InMotion vs Bluehost Hosting Comparison

After 3 years of testing, let’s compare InMotion vs Bluehost and find out how they’ve performed so far…

InMotion vs Bluehost – Testing Method

  • Prior to testing, I have setup identical content on all 8 Live Test Sites
  • Each week over 80,000 speed & uptime tests are run using independent tools, GTmetrix & Pingdom
  • GTmetrix Logo 50Pingdom Logo 50
  • Test results below are from 04 Apr 2016 to 22 Dec 2018

Test #1: Speed

The GTmetrix Speed Test checks how long it takes for a website to fully load using a desktop internet browser. This test is then repeated every hour throughout the week (1,340 times).

  • InMotion Hosting’s speed has been a little inconsistent across the last 3 years. Their load times have been on a bit of a roller coaster, where some weeks they can be the fastest hosts, while other weeks they can drop to slowest. Their most recent results in H2 2018 are their most impressive, where they are the 2nd fastest host.
  • Bluehost’s average speed was poor across 2016 & 2017, consistently finishing in the bottom 2 hosts. However, in 2018, there has been a massive turnaround, as they have been our 4th fastest host in both H1 & H2 2018.
  • InMotion is currently in 3rd place, while Bluehost is 4th in our Speed Rankings.
InMotion vs Bluehost Speed Table - Apr 2016 to Dec 2018

H2 2018 Results

InMotion vs Bluehost Speed Chart - Jul 2018 to Dec 2018
InMotion vs Bluehost Speed Table - Jul 2018 to Dec 2018

H1 2018 Results

InMotion vs Bluehost Speed Chart - Jan 2018 to Jul 2018
InMotion vs Bluehost Speed Table - Jan 2018 to Jul 2018

H2 2017 Results

InMotion vs Bluehost Speed Chart - Aug 2017 to Dec 2017
InMotion vs Bluehost Speed Table - Aug 2017 to Dec 2017

H1 2017 Results

InMotion vs Bluehost Speed Chart - Jan 2017 to Aug 2017
InMotion vs Bluehost Speed Table - Jan 2017 to Aug 2017

2016 Results

InMotion vs Bluehost Speed Chart - Apr 2016 to Dec 2016
InMotion vs Bluehost Speed Table - Apr 2016 to Dec 2016

Test #2: Uptime

The Pingdom Uptime Test confirms that the website is actually accessible to visitors. This test is then repeated every minute throughout the week (80,640 times).

  • InMotion Hosting have also performed erratically when it comes to Uptime. Their 2016 performance was positive, finishing 3rd, but as time has gone on, they have progressively dropped away. In 2017 they were 7th and both H1 & H2 2018 they’ve fallen to be the worst active host, recording 765 minutes of downtime.
  • Bluehost performed poorly when it came to Uptime across 2016 & 2017. But once again 2018 is a different story, recording just 6 minutes of downtime in H1 2018 and 8 minutes in H2 2018. It is a remarkable result when you consider the past performance, but amazingly Bluehost is the best performing host for uptime in 2018.
  • Bluehost is currently 4th, while InMotion is 8th in our Uptime Rankings.
InMotion vs Bluehost Uptime Table - Apr 2016 to Dec 2018

InMotion vs Bluehost – Overall Test Results

The Overall Ranking accumulates the results from the speed & uptime tests to determine the #1 Host.

  • InMotion Hosting’s performance started off as promising but inconsistent across 2016 & 2017, resulting in a ranking of 4th at the end of 2017. While their speed in H2 2018 has been very impressive, they have been let down by disappointing uptime results across 2018. 
  • Bluehost was consistently the slowest of our active hosts across 2016 & 2017. Combined with a less than stellar uptime resulted in it being 8th Overall at the end of 2017. But the big news of 2018 is the miraculous turnaround of Bluehost’s speed and especially it’s uptime performance. This has led to a massive jump in the overall rankings.
  • Bluehost is currently 4th and InMotion 5th in our Overall Rankings.
InMotion Hosting vs Bluehost Overall Table - Apr 2016 to Dec 2018

How do InMotion & Bluehost compare to our 8 other Hosts?