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DreamHost Review

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DreamHost has been in business for more than 20 years today. It is a full service host that offers plans suitable for a variety of needs from shared hosting to VPS, cloud, and dedicated servers. Features are unremarkable but the company is one of the very few recommended by WordPress.org.


Suitable for: Beginners-friendly, Budget, or Adult Website Hosting

Website: https://www.dreamhost.com/

HostScore
66.89%
Promo Coupon*


What We Think About DreamHost Hosting

DreamHost Pros

  • Reliable server uptime performance
  • Daily backup included in all shared hosting plans
  • 97-day Money back guarantee
  • Extensive knowledgebase

DreamHost Cons

  • Price increase during the renewal
  • Live chat support can be better
  • Server location in the United States only
  • No free site migration

Jump: See how many readers recommend DreamHost

DreamHost – Our Experiences & Findings

Performance What server speed features does DreamHost offer?

DreamHost offers very limited performance optimization in their shared hosting plans. For better speed features, such as NGINX hosting and built-in caching, you will have to go with their more expensive Managed WordPress Hosting plans.

The company publishes their server and network service status publicly, click here to visit.

Security Are websites hosted at DreamHost safe?

DreamHost is suitable for those with basic security needs, but may not be the best fit for websites requiring robust, high-level security solutions. While they include essential tools like advanced web application firewall (WAF), free SSL, daily backup, and other basic server features, we think there is still room for improvement in this security.

Supports Is DreamHost customer support good?

Customer support at DreamHost has room for improvement, with some users experiencing longer response times and less personalized assistance. You can reach out to their support team via phone, live chat, and email.

Value for Money Does DreamHost offer good value for its pricing?

DreamHost is very cheap when weighed against its feature offerings and long-term cost. At $2.95 per month (renews at $6.99/mo), basic shared hosting allows you to host 1 website with 24/7 customer support, a free domain name, daily backup, and 97-days money back guarantee. Higher plans with better features like VPS starts at $13.75/mo, cloud hosting at $4.5/mo and dedicated hosting at $149/mo.

Overall Users Satisfaction What other users think of DreamHost?

Overall, users are happy with Dreamhost server performance and pricing. The company also receives high praise for its email support, which is quick and efficient according to some long-term customers. However, some users are disappointed that phone support is not free, as sometimes it’s better to talk to someone directly.

For additional insights, please refer to the user reviews section below.

Newbies Friendliness Is DreamHost suitable for beginners?

Users who are new to website hosting can benefit from DreamHost’s extensive knowledge base and 97-day money back guarantee. The long wait time with their live chat support and limited choices in server location can be a turn off though.

Small Business Friendliness Is DreamHost suitable for small businesses?

Yes and no. On one hand, DreamHost’s affordable pricing and reliable hosting performance are great for businesses looking for a cost-efficient hosting solutions. On the other hand, limited choice in server locations and poor live chat support are hard to look pass.

Web Developers Friendliness Is DreamHost suitable for developers?

No, there isn’t many features that benefit web developers at DreamHost. We do not recommend them for hosting complex web projects.

Onboarding The onboarding process at DreamHost is straight forward and smooth. Making payment will trigger their system to send you your account details. This will contain all the information you need to get started with them.

Learn more, visit DreamHost online.

DreamHost Plans & Pricing

DreamHost offers various hosting solutions, including Shared, VPS, Dedicated, and Cloud hosting plans. Additionally, the company also provides specialty hosting services, such as Managed WordPress, Adult Websites, Email, and Minecraft hosting.

When evaluating your options, it’s crucial to remember that many hosting companies offer substantial discounts during the initial signup period, but the pricing often increases significantly upon renewal. You should thoroughly research and compare the renewal prices, not just the introductory rates, to understand the true cost of hosting over an extended period.

To help you make a more informed decision, we have prepared two tables below which compare the initial signup and subsequent renewal costs of DreamHost services with several other providers that we actively monitor.

Review DreamHost Signup Price

Web HostSharedVPSDedicatedCloudWordPressWindows
DreamHost$2.95 - 2.95/mo$13.75 - 110.00/mo$149.00 - 399.00/mo$4.50 - 48.00/mo$16.95 - 71.95/mo$ - /mo
BlueHost$2.95 - 13.95/mo$29.99 - 69.99/mo$89.98 - 139.99/mo$ - /mo$2.95 - 13.95/mo$ - /mo
Vice Temple$3.75 - 44.00/mo$28.00 - 418.00/mo$165.00 - 2420.00/mo$ - /mo$ - /mo$ - /mo
Cloudways$ - /mo$ - /mo$ - /mo$11.00 - 1056.00/mo$14.00 - 487.00/mo$ - /mo
Hostgator$3.75 - 6.25/mo$34.99 - 93.99/mo$89.98 - 139.99/mo$4.50 - 13.95/mo$4.50 - 13.95/mo$4.76 - 14.36/mo
HostPapa$2.95 - 12.95/mo$19.99 - 249.99/mo$ - /mo$ - /mo$19.95 - 114.95/mo$ - /mo

Review DreamHost Renewal Price

Web HostSharedVPSDedicatedCloudWordPressWindows
DreamHost$6.99 - 12.99/mo$15.99 - 114.99/mo$149.00 - 399.00/mo$4.50 - 48.00/mo$16.95 - 71.95/mo$ - /mo
BlueHost$11.99 - 28.99/mo$79.99 - 142.99/mo$179.99 - 259.99/mo$ - /mo$11.99 - 28.99/mo$ - /mo
Vice Temple$3.75 - 44.00/mo$28.00 - 418.00/mo$165.00 - 2420.00/mo$ - /mo$ - /mo$ - /mo
Cloudways$ - /mo$ - /mo$ - /mo$11.00 - 1056.00/mo$14.00 - 487.00/mo$ - /mo
Hostgator$9.99 - 19.99/mo$79.95 - 149.95/mo$179.99 - 279.00/mo$8.95 - 17.95/mo$8.95 - 17.95/mo$12.99 - 21.99/mo
HostPapa$2.95 - 12.95/mo$19.99 - 249.99/mo$ - /mo$ - /mo$19.95 - 114.95/mo$ - /mo

Bottomline: Is DreamHost Right for You?

DreamHost falls short in areas such as live chat support quality and the limitation of server locations to the United States. Additionally, the absence of free site migration and a price increase upon renewal are turnoffs. Despite these issues, DreamHost’s long-standing reputation and its generous 97-day money-back guarantee make it a considerable choice​​.

To recap, here's what we like and dislike:

DreamHost Pros

  • Reliable server uptime performance
  • Daily backup included in all shared hosting plans
  • 97-day Money back guarantee
  • Extensive knowledgebase

DreamHost Cons

  • Price increase during the renewal
  • Live chat support can be better
  • Server location in the United States only
  • No free site migration

Alternatives

SiteGround

HostScore: 62.4
%
Services: Shared, Cloud, and Reseller

Kamatera

HostScore: 54.8
%
Services: VPS, Cloud, and Reseller

AltusHost

HostScore: 64.2
%
Services: Shared, VPS, Dedicated, and Reseller

User Reviews: What Others Think About DreamHost



User Reviews Summary

Recommended: 52
Not Recommended: 3

56 thoughts on “DreamHost Review”

  1. Dreamhost always goes out of their way to support me. When I’ve needed a bit of technical support, they’ve been great by providing gentle nudges in the right direction when they certainly could have charged me a considerable amount of money. Excellent support team.

    Yes, Recommended
  2. I’ve maintained our family and friends-focused website for 20 years and have had many hosting services over the decades. Dreamhost is by far the best.

    The support crew is on top of everything and highly responsive. The platform itself is clean, modern and a breeze to utilize.

    Couldn’t be happier with this service! Would give 6 stars if available.

    Yes, Recommended
  3. Quick and clear communication. Fixed my hacked website in a timely manner.

    My issues arose over a holiday weekend and they began working on my issues first thing in the morning of the holiday. After receiving my responses they handled the issue quickly and effectively. They were extremely helpful during a very stressful event!

    Yes, Recommended
  4. “I would like to commend the technical support team for their excellent service. They promptly assisted me in determining the installation date of a WordPress website and were incredibly quick in providing support. Within minutes of my inquiry, I received a response from the hosting service. Their efficiency and helpfulness made a significant difference in my experience. Thank you for your outstanding support!”

    Yes, Recommended
  5. The chat experience was fantastic. Guided me.
    Through the process I needed so I could get things done quicker

    Yes, Recommended
  6. We use DreamHost to host our static websites – content WordPress websites, corporate one-page websites, etc. Because these websites are mostly informational and don’t directly drive any revenue, we valued a hosting provider that could keep our overhead costs and time to a minimum. DreamHost’s managed hosting solutions fit our needs perfectly and we’ve been happy using them.

    Yes, Recommended
  7. We use DreamHost for deploying WordPress sites, exclusively. Utilizing DreamHost’s “DreamPress” offering allows the flexibility of a self-hosted installation (install whichever plugins you like, have direct access to the site code and configuration) while getting some of the optimization features of a hosted WordPress platform (eg, varnish caching, optimization, resource allocation, etc). Overall our experience with DreamHost is good.

    Yes, Recommended
  8. I am not a technical person. I have a website and webmaster. Receiving a request from my newsletter processing company to make a technical change is a stress inducer for me. Dreamhost has consistently taken requests like these, made the change right away and my problems have been solved. I really appreciate their timely, quality service and highly recommend DreamHost. I have been with them for 13 years. You cannnot do better.

    Yes, Recommended
  9. The DreamHost team responded to our needs promptly. In one week’s time for a very complicated hacked site, they had all issues resolved. They were extremely communicative and responsive, making the whole process very easy for our small nonprofit team!

    Yes, Recommended
  10. Dreamhost’s customer support really stands out. They have consistently gone above and beyond to help troubleshoot tricky issues with my Wordpress installations.

    Yes, Recommended
  11. At Francis Lewis High School we use dreamhost to host a large number of student run websites. It is being monitored by me, the teacher, but 90 students have access to updating and revising the website and re-uploading new files to update the website. We use dreamhost both for hosting and for registering new domains.

    The business problem it addresses is the issues that students run into each year. Our seniors need personal websites for themselves for their future resumes, to host video introductions and portfolios. In addition, students utilize the the websites in their classes. Many classes have a website that illustrates the content covered, displays the curriculum and shows student work. Dreamhost provides the platforms for hosting those sites and using plug-ins for Wordpress our students can effectively manage their own websites daily.

    Yes, Recommended
  12. I have hosted many websites with Dreamhost for years – I have a new account with Wordpress sites only and Dreamhost employees and techies have helped so much along the way, even when I didn’t exactly understand what the issues were. They will stay on the chat and troubleshoot whatever they can until the issue is resolved.

    Yes, Recommended
  13. 7 times VPS server down in 6 days

    Real Customer: kalee6.dreamhoster.com

    SHAME… We paid VPS business plan and we experienced 7 times whole servers down in 6 days. Each time down at least 3 hours and it highly disturbs our Google Ads daily distribution.

    They still have no remedial plan put up to us and just be patience to let them investigate what’s wrong with their high charge product – VPS server.

    No, Not Recommended
  14. At the college and academy where I worked, we used DreamHost to manage our main web presence and domain name registration. This allowed for us to have one place to manage everything related to our web presence. DreamHost’s one-click installs allowed us to spin up new projects quickly. It’s automatic WordPress updates allowed us to spend less time worrying that we were missing an important security patch. DreamHost generally has very good support, which allowed us to spend less time troubleshooting.

    Yes, Recommended
  15. I’m using Dreamhost myself since 2008. I started my first blog there by using their WordPress service with one click installation. At the time, I wanted to start sharing my knowledge but did not have too much time to set up my own infrastructure for blogging. It was really easy to get my blog with custom domain up and running.

    Yes, Recommended
  16. I’m a newbie with website construction. My old site was HTML and hosted by one of the well-known hosting companies. I decided to try DreamHost with a Wordpress installation, but realized that it was just too complicated for my brain. The DreamHost support team helped me with every question, and saved me a lot of frustration. They are the best in the business. I give them the highest rating. They are all excellent people

    Yes, Recommended
  17. They have one of the most reliable customer support teams. They quickly respond to your queries and resolve problems with expert solutions. I’ve been with Dreamhost for the past 2 years and am thoroughly satisfied with their service.

    Yes, Recommended
  18. It was great working with Monika and her team. I definitely got the website I envisioned. Being non-tech oriented was my struggle and it took some time to figure out how to communicate what I was looking for, in many cases it took multiple attempts for me to get the wording right so the team would know how to move forward. This was difficult and could be an area for improvement in the future. Monika was patient with me and always tried multiple ways to make sure I was happy with the results. Generally it would have been easier if we could have been speaking the same tech language, but I think the team was very responsive and efficient.

    Yes, Recommended
  19. Dealing with DreamHost has been a complete nightmare.

    I purchased a domain and hosting plan, intending to set up a business email address. However, after two weeks of frustrating back-and-forth emails with sales representatives who clearly weren’t reading my messages, my business email never became functional. Despite numerous attempts, DreamHost couldn’t resolve the issue on their end. In the end, I had no choice but to cancel my subscription.

    No, Not Recommended
  20. I am not the most technologically savvy. JD provided patient, knowledgeable and clear support tonight. He even sent a follow up email outlining the points of our conversation and useful links. Great technical support!

    Yes, Recommended
  21. Dreamhost is used for hosting a Drupal based CMS site. The site is a public portal for services and information resources. The hosting service helps provide a solid presence with limited downtime or security problems with its Linux based servers.

    Yes, Recommended
  22. I’m a novice when it comes to websites so when I get stuck I really appreciate Dreamhost’s tech support – I always get real people who stick with me from beginning to end when a problem pops up. I had one problem that went across multiple days and the communication between their internal team members was seamless knowing what was the status was and what to do next. This tech team rocks!

    Yes, Recommended
  23. I communicated with customer support about a suspicious email I received saying that my automatic payment failed and to go to a link and put in my payment information. I went to my account page and saw that I had a zero balance. I wanted to confirm that no further action was needed. The issue was too complicated for the ChatBot, but I was immediately connected with customer support and a live person via chat. She was able to confirm that my account was in good standing. It turns out that the email was legitimate, but they ran my card a second time and everything went through. It was good to have that peace of mind.

    Yes, Recommended
  24. Been with DH for years, and it always surprises me how quickly they get back with me and how thoroughly they answer my questions or solve my problems.

    Yes, Recommended
  25. Dreamhost has the best customer service bar none
    They are always willing to take the time to assist, and for someone like me, who is not an “expert”, this is very much appreciated.

    Yes, Recommended
  26. Peace of mind.
    I’m good at a lot of things, but I don’t have time to get good at website maintenance. However, I need it to stay running.
    The DreamHost team is excellent. They migrated my site to DreamHost–so smoothly. Highly qualified technicians and super courteous at the same time.

    Yes, Recommended
  27. Dreamhost currently hosts my company’s website on a virtual private server using the Wordpress platform. We’ve also used Dreamhost as our web host of choice for client websites. Dreamhost has provided us fast and reliable space on the web for prospective customers to find us, for eCommerce and online payments, and other web-based integrations and applications.

    Lately they’ve been off their game in a lot of ways. I have six websites with them, and five of those sites have had major issues in which my clients have experienced major downtime or data loss. Their support staff has been unable to answer tickets in a timely manner, sometimes taking days to respond I assume because of the volume of tickets. They’ve gone from being a steady force in the web hosting world to an unreliable average provider trending downward.

    No, Not Recommended
  28. The best hosting I have dealt with. I have been on Dreamhost for 7 years.
    They offer the best prices compared to their services, especially in VPS hosting that works around the clock at excellent speed without any interruption
    Thank their professional support 24/7 live chat they can fix all the problems you are facing.
    Thank you for your efforts. This is the least I can say about this hosting. If I wanted to enumerate the features, I might need to write an article and not a review.

    Yes, Recommended
  29. Dreamhost’s support people are excellent and fast. They understand the issue and take it upon themselves to correct it. They respond to technical and billing questions quickly and efficiently.

    Yes, Recommended
  30. Dreamhost made site migration easier than I hoped! Before trying Dreamhost’s site migration service, I was trying to migrate my site manually and was running into many issues. I was worried I would lose my site after all the effort I had put into developing it. After switching servers to Dreamhost and using their complimentary professional site migration, I did not have to worry anymore! Not only did they take care of the whole migration, they frequently communicated with me via email to send updates on the process, and to address questions. I really appreciated the transparency of the process, and how quickly they got the job done! So grateful for their technical support.

    Yes, Recommended
  31. The dreamhost technical support is second to none – always there when i need them, always rapid and professional, and always get the answer right. or do the work i need done much faster than I could if i had to figure it out.
    I’ve had some really tough issues over the years and they have bailed me out many times.
    best hosting company in existance.

    Yes, Recommended
  32. I was freaked out and very concerned about our sit being down and the Dream team stepped in and told me they where on it. And just like that with in 24 hours they had everything back in place and running smoothly.
    Thank you team ! We could not do it with out you 15+ years together now you know why we stick with the Dream team at Dreamhost.
    Keep up the amazing work.

    Yes, Recommended
  33. I had to build a website for my alumni and was able to build one with a lot of help from DreamHost’s Customer Support! Prior, I had no experience in building one. Dream Host’s Customer Support team were very helpful and very patient with me in answering my questions. Giving them my honest review here is the only way I can think of showing my sincere thanks to them.

    Yes, Recommended
  34. Moved my entire domain portfolio from GoDaddy to Dreamhost. Dreamhost’s UX is 1,000 times better and easy, clear instructions. Fast response on Support tickets.

    Yes, Recommended
  35. I cannot count the number of times that DreamHost has come to my rescue. I have been late paying for DreamHost’s services many times. From DreamHost’s staff to DreamHost’s General Counsel, Chris Ghazarian, they have been patient and kind.

    Plus, it helps that DreamHost is a First Amendment web hosting platform.

    I am grateful for DreamHost’s services.

    Yes, Recommended
  36. I’ve been a client for over 10 years.

    Excellent pricing and very competent front-line technical support personnel.

    Yes, Recommended
  37. The Professional Services team did a great job migrating our existing site to DreamHost. They even removed a pesky plugin that was giving us errors when we tried to delete it.
    Great job overall!

    Yes, Recommended
  38. I feel like tech support could do more to help me find the cause of my super slow website. I’m not a professional and rely on support to help narrow down the exact cause or causes for technical issues like this. I’ve been a customer for many years and have been pleased with the service until now. I was given a few suggestions to try and if not successful, then I should consider upgrading to a more expensive hosting plan.

  39. There are lots of choices for hosting. Dreamhost support is truly awesome – responsive at any time of day, and always on the money with their responses. I think my meantime to fix is probably less than 10 minutes for every contact I have made with them!
    Great company, very happy.

    Yes, Recommended
  40. Our Rotary Club website crashed while upgrading the PHP version. The DreamHost support team responded within the hour with a solution and suggested changes which were spot-on. Thanks to the support expert, I had the site cleaned up and operational within minutes.

    Yes, Recommended
  41. I’ve been using Dreamhost for years and it’s the best provider I’ve ever used hands down. Besides being extremely reliable, they’re always willing to help and assist me in every possible way.

    Yes, Recommended
  42. The job was a little slow in progressing, but they answered all the questions we asked. The final review found everything OK with no reason for any requests.

    We gave the access to the data, our hands were off the project and 5 days later everything was moved perfectly.

    Yes, Recommended
  43. Some of my SSL Certificates didn’t renew due to some scheduled maintenance and I was unsure how to update them. A quick chat to the Dreamhost rep and they updated all the certificates within minutes. Excellent response time!!

    Yes, Recommended
  44. We left our prior hosting company after serious lapses in their performance & security. Dreamhost has proven itself to be outstanding compared to the large hosting firm we had been with for years. Really couldn’t be happier with Dreamhost’s support & responsiveness.

    Yes, Recommended
  45. I’ve been a DreamHost customer for years. I use them for every domain I register and every project I start. They are my hosting provider of choice. Their reliability is extraordinary. When I’ve had issues, it’s usually a problem I caused. They always go beyond the basics to help me out, even when it’s something other services would leave it to me to figure out. Responsive, easy to work with, reliable. What else could you want?!

    Yes, Recommended

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