Remember the movie “Avatar” - about technology trying to destroy nature - and a bunch of purple aliens? Well, DreamHost manages to host 1.5 million websites - using the latest technology - while helping the environment.
This perfect union of two worlds company been hosting for around 25 years and offers great starter plans, to get a good site live for little to nothing. They also have a competitive WordPress host plan.
Easily use it to host another CMS - like WordPress - or access DH’s native website builder. This environmentally “green” web host offers a great range of hosting plans:
- ☑️ Shared
- ☑️ VPS
- ☑️ Cloud
- ☑️ WordPress-Optimized
- ☑️ Dedicated
(Note that reseller hosting is not part of their offerings.)
Data Center Geolocations 🛰️
Data centers are called server sites, but actually house different server types, like:
- ☑️ Website
- ☑️ Database
- ☑️ & Cloud servers.
Once purchasing a hosting package, your website data becomes stored and secured within. Unfortunately, there are no European DreamHost servers. The company currently has two data centers located in the U.S. states of Virginia and Oregon. The lack of an European data center might your website speed greatly…
Sluggishness usually comes into play when the database server and web server are placed in different centers, causing a delay as both sources of information retrieved.
Table of Contents:
DreamHost Review UK 🇬🇧 - At a Glance
In this DreamHost UK review, we look at the crucial technical ins-and-outs.
We factor in things like differences between server and website speeds - and why SSL certificates can make or break your SEO rankings.
PROS
CONS
DreamHost Pros and Cons
Good Ethics Make This a Unicorn Company 🦄
Carbon Neutral 
This web host will optimize your website’s carbon footprint.
DreamHost takes part in renewable energy “clean wind” programs in their state. Their servers are also managed for high-efficiency cooling, with EnergyStar and LEED-Certified offices.
If you're interested, check out other quality "green" web hosts:
97-Day Money-Back Guarantee
Overall, the company offers pretty good value for money.
They have an unusually generous money-back guarantee. Most providers give you 30 days, 60 in some cases. DreamHost goes further, with a near 100-day money-back guarantee.
If the provider fails to meet your standards, grab full compensation before the time is up.
Strong Features on Basic Plan
For only £1.58/month you get lots of features:
- Free SSL Security certificate
- One website with a free custom domain
- Automated backups
- Free Automated WordPress Migrations
You can even gain access to Squarespace, Weebly, and Wix website builder apps in the DH library - if you’d rather not use DH’s native builder, Remixer.
Free WP Migrations On All Shared Plans
Easily migrate any WordPress site to DreamHost with no downtime using free automatic migration plugin. No technical knowledge required.
DreamHost Uptime 🟢
Mr Dependable - for it’s Pricing 🦸🏿♂️
Generally speaking, uptime measures a system's reliability.
This is given as a percentage figure over time - the amount of time that a machine has been working, relative to how long has it been successfully available in its function.
The opposite of uptime is downtime, such as crashes and traffic bottlenecks.
The more uptime - and the less downtime - that your host’s server provides, on average, the longer that viewers will be able to access your website.
99.94% Average 2019-2020 🆙
You wouldn't get married to someone overnight - would you?
Well, the same goes for committing to a quality hosting service… There's no better way to test the company's reliability than over a good long amount of time.
Let’s have a look at their scores, starting from the month of December 2018 average.
- Dec 2018: 100%
- Jan 2019: 99.96%
- Feb 2019: 99.94%
- Mar 2019: 99.99%
- Apr 2019: 99.92%
- May 2019: 99.80%
- Jun 2019: 99.97%
- Jul 2019: 99.64%
- Aug 2019: 100%
- Sep 2019: 99.99%
- Oct 2019: 100%
- Nov 2019: 99.80%
Solid Uptime Overall 🧱
It’s a good average trend, for now, with a few lesser months and some superb ones.
This averages out to 99.94%. While this the “Five Nines Availability” that we’d expect of the best web hosts ever, the DreamHost review team regards this as industry-standard.
Host with... Dream-Host and you can expect a website that is up the vast majority of the time.
But, if you expect a high amount of traffic, the small amount of downtime might hurt your sales enough to opt for another option.
DreamHost Speed 💨
A Sub 1-Second Performance
Just a second above-average delay in Amazon’s speeds loses them up to £1.5 billion yearly.
Google's recommended average speed is 200ms. Notably, Siteground stands out as a top-performing web host in this area, with a worldwide average of only 138ms.
Tests
Here is loading speed data collected over a six-month period.
- Aug 2018 - 658ms
- Sep 2018 - 688ms
- Oct 2018 - 710ms
- Nov 2018 - 762ms
- Dec 2018 - 745ms
- Jan 2019 - 803ms
- Feb 2019 - 717ms
- Mar 2019 - 676ms
- Apr 2019 - 733ms
- May 2019 - 674ms
- Jun 2019 - 667ms
- Jul 2019 - 432ms
- Aug 2019 - 382ms
- Sep 2019 - 421ms
- Oct 2019 - 388ms
- Nov 2019 - 483sm
Solid Overall - Good for Small Businesses 👩💼
Another good trend. DH looks to be actually improving in its average speed website speed.
Over the last 5 months, it clocked an average of sub half-a-second for loading time… We pulled up with the two highest scoring figures, which are both well under 1 second.
Not just for an environmentally friendly company, this is a great figure.
DH has taken great measures - to do everything from installing energy-efficient HVAC systems in their offices.
The DreamHost UK review team up are pleased. The company offers consistently good speeds.
All collected are sub 1-second. Based on marketing data, you should not have to worry about losing traffic from speed issues.
For smaller businesses, the DreamHost review team highly recommends them, for speed.
DreamHost Pricing 💰
Below, we'll take a look at some of the plans DreamHost has to offer. Ranging from shared to quality WordPress hosting plans, DH has it all.
DreamHost Shared
There are only two tiers:
Starter 💑
- 1 Website
- Buy a .COM fro £6.36
- Unlimited Traffic
- Unmetered Bandwidth
- WordPress Pre-installed
- NEW WP Website Builder
- Fast SSD Storage
- Free DreamHost SSL Certificate
- Add Email as low as £1.33/mo
£1.58/month
Unlimited 💑
- Unlimited Websites
- Buy a .COM fro £6.36
- Unlimited Traffic
- Unmetered Bandwidth
- WordPress Pre-installed
- NEW WP Website Builder
- Fast SSD Storage
- Free DreamHost SSL Certificate
- Unlimited Emails @ Your Domain
£2.38/month
Top Tips 
Doing good numbers in your business?
A VPS plan may not meet your needs. Depending on how much revenue you are making, consider skipping to dedicated.
DreamHost VPS
The best VPS host will strain your wallet more than shared.
Use a VPS if you have a good amount of traffic - or expect it - and want to ensure quick loading speeds. A great free VPS is possibly an alternative.
VPS’s run on a virtual server that mimics dedicated hosting, at a lower cost:
- Better performance to handle higher traffic
- Faster loading times
- More security
Better performance to handle higher trafficThere are four plans.
VPS Basic 🏹
- 1 GB RAM
- 30 GB SSD Storage
- Unlimited Websites
- Unlimited Traffic
- Unmetered Bandwidth
- Free DreamHost SSL Certificate
- Add Domains Easily
- Unlimited Email @ Your Domain
£11.93/month
VPS Business 🌈
- 2 GB RAM
- 60 GB SSD Storage
- Unlimited Websites
- Unlimited Traffic
- Unmetered Bandwidth
- Free DreamHost SSL Certificate
- Add Domains Easily
- Unlimited Email @ Your Domain
£23.86/month
VPS Professional📡
- 4 GB RAM
- 120 GB SSD Storage
- Unlimited Websites
- Unlimited Traffic
- Unmetered Bandwidth
- Free DreamHost SSL Certificate
- Add Domains Easily
- Unlimited Email @ Your Domain
£47.73/month
VPS Enterprise 🌍
- 8 GB RAM
- 240 GB SSD Storage
- Unlimited Websites
- Unlimited Traffic
- Unmetered Bandwidth
- Free DreamHost SSL Certificate
- Add Domains Easily
- Unlimited Email @ Your Domain
£95.46/month
Finally - Dedicated
Dedicated hosting are a serious business-person’s best friend, as the saying goes.
If you have lots of traffic, the best dedicated hosting plans give you a full server to yourself, just for your website.
Get:
- Super increased performance
- Higher security
- A dedicated maintenance team, responsible for managing your server physically
Two more tiers:
Standard 🐕
- Intel Xeon 4-Core 8-Thread
- 4 GB RAM
- 1 TB HDD
- RAID 1 Storage
- Root Access
- Local MySQL Database Server
- Ubuntu
- 100% Network Uptime Guarantee
- 24x7 Tech Support & Monitoring
- DDoS Protection
£118.52/month
Enhanced 🐆
- Intel Xeon 12-Core 24-Thread
- 16 GB RAM
- 2 TB HDD
- RAID 1 Storage
- Root Access
- Local MySQL Database Server
- Ubuntu
- 100% Network Uptime Guarantee
- 24x7 Tech Support & Monitoring
- DDoS Protection
£221.93/month
DreamHost Support 💁
No Phone Support - Set Hours for the Rest
You'll find that every provider claims to be the best regarding its support team.
Every team is available 24/7, 365… (We’ll discuss this point further in the Live Chat bit of this section, further down below... 
)
But, can you reach an awesome representative when it really counts?
Limited - Window DreamHost Live Chat
While they claim to be available 24/7, actually you will find that the DreamHost live chat team is only available during typical U.S. business hours.
When they are free, the representatives are very helpful.
But, if not accessing the chat during these hours, you will get an automated message.
In which it says the sales team are only available Monday to Friday between the hours of 8 to 4 p.m. PT.
NO Phone Support
There's no way to contact customer support by telephone.
This is unfortunate, because sometimes it is more appropriate to chat with a human being over the phone line.
There are some trade-offs when you are dealing with an energy conscious company.
Email Ticketing
Our review team often recommends this for people who are busy.
Let’s say you want to get an answer while on-the-go. Submit your query and check your emails when you have the time, for the solution.
Knowledge-base & Discussion Forums
DreamHost offers a decent knowledge base, with a discussion forum.
This is typical of what most good web hosts offer. In forums, customers can share in discussions, to get solutions to technical issues. Or see previous solutions.
DreamHost Bonus Features
DreamHost Webmail
Grab professional email with a custom @yourdomain address name.
Send out professional messages relating to the website, with a huge 25GB storage mailbox capacity.
The DreamHost Webmail client is ad-free and up-to-date with phishing filters for spam/viruses.
Log into your account with the URL webmail.dreamhost.com - this is also accessible through the variety of IMAP mail clients available on desktop and mobile devices.
Even sign up if you are hosted with a different provider… Annual plans start at £1.33.
DreamHost Panel
The DreamHost cPanel can be accessed by using this URL: panel.dreamhost.com
They use multi-factor authentication (MFA) as an extra layer of security.
Once you enter the code, you can log in.
They use a vertical menu interface. Everything is laid out in a lovely straightforward way.
You can find your plan, your email, your domain names, and so on...
If you cannot find something you are looking for, use the search field box.
Also accessible there is information on the datacenter connected to your plan, FAQs & support, and the knowledge base.
Find your account info by clicking on your username on the upper right.
This pops up, giving you more options.
Overall, everything is easy to find. And if you need help locating something, you either have support or the search field.
Zen Cart
This is a fully-featured shopping cart. It's open source, with an active support community
It is accessible through the One-Click installer menu. It supports WOO Commerce and will quickly allow your customers to see your products interactively and in an organized manner.
Along with this, you get 75 GBP of Google AdWords credit - for marketing.
Customize your Zen cart - for branding purposes - using modifiable templates. You can also customize the functionalities of your shopping cart.
Zen cart has become very popular as an open-source shopping cart system.
It is written in PHP programming languages, offering you all of the capabilities without having to worry about coding.
Top Tips
Note that you cannot get a specific reseller plan with DreamHost - at least not specifically.
They do give you the flexibility of reselling any services - that you purchase from the company - to another client.
This might not be ideal, because reseller programs typically give you batch discounts when you buy hosting resources.
Our DreamHost review team would recommend that you go with a provider known for excellent reseller hosting, if that is what you are looking for.
DreamHost FAQs
We listen to all of your burning questions in this section.
Our DreamHost UK review team are on hand to provide you with a sharp, snazzy reply - reading the tea leaves of what’s probably on your mind.
Let's get on with it then!
That cup of 
- you boiled in the intro - is probably cooling down by about now... Just how the review team likes it - not that our offices can’t afford a microwave.
Where Are DreamHost Servers Located?
All in the U.S. 
The answer to this question depends on what hosting type you are looking for.
For example, for shared hosting packages, data centers are located in the states of Virginia and Oregon. For cloud hosting, one data center site is in Virginia, while the other is in California.
Once getting a plan, find out the exact location in the dashboard of your user account.
That said, all of Dreamhost’s centers are located in the United States. You don't need to worry about the location in terms of accessing server resources. They provide global access.
There are great free web hosts out there who might be better located.
Does DreamHost Use cPanel?
No - They Use a Custom, Intuitive Version 
Cpanel is a commercial application that allows hosting companies to manage their plans.
You may be familiar with the traditional cPanel setup. However, it is not available with this company as of now.
Like many providers have done, this company has made a custom version - this one - called DreamHost cPanel. This is useful for people who are not advanced with web management.
Traditional cPanel can be tricky for non-techie people; DreamHost cPanel, however, is intuitive.
Please also note: You will have to manually import any backup files to do with your other sites, databases, and email accounts. DreamHost does not allow automatic cPanel backups.
How Good Is DreamHost?
Good and Possibly Great for Smaller Businesses 
You get lots of features on the Basic Plan, which is useful.
Grab lots of options for only 2 GBP per month. This is pretty awesome in terms of people who want to get a capable website up for cheap.
Grab a free SSL certificate & domain, unlimited storage, and find all your favorite site builders.
Speeds are also consistently - under 1 second, on average.
It was this way for a whole year of testing, and seems to be improving - with sub half-second loading times for the final 5 months of 2019 (excluding December).
The uptime is solid, although not at 99.99% average that many great web hosts deliver.
Conclusion
Join the Movement 🌐
This may be a particularly attractive company for those interested in the environment
If your viewership has a similar interest, let them know that your hosting provider has gone out of its way to streamline itself to be energy efficient.
Despite all of this, DreamHost still manages a competitive loading speed that will satisfy even impatient web surfers.
Uptime is reliable - at 99.94% average. And you get a ton of Basic Plan features.
Final Top Tip ⭐
If you run a business doing something like substantial monthly traffic, consider signing up to a great VPS host plan, or a cloud package; to deliver a great customer experience.
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