Web hosting · head to head

Bluehost vs DreamHost

What each costs, whether there's a free plan, and what each is best for, from prices checked on their own sites.

Bluehost and DreamHost at a glance
Fact	Bluehost	DreamHost
From	$3.99/mo	$2.89/mo
Renews at	$9.99/mo	$10.99/mo
Free plan	No · No free plan or trial; 30-day money-back guarantee	No · No free plan or trial; 30-day money-back guarantee
Best for	WordPress beginners happy with a 3-year term	Several WordPress sites without a long prepay
Checked	Oct 18, 2026	Oct 18, 2026
Website	Visit	Visit

The difference in short

DreamHost costs less to start: $2.89/mo against $3.99/mo for Bluehost.
After the first term, Bluehost's cheapest plan renews at $9.99/mo and DreamHost's at $10.99/mo.
Neither has a free plan; you pay from the start.
Bluehost is best for WordPress beginners happy with a 3-year term; DreamHost for several WordPress sites without a long prepay.

Bluehost pricing

All about Bluehost

Bluehost plans and prices
Plan	Price	Renews at	Specs / includes	Notes
Starter (shared)	$3.99/mo	$9.99/mo	10 GB NVMe SSD	36-month term (Save 60%). Weekly backups, free CDN, no phone support.
Business (shared)	$6.99/mo	$13.99/mo	50 GB NVMe SSD	36-month term (Save 50%). Labelled 'Most popular'. Adds WAF, DDoS protection, domain privacy 1st year, phone support.
eCommerce Essentials (shared)	$14.99/mo	$21.99/mo	100 GB NVMe SSD	36-month term (Save 32%). WooCommerce auto-install and commerce tools included.
VPS NVMe 2	$4.69/mo	$5.69/mo	1 vCPU · 2 GB RAM · 50 GB NVMe	24-month term, $112.56 due today (Save 18%). Self-managed. No cPanel and no 24/7 priority support on VPS plans (page says so).
VPS NVMe 4	$9.49/mo	$11.99/mo	2 vCPU · 4 GB RAM · 100 GB NVMe	24-month term, $227.76 due today (Save 21%). Labelled 'Recommended'.
VPS NVMe 8	$12.99/mo	$28.99/mo	4 vCPU · 8 GB RAM · 200 GB NVMe	24-month term, $311.76 due today (Save 55%). Renewal is 2.2x the intro price.

DreamHost pricing

All about DreamHost

DreamHost plans and prices
Plan	Price	Renews at	Specs / includes	Notes
Web Hosting Launch	$2.89/mo	$10.99/mo	25 GB NVMe SSD	1-year term (first-year price). 4-year term: $1.99/mo, then $7.99/mo. Free domain for 1 year on yearly or longer plans. Email is free for 3 months only.
Web Hosting Growth	$3.99/mo	$12.99/mo	50 GB NVMe SSD	1-year term (first-year price). Labelled 'Most popular'. 4-year term: $3.49/mo, then $8.99/mo.
Web Hosting Scale	$9.99/mo	$25.99/mo	100 GB NVMe SSD	1-year term (first-year price). 4-year term: $7.99/mo, then $19.99/mo.

What's good, and what to watch for

Bluehost

Starter allows 10 websites with 10 GB NVMe SSD storage
Free domain for the first year, free SSL and a free CDN
Weekly backups, malware scanning and a free migration tool

The $3.99 price needs a 36-month term
Starter has no phone support (chat only); Pro Email is a 1-month trial that renews at $2.50/month

DreamHost

Launch allows 25 websites with 25 GB NVMe storage and unmetered bandwidth
Daily automated backups and unlimited free SSL certificates
Free domain for 1 year on annual or longer plans

Renews at $10.99/month after the first year
Email (20 mailboxes on Launch) is free for 3 months only, then billed separately

Other web hosting options

Cheapest first where the prices compare.

Compare all

FAQ

Which is cheaper, Bluehost or DreamHost?

DreamHost costs less to start: $2.89/mo against $3.99/mo for Bluehost. Prices checked Oct 18, 2026 on each company's own site.

Do Bluehost and DreamHost have a free plan?

Bluehost: No. 30-day money-back guarantee. With a paid plan: one domain free for the first year with a 12- or 36-month hosting plan. DreamHost: No. 30-day money-back guarantee.

What else should I compare with Bluehost and DreamHost?

Other web hosting options we've checked: Hosting.com ($1.99/mo), Namecheap ($2.28/mo), GreenGeeks ($2.95/mo), Hostinger ($2.99/mo).

Keep comparing

Built from the prices and facts we checked on each company's own site. We haven't tested either hands-on.How we work