DreamHost vs HostGator: Which is Better?

Last Updated on May 2, 2023 by Ewen Finser

Today we are going to be comparing DreamHost vs HostGator to see which of these popular hosting providers is better.

If you’ve been searching for the best hosting provider for your website, you will have no doubt realized that there’s a lot of choices out there, it can quickly get confusing!

Choosing a solid host the first time around can save you a lot of time and effort in the long run, as a reliable host can minimize any potential problems that may occur with your website.

There are a few things that you should take into consideration when choosing hosting for your website, including uptime, security, customer support, scalability, and page loading speeds. Did you know that a website with a page with a load speed of two seconds has a bounce rate of 9%, but by the time the page loading speed has dropped to five seconds, the bounce rate increases to a massive 38%?

If any of these key areas are weak, it can put your website, content, personal data, and profits at risk. A new study has shown that cybercrime is on the rise, with cyber criminal’s revenue reaching $1.5 trillion annually, so it makes sense to choose a host with good security features.

If you make sure which of the hosting provider / web hosting companies ticks all the boxes right from the start it can save you the hassle of switching hosts further down the road.

This comparison of DreamHost web hosting and HostGator web host will be looking at all of the hosting plan features they offer, as well as the pros and cons of each one, the customer service and reviews, and the pricing, so you can decide which one is the better option for your business.

Main Differences Between DreamHost vs HostGator

The main differences between DreamHost vs HostGator are:

• DreamHost offers a 100% uptime guarantee, whereas HostGator’s uptime is 99.9% guaranteed
• HostGator offers 24/7 support by phone, whereas DreamHost doesn’t offer phone support
• DreamHost has a 97-day money-back guarantee, whereas HostGator’s money-back guarantee is within 45 days
• DreamHost offers a Standard WordPress hosting plan as well as managed WordPress hosting, whereas HostGator only offers managed WordPress Hosting plans
• HostGator’s managed hosting plans are very good value, whereas DreamHost’s managed hosting plans are considerably more expensive

DreamHost vs HostGator Web Hosting Providers In-Depth

DreamHost Hosting Plan Overview

DreamHost web host is an affordable hosting provider who started off in a dorm room in 1997. Since then they have served over 400,000 customers in over 100 different countries, and they currently host over 1.5 million websites, applications, and WordPress blogs.

They proudly support WordPress blog installs (they are one of WordPress.org’s recommended hosting solution providers), and actively work to make WordPress better with code, community, and support from their experts. In their time they have hosted over 750,000 WordPress websites, with their friendly experts always on hand to help with any issues.

The Main Features of DreamHost Hosting Service

• Instant WordPress setup
• Auto WordPress updates
• Award-winning 24/7 support
• Free domain
• Free privacy protection
• Free SSL Certificate
• Easy to use Admin Panel
• Free email hosting
• Automatic backups
• WordPress Website Builder
• Free Migration on Managed Hosting Plans
• 1-Click Staging
• 100% uptime guarantee
• Money-back guarantee

DreamHost Web Hosting Page Loading Speeds and Uptime Statistics

DreamHost takes page loading speed and performance very seriously to ensure everything on your site runs as smoothly as possible. They have a 100% uptime guarantee, and round the clock support in case you run into any issues. Their servers and database are fully optimized with WordPress performance in mind, and updates are all done on autopilot, so you never need to worry about it.

To be able to guarantee 100% uptime DreamHost has multiple datacenter locations, redundant cooling, emergency generators, constant monitoring, and more to make sure your site is fully protected 24/7. If there is any downtime for any reason they have a money-back guarantee, so you won’t be out of pocket.

DreamHost Customer Support and Reviews

DreamHost has 24/7 support available to its customers, so you can get in touch with a member of the support team at any time of day or night. Their support team is 100% in-house, and you can contact them with any questions or issues, big or small. To get in touch with the support you can submit a ticket for your request, or if you prefer, you can talk to someone in real-time by live chat (available 5:30 AM–9:30 PM PT).

There is also a comprehensive knowledge base on their website, which is full of frequently asked questions and answers, so if it’s just a small issue you’re having you may be able to quickly find the answer here. The knowledge base is continually updated, so you should always be able to find relevant answers to your questions.

When it comes to customer reviews, DreamHost are doing very well, with a solid 4.5 stars out of 5 on Trustpilot, which is an overall rating of ‘Excellent’, and lots of very happy customers, so it’s clear to see that customers are having a great experience with DreamHost.

Hosting Solution Security

DreamHost takes security very seriously, and they have their own team of security engineers working around the clock to ensure that your websites and the DreamHost servers stay secure.

The main security services provided are:

• Malware Remover – A built-in tool to detect and remove malware from your website.
• Free Domain Privacy
• Mod_security – They use the industry-standard web application firewall for apache.
• Free ‘Let’s Encrypt’ SSL certificate and TLS Certificates
• HTTP/2 Support
• Lua-resty-waf -A web application firewall for Nginx built on OpenResty.

As well as these security measures, DreamHost provides automatic daily backups for your website, so if the worst should happen, you will be able to restore your backups with one click.

Migrating to DreamHost from Another Hosting Provider

If you are looking to switch to DreamHost from another hosting provider, DreamHost offers a free professional migration service on all its ‘DreamPress’ Managed WordPress hosting plans, so that you can be sure everything is done properly.

If you would like to move your website from another host to a standard DreamHost hosting plan, there is a migration fee of $99 per website, or you can migrate your website over yourself if you prefer.

The Benefits of Using DreamHost

• 100% uptime guarantee for your website, with a money-back guarantee for any downtime.
• Free SSL Certificate
• Fast page loading speeds so you don’t lose customers
• Customer support is available 24/7
• Free domain name when you sign up for one of DreamHost’s hosting plans
• The standard plans are very affordable, making them a good option for anyone who wants to start a website or blog on a budget.
• All plans come with unlimited storage and bandwidth, allowing your site to grow as your business grows.
• The user panel is easy to use, and a clean and uncomplicated interface.
• They offer an outstanding 97-day money-back guarantee, so have a full 97 days to decide whether you are happy with the service.
• DreamHost has great reviews on independent customer review sites, so you can see that they work hard to provide a good service with great customer support.
• Free migration service on Managed plans if you are moving to DreamHost from another hosting provider.

The Downsides to Using DreamHost

DreamHost, unfortunately, doesn’t provide any phone support, so if you need to get in touch with customer support you will need to submit a ticket, or use the live chat service during their operational hours (5:30 AM–9:30 PM PT). DreamHost also doesn’t use cPanel, which may be confusing for anyone who is already used to using cPanel with their previous host, but not a huge issue in itself.

Another downside is that the pricing of their managed hosting plans is higher than some of their competitors, and you can only host one website on the managed hosting plans.

DreamHost Pricing

WordPress Basic Plans

The WordPress Starter plan costs $2.59/month, and includes 1 Website, Free Web Domain, Unlimited Traffic, WordPress Pre-Installed, New WP Website Builder, Fast SSD Storage, and a Free SSL Certificate.

The WordPress Unlimited Plan starts at $4.95/month, and includes unlimited website installs, Free Domain, Unlimited Traffic, WordPress Pre-Installed, New WP Website Builder, Fast SSD Storage, a Free SSL Certificate, and unlimited email on your domain.

DreamPress Plans

If it’s managed hosting you are looking for then the DreamPress plans are for you. There are three managed plans available; DreamPress, DreamPress Plus, and DreamPress Pro.

DreamPress starts at $16.95/month, and is built for up to 100k monthly visitors. It provides you with unlimited email, 30GB SSD storage, unmetered bandwidth, 1-click staging, pre-installed SSL certificate, on-demand and daily backups, 24/7 support, free pre-installed Jetpack and the WP website builder.

DreamPress Plus starts at $24.95/month, and is built for up to 300k monthly visitors. As well as including everything from the DreamPress plan, you will also get 60GB SSD storage, unlimited CDN, free pre-installed Jetpack Professional.

DreamPress Pro starts at $71.95/month, and is built for up to 1 million monthly visitors. As well as including everything from the DreamPress Plus plan, you will also get a total of 120GB SSD storage on this dedicated hosting plan with dedicated servers.

If you would like to find out more about DreamHost and the plans they have available, you can visit their website here.

DreamHost vs HostGator: HostGator Overview

HostGator is one of the most well-known hosting providers around, with hosting plans for businesses of all sizes available, meaning you won’t need to switch hosts as your business grows. The company was founded in 2002 by founder Brent Oxley, and by 2009 they had already served an impressive 200,000 customers.

HostGator has a reputation for having a strong infrastructure and providing excellent customer support, with great features and an easy to use control panel, making it a suitable option for beginners and pros alike.

The Main Features of HostGator Web Host

• Unmetered Storage Space (Disk Space)
• Automatic Malware removal
• Free domain
• Free SSL Certificate
• Easy to use Admin Panel
• Free email hosting
• WordPress Website Builder
• 1-Click Staging
• 99.9% uptime guarantee
• Money-back guarantee
• Automatic Daily Backups
• 100% free migration

HostGator Page Loading Speeds and Uptime Statistics

HostGator hosting services has super charged cloud architecture (cloud hosting), low-density servers, CDN (including Cloudflare CDN options), and multiple caching layers. All of these factors contribute towards page loading speeds that are up to 2.5 times faster, and increased website performance overall.

The HostGator hosting company as a whole has great uptime statistics and offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee. Their uptime statistics are consistently between 99.98% – 100%.

The 99% uptime money-back guarantee will give you one month of credit on your HostGator account for any months when the uptime falls below 99.9%. This doesn’t apply to any scheduled maintenance. If you ever need to take advantage of this guarantee, all you need to do is submit a support ticket within 30 days after the month you are paying for, and once approved the credit will be applied to your account.

HostGator Customer Support and Reviews

HostGator offers 24/7 customer support, 365 days a year. You can get in touch by phone, email, tickets, or LiveChat, with any questions about your hosting. There is also a dedicated support portal on their website, where you can search for quick answers to your questions.

When it comes to customer reviews, HostGator has a mixed bag. On Trustpilot they come up the average, with 3 stars out of 5, and 71% of reviews being recorded as ‘bad’. There are some users raving about the excellent service provided by HostGator, and others saying that they have had a poor experience and that the tech support is unhelpful.

HostGator is also listed on the BBB (Better Business Bureau) here, but unfortunately no longer accredited, as in the last few years there has been a pattern of complaints around HostGator not honoring their 45-day money-back guarantee. There have also been complaints that the customer service reps are “rude, un-assisting and aggressive”.

Security

HostGator has advanced security features to protect your website, along with the HostGator servers. Your site will be protected with CodeGuard, which takes automatic daily backups of your site, and allows up to 3 restores per month. You will also be protected by SiteLock which performs a daily malware and vulnerability scan, and blocks automated bot attacks.

HostGator also provides free SSL certificates on all plans, for the security of your customers and visitors, as well as domain privacy to protect your personal information, protect you from identity theft, and prevent email spam.

Migrating to HostGator from Another Hosting Provider

HostGator provides a completely free migration service to their hosting services if you want to move over to HostGator from another hosting provider. All of your content will be professionally moved over to your new site, and you won’t have any interruptions or downtime during the migration process.

The Benefits of Using HostGator

• HostGator offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee and will credit you with a month’s subscription on your plan for any month where the uptime falls below 99.9%.
• HostGator has 24/7 support available 365 days a year by phone, email, support tickets, and LiveChat.
• All hosting plans include a free SSL certificate to provide security for your domain and subdomains, as well as protect your visitor’s information.
• A free domain is included with all hosting plans.
• HostGator provides a completely free migration service if you want to move your site to HostGator from another hosting provider.
• Free automatic daily backups are provided, with one-click restores.
• Unmetered storage space is provided on all hosting plans.
• cPanel Interface
• HostGator provides a 45-day money-back guarantee if you are not happy with the service.

The Downsides to Using HostGator

HostGator’s customer reviews aren’t great, and they only achieve an ‘Average’ score on Trustpilot, and one star on BBB, with lots of users complaining about the poor customer support. There are also long commitment periods, so you can only get the listed ‘discount’ price if you sign up for a year or more, and once your initial contract expires, the renewal fees are considerably higher, so you will need to remember to take this into account.

HostGator Pricing

HostGator has three different pricing plans available for managed WordPress hosting: The Starter Plan, Standard Plan, and the Business Plan.

The Starter plan starts at $5.95/month, and includes 1 website (shared hosting plan), up to 100,000 visitors, 2 x relative compute power, free migration for one website, 1GB of Automated Daily Database Backups Including File-Level Restore, automatic malware removal, unmetered storage space, a free domain, and a free SSL certificate.

The Standard plan starts at $9.95/month, and includes 2 website, up to 200,000 visitors, 2 x relative compute power, free migration for up to two websites, 2GB of Automated Daily Database Backups Including File-Level Restore, automatic malware removal, unmetered storage space, a free domain, and a free SSL certificate.

The Business plan starts at $9.95/month, and includes 3 website, up to 500,000 visitors, 5 x relative compute power, free migration for up to 3 websites, 3GB of Automated Daily Database Backups Including File-Level Restore, automatic malware removal, unmetered storage space, a free domain, and a free SSL certificate.

If you would like to find out more about what HostGator offers, you can head over to their website and check out their managed hosting plans here.

DreamHost vs HostGator Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion: HostGator or DreamHost?

Overall, on the surface there are lots of similarities between DreamHost and HostGator. They both offer great hosting plans, high page loading speeds, great security features, free SSL certificates and a free domain name included with all plans. So which one is the winner here?

The overall winner between these two is DreamHost!

DreamHost has a variety of affordable Standard and Managed hosting plans, starting at just $2.59/month, which are perfect for small businesses getting started on a budget. Although their Managed hosting plans are more expensive than HostGator’s managed hosting plans, overall we think it’s worth paying a little extra for the peace of mind you will get from using this service.

The main thing which puts DreamHost above HostGator however is their customer service and customer reviews. Although HostGator should theoretically do better in this area since they offer 24/7 phone support, as well as email and live chat, there is just no getting away from the hundreds of terrible reviews on independent review sites saying how poor HostGator’s customer service is, and how they consistently aren’t honoring their 45-day refund policy.

DreamHost, on the other hand, seems to be doing just fine without offering phone support to its customers. With over 1000 positive reviews on Trustpilot, and an overall rating of excellent, it’s clear that people are very happy with the service provided. DreamHost also offers an industry-leading 100% uptime guarantee, where they will compensate you if their uptime falls short of 100% over a monthly period, so they must be pretty confident in their service.

Another thing to note is that HostGator has low initial priced shared hosting, which increases significantly when your contract renews, so it’s not actually that great value in the long run.

That’s why although DreamHost is a bit more expensive, it’s a clear winner for us out of these two hosting package offerings.

If you would like to find out more about DreamHost and the plans they have available, you can visit their website here, and if you would like to find out more about what HostGator has to offer, you can head over to their website and check out their managed hosting plans here.

Still not sure which hosting provider to choose? If it’s managed hosting you’re after, then you should definitely check out Siteground. Siteground offers managed hosting plans from just $3.95/month, and they have unrivaled customer support, with thousands of great reviews from happy customers.

We recently wrote an article comparing Bluehost vs DreamHost vs Siteground, as well as one comparing Cloudways vs Siteground so you can see for yourself how these popular hosting providers measure up against each other.

Further Reading on Web Hosting Services:

• Best HostGator Alternatives & Competitors
• Hostgator vs A2 Hosting Compared
• Best SiteGround Alternatives & Competitors
• Best Bluehost Alternatives & Competitors
• InMotion Hosting vs SiteGround for WordPress Sites
• Bluehost vs SiteGround Comparison for Small Business
• Bluehost vs Squarespace Comparison
• Bluehost vs Namecheap Web Hosting Comparison
• Cloudways Web Hosting Review