Full Page Load Time
Before deciding whether Bluehost or Rackspace is the best platform to host your site, it’s important that you consider full page load speed.
Basically, this is the time from the first byte to the time it takes your site to finish loading a page. Ideally, this shouldn’t be more than a second, or a second and a hundred milliseconds at most. However, you should know that not a lot of sites meet this criterion. Many have average page load speed that is longer than even two seconds. It’ll be in your best interest to avoid web hosts like that.
Why? It’s simple, really. Google won’t rank your website if your page doesn’t load quickly, and if your website isn’t ranked by search engines like Google, you’ll have a hard time getting views. You certainly don’t want that. It’s also important to know that having low views will negatively impact your sales.
What’s the bottom line here? You should be super concerned about the full page load speed of a prospective web host.
Bluehost Page Load time
During my tests, my Bluehost site had a very impressive full page load speed of 1.1 seconds. In this business, that’s pretty much as good as it gets. Of course, there are a few web hosts faster (I can only think of two right now), but Bluehost is definitely up there with the best.
Rackspace Page Load time
Rackspace did well with an average full page load speed of 1.3 seconds, but Bluehost obviously outdid it by roughly two hundred milliseconds.
While Rackspace isn’t slow and would probably not affect your page views drastically, the safer bet would be to go with Bluehost.
If you’re only considering Bluehost and Rackspace, you can rest easy with the knowledge that both hosts have decent speed. This means that you can make your decision based on another parameter, like pricing and value for money for example.
Bluehost vs. Rackspace; Pricing And Value For Money
There are three things that you should carefully scrutinize before purchasing a web host plan. The first is what you need (do you need unlimited sites, unlimited storage, extra security features etc), what value is on offer, and at what price.
If you carefully consider these three things, you should be able to come to a logical decision about what plan to get.
The best way to get your site online is through a shared hosting plan. That’s why I’ll be taking you through the shared hosting plans offered by Bluehost.
But first, let’s look at Rackspace and their peculiar way of doing business.
Rackspace Managed Dedicated And Cloud Hosting
Unlike Bluehost, Rackspace has a very different business model. The first thing you must know is that Rackspace has plans without prices. So if you want to purchase a Rackspace plan, you need to request a free quote first. And for that to happen, you need to provide them with details of your site needs.
You also need to know that Rackspace doesn’t offer shared hosting plans. Instead, they offer cloud hosting and managed services.
Cloud Hosting Services Of Rackspace
The managed cloud option of Rackspace is divided into many options. These options are the Public cloud, Hybrid cloud, private cloud and multi-cloud infrastructures.
- The Public cloud system is a tenant environment that provides clients with scalability. This means that you only pay for what you need.
- The private cloud system is a single-tenant environment that is provided through a virtualized environment or a dedicated server.
- The Multi-Cloud environment relies on clouds that are managed by multiple providers including Microsoft Azure, Openstack, and VMware.
- The Hybrid cloud sets up an environment that fits your needs and takes elements from private clouds and public clouds to create the best system for you.
Managed Hosting Environment Of Rackspace
The Managed Hosting service provided by Rackspace allows you a single-tenant environment that comes with IT services.
Clients can choose from two levels of service, which are the Managed and Intensive levels. What this means is that Rackspace works as the IT department of your firm and provides 24/7 support, 100% uptime guarantee, hardware monitoring, VPN access, firewalls, and even on-demand support consultations.
Bluehost Shared Hosting Plans
- Basic Plan; Bluehost’s Basic plan comes with one website, 50 GB of storage, unmetered bandwidth, a free SSL certificate, one domain, 5 parked domains, and twenty-five subdomains. The plan costs $2.95 per month.
- Plus Plan; The Plus plan comes with unlimited websites, unlimited SSD storage, unmetered bandwidth, free SSL certificate, unlimited domains, Spam Experts and 1 Office 365 Mailbox free for thirty days. The plan costs $5.45 for an initial three-year term and renews at $10.99
- The Choice Plus Plan; The Choice Plus plan is basically the Plus plan but with a few security fixes. It comes with Domain Privacy + Protection and Site Backup— Codeguard Basic. The plan costs the same as the Plus plan for an initial three-year term, but it renews at $14.99
- Pro Plan; The Pro plan comes with unlimited websites, unlimited storage, unmetered bandwidth, high performance, a free SSL certificate, unlimited domains, two Spam Experts, a dedicated IP, Site backup— Codeguard Basic, and Domain Privacy and Protection. The plan costs $13.95 per month.
The Basic, Choice Plus and Pro plans are excellent value for money, and it’s unlikely that you’ll get a better deal. You must have noticed that I skipped the Plus plan, well that was intentional. I personally wouldn’t get the Plus plan, ever. Why? Well, Choice Plus offers much more and costs about the same price. Getting the Plus plan would, to me, be a proper waste of money.
The Perfect Hosting Plan
Rackspace and Bluehost are clearly mismatched and are for two different kinds of clients. If you’re the average blogger or small business owner, you should no doubt go with Bluehost. If you plan on having a small site, the Basic plan should be amazing for you. If you plan on building a bigger site (or sites) then either the Pro or Choice Plus plan would do.
However, if you’re looking to launch something bigger, or would like tailored solutions, then Rackspace is the web host that you should go with.