DreamHost vs. WP Engine

Last verified 34 days ago · 29 sources · Updated automatically

DreamHost and WP Engine 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.

HQ Brea, CA

Visit DreamHost Full profile

WP Engine

Managed WordPress platform for businesses and agencies, with staging, CDN, and developer tooling.

HQ Austin, TX

Visit WP Engine Full profile

Attribute

DreamHost

WP Engine

Company facts

Headquarters

Brea, CA DreamHost (New Dream Network, LLC) is headquartered in Brea, California.

Austin, TX Founded 2010 in Austin, Texas

Employees

300 Roughly 300 employees (LinkedIn band 201-500).

1k 1,000+ globally distributed employees (lower bound)

Pricing

Starting Monthly Price (USD)

$19.99 DreamPress 1 entry plan; renewal rate. Intro $14.99/mo first year.

$30 Startup plan, billed annually ($30/mo)

Entry Plan WordPress Sites

1 sites DreamPress 1 includes 1 WordPress site.

1 sites Startup plan: 1 WordPress install

Entry Plan Monthly Visits

40k DreamPress 1 includes 40k monthly visits.

25k Startup plan: 25,000 monthly visits

Entry Plan Storage (GB)

15 GB DreamPress 1 includes 15 GB NVMe SSD storage.

10 GB Startup plan: 10 GB local storage

Free Trial Length (Days)

0 days No free trial; DreamPress offers a 30-day money-back guarantee instead.

0 days No free trial; 60-day money-back guarantee instead

Money-Back Guarantee (Days)

30 days 30-day money-back guarantee on DreamPress.

60 days 60-day money-back guarantee (annual plans)

Performance & infrastructure

Underlying Cloud

own datacenters Runs on DreamHost's own US datacenters (Ashburn, VA and Hillsboro, OR).

Google Cloud, AWS Google Cloud on all plans; AWS (and Azure) on Premium

Datacenter Locations

3 US East (Ashburn), US West (Hillsboro), EU (Amsterdam)

28 across Google Cloud, AWS & Azure; AWS and Azure regions plus 3 GCP regions are Premium-tier only

Free CDN

Free Bunny CDN included on DreamPress.

Global CDN included on all plans

Web Server

NGINX NGINX with FastCGI caching.

NGINX NGINX-based stack

Built-in Object Cache

Redis persistent object cache included.

Object caching enabled by default; dedicated Redis on higher tiers

Latest PHP Version

8.5 Newest panel PHP: 8.5 (8.2–8.5 selectable)

8.4 PHP 8.4 (beta; requires WordPress 6.7+)

Free SSL Certificate

Free Let's Encrypt SSL, auto-provisioned and renewed.

Auto-renewing SSL included on all plans

WordPress management

Automatic WordPress Updates

Host applies WordPress core updates automatically (cannot opt out).

Managed WP, PHP & MySQL updates included

Staging Environments

1-Click Staging with push-to-live, on every DreamPress plan.

1-click staging & dev environments on all plans

Automatic Daily Backups

Automatic daily backups with one-click restore.

Daily & on-demand automatic backups

Backup Retention (Days)

14 days DreamPress 1 retains 14 days of daily backups (30 days on DreamPress 5 and above).

40 days Revert to any backup up to 40 days

Free Site Migration

Free professional migrations (one per included site) plus a free WordPress migration plugin.

Free automated migration plugin (WP Migrate)

SSH & WP-CLI Access

SSH/shell access with WP-CLI on DreamPress.

SSH gateway with WP-CLI and Git on all plans

WordPress Multisite Support

WordPress Multisite (Network) is not supported on DreamPress.

Multisite supported as add-on (Growth+); not on Startup

Support & security

Uptime SLA (%)

100% 100% uptime guarantee (service-credit remedy)

99.99% 99.99% uptime SLA

24/7 Support

24/7/365 support from in-house, US-based WordPress experts.

24/7/365 chat support 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 cleaning for infections on-platform

WAF / DDoS Protection

Built-in Web Application Firewall + DDoS protection, included at no extra cost.

Basic network DDoS included; managed WAF + advanced DDoS via paid Global Edge Security

Platform & integrations

Control Panel

custom DreamHost's own custom panel (not cPanel/Plesk).

custom Custom dashboard (WP Engine User Portal / my.wpengine.com)

White-Label / Agency Features

Agency Partner Program is referral/commission/discounts + priority support — no white-label, sub-account, or client-billing tooling.

Agency plans, partner program, multi-site client management

Email Hosting Included

Unlimited mailboxes at your domain included with DreamPress.

No email hosting; recommends a dedicated provider (e.g. Google Workspace)

The verdict

DreamHost

Best for value and a self-contained single site

Cheaper at $19.99/mo vs $30, with more headroom on the entry plan: 40k visits and 15 GB vs WP Engine's 25k and 10 GB. Bundles a WAF, email hosting, and free professional migration WP Engine doesn't include, plus a 100% uptime guarantee. The trade-offs: 14-day backups (vs 40), 30-day money-back (vs 60), and no Multisite.

Full profile

WP Engine

Best for agencies and multi-site portfolios

The pick for agencies: white-label and client-management tooling, Multisite (Growth+), and free hack-fix/malware cleanup DreamHost charges extra for. Runs on Google Cloud/AWS across 28 datacenters vs DreamHost's 3 own sites, with 40-day backups and a 60-day money-back window. Costs more ($30 vs $19.99) and ships no bundled WAF or email.

Full profile

Sources · 29 verified references

en.wikipedia.org wpengine.com linkedin.com dreamhost.com medium.com help.dreamhost.com

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