DreamHost is a website hosting service with features such as managed VPS hosting, public cloud computing, and dedicated servers. Managed options include WordPress with the DreamPress upgraded service with staging and coaching, WooCommerce hosting, as well as dedicated server hosting.
$3.95
per month
InMotion Hosting
Score 1.2 out of 10
N/A
InMotion Hosting presents itself as a web hosting company that boasts the latest enterprise building tools, technology, and professional expertise to speed business growth. They state their 24/7/365 U.S.-based customer service experts respond to call, chat, or email anytime. Offering what they describe as a fast and easy website hosting and technology solutions with all the essential features a small business or a brand new website needs to be at its best, InMotion states their…
If you're not too technical, don't want to spend time managing a server and want something quality while sticking to a budget, DreamHost is the best it can get. We may be able to save money by switching to something like AWS, but for our usage it doesn't totally make sense even with potential cost-savings and improved speeds. The support and ease of use cannot be overstated here.
For VPS hosting, they're the only host I use or would recommend. They have a budget friendly approach and the resources advertised are accurate. I was disappointed (and unfortunately surprised) to see the I/O limitations of 1MB/s imposed on their shared reseller hosting. It's not advertised but really does cripple shared reseller hosting as nearly any activity on the site immediately starts affecting performance.
There was one instance where DreamHost support caused unnecessary downtime because they misread my request. Unfortunately I don't have access to that account anymore (it was an old employer) so I don't remember the details. To avoid this, make it very clear whether you're just asking a question or want support to handle it (they can be quite eager to fix the problem even when you've just asked a question), and be VERY clear what you need when doing the wrong thing may cause serious problems.
We have every intention of staying with Dreamhost, but we are a tad concerned with the company's recent involvement in high profile litigation and controversial topics. While we don't take a position one way or another on what type of content they should host, one concern we have is that repeated attacks on their infrastructure have caused significant downtime during business hours for us, and that's something we'll have to take into consideration going forward.
Whether we're calling in on the phone, live chatting or emailing, we get immediate high-quality, native English-speaking support. This cannot be overstated when it comes to hosting, because support tickets are usually time sensitive and high stress. I've always had great experiences with the limited times we've needed to use DreamHost support. We've dealt with support for many other providers and no one comes close to DreamHost.
Their team was always responsive, helpful and eager to support us whenever we needed their help. Additionally, they followed up each time they supported us to see if the applied fixes to our problems satisfactorily resolved our issues. In all, their support was top notch.
We've tried a few other WordPress-specific hosts, as well as other shared hosting providers (Rackspace, WPEngine, and others). We have found that DreamHost gives the best balance of cost, performance, and features, for our needs. All vendors have their own pitfalls and shortcomings, and DreamHost isn't without its own, but it works for us.
As part of my search for a solid re-seller friendly hosting company, I also seriously considered Siteground. Inmotion Hosting provided a better pricing model, so I went with Inmotion. In the following years, I came across Cloud Access through Joomla's launch program. Their website management tool was awesome, and I recommend individual Joomla users check them out if they want to launch with this awesome CMS. I've yet to experience their customer service, so I'm not sure how it fares.
