DreamHost Review

Hailey By: Hailey | Last updated April 12, 2017

laptop and servers, web hosting, dream host

8.3 / 10

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PROS:

  • A very generous 97 day money back guarantee policy
  • An incredible 100% uptime guarantee
  • Reliable, faster than the average competitors
  • Unlimited bandwidth, domains and emails
  • 'Green' web hosting provider

CONS:

  • Limited customer support. No free phone support
  • No website builder included
  • No cPanel
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SUMMARY:

DreamHost offers a wide range of web hosting solutions, from shared hosting to VPS and dedicated servers. They also offer optimized WordPress hosting and Cloud services and they currently host over 1,5 million websites.

DreamHost boasts on being carbon neutral. They try to neutralize their emissions by investing in renewable energy projects and purchasing carbon offsets.

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COMPLETE REVIEW

The company was founded in 1996 and registered in 1997, when it started to have its first customers. It is based in Los Angeles.

Shared hosting services start at $7,95/month, for a 3-year commitment and $9,95/month, for one year contracts. In this price you get PHP5 support, web-based control panel, Rails, Python, Perl Support, SSL Secure Server, unlimited MySQL Databases, Ipv6 support and other benefits.

For $15/month you can opt for VPS hosting, which comes with many useful features such as PHP5/Perl/Python support, Ruby Version Manager, Secure Shell (SSH), One Click Application Installer, unlimited MySQL Databases, SSL/TLS Certificates with Let's Encrypt, password protection and unlimited FTP/sFTP users and email accounts.

Dedicated hosting starts at $149/month and includes 4 cores, 1 TB HDD storage, 4 RAM, RAID 1 storage, Ubuntu Linux, unlimited bandwidth, DdoS Protection and other benefits.

dream host plans, pricing, dream host, web hosting

Two surprising particularities with DreamHost are the extended money back guarantee and the uptime guarantee. While the standards are a 99,9% uptime and 30 day money back guarantee, DreamHost offers 100% uptime and 97 day money back guarantee. You also get two weeks of free trial. These attractive features are included in their basic plans.

After the account activation, which may take up to a few hours, you will NOT be greeted by a cPanel. DreamHost has its own custom control panel, so customers used to cPanel may not be pleased by this news. However, they let you import all your previous information and settings, even if you had a cPanel account before signing up with them.

Among the freebies offered by this provider, we can mention the $100 free Adwords credits and the free domain names with free DNS protection for them.

The unlimited bandwidth is another plus. And if other providers just brag about their unlimited bandwidth, DreamHost delivers for real. All packages also include unlimited disk space, email accounts and an unlimited number of domains.

Although DreamHost doesn't offer any e-commerce solutions, you can easily install an add-on such as Zen Cart, with just one click.

If you are a WordPress person, you can opt for one of their Wordpress optimized hosting plans. They start from $7,95/month and they include an easy setup, automated updates and backups, unlimited bandwidth, one-click WordPress install and multiple WordPress websites and domains support.

One little drawback for some people might be the fact that there is no website builder included.

In terms of security, DreamHost doesn't really include much in the basic, shared plan. You have email spam protection and SSH, but if you want to add shared SSL or a SSD, you have to pay an additional monthly fee. Website backup is also unavailable for customers under shared hosting plans.

Pricing

Shared hosting services start at $7,95/month, for a 3-year commitment and $9,95/month, for one year contracts.

For $15/month you can opt for VPS hosting.

Dedicated hosting starts at $149/month.

For more information on their plans and costs, go to https://www.dreamhost.com/

Performance

Although it is not among the cheapest, DreamHost does bring some rare and appealing features to the table. As we already mentioned, the 100% uptime guarantee is one of them and it is a big deal, given the fact that most of their competitors only offer the standard 99,9% uptime. The company also promises a free day of service for every hour of downtime, should the worst happen.

Tests also confirm their reliability. 12-month testing processes revealed a 99,98% uptime rate, placing DreamHost among the first places in this industry.

The page loading times are also 19% faster than the average of 700 ms.

Help/Support

When it comes to customer service, we've got to admit that it is somewhat limited. They do offer 24/7 not outsourced support, but only via email, live chat or Twitter. They don't have any free of charge phone support. But if you are willing to pay a fee, they will call you.

There is also an active forum, a FAQ section, tutorials and other useful resources. Also, on a side note, a lot of members from their tech staff are experts in WordPress related issues.

DreamHost promises a 24 hour response time for the emails they get, which is not that outstanding. In order to get in touch with a rep through live chat, you might have to wait a few minutes, but once you're connected, you will get your answers within seconds.

Other than that, the support team is usually friendly and helpful.

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Our editorial staff evaluates products and services independently, but Best Review Guide may earn money when you click on links. Read our advertising disclosure.

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