Bluehost vs DreamHost
Bluehost and DreamHost compared on measured uptime, response time, pricing and features from our own tests. They tie on overall score.
By Jennifer T. · Updated
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Verdict
7.6 out of 10
Newfold's WordPress-recommended host: three shared tiers on 36-month terms, weekly backups, a 5 percent SLA coupon
7.6 out of 10
Independent since 1997: three shared plans with renewals printed on the card, daily backups and a 100% uptime credit
Both hosts score 7.6 overall.
How do the scores compare?
Bluehost leads on 1 sub-scores, DreamHost on 1. Higher is better.
Which one is faster and more reliable?
Which one costs less?
On renewal, Bluehost is cheaper ($9.99/mo vs $10.99/mo). Intro prices need the listed term.
What does each include?
| Bluehost | DreamHost | |
|---|---|---|
| Free domain | First year, with a 12-month or 36-month term | First year, on annual and multi-year terms only |
| Free SSL | Let's Encrypt | Unlimited certificates on every plan |
| Backups | Weekly website backups on every shared plan | Daily automated backups on every plan, restored from the panel |
| Staging | WordPress staging site on every plan | No |
| Free migration | Site migration tool | The product page links a migration path for existing sites; terms not read |
| CDN | Yes | Not stated |
| Caching | Advanced static content caching and object caching | No |
| SSH and WP-CLI | Yes | Not stated |
| Security | Malware scanning on Starter; AI malware removal, web application firewall and DDoS protection from Business | Not stated |
| Phone support | Business and above; Starter has chat only | No |
| Uptime guarantee | 99.99% SLA; at most one coupon per month for 5% of the monthly hosting fee | 100% in the terms, with a credit of one day of hosting per hour of qualifying downtime, up to 10% of the next renewal, counted from the support ticket |
| Choice of data center | Region selected at checkout (North America, South America, Europe, Asia) | Not stated |
| Windows hosting | No | No |
| Free CDN | Not stated | No |
| Not stated | 20, 40 or 60 mailboxes free for the first three months, then billed separately | |
| Resource limits | Not stated | No |
| Data center choice | Not stated | Oregon, Virginia, Amsterdam and Singapore per the product page and help center; the panel shows where each service lives |
| Performance scans | Not stated | Automated and on-demand performance scans on every plan |