DreamHost Review 2025: The Best WordPress Host?

DreamHost is an outstanding web host, particularly for WordPress users and small businesses. It’s reliable, performs well, and is easy to use. DreamHost offers a clear plan selection, easy site startup, AI-powered website building tools, and a useful control panel — there’s a lot to like about the service.

Our only real complaints about DreamHost are the lack of a direct phone support line and the cost of the managed WordPress plans, which are a bit pricier than many of its competitors. However, we feel the good heavily outweighs the bad here, and we happily recommend DreamHost.

DreamHost review at a glance

Price	$2.59–$74.99/mo
Money-back guarantee	Yes — 30 days for most plans
Uptime guarantee	100%
Monthly visits	Unlimited
Number of websites	1 – unlimited
Storage	30 – 1920 GB
Free SSL certificate	On all plans except Shared Starter
Free domain for a year	On annual or 3-year Shared Hosting, DreamPress, and VPS plans
Backup frequency	Daily
Migration assistance	Free migration tool on all plans Personal migration assistance is free with DreamPress plans or starting at $199 on other plans
24/7 support	On all plans
Learn more	Get DreamHost

We last tested DreamHost on July 18, 2025.

Our experience

We had an excellent overall experience with DreamHost. From selecting a plan to building a starter site and adjusting settings, everything felt straightforward. When we did need help, we were able to get answers quickly and easily through the many support channels available.

DreamHost’s plan selection is easy to understand. The different hosting types are clearly defined, and the various tiers within each type are well organized and logical. For our testing, we chose the Shared Starter plan, but the DreamPress plans are also very popular.

Searching for a domain is simple, and DreamHost offers one-click WordPress installation. Once installed, you can take advantage of the Liftoff site builder, which uses AI to help you create your website. This process was also easy and intuitive.

One of our favorite parts of the DreamHost experience was the custom control panel. Managing a website often requires mucking about in the control panel, and “mucking” is a good description of navigating the average web host’s panel.

By comparison, DreamHost’s panel is a breeze to use, allowing you to get in, do what you need to do, and return to more important tasks. The DreamHost control panel also features easy-to-read tools for monitoring traffic, storage usage, and other key statistics.

Overall, DreamHost provides one of the best WordPress hosting experiences we’ve seen. It’s easy to use and gets out of the way when needed. If we were looking for a new WordPress host, we’d absolutely be considering DreamHost.

DreamHost prices and subscriptions

DreamHost plans start at $2.59/mo. (billed every 3 years) for basic shared hosting and range up to $749 per month for high-spec dedicated servers. Like most hosting providers, you can opt for an annual or 3-year subscription to save a significant amount of money (and that’s generally what we’d recommend doing).

The most popular plans are highlighted in the table below. Shared Starter offers a basic but affordable hosting experience. DreamPress is a Managed WordPress plan that offers additional features and support. VPS plans offer higher performance than standard shared hosting without the massive cost of true dedicated servers.

Features	Shared Starter	DreamPress	VPS Professional
Price	$2.59/mo. (billed every 3 years)	$16.95/mo. (billed annually)	$20.00/mo. (billed every 3 years)
Uptime guarantee	100%	100%	100%
Monthly visits	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
Number of websites	1	1	Unlimited
Storage	50 GB	30 GB	120 GB
Free domain for a year	Yes, on annual or 3-year plans	Yes, on annual plans	Yes, on annual or 3-year plans
Backup frequency	Daily	Daily	Daily
Learn more	View plan	View plan	View plan

DreamHost’s shared hosting plans aren’t the most affordable, but they’re also not the most expensive — they offer a nice middle ground of price and features.

The DreamPress plans are pricey, but we think the hosting service may be worth it for many users. For the money, you get excellent support (both for WordPress and customer service) and have one of the most intuitive control panels we’ve used.

For most users, we recommend either Shared Starter or DreamPress. Shared Starter is very affordable and will still let you get a site up and running quickly. If you’re committed to WordPress and want the best experience, DreamPress is a great choice — it supplies you with advanced features and additional support, including free priority website migration, automated updates, and extra backup and restore options. This is a great choice for small businesses.

DreamHost features

DreamHost offers a range of features to simplify hosting and ensure your website functions smoothly and remains secure.

• Types of hosting: Shared, managed WordPress, VPS, dedicated servers, and cloud hosting.
• Web building features: Excellent WordPress support and a useful AI website builder.
• WordPress integration: One-click WordPress installation, one-click staging, thorough backups, automated updates, and more.
• Web migration: Automated migration tools and a professional migration service are available.

Types of web hosting available

DreamHost offers five types of web hosting:

1. Shared hosting: Standard hosting, where your website resides on a server with other sites. This is usually the most economical option.
2. Managed WordPress: Shared hosting with additional WordPress-specific features. DreamHost calls these Managed WordPress options DreamPress.
3. VPS hosting: VPS hosting is where your site resides on a Virtual Private Server. This is a middle ground between the affordability of shared hosting and the performance of a dedicated server.
4. Dedicated servers: Your site gets its own server. This offers improved performance and reliability, but tends to be quite expensive.
5. Cloud hosting: Cloud hosting environments are designed for cloud computing and similar tasks.

We tested the shared hosting using the Shared Starter plan and found performance and uptime to be quite good. The DreamPress managed WordPress plans are also attractive.

Web building features

DreamHost is very WordPress-centric, so that’s where the focus lies when it comes to website building. Unlike some other web hosts, DreamHost doesn’t have its own website builder (unlike other popular web hosting companies like GoDaddy and Hostinger). Instead, it relies on WordPress’s built-in Gutenberg editor and the rich ecosystem of WordPress plugins available.

That said, there’s an AI-powered website builder available when you first create your site, called Liftoff, that does a great job of getting you off the ground with a usable and visually appealing website.

It asks you a few brief questions about your site or business and then produces a usable and attractive site that you can then customize to your liking.

WordPress integration

DreamHost has outstanding WordPress integration. You can install the platform with a single click, and it comes with several useful plugins pre-installed to help with performance and SEO. The DreamPress managed WordPress plans offer a range of useful features for building a WordPress site, including email, automated backups, and 24/7 expert support.

Web migration

Migrating an existing website to DreamHost is simple. All plans include free automated migration, a process that is quick and seamless. Simply answer a few questions and you’ll be up and running in no time. DreamPress plans also come with free priority site migration, where a professional handles the process. This service can be purchased for other plans starting at $199 per site.

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DreamHost performance

Speed test

We test website performance using dotcom-tools.com from three different locations worldwide. This helps ensure an accurate picture of how a site performs for various visitors.

Specifically, we consider the overall performance score, as well as the First Contentful Paint (FCP) and Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) metrics. FCP represents the time it takes for a browser to render the first piece of content on a site, while LCP measures the time it takes for the largest piece of content to load.

Product	Performance score	FCP	LCP
DreamHost average	98	0.43 s	1.13 s

DreamHost scored fairly well across the board, though the LCP scores were a bit worse than some other hosts we’ve tested. That said, the site itself performed well in actual use, with no noticeable lag or slowdowns. While we’d like to see better scores, we’re not disappointed with DreamHost.

Uptime and response

We test uptime by continuously monitoring each site over a minimum of one week. At the time of testing, our DreamHost site had been running for just under 8 days.

Product	Uptime	Average response time	Minimum response time	Maximum response time
DreamHost average	100%	2564 ms	1944 ms	3183 ms

Our DreamHost site lived up to the company’s promise, achieving 100% uptime with no service interruptions during the testing period.

DreamHost security features

Your web host is the foundation of your website’s safety, performance, and reputation. Without strong security, your site (and potentially, your business) can be vulnerable to hacks, malware, and other cyberattacks.

DreamHost offers a strong array of security features and tools to help keep your site safe and performing well:

• Daily automated backups
• Distributed denial of service (DDoS) protection
• Firewall
• Spam filtering
• Two-factor authentication

DreamHost also offers the DreamShield add-on service that adds daily malware scans and a variety of notifications to help you stay aware of your site’s status.

DreamHost customer support and reputation

Support type	DreamHost
Email or live chat	Yes, both
Phone	Yes, but you can only request a callback — you can’t call directly.
Online guides or forums	Yes

DreamHost provides 24/7 customer support through chatbots, live chat, email, phone, and online guides. We used the chatbot frequently and found it to be quite helpful. We also tested the live chat, and the representative responded within the promised time frame and provided a quick answer to our question.

Our main complaint with DreamHost support is with the phone option. There’s no number you can call; you have to request a callback, which eliminates having to wait on hold for extended periods. However, phone support is not included with all plans — on our Shared Starter plan, it costs $9.95 per call or $14.95 for three calls per month. Dedicated server plans and higher-tier DreamPress plans include free phone support.

DreamHost reputation

DreamHost has a great reputation overall. Users generally appreciate the support, ease of use, and security, and the DreamPress and VPS plans seem to be particularly well-received. The company has a 4.7 rating on Trustpilot, with users praising helpful staff and professional service.

There are a handful of complaints, as with any company. Some users who are accustomed to cPanel find the custom control panel confusing, while others find the shared hosting service to be somewhat unstable.

Top alternatives

If DreamHost isn’t for you, don’t worry — there are plenty of other options. Whether you need something even more affordable or have a specific feature in mind that DreamHost doesn’t have, check out these alternatives:

FAQs

Bottom line: Is DreamHost good?

In short, yes — DreamHost is an excellent web host, particularly for WordPress users. It simplifies the process of starting and maintaining a website with clear plan selection, AI-powered website creation tools, and an intuitive control panel. We highly recommend DreamHost to anyone looking to build a WordPress site.

DreamHost is an excellent web hosting service, especially for businesses looking to launch a WordPress site. The platform boasts an intuitive custom cPanel, a proprietary WordPress AI web builder called Liftoff, and reliable uptimes. The biggest downside is the cost of Managed WordPress hosting compared to other popular web hosting providers.