If you’ve spent long enough time on the internet, you would probably have heard of DreamHost. It’s one of the better-known hosting service providers that have been around for a long time, since 1996.
If you do not know DreamHost or never used it before, you don’t have to worry as this review has got you covered. If you are not satisfied with your current hosting provider and want to make a change, this review should also interest you.
If you want information about DreamHost just to add to your knowledge base, then you will find all that you need. This review covers details about DreamHost that include its benefits, features, pricing plans, pros, and cons.
To get the ball rolling, let’s start off with a basic overview of what DreamHost is and what it represents.
DreamHost Overview
DreamHost is an independently-owned web hosting company that offers a wide range of hosting services to both newbies and advanced users. The hosting packages that are featured on DreamHost are suited for small websites as well as enterprise-level business organizations.
Available hosting plans that can be accessed on DreamHost include shared hosting, WordPress hosting, and Managed WordPress hosting. Other DreamHost hosting packages include VPS hosting, dedicated hosting, and WooCommerce hosting for online stores.
Being one of the oldest hosting companies (founded in 1996), DreamHost has managed to gather a lot of experience in the web hosting space. Plus you will find that the company stocks a high level of expert personnel who are great at what they do.
Whatever you require to get your website up and running, you are sure to find on DreamHost.
As a new user, you will receive a one-year free domain name registration for an annual subscription of any DreamHost plans. You will also receive a free SSL certificate and access to a 97-day money-back guarantee.
That’s a full three-month money-back guarantee from DreamHost in case its services do not suit you. DreamHost hosting plans are tiered to suit different users with the most basic plan (shared hosting) starting at $2.95.
This web hosting company rates very highly when it comes to performance, probably the reason why it’s the hosting provider of over 1.5 million sites. DreamHost also scores very highly when it comes to other features that you will find out very soon.
For now, let’s look at what you or any other site owner should expect to benefit from using DreamHost.
Benefits
Here are the benefits you’ll derive from using DreamHost:
1 – Affordable Web Hosting Plans to Suit Different Users
No matter what web hosting needs you or your business may have, there are different plans to suit your budget.
The Shared hosting plans (entry-level) and the WordPress hosting plans are quite decent and affordable. Startups and individuals just getting their first sites can opt for any of these shared hosting plans.
There is also the DreamPress hosting (WordPress Managed) which is a specialized hosting plan for your WordPress needs. You will be able to access a fully-optimized WordPress installation plus DreamHost support. WooCommerce is also a special hosting service designed for e-commerce websites.
Those who have needs for high-end solutions can settle for DreamHost VPS (Virtual Private Server) or dedicated hosting.
2 – Ease of Use
DreamHost has a custom control panel designed to make life easy for users of its hosting plans. It has a minimalist interface that empowers users with full control over their hosting accounts.
You will find it convenient to navigate around your DreamHost dashboard and services. This DreamHost control panel comes with a free website builder, Remixer. It is an easy-to-use website builder that lets you edit built-in templates offered by DreamHost.
3 – 97-Day Money Back Guarantee
Most often, you will find online businesses offering a 30-day money-back guarantee for new users. Quite a few of them will offer up to 60 days of money-back guarantee for new users to test their platforms.
However, DreamHost offers something out of the ordinary with a 97-day money-back guarantee for you to test its hosting service.
It’s a great benefit to new users who may have nursed some resentment before signing up on DreamHost. The web hosting company gives you more than 3 months to test its products.
4 – Free SSL and Domain Name
DreamHost offers free SSL encryption for users. Also, new users enjoy a free one-year domain name registration for choosing DreamHost. The free domain name registration comes with the payment of one year web hosting for any of its plans.
If you already have a domain name registered with another registrar, you can use it with your DreamHost hosting.
5 – High Performance
DreamHost Hosting scores very highly when it comes to the performance of its hosted sites. Users have access to unlimited disk space, SSD cloud servers, scalable environments, and SSH access.
The company maintains that it has a 100% uptime for any of the hosting plans that you choose. This means that your website or blog will never experience downtime if hosted on DreamHost.
DreamHost Features
Here are the main features of DreamHost:
I – Shared Hosting on DreamHost
The DreamHost shared hosting starts at $2.95 per month and it allows you to host a single site on 50GB SSD storage.
There is also the Shared unlimited hosting plan that is priced at $5.95 per month with unlimited website hosting and unlimited SSD storage.
These prices can be obtained only if you’re paying for 3 years of hosting upfront. This payment plan enables you to enjoy a 47% discount from DreamHost. If you choose to pay for an annual plan, then the Shared Starter will cost you $3.95 while Shared Unlimited goes for $6.95.
And if you prefer a monthly payment plan, then you will be paying $4.95 for Shared Starter and $10.95 for the Shared Unlimited plan.
DreamHost also offers special discounts for websites that are created for non-profit organizations. You will have to check out its website to see if your organization qualifies for a special discount.
II – Unlimited Bandwidth
Having your website hosted on DreamHost grants you access to unlimited use of its bandwidth. Though the Shared Starter plan offers 50GB of SSD storage, the Shared Unlimited also grants you unlimited SSD storage.
However, if your website starts to consume too much of your server’s resources, you may be advised to upgrade the hosting plan. DreamHost can also recommend a higher plan such as DreamPress hosting or VPS hosting.
III – DreamPress Managed WordPress Hosting
Users of its shared hosting plans have the liberty to install WordPress for their websites. DreamHost does not prevent or discourage that, however, it does have Managed WordPress hosting for special needs.
This Managed WordPress hosting also known as DreamPress is more appealing for WordPress users. DreamPress comes in three variants which are called DreamPress, DreamPress Plus, and the DreamPress Pro.
DreamPress starts at $16.95 per month and it features 30GB of SSD storage which is built to accommodate 100,000 monthly visitors.
The DreamPress Plus pricing goes for $24.95 featuring 60BG SSD storage and accommodates 300,000 monthly visitors. Also, this plan includes Jetpack Professional plus unlimited CDN (Content Delivery Network) usage.
The DreamPress Pro goes for $71.95 per month featuring 120GB SSD storage and is built for over 1 million monthly visitors. This plan also includes the Jetpack Professional, and the unlimited CDN usage.
The pricing plans for DreamPress are based on the annual payment plan. If you decide to make monthly payments, the DreamPress plan costs $19.95, DreamPress Plus $29.95 and the DreamPress Pro goes for $79.95.
IV – DreamHost Shared Hosting Backups
Backup solutions for users of the shared hosting plan are quite flexible depending on your preferred choice.
There is an option of installing any of the WordPress backup plugins to manage the backup of files. Also, VaultPress backup services can also be obtained separately.
The DreamHostDreamObjects account is an in-house backup service that can be used for the creation and storage of backups. This is a cloud storage solution that backs up entire sites and databases on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.
Users also have the option to download their files and decide on how much backups they want to store on the server.
New users have access to a 30-day free trial after which there is an upgrade to the premium plan which starts at $0.95 per month. The DreamHost backup plugin also features a restore option to any point within the previous two weeks.
V – DreamPress Backups
DreamHost offers backup services for its hosting plans, though their features differ for different hosting plans.
Subscribers of the DreamPress plan can make use of the DreamHouse in-house backup solution. Also, users on DreaMPress Plus and Pro plans are able to access the Jetpack Professional solutions.
The Jetpack Professional backup allows access to the powerful VaultPress backup service. This is one of the best WordPress backup tools featuring real-time backups, unlimited storage for backup files, and one-click restore.
It also allows you to quickly install individual files in order to roll back any past mistakes. The DreamPress in-house backup solution offers automated daily backups and the ability to create manual daily backups.
VI – DreamHost Control Panel
DreamHost users do not use the popular cPanel software to manage their hosting accounts.
DreamHost instead offers its own control panel for use in managing hosting accounts. From this custom control panel, you can manage all your domains, install WordPress, and access your database.
The DreamHost control panel provides an easy-to-use interface while it includes all the features that you need.
VII – Optimization Tools
The DreamPress managed hosting service is optimized to ensure high performance for your website. The higher plans also feature the Jetpack Professional plan to further improve your site speed.
One such optimization tool is the Jetpack CDN which features unlimited storage. The Jetpack CDN distributes your content assets across different servers with support for both images and videos.
Technical Details
This section provides a quick overview of the technical specs of DreamHost Shared and Managed WordPress hosting plans.
Site owners are allowed to choose between PHP versions 7.1, 7.2, or 7.3. Also, HTTP/2.0 is enabled on all DreamHost plans (including Shared hosting and Managed WordPress hosting)
Users can access both free and paid Cloudflare CDN plans which they have to activate through the DreamHost control panel. The higher DreamPress plans grant subscribers access to the Jetpack Professional service plus unlimited CDN usage
Users have the ability to access the server space on the Shared and DreamPress hosting plans via SFTP
Users can access a browser-based file manager, database access via phpMyAdmin, and DreamHost email service
WordPress site management, migration, and staging sites for DreamPress and the use of staging plugin for shared hosting
Multiple support channels via LiveChat which can be accessed 7 days a week from 5:30 am to 9:30 pm Pacific Time. There is also email assistance and the option to request a call back from the support team.
Pricing Plans
You can access the DreamHost Shared hosting starting at $2.95 per month for the Starter Plan while the Shared Unlimited Plan sells for $7.95 per month.
The DreamHost Website Standard Plan also starts at $4.95 per month. The DreamPress Plus and Pro Plans are priced at $16.95 per month and $71.95 per month respectively.
New users have access to a 97-day money-back guarantee which gives plenty of time to test the DreamHost hosting service.
Pros and Cons of DreamHost
Pros
- Websites hosted on DreamHost boast of high performance including 100% uptime and use of CDN for faster site speed
- 97-Day Money-back guarantee is a very long time for anyone to test a product. This long duration is proof that DreamHost believes its products are well designed for users
- DreamHost custom control panel offers an easy-to-use interface for users to manage their domains and hosting accounts.
Cons
- The prices for DreamHost hosting packages are on the high side when compared to the prices of other web hosting companies
- The DreamHost live chat feature cannot be fully accessed all day round as it is available from 5:30 am – 9:30 pm Pacific Time only.
Conclusion
Your choice of a web hosting provider can make the difference between the success and failure of your online business.
This review covers DreamHost, one of the most popular web hosts which are officially recommended by WordPress.org.
The web host comes with a lot of features that ensure the high performance of your site or blog hosted on its servers.
You can sign up for any of the DreamHost web hosting packages and give it a try; you have a 97-day money-back guarantee if you’re not satisfied.
Do you still want a more powerful web hosting package? Then give the Wealthy Affiliate Hosting Platform a try.