--- title: "DreamHost vs IONOS: which is better in 2026?" url: "https://hostidea.com/compare/dreamhost-vs-ionos" canonical: "https://hostidea.com/compare/dreamhost-vs-ionos" author: "Jennifer T." generated: "2026-10-15" note: "Markdown twin generated at build time from the same content as the HTML page. The HTML page is canonical." --- # DreamHost vs IONOS DreamHost and IONOS compared on measured uptime, response time, pricing and features from our own tests. DreamHost scores higher overall. By [Jennifer T.](https://hostidea.com/authors/jennifer-t) ยท Updated Oct 14, 2026 We may earn a commission when you buy through our links. Rankings come from the published methodology and sourced data, not from commissions. [Disclosure](https://hostidea.com/disclosure). ## Verdict [7.6 out of 10](https://hostidea.com/methodology#scoring) [DreamHost](https://hostidea.com/reviews/dreamhost)Wins overall Independent since 1997: three shared plans with renewals printed on the card, daily backups and a 100% uptime credit [7.1 out of 10](https://hostidea.com/methodology#scoring) [IONOS](https://hostidea.com/reviews/ionos) The former 1&1: unlimited sites and traffic from $8 a month at renewal, with a free domain and wildcard SSL DreamHost wins 4 of the six sub-scores and comes out ahead overall (7.6 vs 7.1). ## How do the scores compare? DreamHost leads on 4 sub-scores, IONOS on 0. Higher is better. | | [DreamHost](https://hostidea.com/reviews/dreamhost) | [IONOS](https://hostidea.com/reviews/ionos) | | --- | --- | --- | | Performance | 7.5 | 6.5 | | Uptime | 8.0 | 7.5 | | Support | 7.0 | 6.5 | | Features | 7.5 | 7.5 | | Value | 8.0 | 7.5 | | Ease of use | 7.0 | 7.0 | ## Which one is faster and more reliable? | | [DreamHost](https://hostidea.com/reviews/dreamhost) | [IONOS](https://hostidea.com/reviews/ionos) | | --- | --- | --- | | Overall score | 7.6 | 7.1 | | Uptime (published)WPBeginner 30 d vs Cybernews 14 d; methods differ | 100.00% | 100.00% | | Response time (published)WPBeginner vs Cybernews; methods differ | 658 ms | 1749 ms | ## Which one costs less? On renewal, DreamHost is cheaper ($10.99/mo vs $14.00/mo). Intro prices need the listed term. Prices verified Oct 14, 2026 (DreamHost) and Oct 14, 2026 (IONOS). USD. | | [DreamHost](https://hostidea.com/reviews/dreamhost) | [IONOS](https://hostidea.com/reviews/ionos) | | --- | --- | --- | | Cheapest plan | Web Hosting Launch | Plus | | Intro price | $2.89/mo | $1.00/mo | | Renewal price | $10.99/mo | $14.00/mo | | Required term | 12 months | 12 months | | Websites | 25 | unlimited | | Storage | 25 GB | 350 GB | | Money back | 30 days | 30 days | ## What does each include? | | [DreamHost](https://hostidea.com/reviews/dreamhost) | [IONOS](https://hostidea.com/reviews/ionos) | | --- | --- | --- | | Free domain | First year, on annual and multi-year terms only | One domain free for the first year on every plan: .us, .ca, .com, .net, .org, .info, .me, .biz or .online | | Free SSL | Unlimited certificates on every plan | One DV wildcard certificate on Essential, Starter and Plus; unlimited wildcard certificates on Ultimate | | Backups | Daily automated backups on every plan, restored from the panel | Daily backup of storage and databases with data recovery, every plan | | Free migration | The product page links a migration path for existing sites; terms not read | No | | Free CDN | No | Starter, Plus and Ultimate; not on Essential | | Caching | No | Server compression and HTTP/2 listed; no caching layer named on the plan page | | Staging | No | No | | Email | 20, 40 or 60 mailboxes free for the first three months, then billed separately | 1, 2, 4 or 5 accounts of 2 GB by plan, with forwarding, webmail and anti-spam | | Resource limits | No | CPU priority 1x, 3x, 5x and 10x by plan; 262,144 inodes on every plan; cron jobs 10, 25, 50 and 100 | | Data center choice | Oregon, Virginia, Amsterdam and Singapore per the product page and help center; the panel shows where each service lives | No | | Uptime guarantee | 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 | 99.99% in the general terms, with a credit for the month proportional to the downtime, on request and at IONOS's discretion | | Performance scans | Automated and on-demand performance scans on every plan | Not stated | | Phone support | No | 24/7, with a personal consultant | | Windows hosting | No | No | | SSH, SFTP, WP-CLI and Git | Not stated | Every plan, with 200 SFTP accounts, Perl and Python | | PHP versions | Not stated | 8.4, 8.3 and 8.2, with paid extended support for 5.6 and later | | Websites and traffic | Not stated | Unlimited websites and unlimited traffic on every plan; 5,000 subdomains | | Security | Not stated | Daily malware scanning (basic, or advanced with automatic removal on Ultimate), DDoS protection, geo-redundancy | ## Company facts | | [DreamHost](https://hostidea.com/reviews/dreamhost) | [IONOS](https://hostidea.com/reviews/ionos) | | --- | --- | --- | | Control panel | DreamHost's own panel (no cPanel) | IONOS's own control panel (no cPanel) | | Data centers | 4 | 2 | | Support channels | chat, ticket, email, knowledge-base | chat, phone, email, knowledge-base | | Founded | 1997 | 2018 | Visit DreamHost (affiliate link: /go/dreamhost)Visit IONOS (affiliate link: /go/ionos)