Shared Hosting
DreamHost
Employee-owned privacy advocate with 100% uptime guarantee and full developer tools
Founded 1996United StatesNew Dream Network, LLC
Overall Rating
3.8
Trustpilot: 4.7/5 (8,018 reviews)
Starting Price
$2.89/month
Renews at $10.99/mo
30-day money-back guarantee
Free SSL
Free Domain
Free Migration
24/7 Support
Pricing Plans
Compare DreamHost's hosting plans
Most Popular
Shared Hosting
WordPress Hosting
VPS Hosting
Cloud Hosting
All plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee
Pros & Cons
What We Like
- Privacy-conscious users (employee-owned, privacy advocacy)
- WordPress users (DreamPress managed hosting)
- Users wanting long money-back period
- Developers (SSH, Git, multiple languages)
- Users wanting 100% uptime guarantee
- Open-source advocates
What Could Be Better
- Need cPanel
- Need included email on basic plan
- Need more global data center options
- Prefer direct phone support
- Need enterprise compliance (no SOC2/HIPAA)
- Budget-conscious long-term (VPS renewal 150% markup)
Rating Breakdown
Value for Money
4.0Performance
4.0Support Quality
3.5Security
3.5Features
4.0Ease of Use
3.5Transparency
4.0Overall Rating
Weighted average of all categories
3.8/5
Technical Specifications
Complete feature breakdown across all 152 data points
Storage & Resources
- Storage
- 25 GB NVMe SSD
- Storage Type
- NVMe SSD
- Bandwidth
- Unmetered GB
- Websites
- 25
- Databases
- Not specified
- PHP Versions
- 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4
Performance
- Uptime Guarantee
- 100%
- Uptime SLA Credit
- CDN Included
- CDN Provider
- Cloudflare CDN
Server Locations
- Location Count
- 3 locations
- Choose Location
- Locations
- Ashburn, VA (US), Hillsboro, OR (US), Netherlands (EU)
Security
- Free SSL
- Wildcard SSL
- Dedicated IP
- DDoS Protection
- DDoS Level
- Basic
- 2FA
Backups & Malware
- Malware Scanning
- Malware Removal
- Firewall
- Backup Frequency
- Daily (automatic, not guaranteed accessible)
- Backup Retention
- 30 days
- On-Demand Backup
Developer Tools
- SSH Access
- Git Deployment
- Staging
- Cron Jobs
- WP-CLI
Language Support
- Node.js
- Python
- Ruby
WordPress
- WP Optimized
- Auto Install
- Auto Updates
- WP Staging
- WooCommerce
- LiteSpeed Cache
- Object Caching
Support
- Live Chat
- Chat Hours
- 24/7
- Phone Support
- Phone Hours
- Callback system (not 24/7 direct)
- Ticket Support
- Priority Support
- KB Quality
- 5/5
- Channels
- Live Chat, Phone (callback), Email/Ticket, Knowledge Base
- Languages
- English, Spanish
- Email Included
- Account Limit
- Not specified
- Webmail
- Spam Filter
- Forwarding
Pricing Details
- Monthly Price
- $2.89/mo
- Renewal Price
- $10.99/mo
- Renewal Markup
- 280%
- 1st Year Cost
- $34.68
- 2nd Year Cost
- $131.88
- Setup Fee
- None
- Money Back
- 30 days
Free Inclusions
- Free SSL
- Free Domain
- Free Migration
- Free CDN
Migration
- Free Migration
- Turnaround
- 3 days
- Paid Cost
- $99
- Quality
- 4/5
Control Panel
- cPanel
- Panel Name
- DreamHost Panel
- Softaculous
- Site Builder
- Builder Name
- DreamHost Website Builder
Compliance
- GDPR
- PCI
- HIPAA
CMS Platforms
- Drupal
- Joomla
- Magento
- Laravel
- Django
- Next.js
- Rails
- Static Sites
Content Policies
- Adult Content
- Crypto Sites
- Bandwidth Overage
- Unmetered; no overage charges
- Storage Overage
- Must upgrade plan or purchase additional storage
Business Features
- API Access
- Reseller Hosting
- White Label
Best For (Score)
- Beginners
- 3/5
- Bloggers
- 4/5
- Developers
- 5/5
- eCommerce
- 4/5
- Agencies
- 3/5
- Enterprise
- 2/5
Company Info
- Founded
- 1996
- Headquarters
- United States
- Parent Company
- New Dream Network, LLC
- Trustpilot
- 4.7/5 (8,018 reviews)
Our Ratings
- Overall
- 3.8/5
- Value
- 4/5
- Performance
- 4/5
- Support
- 3.5/5
- Security
- 3.5/5
- Features
- 4/5
- Ease of Use
- 3.5/5
- Transparency
- 4/5
Managed WordPress
- Available
Regional Info
- Best Countries
- United States, Canada, Netherlands
- Currencies
- USD
- Support Languages
- English, Spanish
- Data Sovereignty
- GDPR
External Ratings
- Trustpilot
- 4.7/5
- Reviews Count
- 8,018
- G2 Rating
- 4/5
- BBB Rating
- Not Accredited
Advanced Technical
- PHP Switching
Access & Limits
- SSH Tier
- All hosting plans
- Staging Tier
- DreamPress plans
Additional Pricing
- Domain Duration
- 12 months
- Exclusions
- Only applies to shared hosting with credit card payment; DreamPress has 30-day guarantee; Domain registrations non-refundable; SSL certificates non-refundable; Add-on services non-refundable; Updated to 30 days as of July 2025
- Payment Methods
- Credit Card, Debit Card, PayPal, Check
- Auto Renewal
- SSL Provider
- Let's Encrypt
Support Details
- Phone Countries
- United States, Canada
- Community Forum
- Object Cache Type
- Built-in caching (DreamPress)
Affiliate Program
- Affiliate Available
- Commission Type
- Flat rate (tiered)
- Commission Amount
- Up to $300 per referral; 97-day holding period; monthly bank transfer payout; no earning limits; top earners made $20K+ last year
Additional Policies
- File Hosting
- Proxy/VPN
- Suspension Policy
- AUP violations result in suspension or termination; content illegal in USA prohibited
- Downloadable Backups
Additional Platforms
- PrestaShop
- Ghost
- Shopify Migration
- Wix Migration
- Squarespace Migration
- Webflow Export
Editorial Notes
- Best For
- Privacy-conscious users (employee-owned, privacy advocacy); WordPress users (DreamPress managed hosting); Users wanting long money-back period; Developers (SSH, Git, multiple languages); Users wanting 100% uptime guarantee; Open-source advocates; US-based websites (2 US + 1 EU data center)
- Avoid If
- Need cPanel; Need included email on basic plan; Need more global data center options; Prefer direct phone support; Need enterprise compliance (no SOC2/HIPAA); Budget-conscious long-term (VPS renewal 150% markup)
- Known Issues
- No cPanel (custom panel takes adjustment); Email not included on Shared Starter (only free 3 months); PHP Extended Support costs $5/mo extra; DreamShield security and hack recovery are paid extras; Money-back guarantee reduced from 97 to 30 days (July 2025); Phone support is callback only (not direct dial); Automatic backups exist but not guaranteed accessible; Only 3 data center locations
- USP
- Employee-owned privacy advocate with 100% uptime guarantee and full developer tools
- Ideal Customer
- Privacy-conscious developer or WordPress enthusiast wanting ethical hosting
Competition
- Competitors
- Bluehost, InMotion, A2 Hosting
- Best Alternative To
- Bluehost
We strive for accuracy, but pricing and features change frequently. Some data may be outdated. Report an error and we'll update it promptly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about DreamHost
DreamHost is excellent for privacy-conscious users and developers, with 100% uptime guarantee and ethical ownership, but has a custom panel instead of cPanel.
DreamHost is employee-owned (New Dream Network, LLC), founded by college students in 1996. Known for privacy advocacy.
DreamHost shared hosting starts at $2.95/month (promo) and renews at $7.99/month. First year costs approximately $35.
Moderately. DreamHost has good support and documentation, but the custom control panel takes adjustment from cPanel users.
Not on the basic Shared Starter plan (only free for 3 months). Higher plans include email.
Yes, DreamHost offers DreamPress managed WordPress hosting with staging, caching, and excellent performance.
DreamHost guarantees 100% uptime, the highest in the industry, with SLA credits for any downtime.
Yes, with a 97-day money-back guarantee (reduced to 30 days as of July 2025). Only applies to shared hosting with credit card.
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