BlueHost vs DreamHost Comparison: Which Is the Best Web Hosting Provider? Who Should You Choose?

In this BlueHost vs DreamHost comparison, we tell you which web hosting provider you should choose.

If you’ve been searching for the best hosting providers on the internet; BlueHost and DreamHost are among the best; you might have found a lot of blogs and websites recommending them.

In fact, we also do, they feature in our top 10 best web hosting providers.

BlueHost vs DreamHost: Who is the winner? Who offers better value and services? Who should get your hard-earned cash?

Leave all that to us; just keep reading. Below we compare both websites hosting companies side by side in multiple sections.

The results? Well, here is a summary if you want a sneak peek of what’s in the rest of the article.

Plans	BlueHost has five Linux-based plans ranging from shared web hosting up to dedicated servers. They offer full web hosting services.	DreamHost offers five types of hosting, from shared hosting plans to dedicated server plans.
Freebies	Domain names, SSL certificates, Advertising credits, dedicated IPs, Cloudflare free service integration, Jetpack Licenses, and plan specific add-ons like Domain Privacy+Protection and CodeGuard backups.	Domain names, SSL certificate, Ad credits, Domain Privacy Protection, Unlimited CDN and Jetpack Licenses.
WordPress support	WordPress.org officially recommends them. WordPress Pro plans are hosted on optimized WP Pro VPS servers, and you get full managed support services.	Also formally recommended by WordPress.org. You get optimized DreamPress plans in a Cloud environment. DreamHost’s WordPress experts offer you managed technical support.
Domains	You get a free 1st-year domain name, free Domain Locking+ Protection with specific plans. In general, domain prices are slightly higher vs DreamHost	Has lower domain prices than BlueHost, you get a free domain name, and privacy protection with specific plans, i.e., DreamPress plans.
E-commerce	Ecommerce features include Ad credits, Google My Business verification, Jetpack licenses, SEO tools (*with specific plans) payment integration, plus dedicated IPs (with specific plans). Multiple ecommerce apps installable with just a few clicks.	PCI compliant hosting. Offer free pre-installation for WooCommerce, StoreFront theme and SSL certificates. They have a site builder with e-commerce functionality, and you get Jetpack licenses and Ad credits for marketing.
Eco-friendly Hosting	BlueHost doesn’t take part in eco-friendly hosting initiatives.	Fully committed to environmentally friendly hosting. DreamHost uses energy-efficient components, buy energy from companies using green energy for power production, and encourage environmental-friendly practices in their offices.
Speed	They have implemented very few extra speed-up technologies, but WordPress plans have Cloudflare free service supported. Despite this, their site loading speeds are better than DreamHost’s though marginally.	Has a few more speed optimizations but isn’t able to beat BlueHost.Versus the rest of the competitors, speeds are just above industry averages; places with the best speeds are around the US.
Uptime	No uptime guarantee hence no compensation for downtime. Minimal redundancy and high availability measures implemented.	Have 24/7 monitoring to detect issues before they cause downtime. Uptime scores are higher than BlueHost, and they have an industry-leading 100% uptime guarantee with compensation for downtime.
Ease of Use	You get access to an intuitive dashboard and get a customized beginner-friendly cPanel after going through their straightforward sign-up and account setup process. Unfortunately, you’ve got to pay for website migration. Lots of free tools are provided for novices.	Has a well-designed customer dashboard area, but you get their custom control panel, which isn’t as easy to use as cPanel.Offer free migration for WordPress only and a variety of beginner-friendly tools.
Developer tools	An extensive amount of programming languages are supported, plus enough development technologies are integrated.	You get more and better developer tools. Developers have lots of freedom, e.g., root access working with languages they prefer.
Security	Most security tools and features are purchased as add-ons. You get enough security tools for free; your website and email account are well protected.	You get lots of free security tools and featutures at no extra cost. There’s also custom implemention lie a WAF specifically for WordPress.
Customer Support	Available 24/7 but with an outsourced customer support team, problems like slow response time, and unhelpful answers often arise. Lots of complaints about this on the internet.	They have an in-house team available 24/7, much better than BlueHost’s in terms of service quality. Live Chat is unfortunately not available round the clock.
Pricing	They don’t have any hidden fees for their plans, but you won’t get month-to-month billing. Initial long contracts get you significant discounts but beware; you pay increased prices when renewing.	Have month-to-month billing, no setup fees, plans are cheaper than on BlueHost. Long contracts get you significant discounts, and renewals have increased prices.
Refunds	All plans have a 30-day money-back guarantee. No automatic cancellation, but they refund faster and have a Better Business Bureau rating.	DreamHost offers a 97-day money-back guarantee (shared plans).The rest are covered for only 30 days.DreamHost is “A+” by the BBB organization.
Overall rating	4.4	4.5
	Visit site	Visit site

If you want to read the longer version, kindly continue reading below.

Let’s jump right in

DreamHost wins in 9 sections while BlueHost gets six important wins.

Most of the areas BlueHost wins are those that are essential and would benefit a beginner or someone getting started with website hosting directly. DreamHost wins mainly in areas for more experienced and niche users. You can’t just rely on the overall score to determine who to go with.

Which type of website owner are you?

What are your requirements?

These are the questions that should help you make a decision in this BlueHost vs DreamHost comparison.

BlueHost was started as a free website hosting platform in 1996. The rebrand and establishment of the BlueHost brand in Provo, Utah, happened in 2003. Founders were Danny Ashworth and Matt Heaton. Currently, their headquarters are in Burlington, Massachusetts. This switch happened after the company got acquired by the Endurance International Group (EIG). They have 750 staff and host over 2 million websites.

On the other hand,

DreamHost was also founded at around the same time – i.e., in 1997  as New Dream Network – by Dallas Bethune, Sage Weil, Michael Rodriguez, and Josh Jones. Unlike Bluehost, they’ve remained a privately owned company up until this a day with their headquarters being in Los Angeles, California. DreamHost has grown and expanded its offerings to over 100 countries. They host over 1.5 million websites for their 400,000+ clients all served by 200 staff (as of 2016).

As you can see, BlueHost and DreamHost are reliable companies that have been in the game for a while.

• BlueHost Plans – shared hosting, managed WordPress hosting, VPS, dedicated servers, and reseller hosting.
• DreamHost Plans – shared web hosting, managed WordPress hosting, Cloud Hosting,  VPS hosting, dedicated server hosting.

Pros

• Lots of plans to choose from Basic, Plus, Choice Plus, and Pro
• Free-extras: SSL certificates, $200 marketing credits, Google My Business verification, 1st-year domain name, and a one month Office 365 Mailbox trial
• All plans get you unlimited bandwidth.
• Excluding the Basic plan; storage, no of websites, parked domains, plus subdomains are unlimited features
• Both the Choice Plus and Pro plans get you free Site Backup (powered by CodeGuard Basic) and Domain Privacy + Protection
• Pro plan has 2 Spam Experts and a Dedicated IP included for free

Cons

• Plans are more expensive than DreamHost’s
• Backups are not guaranteed and CodeGuard Backups are offered as add-ons
• You can only do three backup restorations/month
• Deactivation and deletion can be done for exceeding resources

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Pros

• Lower prices vs BlueHost
• Free services: WordPress pre-installation and WordPress updates
• Free features: domain name, and SSL Certificate
• Resource protection for good performance on both plans
• Automated daily backups.
• Unlimited features for both plans include traffic and cached visits per month
• Unlimited features like email accounts, FTP/SFTP/Shell Users, storage, subdomains, and MySQL databases are available with the unlimited plan.

Cons

• Limited no of plans, i.e., only two shared hosting plans
• Only one plan has unlimited features
• Very few freebies (vs BlueHost)

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On both platforms, the smallest plans are quite limited in terms of features.

In general, BlueHost charge more for their shared plans, but the fact is that you also get more features and freebies. Side to side with DreamHost’s plans; you get to find out that DreamHost’s biggest plan only matches the Choice plan from BlueHost, i.e., the 2^nd out of 4.

What’s more, on BlueHost, you can upgrade seamlessly to their two other shared plans while on DreamHost, you’re pretty much stuck. There is no debate here than BlueHost offers better value for shared web hosting. However, if you want to enjoy automated daily backups, you have to go with DreamHost.

Verdict: BlueHost Wins

Pros

• The WordPress.org officially recommends them
• WordPress hosting on a VPS environment for high performance
• Managed Support for WordPress and WooCommerce: automatic installations, updates, and security.
• Managed Support for WooCommerce: automatic installations, security, updates, pre-installation of storefront theme, Google My Business verification and PayPal Integration for the Scale plan
• One-click installation supported for both WordPress and WooCommerce
• Access to 100+ free and premium WordPress themes
• Daily scheduled backups. With Scale plan, Backups and Restorations are unlimited
• Free features: SSL certificates, domain name, Microsoft 365 Mailbox ( 30 Days trial), and Jetpack Licenses, i.e., Build (Jetpack free), Grow (Jetpack Premium ) and Scale (Jetpack Pro).
• SEO and Marketing tools: Build (A Marketing Center), Grow (BlueHost SEO Tools), and Scale (Elastic Search optimization tool)
• Guaranteed resources through KVM hypervisor
• Google Analytics integration for all plans
• Integrated Cloudflare free service and custom multi-layer caching for WordPress speed boost are implemented
• Developer tools: Site Staging and WP-CLI
• Changing WordPress passwords via their Secure custom configuring is supported
• Support: 1-Hour Concierge Call with their expert WordPress experts and Premium Priority support for specific plans, i.e., Grow( Blue Sky Ticket Support ) and Scale (Blue Sky Chat Support)

Cons

• More expensive plans (significantly)
• Limited speed optimizations vs DreamHost

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Pros

• Also officially recommended by the WordPress.org
• WordPress hosting in a Cloud environment.
• Managed Support: Automatic installation, software, and security updates
• Woocommerce support: Automatic installation, software and security updates, Storefront Theme pre-installation, and pre-configuration of plug-ins
• Free migration for WordPress sites
• Quickstart Guide for WordPress DIY installation is provided.
• You get access to 100’s of mobile-optimized website templates
• Support a 1-Click installer for WordPress
• Automated daily backups
• WP-specific firewall for security
• Freebies: Pre-Installed SSL Certificate, domain name, domain privacy Jetpack Licenses, i.e., Standard for DreamPress, and Jetpack Professional for DreamPress Plus and DreamPress Pro
• On-Demand + Daily Backups
• Unlimited features: Visits Per Month, bandwidth, emails, MySQL databases, SSD storage, and SFTP accounts.
• Speed optimizations: Built-in Caching and Resource isolation
• Developer tools: WordPress Migration tool, Site Staging, and WP-CLI
• DreamPress Pro has Priority Support

Cons

• No plans support hosting unlimited WordPress sites

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WordPress sites being hosted in a cloud environment like on DreamHost is much better than a VPS (BlueHost) for performance and reliability. Adding to the fact that DreamHost has other caching solutions implemented, you’re website will be pretty fast on their platform.

Managed support for WordPress is excellent on both platforms. Still, when it comes to WooCommerce, BlueHost takes it a notch higher with PayPal integration, Google Analytics, Free SEO (and marketing) tools plus more. Freebies are pretty much the same, but what made BlueHost win in this WordPress hosting section is the premium support lines and services it offers. No support for hosting unlimited websites by DreamHost also doesn’t help them.

Verdict: BlueHost Wins

For more VPS options, check our Best Unlimited Bandwidth VPS Providers guide.

BlueHost doesn’t offer cloud hosting plans. Since we can’t have a comparison in this section, we recommend reading our in-depth DreamHost review for details on their DreamHost’s Cloud plans.

For more detailed information, check out our comprehensive guide on what a VPS is.

Pros

• Your server gets instantly provisioned
• Freebies: 1st-year domain name, cPanel and dedicated IPs
• They offer 24/7 managed support
• Full root access to CentOS
• Seamless upgrades from shared hosting
• Dynamic resources feature: You can upgrade your storage on the fly

Cons

• Limited bandwidth for plans
• RAM is not expandable
• Higher prices for vs DreamHost
• No free SSL certificate

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Pros

• Managed smart assistance from their expert team
• Automatic software updates
• More plans giving you variety to choose from
• Cheaper prices for more resources vs BlueHost
• Unlimited features: bandwidth, domains, SFTP users and email accounts
• Expandable (scalable) RAM and SSD storage (under 10 seconds)
• Freebies: dedicated IP address (IPv6 or IPv4) and SSL/TLS certificates
• Sub-accounts – for resellers – are supported for managing multiple client accounts
• You can choose either an Apache or Nginx webserver

Cons

• No free domain name like BlueHost VPS

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In this section, DreamHost brings supreme value, flexibility and better prices to the table to the table. In addition, you get more unlimited features, resources (storage and RAM), and lots of pro webmaster tools are supported. On BlueHost, you’re limited in terms of bandwidth and upgradability (only storage). Excluding a free domain name, the rest of what they BlueHost offers is covered by DreamHost.

The best part? They offer unlimited bandwidth, which is rare with VPS plans.

Verdict: DreamHost Wins

For more VPS options, check our Best Unlimited Bandwidth VPS Providers guide.

Check our dedicated server guide for more information.

Pros

• Swift server provisioning (only 24 to 72 hrs)
• Freebies: a domain name, 3 to 5 Dedicated IP addresses and an SSL certificate
• Use RAID 1 SSD storage
• The full root server access with unmanaged plans
• Free auto- backups
• Expandable storage;you can upgrade anytime
• 24/7 expedited support from a dedicated team

Cons

• Limited no. of plans
• Some plans use HDD storage which is slower than SSDs

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Pros

• Full root and shell access
• RAID 1 Storage
• Uncapped features: bandwidth and IPv6 addresses
• Has support for Sub Account features for resellers
• Use Local MySQL databases server on a separate machine
• More plans (9 plans) to choose from
• 100% Network Uptime Guarantee
• 24×7 Tech Support & Server Monitoring

Cons

• Some plans use slower storage, i.e., HDDs instead of SSDs
• No guarantee for fast provisioning

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When compared to BlueHost plans, it hard to find an area DreamHost’s plans come short. DreamHost has more plans giving you the flexibility to choose different resource configuration, and with each plan, you get unlimited bandwidth.

Positives on BlueHost include dedicated customer support and a free domain name. Unfortunately, both are not enough to beat what you get on DreamHost.

Verdict: DreamHost wins

Pros

• All plans have a free domain name with up to 15 extensions supported
• With the Choice Plus and Pro (shared hosting plans), you get free Domain Privacy + Protection
• Domain searching is easy with the search tool on their website
• Offer a domain management tool; you can managing name servers, purchase, update, track, and transfer domains with it
• Has domain add-ons such as Auto-renewal and Domain privacy + protection

Cons

• Their moneyback guarantee doesn’t cover domains
• No free domain transfer service
• Higher prices (vs DreamHost)
• A $10-15 activation fee is charged for the free domain

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Pros

• Cheaper domain prices
• Free domain names offered with some plans
• Some plans have free domain privacy protection, e.g., managed WordPress plans
• Offer a domain search tool
• Restricts domains to 253 characters better for SEO
• Supported domain add-ons: automatic renewals and privacy protection
• Easy DNS Domain management via their custom panel

Cons

• Their moneyback guarantee doesn’t cover domains
• No free domain transfer service

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Renewals Prices / year for BlueHost’s Domains:

• .com $17.99
• .us  $15.99
• .info $15.99
• .net $18.99
• .org $17.99
• .biz $16.99

Renewals Prices / year for DreamHost’s Domains:

• .com $15.99
• .us  $11.95
• .info $16.99
• .net $16.99
• .org $15.99
• .biz $12.95

Super-tight; there’s no other way to describe this section. Both web hosting providers match each other feature-wise. However, DreamHost is much better overall; you don’t get charged an activation fee for their free domain, and they have lower domain prices.

Its very close, but DreamHost they get the edge here; it’s such little extras that really count for most people.

Verdict: DreamHost Wins

Pros

• Apps supported AgoraCart, CubeCart, Seotoatser e-commerce, Agora, ZenCart, PrestaShop, Magento, OpenCart. OSCommerce, and Shopsite
• WooCommerce support covers pre-installation (and activation), Google Analytics integration, Automatic updates, and verification on Google My Business
• Free pre-installation of Storefront theme for WooCommerce
• Jetpack Licenses for WooCommrce stores SEO and marketing
• Free $200 marketing credits
• SEO and Marketing tools: Build (A Marketing Center), Grow (BlueHost SEO Tools), and Scale (Elastic Search optimization tool)
• Dedicated IPs for the Pro plan, VPS and dedicated servers
• PayPal Integration for the Scale Plan
• Security: SSL certificates and OpenPGP/GPG Encryption
• Support: free onboarding call with their experts (WooCommerce

Cons

• No PCI-compliance
• Private SSL certificates require a dedicated IP address as a must
• The $200 Ad credits are awarded after you spent $25 on a new Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising account

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Pros

• Has a PCI compliant hosting platform
• 1-click installation for e-commerce apps like WooCommerce, ZenCart,and Pretashop
• You get Chartbeat analytics for track your website’s visitors,
• eCommerce site builder, i.e., Café Commerce available
• WooCommerce managed support: Auto-updates and pre-configuration
• Storefront theme pre-installation for WooCommerce
• Security: a pre-Installed SSL Certificate
• Marketing & SEO: Jetpack licenses (WooCommerce)
• Support: Phone Support Callbacks on DreamPress Pro and plan.DreamPress Pro has Priority Support

Cons

• No dedicated IP
• No payment integration

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Not yet decided after reading the pros and cons of both? The winner is clear but let me help you.

Most of the support features for WooCommerce are identical on both platforms, which is great. As for extras that will make your online store have a better chance of success and sales, i.e., dedicated IPs for good site reputation, marketing and SEO tools, Advertising credits, Payments integration and more DreamHost is lacking.

But that’s not the whole story: BlueHost lacks PCI compliant servers and a free site builder with e-commerce store support both of which you get with DreamHost.

Considering BlueHost also helps your store get Google My Business verification and integrate Google Analytics, we believe such perks make them better overall here.

Verdict: BlueHost Wins

Summary

• They don’t have any recognized eco-friendly hosting efforts

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Summary

• Involved in state-level “clean wind” programs
• Has LEED Platinum and EnergyStar-certified data centers
• Has Balanced, highly-optimized HVAC plants
• Use Power from grids that utilize green energy sources
• Use efficient power equipment in their infrastructure like efficient CPUs, High-efficiency cooling, LED and low-mercury, high-efficiency CFL lighting

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Surprisingly, even as of 2020, BlueHost hasn’t considered transitioning to become an environmentally conscious hosting company, very disappointing. If green hosting is an objective your website(s) needs to meet, the default choice here is DreamHost.

Verdict: DreamHost Wins

Pros

• Reliable uptime with scores over 99.95% average scores
• Use RAID Level 1 on dedicated servers SSDs for better reduduncy

Cons

• Keeps information on their data center and redundancy measures private
• Lacks an uptime guarantee hence no downtime compensation

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Pros

• Has an industry-leading 100% uptime guarantee for all plans
• Impeccable uptime scores, above 99.99% at most times
• You get compensated for downtime
• 24×7 Tech Support & Server Monitoring
• Also uses RAID-1 for their HDD or SSD storage solutions for better reliability

Cons

• Uptime guarantee doesn’t cover scheduled maintenance.
• Downtime caused by bad code, plug-ins and scripts from your end doesn’t get compensated

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BlueHost has decent uptime scores; you won’t get any major downtime issues. The fact that they

• Don’t have an uptime guarantee
• They have very limited redundancy and high availability measures implemented

isn’t a confidence booster at all to go with them when compared to DreamHost, who ticks all those boxes.

Here’s the deal: DreamHost has 100% unmatched uptime guarantee and round the clock server monitoring if you’re running a website in which high uptime is crucial; look no further than DreamHost.

Verdict: DreamHost Wins

Pros

• Has faster page-loading than DreamHost
• Uses SSDS for fast storage
• PHP 7.3 which is a fast version Is enabled
• The Pro plan in a shared environment has resource protection for high performance
• Cloudflare free service integration

Cons

• Only has 1 U.S.-based data center
• Minimal speed optimizations

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Pros

• Also uses SSDS for fast storage
• Has two data centers for better speed options for different locations
• Speed up protocols: OPcache for the latest PHP version
• Unlimited CDN for DreamPress plans

Cons

• Some plans use slow HDDs

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BlueHost is amazing in terms of speeds.

How, why, you may ask?

Despite less speed up features, when put to the test, websites load faster from their servers versus DreamHost. It’s all about proper optimization and granular tuning from BlueHosts experts.

Though the differences in speed are marginal, we recommend BlueHost if you want better speeds. Speed is crucial for attracting site visitors, keeping them coming back and even SEO.

Verdict: BlueHost Wins

Pros

• Simple and fast singing up process. Your account is accessible in minutes
• A beginner-friendly onboarding process for new clients where for the first five days, you get helpful guides through email.
• You get access to an intuitive customer dashboard.
• You get to-do lists to help you avoid missing actions during setups and to run your website properly
• They have a customized beginner-friendly cPanel with website and management functions that are easy to grasp. You can demo it on their website
• There’s free pre-installation for WooCommerce and WordPress
• There’s a helpful setup wizard – for WordPress- perfect for beginners.
• WordPress can be installed using their 1-click installer
• Via MOJO Marketplace, you’re given access to lots of free apps that are easy to install through a few clicks
• You get 200+ free WordPress themes
• There are 2 Premium Website Builders, i.e., Weebly, and goMobi Mobile Web Builder (30-day free trial)
• Google Apps integration has been made simple; it only takes just a few clicks to install them.
• Website Stats Tools like Awstats and Webalizer are available
• You can easily upload files using FTP or File Manager

Cons

• Their site builders are not free; you pay after the trial period.
• They don’t offer free website transfers; it costs $149.99.
• SFTP (secure) is only supported on your main FTP account.
• No Softaculous 1-click installer

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Pros

• They have clean, and user-friendly interfaces for the customer area
• You get an in-house proprietary control panel.
• There’s free pre-installation for WordPress, WooCommerce, StoreFront theme and SSL certificates.
• They give a powerful 1-click installer with support for a variety of apps to make installation simple.
• Free site transfer for WordPress websites with 200+ starter themes and plug-ins to choose from.
• There is also a free migration plug-in for DIY transfers
• WP Website Builder for building WordPress sites
• They also have Remixer, a site builder with a clean and modern interface. Its support site creation in drag and drop style.
• You get free professional-grade templates you can use with the site builder
• You get Chartbeat analytics for tracking your site’s visitors

Cons

• By not sticking to the industry-standard cPanel, DreamHost makes novices have a steeper learning curve in website and server management
• no MOJO marketplace for lots of free apps installable with just a click

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It’s a shame both BlueHost and DreamHost don’t have a free site transfer service but at least DreamHost providers a tool you can migrate WordPress for free.

As you can see from the feature set, BlueHost offers extensive support for novices with excellent beginner-friendly tools. The only problem is that there is no Softaculuous but you can still install WordPress with a single click.

Both platforms have decent website builders, no complaints on that front. However, when it comes to site and server management, DreamHost only offers their custom control panel. If you’re used to cPanel, learning to use another control panel is an inconvenience. Adding that to the fact they give you fewer tools, features, and support that’s cant rival BlueHost, they lose this section.

Verdict: BlueHost Wins

Pros

• Site staging environment for testing new app versions, code, and plug-ins
• WP-CLI environment for managing WordPress sites via a command line.
• Programming languages support: Python, Perl, Ruby on Rails, PHP (5.6-7.3), MySQL 5.6, and PostgreSQL databases
• Database access via phpMyAdmin, Remote MySQL, or phpPgAdmin supported
• CGI-BIN for housing Brower interaction scripts.
• Developer Access: Full root access for some plans, Secure Shell (SSH) Access, and Log FileAccess
• Fully-customized Linux kernel for VPS and dedicated servers

Cons

• Lacks Windows-based developer tools
• Lacks collaboration and features to help dveleoper sell sites to clients
• Fewer development technologies supported.

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Pros

• Development technologies: Node.js, both Apache or Nginx webservers, Crontabs for task automation, Ruby Version Manager (RVM), Phusion Passenger, MongoDB, Subversion Repository (SVN), Canned CGI Scripts, Server Side Includes (SSI), full CGI, full Unix Shell and Password Protection (.htaccess),
• WP-CLI environment and 1-click Site staging available
• Sub-Accounts feature; it allows multiple access on the same hosting plan, which helps developers sell sites to clients.
• Programming languages supported: PHP7/Perl/Python,
• Developer Access: Access to Raw Log Files, SSH access and full root access for specific plans
• On cloud plans via DreamObjects, service developers can store objects. This creates an excellent web or mobile app development environment

Cons

• No Windows-based developer tools

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All the basic tools needed by a developer are well covered by BlueHost. What they miss are advanced tools like site collaboration and features that help developers and freelancers sell websites.

DreamHost on the other hand doesn’t hold back, apart from supporting all the basics of streamlining a developer’s workflow, they go the extra mile to offer extensive support for most development technologies required by niche developers.

To add on, their DreamObject and DreamCompute Cloud services are very enticing for any developer. We find no reason to recommend BlueHost over DreamHost.

Verdict: DreamHost Wins

Summary

• Free SSL certificates
• DDoS protection via Cloudflare.
• Emails Spam protection via Apache Spam Assassin, Spam Hammer, and Spam Expert except for the Basic shared hosting plan
• Automatic backups (30 days backup retention) for specific plans (backups not guaranteed)
• The Choice Plus and Pro plans have free Site backup by CodeGuard basic
• 2-Factor Authentication with support for using a log-in PIN
• WordPress log-in details customization is enabled
• OpenPGP/GPG Encryption

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Summary

• Automated malware scans
• mod_security, a web application firewall (WAF) for protection against brute force attacks, cross-site scripting and malicious traffic
• enhanced user security, which helps to prevent your DreamHost control panel
• Automatic backups for all plans
• On-demand backups, and 1-Click Restore
• DDoS protection
• Two-factor authentication supports the Yubikey and Google Authenticator app.
• WP-specific firewalls for security

Pros

Cons

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The security features offered by BlueHost are decent, you will be well protected especially on the email front. They also allow you to customize your WordPress log-in credentials but for some essential security services like automated backups and malware scan and removal you’ve got to purchase add-ons or hope you get them for free with your preferred plan.

With DreamHost, you get these features for free with all plans.DreamHost has also implemented Custom firewalls and security solutions that provide enhanced protection for all plans. With such investments in security, they win this section comfortably.

Pros

• Doesn’t include hidden fees for plans
• They have more plans than DreamHost giving you lots of choices
• Includes more features, extras and freebies with their plans

Cons

• Upsells add-ons via default checking on their checkout pages
• Lacks a Month-to-month billing option
• Significant increase in renewal fees
• Only long contracts get you the best pricing

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Pros

• Lower plan prices than BlueHost in general
• Month-to-month billing is available
• No setup fees
• Doesn’t upsell add-ons aggressively as BlueHost

Cons

• Only long contracts get you the best pricing
• Few features and extras with their plans
• Significant increase in renewal fees

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There isn’t a big disparity in prices on BlueHost vs DreamHost; both offer very affordable pricing. The advantage of going with BlueHost is they include more features and extras with their plans compared to DreamHost, which increases their plans overall value.

How about DreamHost?

They give you the option to pay per month, and most plans are cheaper than BlueHost’s.

None of these providers include hidden fees, but both follow in the industry practices of

• Offering only first contract discounts which get better with contract length
• Increasing renewal prices

All in all, for their prices, BlueHost offers more than DreamHost

Verdict: BlueHost Wins

Pros

• Available 24/7
• Different support channels available: Live chat, phone and email
• DIY materials; A knowledgebase, video tutorials and via their YouTube channel
• They have an excellent onboarding service for your first five days.
• Expedited support for dedicated hosting customers

Cons

• Response time is very slow, i.e., both live chat (around 20 minutes) and email replies (around 45 minutes)
• Logged in customers cannot access live chat which is an inconvenience
• Verification of account ownership is required each time you contact support
• The customer support department is outsourced and doesn’t meet the quality expected for the industry.
• Staff give unhelpful answers; they aren’t well trained and knowledgeable

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Pros

• US-based support agents available 24/7
• Friendly and knowledgeable staff who give helpful answers
• Support channels: Phone callbacks, twitter, tickets email and live chat
• The DreamPress Pro has priority support
• DIY support material: Knowledgebase, DreamHost discussion forum and Wiki support group pages

Cons

• No phone support, only callbacks for specific plans
• Worrying unavailability of support staff for Live chat; only available from 5 am – 10 pm PST

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There is a problem with having cheap, outsourced customer support. The quality is always disappointing because agents aren’t well trained, they are slow, and mostly they can’t directly give you helpful solutions, they have to consult supervisors or “Technical Support.”. This is what you get with BlueHost.

Good news: they provide excellent self-help materaials, it’s not enough for customers who prefer communicating with agents.

Dont believe me? Just check feedback on their customer support on the internet.

DreamHouse is better in that they have a US-based team with better service quality. They are well trained and give helpful answers.

But it’s not all perfect. DreamHost’s department seems to be understaffed, they have no phone support, and live chat is only available for some specific hours, not 24/7.

Verdict: DreamHost Wins

Pros

• Has a 30 days money-back guarantee for all plans
• “A” rated by the BBB (Better Business Bereau)
• Process refunds between 5 and 7 business days

Cons

• Add-ons, including domain names, are not refundable.
• Doesn’t have an automatic cancellation feature
• No confirmation email after a successful cancellation process

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Pros

• Has a generous 97-day money-back guarantee (shared hosting)
• VPS and dedicated server plans get a 30 days moneyback guarantee
• Fast and simple cancellation process
• A+ BBB rating

Cons

• Add-ons and third-party services not covered by the moneyback guarantee
• Refunds can only be obtained if you initially paid by credit card.

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Unless you won’t be paying via a credit card, DreamHost is the better host here; their refund policy is long, they are highly rated by the Better Business Rating and have a swift and super easy cancellation process.

BlueHost cons, such as no automatic cancellation and lack of proper communication after canceling, put a big dent in their refund policy.

In some of the areas, BlueHost and DreamHost still aren’t close to what you get from other competitors in the industry. Some of those areas include speed (SiteGround & A2 Hosting ), e-commerce support, and Ease of use. Here are more alternatives: InMotion Hosting, HostPapa, and A2 Hosting.

Well, I am getting distracted.

Should you go with Bluehost or DreamHost?

There’s no direct or right answer to this question as you’ve seen. Each excels in their own way. What you’ve got to do is check which company between the two focuses on areas that align with your priority hosting goals.

Any questions or comments on either BlueHost or DreamHost?

Leave them below, and we will reply.