Bluehost Pricing 2026: Every Plan, Renewal Cost, and Hidden Fee

Bluehost pricing in 2026 is a 36-month prepay with a renewal that depends on the term you pick later. On the shared hosting page, the WordPress hosting page, and the pricing page checked October 26, 2026, Starter is $3.99/mo, Business is $6.99/mo, and eCommerce Essentials is $14.99/mo. Those stickers exclude VAT and GST. The renewal printed on each card is the 36-month renewal: $9.99/mo, $13.99/mo, and $21.99/mo. It is not the price of staying month to month.

The order on the hosting hub stays Hostinger first, editorial 4.5, and Bluehost second, editorial 4.0. This page does not rescore either host. It prices Bluehost. The two-host shootout is Bluehost vs Hostinger. The leave-or-stay list is Bluehost alternatives. The WordPress bill across hosts is WordPress hosting cost.

Commission does not change a cell. The Bluehost button is a live affiliate hop. The Hostinger button opens the public pricing page. SiteGround and GreenGeeks have live hops too. Those hops do not set the dollars below.

How these prices were checked

Research for October 26, 2026 is Bluehost's public pages: shared hosting, WordPress hosting, the pricing page, the self-managed VPS page, and the dedicated server page. Two help articles supply the renewal matrix and the add-on renewals. One was updated June 27, 2026. The renewal FAQ was updated February 11, 2026. Competitor dollars are the arrays already on this site. They were not re-fetched today. Each competitor cell keeps its own stamp.

No cart was opened. No promo code was applied. No uptime test, load test, or support timer was run. A 99.99% line, a visits estimate, and a star widget on Bluehost's pages are their claims. This page does not adopt them. The shared page's structured data still names older plans and older low prices. The visible tiles do not. Those older prices are not in the tables.

A 12-month control is on the pricing page. This fetch rendered the 36-month stickers and did not print a different 12-month intro. There is no 12-month intro in the tables. High-performance shared plans have renewal rows and no intro on the tiles we loaded. A missing intro is left blank.

Shared and WordPress plans

The three cards below are the plans with an intro, a term, and a renewal on the product pages. The WordPress page uses the same three names and the same 36-month prices. Phone support is on Business and eCommerce Essentials. Starter's card says phone is not included. The pricing compare table puts Business and eCommerce phone hours at 7am–12am EST and chat at 24/7 on all three.

Starter's card lists malware scanning and malware detection and removal. Business and eCommerce Essentials list AI-powered removal, a web application firewall, and DDoS protection. The June 27, 2026 feature table still says Starter does not include malware removal, and it marks the firewall and DDoS as included on Starter. The live card does not list those two on Starter. Use the card, then read the cart. The visits lines, 40K, 200K, and 400K, are Bluehost's "ideal for" figures. This site did not measure them.

Intro price versus renewal, by term

The card shows one renewal. The help articles show three. Both articles agree on the rows below. The 36-month column is the number on the Starter, Business, and eCommerce Essentials cards. Pro, Premium, Enhanced, and Elite were not on those cards. Their intros are blank on purpose. The help tables misspell Enhanced. The WordPress page uses Enhanced, and so does this table.

Plus is only on the June 27, 2026 article. The February 11, 2026 renewal FAQ does not list it, and neither page gives Plus a feature row. eCommerce Premium's name comes from the June 27, 2026 table and from the WooCommerce table on the renewal FAQ. The shared table on that FAQ repeats the name eCommerce Essentials for the second row. The dollars match. The name on the shared table does not.

The June 27, 2026 feature grid for Pro through Elite is 100 websites and 100 GB to 250 GB of NVMe, with phone, domain privacy for the first year, and weekly backups marked yes. No intro sat next to those rows on October 26, 2026. The renewal FAQ also prints the same shared renewal grid under a Managed WordPress heading. The WordPress product page we loaded did not add a fourth intro. It repeated Starter, Business, and eCommerce Essentials.

What year one, year two, and year three cost

The 36-month term is one payment. Year two is not a new bill, and year three is not the renewal. Each year below is the intro times 12, already included in the checkout figure. The renewal is a later year, after month 36, and only if you renew on that term.

Starter's later year is $143.88 if you renew for 12 months at $11.99/mo. That 12-month renewal year is almost the same cash as the original 36-month checkout, $143.64, and it buys one year instead of three. The monthly renewal year, $191.88, is the expensive way to stay.

The pricing page also runs Buy More, Save More from October 1, 2026 through November 30, 2026, 11:59 p.m. ET: 15% off one eligible product, 20% off two, and 25% off three or more. It applies to the first 12-month term only, it cannot be combined with other offers, and taxes are extra. The 36-month tiles are already a promo. This page does not subtract those percents from $3.99.

Add-ons and the checkout total

The pricing FAQ says there are no hidden fees and that the hosting cost at checkout is what you pay. The next sentence says optional add-ons can change the total. These are the optional lines with a dollar on a page we loaded. Renewal prices are from the June 27, 2026 article. That article does not print intro prices for these add-ons.

Domain after year one

One domain is free for the first year with a 12- or 36-month hosting plan. You have 90 days to redeem it. The listed endings include .com, .net, .org, .blog, .us, .co, and a longer set on the product page. Premium names are excluded. A tooltip on the pricing page caps the free year at $17.99 for .com, .net, .org, and .blog. A name over that cap is charged in the cart. After year one, the domain renews at the then-current rate in the renewal center. These pages do not print today's .com renewal. If the name expires, the pricing FAQ still describes a redemption fee of $99.95 plus the renewal, and it dates that note September 10, 2025.

SSL

Let's Encrypt is included. The pricing FAQ says it is no extra cost. Paid certificates, renewal only, are single-domain $89.88 a year, wildcard DV $239.88 a year, and extended validation $239.88 a year.

Backups and SiteLock

The cards say weekly website backups. One WordPress FAQ answer says daily off-site backups. The pricing FAQ says weekly on most plans, and it names a Security Bundle for daily backups without a price. The June 27, 2026 summary names CodeGuard and does not price it. Weekly is the figure this page will stand on, because it is the card. SiteLock renewal prices on that help article are Essentials $95.88 a year, Prevent $239.88 a year, and Prevent Plus $359.88 a year. The same article says SiteLock Lite is installed and scans the site. It does not give Lite a price.

Domain privacy, Pro Email, and Yoast

Domain privacy renews at $15.00 per domain per year. Business and eCommerce Essentials include the first year. Starter's card does not. Pro Email is a one-month trial that renews unless you cancel. The shared page says $2.50/mo. The WordPress page and the pricing page say $2.99/mo. Both were on the pages checked October 26, 2026. This page does not pick one and hide the other, and it does not treat either figure as a per-mailbox count. The free Yoast plugin is on the cards. Yoast SEO Premium renews at $8.33/mo and $99.99 a year. Local, News, and WooCommerce SEO renew at $6.58/mo and $79.00 a year. Those monthly and yearly figures do not multiply out. They are printed as-is.

The pricing page marks a $25.00 Amazon e-gift card on Business and $50.00 on eCommerce Essentials as a limited-time offer. The end date was not in that block. The gift card is not part of the hosting price.

Money-back guarantee

The shared, WordPress, and dedicated product pages use the same 30-day block. Cancel within 30 days for a refund of hosting and solutions. Most add-ons, including domains, are excluded. If the plan included a free domain and you keep the domain, Bluehost deducts a non-refundable domain fee at the regular cost of that domain. The block does not print the dollar. There is no refund after 30 days.

The June 27, 2026 terms say something narrower: accounts canceled in the first 30 days qualify for a full refund at the monthly rate, and canceling before the term ends forfeits the domain coupon and deducts $15.99. A WordPress FAQ is narrower again. It says the guarantee does not apply to monthly-term services, domain registration fees, setup fees, or other additional fees, and that the refund is for credit-card payments only. Three official wordings are not one policy. The cart and the terms you accept are the copy that applies. This page did not file a cancellation.

The self-managed VPS page we loaded did not print a money-back line. Do not copy the shared 30-day promise onto that product.

Bluehost versus Hostinger, SiteGround, and GreenGeeks

These competitor prices are the ones already published on the comparison pages. Hostinger's Premium and Unlimited intros were rechecked October 23, 2026. Hostinger’s Premium and Unlimited intro rates are a current promo and may revert. SiteGround cells stay the September 23, 2026 stamp. GreenGeeks cells stay the October 1, 2026 stamp. Nothing in this section is a new fetch, and nothing here reorders the hub.

Read the checkout column before the monthly sticker. Hostinger Premium asks for $119.52 today and that payment covers 48 months. Bluehost Starter asks for $143.64 today and covers 36 months. After the intro, Premium's renewal year is $131.88. Starter's 36-month renewal year is $119.88, which is lower, and Starter's monthly renewal year is $191.88, which is higher. While the 48-month term is still running, a Hostinger Premium year is $29.88, not the renewal.

SiteGround StartUp is the cheap first year, $35.88, and the expensive second year, $215.88. GrowBig's second year is $359.88. GreenGeeks Lite's second year is $167.40. GreenGeeks Pro's second year is $227.40. Those 12-month products are the ones to price if you might leave after a year. Bluehost's advertised rate does not work that way. The scored write-ups are the Hostinger review and the GreenGeeks review. SiteGround stays unscored.

VPS and dedicated, briefly

The VPS product page is self-managed. The four tiles are a 24-month term. Root SSH is included. cPanel is not. The OS picker prices the cPanel admin tier, 5 accounts, at $14.99/mo. Other cPanel tiers are named and not priced. The page says support covers hardware, network, and the virtualization layer, and that you manage the OS. Bandwidth is called unmetered for a normal personal or small-business site, with an email if Bluehost objects. No terabyte cap was printed. No money-back line was printed. VAT is excluded. Due-today figures match the intro times 24.

The renewal FAQ updated February 11, 2026 lists different VPS names. Standard NVMe 4 renews at $59.99/mo monthly, $54.99/mo on 12 months, and $53.99/mo on 36 months. Ultimate NVMe 16 renews at $141.99/mo, $131.99/mo, and $128.99/mo. Those names were not the four tiles. NVMe 4 on the tile renews at $11.99/mo, not at the FAQ's Standard NVMe 4 rate. A FAQ sentence says VPS costs range up to $99.99/mo and does not name that plan. It is not a fifth row here. The page for a budget virtual server, without a price this site had logged before today, is cheap VPS hosting.

Dedicated cards on October 26, 2026 still match the log used by best dedicated server hosting. Standard NVMe 32 is $144.19/mo for 36 months and the card renews at $191.79/mo, with 8 cores, 32 GB DDR5, and 1,000 GB NVMe. Enhanced is $220.19/mo, card renewal $274.19/mo. Premium is $315.19/mo, card renewal $394.19/mo. Each card lists unmetered bandwidth, 3 dedicated IPs, and a 30-day money-back. VAT and GST are excluded.

The February 11, 2026 renewal FAQ does not match those card renewals. Standard NVMe 32 is $194.47/mo monthly, $180.32/mo on 12 months, and $180.32/mo on 36 months. Premium NVMe 128 is $417.11/mo, $386.77/mo, and $379.18/mo. The dedicated article already quotes a third set, from Bluehost's dedicated pricing URL. Use the card for the sticker. Read the other two before you treat any one renewal as the only renewal. Cloud plans are a different page: best cloud hosting.

Who Bluehost is a good value for

Buy Starter if 10 sites and 10 GB are enough, you do not need a phone line, and you will renew for 36 months. That renewal, $9.99/mo, is the lowest renewal among Hostinger Premium, GreenGeeks Lite, and SiteGround StartUp. The checkout, $143.64, is still more than Hostinger Premium's $119.52, and Premium's prepay covers a fourth year.

Buy Business if the phone line is the reason you are here. It is $251.64 up front, then $13.99/mo on a 36-month renewal, with 50 GB and domain privacy for the first year. A later year on the monthly renewal is $251.88. Price that before you assume the card's renewal is the only renewal. eCommerce Essentials is the commerce tile, at $539.64 up front, when the store tools on that card are the ones you will use. The bundle applies to one website.

Who should skip it

Skip Bluehost if you might leave around month 12. SiteGround and GreenGeeks publish a 12-month intro. This fetch did not publish a 12-month Bluehost intro, so the honest comparison for a one-year stay is their year-one price against an unknown Bluehost 12-month rate. Skip it if the lowest three-year bill is the goal and you can prepay 48 months. Hostinger Premium's 36-month slice is $89.64. Starter is $143.64. Hostinger’s Premium and Unlimited intro rates are a current promo and may revert.

Skip Starter if you need to call. Skip the shared cards if a weekly backup is too thin. Hostinger Unlimited and SiteGround GrowBig list daily backups on the plans this site already quotes. Skip the self-managed VPS if you wanted Bluehost to run the server. cPanel there is $14.99/mo extra at the admin tier, and the page did not print a money-back line. A first blog that wants the installer and the phone is the WordPress hosting for bloggers page, which ranks Business for that job and does not claim it is the cheapest bill.

Honest cons

• The advertised rate is 36 months paid up front. VAT and GST are extra. A shorter intro was not on the tiles.
• The renewal on the card is the 36-month renewal. Starter's monthly renewal is $15.99/mo, not $9.99/mo.
• Pro Email flips to $2.50/mo or $2.99/mo after one month, depending on which Bluehost page you read, unless you cancel the trial.
• The domain is free for year one only, with a $17.99 cap on the tooltip for four endings. A refund can deduct a domain fee. One page says the regular cost. The June 27, 2026 terms say $15.99.
• Domain privacy is not on Starter. After the free year it is $15.00 per domain per year. SiteLock and premium SSL are separate bills if you accept them.
• Backups on the cards are weekly. Bluehost's own WordPress FAQ also says daily. CodeGuard and the Security Bundle have no price on the pages we used.
• Phone hours on the pricing table are 7am–12am EST. The card says phone is included. It does not say 24/7 phone.
• Help articles, the renewal FAQ, and the product cards disagree on VPS names, dedicated renewals, Starter malware removal, and the second eCommerce row's name. Those conflicts are quoted above. They are not averaged.
• The 99.99% uptime line is Bluehost's SLA claim, with a 5% credit if you claim it. A help-article row still says 99.9%. This site measured neither. The June 27, 2026 terms also mention an inode note, 50,000 as a cap and 1,000,000 before they usually act, and the pricing tooltips use 5,000 database tables or a large database as a terms example. Those are Bluehost's limits, not a test we ran.