Weebly is one of the easy to use website builder helping millions of user creating their online dream in matter of minutes. Weebly offers free hosting which has its own restrictions like accessing root directories and files. In order to make use of Weebly’s site editor interface it is a good idea to look for a paid hosting company. Fortunately, many companies like Bluehost and HostGator offers integrated Weebly installation with shared hosting account. In this article we discuss Weebly Bluehost plan in details along with pros and cons.
Offer: Host your Weebly and WordPress sites on Bluehost for $2.95 per month.
Bluehost Weebly Plans
In order to use Weebly with Bluehost you should have an existing paid hosting account with Bluehost. Create a new Bluehost account if you don’t have one.
Login to your Bluehost account and you can see “Install Weebly” option under “Website” section as shown below:
You can also see “Weebly” option under cPanel of Bluehost hosting account. Click on “Install Weebly” option to see various plans offered by Bluehost. Basically Bluehost offers three different plans as below:
Below is the comparison of features for each plan:
| Feature / Plan | Basic | Professional | Ecommerce |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | $8.99 per month | +$2.99 per month |
| Number of Pages | 6 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Site Editor | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Edit HTML / CSS | No | Yes | Yes |
| Custom Themes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Password Protection | No | Yes | Yes |
| Theme Import | No | Yes | Yes |
Ecommerce plan will have additional features like shopping cart which can be added either to Weebly Basic or Weebly Pro plan for the additional cost of $2.99 per month. Once you have selected the plan, you just need to login to Weebly with your Bluehost account domain. The drag and drop builder is the same one with no difference which you can see it in direct Weebly account.
Learn how to install Weebly on Bluehost and SiteGround.
Is it Worth of Using Weebly through Bluehost?
Let us look at the pros and cons of using Weebly with Bluehost before we decide whether it is worth to go for this:
Pros:
- Independent hosting allows you to backup your site without Weebly’s help.
- Your content is safely available in Bluehost server so you don’t need to worry even if Weebly is down.
- You can access your site’s root directories and file like .htaccess using FTP or File Manager.
- It is possible to get Bluehost support for any possible issues but it is difficult to get Weebly support for free accounts if you use it directly.
- 6 pages for a free basic plan whereas Weebly free account is restricted to 5 pages.
Cons:
- Free site will show Bluehost banner in footer.
- There is no starter plan compared to Weebly’s original plans.
- Elements are not updated as per Weebly’s latest editor. (As we write this article, there is still a “Columns” element whereas Weebly replaced “Columns” elements by “Spacer” months back.
- Themes are also very old whereas Weebly nowadays regularly updating themes including responsive themes.
- Document upload is a paid option whereas it is still a free option when using Weebly directly.
Comparison of Weebly and Bluehost Weebly
Another important aspect is to compare the original Weebly plans with Bluehost offered Weebly plan which is the perfect way before for conclusion:
| Weebly | Weebly with Bluehost | |||
| Free | Pro | Free | Pro | |
| Site Builder | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Number of Pages | Unlimited | Unlimited | 6 | Unlimited |
| Latest Elements / Features | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Latest Themes / Page Layouts | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Edit HTML / CSS / Theme | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Approximate Cost per month | Free | $ 8 | $ 4 – 7 (for hosting) | $ 13 – 16 (Hosting + Pro) |
| Access to Root Directories | No | No | Yes | Yes |
Learn how to delete Weebly installation in Bluehost.
Summary
Though webmasters believe search engines prefer paid hosting, we do not really see any difference in ranking due to paid or free hosting. Now coming back to the question – is it worth? It is simply evident that no one will prefer to pay more and get old and less. So if Weebly is your choice then go with weebly.com or simply go for self hosted WordPress site with Bluehost account
The above review is for a basic shared hosting account with Bluehost. For a Pro hosting account, Weebly Pro is default included along with other features like dedicated IP, domain privacy, SSL, Site Backup Pro and Site Lock. Hence, if you decide to go with Bluehost Weebly plan then it is worth to consider the Pro hosting account.
Pros
- You can combine WordPress and Weebly sites with Bluehost hosting.
- Other tools you can use from cPanel.
Cons
- App store is not available.
- You need to access the site’s dashboard by logging into Bluehost account.
