DreamHost is one of the leading web hosting service providers. It has grown and maintained a successful hosting business for the last 18 years. It currently hosts around 1.5 million sites, blogs, and applications. IsItWP users get an exclusive 40% discount on web hosting.
4.7 / 5.0 5.0 / 5.0 5.0 / 5.0
4.0 / 5.0 4.0 / 5.0 4.0 / 5.0 4.7 / 5.0
DreamHost is one of the oldest web hosting companies, founded back in 1996, even before the advent of Google. DreamHost is now the home for over 1.5 million websites, blogs, and applications, with over 400k happy customers, spanning throughout more than 100 countries.
DreamHost offers a wide variety of web hosting plans for customers of all sizes. Their hosting services include:
Their team is top-notch, and they are always ahead of the curve when it comes to their technology stack. It is one of the officially recommended web hosts by WordPress.org and also the highest-rated web host by PCMag.com.
They offer everything you need to get your website up and running. They give you free domain registration with annual plans, free SSL encryption with Let’s Encrypt, a one-click installer for WordPress and a website builder known as Remixer for those who want to kick start a website with absolutely no coding involved.
On top of that, every shared hosting plan with DreamHost comes with a 97-day money back guarantee. That means you get full three months to try DreamHost and if you’re not fully satisfied, you can request a full refund.
They are also a domain name registrar and offer domain registration and parking services as well.
DreamHost’s shared hosting plan starts at $8.95 per month (regular price). You’ll find their extensive knowledge base immensely helpful to kick off a website from the ground up.
4.3 / 5.0
DreamHost offers cheap hosting, also known as shared hosting, which is the best choice for entry-level and small websites. With cheap hosting, you share the same physical server with many other DreamHost users. Although you share server resources like physical hard drives and RAM with other users, your website files are secured and only accessible to you.
There are 2 shared hosting plans: Shared Starter and Shared Unlimited. DreamHost lets you pay monthly, annually or every 3 years. DreamHost’s 3-year plan provides the best value with over 47% cost savings over the monthly plan.
With any of the DreamHost hosting options, you can waive off the domain name registration fees for one year. You’ll also get free SSL encryption, and 1-click WordPress installer.
Unlike most other web hosting providers, DreamHost comes with a 97-day risk-free money back guarantee.
5.0 / 5.0
DreamHost’s dedicated hosting could be the best choice for websites with high-traffic volume. With dedicated hosting, you get a complete server for your sole use, giving you much more control over the server and operating environment.
With DreamHost’s dedicated server, you get RAID 1 storage, 24×7 server monitoring and tech support, 100% network uptime guarantee, DDoS protection, full root, and shell access and more.
You get a custom-built control panel for your dedicated hosting needs with the flexibility to add or remove servers, reboot or powercycle your server whenever you need it. Plus, you can also manage your domains, websites and email address with ease.
4.6 / 5.0
Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting is the best bet for you if you want to build websites with secured data or resource-heavy applications that are growing through rapid growth and expansion. With VPS, you get a tremendous amount of bandwidth and storage along with easy backup and scalability.
With every managed VPS hosting plan, you get expert assistance on installing manual security patches, user-friendly control panel, 20 x faster SSD storage.
DreamHost allows you to choose from three different VPS plans based on RAM (1GB to 4GB) and SSD storage capacity ranging from 30GB to 240GB.
If you’re technically inclined and looking for an inexpensive, scalable server that gives you full control with root access, you can choose DreamCompute, which is unmanaged VPS hosting also known as cloud hosting.
5.0 / 5.0
DreamHost’s WordPress hosting protects your website from WordPress specific vulnerabilities and malicious attacks.
With their managed WordPress hosting, you’ll get automatic WordPress updates so you can ensure your site is always updated and secured. With every plan, automatic daily backups and on-demand backups are included.
DreamHost’s managed WordPress hosting is the best solution for you if you don’t want to perform site maintenance yourself and needs WordPress specific support for maintaining your WordPress site. With Plus plan or higher, you get Jetpack Pro subscription, daily malware and scanning repair, and instant access to the extensive collection of WordPress themes.
4.8 / 5.0
DreamHost offers WooCommerce hosting for users who want to quickly build an online store without the tedious process of WordPress and WooCommerce installation. WooCommerce hosting is almost similar to the Plus plan of managed WordPress hosting. The only difference is that WooCommerce will be preinstalled on your account.
Upon subscribing to a WooCommerce hosting plan, you can easily get your online store up and running just by logging into your WordPress dashboard. The storefront theme is preinstalled with WooCommerce hosting. You’ll also get a Jetpack Pro subscription.
Here’re a few things we liked about DreamHost
Here are a few limitations of DreamHost…
Does Dreamhost live up to their uptime promise?
To test the server performance for our DreamHost review, we’ve created a test WordPress site using the default Twenty Seventeen theme and dummy content for theme development, including images. This way our test site looked and behaved like an actual average WordPress site.
After setting up our test site, we ran a speed test on our site using Pingdom.
As you can see in the results, our DreamHost test site loaded in less than half a second. That’s faster than 97% of all tested sites, which is incredible for a site without any performance optimization plugins.
Apart from Pingdom, we also used a testing tool called Load Impact to figure out whether our DreamHost site can survive a traffic surge. Load Impact sent some virtual users (VUs) to our site and gradually built up to 100 visitors at a time to test how the server handles it.
In the chart, you can find a blue line (VUs active) which shows the number of virtual users sent to our DreamHost site and a green line (VU load time) which represents how much time it took to load a web page for a user.
As you can see, DreamHost’s performed was great and consistent throughout the test. The number of live visitors on the site doesn’t have an impact on site performance.
The content of your site can have an impact on your page loading time. For instance, if your site contains too many images, it will take more time to load. In fact, images account for most of the downloadable bytes in a typical site.
To get a more accurate result for our test, instead of solely analyzing page load time, we decided to test the actual server response time with Bitcatcha by ignoring the content of our page entirely.
Bitcatcha works differently than Pingdom. It ignores the content of your page and records the page loading time from eight different global locations: New York, LA, London, Brazil, India, Singapore, Japan, and Australia. The speed for each location is measured three separate times, and then the results are averaged.
From the result, you can see that DreamHost server response time remained under less than half a second for all geographic locations. It was particularly great in the United States.
If you need help with DreamHost’s hosting service, you can check out their extensive knowledge base that comprises of tutorials and recommendations. You’ll find DreamHost’s support portal immensely helpful for building and growing your website with a DreamHost hosting account.
DreamHost provides live chat and ticket based support for free with every hosting plan. The main drawback is that Live Chat is only available during 5am – 10pm PST, 7 days a week.
The DreamHost support team strives to answer all emails within 24 hours. Although call back requests are available, they’re not included in every hosting package. You’ll have to subscribe to it separately either by making a one-off payment or monthly subscription. Bear in mind that callbacks cannot be made for numbers outside the United States and Canada.
If you’re just starting out with a new website, you can choose DreamHost’s shared hosting plan.
There are 2 shared hosting plans: Shared Starter and Shared Unlimited.
For WordPress optimized hosting, you can choose from their managed WordPress hosting plans.
Take a detailed look at the pricing of different DreamHost hosting plans.
| PLAN | DISK SPACE | BANDWIDTH | PRICE |
| Shared Hosting | Unlimited | Unlimited | $2.59 / mo. |
| WordPress Hosting Starter | Unlimited | Unlimited | $2.59 / mo. |
| Basic VPS Hosting | 30 GB | Unmetered | $10 / mo. |
| Dedicated Hosting | 1 TB | Unlimited | $169 / mo. |
Having helped thousands of users choose a web hosting plan and start their website, we have answered just about every question you can think of. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about DreamHost.
Which DreamHost plan should I get?
The answer really depends on your hosting needs. When you’re starting out, simply choose their shared hosting plan. DreamHost has only a single shared hosting plan, which makes it easy to get started with an account. If you want to create an online store, then we recommend using their WooCommerce hosting which is specifically designed to handle eCommerce websites.
Can DreamHost handle high traffic?
DreamHost is capable of handling high traffic. But keep in mind that it all depends on the plan you choose. If your site starts consuming too much resources, then DreamHost will ask you to upgrade to a higher plan.
Can I upgrade my DreamHost plan later?
We always recommend users to start with the smaller plans and upgrade as needed. DreamHost makes it very easy for you to upgrade.
Does DreamHost offer a month-to-month payment option?
Yes! DreamHost offers month-to-month payment option. However, keep in mind that they offer significant discounts for longer-term deals.
Can I create subdomains in DreamHost?
Yes, you can easily create subdomains in DreamHost using the cPanel.
Do I have to register my domain name with DreamHost?
No. While you can claim a free domain name while purchasing a hosting plan, you’re not obliged to register a domain name with DreamHost. You can use Godaddy, NameCheap, or any of your preferred domain name registrar.
Does DreamHost offer free SSL?
Yes, DreamHost offers free SSL with all of their plans. Ecommerce plans come with dedicated IPs and private SSL.
Do I need to purchase the addons that DreamHost offers me?
No, you do not need to purchase any addons at the time of purchase. Should you decide that you need them later, you can always add them to your account.
Does DreamHost really offer unlimited disk space and bandwidth?
Just like any other hosting company, DreamHost also advertises unlimited resources. When they say unlimited, it just means that you don’t have to worry about disk storage or bandwidth because you get enough resources to operate a small site in a normal condition.
Can I create an ecommerce site on DreamHost?
Absolutely. DreamHost’s WooCommerce hosting plan comes pre-configured with all the things you need to start an online store.
Wondering how DreamHost stacks up against other web hosting companies? See our side-by-side comparison to see for yourself.
We think DreamHost offers a very reliable platform for hosting your websites. Their starting prices may be slightly higher than the competition, but being upfront about the prices, they leave no room for confusion down the line. With a DreamHost plan, you don’t find any hidden charges and comes with an unlimited website and email hosting.
We were also impressed with their custom control panel and quick support. DreamHost could be the best solution for you if you don’t want a cPanel based backend option. We rate DreamHost as an excellent choice for hosting any kind of website.
All DreamHost plans include a money-back guarantee. 
Our server isn’t accessible to many people (some are important sponsors!) around North America (and likely the world), and they keep telling us that they don’t know why it’s not accessible to some people. Their only solution is to get those people to do a bunch of very complicated technical stuff that would take them hours to figure out, and then they may or may not be able to troubleshoot the issue, but just for that one location.
Also they keep putting our WordPress site into a state of error, then I have to find that out, contact them (no phone support!) and they eventually fix it and apologize. Then it happens all over again.
Awful.
We’re switching hosting companies because of the poor service.
I’ve been using DH for a few years. I just started a new domain and WP blog hosted by them because they’ve been helpful and resolved problems quickly. DreamPress hosting has worked well for my wife’s site.
Great service! Patient and easy to work with.
I was actually very disappointed. I had heard great things about DreamHost, and had considered using them for VPS and Cloud Hosting, however, after doing a trial run with their shared hosting I quickly realized that they are definitely not the professionals’ choice. The server I was on was extremely slow. I did a benchmark test with DreamHost against several other similar web hosts and found DreamHost to perform much slower than other shared hosting servers (even with CloudFlare enabled).
After I contacted support the second time, and informed them that I will not be able to continue using them if they cannot put me on a faster server, they simply informed me of their return policy, and avoided answering the main question of why they are so much slower than other hosts.
If you are happy with an archaic control panel, no phone support, slow ticket responses and outdated servers, then this host will do well for you.
I’ve been consistently impressed with the quality of customer service with this company…you get fast and personal response from an actual human.
Amazing live chat!!! These guys really knows how to help efficiently
I’ve been with Dreamhost for several years now for my registered domain names. I have limited tech experience and I’ve always been able to follow what the support people tell me when I’ve asked for help. I have a great deal of confidence in their services as any requests I have made (even if I thought I should be taking care of it myself) have always been fulfilled accurately and politely.
Thanks!
Fast, good andfunny, five stars
I’m very unsatisfied with the support. There is so much cute jargon in the email I can’t decipher. What is “blah” for example? I have the ticket number, isn’t that enough?
Also…I’m locked out of my account for over 24 hours!!!
Amazing tech support experience. Fast and friendly! I recommend these guys to all.
I had a problem recently with my email being blocked, and contacted DH support to hopefully get it resolved. My expectations were that it would be resolved, and fairly quickly – since that’s been my experience with DH since I first became a customer, 13 years ago.
I was disappointed to get the response that my case was being forwarded on, that another department would handle it, and that I pretty much wasn’t going to hear anything about it again (more than likely). A month after my initial request, I contacted support again about getting it resolved, and got the response that it had been resolved and the block removed.
Would have been helpful to have known that!
Look… some of us run our business off this service, and like you, we rely on our customers having great support and consistent experiences. Having to use a personal GMAIL account to just correspond with my customers doesn’t send the right, professional message that anyone would want. Would DH be happy to have all of their email accounts blocked and be forced to use, dreamhostsupport [at] yahoo.com? I don’t think so.
Bottom line; I was disappointed (this time) that DH dropped the ball and didn’t fully engage with me. I do expect though that this was an outlier and an uncommon issue, because – like I said – I’ve been with them 13 years and really don’t have much to complain about.
I do hope though that someone at DH takes this message to heart and realizes that the way you (DH) will continue to distinguish yourself in the marketplace is by being fully engaged with your customers. That means timely, awesome, 100%, maximum effort in and with your customer support team. I don’t want to get lost in limbo and forgotten about, even with email being blacklisted somewhere. I want to know, be informed and get updates as to what actions are being taken and what I can expect to be done and when.
– The Relatively Happy, Longtime DH Customer who Hopes You’re Listening
I’ve been with Dreamhost for many years, following the advice of an IT professional, and it’s been smooth sailing all the way. Their tech support has solved every problem, and they’re patient with a non-techie like myself. Five stars for sure.
DreamHost has always been great on all levels. This glitch was nothing more than a miscommunication.
All was resolved in a timely manner.
Keep up the good work !
Generally speaking I am happy with Dreamhost. I like their unified backend panel. I like the low cost VPS service. But there are a couple of things which are not really great about this company…
VPS servers still put you on shared MySQL servers. If you face issues with their shared MySQL servers, you would need to pay extra for a MySQL VPS which doubles your hosting costs. I had this issue and I ended up getting a DreamCompute instance to run my own MySQL server to get around the uptime issue on their shared MySQL server.
The other problem is getting stupid responses from their support team. The responses is usually just as bad as you would get from a third grade little known hosting companies… When the problem was their MySQL servers, they kept on blaming my scripts. When the problem was connectivity between their VPS servers and DreamCompute servers, they blamed my scripts. Recently, they blamed me running Google PageSpeed module for packet loss from my home connection to my VPS.
So you might end up troubleshooting the problems affecting your own servers most of the times. Because they would give you the usual excuses…
I am sticking with Dreamhost for now because it is still cost effective compared to other hosts I have considered. And I love the unified FTP panel that lets me access all my sites which was just not possible on a WHM/cPanel managed server.
Sir,I have not a credit card. I have debit card.
Is it possible buy dreamhost hosting without credit card.
Fast, helpful and friendly. Great experience!
DreamHost has better support service than any other competitors out there, including premium services, They are extremely fast in responding to your tickets, maximum of 2-3 hours wait time for a response for first time users visiting DreamHost. Live chat is always active with an enthusiastic staff to help you out on your issues.
Can’t really argue about the unlimited domains, emails and bandwidth. Gives you the freedom to do whatever you want with the Shared Hosting.
A Must Use Service!
This was the most complicated, unorganized hosting service I have ever tried. It was a nightmare. The tech help was also sub par. They gave my incorrect information and links that did not work, several times. I canceled the service within 2 days. Never again.
I am really excited with the support of DreamHost. Fast and competent. i always get all relevant Answers with a short conversation. Also “uncritical” Tickets get answered within Hours…
Hostingfees are really fair and after moving to an VPS instance performance is perfect!
Thanks a lot.
A happy DreamHost user(in)
The service team at Dreamhost has been wonderful! I had a minor issue that I was unable to resolve on my own and their team was able to solve it quickly and courteously! Their detailed support questionnaire I feel is a great way for the user to better describe their problem and get to the answer quickly. Thank you!
Extremely happy with service I received via the chat service. The precision instructions given allowed me to resolve my issue quickly.
Very happy with the service. Fast accurate help desk, good hosting plan. Well recommended.
I got recently 2 very good services form dreamhost. Specially the one rellated to my email helpe me a lot. Many thanks and keep going like that
I’m just getting started with Dreamhost, but in the few short days since I joined I’ve received excellent assistance and advice. I would definitely recommend based on my experience so far.
I have called Dreamhost numerous times over the years & this last time was like the previous – 24 hour or less [usually 4-10 hours] response with a fix/solution.
Only thing I wished is that they shared what the fix was so I can not be a bother if the issue pops up again.
Kudos to the support staff!