DreamHost Review

Michael Lederstatter
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Company Overview

DreamHost is a hosting provider that has been doing things a bit differently since way back in 1997. By differently we mean something positive. DreamHost is simply a hosting provider that is in the industry for the love of web hosting. One of the things that we admire this company for is their efforts in keeping things as green as possible, from the hosting itself to only using coffee cups made from renewable resources. They are something as unique as a web host with a clean conscience. The hosting provided by DreamHost is strong and reliable and it includes pretty much everything you need to run a successful website. Some of the features that are included in their plan are unlimited bandwidth, unlimited e-mail accounts and unlimited disk storage. Visit the DreamHost website to see all the features that are included in their hosting plans. You will also be able to find a domain name via their website as their parent company is an ICANN-accredit registrar. DreamHost have created a Wiki page where you will be able to find answers to most of your questions. If this is not enough, you will also have the opportunity of browsing the DreamHost discussion forum. If all this would fail, simply send them an email and they will do what is in their power to answer within 24 hours.

Uptime and Reliability

With their multiple-internet-carrier and multiple fiber connections to the internet, DreamHost guarantees for total network redundancy. We have monitored 2 websites, hosted at DreamHost for 3 months and did not recognize any downtimes. Dreamhost promises a 97-day-back-guarantee, in case the customer is not fully content.

We rate DreamHost's reliability and performance to be overaverage.
Uptime Rating:
80
%

Hosting Plans and Tech Features

# Hosting Type Plan Name Storage Bandwidth Price/mo Renewal
1 Shared Shared Starter unlimited SSD unlimited $2.59 $0.00
2 Shared Shared Unlimited unlimited SSD unlimited $5.95 $0.00
3 WordPress Managed DreamPress Basic 30 GB SSD unmetered $16.95 $0.00
4 WordPress Managed DreamPress Plus 60 GB SSD unmetered $24.95 $0.00
5 WordPress Managed DreamPress Pro 120 GB SSD unmetered $71.95 $0.00
6 VPS VPS Basic 30 GB SSD unlimited $10.00 $0.00
7 VPS VPS Business 60 GB SSD unlimited $20.00 $0.00
8 VPS VPS Professional 120 GB SSD unlimited $40.00 $0.00
9 VPS VPS Enterprise 240 GB SSD unlimited $80.00 $0.00
10 Dedicated Managed Standard 4 GB 1 TB (RAID-1) unlimited $149.00 $149.00
11 Dedicated Managed Standard 8 GB 1 TB (RAID-1) unlimited $189.00 $189.00
12 Dedicated Managed Standard 16 GB 1 TB (RAID-1) unlimited $229.00 $229.00
13 Dedicated Managed Enhanced 16 GB 2 TB (RAID-1) unlimited $279.00 $279.00
14 Dedicated Managed Enhanced 32 GB 2 TB (RAID-1) unlimited $329.00 $329.00
15 Dedicated Managed Enhanced 64 GB 2 TB (RAID-1) unlimited $379.00 $379.00
16 Dedicated Managed Enhanced 16 GB 240 GB SSD unlimited $279.00 $279.00
17 Dedicated Managed Enhanced 32 GB 240 GB SSD unlimited $329.00 $329.00
18 Dedicated Managed Enhanced 64 GB 240 GB SSD unlimited $379.00 $379.00
Plans, Apps and Features Rating:
90
%

Control Panel and Software

DreamHost employes a self-developed control panel, wich they promise on their own website to be "the coolest thing ever, basically". Investigating and testing things for this review, we had a close look at it of course. We were interested to find out differences to e.g. Cpanel, wich is the industry-leading standard software for managing hosting accounts.

DreamHost's control panel is really quiet cool, at least concerning the features. However, the design of the control panel is a text-based table - not so intuitive like Cpanel. Packed with features, it gives the customer the ability to adjust every aspect of his web hosting account: create a website, an email account or a database, backup files or rather common things like billing functions. Cron Jobs or autoresponders can be programmed, Streaming Video, Audio (Quicktime or RealVideo) and FrontPage extensions are only a few aspects, that can be all managed from within the control panel.

There is a strong sense of community in the DreamHost-ideology and is reflected through the integration of customer suggestion forms, community newsletters, a customer forum, a directory and a rewards program - all integrated right into the control panel.

Despite it's optical simplicity being a text-table, the features of the control panel are powerful, complete and professional. It's fun to work with.
Software Rating:
90
%

Support Performance

DreamHost offers 24/7 support through email and live chat. However, a telephone support is not included in the $8.95 /month hosting plan at all. DreamHost's philosophy concerning support issues is a system, that rather helps the customer to help himself. This system includes the DreamHost Support Wiki, a giant FAQ knowledgebase, the customer forums where users can support each other and finally the email or chat system ot obtain support from a DreamHost employee.

DreamHost promises to answer all support requests within 24 hours, but "mostly they are answered in substantially less time". Other hosting providers promise 2 minutes. We feel, a hosting package at this price and with such professional features (being interesting for business clients) deserves a faster and more responsive support and a support telephone.

This kind of support structure is OK for experienced users. Absolute newbies could feel lost, helpless and unattended. Other hosting providers taking $8.95 /month or less offer a toll-free telephone number additionally. We think, DreamHost's support level does not correspond with the rest of this high quality web hosting package.
Support Rating:
40
%

Pricing, Value and Renewal Fees

The price of $8.95/month is not the cheapest in the hosting industry, but DreamHost provides a lot for that. Their single available hosting plan includes a free domain name, unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth and unlimited mySQL databases. Additionally to unlimited storage, 50 GB of file-backup storage space is included in the hosting plan. This should be enough for 95% of all website projects. Ruby on Rails is fully supported, as are Real Audio and Real Video streams.

The hosting plan includes $75 in Google Adwords bonus and promises a 97-day-money-back-guarantee. A one-click-automatic-software-installer makes it easy for customers to install Joomla, WordPress, phpBB or Gallery.

The hosting plan is a high quality, high feature plan. We consider the price for this plan a litte overaverage, though.
Price Value Rating:
100
%

Conclusion: Do we recommend DreamHost?

Total Rating:
80
%
Total Grade:
Very good
Prices from:
$2.59 (Renews $0.00)
Server Speed:
83
%
Uptime:
80
%
Plans & Features:
90
%
Software:
90
%
Support:
40
%
Price & Renewal:
100
%
DreamHost offers a high quality web hosting package with an overall high standard of features. The company itself is sympathic and we like the community-style way of thinking, the ecological responsibility by using carbon-neutral energy and the friendly, relaxed atmosphere at DreamHost.

The 97-day-money-back-guarantee shows, Dreamhost is confident about customer satisfaction. We were satisfied with the hosting features, the reliablity, the server-performance and the self-developed control panel.

A toll-free telephone number (or at least any telephone-support at all) is missing in our opinion. To be fair, it has to be said that the Support-Wiki is huge and really complete.

We see DreamHost as a high quality provider, that can be a good choice for experienced users, that need only few support.
DreamHost Pros
  • Excellent entry-level Price
  • Everything-unlimited-plan
  • 97-day money-back guarantee
  • Great self-developed control panel
DreamHost Cons
  • Only Linux/Unix hosting
  • Support answeres only within 24 hours guaranteed
  • No support-telephone
Michael Lederstatter
Tested and Reviewed by
Michael Lederstatter
Editor  |  Founder
Web Designer & Webmaster since 1998
Crazy about reviewing Web Hosts
Husband, Daddy and Tech-Weirdo