Fast Page Load Speed
If you want to decide between Small Orange and Bluehost, you should at least know how fast each web host is first. Page load speed determines, to a great extent, conversion rate and ranking on search engines. These are two metrics that you must focus on if you’re to have any sort of success with your website. But how do we know how fast Bluehost and Small Orange are?
It’s simple, really. We test.
Bluehost Fast Page Load Speed
As expected from previous experience, Bluehost was pretty fast. Our speed test showed us that Bluehost has an average load speed of 700ms, which is definitely faster than a lot of other web hosts.
Small Orange Fast Page Load Speed Test
Although Small Orange still proved to be fast, they still managed to lag behind Bluehost with an average page load speed of 1.3 seconds. It’s not bad, but when compared to Bluehost, it starts to look rather mediocre.
But speed isn’t the only thing we should talk about when talking about the right web host. It’s also important for the right web host to come at the right price. That’s why we’re going to look at the pricing and valuation of the shared hosting plans of both hosting companies.
Bluehost vs. Small Orange; Pricing And Value for Money Comparison
Choosing the right web host can be difficult, but what can even be more difficult is choosing the right plan.
However, with a little knowledge, you can make the right choice 9 out of 10 times. The first thing you need to know is what your needs are. How many sites will you be deploying, and how heavy will they be. Will they need a lot of space, or will a GB or two be enough?
You should also know what is on offer. How many GBs of space does a plan come with? What of websites? Free domains and free SSL certificates? Is bandwidth metered or unmetered?
Lastly, you should know just how much you can afford to pay per month over a three-year initial period.
With all these, it’ll be easy to make the right decision.
Now, before we compare the plans of Small Orange and Bluehost, you should know that if you’re not expecting hundreds of thousands of visitors on your site, you should get a shared hosting plan. If you get anything higher, you may just be wasting your resources. It’s because of this reason that this comparison will be based on shared hosting plans alone.
Entry Level Plan; Basic Plan Vs. Small And Tiny Plans
Bluehost’s cheapest shared hosting plan is the Basic plan and it comes with 1 website, 50 GB of storage space, unmetered bandwidth, a free SSL certificate, 1 included domain, 5 parked domains and 25 subdomains. The plan costs $2.95 per month.
Unlike Bluehost, Small Orange has two entry-level plans. They are the Small and Tiny plans. And unlike Bluehost, these two plans are rather expensive.
The Tiny plan costs $6.51 per month and comes with 5 GB of bandwidth, 1 website, and 500 MB of storage.
The Small plan comes with 5 GB of storage, 50 GB of bandwidth, unlimited websites, and an included free domain. It costs $8.80 per month.
The Small Orange’s plan, when compared to the Basic plan, represents terrible value for money. It comes with a mere 500 MB of storage and doesn’t even have unmetered bandwidth. To top it all off, it’s more than hree times more expensive.
The Small Orange’s Small plan does better, but still pales in comparison to the Basic plan of Bluehost. It comes with only 5GB of storage to Bluehost’s 50 GB, and although it comes with unlimited sites, it fails to come with unmetered bandwidth.
The Basic plan of Bluehost definitely has way better value for money and it’s not even close.
Mid Tier Plan; Plus Plans vs Medium Plan
Bluehost has two midtier plans and they are the Plus and Choice Plus plan. The two plans are essentially the same thing, with only a few differences. In fact, only two things differentiate both plans, and it’s the extra security features of the Choice Plus plan and the different renewal pricing.
The Plus plan of Bluehost has unlimited websites, unlimited storage, unmetered bandwidth, a free SSL certificate, standard performance, unlimited domains, unlimited parked domains, unlimited subdomains, Spam Experts and 1 Office 365 Mailbox— free for thirty days. The plan costs $5.45 per month for an initial three-year plan and renews at $10.99
Bluehost’s Choice Plus has all the features of the Plus plan plus Site Backup in the form of Codeguard Basic. However, instead of renewing at $10.99, the plan renews at $14.99.
The Medium plan of Small Orange comes with 15 GB of storage, 150 GB of bandwidth, unlimited websites, and comes with a free domain. The plan is pricey as well and costs about $16.50 per month.
Right off the bat, the Medium plan of Small Orange is terribly overpriced. It only comes with 15 GB of storage, which is not even up to the 50GB of striate that the entry-level plan of Bluehost offers.
The Plus plans of Bluehost offer even offer more value in terms of bandwidth and storage and cost only a fraction of the price of the Medium plan. The Plus plans, any of them, will give you more value for money than the Medium plan for sure.
Top Tier Plan; Pro Plan vs. Large Plan
The Pro plan of Bluehost comes with unlimited websites, unlimited storage, Domain Privacy + Protection, Codeguard Basic for site backup, a dedicated IP, unlimited domains, Spam Expert, free SSL certificate, unmetered bandwidth and 1 Office 365 Mailbox free for thirty days. The plan costs $13.95 per month.
Compared to this, the Large plan of Small Orange (Ha!) comes with 30 GB of storage, 500 GB of bandwidth, a free domain, and unlimited websites. For this, the plan costs an amazing $27.50
Right off, you can see that the plan of Small Orange has only unlimited websites (something that all Bluehost mid-tier plans have) and nothing else going for it. The pricing is ridiculous at best, and buying the plan over the Pro plan of Bluehost may be the same thing as throwing money away.
The Right Host For You
Deciding the best host for you can be tough especially if you have to decide between two fairly good hosts like Small Orange and Bluehost. Fortunately, Small Orange has made the task easier than you could have imagined. Even web hosts with the best performance can be terrible options if they don’t come at the right price.
Small Orange’s plans are terribly overpriced, overvalued, and offer almost nothing to the not so financially buoyant customer. It’s a sad situation.
When one considers the fact that Bluehost is even a way faster web host, the balance tilts heavily in their favor. One more advantage is the fact that they use a live chat outsourcing service to provide support to their customers, the same used by HostGator and other EIG companies. This ensures top-notch customer support 24/7.
The bottom line is if you’re going to choose a web host, Bluehost is a way more sensible option than Small Orange, and it’s not even close.
Alternative
An interesting alternative to Bluehost is Small Orange. Even though the host has small in its name, there’s nothing small about its performance. It has excellent uptime, great customer care and even decent speed (although it is slower than Bluehost). Set up is easy, and the user interface isn’t complex at all. One great thing about Small Orange that it is very straightforward, unlike other web hosts. There are no hidden charges, no renewal hikes, and none of that fuzzy advert talk. They have a business model that very few in the Industry have. And if you want a straight-talking web host, they should be on the list for you.
Unfortunately, Small Orange is way too expensive, and you probably could find a cheaper option to offer you more or less the same value that they provide.