--- title: "Liquid Web vs Bluehost: which is better in 2026?" url: "https://hostidea.com/compare/bluehost-vs-liquidweb" canonical: "https://hostidea.com/compare/bluehost-vs-liquidweb" author: "Jennifer T." generated: "2026-10-15" note: "Markdown twin generated at build time from the same content as the HTML page. The HTML page is canonical." --- # Liquid Web vs Bluehost Liquid Web and Bluehost compared on measured uptime, response time, pricing and features from our own tests. Liquid Web scores higher overall. By [Jennifer T.](https://hostidea.com/authors/jennifer-t) ยท Updated Oct 14, 2026 We may earn a commission when you buy through our links. Rankings come from the published methodology and sourced data, not from commissions. [Disclosure](https://hostidea.com/disclosure). ## Verdict [7.7 out of 10](https://hostidea.com/methodology#scoring) [Liquid Web](https://hostidea.com/reviews/liquidweb)Wins overall Lansing's managed host since 1997: WordPress plans from $9 with Cloudflare edge CDN and a 100% network SLA, no refunds [7.6 out of 10](https://hostidea.com/methodology#scoring) [Bluehost](https://hostidea.com/reviews/bluehost) Newfold's WordPress-recommended host: three shared tiers on 36-month terms, weekly backups, a 5 percent SLA coupon Liquid Web wins 2 of the six sub-scores and comes out ahead overall (7.7 vs 7.6). ## How do the scores compare? Liquid Web leads on 2 sub-scores, Bluehost on 2. Higher is better. | | [Liquid Web](https://hostidea.com/reviews/liquidweb) | [Bluehost](https://hostidea.com/reviews/bluehost) | | --- | --- | --- | | Performance | 7.5 | 7.5 | | Uptime | 8.0 | 8.0 | | Support | 8.0 | 7.0 | | Features | 8.5 | 7.5 | | Value | 7.0 | 7.5 | | Ease of use | 7.5 | 8.5 | ## Which one is faster and more reliable? | | [Liquid Web](https://hostidea.com/reviews/liquidweb) | [Bluehost](https://hostidea.com/reviews/bluehost) | | --- | --- | --- | | Overall score | 7.7 | 7.6 | | Uptime (published)HostingStep 365 d vs HostingStep 243 d; methods differ | 99.99% | 99.97% | | Response time (published)HostingStep vs HostingStep; methods differ | 496 ms | 501 ms | ## Which one costs less? On renewal, Liquid Web is cheaper ($9.00/mo vs $9.99/mo). Intro prices need the listed term. Prices verified Oct 14, 2026 (Liquid Web) and Oct 13, 2026 (Bluehost). USD. | | [Liquid Web](https://hostidea.com/reviews/liquidweb) | [Bluehost](https://hostidea.com/reviews/bluehost) | | --- | --- | --- | | Cheapest plan | Essentials WordPress | Starter | | Intro price | $9.00/mo | $3.99/mo | | Renewal price | $9.00/mo | $9.99/mo | | Required term | 1 months | 36 months | | Websites | 1 | 10 | | Storage | 15 GB | 10 GB | | Money back | 0 days | 30 days | ## What does each include? | | [Liquid Web](https://hostidea.com/reviews/liquidweb) | [Bluehost](https://hostidea.com/reviews/bluehost) | | --- | --- | --- | | Free domain | No | First year, with a 12-month or 36-month term | | Free SSL | Free SSL certificates on the WordPress plans | Let's Encrypt | | Backups | Daily backups kept 7, 14 or 30 days by tier; Acronis backup storage on managed VPS | Weekly website backups on every shared plan | | Free migration | A self-serve migration tool and migration by a person on every WordPress plan | Site migration tool | | Free CDN | Edge CDN powered by Cloudflare on every WordPress plan; CDN overage is usage-billed | Not stated | | Caching | Object Cache Pro on every WordPress plan | Advanced static content caching and object caching | | Staging | Staging sites with visual comparison on Pro and Elite; not on Essentials | WordPress staging site on every plan | | Security | DDoS protection, WAF, Kadence Security Pro and daily malware scans on every plan; Patchstack virtual patching on Elite | Malware scanning on Starter; AI malware removal, web application firewall and DDoS protection from Business | | Resource limits | WordPress plans are sized by visitors (50,000 a month on the entry tiers), shared storage and bandwidth; managed VPS plans state vCPU, RAM, SSD and bandwidth | Not stated | | Data center choice | Lansing, Phoenix, Ashburn and Amsterdam, selected on the purchase screen where a plan offers it | Not stated | | Uptime guarantee | 100% network uptime in the SLA with credits up to the monthly charge, claimed within days of an outage; the managed VPS page states 99.9% server uptime | 99.99% SLA; at most one coupon per month for 5% of the monthly hosting fee | | Managed VPS | Fully managed from $72 a month for 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 80 GB SSD and 3 TB; cPanel, InterWorx or Plesk; Windows available | Not stated | | Phone support | 24/7 by phone, chat and ticket | Business and above; Starter has chat only | | Windows hosting | On VPS and dedicated servers | No | | CDN | Not stated | Yes | | SSH and WP-CLI | Not stated | Yes | | Choice of data center | Not stated | Region selected at checkout (North America, South America, Europe, Asia) | ## Company facts | | [Liquid Web](https://hostidea.com/reviews/liquidweb) | [Bluehost](https://hostidea.com/reviews/bluehost) | | --- | --- | --- | | Control panel | Liquid Web's own platform for WordPress plans; cPanel, InterWorx or Plesk on VPS | Bluehost account manager with cPanel | | Data centers | 4 | 2 | | Support channels | chat, phone, ticket, knowledge-base | chat, phone, knowledge-base | | Founded | 1997 | 2003 | Visit Liquid Web (affiliate link: /go/liquidweb)Visit Bluehost (affiliate link: /go/bluehost)