Hosting Reviews · Web Hosting
Bluehost Plans Compared: Starter vs Business vs eCommerce Essentials
Plan Comparison • Features • Which Plan to Buy
Bluehost sells three main shared and WordPress hosting plans: Starter, Business and eCommerce Essentials. They share the same core setup, so the real question is which extras you need and whether they are worth the higher monthly price, both now and at renewal.
This guide compares the Bluehost plans line by line, explains what each upgrade actually adds, and matches each plan to the kind of site it suits. It is based on Bluehost’s official shared hosting, WordPress hosting and pricing pages, checked on November 13, 2026.
For a broader look at Bluehost as a company, including its strengths and weak spots, see our Bluehost review.
Disclosure: this article contains affiliate links. If you buy Bluehost hosting through them, TechCognate may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Prices and features were checked against Bluehost’s official pages on November 13, 2026, and we have not hands-on tested the service. Bluehost changes plans and promotions often, so confirm current pricing before you buy.
Quick answer: Starter ($3.99 a month, renews at $9.99) suits a single blog or small business site. Business ($6.99, renews at $13.99) is the better pick if you want phone support, more storage or several sites. eCommerce Essentials ($14.99, renews at $21.99) is only worth it if you are selling with WooCommerce and want the store tools set up for you.
- All three: free first-year domain, free SSL, free CDN, staging, NVMe SSD storage and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- Biggest jump from Starter to Business: phone support, 50 GB instead of 10 GB, and first-year domain privacy.
- Biggest jump from Business to eCommerce Essentials: WooCommerce auto-install, payments, subscriptions and memberships.
- Prices are for a 36-month term, before tax.
Each block is one section, sized by how long it is. The orange block is the longest: Frequently Asked Questions (about 1 min). Tap a block to jump.
The Three Bluehost Plans at a Glance
Bluehost shows the same three plans on its shared hosting page and its WordPress hosting page, at the same prices. Every plan runs on NVMe SSD storage, and WordPress comes pre-installed. The differences are in capacity, support, security extras and commerce tools.
Above these three, Bluehost offers an Enterprise and Custom option for high-traffic sites, priced through its sales team. It also sells VPS, dedicated and cloud hosting, but we could not confirm those prices on the official pricing page, so they are outside this comparison.
What each step up the Bluehost ladder adds
Each plan includes everything in the plan before it, plus the items shown.
Source: Bluehost shared and WordPress hosting pages, checked November 13, 2026. Prices before tax.
Bluehost Plans Compared, Feature by Feature
This table puts every published difference side by side. Where Bluehost’s own pages disagree, we say so in the row.
| Feature | Starter | Business | eCommerce Essentials |
|---|---|---|---|
| Promo price (36 months) | $3.99 a month | $6.99 a month | $14.99 a month |
| Renewal price | $9.99 a month | $13.99 a month | $21.99 a month |
| Websites | 10 | 50 | 100 |
| Storage | 10 GB NVMe SSD | 50 GB NVMe SSD | 100 GB NVMe SSD |
| Traffic guidance (Bluehost) | About 40K visits a month | About 200K visits a month | About 400K visits a month |
| Support | 24/7 chat; no phone | 24/7 chat and phone | 24/7 chat and phone |
| Free domain (first year) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Domain privacy | Not included | Free first year | Free first year |
| SSL and CDN | Free | Free | Free |
| Malware protection | Scanning, detection and removal | Adds AI-powered malware removal | Adds AI-powered malware removal |
| Firewall and DDoS protection | Shown on the WordPress grid, not on the shared grid | Yes | Yes |
| Backups (plan grid) | Weekly | Weekly | Weekly |
| Staging, caching, SSH, WP-CLI | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| WooCommerce and store tools | Not set up | Not set up | Auto-install, payments, subscriptions, memberships, paid courses |
| Pro Email | One-month trial | One-month trial | One-month trial |
On backups, the plan grid says weekly for every plan, while the WordPress hosting FAQ says Bluehost provides daily off-site automatic backups. Check current backup frequency with Bluehost before you rely on either, and keep your own copies.
“Not set up” for WooCommerce on Starter and Business means the store tools are not included in the plan. WordPress lets you install the free WooCommerce plugin on any plan yourself; eCommerce Essentials installs and configures it for you and adds the extra commerce features listed.
Starter: What You Get and What You Miss
Starter is the entry plan at $3.99 a month on a 36-month term, renewing at $9.99. It allows 10 websites and 10 GB of NVMe SSD storage, with free SSL, CDN, a staging site and the WordPress tools that every plan shares. Bluehost describes it as ideal for about 40,000 visits a month.
What it misses: phone support, domain privacy and the extra malware removal tool. Ten websites sounds generous, but 10 GB of storage is the more realistic limit. A photo-heavy blog or a site with many uploaded PDFs can fill it faster than a text-focused one.
Choose Starter if you are launching one blog, portfolio or brochure-style business site and you are comfortable using chat support.
Business: The Plan Most People Should Consider
Business costs $6.99 a month on the promo term and renews at $13.99. Bluehost marks it as its most popular plan. It raises the limits to 50 websites and 50 GB, adds phone support, AI-powered malware removal and free domain privacy for the first year, and Bluehost’s traffic guidance rises to about 200,000 visits a month.
The extra $3.00 a month over Starter buys five times the storage and a support channel that matters when something breaks at a bad time. At renewal the gap widens to $4.00 a month, which is still a modest difference for those extras.
Choose Business if your site earns money, you run more than one or two sites, you expect steady growth, or you want to be able to call someone.
eCommerce Essentials: For WooCommerce Stores Only
eCommerce Essentials costs $14.99 a month on the promo term and renews at $21.99. It includes everything in Business, raises the limits to 100 websites and 100 GB, and adds WooCommerce auto-install with payments, subscriptions, memberships, paid courses, an affiliate program tool, email templates and social logins, according to the shared hosting page.
The value depends on how many of those tools you would otherwise buy as separate plugins. If you need subscriptions or memberships, the bundle can make sense. If you only need a simple product catalog and checkout, the free WooCommerce plugin on Business may be enough. Our guide to starting an online store with Bluehost and WooCommerce walks through the setup either way.
Choose eCommerce Essentials if you are building a WooCommerce store and want subscriptions, memberships or courses ready from day one.
Which Bluehost Plan for Which Site
Use this as a starting point. You can upgrade later, so it is usually better to start on the smallest plan that covers your real needs.
| Type of site | Recommended plan | Why |
|---|---|---|
| New personal blog | Starter | Low cost, enough storage for a text-led blog, free domain and SSL. |
| Portfolio or brochure site | Starter | Few pages and modest traffic; watch storage if you upload many large images. |
| Small business or local business site | Business | Phone support and domain privacy are worth having when the site brings in leads. |
| Monetized blog or affiliate site | Business | More storage and higher traffic guidance give room to grow. |
| Freelancer hosting client sites | Business | Up to 50 sites and 50 GB, plus phone support for urgent fixes. |
| Simple WooCommerce shop | Business or eCommerce Essentials | Business plus free WooCommerce can work; Essentials sets up payments for you. |
| Store with subscriptions or memberships | eCommerce Essentials | Subscriptions, memberships and paid courses are part of the plan. |
| High-traffic or resource-heavy site | Enterprise and Custom, or another host type | Shared plans share server resources; Bluehost itself points heavy sites to VPS or dedicated hosting. |
Freelancers weighing Bluehost against other options can compare it with the hosts in our best WordPress hosting for freelancers guide.
Pick your Bluehost plan in four questions
Answer in order and stop at the first yes.
Plan facts from Bluehost’s shared and WordPress hosting pages, checked November 13, 2026.
What Every Bluehost Plan Shares
Whichever plan you pick, Bluehost’s grids list the same foundation:
- A free domain for the first year on 12- and 36-month terms, redeemed within 90 days, with premium domains excluded.
- Free Let’s Encrypt SSL and a free CDN.
- WordPress pre-installed with managed updates, caching, a one-click staging site, SSH and WP-CLI.
- A free migration plugin; the WordPress hosting FAQ also says up to five sites can be migrated free within your first 30 days.
- A 99.99% uptime SLA on the plan grid (the FAQ says 99.9%), with a single 5% monthly credit if uptime falls short.
- A 30-day money-back guarantee on hosting, with a non-refundable domain fee deducted if you took the free domain.
Drawbacks That Apply to All Plans
- Renewal increases: every plan renews at a higher regular rate. Our Bluehost pricing explained guide works out the three-year and six-year totals.
- Unclear backup frequency: weekly on the grid, daily in the FAQ.
- Time-limited extras: the domain, domain privacy and Pro Email are free only for a limited period.
- Shared resources: all three are shared hosting, so very busy or heavy sites may need a different product.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Bluehost Starter and Business?
Business allows 50 websites instead of 10, gives 50 GB of storage instead of 10 GB, and adds phone support, AI-powered malware removal and free first-year domain privacy. It costs $3.00 a month more on the promo term and $4.00 more at renewal.
Which Bluehost plan is best for a blog?
Starter is enough for most new blogs. Move to Business if your blog earns money, uses many large images or you want phone support.
Do I need eCommerce Essentials to run WooCommerce?
No. WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin you can install on any plan. eCommerce Essentials installs it for you and adds payments, subscriptions, memberships and other store tools.
Which Bluehost plan has phone support?
Business and eCommerce Essentials. Starter includes 24/7 chat support only.
Can I upgrade my Bluehost plan later?
Bluehost’s FAQ says you can upgrade if your site outgrows your plan. Check the price difference at the time you upgrade.
Do all Bluehost plans include a free domain?
Yes, for the first year on 12- and 36-month terms, if you redeem it within 90 days. It then renews at the then-current rate.
How many visitors can each plan handle?
Bluehost’s guidance is about 40,000 visits a month for Starter, 200,000 for Business and 400,000 for eCommerce Essentials. Real capacity depends on how heavy your site is.
Do Bluehost plans include backups?
The plan grid lists weekly backups on all three plans, and the FAQ mentions daily off-site backups. Confirm the current frequency and keep your own backups too.
Is the Business plan worth it?
For most sites that earn money, yes. The extra $108.00 over a 36-month promo term buys five times the storage, phone support and first-year domain privacy.
Final Verdict
For most readers the choice is between Starter and Business. Starter is fine for a single new blog or brochure site. Business is the better long-term pick for anything that earns money or will grow, because phone support and 50 GB of storage remove the two limits you are most likely to hit. eCommerce Essentials makes sense only for WooCommerce stores that will use its subscription, membership or course features. Whichever you choose, budget for the renewal price and use the 30-day window to test. When you are ready, Bluehost lets you start small and move up later.
Building a store and want help with the setup? Our WooCommerce development team can build and configure it on the plan you choose.
Sources
- Bluehost shared hosting plans and terms (bluehost.com/hosting/shared), checked November 13, 2026
- Bluehost WordPress hosting plans and FAQ (bluehost.com/wordpress/wordpress-hosting), checked November 13, 2026
- Bluehost pricing page (bluehost.com/pricing), checked November 13, 2026
Jaykishan Panchal
Founder & CEO, TechCognate · SEO Strategist & WordPress Expert
Jaykishan Panchal is the founder of TechCognate and an SEO strategist with 15+ years of hands-on experience driving organic growth for businesses worldwide. He specialises in technical SEO, content strategy and GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation), helping brands stay visible in both traditional search and AI-driven discovery.
- Technical SEO
- Content Strategy
- AI & GEO
- Google Ads
- E-Commerce SEO