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DreamHost review: fast & affordable web host?, DreamHost is one of the oldest and most widespread providers in the industry. Although it focuses primarily on shared WordPress hosting, it also offers VPS or private server hosting solutions for larger projects.
As this host is no newcomer, you will find it recommended everywhere. Surprisingly, most of them are very positive, praising its affordable prices, generous resources, good performance and strong security.
To see if these claims are true, we’ve put DreamHost to the test. Keep reading this review to learn all the ins and outs of DreamHost’s features, performance, available hosting plans, and much more.
And if you’re in a rush, we’ve put together a summary at the end of this article too.
DreamHost Review: Fast & Affordable Web Host?
| ⭐️ Rating: | 4.4⭐⭐⭐⭐ |
| 💲Price: | Prices start at $2.59/month |
| ▶️ Uptime: | >99.99% |
| 🏘 Hosting types: | Shared, VPS, cloud, managed WordPress, and dedicated server |
| 🌎 Server locations: | The US |
| 👩💻Support: | Live chat (5:30 AM – 9:30 PM PT), phone support, and 24/7 email tickets |
DreamHost Pros & Cons
Pros
Cons
DreamHost Hosting Plans & Pricing
DreamHost’s pricing seems very average at first glance, with shared hosting starting at $2.59/month. Other options include the DreamPress-managed WordPress platform, VPS (Virtual Private Servers) for greater server control, and dedicated servers for larger websites.
| Hosting type Best for | |
| Shared web hosting | Starting a website. Affordable and easy-to-use hosting. |
| DreamPress hosting | Managed WordPress platform with dedicated server resources, great for online stores. |
| VPS hosting | High-performance hosting if you have technical skills. |
| Cloud hosting | Web-based application hosting. Affordable and highly powerful. |
| Dedicated hosting | Web-based Application hosting. Affordable and highly powerful. |
DreamHost has options to serve any type of website and user. That’s great if you ever need an upgrade. But shared hosting is the way to go for most websites, so I’m interested in how good a value these plans are.
The good news is that there are only 2 plans, so the choice is simple. Plus, they both give you free domain registration, domain privacy, SSL, content delivery network, unmetered bandwidth, and daily backups.
| Plan | Features | Price |
| Starter | Limit 1 website and 50 GB of SSD storage. Best choice for a single personal website: create a blog, host a portfolio or list company services. | $2.59/month |
| Unlimited | Unlimited websites, free email hosting, as well as unlimited storage. It is a great plan for both individuals and small businesses and can be used to host small online stores. | $3.95/month |
These are very good prices for shared hosting. Especially the Unlimited plan, as few, if any, providers offer similar features at that price.
At the same time, Starter would be an amazing option for personal sites. But it has one drawback: it doesn’t provide a free email account, which is essential for looking professional on the Internet. However, there is one thing to keep in mind, the prices shown above are for the 36-month billing period.
Best value for money:
You will get the cheapest price if you choose Starter for 3 years. It will be only $2.59/month. However, you will have to pay upfront for the full 3 years. The annual plan rate is also very good if that’s too long.
One thing to keep in mind is that different billing cycles are renewed for different monthly rates. So check before you make a purchase.
But that’s not all.
If it’s your first time using hosting, you may not know that some things are best taken with a grain of salt. DreamHost is no exception, and here are some bits I got after reading the terms of service:
Common practice or not, here are a few things you’d better know if you decide to use DreamHost.
Unlimited disk space & bandwidth
The DreamHost Shared Starter plan has unlimited bandwidth, while Shared Unlimited includes both unlimited disk space and bandwidth. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? In theory, you should be able to host as many (and as large) websites as you want. Plus, thousands of people could browse these sites on a daily basis without any problems.
However, truly unlimited web hosting is quite impossible due to the physical limitations of the server. Just like any device, a server is not elastic and has a specific amount of storage, bandwidth, and RAM. Also, keep in mind that shared hosting hosts many users on the same server, which means that those limited resources are shared among the users.
However, don’t jump to judgment on DreamHost just yet. While the resources are not really unlimited, you get much more than you would with a provider that has set limits on storage or bandwidth. You can easily host a small online store on the unlimited plan with no problems.
Honestly, DreamHost’s prices are good. You can get a basic plan for a very cheap price, while the more advanced options offer great bang for your buck. In fact, DreamHost includes more than many of its competitors for a similar or cheaper price.
DreamHost Uptime & Speed
DreamHost is perhaps the only budget hosting brave enough to offer a 100% uptime guarantee and deliver it >99.99% of the time. Speaking of speed, it is equally impressive and can load both light and heavy pages in a flash. In this performance test, I put a lot of pressure on DreamHost. Let’s see how it fared.
First things first, I checked to see if DreamHost offers reliable long-term performance. And it did. 2 months and counting, I have only 1 outage which equals >99.99% uptime. With only 1 minute left in the warranty, I can’t complain.
The server response time was also excellent, averaging 231ms. While the shared hosting industry is known for averaging around 600ms, this is really good.
Overall, I think DreamHost delivers in terms of reliability. While it doesn’t reach 100% uptime, it would be naive to think it would.
100% is impossible perfection when it comes to servers. Even new servers need to be rebooted and maintained with countless software updates.
I installed a blank WordPress on my site to test the loading speed. Well, the US speed was impressive – just over 0.8 seconds to load Largest Contentful Paint (LCP). That’s about as fast as it gets. Now, the results for Europe and India are worse. And that’s the expected result since DreamHost’s data center is located on the continent.
Why am I talking about something random that is LCP?
Well, it’s a measure of speed that Google takes into account when ranking websites. One of many, to be honest. But for our purposes, this measure helps to see what both the search engine and visitors will think.
LCP occurs when the largest piece of content loads. Basically, many of us would pass on scrolling through that website at that point, as we would think it’s fully loaded while some less notable stuff is still loading.
If that happens in 2.5 seconds, we’re good. And DreamHost easily fits the benchmark everywhere with some time to spare.
Technical aspects aside, DreamHost loads websites quickly. This is an Astra theme with a template on top. Basically, a real website that you would see online. DreamHost loads the largest Content Paint in 1.4 seconds.
Naturally, the heavier the web page, the longer it takes to load. So the LCP increase here was to be expected. Nevertheless, we easily passed the test.
In addition, the speed display illustrates the entire loading process. Although the LCP occurred in 1.4 seconds, the website stopped loading in 1.6 seconds. Which is also fast.
DreamHost Stress Testing
Do these page load speed results mean that there is nothing to worry about? Sort of, but I have one last test at hand.
For 5 minutes, I sent 50 virtual users (bots) to my website. Heavy traffic is called heavy for a reason. It puts a significant load on the server, which often slows down or, in some cases, shuts down completely.
But the results show a different story. DreamHost has managed to pass my test with no problems.
The important things here are these – the blue line being the speed and the gray line showing the number of visitors.
In ideal cases, the blue line should remain flat. And it did, for the most part. It only had a couple of micro bumps. But that didn’t cause the server to shut down or slow down in general.
So it doesn’t matter if you’re the only one visiting your site or there are dozens of people on it, DreamHost will work fine.
Overall, DreamHost is excellent when it comes to performance. It is reliable, fast and can handle the traffic. And this is what I look for in a good host.
DreamHost Security.
In terms of security, DreamHost covers the basics and includes some more advanced features. All plans include SSL certificates, firewalls, daily backups, and domain privacy.
This is a good set of security measures. Unfortunately, one important feature is a paid feature.
DreamHost has developed its own malware removal tool DreamShield Malware Remover. It costs $29.99 per year or $3.00 per month. This is somewhat useful since malware is so common. Unfortunately, DreamHost makes you pay for it.
I personally didn’t buy DreamShield and opted to fill in the security gaps with third-party tools.
Needless to say, DreamHost takes security very seriously. It offers many advanced features for free, unlike other hosting providers. And while malware protection is paid, it can be substituted with third-party alternatives. Overall, DreamHost has secured its place on our list of secure hosting providers.
Hosting Management – is DreamHost easy to use?
DreamHost is easy to use and focuses primarily on WordPress hosting. Although it is possible to host other applications, WP users benefit the most. Starting with an easy if a bit slow, WordPress installation, 2 builders, and an intuitive custom-built control panel, it’s a workhorse for a great user experience.
Once you sign up, you’ll see this screen here:
You may have to wait a couple of minutes for your account to be allocated server space, but this is the main setup screen. You will be able to install WordPress literally with one click (Install WordPress now). It’s really the only hosting provider I’ve come across whose WordPress installation is truly 1-click.
Also, don’t forget to set up an email address. There’s a handy button for that, too (Complete Setup).
To create a mailbox, you’ll just need to enter the name you want and think of a secure password.
By the way, the SSL certificate was installed automatically. So it took me no more than 10 minutes (most of the time waiting for the WordPress installation to load), and I had 3 of the most important parts of the website setup done: WordPress installed, SSL enabled, and a professional email account created.
This is all most web hosting users will need. But if you want more control over your account, let’s see what the control panel is capable of.
DreamHost control panel
After the initial website setup is complete, the DreamHost custom control panel will look like this:
I definitely liked the initial setup screen better. In any case, you don’t need the whole central part of this interface. Everything important is in the menu on the left.
This is where you can add additional domains, manage subdomains or install new WordPress. Also, here you will find your webmail access and more advanced things like FTP and SSH.
In terms of first impressions, DreamHost doesn’t disappoint. But how does it feel when it comes to day-to-day tasks?
DreamHost WordPress migration
A website migration is a change to your website that affects its structure, performance, location, and much more. In this case, we focus specifically on WordPress migration.
DreamHost has 2 options to offer this type of site migration. You can either migrate your WordPress site manually or contact the DreamHost team to do the work for you. Whichever you choose, it makes the process of moving sites much easier – whether you’re migrating from one domain to another or switching providers.
Before you jump into making a decision, let’s explore the 2 options in more detail:
However, while manual migration is only available for WordPress websites, automated migration allows you to migrate any content management system (CMS) of your choice. One thing to note, sites from site builders and hosting services such as Weebly, Squarespace, or Wix cannot currently be migrated to DreamHost.
While automatic migration costs money, there is a loophole – DreamPress. If you want to migrate your WordPress website to one of the DreamPress (managed WordPress) plans, you can opt for a one-time free site migration.
How to add a domain and install SSL with DreamHost?
If you want to add a new domain or subdomain or install SSL – you will need to go to the Domains tab on the left-hand menu. DreamHost makes it easy to manage your domains and install SSL certificates.
First, I wanted to check out how easy it is to add a new domain.
Whether you have a domain at another registrar (such as GoDaddy or Uniregistry) or you want to purchase one, go to the Manage Domains menu option. Now, choose the option to Add Hosting to a Domain/Subdomain (I know, it’s a weird expression) or Register a New Domain.
I chose the first option. This is where you add domains already registered, or you can create subdomains that are already hosted with DreamHost.
All you need to do is fill in the information – the domain (or subdomain) and the URL structure. I usually choose the Remove WWW option. The other fields are either filled in automatically or are optional.
It’s as simple as that.
Now, we would also need an SSL for that domain. The great news is that you can install SSL on an unlimited number of domains. Some providers only give you one SSL, which seems odd to me.
SSLs are found under the SSL/TLS Certification menu option (uhm, no problem). All that’s left to do is click the Add button and choose the free Let’s Encrypt certificate in the next window.
It is that managing your domains and installing SSL Certificates with DreamHost is not one of those things that cause a mountain of headaches. No matter what you do, your effort only takes a few minutes, and you are usually told what to do every step of the way.
How to install WordPress with DreamHost?
You have the opportunity to install WordPress on your first login in the control panel, and it literally takes just one click. But if you need additional sites, it won’t be much more difficult since DreamHost has an auto-installer script ready in your control panel.
All you have to do is go to One-Click Installs or WordPress (I told you, strange UX choices), and click Learn More & Install.
A pop-up window will appear. Just follow the instructions, which basically consist of selecting a domain and clicking the Install Now button.
But there is always a but. Although it only takes a couple of clicks, DreamHost can take a while to install WordPress. Once, I waited more than 20 minutes. Other providers do it instantly or take no more than 5 minutes. So this was rare but not a problem.
Overall, no problems, other than a bit of waiting time, should arise if you want to add another WordPress website to your account.
Is DreamHost email hosting any good?
DreamHost has a fairly standard email service. Users who purchase the Unlimited plan will be able to create unlimited mail accounts, while for Starter plan users, 1 mailbox would cost $1.67 per month.
You can set up your first mailbox from the initial setup window or simply go to the Mail tab on the left menu and select Manage Mail.
Creating a new e-mail account is as simple as clicking on the Create new e-mail address button and following the instructions there: fill in information such as the name of the desired mailbox, passwords, etc.
Activation will take a second or two, and you will be able to access your newly created mailbox by going to Webmail and clicking on the name of your new account.
The DreamHost mailboxes interface is very simple and clean. It is easy to find all the options, send emails, attach files, and even create nice signatures.
I personally have not had any problems with deliverability. But I’ve only sent a couple of short emails.
If you are planning large email marketing campaigns, it is better to have a dedicated email service. Using a shared hosting server can damage the reputation of your mailbox since it is shared by all accounts on that server.
In the end, DreamHost has a large mailbox to receive your contact form submissions or to contact potential customers on a small scale. However, choose a dedicated email server for larger email campaigns.
DreamHost website builders
If you are a novice user or just prefer to create a site with a website builder, DreamHost offers not one but 2 website builders that you can use.
Let’s start with the first one.
With every DreamHost WordPress installation, you can use (if you wish) a Boldgrid Website Builder interface. It is a premium plugin that adds website builder functionality to your website.
It has its own templates – all responsive and well-made. The choice is up to you.
In any case, you can customize these templates using a block editor. Of all the block editors in WordPress, I can safely say that this is one of the best.
The great thing about website builders is that you can customize your website visually and immediately see the result. That’s pretty easy.
Speaking of easy, even less complicated builder is out there – Remixer.
It is a tool to use in case you are in a big hurry or just have no idea how to build a website. It has a few templates and a very simplified interface.
Again, you edit everything visually, but there are fewer options, so it takes no time at all to get a web page ready.
Personally, I would only choose Remixer for a quick “Coming Soon” page. But it can also work for simple landing pages.
Regardless of which option you choose, you will get a professional and responsive website. When using website builders, it all depends on your imagination and not on actual web development skills.
Overall, DreamHost is very convenient when it comes to hosting management and ease of use. Some UX choices or just bad copy can be questioned, but they don’t make it harder to use. It is both easy to use and functional.
Will DreamHost Customer Support Help Me?
When it comes to customer support, DreamHost offers multiple channels that allow you to get in touch with an agent. You have live chat (5:30 AM – 9:30 PM PT), 24/7 phone support and email tickets. You can also check out DreamHost’s extensive knowledge base and access their community forum.
The knowledge base is really good and very up-to-date. You will find many tutorials and explanations. Meanwhile, the community forum is as active as a brand-specific web hosting-related forum could be. You can expect to find several questions a week, but the answers are not too active.
As for the support request form, you can choose to either fill out a ticket or contact the support team via live chat. For me, the live chat was inactive, as it wasn’t during business hours when I had questions. While you may not be able to get to live chat 24/7, tickets are very efficient with DreamHost.
On a more negative note, phone support is available, but it is chargeable and costs $9.95 for a single call, or you can opt for 3 monthly calls at a rate of $14.95/month. Honestly, that seems pretty expensive to me.
While DreamHost has multiple support channels, they are a mixed bag. I enjoyed the ticket support, which was fast and efficient. On the other hand, live chat is not 24/7, and phone support is paid. What saves the day is an extensive knowledge base and community forum.
Dreamhost alternatives
DreamHost is a strong competitor in the web hosting market. However, it may not be the best fit for your business. If that’s the case, there are many good hosting providers to choose from. Read about some of them below.
SiteGround
SiteGround is a popular WordPress-oriented alternative. This web hosting service is known for a great 24/7 customer support team, fast load time and a range of advanced technology. It’s also a good option if your audience is not in the US, as SiteGround has servers also in Europe, Australia and Asia.
Pricing is a bit steep, starting at $2.99/month, so it’s best suited for enterprise use and larger projects. In return, you get high quality hosting with several advanced features such as staging and caching.
Hostinger
Hostinger is on the other side of the spectrum, offering cheap plans (less than $130 for 4 years). It features an intuitive control panel, friendly 24/7 customer service and servers in 7 different locations around the world.
Although Hostinger is cheap, performance doesn’t move in this department as well. Overall, it’s really one of the best options if your budget is tight or you need a specific server location.
A2 Hosting
A2 Hosting is another hosting provider that offers good performance and ease of use at a very affordable price. Starting at $2.99 per month, the provider offers generous server resources, helpful 24/7 customer support, and a comprehensive suite of security tools.
In other words, if you value good performance results and security, but don’t want to splurge too much, A2 Hosting is a very good solution.
FAQs
Is DreamHost a good company?
Yes, DreamHost is one of the biggest names in hosting and is designed to make WordPress management easy. It offers excellent uptime, strong security and privacy along with extensive resources, email hosting and other hosting services.
Is DreamHost better than GoDaddy?
Yes, DreamHost is one of the leading providers and beats GoDaddy with better value for money, better security at no additional cost, a comprehensive feature set such as a custom-built control panel, easy navigation, automated and manual website migration, and much more.
Is DreamHost hosting fast?
Yes, DreamHost’s speeds are quite impressive and it can load light and heavy pages instantly. During our tests, it managed to load Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) in just over 0.8 seconds. It enters the benchmark in all locations with some time to spare.
How reliable is DreamHost?
Overall, DreamHost is one of the most reliable and trusted hosting services. It is highly rated for its high and fast performance and has received good recommendations from users. It is suitable for different users and offers different types of hosting: shared, VPS, cloud, managed WordPress and a dedicated server. In addition, you can use DreamHost’s website builder to create a new website.
Who is DreamHost best for?
DreamHost is an ideal hosting solution for beginner users and small business websites, as it is designed for easy website management. There are different plans suitable for personal websites (Starter plan) and the best value for money for professional and more advanced use (Unlimited plan).
Henry Sprung is an e-commerce tech blogger with several years of experience in online retail. Alex’s blog focuses on topics such as online marketplaces, payment processing, and digital marketing for e-commerce businesses. Henry’s expertise in e-commerce provides valuable insights into the latest trends in online retail and how businesses can use these platforms to grow their sales. He is a valuable resource for online retailers and entrepreneurs looking to start their own e-commerce businesses.
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