Dreamhost has a good reputation in the hosting space because of its ease of use, pricing options, and customization. Dreamhost’s shared hosting plan includes the most popular apps, including WordPress, Weebly, and Wix, making them a go-to for DIY site-builders; they also offer a 97-day money-back guarantee for service testing, so giving them a try doesn’t hurt the wallet. – Kristina Knight, Biz Report
Founded in 1996, DreamHost is one of the oldest and most popular web hosting platforms on the internet. DreamHost is an industry leader with over 400,000 customers from more than 100 countries using the platform to power over 1.5 million websites.
DreamHost shares a unique relationship with WordPress and offers an easy, one-click installation feature, which has translated into over 750,000 WordPress website installations to date.
Winner of the Business Choice Award for best web hosting service three times, DreamHost earned exceptional points in the overall satisfaction, reliability, and likelihood to recommend sections. It has also won the ScaleUp Award from the StackWorld Conference for its efficient and scalable services.
Users can take advantage of a full suite of web hosting solutions. These web development services include shared hosting plans, VPS hosting plans, cloud servers, dedicated servers, and domain management services. Two of the most affordable plans start at $2.59 and $3.95 per month.
DreamHost’s Managed Hosting WordPress plan starts at $16.95 per month. It also officially partners with WordPress to provide its users with a one-click WordPress install and login option. So if you’re looking for a hosting solution for WordPress, I highly recommend DreamHost.
In addition to web hosting and web development features, DreamHost provides:
- Google Workspace
- Remixer
- SEO Toolkit
| DreamHost Standout Features | |
| Performance | Fast and reliable hosting |
| Average Load Time | 1.54s |
| Average Response Time | 0.018 seconds |
| Free Domain | Yes. Free domain with WHOIS privacy* |
| SSL | Free SSL certificate from LetsEncrypt |
| 1-click WordPress | Yes |
| Support | 24/7 in-house support |
*WHOIS is a standard internet protocol that identifies individual users through a packet of information that includes their IP address and domain name. DreamHost masks a user’s WHOIS packet with their protected WHOIS for enhanced privacy setup.
What Makes DreamHost Stand Out?
With so many web hosting services offering similar solutions, what makes DreamHost stand out from the competition?
DreamHost Offers More Than Shared Hosting
Along with par excellence shared hosting services, DreamHost provides nearly every web hosting service your business might need. It provides hosting solutions like VPS, dedicated servers, cloud hosting, and managed WordPress hosting.
DreamHost’s managed WordPress Hosting solution allows you to create and host a fully-optimized website for your business. I recommend trying any of DreamHost’s Managed Hosting WordPress plans. These plans include the following features:
- VPS
- Free automatic site migration
- Auto WordPress updates
- 1-click installation
- 24/7 award-winning support
- Free domain
- Automated backups
- Advanced, easy-to-use panel
- Free email hosting
- Fast solid state drives (SSD) storage
- Free SSL certificate
DreamHost does all the heavy lifting of web hosting, such as handling technicality, ensuring security, and enhancing performance. It offers three WordPress plans: WordPress Basic, DreamPress, and VPS WordPress.
While these three plans share the same basic features, DreamPress and VPS WordPress have added advanced features and meet a wider range of needs. I suggest analyzing your web hosting and web development requirements before choosing a plan.
DreamHost Offers Multiple Solutions for Businesses
Apart from web hosting and web development services, businesses require website management, SEO Toolkit, digital marketing, and other services. A one-stop solution for businesses, DreamHost offers:
- Social media marketing – With different monthly social media marketing plans, DreamHost offers its customers a designated social media team that will implement a monthly strategy to create unique posts and content and analyze reports to show social media results.
- SEO marketing – DreamHost provides its customers with a comprehensive personal team. An SEO manager, content writer, SEO strategist, senior content writer, and WordPress developer help customize and optimize content creation and increase visibility. DreamHost’s SEO team also offers its customers monthly strategy and reporting.
- Technical website management – DreamHost offers excellent website management and monitoring services to ensure that your business website is always up and running. It also offers site optimization, website transfer site update, and hacked site repair services.
- Design services – DreamHost offers customized web design services. Designers create websites from scratch to suit the customer’s brand needs and vision.
These additional services are great options that you don’t find with most web hosting providers. While you will pay extra for these services, many businesses find this to be a smart investment since it gives them a one-stop solution for all their website needs.
What Are the Pros and Cons of DreamHost?
While DreamHost offers some of the best features in the web hosting market, such as one-click installation, unlimited data storage, and bandwidth, unlimited sites, and a 100% uptime guarantee, it does have a lot of upcharges and premium features that you have to pay extra for.
Before choosing DreamHost as your web hosting provider, consider the following pros and cons.
Pros
- Hugely popular: DreamHost supports over 1.5 million sites and 750,000 WordPress installations. Its reliability makes it a great choice if you’re a novice in web hosting.
- Multiple hosting options: DreamHost offers many hosting options, including shared hosting, VPS hosting, cloud hosting, and dedicated servers. You can choose an option as per your business requirements. The VPS WordPress option has been particularly helpful for me.
- Ease of use: I love how easy it is to use DreamHost’s features and services. Its custom control panel makes signing up and using my plan of choice effortless. Moreover, DreamHost’s one-click installation simplifies the process of signing up for WordPress. DreamHost also has a website builder, which makes it easy to develop a website with just a few clicks.
- Excellent privacy: DreamHost takes privacy very seriously. Features include an anti-spam policy and free WHOIS privacy.
- Digital security features: DreamHost provides robust digital security tools, including SSL. Along with daily data backups, it also allows the implementation of web application firewalls.
- A 97-day money-back guarantee: If you aren’t satisfied with DreamHost’s services, you can get a “no questions asked” refund. While shared hosting customers can cancel within the first 97 days, DreamPress customers must cancel within the first 30 days.
- 100% uptime guarantee: DreamHost offers reliable performance and its systems are up and running efficiently all the time. This guarantee is backed up by compensation of one day’s fees for every hour of downtime.
- Month-to-month pricing: I love that DreamHost’s monthly plans allow me to choose per my requirements and pay a monthly fee. In case I don’t think a certain plan meets my needs, I can change it without worrying about the cost. DreamHost’s monthly packages provide flexibility to customers.
- Award-winning support: DreamHost’s tech support is one of the best. Quick and efficient tech support is a necessity when it comes to web hosting services. DreamHost has many support options, including live chat, ticket system, knowledge base, active forum, and callbacks.
- Eco-hosting: If your aim is to limit your company’s carbon footprint, DreamHost is a good choice. DreamHost’s grids are powered by electricity from renewable sources. Additionally, DreamHost’s data centers use energy-efficient cooling infrastructure.
Cons
- Extra cost for certain features: All features are not covered in DreamHost’s packages. I dislike that I have to pay extra for certain features within the dashboard. Having to make consistent purchases or upgrade to another pack isn’t ideal.
- Intricate control panel: While DreamHost has easy-to-use features, the control panel and interface can take some getting used to. DreamHost’s panel is different from cPanels of other web hosting services.
- You may pay for some levels of support: While the support team at DreamHost is excellent, you do need to note that premium support may cost you extra. If you need a phone call returned from a tech expert, for example, you’ll have to pay for it.
- Data centers only in the U.S.: With data centers being located only in the U.S., load time can be slower for customers in other countries, and server speeds can be less than ideal.
DreamHost may be the best web host for: Everyone – whether you’re a freelancer trying to build your website, an established e-commerce website, or a small business.
DreamHost Shared Hosting Package Options
| Shared Starter | Shared Unlimited | |
| Price: | $1.99/mo – $2.59/mo | $2.99/mo – $3.95/mo |
| Best for: | Personal projects | Small businesses, entrepreneurs,e-commerce sites |
| Websites: | 1 | Unlimited |
| Email accounts: | Add email for $1.67 per month | Unlimited |
| Plans: | 3 year, 1 year, and monthly | 3 year, 1 year, and monthly |
| Extras: |
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Who should use shared hosting? Shared hosting can meet the requirements of a broad range of people. Whether you’re starting a personal site or migrating an existing e-commerce site, shared hosting is the perfect solution for you.
While both the shared hosting options offered by DreamHost are good, I think it’s wise to start with the Shared Starter package and upgrade to the higher-end unlimited hosting plan if your business needs grow.
DreamHost VPS Hosting Package Options
| Basic | Business | Professional | Enterprise | |
| Price: | $10/mo – $15/mo | $20/mo – $30/mo | $40/mo – $60/mo | $80/mo – $120/mo |
| Best for: | Personal projects, small businesses | Beginner low traffic websites, small businesses | Medium-sized businesses that need scalable options | Full-fledged businesses experiencing high traffic |
| Websites: | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| RAM: | 1 GB | 2 GB | 4 GB | 8 GB |
| Storage: | 30 GB SSD Storage | 60 GB SSD Storage | 120 GB SSD Storage | 240 GB SSD Storage |
| Traffic: | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Email: | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Extras: | Free SSL certificate(s) | Free SSL certificate(s) | Free SSL certificate(s) | Free SSL certificate(s) |
Who should use VPS hosting? DreamHost’s four different VPS plans offer best value for money. If you’re expecting high traffic on your site or you’re going to use videos and images, you can choose one of the VPS plans depending on your needs and budget.
DreamHost Managed WordPress Hosting Package Options
| DreamPress | DreamPress Plus | DreamPress Pro | |
| Price: | $12/mo – $16.95/mo | $24/mo – $24.95/mo | $71.95/mo – $79.95/mo |
| Best for: | Low traffic websites | Medium traffic websites | High traffic websites |
| Built for: | ~100k monthly visitors | ~300k monthly visitors | ~1M+ monthly visitors |
| Email: | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Storage: | 30 GB SSD | 60 GB SSD | 120 GB SSD |
| Bandwidth | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered |
| Extras: |
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Who should use WordPress hosting? If you’re using WordPress for hosting either your personal or business site, using one of DreamHost’s managed WordPress hosting solutions is your best bet. All three packages offer excellent value with plenty of useful features. You can pick one that best matches your visitor turnout and suits your requirements.
DreamHost Dedicated Server Hosting Package Options
| Standard | Enhanced | |
| Price: | $149/mo – $169/mo | $279/mo – $299/mo |
| Best for: | Agencies, web hosting resellers | Large businesses |
| Intel Xeon: | 4-Core 8-Thread | 12-Core 24-Thread |
| RAM: | 4 GB | 16 GB |
| Storage: | 1 TB HDD RAID 1 Storage | 2 TB HDD RAID 1 Storage |
| Extras: |
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Who should use dedicated hosting? The dedicated hosting servers at DreamHost are necessary if you run a large site that generates a lot of traffic at a time.
Cloud Computing Server Package Options
| 512 MB RAM Server | 2 GB RAM Server | 8 GB RAM Server | |
| Price: | Max $4.50/mo ($0.0075/hour) | Max $12/mo ($0.02/hour) | Max $48/mo ($0.08/hour) |
| Ideal for: | Tinkering | Websites | Databases |
| Built for: | 1 vCPU | 1 vCPU | 4 vCPU |
| Storage: | 80 GB SSD disk | 80 GB SSD disk | 80 GB SSD disk |
| Bandwidth: | Free bandwidth | Free bandwidth | Free bandwidth |
| Block storage: | 100 GB block storage included | 100 GB block storage included | 100 GB block storage included |
Cloud Storage Packages
| Storage Included | Monthly Price | Effective Price/GB |
| 40 GB | $0.95 | $0.0238 |
| 200 GB | $4.50 | $0.0225 |
| 1024 GB | $19.95 | $0.0195 |
| 2048 GB | $34.95 | $0.0171 |
| 20480 GB | $299.95 | $0.0146 |
Who should use cloud computing hosting? Beginners to small-sized businesses that are starting to scale their traffic and services should use cloud computing hosting for data storage and computing power.
Custom Control Panel
DreamHost’s packages come with a custom, easy-to-use control panel. The layout and options in the cPanel make using DreamHost’s services more effortless. Through the control panel, you can get admin access to everything you require to run your website.
Award-Winning Support
With DreamHost, you’ll have a smooth time building and managing your website even if you’re a newbie. With a robust team of tech veterans to answer your questions and resolve your issues, DreamHost can support you however and whenever you need.
DreamHost’s in-house support team is available 24/7.
1-Click Installer
DreamHost allows you to make attractive websites, even if you don’t know any programming. With pre-assembled apps available in DreamHost’s packages, you can create a website from scratch in just a few clicks.
100% Uptime Guarantee
All of DreamHost’s hosting packages provide 100% uptime with data center locations, redundant cooling, emergency generators, and consistent monitoring. Your hosting website will be available to serve traffic all the time. DreamHost guarantees 100% uptime and offers compensation for every hour of downtime.
Solid State Drives (SSDs)
DreamHost provides its customers with many technologies to improve speed and response time. With the SSDs DreamHost offers, your website, caching, and database queries can run 200% faster than HDDs.
Free SSL Certificate
All hosting packages at DreamHost offer a free SSL certificate that will protect your site with HTTPS by encrypting traffic and instantly boosting SEO with Google.
Additionally, DreamHost provides other privacy features that will mask and safeguard your personal information at no extra cost.
Free Domain
With DreamHost, you can claim a unique, easy-to-remember address for your site. The domain name feature comes free with all of DreamHost’s hosting packages.
Pre-Installed WordPress
You can use DreamHost’s 1-click WordPress installer to set your WordPress site up instantly. No matter the size of your business, you can easily create and manage all kinds of websites on WordPress.
Uptime and Reliability
I ran several tests to check DreamHost’s uptime and reliability. According to my results, DreamHost servers had an average uptime of 99.8% over the past year. DreamHost’s all-time uptime is 99.76%, which is less than its competitors.
Site Response Times
DreamHost’s servers offer impressive site response times. I tested the site multiple times and got an average response time of 1.57s. This means that if you use DreamHost to run your site, it’ll load quickly.
However, this is just the speed at which DreamHost’s servers respond to a web request. Your actual site’s load time will be influenced by how you build your site.
With DreamHost’s cloud computing hosting packages, you can further enhance your site response times.
Managed WordPress Hosting
DreamHost also provides its customers with Managed WordPress Hosting packages. These packages offer fast, secure, and high-performance solutions that’ll help you configure and optimize your WordPress site to be stable and load quickly all the time.
SSL Certificates
All of DreamHost’s packages come with a free SSL certificate that authenticates a website’s identity and authorizes an encrypted connection.
SSL is an encrypted link between a web server and a web browser that’s created and followed when sharing information. It ensures that the data being transferred is not intercepted by unauthorized parties.
Other Security Services
Other than an SSL certificate, DreamHost provides its customers’ sites with the following security services:
Malware Remover: A tool to discover and fix malware on websites
Free Domain Privacy: Protects customers’ data in the WHOIS records
Mod_security: A web application firewall for apache that helps safeguard websites from various attacks
HTTP/2: A standard security protocol that’s encrypted by default
Lua-resty-waf: A high-performance, reverse proxy web application firewall (WAF) built that enhances security by redirecting all client requests to a protected backend server.
While DreamHost offers technical support 24/7 year-round, you can’t call the support team on a high-priority basis. You can, however, schedule a callback for a fee. You can also reach out to the support team via email, open a ticket, or live chat, so you won’t have trouble getting the help you need. No matter how you get in touch with the support team, you will get premium quality help.
DreamHost also has an extensive knowledge base and an active forum where you can find useful information.
The following are a few recent improvements rolled out by DreamHost:
- Better website management: Many changes were made to the websites section of DreamHost, including a new tech stack, ability to change domain, WordPress Migrations feature, and DNS Propagation Check to check DNS status. DreamHost also revamped its user interface and redesigned the control panel. These improvements enabled customers to manage getting started with their first website easily.
- DreamHost in Spanish: In 2020, DreamHost translated its entire website, customer control panel, and other features into Spanish.
- Improved email performance: DreamHost prioritized email performance and upgraded its systems to improve speed and reliability.
- Upgraded web servers: DreamHost’s upgraded web servers keep customer data safe with the least possible disruption. It also added the latest version of PHP to help enhance site performance.
- New tutorials to help you succeed: The company launched DreamHost Academy, a tutorial set covering all the details about web hosting and development. It includes everything from foundational concepts to navigating advanced features and optimizing a website.
- Pro services to shrink your to-do list: DreamHost’s Pro Services allows its customers to complete a range of high-level tasks easily. This includes setting up storefronts, fixing a hacked site, helping with marketing, and more.
- Additional support staff: DreamHost enhanced its customer support services by adding tech experts to its support staff.
When it comes to web hosting, using state-of-the-art technologies is essential. DreamHost ensures that it provides its users with the updates and upgrades they need.
Compare DreamHost Alternatives
While DreamHost offers top-of-the-line web hosting services, you can take a look at alternatives like Bluehost, SiteGround, GreenGeeks, and HostGator to gauge which one best fits your requirements. I used, researched, and analyzed each web hosting service objectively to help you find the one that suits your needs the best.
See how DreamHost compares to some of the other popular hosting services recommended by the team here at Digital.com:
Frequently Asked Questions About DreamHost
How Many Websites Can You Host on DreamHost?
Is DreamHost Good for WordPress Hosting?
Does DreamHost Use cPanel?
What OS Does DreamHost Use?
Does My DreamHost Plan Include Email Hosting?
Will DreamHost Email Still Work if My Domain Registration is Expired?
Is It Possible to Sign Up For DreamHost Without a Credit Card?
How I Rated DreamHost
My rating system uses a well-rounded approach and objectively analyzes the services that are provided by DreamHost. I study all the different services provided and conclude how DreamHost fares compared to other web hosting service providers. I tested features myself, and for others, I conducted assessments through third-party services to ensure the most precise results.
Although I evaluated every feature and plan of the hosting services from DreamHost, I attached more importance to certain details. The most dominant factors I used to rate DreamHost were speed and response times, reliability, quality of customer service, and range of hosting packages and plans.
Considering all the hosting options offered by DreamHost, this company deserves 4.6/5. It has been providing top-of-the-line hosting services at bargain prices, and I am confident it will continue to be a leader in the web hosting industry for years.
