Last Updated on May 2, 2023 by Ewen Finser
I’ve used Dreamhost for many of my starter sites and have been very happy over the years. However, I’ve found that Dreamhost isn’t necessarily the right answer as the scale of your site. So what’s a websmaster to do when you outgrow Dreamhost? I’m glad you asked!
I went through a months-long research process, comparing reviews, industry benchmark speed test, server response times, and uptime history. I even personally set up experiments testing out different hosts.
The result?
I came up with this shortlist for the top best Dreamhost alternatives worth considering. The following are rank-ordered, although the first 4 are tightly bunched:
1. Cloudways
Summary: Cloudways has been around for a bit, but has steadily been building into a powerhouse hosting provider with best-in-class technology paired with extensive customization. If you need a specific tech stack for your website, Cloudways probably has it at a competitive price, too.
Cloudways Advantages
- Generally faster load times than pears (including Dreamhost in many cases)
- Generally higher customer satisfaction ratings (e.g. 9.3 for Cloudways vs 8.8 for Dreamhost on G2 Crowd)
- More server locations globally, with a presence on almost every continent
- 14+ server locations in the United States
- Offers StackPath CDN (can still use CloudFlare if you want)
- Automatic server backups (custom frequency)
- No limits on site installs on your servers
- Pay as you go pricing structure
- Offers Managed WordPress hosting
Cloudways Disadvantages
- It’s not as approachable as some hosting providers, meaning a bit more technical know-how may be required
- Does not use cPanel or Plesk, instead opting for a custom dashboard (some learning curve to get used to)
Cloudways Prices:
- Cloudways starts at just $10/month for 1GM RAM, 25GB storage, and 1TB of bandwidth
- $22/month for 2 GB RAM, 50GB storage, and 2TB bandwidth
- $42/month for 4GB RAM, 80GB storage, and 4TB bandwidth
- $80/month for 8GB RAM, 160GB storage, and 5TB bandwidth
Further Reading:
2. Kinsta (Best Dreamhost Alternative for WordPress)
Summary: Blazing fasts speeds, customer support that will do almost anything for you! That’s Kinsta. Yes, it’s more expensive than Dreamhost, but if you want a true white glove service with WordPress hosting specialists, Kinsta is THE best in the business (price notwithstanding).
Kinsta Advantages
- Best in class technical support (they will go above and beyond to fix any issues)
- Free migrations
- “Hack Fix” guarantee (even if you are migrating a domain with “issues”)
- 20+ regional Google Cloud server locations
- Lightning fast speeds (we are consistently under 0.80 second load times with Kinsta)
- 24/7 full support, including phone support, email support, and live chat support
- Ability to easily clone sites and server setups for mass deployments
- Scalable pricing, grows with you
Kinsta Disadvantages
- Exclusively for WordPress Managed hosting
- Definitely a more premium service (and priced higher than Dreamhost)
Kinsta Prices: Starts at $30/month for 1 WordPress install up to 20,000 visits per month, then $60/month for 2 installs and up to 40,000 visits, $100/month for 5 installs and up to 100,000 visits, and then incraesing in increments of $100 for 10 installs (250,000 visits), 20 installs (400,000 visits), etc…
Further Reading:
3. WPX Hosting
Summary: WPX Hosting (originally called TrafficPlanet Hosting) has carved out a niche for highly secure Managed WordPress hosting with a simple pricing structure. Recognizing that most hosting companies “trick” clients into signing up at a low price and then dramatically increase later, WPX simply charges $24.99 or $49.99 or $99.00 based on your scale.
WPX Hosting Advantages
- Emphasis on-site security and server security (think WP Engine, priced affordably)
- 100% dedicated to WordPress site owners
- Simple pricing structure with no future increases
- An outstanding support team that goes above and beyond the typical support requests, highly competent
WPX Hosting Disadvantages
- Starting plans are 4-5X as expensive
WPX Hosting Prices: Starts at $24.99/month Business Plan (up to 5 sites), then $49.99/month Professional Plan (up to 15 sites), and finally $99/month Elite Plan (up to 35 websites + unlimited bandwidth / unmetered bandwidth).
Further Reading:
4. SiteGround
Summary: SiteGround mixes affordable pricing with fast speeds and above-market tech. In short, SiteGround is one of the best places to launch a new site.
SiteGround Advantages
- Very affordable, with the starter plans beginning at $3.95/month
- Top tier shared-hosting performance (much better than Hostgator, Bluehost, etc…)
- Above-average site speeds
- SG Optimizer plugin (Free) to enhance site speed, image optimization, etc…
- Easy to use site management with cPanel
- Great for WordPress with a quickstart guide to launch sites with Elementor framework
- WooCommerce hosting plans
- Easy to upgrade and scale to higher plans as sites grow
- Free migrations
- Free SSL, easy to enable
SiteGround Disadvantages
- Pricing tends to jump after the first year
- Dedicated hosting and cloud housting plans tend to be more expensive than peers
- Some support functions might cost money
SiteGround Prices: Shared Hosting, WordPress and WooCommerce hosting plans all start at $3.95/month for Startup Plans, $5.95 for GrowBig Plans, and $11.95 for GoGeek Plans. Cloud Hosting starts at $80/month and goes up in 4 tiers to $240/month.
Further Reading:
- SiteGround or InMotion?
- SiteGround or WPX Hosting?
- Top SiteGround Alternatives
- SiteGround or WPEngine?
- SiteGround vs Dreamhost vs Bluehost
5. A2 Hosting
Summary: A2 Hosting is a top budget host, with scalable packages for pretty much everyone. With hosting starting at just $2.99 per month (or sometimes less), A2 is hard not to take a look at. Best of all, it’s actually a very capable hosting provider.
A2 Hosting Advantages
- Rock bottom prices, starting at just $2.99 / month here.
- Plenty of packages, something for everyone
- Offers dedicated WordPress managed hosting
- VPS hosting tiers available (scalability)
- FREE site migration on ALL plans
A2 Hosting Disadvantages
- While introductory prices are typically best in class, prices jump up to a more competitive pricing tier in later years
- Competitive features, nothing stands out
A2 Hosting Prices: Hosting packages start at just $2.94/month for Shared Hosting, then $9.94/month for Reseller Hosting, then $5/month for VPS Hosting, and finally the Dedicated Serving Hosting starts at $99.59/month. There are typically 3-tiers within each of these categories as you grow.
Further Reading:
6. InMotion Hosting
Summary: InMotion Hosting is comparable to Dreamhost on price and core features, with some additional flexibility on shared hosting tiers and generally faster hosting speeds on shared hosting plans.
InMotion Hosting Advantages
- Comes with cPanel dashboard (more portable, unlike Dreamhost which is custom)
- Slightly lower priced starting plans at $2.29 per month
- Free site migration on ALL plans (not limited to premium plans like Dreamhost)
- Consistently faster hosting speeds in our benchmark tests than Dreamhost (from the United States) on shared hosting plans
- More robust security features, including enhanced malware protection
- More helpful technical support (in my experience), even if slower to respond
InMotion Hosting Disadvantages
- Additional backup storage costs additional money (not included)
- Tech support can be initially slower than Dreamhost to respond
InMotion Hosting Prices: WordPress Hosting starts at $5.99/month, Business Hosting at $6.39/month, then $21.04/month for VPS Hosting, then $105.69 for Dedicated Server.
Further Reading:
7. Bluehost
Summary: Bluehost has been around for many years and is one of the oldest webhosts out there, long popular with WordPress web admins. No fancy plans here, but Bluehost does offer some of the best budget plans out there.
Bluehost Advantages
- Incredibly cheap hosting, starting at just a few dollars per month for shared hosting
- 24/7 live support available, no exceptions
- Features a cPanel based dashboard which may be more familiar to site operators than Dreamhost’s custom dashboard
- Comes with a Weebly site builder license
Bluehost Disadvantages
- Not quite as many advanced security features as Dreamhost
- Depending on what promotions are going one, sometimes Dreamhost is cheaper
- Like Hostgator (below), owned by Endurance International Group (EIG), which owns many minimally differentiated hosting providers (not known as particular innovators in the market)
Bluehost Prices: Shared hosting starts at just $2.75/month, then $19.99/month for VPS hosting, and $79.99 for Dedicated hosting.
Further Reading:
- 7 Best Bluehost Alternatives
- Bluehost or SiteGround
- Bluehost or Cloudways Hosting
- Bluehost or Kinsta
- Bluehost or Namecheap Hosting
- Bluehost or WPEngine
- Bluehost or A2 Hosting
- Bluehost or Squarespace
8. HostGator
Summary: HostGator offers something for every type of webmaster, great for newbies getting started and somewhat limiting for experienced webmasters. HostGator excels at offering above average hosting and very competitive pricing.
HostGator Advantages
- Less Aggressive promotional pricing, compared to some hosting company peers
- Extremely flexible plans, with something for everyone
- Dedicated quick-install plans for WordPress sites, Joomla, Magento, and Drupal
- Starts at just $2.75/month for the Hatchling Plan
HostGator Disadvantages
- Known as the “McDonald’s of hosting”, owned by Endurance International Group which owns many generic web hosts
- Customer support was less responsive and somewhat less helpful in our testing compared to Dreamhost
- Only a 99.9% uptime guarantee versus 100% from Dreamhost
- Only automates weekly backups
HostGator Prices: Hatchling Plan starts off at $2.75/month (single website), then the Baby Plan at $3.50m/month (unlimited websites), and the Business Plan at $5.25/month.
Further Reading:
- Best HostGator Alternative Options
- HostGator versus Dreamhost
- HostGator versus A2 Hosting
- HostGator versus Wix
- HostGator versus Kinsta
9. Liquid Web
Summary: Liquid Web is a great option for cost-effective, no-frills hosting where you just need to maximize value. While they don’t offer the low-budget “shared” hosting plans, they offer incredibly competitive mid to upper-tier plans once you’ve scaled past that point anyway.
Liquid Web Advantages
- Lots of customization options for incremental price changes, no gated tiers and the huge price jumps like with Dreamhost
- Excellent host for building custom database setups
- More multilingual support compared to Dreamhost
- No associated with the EIG network of hosting providers
Liquid Web Disadvantages
- No shared hosting plans
- The dashboard is fully functional, but a bit dated and less polished UI compared to Dreamhost
- No built-in website builder tools
Liquid Web Prices: Plans start at just $15/month and range all the up to $250/month, with 15+ different plans and customizations to choose from.
Final Word: Top Dreamhost Alternatives
With all this being said, here’s how I would decide which host to pick depending on your circumstances:
- Looking for a better OVERALL hosting service? Cloudways offers similar base features with much better scalability and performance compared to Dreamhost (a clear “step up” for not much more money).
- Best Managed WordPress hosting? My favorite WordPress-specific hosting is definitely Kinsta hosting here. We use it for this site!
- Best Tech Support? Also, a WordPress-managed hosting service, WPX Hosting is known for its outstanding customer support, even for issues not directly caused by hosting.