A2 Hosting and DreamHost are two established and proven web hosting companies offering many types of services including Shared and VPS hosting. While each host has made WordPress a priority with their shared hosting plans, they now both have their own managed WordPress hosting packages. In this comparison, we take a look at how A2 Hosting’s Managed WordPress fares against DreamHost’s DreamPress Optimized WordPress hosting.
A2 Hosting vs DreamPress Details
| Category | A2 Hosting |
DreamPress |
Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Setup |  |
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| Control Panel | |
Plesk | |
| Data Centers | |
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| Website Speed | |
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| Security Features | |
A2 Hosting provides Free SSL and Perpetual Proactive Security. | |
| Data Backup and Restore | |
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| Automatic Updates | |
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| Servers | |
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| Network | |
DreamPress provides Cloud Platform | |
| WordPress Development | |
With A2 Hosting you get WordPress Toolkit for managing Multiple Websites. | |
| SSL | |
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Tie. Both provide free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates. |
| Hosting Features | |
With A2 Hosting you get Unlimited Email and Plesk Functionality. | |
| Resources | |
DreamPress utilizes Resource Scaling. | |
| Staging | |
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| Customer Support | |
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| Money Back Guarantee | |
A2 Hosting offers their Anytime Money Back Guarantee. | |
| Price/Value | |
Website Staging
DreamHost has really improved the website staging functionality included with DreamPress. It’s very easy to use and you are notified via email when your website staging events are completed. While A2 Hosting also includes staging with their managed WordPress, the Plesk interface isn’t the easiest implementation of staging that I’ve used. Therefore, in this category, DreamPress is the winner.
Data Backup and Restore
Data backup and restore is another area where DreamHost has made significant improvements to DreamPress. You now get both automatic data backups as well as the ability to perform on-demand backups. And, you can easily access the backup functionality from your DreamPress dashboard. With A2’s managed WordPress hosting, you need to create a Dropbox account to use the backup service. Because of the improvements to DreamPress, they also get the advantage in this category.
Customer Support
A2 Hosting typically provides much faster customer support response times than DreamHost. And when it comes to A2’s managed WordPress hosting and DreamPress, the results are basically the same. However, when it comes to issue resolution, DreamPress was a bit quicker. Also, with the new upper levels of DreamPress, you do get concierge phone support–which is nice. We’ll give DreamPress a slight advantage in this category, but after A2 Hosting’s managed WordPress has been around a while and the support staff becomes more familiar with the packages, things could change.
A2 Hosting
Plans:
- 1 Site ($12.97 mo.)
1 Website/10GB Storage - 3 Sites ($19.48 mo.)
3 Websites/25GB Storage - Unlimited ($37.97 mo.)
Unlimited Websites/40GB Storage
Data Center: Michigan, USA
Free Domain?: No
Money Back Guarantee: 30 Days
Advantages of A2 Hosting
- Faster Turbo Servers provided on every plan.
- Includes Email Accounts
- WordPress LiteSpeed Cache
- WordPress Toolkit for managing Multiple Websites
- No Restrictions on Plugins
- Anytime Money Back Guarantee
Click Here for More Details on A2 Hosting Managed WordPress
DreamPress
Plans:
- Basic ($16.95 mo.)
1 Website/5GB Storage - Plus ($24.95 mo.)
1 Website/10GB Storage - Advanced ($35.95 mo.)
3 Websites/15GB Storage
Data Centers: N/A (Los Angeles, CA and Ashburn, VA)
Free Domain?: No
Money Back Guarantee: 30 Days
Advantages of DreamPress
- Cloud Platform
- Resource Scaling for Traffic Spikes
- Daily Malware Scanning and Repair (Not Included with Basic Plan)
- Premium WordPress Themes (Not Included with Basic Plan)
- Concierge Phone Support (Not Included with Basic Plan)
Click Here for More Details on DreamPress
Recommendation
Because of the improvements to DreamPress, this comparison is much closer than it previously was. With DreamPress, the cost is also somewhat higher than we would hope given the 1 to 3 website limits. Although A2 Hosting’s managed WordPress hasn’t been around that long, and there are some improvements we’d like to see in the future, in this comparison we would recommend A2’s managed WordPress hosting. See our review ratings for A2’s Managed WordPress Hosting below.
