Are you searching for cheap, dependable, and quick WordPress internet hosting? Whereas there are a whole bunch of contenders, on this overview, I’ll pit two of the preferred options in opposition to one another. Welcome to SiteGround vs DreamHost.
If it’s your first time trying to find an internet host, it may be overwhelming contemplating the numerous choices that exist. SiteGround and DreamHost are each quite simple, easy-to-set-up platforms — however they’re additionally fairly related.
So, how do you distinguish between the 2? Which is healthier, sooner, cheaper, and most user-friendly? That’s precisely what I wish to determine right here.
Methodology
These two well-known hosts are alike in some ways. They each goal newbie WordPress customers with low cost internet hosting plans and automated WordPress set up. That’s additionally what I’ll primarily give attention to. For many of the comparability beneath, we’ll have a look at the DreamPress plan for DreamHost, and the StartUp plan for SiteGround.
Each plans provide managed WordPress internet hosting. The truth is, by now, SiteGround solely has managed plans of their WordPress-specific internet hosting portfolio, whereas DreamHost additionally offers cheaper shared internet hosting choices. Nonetheless, to ensure I’m taking a look at comparable offers, I selected the marginally costlier managed WordPress internet hosting various for DreamHost.
Along with the above, each suppliers have higher-level internet hosting plans. SiteGround gives cloud internet hosting alongside its less complicated plans whereas DreamHost has the entire vary of VPS, devoted server, and cloud internet hosting. But, it’s their low cost, fundamental internet hosting choices that make each of those providers standard amongst startups.
Regardless of these similarities, they’re not equivalent. From right here on, I’ll evaluate SiteGround and DreamHost by way of options, ease of use, efficiency, buyer help, and pricing and elaborate on the variations between the 2 in an effort to choose one of the best host for your self.
Key Options
In relation to internet hosting, pace and uptime could also be your major issues, nevertheless it’s at all times nice to discover a host that comes with additional options that make your life simpler. These can vary from the handy, resembling automated WordPress installations, to the utterly crucial, resembling automated backups.
When taking a look at SiteGround vs DreamHost and the 2 plans we’ll study right here, the primary query is: what kind of limits does every host place in your account? In any case, nothing is extra annoying than hitting a cap and being compelled to improve your plan.
If that describes your ideas, you’ll love DreamHost. The DreamPress plan has no ceilings in your web site’s bandwidth and visitors. Whereas they state the common variety of month-to-month guests every plan can usually help with out efficiency points (100,000 for the most affordable plan), DreamHost assures prospects that they are going to under no circumstances shut your web site down when that restrict is reached. As well as, you get a beneficiant 30 GB of SSD storage.
Issues are barely completely different over at SiteGround. Whereas they do have unmetered bandwidth, the StartUp plan is appropriate for less than about 10,000 month-to-month visits, and also you solely get 10 GB of storage.
In relation to WordPress-specific options, each hosts include free WordPress set up and migration, built-in caching, and automated WordPress updates. That is the place the “managed” in managed WordPress internet hosting comes into play. You additionally get WP-CLI and SSH entry on each plans, which is nice information for builders.
As well as, DreamHost has Jetpack Free pre-installed and comes with a WordPress web site builder, whereas SiteGround consists of superior WordPress security measures and an in-house efficiency plugin.
Lastly, each hosts present day by day backups and free SSL certificates. SiteGround moreover features a free CDN and e mail internet hosting, whereas DreamHost throws in one-click staging, a free area and area privateness (on annual plans), limitless e mail accounts, and a 100% uptime assure — in case your web site goes down, you get credit.
Upgrading on SiteGround will get you limitless websites, sooner PHP, extra sources, and staging websites plus Git entry. An improve on DreamHost additionally consists of extra storage and sources, a limiteless CDN, and entry to Jetpack Skilled. Nonetheless, you solely ever get one WordPress web site per account at DreamHost.
Who’s the winner of this part? General, the plans are fairly comparable. When taking a look at solely the most affordable possibility, SiteGround is the higher possibility with a barely higher characteristic set. It additionally doesn’t lock you right into a single web site on larger plans.
Nonetheless, actually don’t low cost DreamHost. In case your web site already receives a good quantity of visitors and you’re searching for a bunch to vary to, its fundamental plan is far more cost-efficient in the long term for a single web site.
Person Expertise
Poor person expertise can smash an internet host. How straightforward is it to arrange an internet site and handle your account with SiteGround and DreamHost?
Prior to now, SiteGround used the usual cPanel, however they’ve converted to a brand new customized internet hosting dashboard. The straightforward and clear design is engaging, and it must be straightforward to navigate even when you’ve by no means used internet hosting earlier than. You possibly can entry your web site instruments, plan, and billing information multi function place.
One good characteristic is the power to pin commonly-used instruments (resembling MySQL, staging websites, backups, and so forth.) to the highest of your web site panel for straightforward entry.
Organising a brand new web site can be quite simple and solely takes a couple of clicks. Since WordPress is pre-installed, it’s fairly painless to get every thing working correctly.
Then again, there’s positively some performance lacking right here in comparison with cPanel. This received’t have an effect on most individuals, however superior customers and builders who need most management might not prefer it as a lot.
DreamHost has additionally revamped its panel to offer it a sleeker, cleaner UI and make the onboarding course of less complicated. Efficiently so, the backend may be very straightforward to work with.
It gives entry to FTP, MySQL, SSL, area, and e mail administration from an easy-to-understand interface. It additionally has a variety of administration choices to your WordPress web site resembling creating backups and staging web sites. Plus, there are superior options resembling entry to your SSH keys, cron jobs, and the power to edit .htaccess and robots.txt to your hosted web sites.
General, DreamHost’s panel is nice when you’re new to internet hosting and wish one thing rather less overwhelming, however SiteGround’s interface places extra energy at your fingertips. That additionally makes it the winner of this part, however props to DreamHost for such a nice and breathable UI.
Web site Efficiency
Gradual internet hosting is the bane of all web sites. No person needs to be caught on a platform that takes perpetually to load and is consistently down. Let’s see how our hosts evaluate.
To learn the way SiteGround vs DreamHost stack up in opposition to one another by way of efficiency, I signed up for the most affordable managed plans of each. I created a take a look at web site utilizing the Sydney theme with the Unique demo imported in order that it hundreds just like an actual web site. Then, utilizing the GTmetrix pace testing software I examined each internet hosting providers from completely different places to see how they carry out.
A fast notice: The pace of your net host could be affected by many components, together with internet hosting configuration, web page dimension, and visitors. It’s worthwhile to take care to optimize your web site as a result of a web page filled with bloated photographs and processes received’t load rapidly on any host. For that motive, your expertise may differ from mine, so ensure that to do loads of analysis earlier than you lock your self into an extended plan.
How nicely did the take a look at web site carry out on every host? Listed below are the common loading occasions from three completely different readings:
| Common loading time (sec) |
Vancouver, Canada | Hong Kong, China | London, UK | Mumbai, India | San Antonio, USA | Sydney, Australia | São Paulo, Brazil |
| SiteGround | 3.3 | 3.8 | 1.4 | 2.8 | 3.0 | 4.9 | 4.5 |
| DreamHost | 1.4 | 2.4 | 2.7 | 3.8 | 1.8 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
Usually, these numbers aren’t that nice. Something underneath two seconds is taken into account quick, and each suppliers principally keep above that threshold. Nonetheless, you need to needless to say the positioning I used was not optimized in any respect and contained some fairly massive photographs. Nonetheless, the outcomes aren’t nice total.
If you tally up the end result, DreamHost wins this spherical 4-3. Should you have a look at the whole common loading time, it’s even clearer. On SiteGround, the web site loaded on common in 3.39 seconds, whereas on DreamHost, it normally appeared inside 2.59 seconds.
Buyer Assist
Hosting is a posh enterprise, and it’s inevitable that points will crop up. Subsequently, it’s essential to go together with a bunch that may make it easier to rapidly when crucial. How do these two stack up?
SiteGround gives help by way of three 24/7 channels: reside chat, telephone, and assist desk tickets. They declare a median first response time of 15 minutes and a 90% decision charge at first contact and promise help brokers which are pleasant and well-trained. You too can take a look at their scope of help for your self.
DreamHost additionally offers assist through reside chat and e mail in addition to telephone help, although it does value a price to obtain a callback. E mail help is obtainable 24/7 and most tickets get a reply in lower than a day, however reside chat is just out there from 5:30 AM to 9:30 PM Pacific Time.
That’s all nicely and good, however what about help high quality? 24/7 service means nothing if help is gradual and unhelpful.
Fortunately, each SiteGround and DreamHost have excessive scores in response to TrustPilot: 4.7/5 with 10,000+ opinions for the previous, and 4.8/5 with 2000+ opinions for the latter.
It’s price noting that in response to the transparency reviews, DreamHost’s opinions are primarily natural, whereas SiteGround’s opinions principally come from hyperlinks and invitations. Because of this extra folks selected to hunt out and write a optimistic overview for DreamHost with out prompting.
Nonetheless, taking a look at this information, the winner is SiteGround because of its wider scope of help and excessive ranking throughout hundreds of opinions.
Pricing Plans
Lastly, let’s evaluate the pricing of every host.
First: DreamHost. On their DreamPress plans, you get the options talked about above beginning at $16.95/month when you pay for a 12 months upfront. Month-to-month plans start at $19.95/month, however you get a reduced value for the primary three billing durations (which comes right down to $12.00/month in case of the most affordable possibility). As well as, they don’t include a free area. Should you cancel your contract inside the first 30 days, you get a full refund.
In addition to that, DreamHost additionally has WooCommerce-optimized internet hosting and VPS plans in addition to devoted and cloud servers for high-power web sites.
SiteGround is just like DreamHost, besides that you’ve got to enroll in no less than a 12 months and which you could reap the benefits of their promotional pricing. The most cost effective plan is $3.99/month to your first 12 months, then it renews at the usual value of $14.99/month. It additionally locations stronger limits on visitors and storage, but you additionally get a 30-day money-back assure.
The winner right here additionally is determined by the place you’re in your web site journey. For freshmen, SiteGround is clearly the higher possibility as a result of it’s fairly a bit cheaper within the first 12 months and their costs are total decrease.
Then again, you need to needless to say DreamHost’s plans all provide extra sources from the get-go. Which means, in order for you the identical net house and customer capability on SiteGround as on DreamHost’s lowest plan, it’ll value you extra after your plan renews.
In brief, SiteGround wins this spherical on base value alone, however in the long term, DreamHost is likely to be the higher possibility.
Function Comparison of DreamHost vs SiteGround
So who wins out within the internet hosting battle?
- Key options: Whereas SiteGround did win this one, it’s near a draw. The choices are practically equivalent, so SiteGround simply barely pulls forward.
- Person expertise: Each hosts have well-designed customized panels (cPanel isn’t out there on both). Whereas DreamHost’s was less complicated, SiteGround’s was extra user-friendly and highly effective.
- Efficiency: Neither host carried out very nicely right here. Nonetheless, DreamHost’s common loading time was virtually a full second sooner.
- Assist: SiteGround wins because of offering 24/7 help by way of extra channels.
- Pricing: On paper, SiteGround wins this one, too. Nonetheless, in the long term, DreamHost will usually show the higher possibility.
General, it’s fairly shut: SiteGround has a slight lead, however DreamHost is unquestionably maintaining.
Right here’s an in depth comparability of every host’s important options:
| SiteGround | DreamHost | |
| Plan | StartUp | DreamPress |
| Value (first time period) | $3.99/month (1 12 months) | $16.95/month (1 12 months) |
| Value (common) | $14.99/month | $16.95/month |
| Variety of websites | 1 | 1 |
| Visitors limits | 10,000 visits | 100,000 visits |
| Storage limits | 10 GB | 30 GB |
| Free area | No | Sure (annual plan) |
| Free SSL certificates | Sure | Sure |
| E mail internet hosting | Sure | Sure |
| Free CDN | Sure | No |
| Automated Backups | Sure | Sure |
SiteGround vs DreamHost: Ultimate Verdict
My Choose: SiteGround
Managed WordPress internet hosting that doesn’t break the bank isn’t really easy to come back by, however SiteGround performs nicely in each side.
Working with it is extremely straightforward, and organising your first web site must be a breeze because of the user-friendly panel. All its plans include superior options resembling a CDN, caching, and developer instruments e.g. WP-CLI. It’s additionally reasonably quick on a totally unoptimized take a look at web site.
Of all of the frequent entry-level hosts focusing on freshmen, SiteGround is unquestionably up there.
Runner Up: DreamHost
SiteGround might have received, nevertheless it was shut on every depend; DreamHost holds up nicely by itself. In the long term, it is likely to be the higher possibility for single-site house owners because it gives extra sources for a less expensive value. Nonetheless, since we’re evaluating the fundamental plans right here, it has to accept second finest on this one.
Which Is the Higher WordPress Host for You?
Discovering dependable WordPress hosts isn’t straightforward, however each SiteGround and DreamHost are respectable contenders and good first selections for internet hosting a brand new web site.
SiteGround received for a motive, however that’s to not say it doesn’t have its drawbacks. From the sudden leap in value upon renewal to the storage and bandwidth caps, there are causes to understand what DreamHost has to supply.
Usually, in order for you low cost WordPress internet hosting for a web site that’s simply beginning out, SiteGround is the way in which to go. For all these with extra established web sites and better visitors quantity from the get-go, DreamHost is unquestionably an possibility to think about.
The place do you stand on the SiteGround vs DreamHost debate? When you’ve got expertise with both internet hosting supplier, please share within the feedback beneath!
