Compare Hosting Providers on November 25, 2021 by Joanna Gatapia

Everything else is moving to the cloud, and so is web hosting!

Cloud hosting is the newest type of hosting where you no longer have to rely on physical servers to store your website’s files. 

While this type of web hosting is yet to catch up with the popularity of shared hosting, both DreamHost and Cloudways are already offering affordable plans that will encourage you to get started. 


DreamHost

Cloudways

Owner

New Dream Network (NDN)

Aaqib Gadit - Co

Basic Plan

512MB RAM Server

$10/mo

Price

$4.50/mo

$10/mo

Free Domain?

Yes

No

Average Uptime

99.98% (August 2023)

99% uptime guarantee

Average Speed

1,836 ms (August 2023)

VMAN technology and caching features

One-Click WordPress Installation?

Yes

Yes

Free SSL?

Yes

Yes

Number of Sites

1

1

Free Email?

No

No

Free Backup?

Yes

Yes

Moneyback Guarantee

97 days

Free trial

Support Channels

Live chat, email ticketing, phone callback

Live chat, ticketing system, knowledge base

Control Panel

Dreamhost-built

Cloudways console

Space

80GB SSD

25GB SSD

Free CDN?

No

No

Migration Services

For WordPress sites

Yes

Overall Rating

Get Hosting

Other Plans

Managed WordPress ($2.59), VPS ($10), Dedicated Hosting ($149)

Cloud Hosting for Linode ($12), Vultr ($11), AWS ($36.51), GCE ($33.18)

Cell

*Uptime and Speed data from Pingdom and Hrank


But of course, you’ll only need one web host, so who’s it going to be?

It’s difficult to compare with just a glance, so we’ll give you a complete DreamHost vs Cloudways comparison. To do that, we will use these factors to help determine which between the two is better for YOU:

  • Uptime and performance
  • Website building
  • Migration services
  • Products and features
  • Security
  • Pricing
  • Customer Support

Let’s start!

DreamHost vs Cloudways - Uptime and Performance

Cloud hosting is generally more reliable than physical servers. Since it doesn’t store all your site’s data in one place, downtimes are easily handled and solved.

But that doesn’t mean that it’s always going to be a 100% uptime rate. 

Still, Cloudways has a 99% uptime guarantee and it always strives to reach a 100% uptime. Your site will hardly ever go offline, which is ideal, of course. 

DreamHost, on the other hand, has a 100% uptime guarantee, but only averages at around 99.98% (August 2023). Sure, this isn’t the best uptime rate, but it is good enough. 

However, when compared to Cloudways, DreamHost falls short of its uptime performance. 

DreamHost vs Cloudways - Which Cloud Hosting is Better CloudWays


What about speed performance?

DreamHost gets a lot of mixed reviews here with some saying that it has a very fast loading speed, while others say that it’s just so-so. 

In my experience, DreamHost does have high speeds, but this fluctuates frequently. So if it’s the consistency you’re looking for, this isn’t the provider that best gives that. 

As for Cloudways, their Managed Cloud hosting plans have a lot of performance boosters such as advanced caching, SSD storage, auto-healing server features, and CDN (for an additional fee). 

These features can give a more consistent site speed that performs well even if you access your site in other countries.  

Winner: Cloudways. It has a more consistent uptime rate and faster loading speeds. It also has additional features such as CDN available to help increase loading time.


DreamHost vs Cloudways - Website Building

Even if WordPress isn’t the main selling point of Cloudways’ Managed Cloud hosting plans, its platform is still optimized for WordPress. 

It has a free one-click WordPress installation, together with a Breeze plug-in (a feature for optimizing performance). 

To add to that, Cloudways has its staging environment that lets you test new features without affecting the live site you have now. 

As for DreamHost, it is a recommended partner of WordPress and it also has a dedicated plan for WordPress users (DreamPress). However, if your priority is sticking to a cloud-based hosting service, the same features won’t apply.

DreamHost vs Cloudways - Which Cloud Hosting is Better DreamHost


Nonetheless, DreamHost has a lot of WordPress-optimized features such as themes, site migrations, and tools that will help you make your site easier to build.  

Winner: DreamHost. DreamHost has an upper hand in terms of WordPress features.


DreamHost vs Cloudways - Migration Services

What about site migrations? Do both providers have them? 

Yep, these two web hosts have migration services they offer for free. Both providers have dedicated teams that will help you in the whole migration process. 

However, DreamHost only has this feature available for WordPress sites, while Cloudways offers it to any type of site.  

Winner: Cloudways. This provider offers FREE migration services to any CMS.


DreamHost vs Cloudways - Products and Features

How do the Cloud hosting plans of DreamHost and Cloudways compare to one another? 

Let’s take a look at this comparison chart:


DreamHost

Cloudways

Bandwidth:

Free

1 TB

SSL Certificates:

Free

Free

CDN:

None

With a fee

Staging Environment:

No

Free

Storage:

80 GB

25 GB

Backups:

Automated

Automated


As you can see, Cloudways’ basic Cloud hosting plan has a cap for its bandwidth at 1TB. 

On the other hand, DreamHost doesn’t have a cap on the bandwidth. The catch is that their free bandwidth is only available for a limited time. After that, you’re going to be billed based on the bandwidth you use.

If you think about it, this isn’t a bad deal especially when you only use minimal bandwidth. So if the plan doesn’t have a cap for bandwidth, then you won’t be billed for overconsumption.  

Another thing you might notice is storage space. 

DreamHost offers a lot more storage, 80GB, compared to Cloudways 25GB.

Now, while Cloudways only has one type of hosting available for all of its clients, DreamHost has a lot and it would be a waste not to mention it here. 

You already know DreamHost to have Cloud hosting plans, but did you know that it has shared VPS, and dedicated packages, too?

Yep, DreamHost has a wide range of products. It even has a Managed WordPress plan. 

If you’re not sold with Cloud hosting just yet, you might want to try other simpler plans at DreamHost. 

Winner: DreamHost. This provider has a wider range of features in its cloud hosting plan. Plus, it has more hosting types that will fit any needs. 


DreamHost vs Cloudways: Security

A lot of people ask, is Cloud hosting secure?

It is. It’s even more secure than physical servers. 

But for your peace of mind, know that both Cloudways and DreamHost have security monitoring and free SSL certificates included in all of their plans. They offer automatic backups of your site as well. 

Cloudways has an additional dedicated firewall and two-factor authentication that serve as extra security measures. 

For extra security with DreamHost, they offer malware protection. 

Winner: Tie. These two providers have their own set of security features that protect against malware and unauthorized access. 


DreamHost vs Cloudways: Pricing

These two web hosts have very different price ranges, so I thought of putting it on a table for easier reading. 

Here’s a price comparison of the available plans:


DreamHost

Cloudways

Shared Hosting

$2.59 - $3.59/mo

--

WordPress Hosting

$2.59 - $3.59/mo

--

VPS Hosting

$10 - $80/mo

--

Dedicated Server

$149 - $279/mo

--

Cloud Hosting

$4.50 - $96/mo

$10 - $80/mo


Just looking at the chart, you’ll see that DreamHost has affordable cloud hosting packages. This is despite having more features (storage, bandwidth) that give you more flexibility to use.  

Winner: DreamHost. Its basic cloud package is more than half the price of Cloudways’ most affordable hosting plan.


DreamHost vs Cloudways: Customer Support

Both Cloudways and DreamHost have great customer support teams that are accessible 24/7 through live chat. 

However, Cloudways has a more knowledgeable support team and a knowledge base that will help new customers get the hang of their platform. 

This allows you to find answers without reaching out to customer service. 

But in terms of a number of customer support channels, DreamHost has an additional callback feature for a more convenient troubleshooting process for server issues.  

Winner: DreamHost. Its phone callback feature is extremely helpful in guiding customers to troubleshoot technical issues. 


DreamHost vs Cloudways: The Verdict

Overall, it’s difficult to choose between Cloudways and DreamHost. I mean, both are reliable, trustworthy, and popular web hosts. 

Uptime and Performance

Cloudways - consistent uptime performance and site speed

Website building

DreamHost - it has more WordPress-friendly features

Migration service

Cloudways - free migration services are available in all plans and websites

Products and features

DreamHost - has a wider range of hosting types and more features available

Security

Tie - both providers have free SSL certificates and their own suite of security measures

Pricing

DreamHost - its basic cloud hosting plan is only half the price of Cloudways’ cloud hosting plans

Customer support

DreamHost - additional phone callback feature is helpful for ease of troubleshooting


So it all comes down to your preferences, budget, and type of hosting plan you want to get. 

At the end of the day, your priorities for your website will determine what plan or web host to get. 

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