Liquid Web vs DreamHost
Liquid Web and DreamHost compared on measured uptime, response time, pricing and features from our own tests. Liquid Web scores higher overall.
By Jennifer T. · Updated
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Verdict
Liquid WebWins overall
Lansing's managed host since 1997: WordPress plans from $9 with Cloudflare edge CDN and a 100% network SLA, no refunds
Independent since 1997: three shared plans with renewals printed on the card, daily backups and a 100% uptime credit
Liquid Web wins 3 of the six sub-scores and comes out ahead overall (7.7 vs 7.6).
How do the scores compare?
Liquid Web leads on 3 sub-scores, DreamHost on 1. Higher is better.
| Liquid Web | DreamHost | |
|---|---|---|
| Performance | 7.5 | 7.5 |
| Uptime | 8.0 | 8.0 |
| Support | 8.0 (better) | 7.0 |
| Features | 8.5 (better) | 7.5 |
| Value | 7.0 | 8.0 (better) |
| Ease of use | 7.5 (better) | 7.0 |
Which one is faster and more reliable?
| Liquid Web | DreamHost | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 7.7 (better) | 7.6 |
| Uptime (published)HostingStep 365 d vs WPBeginner 30 d; methods differ | 99.99% | 100.00% (better) |
| Response time (published)HostingStep vs WPBeginner; methods differ | 496 ms (better) | 658 ms |
Which one costs less?
On renewal, Liquid Web is cheaper ($9.00/mo vs $10.99/mo). Intro prices need the listed term.
| Liquid Web | DreamHost | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest plan | Essentials WordPress | Web Hosting Launch |
| Intro price | $9.00/mo | $2.89/mo (better) |
| Renewal price | $9.00/mo (better) | $10.99/mo |
| Required term | 1 months (better) | 12 months |
| Websites | 1 | 25 |
| Storage | 15 GB | 25 GB |
| Money back | 0 days | 30 days (better) |
What does each include?
| Liquid Web | DreamHost | |
|---|---|---|
| Free domain | No | First year, on annual and multi-year terms only |
| Free SSL | Free SSL certificates on the WordPress plans | Unlimited certificates on every plan |
| Backups | Daily backups kept 7, 14 or 30 days by tier; Acronis backup storage on managed VPS | Daily automated backups on every plan, restored from the panel |
| Free migration | A self-serve migration tool and migration by a person on every WordPress plan | The product page links a migration path for existing sites; terms not read |
| Free CDN | Edge CDN powered by Cloudflare on every WordPress plan; CDN overage is usage-billed | No |
| Caching | Object Cache Pro on every WordPress plan | No |
| Staging | Staging sites with visual comparison on Pro and Elite; not on Essentials | No |
| Security | DDoS protection, WAF, Kadence Security Pro and daily malware scans on every plan; Patchstack virtual patching on Elite | Not stated |
| Resource limits | WordPress plans are sized by visitors (50,000 a month on the entry tiers), shared storage and bandwidth; managed VPS plans state vCPU, RAM, SSD and bandwidth | No |
| Data center choice | Lansing, Phoenix, Ashburn and Amsterdam, selected on the purchase screen where a plan offers it | Oregon, Virginia, Amsterdam and Singapore per the product page and help center; the panel shows where each service lives |
| Uptime guarantee | 100% network uptime in the SLA with credits up to the monthly charge, claimed within days of an outage; the managed VPS page states 99.9% server uptime | 100% in the terms, with a credit of one day of hosting per hour of qualifying downtime, up to 10% of the next renewal, counted from the support ticket |
| Managed VPS | Fully managed from $72 a month for 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 80 GB SSD and 3 TB; cPanel, InterWorx or Plesk; Windows available | Not stated |
| Phone support | 24/7 by phone, chat and ticket | No |
| Windows hosting | On VPS and dedicated servers | No |
| Not stated | 20, 40 or 60 mailboxes free for the first three months, then billed separately | |
| Performance scans | Not stated | Automated and on-demand performance scans on every plan |
Company facts
| Liquid Web | DreamHost | |
|---|---|---|
| Control panel | Liquid Web's own platform for WordPress plans; cPanel, InterWorx or Plesk on VPS | DreamHost's own panel (no cPanel) |
| Data centers | 4 | 4 |
| Support channels | chat, phone, ticket, knowledge-base | chat, ticket, email, knowledge-base |
| Founded | 1997 | 1997 |