5 Top DreamHost Alternatives for Web Hosting, Email, & Domains in 2024
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DreamHost is one of the most popular web hosting companies around—and one that we consistently recommend—however, that doesn’t mean they’re the best choice for everyone. So, if you’re looking for a list of DreamHost alternatives, you’ve come to the right spot!
When it comes to a good price on shared hosting—it’s hard to beat DreamHost (although as you’ll see, it can be done), but if you need something a bit more robust, you may want to check out the market to see what kind of DreamHost alternatives are available. DreamHost’s best offering has long been their shared hosting, but the truth is that they aren’t the leader in every category—and if you have hosting needs that are more specific, you might be better-served by another provider.
We’ve taken the time to put together a bunch of alternatives to DreamHost in every category to help you decide on where to go next if you’ve decided that DreamHost isn’t for you (or, if you’re purely curious about different options).
Before we get into the list—we wanted to mention quickly that if you decide to purchase hosting (or any type of product or service) using links from this page, we might get a commission. This doesn’t affect our reviews or recommendations at all—but it does help support the site and keep awesome content like this coming to you free of charge ?
Now, with that said, lets jump into our list of DreamHost alternatives!
The Best DreamHost Alternatives – 3 Amazing Options
In order to make this most comprehensive list of DreamHost alternatives possible (and cover hosting companies from a wide variety of specialties), we’ve put together a lot of awesome options that you can look into if you’re not so hot on DreamHost.
You’ll find companies listed below that are similar to DreamHost in some ways, and not so similar in others. Ready for our rankings of the best alternatives to Dreamhost? Alright, let’s jump in!
1. Hostinger
Hands down, we think Hostinger is the best alternative to DreamHost for a variety of reasons…
First of all, their price point is incredibly similar—so if budget is a big concern for you, you’ll be at home with Hostinger’s pricing structure. Currently, you can get 36 months of hosting with our Hostinger coupon for $2.69/month, which is extremely close to DreamHost’s price ($2.59/month).
With that said, we honestly think there are a lot of reasons why Hostinger might actually be better than DreamHost—and one of those is their website builder. As we’ve mentioned in other places on this site—Hostinger has one of, if not the best website builder in the share hosting space. And while DreamHost has come a long way on their UI/UX, Hostinger takes the cake here.
We can confidently say that in an apples-to-apples comparison, Hostinger is the best alternative to DreamHost, and we recommend checking them out!
2. SiteGround
SiteGround is an interesting alternative to DreamHost because they’re a little bit more expensive ($2.99/month for SiteGround vs. $2.59 per month for DreamHost). But the important thing to note with SiteGround is that they’re also a step up from DreamHost too—and they have a variety of features that DreamHost doesn’t.
One of the best things about SiteGround is their speed and performance. Many people new to the web hosting world aren’t aware of this, but SiteGround has an awesome WordPress plugin to optimize speed and performance called “Supercacher.” This works incredibly well with WordPress and it’s a feature that you don’t usually find at this price point.
In addition to awesome speed and performance, SiteGround has excellent tech support—and some of the best chat support in the business. In our experience, if you’re having a simple technical problem with your WordPress site it can almost always be resolved quickly in chat with a SiteGround technician! In all of our experience with SiteGround, we’ve only had to escalate a problem to higher level support a few times, but almost always their chat technicians are able to solve it. This is something that you don’t find with a lot of other hosting companies because the chat support technicians are often entry-level in terms of their experience, but this isn’t the case with SiteGround.
For an excellent alternative to DreamHost, we definitely recommend taking a look at SiteGround!
3. WP Engine
When it comes to WordPress hosting, there’s no better alternative to DreamHost than WP Engine. Yes, they are definitely more expensive than DreamHost ($22.50/month with our WP Engine coupon vs. $2.59/month for DreamHost).
Looking at that on the surface, you’d might say—“Whoa, isn’t WP Engine like 10x more expensive than DreamHost? How can they be a viable alternative?” And it would make sense to ask that—but let us explain…
If you’re hosting a WordPress site, WP Engine is pretty much as good as it gets until you go to a custom solution or an extreme boutique provider costing hundreds of dollars per month. They have built their reputation on WordPress and are currently one of the most popular hosts for high-end WordPress hosting.
A few things we love about WP Engine include their backup system that is second-to-none which makes it a snap to roll back from WordPress issues. We also love how security-conscious they are, and how amazing their support is. We generally recommend WP Engine for anyone wanting the best WordPress hosting you can find at a price point that’s still affordable. If you’re interested in WP Engine as a DreamHost alternative, they are definitely worth checking out!
Popular Alternatives to DreamHost for Email
We’ll give it to you straight—DreamHost isn’t the best hosting company to host your email with, because they sort of “nickel and dime” you for the extra inboxes. What does that mean? Let us explain…
That $2.59/month price you see for DreamHost does not include email. Yep, that’s right—it doesn’t include email inboxes. Those actually cost more–$1.67/month to be exact—for every inbox. And if you have a lot of inboxes, this can really add up.
Because of this, we recommend Hostinger as the best alternative to DreamHost for email. They don’t upcharge for inboxes—you can host as many as you want via cPanel and it’s included in the cost of hosting! The only reason they upcharge is if you want Microsoft 365 (which is available if you do)—and in our opinion, this makes Hostinger the best alternative to DreamHost for email!
Top DreamHost Alternatives for Domains
In terms of domains, DreamHost isn’t a bad registrar if you want everything in one place (your hosting, email, domains, etc.) but the truth is that there are better registrars out there—and it’s really not hard to have your domain separate from your web hosting (many people do this, in fact).
So—as an alternative to DreamHost for domains, we recommend NameCheap! They’re an awesome registrar with great customer service and even better prices. And if you don’t believe us—check to see where our domain WebHostingBuddy.com is registered (spoiler alert: it’s NameCheap!).
Leaving DreamHost – WordPress Alernatives
If you want the best, and closest alternative to DreamHost for your WordPress site, we recommend Hostinger for all the reasons mentioned above.
Pricing is almost identical (only 10 cents difference), but you’re getting a lot more bang for the buck (better tech support, unlimited emails via cPanel, etc.). So, if you’re leaving DreamHost and looking for a lateral move that’s within the same budget for a WordPress site—Hostinger is the way to go in our opinion.
Frequently Asked Questions About DreamHost Alternatives
We wanted to make this DreamHost alternatives list as comprehensive as possible, so even though we’ve already covered a lot of bases related to DreamHost and alternative options, we created an FAQ section to cover popular questions being asked across the web!
So, jump in and learn more about options you might have when switching from DreamHost or considering another company from the start.
What’s the best alternative to DreamHost?
The best alternative to DreamHost is definitely Hostinger. That’s our opinion based on our experience with both hosting companies over the years and for a few specific reasons.
First of all, from a pricing perspective (when you use our Hostinger coupon)—the price is very similar, so you won’t have any sticker shock like with the more expensive hosting companies.
Another reason that Hostinger is the best alternative to DreamHost is because they have a similar feature set but are actually better in a few areas like their website builder and UI/UX as mentioned above. Simply put, their interface is just more intuitive and easier to use.
What’s the cheapest or least expensive DreamHost alternative?
Hostinger is the cheapest alternative to DreamHost, hands down. Sure there are other web hosting companies that are cheaper, but if we’re talking about mainstream, similarly-featured hosting companies—Hostinger is definitely the least expensive alternative in an apples-to-apples way (although as we’ve mentioned, Hostinger is actually better in some key areas).
What’s the best option other than DreamHost for WordPress websites?
The absolute best option (other then DreamHost) for WordPress websites is WP Engine (as we’ve mentioned above on this page). But, there is a cost associated with that—WP Engine is $22.50/month, where Hostinger is $2.69/month with our coupon.
So, if you want to go all out—WP Engine is probably the best bet as they’re the top of the heap. But if you want a great web host at a price that’s comparable to DreamHost, then Hostinger is a great option.
Are other hosts more expensive than DreamHost?
Yes—most other hosts are more expensive (well, the ones worth looking at anyway). So, if you’re looking for shared hosting and want the cheapest host possible that still has good reliability, DreamHost is a good option. As we’ve mentioned many times on this page, if you want something that’s a little bit better (with a similar feature set) for a marginal increase in cost—Hostinger is a great option.
Is there a good alternative to DreamHost for email?
Yes—Hostinger is the best alternative to DreamHost for email. In fact, DreamHost isn’t even a great host for email to begin with because they charge $1.67 per inbox, where other hosts like Hostinger and SiteGround don’t do this.
Does DreamHost offer money back if I’m unhappy?
They do! At the time of writing, DreamHost offers a full refund on new shared hosting fees if you cancel your plan within 97 days. Many of the other plans offer 30 days for refunds or have other terms, so you should check their website for specifics.
Are there any discounts or coupons for other hosting companies?
Yes, there are! You can check out our deals for Hostinger, SiteGround, and WP Engine by clicking the links in this sentence to see our pages about discounts/coupons for those providers.
What’s the renewal pricing for DreamHost?
At the time of writing, DreamHost’s renewal pricing is as follows:
- Shared Starter 1 month – $6.99
- Shared Starter 12 months – $47.40
- Shared Starter 36 months – $94.34
- Shared Unlimited 1 month – $11.99
- Shared Unlimited 12 months – $119.40
- Shared Unlimited 36 months – $286.20
Can I transfer my domain away from DreamHost?
Yes, you can. Any domain that’s currently hosted at DreamHost can be transferred to another registrar at will. You just need to go through the process. And for an alternative to domains at DreamHost, we love NameCheap.
What’s the best VPS alternative to DreamHost?
When it comes to a VPS, our favorite host is Liquidweb—so we’d say Liquidweb is the best alternative to DreamHost for a VPS.
Closing Thoughts on DreamHost Alternatives
Well, here we are at the end of this page—do you feel like you have a good idea of the different alternatives to DreamHost that are available? We hope so!
To recap, here’s what we think: Hostinger is the best alternative to DreamHost overall, and for email. SiteGround is a great option, and WP Engine is the best alternative to DreamHost for WordPress. If you’re looking for an alternative to DreamHost for domains, we think Namecheap is the best option. And finally, if you’re looking for an alternative to Dreamhost for VPS servers, we think Liquidweb is the best option there.
We hope this page was informative, helpful, and shed some light on the many DreamHost alternatives that are available today!
