DreamHost is one of the most popular hosting providers in this industry and one of the oldest, having offered a range of excellent services since 1997. DreamHost works tirelessly on its customer support, features, hosting plans, and reliability and is also known for its various hosting plans. The users can choose from shared hosting, VPS hosting, WordPress hosting, dedicated hosting, cloud hosting, WooCommerce hosting, and email hosting.
With so many hosting plans, you can choose the one that’s right for you. If you have surpassed the limits of your shared hosting plan and you want to avoid downtime, slow loading time and potential customer loss, the Dreamhost VPS plan may be the best next step.
This article is dedicated to DreamHost’s VPS hosting plan, in which we’ll look into its features, support, reliability, pros, and cons. Are you ready to see if it’s right for you?
Getting Started With DreamHost VPS Plans
What got my attention immediately was the simplicity and neat organization of DreamHost. Its VPS hosting plans can be found by clicking on ‘Hosting’ in the main menu.
If you are not familiar with English, you can also choose Spanish as the other available language in the top right corner.
Now, if you’ve chosen the VPS hosting plan, you’ll be transferred to the screen you can see below. As you can see, there are four DreamHost VPS hosting plans – VPS Basic, VPS Business, VPS Professional, and VPS Enterprise.
One thing that may attract more customers is that its VPS plans are managed and built around SSDs.
By having a managed VPS hosting plan, the hosting provider will take care of any installations, maintenance, important updates, etc. You may think that because of this, the prices are higher (which is true), however, DreamHost’s VPS hosting plans are pretty affordable and deliver exceptional value for money. The SSD presence focuses on the speed of the sites, which means a better customer experience, but more on that later.
Another advantage is that you can be a beginner and still purchase this hosting type. You won’t have to worry about any tech skills, and you can do everything in a few steps.
Using the VPS hosting plans, you can enjoy a few essential features like a custom control panel, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited traffic, expandable RAM and SSD storage, email, SSL, and unlimited domains.
The entry-level plan offers 1 GB RAM, 30 GB SSD storage, unlimited websites, unlimited traffic, a free SSL certificate, and unlimited domain.
Another amazing thing that I really loved is that DreamHost is easily scalable. What does this mean? You can upgrade to any other VPS plan level at any time! If this is still not enough for the needs of your online business, you can even change the hosting type.
Now it’s time for testing. I’ve decided to choose the cheapest VPS plan – VPS Basic. I’ll go for the monthly plan because I’m doing this just for the purposes of this article, so this plan will be more than enough.
Start by clicking on ‘Sign Up Now.’ Once you do that, you’ll be taken to the following screen.
As you can see, the next step is to set up a domain; you can choose a domain later, register a new domain, or transfer the domain you already have. I clicked on ‘Choose a domain later,’ so I was taken to the next step.
Here, you enter the Card Details – Name on Card, Card Number, Expiration Date, Security Code, and also the Billing Information – Billing Address, Country, City, State Province, and Postal/Zip Code.
After filling out everything, scroll down a bit, and you’ll see the Account Setup segment. You will be required to add your Email Address, First Name, Last Name, and Phone Number. Then, scroll down a bit again.
Once you click on ‘Submit Order,’ you’ll have your account immediately. DreamHost created my account in less than 2 minutes!
Setting Up a DreamHost VPS Plan
DreamHost greets you as soon as you enter your control panel.
On the left side of the screen is the main menu with a few sections that come with other categories.
In the menu, you will find – Websites, Domains, WordPress, Mail, Billing and Account, Support, VPS, and More, and below these sections, there are a few recommended products you may add.
Let’s start by explaining them one by one.
By clicking on ‘Websites,’ you’ll see the following sections – Manage Website, FTP Users and Files, MySQL Databases, and Secure Certificates.
Manage Websites allows you to make changes to your existing website.
In ‘FTP Users,’ you have an easy overview of the FTP services.
Next is ‘MySQL Databases,’ which gives you access to adding this feature to your domain.
The last category of this section is ‘SSL/TLS Certificates, which show the active certificates (if there are any).
Then, we’ll move on to the ‘Domains’ section. Here, you will find ‘Manage Domains,’ ‘Registrations,’ ‘Reg. Transfer,’ and ‘One-click Installs.’
In ‘Manage Domains,’ you can easily manage all the domains you own, add a new one, register a new domain, or delete the existing one.
In ‘Register Domains,’ you could easily add a new domain name from here too.
The next section is ‘Reg. Transfer,’ which allows you to migrate your domain if you already have one. In other words, you will save money on a new domain.
Lastly, ‘One-click Installs’ takes you to the part in which you can install WordPress with just a single click.
Speaking of WordPress, we’re moving on to this category. Here, you will notice ‘One-click Installs’ and ‘Managed WordPress.’
I’m not sure why, but this is once again the same section from above.
The ‘Managed WordPress’ section basically allows you to upgrade to a WordPress plan.
So far, I really like what DreamHost cPanel looks like. Next is the ‘Mail’ section. Here you can find the following categories – ‘Manage Mail,’ ‘Webmail,’ ‘Custom MX,’ ‘Announce Lists,’ ‘Anti-spam,’ ‘Discussion Lists,’ ‘Message Filters,’ and ‘Autoresponders.’
In ‘Manage Email,’ you have access to your email accounts, so you can easily make changes to them.
Then, in ‘Webmail,’ you can have an overview of the domain that has an active mail service.
In ‘Custom MX,’ you can choose which mail platform to set as default.
The next category is ‘Announce Lists,’ in which you can add all kinds of announcements.
In the ‘Anti-spam’ category, you can easily add spam filters to your email account, which will help you see only important emails, and the suspicious ones will be sent to the spam.
The ‘Discussion Lists’ is something similar to the ‘Announcements Lists,’ with a minor difference that here you can elaborate on some things.
The ‘Message Filters’ are for an easy overview of your mailbox.
Last but not least is the category that personally I really like – the ‘Autoresponders.’ Here you can add some phrases, so you won’t waste time typing the whole email.
Now, we’ve come to a very crucial section – ‘Billing & Account.’ This section consists of ‘Manage Account,’ ‘Manage Payments,’ ‘View Invoices,’ ‘Privacy Settings,’ and ‘Security.’
‘Manage Account’ gives you all the details about your DreamHost account, active plans, the registered domain, and all other services you have activated.
In ‘Manage Payments,’ you have everything about the payment – the way of paying, billing details, and you can even add money to your DreamHost account.
Next is the ‘View Invoices’ category, in which you can see everything about the invoices thoroughly.
The ‘Privacy Settings’ category contains your contact info and the way you communicate (if it’s over email or other preferences).
Last is the ‘Security’ category, where you can change your password or enable Multi Factor Authentication.
The next section we’ll go through is ‘Support.’ In this section, you will find ‘Knowledge Base,’ ‘Data Centers,’ ‘Contact Support,’ ‘Support History,’ and ‘System Status.’
By clicking on ‘Knowledge Base,’ you will be transferred to DreamHost’s official page and find a search tab where you can type any issue you have, or you can scroll down and check their categories for a solution.
In ‘Data Centers’ are information about DreamHost’s data centers.
Clicking on ‘Contact Support’ opens the live chat option.
In ‘Support History,’ of course, you can find the whole history you have with DreamHost’s support.
And in the last category, ‘System Status,’ you have access to the overview of DreamHost’s system.
If we go back to the menu, you’ll see that there is one more section – ‘VPS.’ Here, you can find some statistics about your VPS plan, edit it, change it, or delete it.
Besides these sections, we’ve mentioned that there is one section that is a bit hidden. I’m talking about ‘More,’ which, if you click on it, opens a falling menu, and you will find ‘SSH Keys,’ ‘Cron Jobs,’ ‘Htaccess/WebDAV,’ ‘Block Spiders,’ ‘Proxy,’ and ‘Site Statistics.’ In each of these categories, you will only find more advanced information.
With this, we’re wrapping up all options that DreamHost offers to its users.
Overall Reliability – Performance and Security
When we speak about DreamHost, we definitely think about a hosting provider with an amazing performance. As we mentioned, DreamHost hosting plans are managed, which means that everything will be done as it should be, and you and you and your customers will only get the best!
In terms of data centers, DreamHost doesn’t come with a lot of them. Their data centers are located in Ashburn, Virginia, and Hillsboro, Oregon. However, this doesn’t affect the speed of your websites, as all of their plans rely on SSDs, which take good care of this.
If you decide to choose DreamHost as your VPS host, you’ll also benefit from a remarkable 100% uptime guarantee, which means your website will be up all the time. In other words, you won’t lose your customers. Most providers offer a 99.9% uptime which translates to 43.83 minutes per month (it doesn’t seem much, but it actually is). So, DreamHost is a particularly rare find in this regard.
Security is yet another important aspect you need to keep in mind when you decide to choose the right web host provider. Luckily, you’re in the right place! The DreamHost hosting plans provide a free SSL certificate. Malware Remover, mod security, and DreamHost’s Nginx options. The web application firewall for Nginx developed on OpenResty, lua-resty-waf, can be useful.
In addition, DreamHost provides DreamShield Protection, which performs routine checks on your website to maintain its reputation and look for malicious code, outdated software, improper permissions, and other problems. Cron Jobs, SSH, and SFTP access, the most recent PHP version, Multi-Factor Authentication, and an easily accessible link for upgrading the .htaccess file are a few additional security features available in the cPanel. Additionally, there are automatic daily backups that store your files and data for up to two weeks.
DreamHost VPS Customer Support
I already briefly mentioned the customer support options when I explained how to set up your DreamHost VPS account, but now, I want to focus more on one specific support option.
I couldn’t leave without testing their support, so I decided to check how the Knowledge Base was working.
First, I opened the Knowledge Base, and in the search bar, I wrote ‘refunds.’
Then, I was transferred to the following screen.
The article that I came across in the Knowledge Base helped me to start the closing procedure that said that my money would be refunded automatically after closing my DreamHost VPS account.
As you can see above, you fill out a short survey about why you want to close your account, and you go on to the next step.
After finishing the survey, it was time to review the product summary, and as you can see, my services were already disabled.
By clicking ‘Next,’ I was forwarded to check my account balance.
On the last screen, you will see that all of the tools and features that were active will be deleted once you click ‘Confirm.’
That’s it! You’ll have your DreamHost account closed in just three simple steps. Can it be easier than this?
Apart from the Knowledgebase, you will also benefit from sales help available through the chat widget, support chat, and email available through the panel.
Specific Features of DreamHost VPS
After conducting all the tests, it’s time to wrap things up and see why the DreamHost VPS plan is ideal for many users:
- Easy-to-use
- SSD storage
- Many free security features
- 100% uptime guarantee
- Easily scalable
- Beginner-friendly
- Managed plans
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Expanding storage
- Easily changing between plan levels
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Pros and Cons of DreamHost VPS
Pros:
- Superior reliability (100% uptime guarantee)
- Extensive domain-management tools
- Incredible ease of use and management
- Robust security-enhancing features (multi-factor-authentication, SSL certificates)
- 24/7/365 available customer support
Cons:
- No phone support
- Limited live chat working hours
- No free domain in the monthly plan
Summary
DreamHost offers a wide range of plans that should satisfy your needs. One of the best is the managed VPS hosting plan. It’s an affordable service with great features, even at the most basic level. As a result of our analysis of the DreamHost VPS hosting plan, I can confidently say that this provider is top-notch, delivering outstanding uptime and cutting-edge security features.
DreamHost offers a simple, user-friendly control panel that allows you to easily set up your account. Additionally, the service provides a superb selection of security-enhancing features, including Multi-Factor Authentication, Malware Remover, mod security, SSL certificate, Cron Jobs, SSH, and SFTP access, as well as a 30-day money-back guarantee.
If you don’t know which company to choose for your VPS-based website, we highly recommend purchasing a DreamHost VPS plan.
