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DreamHost

DreamHost

Overview

What is DreamHost?

DreamHost is a website hosting service with features such as managed VPS hosting, public cloud computing, and dedicated servers. Managed options include WordPress with the DreamPress upgraded service with staging and coaching, WooCommerce hosting, as well as dedicated server hosting.

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Dreamhost has been widely used for a variety of web hosting needs, catering to both individuals and businesses. Many companies have relied …
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Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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Shared

$3.95

Cloud
per month

DreamPress

$16.95

Cloud
per month

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Product Details

DreamHost Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(26)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Dreamhost has been widely used for a variety of web hosting needs, catering to both individuals and businesses. Many companies have relied on Dreamhost to host their websites, ensuring fast and reliable access for their prospective customers. Users have praised the platform for providing solid web presence with limited downtime and security issues.

The flexibility of Dreamhost has made it a popular choice for deploying WordPress sites. Users appreciate the self-hosted installation that allows them to retain control, while still benefiting from the optimization features offered by a hosted WordPress platform. This combination of flexibility and performance has attracted individuals and businesses alike.

In addition to WordPress, Dreamhost also caters to the hosting needs of static websites. Whether it's a content-rich WordPress website or a simple one-page corporate site, users have found that Dreamhost keeps overhead costs and time investments to a minimum.

Dreamhost's versatility extends beyond WordPress and static websites. Users have utilized the platform to host Drupal-based CMS sites, serving as public portals for services and information resources.

Dreamhost also offers domain registration services, making it convenient for individuals to get their personal websites up and running. Seniors looking to showcase their work or create video introductions can easily find a home on Dreamhost.

Educational institutions have also found value in Dreamhost. High schools have taken advantage of the platform to host numerous student-run websites, giving students the freedom to update and revise their content with ease. Similarly, colleges and academies have relied on Dreamhost to manage their main web presence and streamline domain name registration, simplifying their web management processes.

Independent web developers appreciate Dreamhost's administrative panel, which allows seamless management of hosted websites. From database and file management to email configuration and landing page creation, the platform offers comprehensive tools for developers looking to provide quality service.

For individuals seeking an easy infrastructure for sharing knowledge through blogging, Dreamhost provides a hassle-free experience by offering custom domains for blogs.

Overall, Dreamhost has proven to be a reliable and versatile web hosting solution that caters to the diverse needs of businesses, educational institutions, and individuals alike.

Reliable and Great Uptime Service: Many users have praised the Linux-based Web Hosting for its reliability and great uptime service, stating that they have experienced limited technical issues. The consistent performance of the hosting has been appreciated by multiple reviewers.

Excellent Customer Support: Several reviewers have expressed their appreciation for Dreamhost's customer support, mentioning that they have never had a problem that wasn't solved by them almost immediately. They also mentioned that every question they asked was responded to within 24 hours, highlighting the prompt and helpful nature of Dreamhost's customer support team.

Easy-to-Use User Interface: Users have found Dreamhost's user interface to be extremely easy to use, with an intuitive dashboard that allows for easy navigation without causing any confusion. The simplicity and user-friendly nature of the interface have been commended by many customers.

Web Interface: Many users have expressed dissatisfaction with the web interface for managing WordPress deployments, command line users, domains, and SSL certificates, stating that it is in need of improvement. Some reviewers have found it difficult to navigate and suggested that Dreamhost could enhance its usability.

Compatibility Issues: Several reviewers have encountered compatibility issues when migrating websites from Bluehost specifically, which has caused inconvenience for them. These users mentioned that they had to spend extra time and effort resolving these compatibility issues.

Confusing Pricing Structure: A number of users found the pricing structure and different packages offered by Dreamhost to be confusing. They stated that it was not clear how the pricing tiers were determined and what features were included in each package. This lack of clarity made it challenging for these users to make an informed decision about which plan best suited their needs.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-4 of 4)
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Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I just needed a landing page to direct traffic. DreamHost was an affordable plan to do just that.
  • WordPress sites
  • Emails
  • It is not intuitive for newbies.
I had zero problems or complaints with DreamHost until out of the blue they notified me that my monthly rate is going up 300% after one year, though they advertized that the rate would not change. I see lots of people shocked by this in the past few months. Not inclined to stay with them as there are now less expensive options for what the product offers.
  • Cost
  • Easy build out
  • A 300% cost increase is not healthy for my company budget.
  • They are reasonable and if you ask, they will find a price to keep you as a customer.
Squarespace is inexpensive and relatively easy to use. You will pay extra for emails. IONOS is similar to Squarespace but with packages that include lots of email accounts and space. NameCheap and Register are where I typically buy domains.
IONOS, by 1&1, Squarespace
Stephen Steinberg | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
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.
  • Customer service is industry-best. We've never had a problem that wasn't solved by them almost immediately.
  • Their dashboard is extremely easy to use and doesn't cause any confusion at all.
  • Their website speeds are good but not great. In an age when speed is important, they are good enough, especially for the price.
  • They have a great backup feature.
  • We've had issues in the past with compatibility migrating websites over (from Bluehost specifically).
  • We've had issues of WordPress updates crashing our server, but a quick call to support fixes everything immediately.
  • Their pricing structure and different packages are a bit confusing to choose from.
If you're not too technical, don't want to spend time managing a server and want something quality while sticking to a budget, DreamHost is the best it can get. We may be able to save money by switching to something like AWS, but for our usage it doesn't totally make sense even with potential cost-savings and improved speeds. The support and ease of use cannot be overstated here.
  • Easy to manage, so doesn't take manpower to keep DreamHost running. Probably spend an accumulative 30 minutes every year to keep our website running.
  • People inevitably run into problems on any WordPress platform, and the fact that we can turn to support to fix any issues nearly immediately has saved us a ton of time, money and headaches that otherwise would've been much worse with another provider.
  • Absolutely no negative impacts to speak of!
DreamHost is the perfect combination of price, performance, ease of use and ongoing support. We haven't been in the market for years so there may be better options in terms of price vs. performance, but migrating to new hosting providers is a pain and they haven't given us a reason to leave. The same cannot be said for previous providers. Until something goes haywire, we'll be with DreamHost - so hopefully they keep innovating and keep investing in themselves!
Whether we're calling in on the phone, live chatting or emailing, we get immediate high-quality, native English-speaking support. This cannot be overstated when it comes to hosting, because support tickets are usually time sensitive and high stress. I've always had great experiences with the limited times we've needed to use DreamHost support. We've dealt with support for many other providers and no one comes close to DreamHost.
Carlos Eduardo de Souza | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Dreamhost is our main hosting solution, since 2006, and we're offering their services to our clients as well. We have dozens of websites and it works really well for us.
  • Panel is easy to use
  • Flexibility to configure our websites and domains
  • It's affordable
  • The customer support is very attentive and helpful
  • They could have better deploy solutions for not so experienced users
  • More integration with external services to automate some tasks
  • Better ways to track hosting performance
  • The user management could be easier to understand
It works really well for small or even medium scaled projects. If you need something fast and easy to use, it's great. You're able to host how many sites you want, create users and use some tools like Wordpress with "one-click" installs.
But if you need some scalable solution for a big project, maybe it's not as good as AWS, Azure and Google Cloud, since their pricing policies are much better for those cases.
  • It's a great product for a relatively cheap price
  • We can offer a simple hosting solution for our clients
  • Even the VPS (virtual private servers) are very affordable and you can manage it as you wish (SSH access)
Dreamhost is very flexible and you get a great product for what you're paying. It isn't as refined as Media Temple, but it works and you can manage and customize your websites as you need.
Nathan Arthur | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
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.
  • DreamHost lets you manage everything in one place--hosting, databases, domain names, email forwarders and inboxes, etc. This can make it much easier to keep track of all the important aspects of your web presence.
  • DreamHost's one-click installs of many popular web products, including WordPress, makes it very easy to start a new website.
  • DreamHost has very responsive support, which makes solving many problems much easier.
  • There was one instance where DreamHost support caused unnecessary downtime because they misread my request. Unfortunately I don't have access to that account anymore (it was an old employer) so I don't remember the details. To avoid this, make it very clear whether you're just asking a question or want support to handle it (they can be quite eager to fix the problem even when you've just asked a question), and be VERY clear what you need when doing the wrong thing may cause serious problems.
DreamHost is well-suited to people who have moderate to high levels of experience in web administration. It has all the tools you need to get the job done, plus some (like one-click installs) that can make your job much easier. It's also very convenient to have everything (including email config, databases, and domain registration) within one dashboard. DreamHost is also good for a beginner who wants to learn. The learning curve is real, but support is always helpful, and, again, having everything in one place is a plus for the learner. If a beginner just wants to throw up a website and isn't interested in learning the technical details of website administration and DNS, DreamHost is not the best solution. Such a person would be better served by finding a fully-hosted and managed software-as-a-service solution, such as WordPress.com, Weebly, SquareSpace, etc.


  • Before we started making full use of DreamHost's features, our website was hacked and had to be rebuilt from the ground up. After taking advantage of DreamHost's automatic update features for PHP and WordPress, we had no security issues for the remainder of my time at the company (several years).
  • DreamHost allowed us to cut down the amount of time spent tracking down domains that had been registered years in the past by bringing everything within one product.
  • DreamHost support cut down significantly on the amount of time we had to spend troubleshooting issues and increased our certainty about tricky changes such as modifications to DNS.
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