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.