No matter the reason for wanting a website, finding the web hosting company that is right for you can be bewildering because there are so many plans with so many different features. This head-to- head comparison between BlueHost and DreamHost may help you narrow down your choices.
Both BlueHost and DreamHost have been in the web hosting business since the 1990s – BlueHost since 1996, and DreamHost since 1997. Both are well established. BlueHost has more than 2 million sites hosted on its servers, while DreamHost has over 1.5 million on its servers.
BlueHost and DreamHost both provide shared hosting, managed WordPress hosting, and VPS and dedicated server plans – though BlueHost’s VPS and dedicated server options are recent additions.
BlueHost has won a number of “best of” awards, including “Best Affordable Hosting,” and “Best Value Host.” DreamHost has won its share of “best of” awards, including PCMag’s “Best Business Host” in 2014 and 2015.
In 2010, BlueHost was bought by Endurance International Group (EIG), a company which owns numerous hosting companies, but allows each of them to operate under their own name. Even though EIG sites are not clones of each other, there are a number of similarities between EIG owned hosting companies.
You should be aware that if you have had issues with one EIG company, you may find the same issues with another. DreamHost is a privately owned hosting company and is headquartered in California.
Uptime and Reliability
Uptime. Although BlueHost’s uptime stats show it to regularly be 99.9% or better, they do not have an uptime guarantee. On the other hand, DreamHost has a 100% uptime guarantee.Refunds of one day of hosting for each hour of downtime are given, once the trouble is reported.
Performance. BlueHost builds its own servers and uses 16-core AMD Opterons. DreamHost also uses AMD processors and has SSDs installed in its servers.
A test of a site hosted on BlueHost resulted in a load time of 2.37s, faster than 65% of the sites tested on Pingdom. A comparable DreamHost site resulted in a load time of 2.10s, faster than 70% of the sites tested.
Reliability. The data center for BlueHost is located in Utah. The data center is powered and cooled with redundant sources, and diesel backups are in place for emergencies. BlueHost does no mirrored or redundant backups of data, except for their Cloud Plans. Backups are kept for a maximum of 30 days.
DreamHost has two California data centers, one in Los Angeles and one in Irvine. Plans are underway to consolidate the California data centers into a DreamHost data center in Portland. They also have a data center in Ashburn, Virginia. All the data centers have redundancy in power and cooling, diesel backups, and 24/7 security are in place in all data centers.
Opinion on BlueHost vs DreamHost
While reliability is excellent and uptime is good, the lack of an uptime guarantee for BlueHost could be a concern. DreamHost has one of the best uptime guarantees in the business. DreamHost also has an edge in load and response times – but only by a slight margin.
Compare Key Features
Note: You will find “unlimited” or “unmetered” used by web hosting companies when describing features. It is a marketing term and it does not mean “all you can use.” Instead, the terms refer to what hosting companies “deem reasonable usage.”
Domain Registration. Both hosts are domain registrars. Both BlueHost and DreamHost provide a free year of domain registration for new accounts.
Website Builder. BlueHost provides the drag-and- drop Weebly Basic, which is limited to 5 web pages. Basic is free of charge, and there is an upgrade to Weebly Premium available for an additional fee. DreamHost does not offer a website builder.
Databases. BlueHost and DreamHost both offer unlimited MySQL databases.
Email Accounts. Both BlueHost and DreamHost provide unlimited email accounts and emailforwarding.
WordPress Hosting. BlueHost and DreamHost both offer managed WordPress plans. Managed WordPress plans will usually cost more than a standard shared plan. Part of the extra cost is because managed WordPress plans are typically hosted on optimized servers with such features as caching and additional security to enhance performance and stability.
The main advantage of managed WordPress hosting is that automatic backups and updating of your WordPress sites are done for you, allowing you to focus on what’s important – your sites.’ content.
eCommerce Solution. BlueHost and DreamHost both provide free shopping carts through their control panels, such as Magneto, ZenCart, PrestaShop, and others. WP eCommerce plug-ins are available from both hosts for WordPress sites. DreamHost also supports a commercial eCommerce site builder, Café Commerce – though it is not free.
Backups. BlueHost provides daily, weekly, and monthly backups, and also offers SiteBackup Pro for a fee, though it is free with the Business Pro shared plan. SiteBackup Pro allows backup and restore at the file level.
DreamHost’s policy prohibits site backups being stored on the server, so user created backups must be downloaded and removed from the host server as soon as possible after they are made. Website data and databases are automatically backed up by DreamHost, but the backups are not guaranteed.
Hosting Security. To search out, remove, and prohibit malware, BlueHost provides the basic SiteLock service free on its lower tiers, and SiteLock Pro free on its higher tier plans. BlueHost states that it has internal processes to protect against DDoS in place as well. DreamHost uses Spamhaus to filter email and provides DDoS protection through the services of Arbor Networks.
All Bluehost plans have a free Shared SSL certificate. The top shared plan on BlueHost comes with a free Private SSL certificate. DreamHost provides SSL through Let’s Encrypt on its plans.
Control Panel. BlueHost uses cPanel but has extensively modified the interface. DreamHost uses a proprietary control panel that is more text-based than cPanel’s icon-based interface.
Green. DreamHost purchases Renewable Energy Credits and states that it is carbon neutral.
Extras. BlueHost has $150 in ad credits; BlueHost has $100 in credits. Both have affiliate programs. BlueHost will migrate an established website if you have one elsewhere, though it charges a premium for the service. DreamHost does not have website transferring services.DreamHost also sells storage on its cloud servers for a monthly fee, depending on how much you are storing.
Opinion on BlueHost vs DreamHost Key Features
Both hosting companies provide a good range of features. However, due to DreamHost not using cPanel, having no website builder, no migration policies, and a less robust backup plan, BlueHost gets the nod in features.
Hosting Plans & Pricing
Note: Aggressive competition leads to constant changes in pricing and a great deal of promotional pricing. Promotion prices typically are limited to the first term of service, so signing up for a longer term equals higher savings. Even without promos, longer terms of service usually result in a break in pricing. The prices below are listed on the host websites at the time of this comparison.
BlueHost. BlueHost offers three shared plans. Basic permits one site provides 50 GB of storage, and allows unlimited bandwidth and email accounts, at a promo price of $3.95 per month. Plus, at $6.95 per month, raises the number of sites allowed to 10, and the storage to 150 GB. A CDN is also part of the Plus Plan. The Business Pro, at $14.95 per month, offers unlimited sites, as well as unlimited bandwidth, storage, and email accounts.
A CDN, Private SSL, dedicated IP, and Site Backup Pro are included in this top tier plan. All the shared BlueHost plans also come with a free domain registration for one year. BlueHost offers three scalable Cloud plans for an additional fee, which mirrors your data in three places for reliability and faster load times.
BlueHost has four managed WordPress plans based on VPS technology. The smallest plan, blogger, at $12.95 per month, is limited to 100 million visits, 30 GB of storage and five sites. The top plan, enterprise, priced at $85 per month, has 240 GB of storage, unlimited bandwidth, and 30 sites. The other two, professional at $37.50, and business at $60 fall in between. All have free CDN and SiteLock (the bottom two tiers have SiteLock Pro, business has SiteLock Premium and the top tier provides SiteLock Enterprise).
DreamHost. DreamHost makes things simple with one shared plan, priced at $7.95 for a three-year term. The plan comes with unlimited everything – unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited email accounts, and unlimited domains. A free domain registration for one year, as well as free SSL, comes with the plan. A dedicated IP is available for a $5.95 monthly fee.DreamHost also provides a cloud option that is mirrored in three places for redundancy. The six highly scalable tiers range from $4.50 per month to $96 per month.
DreamHost offers one plan of managed WordPress hosting with 30 GB of SSD storage, and unlimited visitors per month. WordPress is automatically installed at check-out. The plan comes with a dedicated IP and is hosted on a VPS with SSDs. The plan is limited to one site and one MySQL database, and is priced at $19.95 with an annual plan.
VPS and Dedicated Plans: BlueHost and DreamHost both have four VPS plans. BlueHost’s $14.99 per month standard VPS tier would be suitable for an individual or small business that needed slightly more performance than a shared plan would allow, but it is too limited for much more than that. The other three plans have better features and are priced at $29.99, $44.99, and $55.99 per month. BlueHost VPS plans have bandwidth limits of 1 TB to 4 TB.
DreamHost’s VPS plans feature SSDs, start at $15 per month, and max out at $120 per month. By offering unlimited bandwidth and unlimited domains, DreamHost VPS plans are suited for small-to- mid-size businesses that have outgrown shared hosting.
BlueHost has three dedicated tiers, allowing 3, 4, and 5 IPs, priced at $74.99, $99.99, and $124.99 per month, respectively. DreamHost has some options starting from $149 per month, with pricing depending on the configuration chosen. DreamHost allows an unlimited number of IPs, as well as unlimited bandwidth, on its dedicated tiers.
Money-Back Guarantee: BlueHost has the industry standard 30-day guarantee. DreamHost has an industry leading 97-day money back guarantee. If you have the free domain registration on BlueHost or DreamHost, they will withhold a domain registration fee from any refund, and you will keep the domain name.
Opinion on Hosting Plans Pricing
DreamHost has just one shared plan that compares to BlueHost’s top tier in shared hosting at half the price. In addition, DreamHost has the industry’s best money-back guarantee.
Ease of Use
Control Panel. BlueHost uses cPanel, but with a modified interface, so regular cPanel users will have some adjustments to make. DreamHost’s proprietary control panel has the features required, but not being based on the industry standard cPanel could cause some user issues.
One-click Installer. BlueHost uses the MOJO Marketplace one-click installer for installing nearly one hundred applications easily. DreamHost has a one-click installer section, though there are not as many options as the MOJO Marketplace have.
Website Navigation. Both BlueHost’s and DreamHost’s sites provide the information you need to choose a plan. Both have useful comparison charts for comparing tiers in their plans.Both are clean, and user-friendly, however, DreamHost makes it difficult to find some information without resorting to Google or reading through wikis.
Opinion on Ease of Use
BlueHost’s one-click installer has more applications. Neither uses the regular cPanel,but BlueHost’s is basically cPanel with a custom interface. BlueHost’s website is slightly more user-friendly.
Technical and Customer Support
Based on customer reviews, this is one area where BlueHost is lacking. DreamHost gets high marks from customers for service and support, and its support personnel are considered friendly and knowledgeable.
BlueHost has a phone, email, and live chat 24/7. BlueHost and DreamHost both have a blog and a forum.
DreamHost has a contact page where you email questions. There are more support options from DreamHost once you have purchased from them, but a phone is not one of them. DreamHost has a unique wiki that is updated as needed and has lots of information, much like a knowledge base.
Opinion on User Support
Neither host is perfect here. BlueHost provides more methods of contact upfront,however, its customer support is not highly rated by customers. DreamHost has limited contact options, but customers highly rate the customer service they receive.
User Reviews
Note: You should never use a review as the deciding factor in choosing a web host. Usually, reviews are posted by those who are passionate, so most customers who post reviews are either strongly negative or strongly positive. However, when something is continually reported, it may be something to consider.
Negative Reviews for BlueHost and DreamHost
BlueHost. Negative reviews for BlueHost overwhelmingly relate to support. Long wait times,rudeness, and repeated tickets for the same issue, are not uncommon.
DreamHost. Not surprisingly, the most common complaint is the lack of phone support. Some also report spotty chat support. Customers also have commented that for a company having such a strong uptime guarantee, there are a surprising number of downtime complaints.
Positive Reviews for BlueHost and DreamHost
BlueHost. Most positive reviews from customers of BlueHost praise the prices and the features provided in the plans.
DreamHost. Customer support from DreamHost gets a majority of positive comments.DreamHost also receives praise for its nearly unlimited everything shared plan for a low price.
Opinion on User Reviews
Overall, DreamHost receives more positive reviews from its customers than does BlueHost. However, BlueHost does get good reviews for most everything except customer support.
Which hosting is best for you?
BlueHost and DreamHost both have features that appeal to those seeking a web hosting company.
Reasons to choose DreamHost over BlueHost:
- One shared plan with “unlimited” everything
- Longer money-back guarantee
- 100% uptime guarantee
- Not an EIG company
Reasons to choose BlueHost over DreamHost:
- More options in shared hosting
- Free SiteLock
- Uses cPanel – though with a modified interface
- More applications available for one-click installation
Though BlueHost’s managed WordPress plans are more expensive than those from some other hosts, the features in them make them very popular. It's indicated by the fact that more than 1 million WordPress sites are hosted on BlueHost.
If you are mid-sized or larger, you might look to either Bluehost or DreamHost for reasonably priced VPS or dedicated server plans, though DreamHost’s can handle larger businesses with its unlimited bandwidth.
With its one-plan shared hosting, DreamHost is attractive to those who want an unlimited everything site without having to decide between tiers. However, it may not be suited for the beginner since there is no website builder and no phone support.
Both of these hosting companies offer good prices for the amount of features they provide.
These are just two of many companies that offer web hosting. If you don’t mind spending a few dollars more for fast load and response times and premium features, SiteGround would be worth checking out.
For a host that is an excellent choice for managed WordPress, and that has a money-back guarantee second to only DreamHost, you might want to consider InMotion Hosting.
Do you have any questions about BlueHost or DreamHost? What have been your experiences with web hosting in general? Leave your comments and let us know.
Mark is a serial entrepreneur and editor of www.aawebmasters.com. He loves web design, online marketing, social media, and e-commerce. He enjoys working with a variety of web professionals on many projects.