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A free handcrafted starter site and two AI builders, with a genuine 100% uptime SLA.

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Pricing
WordPress Hosting $1.99 - $14.99
Web Hosting $2.89 - $9.99
VPS Hosting $13.75
$2.89/mo
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How we reviewed DreamHost

We researched DreamHost's current shared, managed WordPress, and VPS plans, features, support channels, and policies directly from dreamhost.com on 2026-07-17 and 2026-07-20. Pricing and specs are verified against the operator's own pricing pages (shown in EUR during this research session due to geo-detection, with digit values cross-checked against independent USD-denominated sources). Trusthost has not purchased a DreamHost test account, so this is desk research against the operator's own published pages, not a hands-on test.

Free Version
No
Image Editor
No
SEO Features
Yes
Money-back Guarantee
30 days

Overview

DreamHost was founded in 1996 by Dallas Bethune, Josh Jones, Michael Rodriguez, and Sage Weil, then undergraduates at Harvey Mudd College, and began hosting customers in 1997. Originally registered as New Dream Network, LLC, the company is now based in Los Angeles and reports over 1.5 million websites on its servers, including more than 750,000 WordPress installations across 100+ countries.

Features of DreamHost

Remixer AI builder
An agentic AI website and app builder that scaffolds databases, auth, Stripe payments, and shipping from a plain-language description. Free 30-day trial, no card required.
Liftoff AI builder for WordPress
A separate, WordPress-specific AI builder that DreamHost says can launch a personalized site in under 60 seconds from a short questionnaire.
Free Handcrafted Starter Website
DreamHost's own team builds a free 4-page starter site on every hosting plan at no extra cost, a human-built alternative to the AI builders.
100% uptime guarantee
SLA credits equal to one day of hosting cost per hour of downtime, capped at 10% of your next renewal.
Custom DreamHost panel
A proprietary control panel in place of cPanel, covering domains, email, and site management.
DreamShield security add-on
Optional daily malware scans and CMS vulnerability alerts for around $3/mo.

Building a site with DreamHost

DreamHost gives you three ways to get a site live. Remixer is an agentic AI builder: describe the site or app you want in plain language, and it scaffolds pages, forms, authentication, a database, and even payments, refined conversationally on a free 30-day trial. Liftoff is a separate, faster AI builder specifically for WordPress, launching a personalized site from a short questionnaire in under 60 seconds by DreamHost's own claim. Or skip building entirely: every plan includes a free Handcrafted Starter Website, a 4-page site DreamHost's own team builds for you. Server-side management (backups, staging, security, updates) runs through DreamHost's own custom control panel rather than cPanel. Trusthost has not purchased a test account to walk through this flow first-hand.

DreamHost pricing

DreamHost's $2.89/mo Launch price is a 1-year intro rate. It renews at $10.99/mo, so factor the renewal rate into your decision, not just the sign-up price.

WordPress Hosting

Plan Discount price Regular price Term Savings
Launch $1.99/mo $7.99/mo 48 months 75%
Growth $3.49/mo $8.99/mo 48 months 61%
Scale $7.99/mo $19.99/mo 48 months 60%
DreamPress 1 (Managed) $14.99/mo $14.99/mo 12 months

Web Hosting

Plan Discount price Regular price Term Savings
Launch $2.89/mo $10.99/mo 12 months 74%
Growth $3.99/mo $12.99/mo 12 months 69%
Scale $9.99/mo $27.99/mo 12 months 64%

VPS Hosting

Plan Discount price Regular price Term Savings
VPS Business $13.75/mo $31.99/mo 12 months 57%

Email

Plan Discount price Regular price Term Savings
Email $1.67/mo $1.67/mo 12 months

DreamHost support

DreamHost offers 24/7 support via live chat and email through the customer panel, backed by an extensive knowledge base. There is no phone support option. We have not run a real support interaction this pass, so no response-time claim is included here.

Pros and cons

Pros
Unlimited bandwidth and storage on shared plans, backed by a genuine 100% uptime guarantee with SLA credits
True month-to-month billing available, unusual among budget hosts
A free handcrafted 4-page starter site built by DreamHost's own team on every plan
Two different AI builders: Remixer for general sites and apps, Liftoff for a fast WordPress-specific launch
Cons
No cPanel: the custom DreamHost panel has its own learning curve for admins used to cPanel/WHM
Money-back window is now a standard 30 days, down from DreamHost's once-famous 97-day guarantee
Thinner international data-center footprint than larger competitors: Amsterdam and Singapore are the only non-US locations

DreamHost in 2026

DreamHost, a Los Angeles-based host founded in 1996, runs over 1.5 million websites, including more than 750,000 WordPress installations across 100+ countries.

Built-in tools worth knowing about

Beyond standard hosting, DreamHost bundles a few tools that are not universal in this category: DreamObjects, S3-compatible cloud storage starting around $0.95/mo for 40GB and scaling to tens of terabytes; a free, automated WordPress migration plugin that DreamHost says moves sites with zero downtime; and Subversion, a free version-control tool for developers managing source code, an unusual inclusion for a hosting company. For online stores, DreamHost supports the open-source ZenCart platform alongside WooCommerce, and Chartbeat real-time analytics is available for tracking engagement and bounce rate beyond what Google Analytics shows.

Two AI builders, plus a free human-built option

Remixer is DreamHost's general-purpose AI website and app builder, scaffolding pages, forms, and even payment integrations from a plain-language description, on a free 30-day trial. Liftoff is a separate, WordPress-specific AI builder that DreamHost says can launch a personalized site in under 60 seconds. If you would rather skip building entirely, every hosting plan includes a free Handcrafted Starter Website: a 4-page site that DreamHost's own team builds for you at no extra cost.

Customer service

Support runs through live chat and email via the customer panel, available 24/7, backed by an extensive knowledge base. There is no phone line, worth knowing if you specifically want to talk to someone rather than chat or email.

Is DreamHost right for you?

Good fit if…

Good fit if you want a real uptime SLA with credits, true month-to-month billing, and either a free human-built starter site or an AI builder to get going fast.

Better to avoid if…

Better to avoid if you specifically want cPanel, phone support, or a wide choice of international data centers. DreamHost's custom panel and US-centric infrastructure (plus Amsterdam and Singapore) may not fit those needs.

Frequently asked questions

Yes. DreamHost promises 100% uptime. Per its Terms of Service, DreamHost issues account credit equal to one day of hosting cost for every hour (or fraction) of qualifying downtime reported via support ticket, capped at 10% of the next renewal payment.
A 30-day money-back guarantee applies to Website Hosting Services paid by credit card or PayPal, refundable in full for any reason within 30 days of signup. It excludes Email Service, Dedicated Servers, Self-Managed VPS, Remixer, and DreamCompute; domain and SSL purchases are never refundable.
WordPress sites get a free automated migration via DreamHost's own plugin, with zero downtime. Non-WordPress transfers are either self-service or handled by DreamHost's paid Pro Services, with some site-builder platforms (Wix, Weebly, Squarespace) incurring extra fees.
Not currently. DreamHost was listed on wordpress.org/hosting around 2016 alongside Bluehost and SiteGround, but as of 2026 that page lists only Pressable, Bluehost, and Hostinger.
Steave Platt

About Steave Platt

Tech Contributor

Steve Platt is an independent web hosting analyst with over 12 years of hands-on experience - from running his own VPS and dedicated servers, through client migrations, to testing dozens of hosting providers under real traffic conditions.

His career started as a system administrator at a small agency, where he saw firsthand the gap between marketing spec sheets and actual performance under load. That experience shaped his "test before you recommend" approach - every provider he reviews goes through his own uptime, load-speed, and support-quality checks before getting a rating.

Steve writes for TrustHost with a focus on the practical side of choosing a host - what actually matters for small businesses and developers, not what reads well on a landing page. Outside of editorial work, he handles server configuration tuning and DNS/domain troubleshooting.