DreamHost hosts well over a million websites and has always leaned hard into open-source—right in line with how the company was founded.
One big differentiator: DreamHost’s month-to-month hosting is genuinely affordable. You can launch with no long-term commitment and still get a real hosting plan—without the “pay for three years or get punished” pricing you see from a lot of competitors.
Bottom line: if you want flexible, affordable hosting that doesn’t force a long contract, DreamHost is tough to beat.
Compare DreamHost to The Best Web Hosting
We researched the top providers to find the best web hosting available today. Our full roundup breaks down strengths, trade-offs, and pricing so you can pick what fits your needs. See all of our top picks here.
DreamHost earns a spot on our shortlist for one reason: it’s one of the rare hosts that gives you legit flexibility without turning monthly billing into a ripoff. Here’s why it still deserves serious consideration.
DreamHost: The Good and The Bad
DreamHost is an easy recommendation for many use cases, but it’s not perfect. Weigh these pros and cons before you decide.
The Good
Affordable monthly plans: DreamHost’s month-to-month pricing is among the best in the industry. You can cancel any time, and monthly plans still include the core features you actually need. Perfect if you can’t commit up front or you’re validating a project before locking into a multi-year deal.
Uptime backing: Reliability matters. DreamHost advertises an uptime guarantee and backs it with service credits if qualifying downtime occurs. It’s not magic, but it’s a real policy you can hold them to—and it’s still a strong signal that they take reliability seriously.
Solid refund window: Shared hosting comes with a generous money-back guarantee, and managed plans like VPS and DreamPress have a straightforward 30-day refund period on new accounts. That gives you a real-world trial run to make sure the platform fits.
Security basics included: Free SSL certificates, easy access to server-side controls, and support for SSH/SFTP come standard. You can harden WordPress further with plugins, and DreamHost’s infrastructure protections add another layer of defense behind the scenes.
Modern stack: DreamHost supports current PHP versions and the modern web performance basics you want for WordPress and custom apps. That means better compatibility, better security posture, and less “ancient server” friction.
Domains bundled on annual terms: Annual (and longer) hosting terms include one free domain for the first year, and domain privacy is included for supported TLDs. After year one, renewals are transparent and generally in line with market rates.
Easy, clean control panel: DreamHost uses its own streamlined dashboard instead of cPanel. It’s clean, modern, and beginner-friendly while still giving power users access to the settings that matter.
Generous resources: The newer shared tiers come with unmetered bandwidth and NVMe storage sized to the plan—Launch includes 25 GB storage and up to 25 websites, Growth doubles that to 50 GB and 50 websites, and Scale bumps it to 100 GB and 100 websites. (As always, fair-use rules apply—no file-sharing or backup-dump sites.)
The Bad
Limited free phone support: You can’t call in directly. Instead, DreamHost offers callbacks—free on higher-tier plans, or paid add-ons for entry-level hosting. Live chat and tickets are available, but if you prefer traditional phone help at no extra cost, look elsewhere.
Email is time-limited on entry plans: On Launch, Growth, and Scale, you get professional email at your domain free for the first three months (mailbox counts increase per tier). After that, it becomes a paid add-on. If you want “always included” email, some rivals still bundle it indefinitely.
Fewer global locations than some rivals: DreamHost has multiple data center regions (including U.S. East, U.S. West, Europe, and AP Southeast), which is a solid spread. Still, hosts with a larger footprint across more countries may deliver closer-to-user latency in additional markets.
Manual installs for some CMSs: One-click installs cover WordPress and a handful of popular apps. For other stacks, setup can be more hands-on compared to hosts that offer broader one-click catalogs.
DreamHost Pricing and Options
DreamHost Pricing
DreamHost offers multiple packages for shared, WordPress, VPS, dedicated, and cloud hosting. Promotional pricing is strongest on annual and multi-year terms; month-to-month is available if you want maximum flexibility.
DreamHost Shared Hosting
Shared hosting is the most affordable way to get online with DreamHost.
Typical promo rates start around $2.89/month on a one-year term for the Launch plan and renew around $10.99/month. Growth starts around $3.99/month and renews around $12.99/month. Scale starts around $9.99/month and renews around $25.99/month. Month-to-month pricing is also available, often with an introductory discount before switching to standard monthly rates.
There are three shared tiers—Launch, Growth, and Scale. Launch is ideal for brand-new sites and includes:
- Up to 25 websites
- Free domain on annual terms
- Unmetered traffic
- WordPress installer & free automated WordPress migrations
- AI-assisted website builder (Liftoff)
- NVMe storage (25 GB)
- Free SSL certificates
- Professional email @ your domain free for 3 months (20 mailboxes)
Growth adds:
- Up to 50 websites
- 50 GB NVMe storage
- Higher visit allowance (up to 200k/month)
- Professional email @ your domain free for 3 months (40 mailboxes)
Scale is for heavier sites and adds:
- Up to 100 websites
- 100 GB NVMe storage
- Higher visit allowance (up to 400k/month)
- Professional email @ your domain free for 3 months (60 mailboxes)
If your site grows beyond what Scale comfortably supports—or you need more predictable performance—consider upgrading to VPS or managed WordPress (DreamPress).
DreamHost VPS Hosting
VPS (virtual private server) hosting isolates resources for your site, improving consistency under load and giving you more control. DreamHost’s managed VPS lineup scales from entry-level to business-class configurations, with flexible RAM, vCPU, and storage options.
Plans are organized by resource level (Basic, Business, Professional, Enterprise), and you can scale resources as traffic grows. VPS is a smart upgrade for busy blogs, membership sites, and WooCommerce stores that have outgrown shared hosting.
Promotional VPS pricing is strongest on annual terms, with standard monthly rates after the first year. You can also upgrade resources from the panel as your needs change.
DreamHost Dedicated Hosting
Dedicated servers give you maximum isolation and control—great for large businesses, agencies, and apps with heavy or spiky traffic. DreamHost can fully manage the server, apply security patches, and monitor uptime so your team can focus on the site itself.
Standard configurations start with a 6-Core/12-Thread CPU, 16 GB RAM, and SSD storage; Enhanced tiers add more cores and RAM. Expect higher monthly pricing than shared or VPS—this is enterprise-grade hardware reserved entirely for you.
Multiple RAM and SSD options are available across Standard and Enhanced tiers, so you can tailor performance (and cost) to your workloads.
DreamHost Cloud Hosting
DreamHost’s cloud lineup includes DreamCompute (scalable VM instances) and DreamObjects (S3-compatible object storage). Cloud makes sense if you want on-demand resources, predictable billing, and developer flexibility.
DreamCompute offers VM “flavors” billed hourly with a monthly cap (you’re charged for up to 600 hours in a month; anything beyond that is not billed). Entry options are just a few dollars per month, with plans scaling up as you add RAM, vCPUs, and storage.
DreamObjects is pay-as-you-go object storage—ideal for media libraries, app assets, and offloading static files. Storage is billed per GB per month and data transfer is billed per GB; request pricing depends on the specific usage and configuration.
DreamHost Domain Names
You can register your domain right through DreamHost. Popular TLDs like .com often run first-year promos, and domain privacy is included for supported extensions. Renewals are transparent and generally in line with the market for major TLDs.
When you buy a domain through DreamHost, you get:
- Free private registration (WHOIS privacy) for supported TLDs
- Unlimited subdomains
- Easy domain transfers
- A simple management panel
- Broad TLD selection
DreamHost Website Builder
If building a site feels intimidating, DreamHost’s WordPress-focused Website Builder includes AI-powered Liftoff and an optional done-for-you starter site. You’ll get guided theme setup, structured editing, and AI-assisted starting points to help you go from idea to published site fast.
The builder integrates directly with WordPress, so you can expand later with plugins, ecommerce (WooCommerce), and custom themes without switching platforms.
Comparing the Best Web Hosting
DreamHost checks a lot of boxes—especially for affordable monthly hosting and no-nonsense WordPress setups. If you want to compare options side by side, don’t miss our guide to the best web hosting services.
Overall, DreamHost is a smart choice for individuals, small businesses, and growing sites. Between flexible pricing, a streamlined control panel, solid baseline security, a modern software stack, and a simple upgrade path to VPS, dedicated, or cloud, it earns its place among the top hosts worth considering.
