If you are looking for a new home for your existing website or you are preparing to start a new site, DreamHost and SiteGround are two hosts that deserve a spot on your shortlist. This is especially true if you are searching for a shared hosting plan that is both affordable and high-performing.
However, despite the fact that DreamHost’s and SiteGround’s shared hosting plans have quite a few things in common, there are also some noteworthy distinctions between them, not the least of which being their respective costs.
Therefore, in order to assist you in determining which shared hosting plan is best for you, I have investigated the primary features of both hosts, utilised paid tools to measure the performance of their shared hosting plans, and delved into the technical details in order to provide you with a clear picture of exactly what you’ll get with each company.
By the time you’ve finished reading this comparison, you’ll know whether SiteGround or DreamHost is the better option to sign up with, or whether your search needs to continue. If it’s time to start a new website or change the host of your existing site, you can use this information to make an informed decision.
Let’s begin…
DreamHost vs SiteGround -- Overview
DreamHost is one of the most well-established web hosts that are still in business today due to the fact that they have been in company since 1996. They have an extensive selection of hosting options, some of which include their DreamPress managed WordPress hosting service, dedicated server hosting, and the low-cost shared service that is the focus of this comparison.
Despite the fact that SiteGround has “only” been in business since 2004, the company has garnered a fantastic reputation because to its blazing-fast servers, knowledgeable support staff, and several helpful features. This is especially true among WordPress users. SiteGround is a reliable option for anybody searching for high-quality shared hosting thanks to all of these features.
However, when compared to the plans offered by some other well-known shared hosting companies, SiteGround’s prices are fairly pricey. On the other side, DreamHost offers some of the most affordable plan options available.
Is it thus worthwhile to pay more for hosting through SiteGround, and do the low-cost shared plans offered by DreamHost involve an unacceptable amount of cost cutting? When you’ve finished reading our comparison of DreamHost vs SiteGround, you’ll have a good idea which of the two web hosts is going to be the superior option for your website.
DreamHost vs SiteGround -- Shared Hosting Plans
DREAMHOST SHARED HOSTING PLANS
DreamHost keeps things straightforward by offering just two different shared hosting options for you to pick from:
- Shared Starter: Starting at $2.95 per month for a single website and 50 GB of storage.
- Shared Unlimited: Pricing begins at $4.95 per month for unlimited websites and storage.
As can be seen, the primary distinctions between the two plans are the maximum number of websites that may be hosted by the user and the total amount of storage space that is available to them. There are also some additional distinctions, such the maximum number of subdomains and MySQL databases that may be created. Both of the plans come with an unlimited data transfer allowance, which means that your website (or websites) may accommodate an infinite number of users – providing that you adhere to the use policies.
There is no variation in performance between the different DreamHost plans, in contrast to the shared plans offered by SiteGround. Because of this, the speed at which your website loads should remain consistent regardless of the package that you select.
If you establish an account with DreamHost and cancel your plan within the first 97 days of having that account, you will receive a full refund from DreamHost. This is one of the company’s money-back promises.
On the page that is dedicated to shared hosting with DreamHost, you will find a comprehensive comparison of the two options.
SITEGROUND SHARED HOSTING PLANS
There are three different shared hosting plans available for you to pick from on SiteGround:
- StartUp: From $6.99 per month for one website, 10 GB of storage, and less than 10,000 monthly views.
- GrowBig: Starting at $9.99 per month for unlimited websites, 20 GB of storage, and less than 25,000 monthly views.
- GoGeek: From $14.99 per month for unlimited websites, 40 GB of storage, and 100,000 monthly visitors.
The plans offered by SiteGround, much like those offered by DreamHost, permit an infinite amount of traffic. The number of monthly visits is intended to provide you with an estimate of the quantity of audience that can be accommodated by each pricing plan.
I’ll go over a few of the additional differences between the SiteGround plans that you should be aware of in this review, in addition to the amount of storage space and the number of suggested monthly visitors. However, one that is worth mentioning right now is that higher-priced plans have additional performance capabilities that should assist to make your website speedier. This is something that you should keep in mind moving forward.
SiteGround gives you 30 days after signing up to cancel your plan and get a full refund, but DreamHost gives you 97 days to get your money back if you decide to terminate your account.
On the SiteGround website, the specifics of each plan may be compared and contrasted.
HOSTING DISCOUNT RATES
The costs that are displayed here for DreamHost and SiteGround are the most affordable equivalent monthly fees that you will be responsible for paying. When you pay for more than one month in advance, you are eligible for these cheaper rates; therefore, the longer the initial payment period that you choose, the more money you will save.
Due to the fact that both hosts provide three-year contracts in addition to shorter ones, you have the ability to secure the reduced rates for a considerable quantity of time. When the time period that is covered by your initial invoice has passed, you will be responsible for paying the whole cost of your plan going forward.
Your monthly hosting costs can become much more expensive when it comes time to renew your SiteGround plan because new customers receive a discount of more than 50 percent off the standard price of the plans. When selecting a plan from DreamHost, the full price is something to take into consideration; nevertheless, the difference between the new customer rates and the full pricing is not as significant as it is with other hosting providers.
DreamHost vs SiteGround -- Shared Hosting Features
DOMAINS AND SSL CERTIFICATES
Domain names are required for any website, and obtaining an SSL certificate is almost necessary if you want your website to be able to protect the information that is entered by its users.
Keeping all of this in mind, it is very encouraging to note that both of your hosts supply you with free SSL certificates issued by Let’s Encrypt.
Even better, SSL certificates will be immediately installed on your websites if you purchase any of the shared plans offered by SiteGround or by DreamHost, even the more costly Shared Ultimate plan. You are required to apply it yourself if you choose with DreamHost’s more affordable Shared Standard plan; nevertheless, DreamHost has made the procedure of doing so extremely easy to understand and follow.
Both DreamHost and SiteGround make it simple to utilise bought SSL certificates on your website. If you would prefer not to use the free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates, you have the option to purchase some of the available alternatives straight from DreamHost and SiteGround.
However, as we saw in the previous comparison between GoDaddy and Bluehost, this isn’t always the case, despite the fact that the majority of providers now offer free SSL certificates that are often automatically issued to your website.
When you sign up for one of DreamHost’s shared hosting plans with a contract length of one year or more, you will receive free domain registration for one year. This applies to the selection of a domain name for your website.
Although SiteGround does not provide free domain names, the company does provide a service to register domain names. In addition to this, you may register a domain name elsewhere and then direct it to your hosting account.
The cost of purchasing a domain name for your website might vary based on which extension you choose (such as.com,.net, etc.) and where you choose to register it. However, if you take advantage of this deal from DreamHost, you could wind up saving roughly $10. Before selecting whether to claim your free domain from them or register one elsewhere, you should be sure to verify the DreamHost domain renewal prices and other criteria first, as registering one elsewhere may be the better option.
The verdict is that DreamHost is the superior choice in this case despite the fact that both providers offer excellent SSL support. If you sign up for DreamHost’s services for a period of at least a year, you will not be charged for the domain name registration fee.
WEBSITE AND ACCOUNT BACKUPS
It is absolutely necessary for you to set up some kind of backup system if you do not want to run the risk of losing the data associated with your website and your account.
Both DreamHost and SiteGround, to their credit, will do daily automated backups of your account, which will protect not just your files but also your database and email accounts. Then, in the event that something goes wrong, you will always have a backup that is less than twenty-four hours old that you may restore.
In addition to the daily backups that are created automatically, you also have the option to manually generate a limited number of backups on demand with the top two shared hosting plans offered by SiteGround (GrowBig and GoGeek), as well as with all of the shared hosting plans offered by DreamHost.
Even though both SiteGround and DreamHost offer backups, the solution offered by SiteGround is superior than the one offered by DreamHost. You can see that their system allows you to restore the complete backup, or just sections of it, such as all or some of the files, database, and emails using an easy-to-use graphical user interface. This is something that you can see on the support website for the SiteGround backup tool.
If you use DreamHost, you can easily restore all of the files and databases from your backup with only a few clicks within your account area. You are only able to do a full restore of an entire backup file; you are unable to restore individual files. However, you are allowed to select which database table you would like to restore.
WORDPRESS WEBSITE BACKUP OPTIONS
Even while these backup capabilities guarantee that your account and (WordPress) website are backed up, you may want to explore a solution that is designed specifically for this kind of website if you are using WordPress as the content management system for your website.
If you do this, you should have greater control over when and how your backups are produced, as well as an increase in the number of choices available to you for restoring your website files and database.
On the other hand, despite the fact that you have the option to install a WordPress backup plugin, DreamHost users won’t be required to do so. This is due to the fact that DreamHost’s shared hosting plans include a paid membership to the BoldGrid WordPress Website Builder package, which is valued at $5 per month and provides access to a variety of themes, the BoldGrid page builder tool, and its Total Upkeep backup plugin.
If you have the premium version of the Total Upkeep plugin installed on your WordPress website, you will have the ability to view a history of changes made to your WordPress website, create an automatic backup schedule, and back up your site on demand. In addition, you will be able to view recently modified files. Restoring either a whole copy or only a portion of a backup is a pretty simple process.
You also have the option of having your backups automatically transferred to cloud services, such as Google Drive, Amazon S3, or the file storage service that is offered by DreamHost DreamObjects. You have the option of configuring Total Upkeep to create a backup of your website before updating the WordPress core software, plugins, or themes. You also have the choice of enabling Total Upkeep to restore that backup automatically in the event that an issue is discovered with the update.
Unfortunately, the shared plans offered by SiteGround do not provide access to a backup solution that is designed just for WordPress, much alone a strong one comparable to Total Upkeep. On the other hand, it is not difficult for you to install a backup plugin for WordPress of your choice, whether it be free or expensive, like Total Upkeep.
When it comes to selecting a backup solution for your WordPress site, you have a wide variety of alternatives accessible to choose from, depending on the size of your financial commitment. Popular choices include the freemium UpdraftPlus plugin and the extremely good but very pricey Jetpack Backup service. Both of these are excellent backup solutions.
The verdict is in, and even though SiteGround has a better backup system for the entire account than DreamHost does, DreamHost comes out on top because of the premium WordPress backup plugin that is included with all of their shared hosting plans. This is a tool that website owners of all types will find useful, so this round goes to DreamHost.
CACHING AND OPTIMIZATION
Both hosts say that they provide their clients with access to high-performance servers and technology, which helps to guarantee that their customers’ websites load quickly and that they have a high degree of uptime. After you have seen the results of performance testing, you will have the opportunity to decide whether or not you agree with this.
There is no question that SiteGround’s website provides more easily accessible information on the hosting infrastructure they offer and the reasons why you should select them rather than one of their competitors.
For instance, one of the ways in which SiteGround is distinct from DreamHost is that it has transitioned to utilising the Google Cloud platform as the foundation for its hosting infrastructure. This translates to the fact that you may host your website on the cutting-edge Google Cloud network in a hosting environment managed by SiteGround for a few dollars less per month than you would pay with other hosting providers.
SiteGround now has access to a high-end infrastructure because to the fact that the company uses the Google Cloud platform. This gives SiteGround the ability to host their clients’ websites in additional locations all over the world. With SiteGround, there is a strong possibility that you will be able to realise your goal of having your website be located as close to your audience as possible, which will reduce the amount of time it takes for pages to load. DreamHost only offers two data centres, and they are both located in the United States.
In addition, SiteGround offers a WordPress plugin that is loaded with features and gives you a wide variety of options for improving your website’s performance.
The free SG Optimizer plugin gives you the ability to effortlessly optimise new and existing pictures, combine and minify HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files, and allow lazy loading, in addition to a great deal of other functionality, all from inside the dashboard of your WordPress installation.
You may also easily convert your photographs to the new WebP format, which will reduce the file size of your images without sacrificing the quality of the images themselves.
Even though DreamHost does not provide its own caching and optimization plugins or tools, the widely used and free WP Super Cache plugin is automatically installed on each WordPress installation you build through your account dashboard. You might also elect to install a different cache and optimization plugin for WordPress of your choosing instead.
When it comes to other server technologies, both hosts make use of OPcache to improve the overall speed of websites that are powered by PHP, such as WordPress. Memcached is made available on all of SiteGround’s shared plans, with the exception of the StartUp plan, which is their most basic offering.
It is a feature that is recommended to have since Memcached helps to enhance the performance of websites that employ database queries. This includes websites that are built using WordPress. Memcached is not included in any of DreamHost’s shared hosting plans, but it is accessible on their non-shared hosting packages. If you visit this page on DreamHost’s website, you can easily view a list of the technologies that DreamHost employs. You can view a page identical to this one that SiteGround has created here.
Both DreamHost and SiteGround offer the Cloudflare Content Delivery Network (CDN) service and make it simple for you to integrate this service into your website so that your content may be distributed all over the world. Additionally, support is provided for other CDNs.
The jury has deliberated, and they have decided that SiteGround is the victor in this matchup because they provide their shared hosting customers access to a greater variety of technologies and because they provide a practical plugin for improving the performance of WordPress websites.
DreamHost vs SiteGround -- WordPress Features
Both DreamHost and SiteGround offer hosting plans that are tailored specifically for websites built on the WordPress content management system (CMS). However, both companies also offer shared hosting plans that are compatible with WordPress and include a number of useful add-on features that are tailored specifically to WordPress websites.
AUTOMATIC WORDPRESS INSTALLATION
Thanks to the software installation tools, installing WordPress on your own at any other time is just as easy as installing it the first time.
WORDPRESS STARTER WIZARDS
Both of these hosts also offer optional wizards that can be found in your WordPress dashboard to provide you with assistance while you construct your new WordPress website.
You will have access to SiteGround’s WordPress Starter wizard when you host your website with them. This wizard will assist you with selecting a theme for your new website, provide suggestions about relevant plugins, and simplify the process of adding content for your site.
As was just said, DreamHost and BoldGrid have collaborated in order to provide you with the option of including a number of additional features on your WordPress website. You may select a theme from BoldGrid and carry out some of the other chores involved in setting up your site from within the WordPress dashboard. This is made possible because to the connectivity between the two platforms, as well as the setup and website builder wizard. To further modify the look of your website, you may make use of the premium BoldGrid Website Builder, which is available at no cost to you.
If this is your first time using WordPress, the setup wizards should make it easier for you to construct your website and get it ready for publication.
AUTOMATIC WORDPRESS UPDATES
Both providers are able to automatically update the WordPress software as well as any plugins that you have installed. In addition, automatic theme updates are available with the Total Upkeep plugin on DreamHost. This will save you time and effort.
In spite of the fact that WordPress 5.5 comes with built-in support for automatic updates of the core software as well as plugins and themes, SiteGround and DreamHost both provide a few additional auto-update capabilities that you might find helpful.
If you use the Total Upkeep plugin to manage your automated updates, which is included with the DreamHost shared plans (and also available separately), the plugin will generate a backup of your site before executing any upgrades. Additionally, a backup of your site will be created automatically by SiteGround before any updates are implemented. You have the ability to postpone the installation of updates with both the host you choose and SiteGround, but you cannot stop the updates from being installed on SiteGround.
In the event that an issue occurs while the update is being performed, Total Upkeep will immediately restore the most recent backup file.
WORDPRESS CACHING AND OPTIMIZATION TOOLS
The caching and optimization plugin from SiteGround that was just described has other functions that will assist you in managing your website and optimising its content so that it loads more quickly.
WordPress installations on DreamHost come with the free third-party WP Super Cache plugin already installed. If you like, you may install another plugin from this category instead.
Both providers provide a wealth of material on their own websites to assist users in making use of WordPress.
WORDPRESS STAGING
SiteGround’s top two shared hosting plans both provide a staging tool for WordPress websites, which enables users to easily build a clone of their existing website for the purposes of testing and development (GrowBig and GoGeek).
DreamHost’s shared hosting plans do not feature a staging tool; instead, the company advises users to manually develop their websites.
The verdict is a draw due to the fact that the shared plans offered by DreamHost contain several premium capabilities that are available for free via BoldGrid, while the shared plans offered by SiteGround provide a sophisticated staging tool and optimization options for users of WordPress. Your requirements will determine which feature set is the most appropriate to prioritise.
DreamHost vs SiteGround -- Customer Support
Both SiteGround and DreamHost provide live chat assistance around the clock; however, whereas DreamHost allows you to request a call back from their support team, SiteGround’s help desk may be reached by phone immediately. SiteGround also provides email assistance, and clients that subscribe to their most expensive GoGeek plan receive priority when getting in touch with the company.
During my testing, I discovered that the support team at SiteGround was the most attentive and helpful of the providers that I’ve used. This is despite the fact that it is simple to connect to both hosts via live chat.
The verdict is in, and SiteGround came out on top thanks to their competent personnel and the increased number of support contact options.
DreamHost vs SiteGround -- Performance Tests
Both providers have reasonably priced shared hosting plans that come with a variety of useful services, including as free SSL certificates, website backups, and automatic software upgrades. These features can be found on both hosts’ websites.
However, in addition to the features and the price, it is also vital to take into consideration how effectively the product performs.
After all, having the greatest features and the lowest rates won’t mean much if your website is sluggish, unable to manage more than a few people accessing it at the same time, and suffers from regular outages.
Keeping all of this in mind, let’s compare the shared hosting plans offered by DreamHost and SiteGround to see which one offers better performance.
HOW WE TESTED
In order to prepare for the testing, I began by utilising Pingdom to track the performance of our websites and determine their typical load times. After that, I utilised K6 (previously known as Load Impact) to analyse how well the websites functioned when they were being accessed by a number of people at the same time. In addition, you will see the results of my uptime monitoring, which, once again, utilised Pingdom. For each test, the testing location that was picked was determined by its proximity to the place where the site was hosted.
LOAD TIME TESTING
I constructed four WordPress websites, two on the most advanced shared plan offered by DreamHost and two on the most basic shared plan offered by SiteGround in order to determine which web host had the quickest website loading times.
It is important to point out once more that while both of the shared plans offered by DreamHost have the same levels of performance, the StartUp plan offered by SiteGround has the lowest performance of the three shared plans offered by SiteGround, as well as the lowest pricing.
Check out our comparison of SiteGround’s StartUp and GoGeek plans if you want to learn more about the differences between the SiteGround shared plans, including the variations in performance. Both of these plans are available to customers.
After installing a lightweight theme on one of the test sites and a heavyweight theme on the other test site for each host, I imported a demo for one of the themes that I had just deployed. Pingdom was used to measure how quickly a page loaded from each of the sites.
The findings are as follows…
LIGHTWEIGHT THEME SPEED TEST RESULTS
Utilizing a free, lightweight theme like Twenty Twenty is an excellent choice if you want to develop a straightforward website or blog in the near future.
You shouldn’t have to be concerned about the design of your site having a negative influence on your load speeds because the plugin has a very short list of features and clean code.
I built up two websites that were as close as possible in order to give you an idea of how quickly your website may load if you host it with either SiteGround or DreamHost, and you use WordPress with the current default theme Twenty Twenty.
On each of the sites, a straightforward page that consisted of some text and a picture was uploaded. After that, Pingdom monitored how quickly the page loaded once every half an hour for a period of seven days in order to get an average load time.
DREAMHOST LIGHTWEIGHT THEME SPEED TEST RESULTS
Pingdom’s seven days of monitoring resulted in an average load time of 353 milliseconds for the WordPress website that was using the minimalist Twenty Twenty theme and was hosted on DreamHost’s Shared Ultimate plan. Pingdom’s measurements were taken after each of those seven days.
SITEGROUND LIGHTWEIGHT THEME SPEED TEST RESULTS
Pingdom’s measurements showed that the same website, when it was hosted using the SiteGround StartUp plan, had a much quicker average load time of 289 milliseconds.
A SUMMARY OF THE RESULTS OF THE LIGHTWEIGHT THEME SPEED TEST
Pingdom observed a quicker average load time of 289 milliseconds for the website that was hosted by SiteGround at the conclusion of the testing period, in comparison to 353 milliseconds for the website that was hosted by DreamHost.
Both times were very impressive, especially when you consider that there is not much of a difference between DreamHost and SiteGround, and even some of the more expensive premium managed WordPress hostings that we’ve tested, such as Kinsta (307 milliseconds), Liquid Web (358 milliseconds), and WP Engine (246 milliseconds).
Even though SiteGround came out on top in this test, there wasn’t much of a gap between the two hosts since the difference in speed was only 64 milliseconds. Let’s check to see whether the change is more obvious on the test sites that are utilising the heavyweight theme…
HEAVYWEIGHT THEME SPEED TEST RESULTS
Choose a more feature-rich multipurpose solution rather than utilising a lightweight theme like Twenty Twenty as an alternative. Twenty Twenty is one example of such a theme. If you do so, you will get access to a large number of templates for your website, in addition to a large number of extras, such as page builder and slider tools.
Avada is one of the most popular multipurpose WordPress themes, and it is referred to as a heavyweight theme both because of the file size of the pages it creates and because of the numerous features it includes. Avada is one of the most popular multipurpose WordPress themes. Because of this, the speed of your website will be significantly slower than it would be if you used a theme that was lighter.
Let’s find out whether your website will load quicker when hosted by DreamHost or SiteGround so that you can decide which one to use if you’re interested in utilising a theme like Avada and importing one of its demos or constructing a site that’s quite similar to the one Avada offers…
DREAMHOST HEAVYWEIGHT THEME SPEED TEST RESULTS
Pingdom observed a load time of 2.11 seconds on average for the homepage of the website that was hosted by DreamHost after the Avada theme was installed and its Agency demo imported.
SITEGROUND HEAVYWEIGHT THEME SPEED TEST RESULTS
Pingdom was able to record a much quicker average load time for the identical website setup when it was hosted on the SiteGround entry-level StartUp plan. The new time was 1.69 seconds.
HEAVYWEIGHT THEME SPEED TEST RESULTS SUMMARY
As can be seen, the websites that used the heavyweight Avada theme loaded significantly more slowly than the websites that used the lightweight theme. Additionally, the file size of the observed page was significantly larger.
The difference in the performance of the two hosts was more pronounced than usual since the design of the sites required significantly more resources than the other sites did. The difference between them was far larger this time, coming in at 0.42 seconds (or 420 milliseconds) as opposed to the 64 milliseconds that existed between them in the first test when both websites were utilising the lightweight theme.
Therefore, while there may not be much of a difference between SiteGround and DreamHost if you plan to use a lightweight theme or create a simple website, if you want to use a theme like Avada and import one of its demos, or build a website that is comparable to one of its demos, SiteGround would be the better option in terms of pure speed. DreamHost is a better choice if you want to use a theme like WooCommerce and import one of its demo
DREAMHOST VS SITEGROUND LOAD TIME SUMMARY
In the Pingdom performance testing, the websites hosted by SiteGround performed better than those hosted by the other host; nonetheless, both providers were very good overall.
As you can see from our recent comparisons of SiteGround and Bluehost as well as our comparison of GoDaddy and Bluehost, DreamHost and SiteGround fared significantly better than those other shared hosting providers in our testing.
Despite the fact that both SiteGround and DreamHost performed admirably in our Pingdom site performance testing, the results showed that SiteGround was much quicker than DreamHost regardless of the theme that was being utilised. Despite this, it is important to keep in mind that SiteGround prices its shared hosting plans at a higher rate than DreamHost does.
DreamHost vs SiteGround — Managed WordPress Hosting
Our websites that were utilising a lightweight theme and were hosted by SiteGround and DreamHost were not significantly different from those that were hosted by the more expensive managed WordPress servers that we examined. If, on the other hand, you want to construct a website that is more complicated, you should consider switching to managed hosting so that your website can load more quickly.
When conducting tests for our managed WordPress hosting evaluations, we found that Kinsta (1.25 seconds), Pressable (958 milliseconds), the WordPress.com Business plan (1.06 seconds), and WP Engine all offered much quicker timings when utilising a heavyweight theme (929 milliseconds).
If you plan on developing a more complex website, however, you should look at higher-performance managed WordPress hosting rather to the shared hosting plans offered by DreamHost and SiteGround, which are best suited for basic websites with few features.
DreamHost vs SiteGround — Load handling Tests
When analysing the performance of a web server, the average load time is not the only indicator that should be taken into consideration. You also need to know how well a host can manage several people visiting your website at the same time and what kind of effect this will have on the overall performance of the website.
Because our test websites don’t get any traffic, I utilised the K6 load testing service to simulate a large number of visitors accessing our test websites at the same time for a certain amount of time. K6 monitored the amount of time it took for the sites to respond throughout the performance testing in order to determine the effect that the virtual users had on overall performance.
LOAD TIME VS RESPONSE TIME
Response times are not the same as load times, however if the response time increases during the K6 stress tests, it is safe to conclude that the load time will also be negatively affected.
The WordPress websites running lightweight and heavyweight themes were utilised for the K6 load handling testing.
LIGHTWEIGHT THEME LOAD HANDLING TEST RESULTS
K6 was programmed to gradually raise the number of virtual users accessing the lightweight theme websites from zero to one hundred over the course of five minutes for the purpose of conducting load handling tests on the websites.
The first site to be examined was one provided by DreamHost. The graph that follows demonstrates that the amount of time required to respond to a request (shown by the blue line) got longer as the number of simultaneous virtual users that accessed the site rose (represented by the grey line).
The response time went over one second when there were 47 virtual users visiting the site hosted by DreamHost simultaneously, and it continued to grow as the number of simultaneous virtual users rose.
During the course of the test that lasted for five minutes, the response time of the site that was hosted by SiteGround and made use of a lightweight theme was rather consistent.
Even when there were one hundred virtual users using the site at the same time, the response time did not exceed two hundred milliseconds, which is equal to 0.2 seconds.
HEAVYWEIGHT THEME LOAD HANDLING TEST RESULTS
The initial test of the website, which made use of a heavyweight theme and was hosted by DreamHost, found that a maximum of one hundred simultaneous virtual users was an unacceptable number, and the response time reached a peak of 39 seconds. The results were able to more accurately reflect reality once the maximum number of virtual users was lowered to 50 and the test was done again.
However, as can be seen in the graph below, the response time (blue line) still surpassed two seconds even when DreamHost’s website was being accessed by 18 virtual users at the same time.
Even though the heavyweight Avada theme and its Agency demo were being used, the SiteGround-hosted website performed much better and was able to handle up to a hundred simultaneous virtual users without the response time increasing significantly. This was the case even though the theme was named Agency.
The response time (shown by the blue line) was just 326 milliseconds even though there were 99 virtual users visiting the site at the same time.
Even when there were one hundred virtual users using the site at the same time, the response time did not exceed two hundred milliseconds, which is equal to 0.2 seconds.
LOAD HANDLING TEST RESULTS SUMMARY
When the number of concurrent virtual users on the test site climbed to one hundred, the response times of the websites that were hosted by SiteGround were, for the most part, unaffected. In point of fact, if you look at our evaluation of SiteGround, you’ll discover that our websites were able to manage up to 200 virtual users without experiencing any difficulties in testing of a similar nature.
According to these findings, your website should be able to accommodate up to 200 simultaneous viewers accessing it at the same time without seeing much of a drop in load times, if any reduction at all. Nevertheless, this is something that is dependent on the kind of website that you construct as well as the activities that your visitors engage in when they are on your site.
Because SiteGround has just integrated the Google Cloud platform into its hosting infrastructure, it’s possible that this is the reason why they are able to accommodate such a high volume of simultaneous visitors.
In each of the tests, the response times of the websites that were hosted by DreamHost were shown to be significantly slower. The website that used the heavyweight theme had a very difficult time, in contrast to the website that used the lightweight theme, which performed significantly better.
However, in contrast to the websites that were hosted by SiteGround, even the website that was hosted by DreamHost and used the lightweight theme witnessed an increase in response times as the number of virtual users that accessed it rose. If you host your website with DreamHost, you should anticipate that its performance will suffer when it is visited by a large number of users.
DreamHost vs SiteGround — UpTime
Pingdom was then used to check on the four test websites that were hosted by DreamHost and SiteGround to determine whether there was any downtime encountered by those websites.
During the seven days that the hosts were being monitored, the preceding graphic demonstrates that neither of them had any form of downtime.
DreamHost vs SiteGround -- Technical Summary
In the event that you are interested in learning more about the shared hosting plans offered by DreamHost and SiteGround, the following is a summary of the most important aspects of each:
Website caching:
The OPcache engine is used to cache webpages on DreamHost and SiteGround shared plans. This engine is used for websites that require PHP, such as WordPress websites. Memcached is also utilised by the SiteGround shared plans in order to increase website speed. While DreamHost suggests using the well-known WP Super Cache plugin, SiteGround has developed its own SG Optimizer WordPress plugin. Both of these plugins enable you to cache and optimise your website in a variety of different ways.
Content Delivery Network (CDN):
PHP: DreamHost gives you the option to select among versions 7.2, 7.3, and 7.4 of PHP, whilst SiteGround gives you the option to select between versions 7.0 and 7.4 of PHP, in addition to version 5.4.
HTTP/2.0:
On the shared hosting plans offered by DreamHost and SiteGround, HTTP/2.0 is automatically enabled.
SSL:
Both of the hosting services will give you with a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate. You also have the option to import your own certificate or purchase a separate certificate when using either DreamHost or SiteGround as your hosting provider.
SFTP:
Both DreamHost and SiteGround allow you to create numerous Secure FTP accounts, which grants you access to your web space and enables you to upload and edit files. SFTP stands for Secure File Transfer Protocol.
Server file manager:
File manager for the server You may access the files stored on your server by using a browser-based file manager that is compatible with both hosts.
Database access:
Your web browser gives you access to the WordPress database via phpMyAdmin, and both DreamHost and SiteGround make this capability available to you.
Email service:
Web mail, POP3, and SMTP access are all included in the email service that’s included with all of the shared hosting plans offered by SiteGround, as well as the top-tier Shared Ultimate plan offered by DreamHost. For a nominal additional monthly cost, the entry-level DreamHost Shared Starter plan can have email service added to it.
WordPress website management:
With DreamHost, automatic WordPress software and plugin updates are optional, but with SiteGround, WordPress software updates are required but plugin updates are optional.
Plugin restrictions:
You are free to install whatever extensions you choose because neither host provides a list of plugins that are prohibited from use.
Security measures:
Paid add-ons like as DreamShield and SG Site Scanner are available from both DreamHost and SiteGround. These add-ons provide additional security capabilities in addition to daily malware scans and automated malware eradication. All of SiteGround’s shared hosting packages come equipped with ModSecurity, while DreamHost customers have the option to turn it on.
Post-hack clean-up services:
There is a paid Hacked Site Repair solution available from DreamHost. Sucuri is recommended by SiteGround in place of their own in-house dedicated clean-up solution. Add-ons such as DreamShield and SG Site Scanner might also be of assistance with this matter.
Data centre locations:
You have the option of using either the Virginia or the Oregon data centre when hosting with DreamHost. In addition to their six data centres spread over three countries, SiteGround’s architecture also includes the Google Cloud platform.
Staging sites:
Access to a website staging tool is included in the shared plans offered by SiteGround, however it is not included in the shared plans offered by DreamHost.
WordPress website migration:
Both of these servers charge a fee to migrate a website over to their service, but both also provide free migration plugins that you may use to complete the process on your own.
Uptime checks and guarantee:
Both providers keep track of the uptime and downtime of their servers, but not of individual client websites. The uptime that is guaranteed by DreamHost is 100 percent, while SiteGround only guarantees 99.9 percent. When there is a period of outage, both hosts will give compensation.
Support channels:
While DreamHost offers help around the clock with a combination of live chat and a telephone call-back service, SiteGround offers assistance around the clock through a combination of live chat, email ticketing, and telephone.
Both DreamHost and SiteGround allow you to read the comprehensive information on their shared hosting plans on their own websites.
Conclusion
According to the results of the performance tests, DreamHost has one of the finest site-speed to value-for-money ratios of any shared host that we have examined up to this point.
You might be able to experience quick loading times while also paying some of the lowest hosting rates available if you plan to use a lightweight theme or design a basic website. This would allow you to take advantage of both of these benefits. Even if you make use of a heavyweight theme or design a more intricate website, DreamHost should still be able to get your site up and running in a reasonable amount of time.
Having said that, SiteGround fared better than DreamHost in both of our load time and load management comparisons.
However, the prices for the shared plans offered by SiteGround are more than those offered by DreamHost. In exchange for your money, you will receive improved speed as well as some additional features. These features include an in-house WordPress cache and optimization plugin, a website staging tool, and email ticket assistance. You have access to an increased number of data centre locations to select from as a result of SiteGround’s adoption of the Google Cloud platform as a component of their infrastructure.
If you are not put off by the price of the shared plans offered by SiteGround, you will get more value for your money both in terms of features and performance. However, if you would rather pay less, DreamHost are a great compromise, and it is unlikely that you will be disappointed with their services. In addition, the fact that they guarantee an uptime of one hundred percent and offer a refund policy of ninety-seven days long instils trust.
