WordPress Hosting · Comparison
DreamHost vs. Kinsta
DreamHost and Kinsta compared across Company facts, Pricing, Performance & infrastructure, WordPress management, Support & security and Platform & integrations — every fact sourced and re-verified from each vendor's public material.
DreamHost
Independent host whose DreamPress tier is managed WordPress hosting; WordPress.org-recommended.
Kinsta
Premium managed WordPress hosting on Google Cloud's Premium Tier, focused on speed and developer tooling.
Company facts
Headquarters
Brea, CA DreamHost (New Dream Network, LLC) is headquartered in Brea, California.
West Hollywood, CA Remote-first company; West Hollywood, CA is the registered US address
Employees
300 Roughly 300 employees (LinkedIn band 201-500).
225 ~220-230 employees (distributed across 6 continents)
Pricing
Starting Monthly Price (USD)
$19.99 DreamPress 1 entry plan; renewal rate. Intro $14.99/mo first year.
$35 Single 20GB plan; $30/mo when billed annually ($350/yr)
Entry Plan WordPress Sites
1 sites DreamPress 1 includes 1 WordPress site.
1 sites 1 WordPress install on the Single 20GB entry plan
Entry Plan Monthly Visits
40k DreamPress 1 includes 40k monthly visits.
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Entry Plan Storage (GB)
15 GB DreamPress 1 includes 15 GB NVMe SSD storage.
10 GB 10 GB disk; entry plan meters bandwidth (20 GB server bandwidth), not visits
Free Trial Length (Days)
0 days No free trial; DreamPress offers a 30-day money-back guarantee instead.
0 days No standard free trial; new accounts get a first-month-free promo and a 30-day money-back guarantee
Money-Back Guarantee (Days)
30 days 30-day money-back guarantee on DreamPress.
30 days 30-day money-back guarantee (first-time customers; excludes one-time fees, overages, dedicated-server fees)
Performance & infrastructure
Underlying Cloud
own datacenters Runs on DreamHost's own US datacenters (Ashburn, VA and Hillsboro, OR).
Google Cloud Google Cloud Platform, Premium Tier network
Datacenter Locations
3 US East (Ashburn), US West (Hillsboro), EU (Amsterdam)
27 27 Google Cloud data center locations available for site placement
Free CDN
Free Bunny CDN included on DreamPress.
Cloudflare-powered CDN + edge caching, free on all plans (125 GB CDN bandwidth on entry plan)
Web Server
NGINX NGINX with FastCGI caching.
NGINX NGINX-based stack
Built-in Object Cache
Redis persistent object cache included.
Redis object cache is a paid add-on ($100/mo per site)
Latest PHP Version
8.5 Newest panel PHP: 8.5 (8.2–8.5 selectable)
8.5 PHP 8.5 generally available (selectable in MyKinsta); 7.4 through 8.5 supported
Free SSL Certificate
Free Let's Encrypt SSL, auto-provisioned and renewed.
Free Cloudflare/Let's Encrypt SSL, auto-provisioned and renewed; wildcard supported
WordPress management
Automatic WordPress Updates
Host applies WordPress core updates automatically (cannot opt out).
Kinsta does not auto-update WordPress core; automatic plugin/theme updates are a paid add-on ($3/site/mo)
Staging Environments
1-Click Staging with push-to-live, on every DreamPress plan.
One free standard staging environment on all plans, with push-to-live (selective file/DB push); premium staging is a paid add-on
Automatic Daily Backups
Automatic daily backups with one-click restore.
Automatic daily backups with one-click restore; 6-hour/hourly backups are paid add-ons
Backup Retention (Days)
14 days DreamPress 1 retains 14 days of daily backups (30 days on DreamPress 5 and above).
14 days 14 days of daily backups on the entry plan; higher tiers retain 30 days
Free Site Migration
Free professional migrations (one per included site) plus a free WordPress migration plugin.
Unlimited free expert-handled migrations on all plans
SSH & WP-CLI Access
SSH/shell access with WP-CLI on DreamPress.
SSH access on all plans; WP-CLI v2 pre-installed on every server. Git supported.
WordPress Multisite Support
WordPress Multisite (Network) is not supported on DreamPress.
Officially supported, but not on the entry plan: requires Single 40GB / Single 65k or higher
Support & security
Uptime SLA (%)
100% 100% uptime guarantee (service-credit remedy)
99.9% 99.9% SLA-backed uptime guarantee (up to 99.99% on custom plans)
24/7 Support
24/7/365 support from in-house, US-based WordPress experts.
24/7/365 human expert support via live chat on all plans
Malware Removal / Hack Fix
No free hack-fix/malware-removal guarantee; DreamShield (scan/alert) and DreamCare (repair) are paid add-ons.
Free hack-fix / malware removal under the Security Pledge (excludes nulled plugins/themes)
WAF / DDoS Protection
Built-in Web Application Firewall + DDoS protection, included at no extra cost.
Cloudflare-based managed WAF + L3/4/7 DDoS protection, free on all plans
Platform & integrations
Control Panel
custom DreamHost's own custom panel (not cPanel/Plesk).
custom MyKinsta custom dashboard (no cPanel)
White-Label / Agency Features
Agency Partner Program is referral/commission/discounts + priority support — no white-label, sub-account, or client-billing tooling.
White-label WP admin, agency partner program, MyKinsta multi-client/team management
Email Hosting Included
Unlimited mailboxes at your domain included with DreamPress.
No email hosting; Kinsta recommends Google Workspace / Microsoft 365 and helps add MX records
The verdict
DreamHost Best for lower cost and a self-managed all-in-one stack
DreamPress starts at $19.99/mo versus Kinsta's $35, with 15 GB storage to Kinsta's 10 GB and a 40k-visit allowance. It bundles a Redis object cache (a $100/mo add-on at Kinsta), automatic WordPress core updates, included email hosting, and a 100% uptime SLA against Kinsta's 99.9%.
Full profile Kinsta Best for global reach, agencies, and managed security
Kinsta runs on Google Cloud across 27 datacenter locations versus DreamHost's 3 own datacenters. It adds white-label and multi-client agency tooling (DreamHost has none), unlimited free expert migrations, free malware removal under its Security Pledge (a paid add-on at DreamHost), and multisite on higher tiers. The trade-offs: $35/mo and no included email.
Full profileSources · 36 verified references
en.wikipedia.org pitchbook.com linkedin.com dreamhost.com kinsta.com help.dreamhost.com
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