Bluehost Pricing Shenanigans..?

Can anyone who has used Bluehost shared hosting for a few years let me know what renewal rate you are being charged?

I smell shenanigans…

Like with most hosts that offer a significant discount to get you to join up in the first place the price rise when your initial period ends will be quite high. I don’t think they are actually charging any more as their full price now than they were about seven years ago when I first started using them but of course they offer a substantial discount off of that when you first join. I have moved hosting a couple of times since then to different providers and got an initial discount with each.

I’ve had an account with them for 6 years, so my initial years discount ended a long time ago. Last years renewal was $119.88 ($9.99pm + free domain). In the last few weeks I got an ‘AUTO-RENEW NOTIFICATION’ for $143.88 + $14.99 for the domain.

I can see that this pricing applies to new accounts opened now after their initial discount term. But there’s been no advice of any price change to me. And some serious confusion and maneuvering from support…

So it would be interesting to know what renewal rates other older accounts have been quietly receiving over the last 6 months?

Unfortunately price hikes in web hosting can come as a surprise. Unless you have a lifetime pricing you can expect to see your prices go up from time to time. ICANN sets the rate for domains overall. The cost of electricity and equipment as well as staffing and hardware continues to rise. Most reputable hosting companies are happy to explain any changes to the cost of your plan. Contact them and they will be able to explain it in full.

It looked initially to be more like a price hike for embedded customers (obviously it’s more hassle to move once you have multiple sites hosted). But it just seems they are hiking their prices generally. So no major shenanigans after all, just steadily poorer value for money.

I don’t see how the price of hardware has increased however - you get a LOT more power for the same money these days, and electricity consumption per core is lower too.

Yet the price has risen 50% in 6 years. That’s seems way out of proportion to me.

The official explanation - “improvements to our hardware and software”.

I suspect the whole truth is more like ‘maximising our profits as we gradually buy out our competitors…’

That would be more that they were bought out a few years ago and the new owners have bumped up the price.

Yes, technically EIG bought Bluehost, and are continuing their mission to buy all the competition :frowning: