DreamHost is one of the oldest companies in the web hosting industry, serving people since 1996 for building websites and apps. Though they have years of experience in this field, but there are some deal-breaker cons that force users to look for DreamHost alternatives.
The management behind the company should consider fixing those issues (reviewed below) to avoid losing new and existing clients. Some cons make no sense and others can be provided as complimentary features.
Before moving ahead to alternatives to DreamHost, let’s put some light on the DreamHost products line. It was launched almost two and a half decades ago (1996) by four undergraduate students in Claremont, California.
Right after one year, in 1997, it started offering services to customers. Currently, it provides a wide range of hosting types, website builders, email space, and domain registration.
The key benefit of DreamHost is restriction-free bandwidth and unlimited traffic. Plus, customers get SSD space along with free SSL certificates even with a basic “Shared” plan. When it comes to refunds, they offer beyond industry refund guarantee period, offering a whopping 97 money insurance.
Why Alternatives to DreamHost?
Let’s talk about the cons or causes that landed you here – just guessing. You might have a different point against DreamHost than ours; who knows. 🙂
DreamHost claims itself an award-winning host regarding customer support, but their approaching way of live chat is not only annoying but also time limited – available for specific hours only.
For phone call support, they offer a call-back feature, which costs extra fees.
If we neglect those points, lacking the cPanel control panel is another thing. Yep, they don’t offer cPanel instead of a custom panel for managing your web hosting account. As an old user, chances are you may find it challenging to use compared to cPanel software.
Last but not least, Nowadays where almost every host migrates your old site at no additional fees, DreamHost charges $99 for data migration from the old server to a new one. However, it’s free for managed WordPress hosting plans.
What DreamHost Offers – Plans, Pricing, and Reliability Review
Let’s talk about their quality of service first and then move to price. Their average uptime of 99.96% and average page speeds on their server are 719ms. They provide shared hosting, WordPress hosting, cloud hosting, VPS, and hosting using dedicated servers.
Their shared hosting plans come with unlimited bandwidth and unlimited storage. They provide fast SSD storage, which will result in faster site load times and improved site performance. Besides unlimited storage, they also offer free SSL and a free domain for the first year. In terms of support for apps, they support most CMS, site builder and e-commerce tools including WordPress, Drupal, Shopify, and Wix.
Let’s start with their shared web hosting plans costing $2.59 a month offering 1 hosted site, one year free domain name, free security certificates, and solid state drive storage. It allows unlimited data transfer and traffic. You’ll need to pay an additional $1.67/month to create branded email hosting which makes the whole sum of $4.24/mo. For unlimited resources, hosted domains, and free email addresses, you’ll need to pay an extra $3.36 each month.
The shared WordPress hosting plan also costs $2.59/mo (if you pay for 3 years) and comes with the same benefits as a standard web hosting plan. However, a fully managed WordPress hosting package starts at $16.95/mo (when paid annually) allowing up to 30GB SSD space, 100k monthly visits, daily backups, free pre-installed SSL, and 1-click staging.
For users who need better resources than a shared server, their VPS hosting starts from $10/mo which is not only affordable but comes with tons of features including SSD storage, US-based servers, unmetered bandwidth, traffic, and ultimate scalability. You can upgrade to higher server resources any time with a few clicks. Each VPS allows unlimited sites, free SSLs, unmetered traffic, and email addresses.
For larger and enterprise projects, DreamHost also provides dedicated server hosting at $149/mo which includes Intel Xeon 4 Core CPUs, 4GB Ram, 1 TB Raid storage, root access, DDoS protection, and 100% network uptime. They also monitor dedicated servers round the clock to avoid downtimes and technical issues. Visit DreamHost here for more details.
10 Best DreamHost Alternatives 2024
1. Kamatera – Overall Recommended Choice
Cloud hosting users looking for reliable yet cheaper cloud servers than DreamHost, Kamatera is a good option for them as they provide pre-made as well as custom cloud plans. Kamatera infrastructure is a bit different than other hosts listed in this roundup as they offer a fully cloud powered platform for developers, programmers, tech users, and companies to host their apps and sites globally.
The vendor has worldwide data centers in 18 locations and 4 continents to ensure high loading speeds. This also helps in reducing data rendering timing, ping latency, plus the fastest user experience. Just like DreamHost, Kaamtera also relies on SSDs, redundant network connectivity, and a powerful firewall for ultimate security.
The best part is they also allow a broad range of Windows & Linux OS versions. There are a bunch of OS images available to deploy (100+) in a matter of a few minutes through their intuitive control panel. Have your own image/template? You can install that too.
Kamatera has its own control center instead of cPanel or anything like that. As mentioned earlier, its a bit different than others, so for your brand email set up, you’ll need to configure a separate server which costs extra fees. Each cloud instance allows full root access, more control than a shared server hosting, high scalability, and SSH access.
Their entry cloud plan costs $4/mo offering 20GB of space, 1GB of Ram, 1 vCPU, and 200GB bandwidth. It also includes 1 public IP address and various free OS. You can try them for 30 days because they offer one month free trial to new customers.
Pros
- One money free trial to test their servers
- A wide range of data center locations
- Multi-tier network connectivity delivers high uptime and speed
- Suitable for Windows and Linux users
- Multiple OS options plus allow custom image installation
- 24/7 Live chat for quick assistance
Cons
- Their live chat is not capable of solving technical issues (good for sales queries)
- Trial requires credit card information and a small fee
Key Takeaways
If you are more interested or searching for a fully cloud powered alternative then Kamatera is a good option. They have various data centers across the world, cutting-edge hardware, advanced security protocols, SSD cloud, cheap cloud plans, instant support agents through live chat, and a bunch of OS choices to deploy. Kamatera is way better than DreamHost hosting in many ways.
2. BlueHost – Runner up DreamHost Alternative
BlueHost is one of the most popular web hosting providers among professionals, bloggers, and webmasters for creating a website on WordPress. The company is big enough to stand on the list of world largest web hosts with managing over 2 million sites globally.
They have a wide range of products, which includes shared, managed WordPress, VPS, and dedicated hosting at cost-effective rates. All of their services, unlike DreamHost, come with 24*7 customer support and money-back guarantee within 30 days of signing up.
We’re a paid customer of BlueHost, currently, hosting one of our sites on their servers. The uptime by the host is incredible 99.99%. The site loading speed is also good. However, you’ll need to install a cache plugin to enhance performance further. Keep in mind, all shared servers no matter which web host you choose always require a cache plugin in place for better loading time.
In terms of different apps support, Bluehost support WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and some website builders. Just like DreamHost, they also offer unlimited bandwidth, SSD drives storage, SSL certificate, email accounts, and free domain 1st year.
BlueHost has way better quicker customer assistance compared to DreamHost’s ticket and callback support. Regarding data migration, BlueHost costs $149 for 5 sites migration, whereas DreamHost charges $99 for a single site. When it comes to renewal, of course, you’ll have to pay regular rates which are higher than the introductory price.
BlueHost offers a custom made control panel along with a standard cPanel with some modifications. DreamHost has its own panel for account management. You also get an exclusive dashboard made for WordPress management; it allows various functions such as backup, user settings, SSL, etc.
Pros
- One of the best up-times throughout the year
- Recommended by WordPress officially
- 1-click WordPress installer
- Fast load speeds
- Low introductory pricing with a domain name
- 24/7 Customer support through chat, phone, and email
Cons
- Expensive renewal plans
- The migration fee could be a deal breaker for some. It is way higher
Key Takeaways
We recommend the “Plus” plan of BlueHost as it allows unlimited domains, bandwidth, space, and parked domains as well. For starters, their “Basic” plan will be good enough to host one domain.
3. HostGator – Cheaper Alternative to DreamHost for Starters
HostGator stands in the top 10 web hosting providers list. It was founded in 2002 by Brent Oxley, a student of Florida Atlantic University. The best part is you can install popular CMS platforms such as WordPress, Joomla, Magento, Drupal, etc. on any shared plan. They have millions of hosted sites and clients all around the globe because of very affordable prices and freebies.
All of their shared hosting packages come with a cPanel control panel, unlimited space and bandwidth, free SSL, and 1-click installers. HostGator also allows unlimited email accounts for all accounts without any charges. You will get access to free cPanel to manage your hosting account and set up things such as domain DNS, FTP users, databases, backups, restores, and much more easily. Whereas DreamHost presents its own custom panel which has limited features and needs improvement too.
We’ve used HostGator for more than 4 years, everything was fantastic, uptime and speed were acceptable in this price range except for one thing. And that was customer support, though they do have live chat support but it was too slow to get in touch with a support agent. In this regard, DreamHost and HostGator need serious improvement. There are many web hosts in the same price category such as TMDHosting and BlueHost; their support services are quite impressive.
A free website builder is also included in each package plus free marketing credits of $200 for Bing and Google Ads. HostGator transfers your website from the old server to a new one at no cost compared to DreamHost $99 per migration, so it’s a lot of saving. At the starting price of $2.75/mo, you get tons of stuff, freebies, and much more compared to DreamHost, which starts at $2.59. Though DreamHost costs less but you get limited features with no email address.
Keep in mind, HostGator also has fewer days for money back (45) whereas DreamHost offers 97 days. They still rely on hard disk drives instead of solid state drives which is a major con in our experience.
Pros
- Low introductory pricing
- Free site migration
- Free SSL and unlimited emails
- Offering cPanel for account management
- 1-Click WordPress installer
- 1-Click script installer for popular CMS platforms
- Unmetered monthly bandwidth
- Free domain name for the first year
- Unlimited storage unless you cross the allowed number of files
- Empowering more than 2 million websites
- $100 Google Ads credit
- eCommerce tools included
- 24/7/365 customer support
Cons
- Customer support needs improvement, it’s slow
- Higher plan renewal fees
Key Takeaways
HostGator offers a solid deal in this price range, but the major cons are no SSDs and slow support. Both are critical factors to keep in mind when choosing a web host. If you don’t mind both of them, then choose it, otherwise, look for other companies.
4. A2Hosting – Best Shared Hosting Dreamhost Alternative
A2Hosting is a USA based web hosting company that was founded back in 2001 by its CEO Bryan Muthig. With his expertise in UNIX system administrator, he launched A2Hosting as an independent host. So far, it is operating independently and growing day by day. What makes it an excellent DreamHost alternative is the availability of various kind of hosting services just like the competition.
They serve web solutions for small to enterprises level businesses for storing website content, apps data, deploying cloud servers, and databases. Their basic shared offering starts at $2.96/mo, allowing 1 hosted domain, unlimited SSD storage, and unlimited bandwidth. It also includes free SSL certificates, Raid-10 storage, A2Optimized software, and much more. Where DreamHost charges a hefty amount of $99 per website migration, A2 offers free migration.
A2Hosting and DreamHost both offer unlimited SSD space, unlimited bandwidth, and free SSL certificate. The basic plan of A2Hosting cost lower but come with quite a slow loading speed (still better in this price range though), you may need to optimize your site by implementing some cache techniques. Or you can just install any WordPress cache plugin to enhance webpage speed. Alternatively, you can upgrade to Turbo plan for a 20x faster loading experience.
We have multiple domains hosted on A2Hosting servers, with minor cache protocols, the loading speed of your website can be achieved to under 3 seconds depending on the size of theme and page content. In terms of uptime, It is good enough (99.9%) for any small to big blog.
Pros
- 4 Datacenter locations worldwide
- Free CloudFlare integration and SSL
- Free Anycast DNS for better results
- Guru support agents
- Raid storage to avoid data loss
- Unlimited SSD space and bandwidth
- Free data migration
- 45 day money back guarantee + pro-rated refund after that
Cons
- Average site loading speed in a basic shared package
- Sometimes you may face frequent downtimes
Key Takeaways
We also recommend them if you’re looking for unmetered space and bandwidth along with round the clock customer assistance. They have a 5-star rating by more than 36k third party reviewers, cache mechanisms, data center choices, HTTP/2, and much more you won’t like to miss.
5. SiteGround – Fastest DreamHost Alternative with SSDs
Do you want to have a site that loads under a few seconds? According to a survey, 53% of mobile users leave a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load, do you know that?
This is where SiteGround comes in the play, it provides a variety of web hosting services including shared, dedicated servers, cloud hosting, and fully managed hosting for WordPress, Joomla, Magento, WooCommerce as well as Prestashop.
SiteGround has many in-house built exclusive tools like SuperCacher, proactive monitoring system, advanced failure detection, and secure CHROOT account isolation. With the help of Linux container technology, a number of data centers, and server-side cache mechanism, they offer fast hosting services at affordable prices. Though each shared plan is limited regarding system resources such as storage, bandwidth, and monthly visits, even the higher “GoGeek”. However, their shared hosting plans are good for small to mid-range websites and personal blogs.
The basic shared account starts at $6.99/mo suitable for one domain, 10 GB storage, and limited visits of 10,000 visitors. They also offer free SSL, email accounts, and daily backup. You will need to upgrade to GrowBig plan at $9.99/mo for unlimited sites, 20GB space, unlimited emails, and free website migration.
Their average uptime for most of the months is 99.99% as per our monitoring and incredible page load speed of 517ms. SiteGround also provides web building tools to help non-technical create their websites hassle-free.
Fastest speed, higher uptime, instant anytime support services are the key factors that make SiteGround the best DreamHost alternative. Where the competitor host charges a fee for their Remixer site builder, SiteGround offers a free third party builder “Weebly”.
DreamHost costs $99 per migration, whereas SiteGround does it without charging any extra fee if you choose GrowBig or higher package. Or you can make use of their WordPress migrator plugin to do it yourself.
Pros
- Greater guaranteed uptime than DreamHost
- Better than average page speed
- 24/7 excellent customer support
- Exclusive tools for enhanced performance
- Various data centers worldwide
- Free CloudFlare CDN integration
- Custom control panel (newly built)
- Free migration depending on the plan
Cons
- Higher renewal rates (not a big thing, though)
- Limited storage for all plans
- Limitations on monthly visitors
Key Takeaways
We absolutely recommend SiteGround over DreamHost because of many reasons, which include blazing page speed, reliable servers, high uptime, and proficient support agents. Users don’t mind having limited space and monthly visits can choose it without further research. All of their shared plans are suitable for small to mid-sized websites. You can enhance the monthly visitors’ limit by integrating a CDN service and cache plugin as well.
6. InMotionHosting
Like DreamHost, InMotion is also an older player in the web hosting industry, providing web services since 2001. It has an excellent A+ rating on BBB (Better Business Bureau) reviews. CNET, a giant reviews site also rated them as a top host regarding outclass services, secure transactions, and best business practices. Furthermore, many third party reviewers recommend it if you’re looking for the fastest hosting services, ultimate uptime, easy setup, and instant support. InMotionHosting offers all range of hosting products to fulfill each user’s needs.
What makes InMotion a strong alternative to DreamHost is the availability of shared, managed and unmanaged VPS, dedicated servers, Managed WordPress, and website creator services. They also give you a free domain name with annual plans or you can simply register a domain name of your business/blog. You get a user friendly domain management panel for controlling all settings, renewals, and DNS functionality.
Their “Business hosting’ is an affordable solution for starters and beginners, which starts as low as $3.49 per month giving access to unmetered space and bandwidth. It can be used for setting up 2 domains, creating unlimited email accounts as well as includes free SSL certificates.
Compared to DreamHost $99 per migration, InMotion migrates your existing website at no cost with zero downtime guarantee. Both hosts provide SSD drives storage, unmetered bandwidth, and SSL. Another essential factor to keep in mind is DreamHost does not include branded email accounts in their “Shared Starter” package, whereas InMotion allows in all plans.
DreamHost has its own control panel compared to InMotion, which offers standard cPanel along with their AMP (Account management panel) dashboard to manage your hosting account. You also get FREE access to drag-and-drop builder for designing beautiful looking sites, there are free templates too. In terms of money-back guarantee, both companies have almost similar refund time, 97 vs 90 days. 24/7 customer support through chat, phone, skype, and email is in place too.
Pros
- Fast speed hosting with SSDs
- Free domain name with 12 and 24 month plans
- Unlimited space, data transfer, emails
- Data migration with no downtime
- Compatible for eCommerce stores
- Site builder with free themes
- Max speed zones
- 2 Datacenter choices
Cons
- A bit costly compared to DreamHost
- Allows only two databases
Key Takeaways
For users planning to host two websites under budget, InMotionHosting is our top choice as you get unlimited SSD hosting, no restrictions on monthly bandwidth, free SSL and migration, branded email addresses, round the clock support. A free domain, $150 marketing credits, and pro-long money insurance are a solid deal.
7. GreenGeeks – Best Eco-Friendly DreamHost Alternative
GreenGeeks is a leading eco-friendly web hosting provider serving customers for over a decade. It was founded back in 2008, currently empowering more than 40,000 customers globally and managing half a million websites on its platform. The company has experienced staff on board, updated softwares, enterprise hardware, and 300% clean renewable energy.
According to the company:
GreenGeeks replaces 3x the amount of energy we consume from the grid in the form of renewable energy credits. Your website will be “carbon-reducing” when hosted on our platform. You can feel good that you’re making a difference.
They have various datacenters across the globe which include Chicago, Phoenix, Amsterdam, and Montreal. All data centers consist of servers built with the latest generation Intel Xeon processors, minimum 64GB Ram, Gigabit connectivity, and Raid-10 SSD storage.
GreenGeeks can compete with DreamHost in almost all aspects because it also provides shared, VPS, dedicated, reseller, managed WordPress, and website builder tools. They also have optimized hosting solutions for Drupal, Magento, Joomla, WordPress, and cPanel, etc. Furthermore, users get a free domain name or transfer an existing one without any charges. Similar to DreamHost, it allows one hosted domain on the very basic “Lite” package starting from $2.95/month (3 year contract).
Both companies GreenGeeks and DreamHost give a free domain name, but the later one hides your domain WHOIS data free while the earlier one costs $0.83/mo or $9.95/year. For one year subscription, their Lite plan costs $4.95/mo. Each shared account comes with free SSL, unlimited space and bandwidth, and a 1-click app installer too. The major difference between “Lite” and higher plans are performance and hosted sites. For enhanced performance, we suggest Pro and Premium packages providing 2x and 4x speed, respectively.
Free email storage is another plus point because DreamHost charges $1.67 per month for emails. With GreenGeeks, each shared hosting package backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee which is way less compared to DreamHost’s 97 days. But, we think one month is quite enough to test or try their services.
Pros
- Powered by 300% green energy
- Power cacher for improved speed
- HTTP/2, PHP 7, and Raid-10 SSD storage
- Free SSH and FTP access
- Free domain name
- Various data center options
- Flexible scalability to upgrade your server
- Free data migration
- 24/7 technical support through multiple channels
Cons
- Entry plans come with basic performance
- WHOIS costs extra fees
- Limited data center locations
- Monthly subscription costs setup fee
- Only one month refund time
Key Takeaways
Although, you get the same one hosted site at a bit higher price but free email addresses is a plus with GreenGeeks. They do have SSDs, free SSLs and drag-&-drop builder, cPanel, and free CDN too. If brand email, daily backups, and real-time scanning are the things you don’t want to spend extra money on, then GreenGeeks is the perfect option for you.
8. FastComet
FastComet is not only SSDs powered but also an entire cloud platform, highly suitable for getting the fastest hosting for all of your projects no matter how big they are. It was established in 2013, now has more than 50,000 websites under its umbrella. For a small personal blog to a business website, they’ve cloud based plans for shared, VPS, dedicated, and fully managed WordPress hosting clients. Besides that, they also offer Magento, OpenCart, and WooCommerce optimized hosting as well.
When it comes to performance and uptime, FastComet is one of the top DreamHost alternatives available under budget. We can compare DreamHost with FastComet in many ways, including domains, customer support, email service, monthly visits, web hosting diversity, data migration, and speed. Let’s start with domains; you don’t get a free domain with annual even with a 36-month contract plus there is no free WHOIS too. So, Fastcomet costs an extra $8.95/yr for domain registration and $2.95/yr for WHOIS protection.
Moving to support services, their customer support can be reached out any anytime 24/7 through numerous ways like chat, email, etc. Regarding data transfer, depending on your plan selection, each shared plan packs free migration. There are no fees for setting up branded email addresses, unlike DreamHost. In terms of page speed, they are way better than DreamHost, thanks to cloud SSD hosting which plays a vital for delivering ultimate uptime as well.
Just like SiteGround we discussed above, all shared hosting accounts impose space and monthly visitors restriction. Their entry plan concedes 15GB SSD space, single hosted site, and 25000 visits at the price of $3.95/mo. They have more than 10 data centers globally so you can host your content near to the targeted audience and ensure an exceptional user experience. Instead of a free domain, they just transfer it free. With DreamHost, you get a custom made panel whereas FastComet also includes standard cPanel. A 45-day refund policy ensures risk free investment.
Pros
- Guaranteed uptime of 99.99%
- Great customer support
- Free daily backups and monitoring
- Free site and domain migration
- All cloud infrastructure with solid state drives
- One of our top-rated hosts
Cons
- Limited bandwidth and storage
- Live chat somehow dedicated to sales queries
Key Takeaways
If you don’t mind spending a few more bucks in return for top speed, uptime, and reliable web hosting, then FastComet worth your money. They deliver stable services through a cutting-edge cloud platform with all the bells and whistles to run a smooth website.
9. Hostinger – Cheap Dreamhost Alternative for Shared Hosting
Hostinger is not a new name in this industry; in fact, you may be shocked to know that they have more than 29 million customers globally.
How they achieved such an amount of users?
The thing is, they have sister sites, including 000webhost.com, which offers free web hosting. They also were one of the most popular free hosting providers in the industry. Their free services helped them capture millions of users. Though free hosting good for testing, learning, and demonstrating, but you don’t enjoy a premium experience.
As mentioned earlier, Hostinger had free hosting for learners and beginners, but now they are providing paid plans only, starting from $0.99 per month. It’s still a good deal, making it the cheapest web host like DreamHost.
Similar to any other host mentioned in this list, Hostinger gives access to shared, VPS, cloud hosting, WordPress, and eCommerce hosting solutions. Besides that, you can make use of their website builder tool and domain registration services similar to DreamHost. They also operate as a domain name registrar where you can register a .com extension at $8.99/year.
DreamHost charges an extra fee for an email account, however, Hostinger includes 1 free email account. You also get a free site builder tool as well using which one can easily design a professional website through drag and drop. There are many beautiful yet customizable templates also available. When we compare customer of Hostinger and DreamHost, they have live support via chat, giving them another edge over DreamHost.
Hostinger helps you with data migration at no fees in every possible way compared to DreamHost $99 per migration. Their entry plan is priced at 99 cents per month, allowing one domain, 10GB disk space, 100GB bandwidth, 1 email address, and a drag-drop site builder. For more resources, you’ll need to upgrade to higher accounts named “Premium” and “Business” at $2.59/mo and $4.49/mo, respectively. Both concede unlimited domains, emails, parked domains, FTPs, backups, and more.
Hostinger offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, whereas DreamHost 97 days. You can see they (Hostinger) have a way lower refund time. In our experience, one month is still a good amount of time to test any host. Both companies have custom-made control panels.
Pros
- Custom-made control central
- 24/7 instant support agents
- Free email accounts
- Free site builder with drag & drop feature
- Fast loading time through SSDs
- One month money insurance
- Excellent choice for starters and beginners
Cons
- Free SSL certificates require to upgrade to higher plans
- Limited disk storage
- Only one email address for an entry-level account
Key Takeaways
We have one site hosted on Hostinger’s “Premium” plan and so far it’s doing good regarding speed and uptime. So you can give them a try too otherwise can ask for a refund if they failed to satisfy you. Or check out the following Hostinger hosting alternatives for much better services.
10. GoDaddy and NameCheap – DreamHost Domain Alternatives
GoDaddy is the most popular as well as the world’s largest domain name registrar out there, handling more than 78 million domains. It was founded in 1997, and has a staggering base of 19+ million customers worldwide, 37000+ global servers, billions of daily DNS queries, and millions of hosted sites. As of 2013, they were hosting up to 21% of world domains. Now, you get the idea of how big they are. Besides that, GoDaddy also offers web hosting, website builder tools, security tools, logo design, SEO services, email marketing, office tools, and eCommerce solutions for all range of users.
For WordPress software, they do have “WP Premium Support” where experts help you resolve your WordPress site issues. Their security services cover malware removal, data backup, SSL checker, and website protection against blacklist monitoring, vulnerabilities, hackers, and security breaches.
On the other hand, NameCheap is also an excellent domain registrar which also provides various web hosting solutions, SSLs, VPN, and Whois protection features. What makes it a strong DreamHost competitor is that you get free Whois privacy with each registered domain with them. Their prices are cheaper compared to DreamHost as well as reasonable renewal rates. The best part is NameCheap gives you access to a modern-looking panel for easy domain management regarding renewals, automatic renew, DNS setting, domain forwarding, etc.
Compared to $2.59/mo of DreamHost, GoDaddy plans start from $5.99/mo, which is almost fifty percent more expensive than the competition. Though you get free business email & domain registration, a single hosted domain, and 100GB storage. GoDaddy is way overpriced, plus there is no WHOIS protection as well. It packs a 1-click installer with 125+ free apps, easy scalability, DDoS protection, user friendly control panel, and award-winning support. You can optin to the “Delux” plan allowing unlimited storage, bandwidth, domains, and higher server resources at the price of $7.99/mo.
NameCheap perhaps is one of the cheapest hosting providers where you can avail of a shared hosting account at $1.44/mo, letting you host 3 domains, upload 20GB of data on SSDs, 50 Positive SSL certificates, and unmetered bandwidth. They offer free SSLs for the first year, and after that, standard renewal fees will be applied. You get a free website builder equipped with 200 templates, a drag & drop customization function with less hassle.
Pros
- GoDaddy is a giant name in domain name business
- A large number of available domain extensions
- Each account packs a free site builder and professional designs
- NameCheap is perfect for cheap domains and renewals
- NameCheap also serves cheaper hosting plans with cPanel
Cons
- GoDaddy is a bit expensive than DreamHost and NameCheap
- Their domain renewals are expensive too
- NameCheap hosting is slower
Key Takeaways
Both companies are suitable for specific users and have their own benefits. We recommend both for buying domains, SSLs, etc. But for tight-budget users, GoDaddy is a bit expensive than NameCheap. That said, you can choose NameCheap for highly affordable hosting with free WHOIS privacy and domain registration. They also bring standard cPanel for hosting account management and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Why Finding the Best Web Hosting is Critical for Your Site
So Why it’s so important to have a reliable yet speedy host for any site? The fact is website uptime, loading speed, web storage, and response time are the most critical factors to look at when buying hosting. And these things will vary for each host.
For bigger and heavy traffic sites, you should always choose a company that offers unlimited space and bandwidth. Prefer SSD storage over HDD for better loading speed. SSL certificate is also important for any business, especially for blogs and eCommerce stores.
One more thing to keep in mind before purchasing, almost all web hosting providers charge 2x to 3x more when you renew the plan. So, we suggest choosing a long term plan like 3 years rather than a short period like 1 year to save significant money. Long term contracts also get you the lowest price compared to shorter ones.
Now, Which of These Alternatives for DreamHost Hosting Should I Choose?
Based on our experience and research, we can recommend BlueHost and InMotionHosting as they provide unlimited bandwidth, unlimited fast SSD space, free SSL, and free emails. Besides these features, they offer high uptime and fast average site load speeds.
On the other hand, if you don’t mind getting some limited resources such as bandwidth and storage, then SiteGround is the best option for you. They deliver optimum uptime of 99.9% for most of the months and even 100% in some months as per our monitoring.
Let us know which DreamHost alternative hosting platform you are going to select.