DreamHost Web Hosting Review (2024)
Our Research
Is DreamHost Worth Signing Up For?
If you’re looking for a proven web host with a wide product offering, then DreamHost could be one worth considering. The company’s hosting offer ranges from VPS to shared and dedicated hosting.
Dreamhost at a Glance 8.2 Editor Score
Simple Setup
9.1
Security Features
9.4
Technical Features
9.9
Servers
8.9
Customer Service
9.0
8.2 Editor Score
Dreamhost Pros & Cons
PROS
- Variety of different hosting options
- 24/7 support
- Offers both cloud and dedicated hosting
CONS
- Linux servers only
- Support by live chat / email only
- No migration support
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Overview
DreamHost at a Glance
Bandwidth: Unlimited
Free marketing offer: No
Uptime: 100% uptime guarantee
Website builder: Yes. Wordpress builder.
Money-back guarantee: 97-day money-back guarantee
Price per month: From $2.49 (shared) to $149/month (dedicated)
Best For
- DreamHost is a great choice for any website owner that needs a hosting provider that provides a broad variety of hosting types which can scale with the business. DreamHost’s solutions are suitable for rookie website builders who need a builder type environment. And they scale to cloud hosting which can support large enterprise applications. DreamHost is a versatile provider with very affordable shared hosting packages. Many customers can benefit from its hosting.
Hosting Types
DreamHost offers virtually the full array of hosting options available. These include:
Wordpress hosting. DreamHost offers shared, VPS, and dedicated managed hosting plans that are optimized for the needs of Wordpress webmasters. DreamPress is a more powerful Wordpress hosting option that also supports staging environments, backups, and which includes caching features.
Shared hosting: Regular shared hosting packages are not specifically optimized for Wordpress sites but can also be used for them. Like Wordpress hosting, these plans are managed. This means that users don’t need to worry about keeping the server secure and properly updated.
VPS hosting. Virtual private server (VPS) hosting is a step up from shared hosting and gives customers access to virtualized chunks of hardware.
Dedicated. DreamHost supports dedicated (bare metal) hosting whereby users gain access to a physical machine.
Cloud hosting: Cloud hosting makes it easy for users to scale resources as required. These fluid plans are provisioned on elastic infrastructure so it can scale up, or scale down, as customers’ needs change.
Uptime and Performance
Think that every hosting company offers the same 99.99% guarantee? So did we until we saw that DreamHost actually offers a 100% uptime guarantee. This means exactly what it sounds like: customers will be compensated for any downtime whatsoever. The terms of service state that the guarantee doesn’t just include the web server: if FTP, SSH or webmail access is compromised then users are also entitled to payback. The exceptions are scheduled maintenance or downtime caused by customer error.
How do DreamHost’s server speeds compare to the competition? Most of the infrastructure that powers DreamHost’s hosting options is based in the US. Additionally, DreamHost is a relative veteran of the hosting industry, having been in business since the mid 90s. All this translates to excellent speeds. When measured for initial response time, fully loaded time, and time under load, DreamHost has consistently returned excellent benchmarks.
Website Builder Features
DreamHost does offer a drag and drop builder product for Wordpress that is designed to make deploying Wordpress-based sites even easier. The company offers a series of Wordpress and Wordpress Builder plans that are designed for this purpose.Using WP Site Builder, users are able to avail of drag-and-drop plugins on top of Wordpress that simplifies the process of achieving desirable visual layouts. There’s also a library of more than 200 industry specific themes to choose from to get the right look and feel. Finally, the Site Builder provides real time SEO recommendations to help users make the right edits to rank highly in search engines.
All DreamHost hosting packages include the ability to leverage email servers in order to host emails. For shared and Wordpress hosting plans, this feature can be accessed in the conventional way (via DreamHost’s custom management panel).
For organizations that exchange a lot of email, and which want to take things further, DreamHost also offers an email hosting add-on. This allows users to avail of a massive 25GB storage capacity per inbox. There’s also an ad-free webmail client, spam and phishing filters, and mobile and desktop sync. The early plan costs just $1.67 per mailbox per month
Control Panel
Instead of offering clients cPanel to manage their websites, DreamHost has actually developed its own panel interface for managing sites. The panel can be accessed from an easy to remember login (panel.DreamHost.com). However, although DreamHost has gone to lengths to make their panel more user friendly than cPanel, it does contain most of its features. The only negative is that, because it’s not true cPanel, users can’t restore cPanel backups from other hosting providers. Instead, in-migrations need to be undertaken manually using FTP and the built-in tools for importing databases. DreamHost does not provide support with migrations. This custom panel is available for shared, VPS, and dedicated hosting customers.
Help and Support
Users that run into difficulty have a lot of support options to choose from. Firstly, using the live chat window, they can speak to a bot that can quickly pass on queries to a live human. We found this system to be quick and responsive. If that doesn’t work out, then human support is available 24/7. There’s also a knowledge base packed with how-tos and troubleshooting guides, a system status dashboard, and tech support by ticket.
Dreamhost Pricing
Pricing & Special Offers
Dreamhost offers a variety of hosting packages at different price points. For instance, while basic shared hosting can be purchased for less than $3 per month, dedicated /bare metal hosting costs more than $100.
DreamHost Pricing & Plans
| Shared Starter | Shared Unlimited | VPS Basic | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intro Pricing | $2.95 per month | $2.95 per month | $13.75 per month (billed annually) |
| Price Upon Renewal | $6.99 per month (billed annually) | $12.99 per month (billed annually) | $15.99 per month (billed annually) |
| Number of Sites | 1 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Storage | 50GB | Unlimited | 30GB SSD |
| Bandwidth | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Free Domain Name | Yes (with 12- or 36-month commitment) | Yes (with 12- or 36-month commitment) | No |
| Free SSL Certificate | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| One-Click WordPress Installation | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Free Business Email | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Backups | Yes, daily | Yes, daily | No |
| Uptime Guarantee | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Money Back Guarantee | 97-days | 97-days | No |
| Customer Support | 24/7 via live chat and support tickets | 24/7 via live chat and support tickets | 24/7 via live chat and support tickets |
To lock in the best prices, users need to sign up for the maximum 3-year tenure. However, even month to month pricing is competitive.
Dreamhost Alternatives
How Dreamhost Compares to Other Web Hosting Sites
DreamHost Alternatives
| DreamHost | GoDaddy | HostGator | Bluehost | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting Price per Month | $2.95 | $5.99 | $3.75 | $2.95 |
| Number of Sites | 1 to unlimited | 1 to 50 | 1 to unlimited | 1 to unlimited |
| Storage | Starts at 30GB | Starts at 25GB | Starts at 10GB | Starts at 10GB |
| Bandwidth | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered |
| Free Domain Name for 1 Year | Shared and DreamPress plans | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 24/7 Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Free Business Email | Most plans; otherwise $1.67/month | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Website Builder | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Average Response Time | 1,813 ms | 254 ms | 650 ms | 634 ms |
DreamHost vs GoDaddy
GoDaddy is the same price as DreamHost and offers pretty similar features. One area where it excels is free domain names—all plans include this for a year, whereas DreamHost only offers it in select plans. GoDaddy also uses its own website builder instead of WordPress. If you hate WordPress, this could be a good thing, but if you’re comfortable with it, moving to a new content management system (CMS) could be a hassle.
DreamHost vs HostGator
While HostGator is a little more expensive than DreamHost, it does come with free email and a domain name at all plan levels. That said, since adding email to DreamHost is only $1.67 a month, those savings aren’t justifiable. However, HostGator offers some cool perks that DreamHost doesn’t, such as a $500 Google Ad spend match credit and a $100 Microsoft Advertising credit.
DreamHost vs Bluehost
Bluehost’s base plan is $4 more expensive than DreamHost’s, which will add up over time. Since DreamHost offers more storage and has most of the same specs otherwise, we’re not sure that the upgraded cost is worth it. However, if you’re an online business, the $150 in Google Ads Bluehost gives you along with the Google My Business listing might be quite valuable.
Bottom Line
Dreamhost offers a wide variety of hosting types from cloud hosting through to Wordpress hosting. It has rolled out its own version of cPanel for ease of administration, although the company doesn’t help out with migrations. Speeds are good and prices are very competitive for users that sign up for 3 years periods.
