DreamHost Reviews and Expert Opinion

NEW

Dreamhost Nightmare!

Service used: Shared - Everything Unlimited

Recently our CEO decided to do business with a professional website builder.
Somewhere in the process the decision was made to move to a other hosting company since Dreamhost isnt cheap.
Thats where our problems started. We call...Read More

Johan Van

Canada

Reliability 10
Pricing 6.0
User Friendly 8.0
Support 2.0
Features 6.0

6.4

Bad Support or Company Policy?

Service used: Shared

I have been with DreamHost for several years, they are hosting several of my sites.

Over the past 6 months or so the customer service quality has (for me) gone from being 9/10 to 3/10.

I used to get direct, clear answers to ...Read More

SF Hen

United States

Reliability 4.0
Pricing 8.0
User Friendly 4.0
Support 4.0
Features 8.0

5.6

DreamHost Support, Needs to be Overhauled - Three Days Without Email Access/Service Unacceptable and Disturbing

Service used: VPS

I've been a DreamHost customer for more than ten years and I appreciate the overall site host and email account service I've had in the past. However, in the past year+, the overall hosting/email service has gone down in quality w...Read More

wasim

This kind of feedback is the most important for beginners who are starting their career.

May 7, 2018

Thomas Lisimati Baloyi

Blessies.com

Reliability 4.0
Pricing 10
User Friendly 10
Support 10
Features 2.0

7.2

Its Very Bad Hosting

Service used: VPS

I have 5 websites hosted at dreamhost.com. their support team is very good but the problem is they don't have a Control Panel, it was not a problem until I registered a web hosting site and I failed to upload the 3rd party softwar...Read More

www.alfredleatherworks.com

Spencer

Actually i moved to dreamhost from bluehost and they are ten times better, more simple interface yes, but none of the unneeeded paid extras rammed down your throat from bluehost, and much more efficient servers. Never had the prob...Read More

Dec. 30, 2017

Paul Alfred

United States

Reliability 10
Pricing 10
User Friendly 10
Support 10
Features 10

Positive experience for a small business owner

Service used: Shared

Renee L Pettit

United States

Reliability 6.0
Pricing 4.0
User Friendly 2.0
Support 2.0
Features 4.0

3.6

NO SUPPORT

Service used: Shared

This company is horrible on support. The live chat feature is never functional and they do not respond to support emails in a timely fashion. There is no phone number to call. We inherited this account from another agencies and cannot even get them to help us pay the bill. It is very frustrating.

Johnn Mendoza

Philippines

Reliability 2.0
Pricing 6.0
User Friendly 6.0
Support 4.0
Features 2.0

4.0

Dreamhost Shared hosting is the worst

Service used: Shared

If you're on a shared hosting with Dreamhost expect issue after issue just thrown at you. It's really not worth getting stressed about. I just migrated to another hosting.

jellina smith

India

Reliability 8.0
Pricing 6.0
User Friendly 10
Support 6.0
Features 6.0

7.2

Cheap web design and hosting service

Service used: VPS

Dreamhost is pretty great. I love the Cpanel hosting and uptime but

the customer support could be better. It is a decent cost to benefit

ratio bet if they gave a free domain to Cpanel hosting and people who

want to code t...Read More

Nicolas S.

France

Reliability 10
Pricing 10
User Friendly 10
Support 10
Features 10

Love DreamHost!

Service used: VPS

This is the best hosting company. Period.

Mac Seah

Singapore

Reliability 6.0
Pricing 8.0
User Friendly 8.0
Support 2.0
Features 6.0

6.0

Helpful (3)

12 hours site down. No support available.

Service used: Dedicated Server

Where are the admins in Dreamhost? I upgraded my dedicated server to better handle my site. Turns out when there was a problem with the move from the old dedicated server to the new dedicated one, no one knew about it until I cont...Read More

acted Dreamhost live support for another issue. So I authorize the move back to the old dedicated server. I have been a loyal user of Dreamhost's services for 4 years, and when an issue this big occurs, the live chat is not available, and my support tickets are not being responded to.

Now I am receiving this error:

Warning: require(/home/undertable99/undertable.org/f/library/XenForo/Autoloader.php): failed to open stream: Permission denied in /home/undertable99/undertable.org/f/index.php on line 6

Fatal error: require(): Failed opening required '/home/undertable99/undertable.org/f/library/XenForo/Autoloader.php' (include_path='.:/usr/local/lib/php:/usr/local/php5/lib/pear') in /home/undertable99/undertable.org/f/index.php on line 6

I am losing revenue every minute and it has been over 10 hours and still no reply from support. What is going on?

I believe in Dreamhost because you guarantee 100% site uptime. But is not the case now. I have been suffering time outs at the same time of day everyday for the past 4 months. This is an urgent priority.

Below are my support ticket numbers which have not gotten a reply till now:

Open Tickets

ID Age
#7645524 46 mins 45 secs Withdraw
#7645519 53 mins 47 secs Withdraw
#7645501 1 hour 46 mins Withdraw
#7644416 18 hours 19 mins Withdraw

Further more, I spoke to another Dreamhost live support staff this afternoon and she not only brushed me off, she kicked me from the live support chat. This is an issue with increasing frustrations from me. Please resolve this issue for me ASAP.

Both my servers are dedicated
Edit: Attached chat transcript showing that I would be updated and that any issues pertaining to the move would be solved as soon as they pop up. However, 11 hours after the chat and still the problem is not resolved. I was not even updated that an error had occurred.

(08:40:38) Seah: Can I have confirmation one last time that the site problems will be resolved in the upcoming hour - hour and a half, as well as the new server charges will not apply?
(08:42:10) MikeG: Yes I have been told that it should be resolved in an hour but giving it a little extra time just in case. Once it is back on the old server and your DNS goes back to using the old server the site will work as it did before.
(08:42:33) Seah: How long will it take for the DNS to go back to using the old server?
(08:44:49) MikeG: About 2-3 hours at the very least.
(08:45:00) Seah: So in total, my wait time is?
(08:45:47) MikeG: About 3-4 hours
(08:46:16) Seah: OK.
(08:48:11) Seah: I want a guarantee that when I wake up from my sleep. The site will be up and running, no additional issues
(08:49:41) MikeG: Assuming we do not run into any issues along the way your site should be back up and running by then.
(08:50:49) Seah: Can you make sure that there will be no issues? Dreamhost offered an upgrade service within a few clicks, and now it's going to take me at least 6 hours to have a functioning site?
(08:52:14) MikeG: Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do to prevent issues, but if we run into any we will be sure to let you know if there is anything that would cause any issue to the site being online.
(08:52:51) Seah: I don't want to just be notified. I want the issues (should they occur) to be fixed the moment they pop up. Can you guarantee that for me?
(08:53:08) Seah: And keep me updated via email: macseah@gmail.com
(08:53:18) MikeG: Yes they will be.
(08:54:03) MikeG: If you want to be updated send an e-mail like I mentioned to me at micki@dreamhost.com and I will keep you updated.
(08:54:19) Seah: Let me do it now
(08:58:15) Seah: Sent an email to you. Please check and get me updated during this whole process/
(09:00:57) MikeG: I received the e-mail I will be sure to update you when ever admins update me on the process.
(09:01:07) Seah: Thank you Mike

The level of service that Dreamhost is providing has been slipping. I was a satisfied customer 4 years ago, and I can no longer say the same. I have no qualms uploading my chat transcript to social media to show how sorely lacking the support is.
I have been waiting with more than 12 hours of down time, been kicked out of the live chat, and my support tickets are not being responded to. Where is the service that you promise your users? After 4 years, this has been the most disappointing 6 months with Dreamhost.

My revenue lost is by the hour, and it is absolutely disturbing that this is not a priority for you. Basically, I'm facing a crisis here and I have no one to turn to, as the ones who are supposed to be providing support are turning their backs on me. What is going on Dreamhost? Do you no longer care about your users?

Helpful (3)

Sirena

WOW, It has been three days since I have not been able to access my Dreamhost email / webmail and thus I have projects being held up for work as a direct result. Three days is far too long to have no access to one's email in any c...Read More

Feb. 21, 2018

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Typical DreamHost Prices

Service	Monthly Price Range

Shared Hosting	$7.95	1 plans
VPS	$15.00 - $120.00	4 plans
Dedicated Server	$149.00 - $279.00	2 plans
Cloud Hosting	$4.50 - $48.00	3 plans

The Services & Prices are taken from www.dreamhost.com

DreamHost Expert Review 2018

Written by: Ilya Hazanov

DreamHost Rating

Reliability

9.2 / 10
Pricing

7.8 / 10
User Friendly

6.5 / 10
Support

3 / 10
Features

7 / 10

6.7

Rated by Ilya Hazanov

DreamHost: Not Cheapest, But Cool Features

This is a web host that promises a very rare 100% uptime money-back guarantee with a free two-week trial. They aren’t competing for the lowest price, but they say they’ll do more for you and win you over on quality. If you’re not happy in your first 97 days, you get your money back, no questions asked.

Given their service promises, it’s a bizarre twist that DreamHost does not offer user-driven life phone support. Instead, they only offer a ticketed system and a callback service (with some packages, and the number of callbacks is limited even then).

With one-year and two-year contracts to choose from, you’re looking at either a shared hosting plan, VPS, or dedicated hosting plan. The two-year plan doesn’t really offer enough of a discount to make the commitment worth it.

Uptime & Reliability

9.2

Wow! 100% Uptime Guarantee

Although 99.9% uptime is the general promise made by web hosts, DreamHost made the rare step forward and brought it all the way to 100%. Our tests and external reviews show stellar uptime reports. However, if they break that promise, you only get a free day of service for each hour of outage, which seems a little light in terms of penalization.

Security is paramount to DreamHost, and they offer 50 GB of automatic backups. They also include improved security through passwords on directories and other forms of boosted website security.

Features

Robust Features Plus the Basics

You don’t just get all the unlimited basics that many web hosts offer – like domains, bandwidth, disk space, email accounts, and MySQL 5 databases – but you get advanced features, too. You also get free domain registration, support for multiple coding languages (PHP5, Perl, Python, etc), website traffic statistics, and a variety of plugins, platforms and other solutions.

DreamHost also starts you off with a $100 Google AdWords credit when you launch the included promotional campaign starter.

Feature	Description

Bandwidth	Unlimited bandwidth is included in all packages.t
Disk Space	Unlimited disk space is included in all packages.
Website Builder	DreamHost doesn’t include any site builders, but you can install an add-on like WordPress with a single click.
Email Accounts	Unlimited email accounts are included in all packages.
Shopping Carts	DreamHost doesn’t include any e-commerce solutions, but you can install an add-on like ZenCart with a single click.
Stats	Analog is the default stats package for DreamHost, but Webalizer is also available.t
FTP Account	Unlimited FTP accounts are included in all packages, though for anonymous FTP you must pay a fee to get a unique IP.
Multiple Domains	An unlimited number of domains are included in all packages.

Support

Limited Support

DreamHost has a wealth of functions, but that’s tempered by the somewhat limited technical support. Their tutorials, wiki, and user forums are wonderful, and kudos to them for their dedication to social media, but you can’t connect via live chat or an outgoing phone call. They promise to respond to support emails within 24 hours, which isn’t the best. Even then, the quality of your support technicians is inconsistent.

Pricing

7.8

Better Deals on Longer Terms

DreamHost is on the expensive side of the web hosting world. However, if you are ready to commit to a longer contract, you can get a much better deal.

Most packages don’t include an e-commerce solution, so plan to spend another $30 per month for its CafeCommerce platform.

One bonus with DreamHost is that it does have the capability to take care of you as you grow, so if you get to the point where you need a VPS or a dedicated server, DreamHost can fill that role for you. VPS plans start at $15 per month, and dedicated server plans start at $99 per month.

User Friendly