DreamHost Review and Test Results

Review

Popular amongst internet professionals for their reliability, server speed, and numerous shared hosting features, DreamHost does not follow the crowd. They are a company that does things in their own way. With 1 million plus active hosting accounts as a testament to their success, they must be pleasing a lot of customers.

We don’t often come across web hosting companies that offer free trials, but DreamHost is an exception. Completing the sign up process entitles customers to try the service free for two weeks. If you are satisfied after the first 14 days, they bill your credit card. If you are unhappy, you can cancel at any time during the trial period without being charged a single cent. We were pleasantly surprised to receive an e-mail 3 days prior to the trial expiration reminding us that the free trial was coming to an end. We did not cancel.

DreamHost proprietary control panel. Click to enlarge.

Accounts are set up immediately and the “Welcome” e-mail includes all of the information you need to get started. We had our NCM test site free trial up and running in less than an hour after signing up.

At $9.95 per month before application of the NCMONLINE25OFF $25.00 off coupon code, DreamHost is a bit more costly than the average shared host. However, their plan provides a good deal more and it is backed by an unheard of 97-day money-back guarantee. Unlike other companies that offer a number of shared Linux plans, DreamHost features a single all-inclusive plan that provides a number of upgrade options. Unlimited features of the plan include:

DreamHost proprietary 1-click WordPress installer. Click to enlarge.

• Unlimited disk space
• Unlimited bandwidth
• Unlimited MySQL databases
• Unlimited domains
• Unlimited e-mail addresses
• Unlimited mailing lists
• Unlimited auto-responders
• Unlimited subdomains
• Unlimited forwarded/mirrored domains

DreamHost utilizes a proprietary control panel (screenshot above right). Owing to the intuitive navigation menu, it is fairly easy to master within a few minutes, and should pose no problems for beginners. Unlike a number of other hosting companies with their own custom control panels, we did not encounter any issues with the DreamHost Dashboard while setting up our site.

DreamHost Uptime Test Results Chart. Click to enlarge.

DreamHost provides a proprietary 1-click script installer (screenshot above right) for CMS applications like WordPress, Joomla, Concrete5, Pligg, MODx Evolution, and others. It will also install Zen Cart, the popular ecommerce shopping cart, with a single click. We found their 1-click installer to be the simplest we have ever encountered and ideal for beginners.

In addition to shared Linux hosting, DreamHost offers VPS (virtual private server) plans, cloud server plans, and dedicated server plans — all at additional cost.

DreamHost Speed Test Results Chart. Click to enlarge.

All web hosting services reviewed by NCM Online are purchased and subjected to our 10-day test for uptime and speed. To date, DreamHost is one of the fastest shared hosting services we have tested, scoring a highly impressive average speed of only 1.119 seconds to load our test site from 13 locations worldwide, and only 0.8707 seconds from 7 U.S. locations. Tested for uptime every 15 minutes over 10 days, DreamHost produced a perfect 100% reliability score. See screenshots of Uptime and Speed Test Results Charts right.

Pros

• Two-week free trial
• Excellent server speed
• 100% uptime
• Easy-to-navigate website
• Easy-to-use 1-click WordPress installer
• Unlimited disk space
• Unlimited bandwidth
• Unlimited websites
• Unlimited MySQL databases
• Shared plan includes dedicated IP address and SSL certificate options
• 97-day money-back guarantee
• Exclusive NCMONLINE25OFF no-expiration, $25 discount off annual plan coupon code

Cons

• F BBB rating
• No phone or chat support
• No PayPal billing option
• Not the cheapest shared hosting

Conclusion

Providing a wide range of unlimited hosting features and the superior technical performance favored by internet professionals, DreamHost is also easy to use for beginners. While they are not the least expensive shared host in the industry, DreamHost packs a lot of value into their service for less than $10 per month.

DreamHost has earned 4 stars and is recommended with reservations by NCM Online.

Pricing and Features

Cheap website hosting company price comparisons based on 1-year term list price before coupon/promo codes or limited time/introductory offer discounts. These are the renewal rates for the second year of hosting. To ensure that you receive the most affordable DreamHost pricing possible, please visit our Web Hosting Coupon Codes page for current discounts and special offers before making any purchases.

Plan	Shared
Disk Storage	Unlimited
Monthly Bandwidth	Unlimited
Domains Hosted	Unlimited
Full Shell / SSH / FTP / SFTP Users	Unlimited
E-Mail Accounts (POP/IMAP/Webmail)	Unlimited
MySQL 5 Databases	Unlimited
Operating System	Debian Linux
Email
IMAP / POP / SMTP Access
Web-Based Email Access
Mail Filtering
Spam Filtering by SpamAssassin
Email Addresses	Unlimited
Announcement Lists	Unlimited
Discussion Lists	Unlimited
Vacation Auto-Responders
Domains
Free Domain Registration
Free Domain WHOIS Privacy
Domains Hosted	Unlimited
Subdomains Hosted	Unlimited
Domains Forwarded/Mirrored	Unlimited
Custom DNS
Programming
PHP5 Support
Perl Support
Python Support
Full Unix Shell
Crontab Access
Full CGI Access
Ruby On Rails
Canned CGI Scripts
Server Side Includes (SSI)
Subversion Repository (SVN)
Advanced Features
IPv6 Address
SSL Secure Server (req. Unique IP)
Enhanced Web Security
WebDAV
Daily Access Statistics
Access to raw log files
Passworded Directories
Anonymous FTP Server
Jabber TM Chat Server
Up to $100 Google AdWords credit
One-Click Automatic Software Installers:
Technical Support
24/7 Los Angeles-based Email Technical Support
100% uptime guarantee
97-day money-back guarantee
The Award-winning DreamHost Control Panel
The DreamHost Wiki
The DreamHost Forum
Account Upgrades
Additional Domain Registration	$9.95/year
Unique IP Address	$3.95/month
Premium Support	$9.95/month
SSL Secure Certificate (requires unique IP)	$15.00/year
VPS	$15.00/month
Price per Month*	$9.95

*Prices based on 1-year term before the application of coupon/promo codes and introductory/limited-time offer discounts. While you may pay less for the first year of hosting, the prices displayed on this page are the 1-year term renewal rates.

Company Information

DreamHost has been hosting their clients’ websites since 1997. That was back when four Computer Science undergraduates from Claremont, California established the firm with no capital save for a single Pentium 100 web server, which was fondly called Destro, and using a shared bandwidth from a T1 line that given by a friend for free. DreamHost remained frugal due to necessity; however, even with limited resources DreamHost did their best to offer great service at a reasonable cost.

The early days of the business forced the firm to be creative and employ innovative solutions to meet their customers’ needs. It’s a practice that’s remained as they have decided to build most of their own technology; the practice sets them apart from the competition. DreamHost’s technology is created by some of the industry’s brightest developers on stable systems; they’ve worked together to give a positive user experience. DreamHost have designed everything to be easy-to-use and with their clients in mind.

So far, they did the right thing. Over the past ten years or so, DreamHost has developed into more than 1500 servers, high-tech data centers, and a full-time staff of more than a hundred employees. The company now hosts more than a million domains. They’re focused on giving high quality customer experience supported by the industry’s best web hosting technology. It’s an eternal quest, but it’s a journey they’re happy to take.

DreamHost promises to always take a customer’s business seriously and constantly search for ways to expand their offerings, enhance reliability, and develop the overall service quality. After all, your ideas set you online, but the hosting companies such as DreamHost help you stay there.

When DreamHost found out that they produce more carbon dioxide than 500 average households, they knew they have to find ways of offsetting their emissions. By conducting some research DreamHost discovered that the most efficient approach starts with resource conservation: shutting off the lights, decreasing travel, printing both sides of the paper. Efforts were increased to find out how to do more with less. The next phase was to use clean and renewable energy. Since there’s no option to set solar panels up or obtain power from a green power utility, the company bought Renewable Energy Credits instead. Finally, to counterbalance those unavoidable emissions, they’ve also invested in “offsets” through the Emission Reduction Credits which ensures that their residual impact is removed.

The credits that the company uses for green energy consumption for neutralizing the remaining emissions meet the industry’s highest standards. They’ve also linked with the U.S. Green Chamber, joining their “100 Cities for Change” program. The program’s goal is to assist and support sustainable business practices that encourage energy efficiency, job creation, innovation, and a better economic future.

DreamHost, LLC 417 Associated Rd #324 Brea, CA 92821 714-706-4182 DreamHost Website DreamHost on Twitter DreamHost on Facebook DreamHost on Google+ DreamHost on YouTube DreamHost on Instagram

How to Install WordPress

This video tutorial demonstrates the installation of WordPress on a DreamHost shared hosting account using their proprietary control panel and applications installer.