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DreamHost.com used to be one of the top web hosting providers, but it has seen some decline in recent years. It used to be a reliable and reputable web host that was known for their good uptime, unlimited service and innovative control panel. In recent years, they have problems with their uptime, and their customer service has become slow and impersonal.

Despite its problems, DreamHost has managed to keep loyal customers due to their transparency whenever there are issues with the data centers and the servers. This attitude is seen in the company’s blog and monthly newsletter. If you can overlook the problems that the company faced in the past couple of years, then DreamHost’s cheap hosting is perfect for your WordPress blog.

dreamhost  

  • Features  
  • Reliability/ Uptime  
  • Price/Value  
  • Performance  
  • Customer Support  




DreamHost Overall Review

dreamhost

dreamhost  

DreamHost is good for small websites and web developers who can endure the short downtimes. They provide a fair priced shared hosting plan, but they could improve a lot, especially the uptime of their servers and customer support. All the issues that plague DreamHost can frustrate beginners who only want to start a WordPress blog. It is better to go for a cheaper but more reliable web hosting provider. It is not a surprise that it got a D rating from the Better Business Bureau. You can save a lot of headaches by going to another web host.



Features  

DreamHost provides unlimited disk space, MySQL, POP3/IMAP email accounts, FTP, and bandwidth. Their hosting plan comes with one-click software installer, instant set-up and a domain name. Other features of the shared hosting plan include PHP5 support, full Unix shell, Ruby on Rails, and access to raw log files, just to name a few. Customers can benefit from the web-based account control. The shared hosting plan is ideal for hosting websites, run a WordPress blog, or an e-commerce site. It is perfect for startups.

Reliability  

DreamHost used to have a reputation of being reliable, but it has encountered several issues in recent years that have resulted to the whole network being offline for extended periods of time. In 2006, a power outage in the building holding their data center caused an interruption to their services. Then in 2007, around 700 websites and 3,500 FTP accounts were compromised, and the web hosting provider had to change their security protocols. In 2012, the DreamHost’s servers were compromised once again, and the company had to reset their customers’ passwords. The last major outage happened in 2013 when the power systems failed in their Irvine data center that caused downtimes across two days. While the power outage just lasted a couple of minutes, their backup generators didn’t start properly.

To be fair to DreamHost, they are transparent about the incidents and explain what happened, and that’s the reason why the web hosting provider continues to grow its customer base. The company guarantees 100 percent uptime. The company will credit a day hosting free for every hour of downtime, up to a maximum of 10 percent of the next web hosting renewal fee.

Price / Value  

DreamHost provides Shared Hosting, WordPress Hosting, VPS, and Dedicated Servers. Their Shared Hosting starts at $8.95 a month and comes with all the unlimited features that other web hosting providers also deliver.

Their DreamPress Plan is optimized for WordPress hosting. It costs $19.95 a month. This is for people who have outgrown their shared hosting plan. You should opt for this plan if your blog requires more resources. DreamHost provides a hosting environment that’s maximized for WordPress that includes server caching and daily backups.

DreamHost offers three Virtual Private Servers. The cheapest plan costs $15 a month and comes with 300 MB of RAM. Then there’s the Best Value plan that costs $50 a month and comes with 1,000 MB of RAM. For people who need more resources, there’s the $200 a month plan with 4,000 MB of RAM.

The web hosting provider also offers three Dedicated Server plans. They are billed monthly with no commitment. Blue Moon 4 costs $169 a month with 4 GB of RAM. Blue Moon 8 costs $209 a month with 8 GB of RAM. Blue Moon 16 costs $249 a month with 16 GB of RAM.

Performance  

Aside from the occasional downtimes, there are people who are complaining about the performance of DreamHost. There are mixed reviews when it comes to the loading time. It looks like DreamHost is not limiting the number of accounts on a server. Some customers are happy with the service they get from the web hosting provider while others complain about the slow upload and download speeds. There are better and more reliable web hosting companies that offer cheaper plans compared to DreamHost.

Customer Support  

Customers can get technical support from DreamHost through live chat. They don’t provide a dedicated phone number for support. They are proud to proclaim that they keep their support team in-house, but customers don’t feel the same way, especially when they can’t find a resolution to problems with their web hosting account. DreamHost also provides a knowledgebase, FAQ and a forum where other users can help their fellow customers with problems.