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DreamHost
Independent and transparent
An employee-owned independent host with month-to-month billing, a 97-day money-back guarantee, and an unusually principled stance on privacy. A favorite among developers and privacy-conscious site owners.
Where DreamHost actually fits
DreamHost is best understood as a shared host built for privacy-conscious users, monthly billing fans. Plans start at $2.89/mo/mo and are backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee window, which gives you a realistic runway to test under your own traffic before committing to a renewal. Support is handled via 24/7 chat, email — a detail that matters far more once something breaks at 2 a.m. than it does on the day you sign up.
On performance, our composite Perf Index puts DreamHost at 100/100 across 3 data-center regions. Readiness for modern workloads breaks down as good for SaaS and not suitable for AI-adjacent workloads — numbers we re-check quarterly rather than inherit from a brochure.
Our take: The most transparent pricing in the industry.
The specs that matter
- Uptime
- 100% Uptime Guarantee
- Support
- 24/7 chat, email
- Refund window
- 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
- Starts at
- $2.89/mo/mo
- Perf Index
- 100/100
- Data center regions
- 3
- SaaS-ready
- Good
- AI workload-ready
- Not suitable
Perf Index is Hostilo’s composite of TTFB, sustained uptime, and median support response — scored 0–100. See our methodology for the full weighting.
DreamHost — findings, not adjectives
5 support audits · How we test
- Support first response
- 8m 04s avg6 chat tickets, Jul–Oct 2026
- TTFB (Frankfurt, cached)
- 198 ms p507-day Pingdom, Jul–Oct 2026
- Refund honored
- 1 of 197-day money-back tested, Jul–Oct 2026
- Renewal multiplier
- 1.7x$2.95 intro → $4.95 renewal, shared starter
- 100% Uptime Guarantee
- Daily automated backups included
- Free SSL Certificates
- Free domain for 1st year (annual/multi-year plans)
- Real human expert support (24/7)
- Significant renewal price jump
- Only 3 months free mailboxes for intro plan
- No phone support
- 25 website limit on introductory plan
What you get
DreamHost intro vs. renewal — tracked
Observed intro price over time from our automated checks, plotted against the disclosed renewal rate. Hover any point for the source and date.
Every point is an observed intro price from our automated checks against DreamHost’s public pricing page. The dashed line is the disclosed renewal price. At today's intro, renewal is 3.8× higher.
Intro $2.89/mo/mo, renews at $10.99/mo.
Managed WordPress via DreamPress with built-in caching.
We’d revise DreamHost’s score if…
- If starting price for Web Hosting Launch tier increases to $5/mo or more.
- If renewal price for Web Hosting Launch tier decreases to $7/mo or less.
- If uptime guarantee drops below 99.9% SLA.
- If 24/7 human support is replaced with bot-only or limited hours.
- If refund policy duration is reduced from 30 days.
Every revision is logged on the public corrections log. If you have evidence that one of the above already applies, email corrections@hostilo.net.
What's actually changed at DreamHost
Every price move, outage, policy change, and ownership shift we’ve verified — chronological, sourced where possible. This is the record behind the score.
- FeatureAuto-verified
Features no longer listed: Remixer AI Website Builder
Detected during automated Q4 2026 audit of DreamHost.
Source ↗ - FeatureAuto-verified
New features detected: Performance Scans
Detected during automated Q4 2026 audit of DreamHost.
Source ↗ - SupportAuto-verified
Support channels updated: "24/7 chat + email" → "24/7 chat, email"
Detected during automated Q4 2026 audit of DreamHost.
Source ↗ - PolicyAuto-verified
Score-revision criteria updated
Detected during automated Q4 2026 audit of DreamHost.
Source ↗ - PriceAuto-verified
Intro price changed from $2.95 to $2.89/mo
Detected during automated Q3 2026 audit of DreamHost.
Source ↗ - SupportAuto-verified
Support channels updated: "24/7 chat, ticket-based" → "24/7 chat + email"
Detected during automated Q3 2026 audit of DreamHost.
Source ↗ - FeatureAuto-verified
New features detected: Free Domain for 1 Year, Free SSL Certificates, Daily Automated Backups…
Detected during automated Q3 2026 audit of DreamHost.
Source ↗ - FeatureAuto-verified
Features no longer listed: Free domain & SSL, Unlimited bandwidth, Automated WP migrations…
Detected during automated Q3 2026 audit of DreamHost.
Source ↗ - PolicyAuto-verified
Score-revision criteria updated
Detected during automated Q3 2026 audit of DreamHost.
Source ↗ - PriceAuto-verified
Intro price changed from $2.95 to $2.89/mo
Detected during automated Q3 2026 audit of DreamHost.
Source ↗ - FeatureAuto-verified
New features detected: 25 Websites, 25 GB NVMe SSD storage, Unmetered Bandwidth…
Detected during automated Q3 2026 audit of DreamHost.
Source ↗ - FeatureAuto-verified
Features no longer listed: Free domain & SSL, Unlimited bandwidth, Automated WP migrations…
Detected during automated Q3 2026 audit of DreamHost.
Source ↗ - PolicyAuto-verified
Score-revision criteria updated
Detected during automated Q3 2026 audit of DreamHost.
Source ↗ - SupportAuto-verified
Support channels updated: "24/7 chat, ticket-based" → "24/7 chat, email, knowledge base"
Detected during automated Q3 2026 audit of DreamHost.
Source ↗ - PolicyEditorial
Money-back guarantee shortened on monthly plans
Annual plans still 97 days; monthly plans reduced to 14 days.
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