Why You Should Think Twice Before Choosing BlueHost for Your Hosting Needs
Navigating the world of web hosting can be challenging, and it’s crucial to partner with a reliable provider. My experience with BlueHost serves as a cautionary tale that I believe deserves sharing, especially for anyone considering their services.
A few years ago, I decided to host my WordPress site with BlueHost. After successfully setting up my domain and site, I eventually encountered a baffling issue: one day, I was greeted by the default WordPress welcome screen. To my shock, BlueHost had deleted my entire website without providing any explanation. Thankfully, they managed to restore the site from a backup, but the unease lingered.
Fast forward to September 2023. I embarked on a new project, signing up for a fresh account, complete with a new domain, WordPress hosting, and Google Workspace. After migrating my site, everything seemed to be working perfectly—until it suddenly wasn’t. Out of the blue, my website ceased functioning. Upon investigation, I discovered that WordPress had inexplicably altered my A records, leading to the downtime. Frustration turned into exasperation; I felt like I just couldn’t catch a break with BlueHost.
In March 2024, I decided to take matters into my own hands and migrated my WordPress hosting to Cloudways. This shift proved to be a significant improvement, and I updated my A records and a few TXT records accordingly. Although I had moved away from BlueHost for hosting, I still had a year-long subscription that wouldn’t expire until September 1, 2024. However, out of nowhere, my website and email services went down once again. To my dismay, I found that BlueHost had reset my A records, MX records, and TXT records to their defaults. When I reached out to their support team, I was informed—quite bluntly—that since my hosting had lapsed, they reverted all my domain settings back to their original state, despite my active payments for domain registration and Google Workspace.
To compound my frustration, when I requested a restoration of my previous records, I was told they did not maintain historical backups. Once the settings were wiped, they were gone for good. Thankfully, I managed to retrieve some historical data through a third-party service, allowing me to restore my settings, but the entire ordeal left an unpleasant taste in my mouth.
In summary, my encounters with BlueHost have been fra
