Bluehost pricing and features
We get questions as to why Bluehost doesn't figure in our list of reliable hosting providers. Well, the reason is we are still researching Bluehost (and a few others). So far we haven't made up our mind.
A few findings
1. Bluehost seems to have changed its prices recently. The $3.95/month offer is no longer valid and now the prices are revised to $6.95/month. However the good news is that it is $6.95 irrespective of whether you pay for an year, 2 or 3 years (they don't have the pay monthly option now). If you are an old customer you'd remember that they had much higher fees if you paid on a month-by-month basis or sub-annually. Plus they no longer charge a setup fee (used to be around $10). So the pricing has been made very simple: you can pay for an year, two or three years in advance and the price is the same. $6.95/month, no setup fees.
2. Bluehost now offers a free domain as well as free domain privacy. That is something good to hear because most hosts don't offer the free domain privacy. Nothing against Bluehost but we have always advised getting your domain names from a separate domain registrar. You can use the Bluehost free domain to get a not-so-important domain name so that you don't have any issues when you change a host or upgrade to a dedicated server (remember Bluehost offers only shared hosting). If you don't want to do that, at the very least, our advice would be to talk to a Bluehost customer support and make sure the domain is registered in your name and NOT in Bluehost's name.
3. Bluehost offers SimpleScripts in place of Fantastico. Both of them enable you to install many common software with just a few clicks. Many claim SimpleScripts is better than Fantastico. This could be an added advantage.
At the moment, those are the only things we'd want you to know. Visit Bluehost to check their latest prices.