that are particularly ideal for WordPress websites and blogs. They have a good reputation within the industry as a company that invests heavily in new technology and platform innovation. Bluehost has made a lot of improvements to customize their back-end administration (AMP & control panel) by working to improve the usability and design of the browser interface. Bluehost is primarily focused on customers who use WordPress and we would recommend either their hybrid cloud or managed WordPress platform, which provides everything that you need to build and maintain a popular website. All in all, Bluehost is a well-established brand that continually improves its hosting products, regularly upgrades their data center hardware, and is generally considered a leader in the development of new cloud hosting platform services.
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Great Cloud-based coordination platform which offers the team excellent capabilities on easy workflow management, multiple project activity tracking and easy to monitor all the project assets from one desk. Pantheon offers the best content management tools, strategic on development project life cycle management is excellent and the reporting features with Pantheon are effective and useful real-time data analytical capability.
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Pros
  • Bluehost provides a cost-effective website hosting bundle for WordPress.
  • Transferring a domain name was super easy and saved me money on the domain name and domain privacy renewal.
  • Provides a basic free SSL certificate for all websites and offers unlimited websites on the pro plan.
Read full review
  • Effective use of our codebase deployment and implementation.
  • The dashboard functionality and general stability and security are excellent.
  • The server is quite consistent, and if you need assistance from the support team, they are very quick to respond.
  • Automatic updates let me ensure that my customers have safe websites without increasing my own expense.
  • The team offers excellent assistance and help for chat.
Read full review
Cons
  • Sometimes the login page does not function properly.
  • You have to purchase hosting for the whole year instead of being able to pay monthly.
  • It doesn't have the option to transfer hosting to another account. My customers have to sign up on their own.
Read full review
  • Pricing structure has too large of a jump between Basic and Performance plans
  • Have run into issues with prescribed WP updates not working through dashboard and having to do manually.
  • Pantheon site dashboard occasionally is unavailable (the site is never affected though)
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Likelihood to Renew
No answers on this topic
The environment is stable and we have not had any issues/downtime. The annual cost is reasonable.
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Usability
I use Wordpress for my website on Bluehost, so I already know how it works and happy with it. I gave it this rating as I love the fact that If you do plan on creating multiple websites on Bluehost you'll be able to create specific login access for each website sites making it less likely to enter into the wrong website accounts. Which makes it even easier to manage client websites if you plan to create and host websites on behalf of your clients.
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Monitoring of project development is very easy using a dashboard with its integration capability, showing all processes in a single screen which is easy to use and also easy to navigate through. A powerful tool that allows testing to be carried on without the user noticing any changes to the system and a highly interactive tool for groups and project members.
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Support Rating
When we decided to migrate away from Bluehost, a quick call to their tech-support solved most of our problems, and we immediately got our money back. They did — to their credit — try to accommodate us, but they realize that we needed something else that they couldn’t accommodate. And once that realization set in, customer service immediately refunded us our money.
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Even tier 1 Pantheon chat and ticket support are knowledgeable, competent, and useful. They routinely understand and promptly resolve urgent, complex, and/or unusual issues that other hosts need to escalate to tier 2 or tier 3 support personnel. I honestly can't think of a truly negative or disappointing support experience in the years I've used Pantheon hosting for client websites.
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Implementation Rating
No answers on this topic
Once the environments were up and running, the implementation was easy to synchronize with latest data prior to switchover.
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Alternatives Considered
Bluehost is somewhat similar in terms of their tech stack and somewhat similar in terms of pricing. I think for websites that want to remain small and operate on the lowest budget possible, Bluehost is sufficient. For websites that are interested in scaling, or need top-tier, USA-based tech support 24/7 at their fingertips, then other hosting providers may be better.
Read full review
Acquia was terrible. We use DigitalOcean for some all-purpose computing needs and Platform.sh for an application that does more computing and high-throughput processing where we do not want page views (API calls) to count against our usage.
Read full review
Scalability
The website is slow. The speed is not reliable. Sometimes, sites would go down without warning. You would have to get a VPS to get consistent speed. If you have small website as a hobby, then Bluehost will be sufficient. Otherwise, I recommend looking for something more fast. Storage is good, but speed is lacking
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No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
  • Because of their level of service and support, we were able to create our web presence in-house without the need to hire an external firm or consultant. Consequently, Bluehost has more than paid for itself.
  • The efficiency of the all-in-one solution means our web person doesn't have to spend time logging into different sites and managing different accounts, and the business office only has to pay one vendor.
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  • Pantheon allows ordinary sites to excel esp if there is consistent development going on behind the scenes.
  • Website management is super easy and the hosting fee gets paid off as you save on developer hours.
  • Expensive for those who are not consistently developing on the platform, there are other options out there at better price points.
Read full review
ScreenShots

Pantheon Screenshots

Screenshot of Find out in seconds if your site is ready to launch. Use Launch Check to get recommendations and discover site issues fast with our report based on over 50 automated checks.Screenshot of Our Developer Dashboard has everything you need to build, launch, and run Drupal and WordPress sites. Interface via SFTP or Git, deploy and scale your sites, and access tools like backups and one-click core updates. Easily add team members and control access.