Analysis
Pros
- Excellent customer support (Chat)
- Easy dashboard
- Very cheap
Cons
- Slow servers sometime
- No Phone Support
Overview
DreamHost offers many plans that can meet your web hosting needs, from shared hosting to virtual private servers and dedicated servers. It provides the infrastructure for both personal websites and businesses. In addition to the standard shared and WordPress hosting plans, DreamHost offers affordable VPS and cloud hosting solutions. For those who need more resources, dedicated servers provide the ultimate in flexibility and control.
DreamHost’s website builder gives users an easy way to create stylish, functional websites without technical knowledge. Using an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, you can design pages, add images, implement contact forms, set up an online store, and more. The builder generates code that integrates seamlessly with your DreamHost account. It allows you to make changes quickly without having to edit lines of code.
As an award-winning web host, DreamHost competes at the top of the market alongside other reputable companies. It continually improves its selection of plans, features, and tools to provide the best experience for customers. Whether you want a simple page or an ecommerce business website, DreamHost has an option with the performance, space, and technology to support your needs. With quality shared hosting starting from $2.75/month, it is also very budget-friendly. DreamHost deserves consideration if you are looking to start or develop your website.
Hosting Plans
Shared Web Hosting
Shared web hosting is an affordable way to start a website on a budget, but you do sacrifice some resources and control. With shared hosting, multiple sites share the same server’s CPU, memory, storage, and bandwidth. This keeps costs low but also limits your site’s performance and scaling options.
Although shared hosting plans begin at just a few dollars per month, the shared environment means no dedicated server access or technical support. Your site depends on the stability of other accounts on the server, and if one account experiences a spike in traffic, it could impact your site’s speed and availability. There is also less customization since options are more limited. For these reasons, shared hosting works best for small personal pages or blogs, not high-volume commercial websites.
If you want email addresses, unlimited storage or bandwidth, or more custom features, you will need to pay more for an upgraded shared hosting plan or move to a VPS or dedicated server. For example, DreamHost offers a Shared Starter plan starting from $4.95/month with limited storage and no email, and a Shared Unlimited plan starting from $10.95/month which provides email and more resources but still on a shared server.
The appeal of shared hosting is absolutely the low cost of entry. There are no long-term contracts, setup fees, or other hidden charges. You just pay the monthly rate and you have a website. For simple, static sites, this can be an easy, affordable way to get online.
However, if your site’s needs or traffic grow over time, the constraints of the shared environment will likely become too limiting. Upgrading to a VPS or dedicated plan at that point means changing hosts or servers, migrating your site, and potentially higher costs. It is often easier and more budget-friendly in the long run to start with a VPS or dedicated server, if your needs warrant it. Shared hosting fills a niche, but for many websites, it is not a sustainable long-term solution.
VPS Web Hosting
Virtual private servers or VPS hosting is a step up from shared hosting, providing more resources and flexibility for growing businesses. With a VPS, your account is hosted on its own dedicated server, giving you more power and control than a shared environment.
DreamHost offers Linux VPS plans starting from $15/month with RAM of 1GB and 30GB of storage, though other providers may have comparable or even lower pricing. The plans include unlimited data and domains but limited specifications, especially at the lower end. The highest DreamHost VPS plan maxes out at 8GB of RAM and 240GB of storage, paling in comparison to other hosts. DreamHost VPS plans also only support Ubuntu Linux, whereas many competitors offer additional OS options.
In comparison, Hostwinds is rated higher for VPS hosting, with a more robust set of plans at very affordable prices, starting from just $5/month. Even their most powerful plan with RAM of 96GB, storage of 750GB and 9TB of bandwidth is $247/month, still lower than DreamHost’s 8GB/240GB plan. Hostwinds also supports managed Linux VPS in addition to self-managed, giving you the flexibility to choose your level of control.
Dedicated Web Hosting
Dedicated servers provide the most resources and flexibility of any hosting option. With a dedicated server, your website has its own private server, giving you complete control over the environment. This is ideal if you have demanding technical requirements, need maximum uptime, or want to avoid shared resources.
DreamHost offers Linux dedicated servers starting from $169/month with 4GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. Plans go up to $379/month for 64GB of RAM and 240GB of solid-state storage, though prices are on the higher end compared to competitors. DreamHost dedicated servers also offer unlimited bandwidth.
However, DreamHost only supports Linux as the operating system for dedicated servers. If you build on Windows, you will need to choose another host. In contrast, AccuWeb is rated as an Editor’s Choice dedicated hosting provider and offers both Linux and Windows plans, giving you more flexibility. AccuWeb also has more powerful dedicated server specs at lower price points, including a $1,070/month plan with 8TB of storage, 512GB of RAM, and 50TB of bandwidth.
Cloud Hosting
Cloud hosting provides a scalable infrastructure that stretches over multiple servers. This allows resources to dynamically increase as your website grows, then decrease again when needs change. Cloud hosting is ideal for sites that experience unpredictable traffic spikes or require extra power during specific times.
DreamHost offers affordable cloud hosting plans starting from $4.50/month with RAM of 512MB and 80GB of storage. Plans max at $48/month for RAM of 8GB, 4 CPU cores, storage of 80GB and unlimited bandwidth. With options for Linux, BSD and Windows, as well as affordable prices and impressive specs, DreamHost is an Editor’s Choice award winner for cloud hosting.
However, 1&1 Ionos is rated even higher for cloud hosting, making it a co-Editor’s Choice winner alongside DreamHost. 1&1 Ionos has extremely strong cloud based packages for the needs of businesses and enterprises. If you are a larger corporate customer requiring world-class scalable infrastructure, 1&1 Ionos would likely suit you better than DreamHost.
Reseller Hosting
Reseller hosting allows you to purchase web hosting from a provider and resell it to clients under your own brand.
Unfortunately, DreamHost does not appear to offer dedicated reseller hosting plans. From your existing account you can resell unused space on your server, but cannot sign up specifically as a reseller. In contrast, Hostwinds is rated as an Editor’s Choice provider for reseller hosting.
Hostwinds provides affordable reseller plans starting from $3.29/month with unlimited email, storage, bandwidth and options for Linux/Windows dedicated servers, VPS and shared hosting. Reseller plans have the same specs as direct Hostwinds hosting, ensuring high quality resources. Hostwinds also allows resellers to apply their own branding, provides 24/7 support, and supplies reseller tools and resources to help you market hosting services.
Building a Website
DreamHost provides an intuitive user interface that makes web hosting simple and straightforward. Rather than cluttering the dashboard with icons like some competitors, DreamHost presents options in a clear menu in left. This makes it easy to access information on billing, domains, VPS/dedicated servers, security, apps and more. There were no issues finding any feature or setting.
DreamHost recently added the WP Site Builder, allowing to design a site immediately without long approval wait times. This is an excellent improvement and useful addition.
The WP Site Builder comes with dozens of editable themes and simple drag-and-drop functionality for adding photos , text, video and more. It is refreshingly easy to use. You also have the option for third-party applications installation like concrete5, in addition to using the builder.
WordPress Hosting
DreamHost offers dedicated WordPress hosting plans at affordable prices, from basic shared hosting to managed VPS and dedicated server options.
The WordPress Basic plan starts at $4.95/month with 50GB of storage, email, unlimited bandwidth and free WordPress themes. The DreamPress plan lines provide managed WordPress hosting, with automatic updates, backups and security.
The DreamPress plan starts at $12/month with 30GB of storage, unlimited email/bandwidth and up to 100,000 monthly visitors. DreamPress Plus is $24/month, doubling storage and bandwidth with a CDN for faster loading, up to 300,000 visitors. DreamPress Pro is $71.95/month with 120GB storage, 1 million visitors and a CDN.
DreamPress allows installing any plugin, whereas competitors may restrict a few for performance. DreamHost recently added staging sites, allowing testing new features on another site instance.
While DreamPress is impressive, A2 Hosting is an Editor’s Choice for WordPress hosting. It has an optimized environment claimed to be 6x faster, and WordPress plans offer unlimited storage and bandwidth.
E-Commerce Options
DreamHost offers useful ecommerce tools and resources to support online stores. This includes the free ZenCart shopping cart software and integration with the popular WooCommerce plugin.
ZenCart allows quickly setting up a product catalog and checkout process for an ecommerce store. It is open-source ecommerce software that can be accessed through DreamHost’s One Click Install menu. Users can then browse and purchase the products you offer. ZenCart also seamlessly integrates with WooCommerce.
Additionally, DreamHost provides a $100 Google AdWords credit and includes Chartbeat for analytics and traffic reports. This differs from most hosts that only include Google Analytics.
Chartbeat provides detailed statistics on your site’s visitors, pages viewed, geographic reach, referrers and more. The AdWords credit can help boost traffic and conversions through search advertising. These features, along with ZenCart/WooCommerce support, give you resources for optimizing an ecommerce store hosted on DreamHost.
Security and Other Features
DreamHost provides some useful security features and options, though antimalware protection is noticeably lacking.
The control panel has an easy to find link for editing the .htaccess file to control site access or set up passwords. You can block spiders from indexing parts of the site. Cron jobs automate tasks and monitor processes. And free SSL certificates enable secure ecommerce storefronts.
DreamHost also includes Subversion for source code management, useful for developers. Many hosts limit available tools to their marketplace listings, but Subversion is included for setting up your own repository. Of course, many now prefer Git, but Subversion provides an option.
Finally, DreamHost offers DreamObjects cloud storage separate from website hosting plans. Plans start at $0.95/month for 40GB and go up to $299.95/month for 20TB of storage.
So while comprehensive security may be missing full antimalware, DreamHost does provide some key features and options, especially useful .htaccess functionality, SSL and source control tools. And affordable cloud storage is available if you simply want file storage space.
For basic needs, DreamHost security and tools could work great, but more robust protection from threats may be lacking. Many users will likely find the limitations around antimalware an issue, despite other inclusion. But for personal, lightly trafficked sites, the provided features may suit your requirements well enough at an attractive price point. And of course, you can also implement additional security through plugins, access to .htaccess and other means.
Terrific Uptime
Website uptime refers to how consistently a site remains available and accessible. Outages or downtime can prevent customers from accessing a site, harming business.
To assess DreamHost uptime, we monitored a site hosted on their platform for 14 days. Every 15 minutes, a tool pinged the site and alerted us if unable to contact it for over a minute.
The results showed DreamHost provides incredibly stable uptime. The site did not go down during testing and DreamHost has only experienced a single, brief failure in many months.
You can trust DreamHost to deliver a solid, reliable foundation with minimal downtime for your website. Their reputation for uptempo is well deserved based on this experience. Of course, outages are still possible with any host, but the likelihood seems very small on DreamHost’s infrastructure.
No Phone Support, Excellent Chat Support
DreamHost support includes email, ticket and chat options, but lacks phone support. While email/ticket support is fine for basic issues, chat or phone may be preferable for complex problems.
We tested DreamHost chat support on weekdays and found <1 minute waits both times, with helpful representatives. They thoroughly explained the difference between VPS and dedicated hosting, and provided an excellent link with steps to import a WordPress site. We were pleased with the answers and support experience.
DreamHost also has a knowledgebase for common questions and issues. Their shared hosting offers a 97-day money-back guarantee but VPS/dedicated server plans have different policies.
Cancelling an annual VPS/dedicated plan within 30 days gets a credit for the unused balance. However, no refunds are offered for monthly VPS or dedicated plans.
Customer Support
From experience and the reviews left by the users of Payment Depot, this merchant service provider supports its customers via:
24/7 Help & Support
24/7
customer Support is Available
Phone Support
Phone support
between 8 am and 5 pm on
weekdays.
Email support is available
and also 24/4 using contact
form on website
FAQ
Basic
FAQ section on website
A Power User's Dream
DreamHost offers extensive useful tools and resources for building and managing websites. This includes website builders, security features, a generous 97-day shared hosting money-back guarantee, and unlimited storage, bandwidth, domains and email.
Due to these strengths, DreamHost is rated as an Editor’s Choice for cloud hosting by PCMag. However, for enterprise corporate hosting needs, 1&1 Ionos may be superior. 1&1 Ionos is also an Editor’s Choice, and provides a strong cloud based hosting packages.
So, DreamHost excels for personal, small business and standard hosting needs, with an easy-to-use interface, affordable pricing and strong guarantees/unlimited resources. But 1&1 Ionos aims higher, offering maximum performance, scale and uptime for demanding professional workloads.
Overall, you can feel confident choosing DreamHost for basic to mid-range web hosting needs. Their toolset, guarantees and affordability make building and managing websites simple. And with a money-back offer for shared hosting, the value is compelling for standard usage.
