SiteGround vs DreamHost (March 2024) – “Here’s the Bottom Line …”

SiteGround Review Rating
DreamHost Review Rating

SiteGround and DreamHost both offer many different types of web hosting plans. This particular comparison will look at each of their Shared Hosting plans. To see how their managed WordPress hosting plans compare, see our previous article here. I have personal experience as a customer of both SiteGround and DreamHost, so I know first-hand exactly what you get with both of these web hosts.

SiteGround lets you select from three different levels of shared hosting, whereas DreamHost has one shared hosting plan. The features from both web hosts are impressive and certainly suitable for most websites. We do like that SiteGround gives you the option to choose a cheaper plan or one that costs more but is loaded with premium features.

WordPress Feature Comparison
Included with Hosting Plan

SiteGround DreamHost
Preinstallation   Feature Included
Auto Updates Feature Included Feature Included
Auto Data Backups Feature Included  
On Demand Backup and Restore Feature Included  
Website Staging Feature Included  
Optimized Caching Feature Included  
WordPress Security Feature Included  
Managed WordPress Available? Feature Included Feature Included

SiteGround vs DreamHost: Website Speed

Website speed is much closer between SiteGround and DreamHost than it used to be. While SiteGround was a lot faster in the past, DreamHost has improved their speed and performance—even topping SiteGround in some areas of our testing. In my personal experience using these two hosts, my website speed results were also very close with DreamHost getting just a slight edge.

Below are some sample speed test results via GTmetrix:

DreamHost Speed Test Results

SiteGround Speed Test Results

SiteGround vs DreamHost: Differences

Advantages of SiteGround over DreamHost:

  • Includes Managed Hosting Features
  • Superior Customer Support
  • Includes WordPress Starter for Easier Site Creation
  • Automated Daily Backups

Advantages of DreamHost over SiteGround:

  • Free Domain plus Privacy
  • Remixer Website Builder
  • 97 Day Money Back Guarantee

SiteGround vs DreamHost Details

The Winner

Category SiteGroundSiteGround DreamHostDreamHost Comments
Data Centers Winner   SiteGround has 5 data centers on 3 different continents.
Server Hardware Winner   NGINX Server Technology with Solid State Drives (SSDs)
Network Winner   High Availability Network with Redundant Electrical Systems
Account Sign Up/Provision Winner   3 Clicks to Setup a New Website
Control Panel Winner   SiteGround’s account interface provides access to cPanel.
Speed and Performance   Winner  
Security Winner   With SiteGround you get Pro Active Server Monitoring, Anti Bot AI, and Free Let’s Encrypt SSL.
Data Backup Winner   SiteGround Provides Automatic Daily Backup and 30 Copies Available for Restore
Developer Tools Winner   SiteGround is currently supporting PHP 8.0
WordPress Winner   SiteGround provides managed hosting features including automatic updates, data backup, and SuperCacher for added speed.
Website Applications Winner   SiteGround provides 400+ applications via cPanel
Customer Support Response Time Winner    
Customer Support Issue Resolution Winner    
Money Back Guarantee   Winner DreamHost offers a 97 Day Money Back Guarantee.
Price/Value Winner   $3.95 – $14.95 mo.

SiteGround comes out ahead in a number of key categories. I’ve had better website and email speed/performance there as opposed to DreamHost. Customer support response time has also been faster at SiteGround. And, we like that SiteGround provides cPanel as your control panel interface. DreamHost by contrast has their own text based control panel, which isn’t as intuitive to use.

DreamHost does have some advantages of its own, including unlimited storage and a 97 day money back guarantee. However, when comparing shared hosting from SiteGround and DreamHost, the advantage goes to the former.

SiteGround
SiteGround

Started Business: 2004
BBB Rating: A+
Data Center Location: Chicago IL, Amsterdam NL, Singapore SG, London UK

Price: $2.99 mo. – $7.99 mo.
Unlimited Bandwidth: Yes
Unlimited Storage: No (10GB – 30 GB)
Unlimited Email: Yes
Host Multiple Domains: Yes (except StartUp plan)

Hosting Interface: SiteGround Client Portal
Server Uptime: 99.9%
Full Refund Period: 30 Days
Dedicated Hosting Available: Yes

Free Extras:
CloudFlare CDN
Free backup and restore (except with StartUp plan)
Free Let’s Encrypt SSL

Advantages of Choosing SiteGround:

  • Free website transfer.
  • Servers on three continents.
  • Content delivery network included.
  • Managed WordPress and Joomla services available.
  • In-House SuperCacher service included.
  • Automatic WordPress Plugin Updates
  • Automated and On-Demand Data Backups
  • cPanel and Softaculous interfaces.
  • They offer phone, email, and chat support.
  • Fast and responsive live chat support.

Click here to see more details on SiteGround

dreamhost
DreamHost

Started Business: 1997
BBB Rating: A+
Data Center Location: Irvine, CA; Ashburn, VA; and Hillsboro, OR

Price: $2.59 mo. – $3.95 mo.
Unlimited Bandwidth: Yes
Unlimited Storage: Yes
Unlimited Email: Yes
Host Multiple Domains: Yes

Hosting Interface: DreamHost Control Panel
Server Uptime: 100%
Full Refund Period: 97 Days
Dedicated Hosting Available: Yes

Free Extras:
CloudFlare CDN
Free Let’s Encrypt SSL
Free Domain with WhoIs Privacy

Advantages of Choosing DreamHost:

  • Optimized WordPress Hosting
  • WordPress Partner since 2005
  • 100% Uptime Guarantee
  • Remixer Website Builder
  • Cloud Storage Services Available

Click here for more details on DreamHost

Video: SiteGround vs DreamHost vs Bluehost

How do the three WordPress.org recommended web hosts compare to eachother? Here’s a video I posted on Bluehost vs DreamHost vs SiteGround.

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Recommendation

For most websites, in this comparison we would recommend SiteGround. See our SiteGround review ratings below:

SiteGround Review Ratings

Features - 95%
Speed and Performance - 96%
Customer Support - 98%
Value - 90%

95%

Impressive !

SiteGround

User Rating: 4.7 ( 1 votes)

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