Introduction
Finding a good hosting site for your own website can be difficult, especially when you don’t know what to look for. WP Engine (WPE) is an excellent place to start, and comes highly recommended by a lot of people. DreamHost is also a great choice for those needing a great hosting site for a good price. Even though they do offer a lot to their customers, there are some differences you will need to consider before deciding on which one to go with. This comparison will look at a variety of factors to decide which one is the best choice for your needs.
Pricing
- WPE
- For those that don’t’ mind spending money, WPE has a couple of packages available. Their personal plan starts at $29.99 a month, and their professional plan is $99.99. That’s a pretty hefty price for a plan, but you do get a lot of excellent features with the plan.
- DreamHost
- DreamHost has plans that start at $3.95 a month, which is great if you’re looking to save some money. They have other plans that can give you more features, and the prices for those plans range from $7.95-$149 a month. While you will have different options, the plans are available for just about anyone. One of the best plans they offer is the Grow Big plan, which starts at $7.95 a month.
- Winner
- While WPE does offer a lot of quality features with their plans, you may be strapped for cash. If you’re looking for a price that works in your range, DreamHost is the way to go.
- WPE
- WPE has always prided themselves on excellent customer service. They offer a variety of ways to get in touch with a representative. They have backups you can access, a knowledge base, email support, and a phone service. They also offer a live chat so you can talk to someone in real time.
- DreamHost
- The customer support for DreamHost tries to connect with their customers as much as possible. They have tech veterans available to help you with any issues. If you have any issues with your website, you can reach a real person in minutes with their chat, ticketing system, and telephone support. It’s practical for those that are always online.
- Winner
- It’s difficult to declare a winner since both sites have such excellent customer service procedures. However, WPE does have the edge, thanks to their knowledge center where anyone can find what they’re looking for. It helps when you can solve a problem that others have run into without trying to explain to other people, no matter their expertise levels.
Speed
- WPE
- When it comes to speed, especially online, you need something that works fast to help deliver you to the right page, and conduct searches. WPE has an impressive time of 1.3 seconds for loading, which is good enough for some people.
- DreamHost
- DreamHost provides excellent speed for their customers, and the results can make a difference. DreamHost can provide speeds down to 1.24 seconds, making it a bit faster than WPE. Depending on the amount of traffic you’re trying to get to your website, using DreamHost is a good way to drive in that traffic.
- Winner
- While both companies offer speeds less than two seconds, DreamHost provides faster speeds for their clients. While there are a lot of factors to consider, such as the amount of traffic, and what you have on your site, DreamHost would be the better choice for those looking for a faster web hosting service.
Value
- WPE
- If you need a lot of disk space, WPE offers 10 or 20 GB of diskspace, which is good for a lot of people. WPE also offers you your own control panel, and they provide quality customer service. Since value can be different to different people, you may find that these plans are exactly what you’re looking for.
- DreamHost
- Unlimited bandwidth is perfect for those that have a lot of traffic coming into their website. DreamHost also has shared hosting, which is good if you need to have more than one website. Not only are you going to get excellent features with DreamHost, their prices can make the difference in your decision.
- Winner
- Though WPE does offer a lot of features to their clients, DreamHost is the better value. This is due to their lower prices and customer service, which is ideal for those just starting out. Though value can be objective, based on the prices, DreamHost is the better value.
Features
- WPE
- Unless you’re using WordPress, you’re not going to get a lot of useful features with WPE. Their caching technology, CDN ready features, and SSL certificates are great. However, you can only use the features for WordPress website, which can limit your options.
- DreamHost
- DreamHost offers a lot of features, and the best part is that you don’t need to stick to WordPress to use them. You will have unlimited bandwidth, dedicated servers, virtual private servers, and SSL certificates.
- Winner
- When it comes to picking a winner for the features, you should consider how you’re going to use your website. If you’re using WordPress, you will find that WPE is the better option. If you’re not, then DreamHost is going to be your best bet.
Downtime/Uptime
- WPE
- Downtime is never good for any website, and WPE does offer quality uptime. They have 99.99% uptimes, which is good for nearly everyone. This means that for every six months of service, you can expect 4.4 hours of downtime in those six months.
- DreamHost
- DreamHost does have quality uptime, however, you should know that it does come in at 99.97%. That’s not terrible, but it does mean you’re going to have lots of downtime. You should expect your site to be down for 13.5 hours for every six months of service.
- Winner
- Uptime and downtime is crucial for any website, and you should know what to expect before deciding on which hosting site would be better for you. WPE offers excellent uptime results, and it’s hard to argue against a site that offers 99.9% uptime. Even though you won’t spend a lot of time offline with DreamHost, it can make a difference, especially if you have a lot of traffic visiting your website.
Who is it for?
- Marketers
- Marketing can be tough, especially when you’re trying to market something for someone else. For that, you need a reliant hosting site to help you out. WPE is excellent for marketers because you can become immersive with the features to cater to different specifications. While DreamHost is a good hosting site, they do lack the intensive features one needs for marketing. DreamHost does offer a lot of features that can cater to marketers, as well. Depending on your needs, you may find that DreamHost will work for you. Though you can use DreamHost, to get the most out of marketing, WPE is the better option.
- Developers
- Developing a website can require a lot of time and unique features. WPE is perfect for developers, because the tools that come with WPE makes it practical for users. Unless you’re just starting to get into developing, you may not need to learn about all the tools until later on. Developers can take advantage of the tools that come with WPE to enhance their websites and make them more unique. Though DreamHost does offer a lot of features, they don’t provide all the tools you need to make your website the way you want.
- Small Business Owners
- When running a small business, you may not have the time or inclination to put into building your website, so having a hosting site that does a lot of work for you takes off a lot of pressure. DreamHost is perfect for small business owners, because they provide with the tools they need to get started, and the lower prices make any plan worth investing into. WPE is good for small business owners, but they will need to invest more time into their website to make sure it works for their needs. It’s important for a business owner to decide which one would be better for them, but DreamHost would be the better recommendation.
- Ecommerce Companies
- Ecommerce companies tend to have a lot of traffic coming to their websites, so having a good uptime is essential to their business models. WPE has excellent uptime, which is good for ecommerce companies. Not only that, but they have more employees that can handle the tasks of building a website. While the prices for WPE are expensive, ecommerce companies do have the capital to spend on their website. Since uptime is the most important thing, it’s better to have a website down for a few hours at a time, rather than more time waiting for a website to get up and running.
To see how well WP Engine holds up against other hosting services check out our WP Engine vs. Siteground post.
Last Updated on April 30, 2018 by Jake