Pros & Cons
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- Excellent cloud hosting offerings
- Unlimited storage and data transfers per month with many plans
- Robust WordPress options
- Generous shared hosting money-back guarantee
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- No telephone support
- Not every plan has a Windows Server OS option
DreamHost Web Hosting Specs
| 24/7 Customer Support | |
| Cloud Hosting | |
| Dedicated Hosting | |
| Linux Servers | |
| Linux Servers - Cloud | |
| Maximum RAM - Dedicated | 64 |
| Maximum RAM - VPS | 8 |
| Maximum Storage - Cloud | 100GB |
| Maximum Storage - Dedicated | 2 |
| Maximum Storage - VPS | 240 |
| Shared Hosting | |
| SSL Certificate Included | |
| Unlimited Monthly Data Transfers - Cloud | |
| Unlimited Monthly Data Transfers - Dedicated | |
| Unlimited Monthly Data Transfers - Shared | |
| Unlimited Monthly Data Transfers - VPS | |
| Unlimited Monthly Data Transfers - WordPress | |
| Unlimited Storage - Shared | |
| VPS Hosting | |
| Windows Hosting - Cloud | |
| WordPress Hosting |
If you want to build a Linux-powered website, DreamHost should be one of the first places you look. Its rich feature set satisfies many personal and business web hosting needs by offering shared, virtual private server (VPS), dedicated, cloud, WordPress, and reseller plans. In particular, its cloud hosting packages offer simple tools for creating attractive, highly flexible sites—and it won't break the bank. As a result, DreamHost earns our Editors' Choice award for cloud hosting alongside the equally impressive Ionos, the top pick for enterprise-class cloud hosting.
Shared Hosting: Cheap Hosting Made Easy
If you're looking to create a website without spending a lot of money, shared web hosting is the best option. Shared hosting is an extremely low-cost form of web hosting that sees your site share CPU, RAM, and other server resources with other websites. The "shared" in shared hosting refers to the fact that each server can host multiple sites that share hardware resources, so you're at the mercy of your servermates. If one of them gets on the front page of Reddit, you might find that your site slows to a crawl as a result. If you expect your site to see a large amount of traffic, you should look into virtual private server (VPS), cloud, or dedicated hosting.
(Credit: DreamHost)DreamHost has three revamped shared hosting plans: Launch, Growth, and Scale. Launch ($4.99 per month or $2.89 per month with a one-year commitment) lets you build 25 websites and offers unlimited monthly data transfers, 25GB of NVMe SSD storage, 20 email addresses, and 30 days of free access to an AI website builder. Growth ($5.99 per month or $3.99 per month with a one-year commitment) offers 50 websites, 50GB NVMe SSD storage, 40 email addresses, and a proactive security scan. Finally, Launch ($12.99 per month or $9.99 per month with a one-year commitment) maxes out at 100 websites, 100GB NVMe SSD storage, and 60 email addresses.
Please note that DreamHost only has Linux-based shared servers. HostGator, on the other hand, is one of the few web hosts we've reviewed that offers Windows-based shared web hosting. That's a big deal, as many businesses require Microsoft's operating system to run specific software. HostGator also offers unlimited email across the board. For that reason, HostGator is our Editors' Choice winner for shared hosting. Want another option? HostArmada, another top pick for shared hosting, includes fast NVMe storage with each plan.
VPS Hosting: More Power for Your Dollar
VPS hosting places your website on a server with far fewer virtual roommates than shared hosting. As a result, there's more server power available for your site to tap. On that note, DreamHost offers four Linux-based VPS web hosting plans (starting at $37.99 per month or $383.88 per year) for businesses that need servers with more power than what shared hosting offers.
The VPS plans offer unlimited monthly data transfers and domains, which is a nice perk. The basic plan (whose prices are quoted above) offers 2GB of RAM and a 60GB solid-state drive. On the other hand, the highest configuration, VPS Premier (starting at $169.99 per month or $1,703.88 per year), maxes out at 12GB of RAM and 360GB of solid-state storage. There are no Windows servers.
However, Hostwinds, our Editors' Choice pick for VPS hosting, offers flexible, wallet-friendly plans and a well-rounded feature set. The Linux VPS plans start at just $10.99 per month for 1GB of RAM, 30GB of storage, 1TB of monthly data transfers, and unlimited email. They scale to $526.99 per month for an impressive 96GB of RAM, 750GB of storage, 9TB of monthly data transfers, and unlimited email.
(Credit: DreamHost/PCMag)Dedicated Hosting: Big Servers for Big Business
If you want maximum web hosting power, you need to get a dedicated server. With this setup, your website lives on a server all by itself, thus leveraging all the system resources. You should look into dedicated hosting if you're expecting significant traffic, and if your site is so mission-critical that it absolutely can't go down or slow down.
DreamHost offers several dedicated server options. The Standard 16 plan ($199 per month or $165 per month with an annual commitment) includes 16GB of RAM and 480GB of storage. The tiers top out with the $ 749-per-month Enhanced 128 plan, which boasts 128GB of RAM and 1920GB of solid-state storage. Each DreamHost dedicated server plan has unlimited data transfers.
Unfortunately, DreamHost lacks Windows-based dedicated servers; it's Linux or bust here, too. If you want to build a website using Microsoft's operating system as a foundation, we suggest checking out AccuWeb, which offers Linux and Windows dedicated server options. AccuWeb also offers powerful dedicated plans with impressive scalability, including several $1,000+ per month packages with 8TB of storage, 512GB of RAM, and up to 50TB of monthly data transfers.
Cloud Hosting: Incredibly Flexible Web Hosting
You've probably heard of cloud hosting, which spreads resources across multiple servers (traditional hosting pulls resources from a single server). As a result, cloud hosting lets you easily scale up servers when needed. DreamHost offers three cloud hosting tiers—512MB RAM Server, 2GB RAM Server, and 8GB RAM Server—in Linux, BSD, and Windows varieties.
These excellent packages start at $4.50 per month (for 512MB of RAM, 80GB of storage, and unlimited monthly data transfers) and top out at $48 per month (for four CPU cores, 8GB of RAM, 80GB of storage, and unlimited monthly data transfers). If you're a corporate customer who wants world-class cloud hosting, Ionos is the way to go. Thanks to its incredibly powerful cloud hosting packages, it's our other Editors' Choice for the category.
Reseller Hosting: The Tools for Starting a Hosting Business
If you're looking to get into the web hosting business but don't want to deal with infrastructure, reseller hosting is the way to go. Unfortunately, DreamHost doesn't offer standalone reseller plans; you can resell your own server space, but only if you add other domains to your own. Check out DreamHost's reseller FAQ page for more information.
If you really want to dabble in reseller hosting, we recommend Hostwinds. Its plans, starting at $6.99 per month, have unlimited email, storage, and data transfers. On offer are dedicated and VPS packages for both Linux and Windows, as well as shared hosting, which is limited to Linux. The servers have the same RAM and storage amounts as those supplied by Hostwinds directly, which is not always the case. Hostwinds also lets you apply your own branding to the servers you rent and provides 24/7 tech support.
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WordPress Hosting: Tapping the Popular CMS
DreamHost offers three WordPress hosting tiers in both the consumer (WordPress Hosting Launch, WordPress Hosting Growth, and WordPress Hosting Scale) and business (DreamPress 1, DreamPress 2, and DreamPress 3) categories. The consumer-end WordPress plans are virtually identical to DreamHost's shared hosting packages. However, DreamPress is a service that gives your website the white-glove treatment by auto-updating the content management system, performing daily backups, and providing WordPress-specific security.
DreamPress (starting at $19.99 per month over three months, then $24.99 per month) includes 15GB of SSD storage, unlimited email and monthly data transfers, support for up to 40,000 monthly visitors, and a content delivery network (CDN) for faster site loading. DreamPress 2 (starting at $23.99 per month over three months, then $29.99 per month) increases the storage to 25GB, increases the visitor count to roughly 80,000, and adds up to three free phone support callbacks per month. The top-tier DreamPress 3 (starting at $27.99 per month over three months, then $34.99 per month) offers 30GB of SSD storage and a limit of 125,000 visitors. DreamPress lets you install any plug-in you want, and its staging area lets you test new site features on another site instance that won't affect your live pages.
(Credit: DreamHost Remixer)Impressive as DreamPress is, Bluehost is our top pick for WordPress hosting. It offers unlimited site hosting, monthly data transfers, domains, subdomains, and storage, plus the AI-powered Bluehost WonderSuite Website Builder that let us quickly create an online destination after keying in a few prompts. That said, we still prefer a human's site design vision.
Building a Website With DreamHost
DreamHost's user interface is simple and well-organized, making it easy to get started on our test website. Instead of going the HostGator route with cute, screen-cluttering icons, DreamHost offers a tree of accessible menu options on the left side of the screen. That ease of use translated directly into building a website.
We built our test website using DreamHost's Remixer AI tool. After we entered a few site descriptors into the AI prompt box, Remixer generated matching themes and fonts that we later tweaked. We found it simple to add photos, text, and video, too. That said, we still recommend a human touch when designing websites.
In addition, it was easy to find billing information, manage domains, access the traffic dashboard, and view settings for VPS and dedicated servers. We had no trouble finding the security options (more on that in a bit) or the third-party app marketplace.
E-Commerce Options
Want to generate website income? DreamHost offers several e-commerce hosting plans if you want to build an online store. Ecwid offers several tiers, ranging from the $ 5-per-month Starter option to the $149-per-month Unlimited option. The Starter plan offers ten products and the ability to add a store to any site, while the Unlimited plan gets you unlimited products and staff accounts along with in-person sales integration. WooCommerce is initially free, but charges additional fees as you upgrade your store with themes and extensions.
Security Chops
DreamHost offers antispam on its email, but no antimalware services. That oversight aside, we like its attention to other aspects of website security. For parts of the site that shouldn't get indexed by search engines, you can block spiders. You can set up cron jobs (automated batch jobs) to schedule tasks and monitor processes on the site. DreamHost also offers free Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates, which are a must-have for anyone selling products online.
(Credit: DreamHost/PCMag)If you are a developer or manage a software development team, you will appreciate that DreamHost includes Subversion, which can help you manage your source code. Most web hosting providers restrict you to whatever applications are listed on their software marketplace. Version-control tools such as Subversion rarely appear on these marketplaces, so it's nice to see the option to set up your own repository. Of course, that's assuming you don't just use Git repositories for your code.
What if you don't really want a website or a blog, but just a place to store your files? DreamHost also offers DreamObjects cloud storage plans that offer free API requests, starting at $0.025 per gigabyte of storage and $0.05 per gigabyte of downloads per month.
Uptime and Customer Support
Website uptime is a vital element of the web hosting experience. If your site goes down, clients or customers will be unable to find you or access your products or services. DreamHost guarantees 100% uptime and will compensate you if your site goes down.
DreamHost offers email, ticket-based, and online chat support. It also has a robust knowledge database. The service lacks traditional phone support, which is too bad; sometimes you just want to deal with a human being when a question or problem pops up. Some Dreamhost plans, like its Dedicated server tiers, DreamPress Plus tier, and DreamPress Pro plans, come with three to five free callbacks per month. For all other hosting plans, you pay a premium to have access to callbacks. A one-time only callback is $9.95, or you can add three callbacks to your account for $14.95 per month.
We asked about the differences between VPS and dedicated hosting. The representative gave us a thorough, satisfying answer. We also asked the representative how to import our WordPress.com setup into DreamHost and received a helpful link with step-by-step instructions. Again, we were quite pleased with the answers. DreamHost also offers a knowledge base that answers many commonly asked questions.
DreamHost's shared hosting offers an excellent 97-day money-back guarantee. However, the credit policy works differently for VPS and dedicated server plans. If you cancel an annual VPS plan within the first 30 days, you'll receive a credit for the unused balance. Annual dedicated plans work the same way.