Disclosure: WebFin is reader-supported. If you buy hosting through links on this page, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Commissions vary between providers and our ratings do not — here’s our full disclosure.
Bluehost vs InMotion Hosting is closer on price than any comparison we have run this month. On 36-month terms, InMotion Core opens at $3.19 and renews at $10.99, while Bluehost Starter opens at $3.99 and renews at $9.99. InMotion is cheaper for the first three years, Bluehost is cheaper from the renewal onward, and the two cross in month 65. Across five years they sit within a few dollars of each other. So the price does not decide this, and the rest does: a 90-day refund window and an independent owner on one side, a complete measured record on the other. The same InMotion figures against Kinsta are in our Kinsta and InMotion comparison.
Bluehost vs InMotion Hosting: The Short Answer
Bluehost, narrowly, at 4.0 against 3.8 in our reviews. Its record is measured and complete, and its renewal is a dollar lower. InMotion is the better choice if you want three months to change your mind, phone support from US staff and a company that has never been sold.
Head to Head
| Criterion | Bluehost Starter | InMotion Core |
|---|---|---|
| Intro rate, 36-month term | $3.99/mo | $3.19/mo |
| Renewal, 36-month term | $9.99/mo | $10.99/mo |
| Renewal step | 2.5× over 36 months | 3.4× over 36 months |
| 36 months | $143.64 | $114.84 |
| Cheaper overall until | From month 65 | Month 64 |
| Storage type | NVMe | SSD; NVMe from Launch |
| Measured record | 411 ms, 99.99%, load 41 ms | No named measurement in our table |
| Support | Phone and chat, 24/7 | Phone, chat and tickets, 24/7 |
| Refund window | 30 days | 90 days on longer terms |
| Owner | Newfold Digital, 2021 | Independent since 2001 |
| Our score | 4.0 | 3.8 |
InMotion Now Shows Its Renewal Price
For most of this year InMotion was the host where the introductory price was everywhere and the renewal was nowhere. That has changed. Its shared plans now carry separate intro and renewal figures on the plan cards, and TechRadar’s review lists the renewal for each tier on a three-year term.
On that term, Core runs $3.19 to $10.99, Launch $4.99 to $13.99, Power $4.99 to $17.99 and Pro $10.99 to $24.99. Another review this year notes that Core renews at a different rate on each term length, from $10.99 on the longest upward. So InMotion follows the same term-dependent shape as SiteGround, and the longest term gets the lowest renewal. Our page on hosting renewal prices now carries the InMotion rows.
⚠️ Our earlier pages described InMotion’s renewal as unpublished, which was accurate when we wrote them. They have now been corrected. The comparison below uses the three-year figures.
| Host and plan | Intro → Renewal | Multiplier |
|---|---|---|
| IONOS Plus | $1.00 → $14.00 | 14.0× over 12 months |
| SiteGround StartUp | $2.99 → $17.99 | 6.0× over 12 months |
| SiteGround GrowBig | $4.99 → $29.99 | 6.0× over 12 months |
| SiteGround GoGeek | $7.99 → $44.99 | 5.6× over 12 months |
| ChemiCloud Starter | $2.49 → not published | Renewal shown at checkout only |
| Scala Hosting Mini | $2.95 → $11.95 | 4.1× over 12 months |
| DreamHost Launch, annual | $2.89 → $10.99 | 3.8× over 12 months |
| Hostinger Premium | $2.99 → $10.99 | 3.7× over 48 months |
| Bluehost Starter | $3.99 → $11.99 | 3.0× over 12 months |
| A2 Hosting Turbo Boost | $6.99 → $20.99 | 3.0× over 12 months |
| HostGator Hatchling | $3.75 → $10.99 | 2.9× over 36 months |
| GoDaddy Economy | $5.99 → $15.32 | 2.6× over 36 months |
| Bluehost Starter | $3.99 → $9.99 | 2.5× over 36 months |
| Namecheap Stellar | $1.98 → $4.88 | 2.5× over 12 or 24 months |
| Namecheap Stellar Plus | $2.98 → $6.88 | 2.3× over 12 or 24 months |
| Namecheap Stellar Business | $4.98 → $9.88 | 2.0× over 12 or 24 months |
| DreamHost Launch, 4-year | $2.89 → $7.99 | 2.8× over 48 months |
| DreamHost, eligible US nonprofits | One shared plan free for the account's life | 501(c)(3) or (c)(19); help article, checked 10 Jun 2026 by a nonprofit directory |
| Bluehost Business | $6.99 → $13.99 | 2.0× over 36 months |
| Bluehost Starter, second reading | $1.99 → $8.99 | Hostingstep, July 2026; conflicts with Bluehost's help page |
| Hostwinds Basic | $4.54 → $6.99 | 1.5× over 12 months |
| WP Engine Startup | $27.00 → $35.00 | 1.3× over 12 months |
| Rocket.net Starter | $25.00 → $30.00 | 1.2× over 12 months |
| InterServer Standard | $2.50 flat | 1.0×, price lock |
| Cloudways, from | $14.00 flat | no promotional term |
| Kinsta Starter | $35.00 flat | no promotional term |
| Liquid Web managed VPS, annual billing | $33.00, no promotional term | No increase described on annual billing |
| Liquid Web managed VPS, monthly billing | $36.00 → $72.00 reported | 2.0× over one month; one pricing guide, disputed |
| GreenGeeks Lite | $2.95 → $13.95 | 4.7× after one term; renewal was $12.95 before 2026 |
| ChemiCloud Starter, third-party figures | $9.95, $11.95 or $12.95 quoted | Sources disagree; 4.0× to 5.2× over 36 months |
| SiteGround StartUp, by term | $2.99 → $14.99, $17.99 or $24.99 | 5.0× over 24 months, 6.0× over 12, 8.4× month to month |
| ChemiCloud Kickstart, reseller | $8.99 → $29.95 | Term not stated in the source we read |
| InterServer reseller | $19.95, price locked | No increase described in sources |
| GreenGeeks reseller | $19.95 with WHMCS included | Promotional rate; renewal not published |
| Hostwinds white-label reseller | $10.00 with WHMCS included | Plain reseller plan excludes WHMCS |
| InMotion Core, 36-month term | $3.19 → $10.99 | 3.4× over 36 months; TechRadar, 2026 |
| InMotion Launch, 36-month term | $4.99 → $13.99 | 2.8× over 36 months; TechRadar and plan cards, 2026 |
| InMotion Core, by term | Renews at $10.99, $11.99 or $14.49 | Longest term lowest; one review, May 2026 |
Level for Five Years
Bluehost Starter bills 36 months at $3.99, which is $143.64. InMotion Core bills 36 months at $3.19, which is $114.84. For the first three years InMotion is clearly cheaper.
Then the renewals arrive, and InMotion’s is a dollar a month higher. Its head start shrinks every month and runs out in month 65, when Bluehost becomes the cheaper of the two overall. At the five-year mark the totals sit within a few dollars. So for a site you plan to keep for about five years, price is a genuine tie.
The step to InMotion Launch is worth pricing too. At $4.99 renewing to $13.99 on a three-year term, it adds NVMe storage and a second site, and it costs $179.64 across 36 months. Our page on what web hosting costs runs the same arithmetic across the field.
The Term Changes the InMotion Price More Than the Plan Does
InMotion prices each shared tier on several terms, and the renewal follows the term. One review this year lists Core renewing at $10.99, $11.99 or $14.49 depending on the length you sign. So an annual buyer can pay about a third more at renewal than a three-year buyer for exactly the same plan.
That shape is familiar from SiteGround, and it rewards reading the cart rather than the headline. The figures on this page all use the three-year term, because that is where both hosts publish their best rates. Choose a shorter term at InMotion and the month-65 crossover moves much earlier, because the renewal gap with Bluehost widens.
⚠️ Bluehost has the same issue in a milder form. Starter renews at $11.99 on an annual term against $9.99 on a three-year one. Whichever host you pick, the term is the biggest price decision you make, and the plan name is the second. Our comparison of SiteGround against InMotion covers the other host where this matters most.
The Measured Record
Bluehost’s record is complete in the benchmark project we cite. Across November 2025 to August 2026 it records 411 ms response time and 99.99% uptime over 9 outages. After its move to Oracle Cloud it passed the load test at 41 ms with no errors, and its hardware scores 9.6 of 10.
InMotion has no equivalent in our table from a named project. Our InMotion rows carry response figures of 300 to 500 ms and uptime between 99.97% and 99.99% from sources we could not attribute to a single named publication, so we set them aside here. That is an evidence gap rather than a verdict, and it is most of why the scores differ.
⚠️ One detail does bear on speed. Core uses SSD storage, while Launch and the tiers above use NVMe, which is faster under load. If performance matters, compare Bluehost Starter with InMotion Launch rather than Core. Our guide to reducing TTFB covers what storage type changes and what it does not.
Refunds: Three Months Against One
InMotion refunds for 90 days on shared and WordPress plans, which is three times the usual window. Bluehost refunds for 30 days and keeps $15.99 for the free domain if you leave early. InMotion’s own terms also deduct the regular price of a free domain from a refund, so the domain catch applies at both.
Ninety days is long enough to move a real site, run it through a busy month and decide. For a buyer paying three years in advance, that window is worth more than the small price differences above. Our guide to canceling hosting and getting a refund covers the order that keeps the domain safe.
Support, Limits and Everyday Use
Both answer the phone around the clock, and InMotion adds tickets and staffs support in the United States. Neither publishes a measured response time, and no controlled test of hosting support exists in the sources we found.
Both run cPanel, so accounts export in a standard format and leaving is routine. InMotion Core limits you to one site and ten email accounts, and Launch lifts both. Bluehost describes its limits through inode figures that its own help pages give three different ways, which our piece on what unlimited hosting means covers.
What Each Plan Includes
Both include a free certificate and a free domain for the first year. InMotion’s own terms limit the free domain to 12, 24 and 36-month plans, and the domain renews at the regular price after that year. Bluehost follows the same pattern, and at both hosts the domain renewal is a separate line on a separate date.
Beyond that, the two package differently. InMotion’s tiers above Core include unlimited email accounts and NVMe storage, so the step to Launch buys something concrete. Bluehost keeps the plan lean and sells the rest from its dashboard: a premium certificate at $89.88, SiteLock from $95.88 and Yoast SEO Premium at $99.99. None of those are required, and a buyer who declines them all pays only the plan price.
Who Owns Them
Bluehost has belonged to Newfold Digital since 2021, alongside HostGator and Yoast SEO, and who owns Bluehost traces the group. InMotion was founded in 2001 and describes itself as independent and never acquired, with one review this year calling it employee-owned.
That difference matters for renewal policy, which tends to follow the owner. It also explains the extras: Bluehost sells SiteLock and Yoast SEO Premium from its dashboard, keeping the money inside the group, while InMotion’s plans bundle unlimited email on the tiers above Core and sell less after checkout.
Where Each One Is Weakest
InMotion is weakest on evidence and on its entry tier. There is no named measurement to check it against, and Core uses older storage with a ten-mailbox limit. Its renewal multiplier is the steeper of the two, at 3.4× over 36 months.
Bluehost is weakest after checkout and on refunds. Thirty days is the ordinary window, the dashboard sells add-ons most sites never need, and the best rate needs a three-year prepayment. None of that affects speed, and all of it affects the bill.
Winners by Category
First three years: InMotion, at $114.84 against $143.64. From month 65: Bluehost, on a renewal a dollar lower. Measured record: Bluehost, complete and current. Storage on the entry tier: Bluehost, which uses NVMe. Refund window: InMotion, at 90 days. Support channels: InMotion, with phone, chat and tickets. Ownership: InMotion, independent since 2001.
When to Choose InMotion Instead
Take InMotion if the refund window matters, or if you want an independent company with US-based support. Ninety days to decide and a first three years that cost less make it a safe way to try a host properly. Choose Launch rather than Core if you care about storage speed. Our comparison of Hostinger against InMotion sets it against a cheaper option.
Take Bluehost if you want the measured record before you pay, and you plan to keep the site past five years, when its lower renewal starts to count. Our comparison of Bluehost against DreamHost weighs it against another independent host.
How We Research
We run no tests. Bluehost measurements come from Hostingstep with their windows. InMotion renewal figures come from TechRadar’s review and the plan cards it and other reviews describe, read on 20 September 2026. Figures we could not attribute to a named publication are set aside rather than quoted.
The crossover month comes from month-by-month arithmetic on the published rates, not from rounding. The criteria behind our scores are on our about page, and the full workings are in our Bluehost review.
Bluehost vs InMotion FAQ
InMotion for the first three years, at $114.84 against $143.64 on 36-month terms. Its renewal is a dollar a month higher, at $10.99 against $9.99, so Bluehost becomes cheaper overall in month 65. Across five years the two are within a few dollars.
Yes. Its shared plans show intro and renewal figures on the plan cards, and TechRadar lists Core at $3.19 renewing to $10.99 on a three-year term. Earlier this year the renewal was hard to find, which some older reviews still reflect.
InMotion, at 90 days on shared and WordPress plans against 30 days at Bluehost. Both deduct the cost of a free domain if you cancel inside the window, so budget for that at either host.
Bluehost has the measured record: 411 ms response, 99.99% uptime and a load test at 41 ms with no errors. InMotion has no named measurement in our table. Its Launch tier and above use NVMe storage, which Core does not.
Bluehost belongs to Newfold Digital, which also owns HostGator and Yoast SEO. InMotion was founded in 2001 and describes itself as independent and never acquired. Ownership tends to shape renewal policy and what is sold after checkout.
The Verdict
Bluehost takes this narrowly, and price is not the reason. The two sit within a few dollars across five years, so the deciding line is evidence: Bluehost’s record is complete and current, and InMotion’s is not measured by any project we can name. Our scores read 4.0 against 3.8.
InMotion is the better buy for anyone who values time to decide and an independent owner. A 90-day refund window, phone support from US staff and a cheaper first three years are real advantages, and now that its renewal is on the plan card, it can be priced properly. Charges that follow the first term are collected in hidden hosting fees.