DreamHost Review

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Four college students founded DreamHost in 1997—Dallas Bethune, Josh Jones, Michael Rodriguez and Sage Weil—at Harvey Mudd College in Clermont, California. Originally, their company was part of the New Dream Network, but today DreamHost is a separate entity hosting more than a million websites globally.

This company offers website-hosting and WordPress-dedicated-hosting services as well as email hosting, domain registration, and cloud services. DreamHost’s services are continually expanding as the brand increases its market share in the hosting marketplace.

Pricing

DreamHost pricing offers monthly and yearly options. The latter is cheaper but, of course, requires a long-term commitment. The company has three main price categories: Shared, DreamPress, and VPS. For each category, you can use the drop-down menu to choose which variant makes the most sense for your needs.

Shared plans start at $3.95 per month, while core plans start at $16.95 per month for yearly contract pricing. The costs can increase as you begin to add more features to your shopping cart.

Support

You can get in touch with the customer support department using their ticketing system or live chat. Queue times are fast, so you can quickly get someone to help you with problems. The customer-service agents are friendly and have the time of day to answers all your questions.

DreamHost has no phone support, which is one of the drawbacks of its customer service. Some problems require a phone conversation for a speedy conclusion to the issue. Support documentation is also available for you to find a resolution without a customer service agent.

Pros

  • Good uptime: DreamHost’s speed and uptime performance are among the best in the industry. Reliability can be an issue when you have a website that cannot go offline, since it might lose business if a company has spotty uptime.
  • Modern backend: Dreamhost’s backend, where you can modify your website, looks up-to-date. Therefore, you can quickly navigate the menu and intuitively find the functions you need.
  • No upsells: With DreamHost, you get full functionality when choosing one of the hosting plans. DreamHost does not try to upsell in the hopes of making more money.
  • 97– day money-back guarantee: This extra-long guarantee period allows you to try DreamHost for longer before needing to make a final decision.
  • Unlimited space and bandwidth: You receive unlimited storage and bandwidth regardless of which plan you choose. There are no caveats to the unlimited functionality. Everyone gets unlimited capacity, allowing your website to scale without hindrance.

Cons:

  • Lack of Phone Support: DreamHost’s customer support could add more options. Phone support would be a welcome addition to allow users to establish a voice conversation with a customer service representative. This is currently unavailable.
  • Starter plan with no email: The starter plan offers no email account, which can be tricky for businesses. An official website account is the best way to communicate with customers.
  • Limited server location: DreamHosts servers are only available in the U.S. The limitation means that your site visitors connecting from the other side of the globe might experience latency issues.
  • Missing features: Experienced users may be puzzled by DreamHost’s lack of advanced features. These include functionality such as backup solutions and built-in caching. The advanced features are also unavailable on the more expensive pricing plans.

Conclusion

DreamHost is an excellent hosting service that provides good customizability. You have the freedom to choose the hosting plan that is the best match for your needs. The combination of the modern backend, 97-day money-back guarantee, unlimited storage and bandwidth, and no upsells makes this option a great choice.

Some disadvantages could be a deal-breaker, depending on your priorities. The limited server location may result in performance issues if your business is global.

Give DreamHost a try for yourself to see if it’s the right hosting solution for your website. You have 97 days to decide, since you can get a refund at any time up to that point.

Kyle Williams
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