Last Updated on May 27, 2022 by Obaro Alidou K.
Bluehost is one of the most popular website hosting companies around there. Last time I published its brutally honest review last time, many of you asked how it compares to FastComet. And here is the answer: an in-depth comparison between Bluehost and FastComet.
In this full comparison, I’m going to cut down the head to head truth so that it remains no doubt in your mind when it comes to choosing a hosting provider between FastComet and BlueHost. Let’s get started.
FastComet vs. BlueHost: The #12 Terrifying Things You Need To Know
#1. Hosting Infrastructure & Server Location
Building a solid website hosting infrastructure requires a lot of money, time, and most importantly, qualified web professionals. And, sadly, that is what Bluehost fails at. They are still using an old fashioned network that relies on a unique datacenter (based in Provo) to host millions of websites. The result: many complaints from clients.
FastComet, instead, is a game changer within the hosting industry. In fact, it is not your typical hosting provider. They have built a reliable cloud platform with Global reach that stands at 10 datacenter server locations.
With FastComet, you deliver content to your website visitors faster by choosing from one of the 10 Server Locations strategically spread throughout the USA, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and South Asia (Chicago, IL, USA, Dallas, TX, USA, Newark, NJ, USA, Toronto, ON, Canada, London, UK, Europe, Frankfurt, DE, Europe, Amsterdam, NL, Europe, Tokyo, JP, Asia, Singapore, SG, Asia-Pacific, and Mumbai, MH, India).
This ensures that there is always a server close to your audience/client’s location and there is minimal latency, reducing critical load time.
#2. Server Technology
When choosing a website hosting company, the first and most important criteria to check is server technology. Unfortunately, since their purchase by Endurance International Group, BlueHost went from good to bad and finally, worse. In fact, they are still using the well-known old fashion hosting practice or traditional web hosting style. This means the infrastructure is based on unglued physical dedicated servers.
The main problem with that traditional web hosting is the “single point of failure”. If there is hardware harm (DDoS attack, virus infection…) the entire machine goes down until it is replaced or the issue is resolved.
Additionally, the server resources such as RAM are not only shared by hundreds of clients but also, it has to be added physically (fluff). So in case there is abundant traffic spike on some client’s websites, the entire machine could begin lagging and the redundancy greatly reduced.
The worst with this system is that a single client’s account can make the entire server go down affecting by that way the others. This is known as “bad neighborhood”.
Thankfully, there is a brand new, better, and trusted way of doing web hosting and that is what FastComet has put in love. Say goodbye to the frustrations that come with traditional hosting and Welcome to FastComet’s so-called FastCloud platform.
FastComet FastCloud Technology
With FastComet, the whole infrastructure is cloud-based, meaning there is no single point of failure. The system doesn’t rely on individually set machines but on a large network of thousands of servers working together. This means if a machine is down for any reason, the others still keep working.
The best part for clients is that each hosting account is put, not on a single server, but on the entire network. Even if the server your site is hosted on got hacked or broken by a DDoS attack, your website will still be up and running on the other servers in the network. So the chances for your website to go completely down for more than 5 mins with FastComet are reduced to nearly 0,001%. See accurate statistics in my managed WordPress hosting guide.
Plus with FastComet, you don’t share any server resources with other clients (even on shared hosting). Each hosting account has its own dedicated CPUs and RAM easy to scale as you grow.
Bluehost vs. FastComet: Server Resource Comparison
| FastCloud | FastCloud Plus | FastCloud Extra | |
| CPU | 2 CPU Cores | 3 CPU Cores | 6 CPU Cores |
| RAM | 2 GB | 4 GB | 6 GB |
| Visit | Visit | Visit |
#3. Security
Both companies offer free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates and basic virus scans. But FastComet goes beyond the basics, which Bluehost doesn’t.
FastComet takes your website security to the next level with some of the best security practices including:
- Free Dynamic SSL seal
- Free GlobalSign SSL
- 1-click Restore Manager
- Free Private DNS
- Free BitNinja server security
- Full account isolation
- Free Virus & malware removal
The ones I like the most are Virus & Malware removal and full account isolation.
When you host with FastComet, each account is totally isolated from the others thanks to container-based technology. This way, an issue in one account can’t affect the neighbors. Plus, in case your website gets hacked or infected, FastComet will clean it free of charge!— Which, honestly, you can’t expect from Bluehost (full review).
#4. Quality of Service & Reliability
FastComet has built a premium tier cloud network based on the latest SSD storage and set up in a redundant RAID 10 configuration. It also includes a network and web application firewall sustained by proactive server-level tweaks and regular software updates. These ensure a consistent quality of service and nearly 100% availability (uptime) even under malicious attacks.
BlueHost on another hand, with its traditional website hosting system (single point of failure), doesn’t meet the reliability requirements. This clearly translates into poor service, server harm during sudden traffic spikes flooded with regular downtimes (99.81% uptime for six months in my experience).
#5. Performance Comparison
Poor hosting infrastructure = Poor performance–and numbers never lie. Bluehost’s average speed is 1500ms (1.5s) to 3000ms (3s) for a small website.
Likewise, a solid hosting infrastructure = Good performance and, again, numbers tell the right story. FastComet’s average loading time is around 700ms (0.7s). That is up to 200% faster than BlueHost. TTFB is even better with a good 0.448s.
Get the full metrics in this only unbiased managed WordPress hosting guide you need to read.
#6. Support
Below are three scenarios that you will face with the support staff from BlueHost:
Scenario 1: Your issue gets solved after 12+ hours or 3 days of frustration (if you are lucky).
Scenario 2: You spend hours trying to explain what is wrong with your website and, the guy you are chatting with seems to have never heard about web hosting. Everything you are saying is a “charabia” (unknown terrible language) to him. Finally, tired of not knowing what to do, he becomes rude and leaves the chat.
Scenario 3: You simply find NO support staff member to take care of your issue. You start and restart many tickets in vain.
See below what others are saying about BlueHost support….
What about FastComet Support Staff?
Well; rest reassured because support is one of the top areas FastComet excels at. In fact, they offer 24/7/365 proactive support. What does it mean? “Proactive support” means they don’t wait for issues to occur before they help. They continuously check your server for eventual harm and contact you before you even notice it.
Based on daily reports and statistics, FastComet’s support team evaluates the performance of all hosting accounts and will proactively contact you in case any performance bottleneck is detected.
It reminds me of when I got a call from Veronica M. a FastComet support staff member.
I had an issue with my cPanel account and it wasn’t available anymore. When I try to access it, I come across a message saying my “cPanel account doesn’t exist”.
I reached out to the live chat to get help. It took me less than a minute to get someone to talk with and it was Veronica M I got that day. After I explained what was happening to me, she directly asked for my phone number which I gave her.
I was wondering “why does she need my phone number?” when my phone started ringing—it was Veronica calling me!
I then thoroughly explained the issue during the call and she took the hassle and resolved the issue. My cPanel is back and active within 2 mins!
This is how web hosting support should be.
#7. WordPress Optimization
WordPress software has its own way of running and consuming resources. To make it faster, you need a specific server tweak. Don’t expect that with Bluehost unless you pay more for their managed WordPress hosting.
FastComet, again, goes beyond expectation in this field by using state-of-the-art technology like Nginx, Memcached, and Apache Mod_Lsapi to make sure your WordPress powered website loads in the blink of an eye. Enjoy the enhanced performance with HTTP/2, PHP 7.x, and the latest MySQL version.
#8. Site Migration Process & Fee
Stay focused on the work that matters. FastComet’s migration experts will do all the heavy lifting for you, including moving all your files, databases and emails. Moving your site to FastComet won’t incur any downtime. Plus, the process takes 2-3 hours to have your website migrated to your FastComet hosting account.
Instead of helping newcomers, Bluehost charges more than your hosting cost to migrate your website to their servers. So if you already own a blog/website and would like to switch to BlueHost, you are asked to pay $149 for having the support manage the transfer. Honestly, unless I don’t know what I’m doing with my money, I will never pay that big money for site transfer while others provide the service for free.
Ps: 3 years upfront of hosting fee is only $106 from FastComet (get it 60% OFF now).
Unless you are ready to take the extra step of moving your website your own and enduring the frustration that goes with it, using your money for 3 years upfront with FastComet is the best value.
Bottom line: BlueHost charges $149 for site migration while FastComet migrates your website for free!
#9. Domain Name Cost
Bluehost claims a free domain offer for the first year you purchase a hosting account.
Sounds great! Right? Wrong…
While you get a free domain for the first year, BlueHost charges you 0.99/mo for privacy protection ($11.88—not free anymore). Plus the domain renews at $15.99 for .com extension.
The most harming is that privacy protection has its renewal price as well—which is $14.88.
Finally, your domain name cost when you renew is $15.99+$14.88=$30.87/year. YES; it is disappointing I know.
FastComet Domain Name Fee
To offer the best price to the customer, FastComet has set a near-zero commission pricing model on domain registration cost. This ensures flat renewal pricing per domain.
For instance, a .com domain costs $8.95 + $2.95 (privacy protection fee) for the first year and then 10.95/year when you renew.
Your domain name with FastComet renews at $10.95+$2.95=$13.9.
FastComet vs. Bluehost: Domain Name Renewal Cost Comparison
| Domain cost | WHOIS Protection | Total | |
| FastComet | $10.95 | $2.95 | $13.9 |
| Bluehost | $15.99 | $14.88 | $30.87 |
#10. Web Hosting Panel & Transparency
BlueHost doesn’t offer the traditional cPanel. So if you are a fan of cPanel, the most popular and easiest to use web hosting control panel, then you better go for FastComet.
When it comes to transparency, FastComet is as clear as crystal about traffic and bandwidth allocation. The entry-level plan (FastCloud) can handle up to 25K visits/month, 50K for FastCloud Plus, and 100K visits/month for FastCloud Extra. You know exactly what is behind each plan; No surprise, No gimmicks. Plus they offer up to 10x more file limits (more on that below) than BlueHost so you have room for growth.
As far as Bluehost is concerned, they offer “unmetered” traffic and disk space.
Be careful: Unmetered is not “unlimited”. It means you don’t know the actual caps as they are not disclosed. So you never know when your account will be frozen for hitting the limits.
Ok; let’s summarize: They say you can get unmetered traffic and use unmetered web space. However, they hide that you have a 15 concurrent connection limit and a tiny file limit of 50,000 (more on that in the section below). That is unethical and makes no sense.
#11. Inode and Entry Process Comparison
Inode is the total number of files you can upload to your server. A good hosting provider should, at least, offer hundreds of thousands of files. Guess what? BlueHost only allows 50,000 on each shared hosting plan (the smallest I’ve seen in the market). To better serve you, FastComet makes the difference by offering 250,000-500,000 inodes depending on the plan you purchase.
Hand-picked post: Inodes Limit: #1 Hidden Web Hosting Metric that Can Break Your SEO
Bluehost Entry Process/Concurrent Connections
The entry process, also known as concurrent connection, represents the limit of users who can browse your web pages at once.
When a user clicks a page on your site, he opens one connection and as soon as the page is loaded in his browser, the connection is closed.
As your visitors will pause for a few seconds to read your content, a concurrent connection limit of 10 could allow up to 30 users to browse your site at the same time. Sounds good as BlueHost allows 15 concurrent connections on every plan.
The downside of having a low entry process limit comes out during traffic spikes. You quickly hit the limit for simultaneous users and your website starts crashing showing a 508 Error message to visitors (bad for user experience and SEO).
Thankfully, FastComet offers 20-40 concurrent connections depending on the plan (see table below). It can handle 60-200 active users on your website with near-zero risk for your site to crash.
Bottom line:
FastComet vs. Bluehost: Inodes and Entry Process Limits Comparison
| Plans | Inodes | Entry Process | |
| FastComet | FastCloud | 250,000 | 20 |
| FastCloud Plus | 350,000 | 30 | |
| FastCloud Extra | 500,000 | 40 | |
| Bluehost | Basic | 50,000 | 15 |
| Plus | 50,000 | 15 | |
| Prime | 50,000 | 15 |
#12. Backups
With FastComet you can sleep well at night, knowing your important sites are backed up and easily restorable. Free daily and weekly backups of your data to keep you safe. The FastCloud Extra plan even comes with 30 daily backups kept offsite. When Bluehost charges for this, FastComet doesn’t!
Bluehost vs. FastComet: Full feature comparison table
| FastComet | Bluehost | |
| Web Application Firewall | Included | – |
| Free Virus removal | Yes | No |
| DDoS Protection | Yes | No |
| Extra Security | Free BitNinja | – |
| Site Transfer Fee | Free | $140 |
| Domain Transfer | Free | Free |
| CPU & RAM per account | Dedicated | Shared |
| Infrastructure | Cloud-based | Single point of failure |
| Tech support | Proactive 24/7/365 | Unavailable |
| Phone support | Free 24/7/365 | Unreachable |
| Quality of service | Managed Services | Do it yourself |
| Domain Renewal | $10.95/year | $30.87/year |
| Visit | Visit |
Conclusion
What Bluehost bills as “unlimited” space and storage isn’t necessarily unlimited if you aren’t following usage policies exactly. The company is known to have some burdensome usage policies and restrictions.
The 12 points developed above show that FastComet is the clear winner of this battle. Say goodbye to bottom-of-the-barrel shared hosting environment and embrace the FastCloud Platform for higher security, better performance, and user experience.
What do you think about this comparison? Are you using or have you used one of these hosts? Any questions? Share your experience in the comments below. We are all here to share and help.
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Cheers!
Obaro