DreamHost vs. Bluehost (2024)

By: Ryan Frankel

Editor: Lillian Castro

2/5/2024

Ryan Frankel Hosting Expert

“We tested Bluehost & DreamHost — The winner is Bluehost!”

As bloggers know, your online dream can quickly become your worst nightmare if you experience unexpected downtime and page load issues with your site. But don’t fret; industry titans DreamHost and Bluehost are two of only three hosting providers recommended by WordPress — and for a good reason. WordPress recommends these hosts for their superior speed, security, uptime, and various plans. Bluehost is ideal for beginners looking for a full-service host, while DreamHost offers premium managed services with an infrastructure powered by high-performance SSDs. Check out our reviews of each host to see why we named our winner.

Overall Rating

4.9/5.0 ★★★★★

Basic Plan: $2.95/month »
Plus Plan: $5.45/month »
Pro Plan: $9.95/month »

Visit Bluehost »

Overall Rating

4.8/5.0 ★★★★★

Shared Starter Plan: $2.59/month »
WordPress Starter Plan: $2.59/month »
Shared Unlimited Plan: $3.95/month »

Visit DreamHost »

Disclosure: When you sign up through links on our site, we often earn referral fees from partners. For more information, see our ad disclosure and review policy.

Overall Hosting Comparison

Best Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.9/5.0

Bluehost has long been a favorite of mine in the shared and WordPress hosting spaces. The company adheres to modern standards for hardware, and its customer service resources are now backed by hosting industry titan Newfold Digital.

Bluehost’s shared hosting options will accommodate the vast majority of customers' needs. Independent proprietors, small business owners, and non-developers needn't look beyond the host's shared server (read: cheap hosting) plans.

Once your website outgrows the traffic allowances of a shared hosting plan, however, Bluehost excels in the VPS hosting and dedicated server niches, too.

Bluehost has revamped its user experience — beefing up the user-friendliness factor significantly in recent years. Users will find the web host dashboard and overall customer experience to be welcoming.

Easily navigate installing popular apps, such as WordPress, Joomla, or Zen Cart, with the familiar cPanel control panel. The domain management panel makes it easy to add on domain services, should you choose to opt for an upgraded plan, where domain privacy and support for unlimited domain names come standard.

If you’re looking for WordPress hosting specifically, whether on a shared, virtual, or dedicated server, you’ve come to the right host. Bluehost is one of the few providers endorsed by the WordPress Core team, ranked among SiteGround and DreamHost.

Install the popular blogging platform in a single click via the web hosting control panel, or have the Bluehost pros take care of it for you by leveraging a managed WordPress hosting service.

As previously mentioned, Bluehost also tops the charts in VPS and dedicated server hosting — offering fantastic performance at competitive prices.

With two to four cores and guaranteed resources, your virtual or dedicated server will be performant, powerful, and online virtually 24/7.

The Bluehost team leverages industry-leading open-source technologies, such as KVM and OpenStack, to eke out as much performance as possible, leaving you with the utmost flexibility and reliability.

And in case you're not quite yet sold: Both the VPS and dedicated hosting plan options include instant provisioning because waiting for your server is so 2000s.

Read on for more Bluehost reviews as we rate the web hosting company for affordability, reliability, ease of use, as well as the features offered in each hosting product category.

Up to unlimited website domain and email hosting
1-click WordPress installs and software updates
Support for popular shopping carts with FREE SSL
Up to $200 in Microsoft and Google Ad credit
Industry-leading hardware and uptime rates
Get started on Bluehost now.

Money Back Guarantee

30 days

Disk Space

10 GB SSD - 100 GB SSD

Domain Name

FREE (1 year)

Best Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0

A top-notch host for those who know what they're looking for, DreamHost offers nuanced and performant hosting perfect for scaling websites and applications through the ranks of shared, VPS, cloud, and dedicated hosting.

We love the company's features but realize that beginners or hobbyist developers might not want to fork over the extra cash to capitalize on the performance, optimization, and managed services that DreamHost offers. If, however, your site is growing and gathering more and more traffic, few hosts will take care of you as well as DreamHost.

Managed services include infrastructure management, automatic backups and updates, malware scans, and DDoS protection. We appreciate how the independently owned company was built on a passion for open-source technologies.

DreamHost developers routinely contribute code back to communities, such as WordPress and OpenStack, and the company has used their brainpower and experience to create the open-source storage system Ceph and OpenStack cloud network virtualization tool Akanda.

As such, DreamHost support agents know what they're talking about. Available all day, every day, the in-house support team provides help worthy of DreamHost's speedy SSD-based architecture, hand-crafted control panel, WordPress-tailored solutions, and reliable managed services.

Unlimited traffic, storage, websites, and email
US-based customer support available 24/7
200% faster performance with SSDs
Industry-leading 97-day money-back guarantee
Enjoy preinstalled WordPress and FREE transfer
Get started on DreamHost now.

Money Back Guarantee

97 days

Disk Space

Unlimited

Domain Name

FREE (1 year)

Cheap Hosting Comparison

Cheap Rating

★★★★★ 4.7/5.0

#5 out of 10 in Cheap Hosting reviews

Bluehost pricing is about as competitive as the industry offers.

Sign up for a shared hosting plan for as little as $1.99 per month, and WordPress hosting packages are consistently priced; a VPS plan starts at around $31.99 per month; and the dedicated hosting rates are as little as $91.98 per month. The only way to feasibly sweeten this deal would be a free trial, which, unfortunately, the hosting company does not offer.

However, the 30-day money-back guarantee is marketed heavily. The Bluehost customer support team promises complete service satisfaction or a full refund.

Bluehost hosting has reputation for affordability and usability, which both web novices and veterans can appreciate.

Unlimited website hosting — from domains and email to disk space — is available with almost all plans. Even the most basic Bluehost plan sets users up for success with ample hard disk storage, unmetered bandwidth, and both a free SSL certificate and free domain registration for the first year of hosting service.

Optional add-on services, such as automated backups, and complimentary marketing credits for select plan holders sweeten an already attractive hosting bargain. Some common freebies we love seeing include:

Free domain name registration (for the first year of service)
Free Let's Encrypt SSL certificate (also for the first year)
Free website builder (Weebly, an industry favorite)

Due in part to its affordability but mostly the quality of service, most Bluehost reviews will rank the hosting company atop (or near the top of) lists of the best shared, VPS, and/or WordPress hosting services.

You'll see similar results from our Bluehost review. We regularly recommend Bluehost hosting products that are geared toward beginners, including shared, WordPress, and WooCommerce hosting customers, where cost and ease of use are top priorities.

Bluehost is a solid, reputable choice of hosting provider with competitive pricing, industry-standard hardware performance, and all the premium add-ons imaginable.

The web host's low costs, coupled with its supremacy in the shared hosting arena, make this web host a bang-for-the-buck favorite throughout the hosting community.

Cheap shared hosting from a trusted provider
Ideal for hosting a WordPress website
FREE Weebly website builder and Cloudflare CDN
Unlimited traffic and 24/7 live chat support
Get 75% off today with our Bluehost coupon
Get started on Bluehost now.

Money Back Guarantee

30 days

Disk Space

10 GB SSD - 100 GB SSD

Domain Name

FREE (1 year)

Cheap Rating

★★★★★ 4.6/5.0

#9 out of 10 in Cheap Hosting reviews

While DreamHost's price might be a little steep compared to other high-value hosting providers, the company gives customers ample time and reasons to get hooked and stick around.

The company, which started in the founders' dorm room in 1997, offers an industry-leading 97-day money-back guarantee. Additionally, DreamHost guarantees 100% uptime and will reimburse customers the cost of a whole day of hosting for each hour of downtime outside of scheduled maintenance.

We love that DreamHost seems to be genuinely built with their customers' experience and success in mind. Beyond unlimited storage and bandwidth, the company's luxurious shared hosting package boasts high-performance SSDs that make your websites perform at least 20 times faster.

Customers can also enjoy unlimited domain hosting, free domain privacy on sites registered through DreamHost, and unlimited email accounts.

We found that DreamHost's hand-crafted control panel gives easy access to all the tools beginners need to start and grow their sites: 1-click installers of top content management systems and eCommerce tools, SSL/TLS certificates from Let's Encrypt, and automated malware scans.

The company's award-winning support and service teams are staffed by self-described tech veterans, geeks, and nerds who are trained to Tier II to provide the most knowledgeable and experienced assistance.

If the extensive knowledgebase and user forums don't solve your problems, you can reach the in-house support team around the clock through phone callbacks, email tickets, Twitter, and live chat.

Automated malware scans
Unlimited domain hosting
Unlimited email accounts with POP/IMAP/SMTP
FREE eCommerce store tools and PCI compliance
Streamlined proprietary control panel
Get started on DreamHost now.

Money Back Guarantee

97 days

Disk Space

Unlimited

Domain Name

FREE (1 year)

Dedicated Hosting Comparison

Dedicated Rating

★★★★★ 4.5/5.0

#5 out of 8 in Dedicated Hosting reviews

Built on modern technology, with a minimum of four CPU cores per dedicated server, Bluehost offers reliable and flexible dedicated hosting options at an extremely reasonable price.

We continually praise the company's shared hosting options for having fantastic hardware and a great management console, and the brand's dedicated server offerings are no different.

Designed and maintained in house, Bluehost servers rely on only the latest technologies. The hosting company leverages open-source platforms, such as OpenStack and KVM, to boost flexibility and performance. All dedicated machines boast at least four CPU cores, 1TB of RAID-1 storage, and at least 4GB of available RAM.

Each dedicated server is provisioned instantly and can be upgraded at any time with essentially just a few clicks.

Bluehost prides itself on the always-available customer support staff. The experienced support agents work directly with engineers who have their hands on your machine, so to speak.

As a former Bluehost customer, I've always found the support technicians to be incredibly responsive and helpful.

Instant provisioning for all Bluehost server plans
Minimum 3 dedicated IP addresses
Modern hardware, built and maintained in house
24/7 expedited support from a dedicated team
Sign up to save 49% on your first term
Get started on Bluehost now.

Money Back Guarantee

30 days

Disk Space

500 GB - 1 TB (RAID-1)

Domain Name

FREE (1 year)

Dedicated Rating

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0

When your high-traffic site outgrows VPS, turn to DreamHost for premium dedicated hosting at a reasonable rate. The 20-year-old hosting provider offers servers with three times more cores and four times more RAM compared to well-known competitors.

What's more, DreamHost includes up to 2TB of SSD storage, unlimited bandwidth, and a 100% uptime guarantee. All dedicated servers come with full root and shell access, along with DDoS protection, RAID-1 storage, and unlimited MySQL databases.

With DreamHost's custom control panel, customers can quickly add, remove, or reboot servers with just a few clicks. We appreciate that DreamHost prides itself on providing open-source solutions, contributing to and supporting developer communities, and maintaining expert-level support teams.

In addition to running Ubuntu Long Term support, DreamHost supports PHP, Perl, Python, and Ruby. DreamHost has datacenters on both coasts and offers integration with the Cloudflare content delivery network, making sure your content loads quickly, no matter where your traffic comes from.

DreamHost's newest facility, dubbed "Data Center Alley," includes 2N+2 power redundancy and dual water lines for redundant cooling. Around-the-clock staffing, a 1Gbps internet connection, and emergency generators can give dedicated hosting customers peace of mind that their sites will stay online for the long haul.

Up to 12 cores available
Full root and shell access
DDoS protection and 24/7 server monitoring
Fully managed and customizable hardware options
RAID-1 HDD or SSD storage
Get started on DreamHost now.

Money Back Guarantee

N/A

Disk Space

240 GB SSD - 2 TB HDD

Domain Name

New or Transfer

VPS Hosting Comparison

VPS Rating

★★★★★ 4.6/5.0

#8 out of 9 in VPS Hosting reviews

We love recommending Bluehost for its lifetime customer growth potential, meaning you can start with shared hosting and seamlessly scale to VPS hosting plans and beyond.

The price versus performance is pretty unbeatable in the virtual hosting space, and Bluehost's engineering team will kick off the customer relationship by instantly provisioning your server.

Bluehost’s VPS offerings boast several benefits compared to standard shared hosting and other VPS providers. The first is speed; Bluehost offers your choice of two or four cores and 4GB to 16GB of RAM with guaranteed resources, so you have the power you need when you need it.

The second perk is security; Bluehost offers redundant storage and optional SiteLock protection to secure your data.

For those new to VPS hosting who may not know exactly what is needed, Bluehost makes it incredibly easy and seamless to switch between plans to find the perfect package for you.

The company's enhanced cPanel interface enables users to instantly adjust computing resources. If you have questions or need some advice, Bluehost's wonderful support staff is standing by to assist 24/7.

Seamless migration from any Bluehost shared hosting plan
Root access and easy multi-server management
Ample RAID-1 storage and tons of bandwidth
Each plan gets at least 3 dedicated IP addresses
cPanel and WHM with root access
Get started on Bluehost now.

Money Back Guarantee

30 days

Disk Space

120 GB SSD - 240 GB SSD

Domain Name

FREE (1 year)

VPS Rating

★★★★★ 4.7/5.0

With scalable RAM and SSD storage, DreamHost's VPS plans give customers a powerful, speedy, and stable environment ripe for growth.

RAM ranges from 1GB to 8GB, while storage varies between 30GB and 240GB. While DreamHost's VPS storage space and RAM options are in line with the industry average, DreamHost layers on a bevy of additional perks that turns their already competitive prices into big bargains.

Starting with all-SSD infrastructure, which boosts your website or application's speed by 20 times compared to standard SATA disk drives, DreamHost also includes a dedicated IP address and free SSL/TLS certificates, as well as unlimited bandwidth, domain hosting, and email accounts.

You can manage your virtual servers through DreamHost's custom control panel, which has been developed for more than 15 years. Although we originally missed the familiarity of cPanel or Plesk, we quickly adapted to DreamHost's sleek, modern panel.

Easily scale your virtual servers up or down based on your expected needs. For an added performance boost, DreamHost offers an add-on MySQL VPS service that puts your website's database on its own isolated server.

Linux-VServers dedicate an initial 2300MB of RAM to your site, giving customers a sneak peek at what DreamHost's dedicated hosting looks like.

Custom web-based control panel
Unlimited MySQL databases
Easily scalable RAM
High-performance SSD drives
5 years of security updates with Ubuntu Long Term Support
Get started on DreamHost now.

Money Back Guarantee

N/A

Disk Space

30 GB SSD - 240 GB SSD

Domain Name

New or Transfer

WordPress Hosting Comparison

WordPress Rating

★★★★★ 4.9/5.0

#1 out of 8 in WordPress Hosting reviews

Bluehost's WordPress hosting packages are aimed at first-time site owners and personal bloggers. These services come at a premium compared to the standard Bluehost web hosting (basic shared hosting) plans, but the WordPress optimization and platform-specific resources are arguably worth the cost.

The shared WordPress hosting plans are arguably the most popular. Equipped with the web's famous MOJO Marketplace, enjoy single-click installations of popular apps and tools, including WordPress.

Bluehost is on a short list of providers officially endorsed by the experts at WordPress.org, so, when faced with WordPress-specific issues, you can reach out to the customer support team with confidence.

Bluehost's managed WordPress hosting service is based on the hosting company's VPS offering. Though not as customizable as others, this managed hosting service focuses on simplicity and speed.

The account management interface is easy to navigate, and the instant provisioning allows for speedy setup. Integrated features, such as the MOJO Marketplace and ManageWP, are nice touches as well.

Though simple by design, Bluehost doesn't skimp on WordPress fan favorites:

Automatic WordPress installation and updates
Customizable themes for WordPress in the Bluehost Marketplace
Global content delivery network (CDN) powered by Cloudflare

Formed in 2003, Bluehost has long been one of the foremost shared hosts on the planet, and the hosting company now powers more than 2 million websites.

With an experienced team, competitive pricing, and always-there support, Bluehost is an industry veteran when it comes WordPress hosting.

Recommended by WordPress.org since 2005
Automatic WordPress updates and initial install
FREE WordPress themes in the Bluehost Marketplace
24/7 support via live chat, phone, and email
Get exclusive discounts on WordPress plans
Get started on Bluehost now.

Money Back Guarantee

30 days

Disk Space

10 GB SSD - 100 GB SSD

Domain Name

FREE (1 year)

WordPress Rating

★★★★★ 4.9/5.0

#4 out of 8 in WordPress Hosting reviews

One of only three hosting providers recommended by the WordPress Core team, DreamHost has actively contributed to the WordPress community for more than a decade.

The company's platform is optimized for the incredibly popular content management system, and plans include easy setup, automated updates and backups, unlimited bandwidth, and 24/7 specialized support.

DreamHost does an admirable job tailoring its shared hosting service around WordPress, but we're most impressed with the company's fully managed WordPress solution, DreamPress.

Launched in 2013, DreamPress offers enhanced speed, scaling, and security by configuring various settings and plugins that streamline WordPress installation, databases, and server operations. DreamPress adds multiple caching layers and isolates server resources to perform more than five times faster than shared hosting.

We love that DreamHost allocates two VPS servers for each DreamPress customer: one optimized for the frontend and the other for MySQL.

You'll get the same SSD storage found elsewhere in DreamHost plans, but DreamPress dynamically auto-scales memory to grow with your traffic. Support and security are further tailored to WordPress with automatic updates and a firewall that blocks known WordPress vulnerabilities and offers protection from brute-force attacks.

DreamPress uses NGINX, HTTP2, and Let's Encrypt SSL/TLS certificates to balance performance and privacy.

WordPress hosting for up to unlimited sites
FREE WordPress website migration
Fully managed hosting with DreamPress plan
NEW WordPress website builder tool
1 of 3 providers endorsed by WordPress.org
Get started on DreamHost now.

Money Back Guarantee

97 days

Disk Space

Unlimited

Domain Name

FREE (1 year)

Site Builder Hosting Comparison

Website Builder Rating

★★★★★ 4.5/5.0

#5 out of 9 in Website Builder Hosting reviews

With Bluehost, new site owners have the drag-and-drop simplicity of the WordPress website builder at their fingertips. This makes launching a new online brand, store, or personal site from scratch relatively painless.

Sure, site building has its headaches for newbies, but the Bluehost team is ready and willing to assist you every step of the way. To help prime your site launch for success, Bluehost offers a plethora of unlimited freebies:

Free domain hosting (unlimited domains on select plans)
Free email hosting (unlimited by default)
Unlimited storage on most plans
Unlimited bandwidth (site traffic)

These freebies, coupled with several options for site-building services, is everything a new website owner needs to get started, and the cost is hard to beat. If WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) isn’t for you, perhaps a CMS (content management system) option sounds appealing.

Choose from the most popular content management and blogging software, including Joomla, Drupal, and WordPress, and download and install the application(s) with a single click.

Most Bluehost hosting plan options have even been customized to cater to WordPress — and Bluehost is one of three hosts officially endorsed by the WordPress Core developers.

For quick, cheap, and easy website building — backed by one of the web’s most reliable web hosts — you can’t go wrong in choosing Bluehost.

FREE website builder (powered by WordPress)
Custom themes and easy integration with ecommerce tools
Expert support 24/7 via live chat, phone, and email
Longest-running WordPress.org recommendation
Pro services to design, build, and market your site
Get started on Bluehost now.

Money Back Guarantee

30 days

Disk Space

10 GB SSD - 100 GB SSD

Domain Name

FREE (1 year)

Website Builder Rating

★★★★★ 4.6/5.0

For a while, the only knock on DreamHost was the lack of a website builder for beginners unfamiliar with web design. With the relatively recent debut of Remixer, however, DreamHost has come up with yet another way to appeal to site owners.

Hosting providers creating their own site builders can be a risky venture — why devote resources to trying something new when there's a tried-and-true outside option such as Weebly?

DreamHost, however, seems to have hit a home run with Remixer. We love how the clean and modern interface directs users straight to whatever tools they need.

Remixer offers several professional-grade templates that appeal to a surprisingly wide range of uses: small businesses, professionals, travelers, creatives, music, events, and even documentation. Remixer lets you preview each theme in desktop, tablet, and mobile (portrait AND landscape) views before getting to work.

The builder interface itself is equally impressive, giving users the options to customize, move, and add content based on row-based layouts.

More experienced site owners will appreciate access to HTML code and the ability to use Markdown to format text. Being a leader in WordPress web hosting, DreamHost enables users to export their Remixer website to WordPress to take advantage of powerful features such as SSL certificates, blogging, ecommerce, WordPress plugins, and other tools associated with the popular CMS.

If you're looking for a sleek, refreshing site builder, sign up for a shared hosting plan with DreamHost to access Remixer. Upgraded plans also include email accounts to give users a well-rounded and complete experience.

Remixer enables users to create and manage sites without code
Preview themes for desktop, tablet, and mobile (portrait and landscape)
Responsive, professional themes
Royalty-free images from Pixabay
Easily export to WordPress
Get started on DreamHost now.

Money Back Guarantee

97 days

Disk Space

Unlimited

Domain Name

FREE (1 year)

Bluehost vs. DreamHost - Our Conclusion

Ryan Frankel Hosting Expert

“We tested Bluehost & DreamHost — The winner is Bluehost!”

This comparison was a close call. Bluehost appeals to many customers for its open-source flexibility and affordability, but DreamHost provides a refreshing alternative to the mass-marketed WordPress hosting options. Your choice may come down to the flip of a coin because both providers give users similar speed, security, and scalability. We hope this comparison helped you find the host of your dreams, but if you’re not fully convinced, take another look at our reviews for each provider.

Overall Rating

4.9/5.0 ★★★★★

Visit Bluehost »

Overall Rating

4.8/5.0 ★★★★★

Visit DreamHost »

About The Author

Ryan Frankel has been a professional in the tech industry for more than 20 years and has been developing websites for more than 25. With a master's degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Florida, he has a fundamental understanding of hardware systems and the software that runs them. Ryan now sits as the CTO of Digital Brands Inc. and manages all of the server infrastructure of their websites, as well as their development team. In addition, Ryan has a passion for guitars, good coffee, and puppies.