DreamHost is widely recognized as one of the most dependable providers of WordPress hosting out there. They are even recognized by WordPress themselves! They have an impressive lineup of hosting plans that cater to diverse needs, ranging from basic shared hosting to robust managed WordPress solutions and Virtual Private Servers (VPS). In this detailed DreamHost review, we’ll dive into their services, and help you decide if they’re the right fit for you.
Importance of Reliable Hosting for WordPress Websites
Choosing the right hosting for your WordPress website is critical to its success. A reliable hosting company ensures your website is fast, secure, and always accessible to users. With DreamHost, you get access to reliable servers and top-notch security features that come standard with all their hosting plans. Of course, there are some downsides, which we’ll also cover in this review.
DreamHost Company Overview
DreamHost has been hosting websites since 1997, making it a seasoned player in the web hosting industry. This means DreamHost can focus solely on providing reliable and affordable hosting solutions for small businesses, bloggers, and developers.
With over 1.5 million websites under their belt, DreamHost is well-known for their exceptional customer service. They offer round-the-clock support through email, live chat, and even provide helpful self-help resources like tutorials. Need assistance over the phone? DreamHost has got you covered with their call-back service, available on specific plans.
In addition to their hosting services, DreamHost actively supports the WordPress community and champions the open-source platform. This is something that I really like about DreamHost, they actually understand WordPress. That understanding goes all the way from their hosting to their technical support team.
WordPress Hosting Basics
WordPress isn’t the only way to build a website, so many hosting companies including DreamHost offer hosting for other types of websites and services. However, having a hosting company that understands WordPress and the needs of WordPress users is very important.
What is WordPress hosting?
WordPress hosting is a type of web hosting specifically designed to meet the needs of WordPress websites. It includes features such as 1-click installation, automatic updates, pre-configured security settings and more. Basically, everything that you as a WordPress website owner will need to make your life building a WordPress website easier.
What should you look for in a WordPress host?
When choosing a WordPress host, you should look for features like high-performance servers, automated backups, daily malware scans, managed security updates and 24/7 customer support.
You should also make sure the host offers a range of hosting plans to suit your budget and site needs.
Most importantly Support staff that understands WordPress and can help you determine if the issue you’re having is a WordPress issue or a hosting issue. DreamHost’s support staff are well trained in WordPress and can help you quickly resolve or at least point you in the right direction to resolve any issue. They have helped me resolve issues on my websites on numerous occasions. Their support staff always seems so friendly!
DreamHost Hosting Plans & Features
DreamHost offers various hosting solutions, including shared, VPS, dedicated, and managed WordPress hosting. In this article, we’re going to look specifically at their WordPress hosting plans.
There are three main tiers of hosting plans that DreamHost offers for WordPress Users. Basic, DreamPress and WooCommerce Hosting.
WordPress Basic Hosting
These plans are DreamHost’s lowest-cost offering for WordPress Hosting. At the time of writing this article, there were two Basic hosting plans. The Shared Starter plan starts at an introductory price of $2.59/mo and the Shared Unlimited plan starts at $3.95/ month, both of them if you purchase 3 years of hosting upfront.
It’s not just the starting price that’s important!
One important thing to look at when choosing a hosting company is not only the introductory rate but what that rate goes to after the introductory period. I’ve seen lots of companies offer great introductory rates but then charge outrageous prices after the introductory period. At the time of writing these plans renew at $5.99/mo and $10.99/mo respectively.
These renewal rates are much lower than many of their competitors. I’ve seen prices for similar services from other hosting companies go from an introductory rate of $5.99 per month to $29.99 after renewal! Yikes! At that price, you could have your website hosted on one of the DreamPress plans! I’ll talk about those later in this review. The reasonable pricing after the introductory period is one reason that I really like and respect DreamHost.
What is the difference between the Starter and Unlimited Plans?
Here are the main differences between the Starter plan and the Unlimited plan:
- The Starter plan is designed for one website, while the Unlimited plan allows you to build as many websites as you like.
- The Unlimited plan makes it easier to install a free SSL certificate by pre-installing it for you.
- Both plans offer automated daily backups, but restoring backups is easier on the DreamPress and WooCommerce plans. (which is covered later in this article)
- While the Starter plan doesn’t include email, the Unlimited plan lets you create email addresses for each of your domains.
- Lastly, the Starter site comes with 50GB of storage, which is usually more than enough if you’re just starting out. The Unlimited plan, as the name suggests, offers Unlimited storage.
Which of the WordPress Basic Plans is best?
If your budget allows, I highly recommend going for the Unlimited plan. It provides great flexibility and offers the best value, especially with the inclusion of email at your domain. Fun fact: This was actually the first plan I signed up for with DreamHost over ten years ago when I started out with them! So, they’ve definitely stood the test of time for me.
Downsides of Dreamhost’s Basic Plans
There are two main downsides to DreamHost’s Basic plans.
The main downside is the interface. It has improved over the last 10 years since I started with Dreamhost, but it can still be a little complicated to find out how do simple things like restore your website from a backup. They have been working on simplifying and decluttering their interface, but it still needs some work. Also, some of their help files for the Basic Plans are not up to date with the current interface.
The second downside is performance. DreamHost’s shared hosting plans do perform near the top when compared to other shared hosting providers, but they don’t have the fastest shared hosting offerings.
DreamPress Plans & Features
DreamPress is DreamHost’s Managed WordPress hosting plan. It’s also one of my favorite hosting options from any hosting company. It’s designed to give you the best performance and reliability for your website.
It really is a different level of hosting! Everything from speed to features. When you look at the specs on the website it might seem like you are getting less, but you are actually getting more of what you really need to run a successful website or blog.
DreamPress plans start at $16.95/mo all plans come with Fast SSD Storage, pre-installed SSL certificates, email, automated daily backups, on-demand backups, 1 click backup restores, automated core and security updates, staging environment and more. The two higher plans also include phone support.
One Click Staging Environment
This is a huge feature! And it’s included with DreamPress plans! The One-click staging environment allows you to easily and quickly create a duplicate copy of your live website so you can test changes, upgrades, or new plugins without affecting the live website.
This would normally cost extra with most hosting companies, but DreamHost has included it for free with their DreamPress plans.
On-Demand Backups
On-demand Backups are another great feature included with DreamPress. They allow you to create backups of your site at any time. This is especially handy if you are doing a major update or upgrade to your website, allowing you to easily restore to an earlier version should something go wrong.
Downsides of DreamPress hosting
Like Dreamhosts shared hosting plan DreamPress plans suffer a bit from the interface. However, this is mostly navigating to where you manage your DreamPress hosted websites. Once you are on the panel to manage your DreamPress website the interface is very simple and easy to use. Mostly because DreamHost takes care of the bulk of the configuration for you.
Since DreamPress is a newer service finding the help files you need is much easier, plus you have access to DreamHost’s excellent support staff.
What is the difference between WordPress Basic hosting and DreamPress?
The two things that really set DreamPress apart from Dreamhost’s basic hosting plan are Performance and access to a Staging Environment.
The performance improvement that you get with DreamPress is significant and worth the upgrade if you can afford it.
Staging helps you more confidently make changes to your website with out needing to worry about messing up, or that your visitors will see the changes as you are making them. These features can be real time-savers and help you get your website off the ground more efficiently.
WooCommerce Hosting Plans
Are essentially the same as DreamPress. Which is a good thing! WooCommerce websites take a bit more resources and need better performance!
DreamHost WooCommerce Benefits:
- Improved Performance
- One Click Staging environment
- On demand backup
DreamHost’s WooCommerce hosting plans have a lot to offer, especially when you consider the staging environment. It really is an excellent value and can make a big difference when starting a WooCommerce website. Plus, DreamHost’s support team is excellent and always willing to help you get up and running quickly!
Pros and Cons of Each Plan
Quick overview of the Pros and Cons of DreamHosts shared hosting, DreamPress and WooCommerce plans.
Shared Hosting Plans
Pros:
- Affordable
- Good performance for the price
- Suitable for small websites or blogs
- Higher-level plan allows you to build unlimited websites
- Higher-level plan allows you to have email at your domain.
- Automatic Daily Backups
Cons:
- Complicated interface
- Not always up-to-date help files
- Limited resources that may affect performance.
- Not the fastest performance when compared to other hosting companies.
DreamPress Plans
Pros:
- Significantly better performance than shared hosting plans.
- Pre-installed SSL certificates.
- Automated Daily Backups.
- On-demand backups with one-click restores.
- One-click staging environment.
- Email at your domain is included
Cons:
- More expensive than shared hosting
- Only for one website
WooCommerce Plans
Pros:
- Significantly better performance than shared hosting plans.
- Pre-installed SSL certificates.
- Automated Daily Backups and Restores.
- On-demand backups with one click restores.
- One-click staging environment.
- Email at your domain is included
Cons:
- Only for one website
- Most Expensive DreamHost hosting option.
Overall all three levels of DreamHosts plans have a lot to offer and are good options depending on your needs. Shared Hosting is a great budget-friendly option, while DreamPress and WooCommerce offer a big performance boost and additional features that can help you get the most out of your website.
Conclusion
I’ve tested many different hosting companies over the years and I’ve never been tempted to switch providers. The one move that I did make was to move this website up from Shared hosting to DreamPress hosting; which made a significant improvement to the performance of my website.
DreamHost really is a great hosting provider and I would certainly recommend them to anyone looking for a reliable and well-priced hosting option! They also offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, so there is really no reason not to give them a try.
