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Hostinger vs DreamHost

SEPT 2026 audit

A comparison of Hostinger and DreamHost built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.

Reviewed by Palash BagchiUpdated 30 criteria comparedSources last checked

Adoption share

HTTP Archive counts — how much more of the web runs Hostinger than DreamHost, among the origins HTTP Archive actually detects. Measured . Source: HTTP Archive.

Hostinger94.7% · 357,533 origins
DreamHost5.3% · 19,875 origins

The short answer

Choose Hostinger if…

Small sites where the recurring cost matters most and a control panel is preferred to a command line. Cron jobs are available through hPanel.

Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved

Choose DreamHost if…

Running many small sites on one cheap plan — 25 websites and 40,000 visits at the entry tier, where most shared hosts give you one or three. Employee-owned, with no private-equity parent behind the renewal pricing.

Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved

Consider something else if…

  • Hostinger: The advertised price is introductory. Compare the renewal rate, and note the plan is prepaid across a multi-year term.
  • DreamHost: The advertised price is a first-year rate that renews at roughly 3.8x. Only four data centres exist, all US, Amsterdam or Singapore, so there is no option closer to other regions.

Neither quite fits? Every other option, ranked by iScore: Hostinger alternatives · DreamHost alternatives

16 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.

Visit Hostinger documentationVisit DreamHost documentation

No affiliate links, sponsored placements or paid rankings appear on this site. Ordering follows the sourced data and the stated criteria.

01.

At a glance.

CriterionHostingerDreamHost
Pricing
Free tierNo — Explicit statement, not inferred from the plan lineup; the 30-day guarantee is a refund, not a free plan.No — Only free option is a Remixer trial; publishing to a custom domain requires a paid plan.
Kind of free offerNo free offerNo free offer
Entry paid plan
$10.99/month on renewal (Premium plan)
$10.99/month on renewal for Web Hosting Launch, the cheapest shared plan. The advertised $2.89 is a first-year rate on an annual prepay.
Pricing modelPrepaid multi-year terms at a heavily discounted first term, renewing at roughly 3.7x that rate. The Premium plan is $2.99/month if you buy 48 months up front ($143.52, against a $575.52 list price) and $10.99/month on renewal.Annual prepay at a discounted first-year rate, renewing at roughly 3.8x. A one-year term is the shortest advertised.
Limits
Storage (entry plan)
20 GB SSD storage on the Premium plan (cheapest paid shared web hosting plan)
25 GB NVMe SSD on Web Hosting Launch, the cheapest shared plan
Sites or apps included
3 websites on the Premium plan (cheapest paid shared web hosting plan)
25 websites on Web Hosting Launch, the cheapest shared plan; 50 on Growth
Monthly visits capUp to 100,000 monthly visits stated for the Business WordPress hosting plan — Knowledge-base capacity figure; the plan parameters-and-limits tables publish no visits row for any plan.40,000 monthly visits on Web Hosting Launch; 200,000 on Growth
Included bandwidthUnlimited on Premium and Unlimited plans; 100 GB on Web Single, the cheapest tier.Listed as Unmetered on every shared plan. DreamHost states $0 overage charges on its VPS plans; no equivalent statement is published for shared.
Infrastructure
RegionsEurope: France, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom; Asia: India, Indonesia, Malaysia; North America: USA (Phoenix, Boston, Asheville); South America: Brazil.4 data centers: Ashburn (Virginia), Hillsboro (Oregon), Amsterdam and Singapore
Data
Backup retentionWeekly backups on the Premium plan; daily on Unlimited. Hostinger does not state how many are kept.Daily automated backups on every shared plan. DreamHost does not state how many are kept.
Support
Support on entry paid plan24/7 support on every plan, alongside a 30-day money-back guarantee.In-house support staff available 24/7, 365, with no tier to buy.
Compliance
HIPAAHosting plans are not designed to meet HIPAA compliance standards; review before storing protected health information on them.Explicitly not HIPAA compliant; the Security FAQ states DreamHost is not HIPAA compliant.
GDPR / data residencyAll personal data processed under GDPR; servers outside the EU/EEA (US, Brazil, Singapore, Indonesia) are covered by EU standard contractual clauses.Customer DPA relies on EU Model Clauses for GDPR transfers; DreamHost may transfer and process customer data anywhere it or its sub-processors operate. No contractual residency guarantee; an EU data center (Amsterdam) exists but is not committed in the DPA.
PCI DSS
Hosting plans are not designed to meet PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliance standards; Hostinger advises against storing payment card data on them.
PCI compliant for Managed VPS, DreamPress and Dedicated servers; shared hosting servers and customer websites are not covered.
Encryption at rest
Encryption of personal and sensitive data at rest (databases, shared directories) is listed among the DPA's technical and organisational measures.
DreamObjects object storage: data uploaded is unencrypted by default and server-side encryption is not supported; client-side or SSE-C only. Scope is DreamObjects; no page states at-rest encryption for shared/VPS/dedicated hosting.
Role-based access controlAccount Sharing assigns a shared user the Collaborator or Admin role, each with a different permission set; per-website sharing requires an Agency plan.Account Privileges grant a second panel user scoped access per privilege (billing, domains, users, databases, hosting plans) and down to a single domain.
Private networking / VPCNo private networking on Web and Cloud hosting plans: VPN is supported only on VPS hosting, and Cloudflare Tunnel and Access require VPS root access.DreamCompute US-East 2 only: private networking enabled on request by support; beta, free during the trial period, estimated $5/month per private network.
Dedicated infrastructure
Cloud hosting includes a dedicated IP address (web hosting uses a shared IP); dedicated resources and root access are attributed to VPS hosting. Dedicated IP addressing only; no single-tenant hardware option is published inside the managed hosting range.
Dedicated Servers are single-tenant: no other DreamHost customers have access to or share resources on the server, and admin users get full root via sudo.

Only criteria both providers publish appear here; a tinted cell marks a real difference. Criteria only one of them documents are listed below, and an absence there means we found no source — not that the feature is missing. How we source this.

The small bar above a value is inetGeek's own lean toward that side — computed from the same facts shown, never a number the provider published. See the picker below "The short answer" to weigh only the criteria you care about.

02.

Where they differ.

Entry paid plan

Hostinger
$10.99/month on renewal (Premium plan)
DreamHost
$10.99/month on renewal for Web Hosting Launch, the cheapest shared plan. The advertised $2.89 is a first-year rate on an annual prepay.
Sources (2) →

Pricing model

Hostinger
Prepaid multi-year terms at a heavily discounted first term, renewing at roughly 3.7x that rate. The Premium plan is $2.99/month if you buy 48 months up front ($143.52, against a $575.52 list price) and $10.99/month on renewal.
DreamHost
Annual prepay at a discounted first-year rate, renewing at roughly 3.8x. A one-year term is the shortest advertised.
Sources (2) →

Storage (entry plan)

Hostinger

20 GB SSD storage on the Premium plan (cheapest paid shared web hosting plan)

DreamHost

25 GB NVMe SSD on Web Hosting Launch, the cheapest shared plan

Sources (2) →

Sites or apps included

Hostinger

3 websites on the Premium plan (cheapest paid shared web hosting plan)

DreamHost

25 websites on Web Hosting Launch, the cheapest shared plan; 50 on Growth

Sources (2) →

Monthly visits cap

Hostinger
Up to 100,000 monthly visits stated for the Business WordPress hosting plan — Knowledge-base capacity figure; the plan parameters-and-limits tables publish no visits row for any plan.
DreamHost
40,000 monthly visits on Web Hosting Launch; 200,000 on Growth
Sources (2) →

Included bandwidth

Hostinger
Unlimited on Premium and Unlimited plans; 100 GB on Web Single, the cheapest tier.
DreamHost
Listed as Unmetered on every shared plan. DreamHost states $0 overage charges on its VPS plans; no equivalent statement is published for shared.
Sources (2) →

Regions

Hostinger
Europe: France, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom; Asia: India, Indonesia, Malaysia; North America: USA (Phoenix, Boston, Asheville); South America: Brazil.
DreamHost
4 data centers: Ashburn (Virginia), Hillsboro (Oregon), Amsterdam and Singapore
Sources (2) →
  • Hostinger server locations ↗

    “These locations are available for web and cloud hosting plans: Europe: France, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Asia: India, Indonesia and Malaysia. North America: USA (Phoenix, Boston, and Asheville). South America: Brazil.”

    Read 2026-09-14 · official docs · Report a correction

  • DreamHost — llms.txt ↗

    “**Data Centers**: Ashburn, Virginia; Hillsboro, Oregon; Amsterdam, Netherlands; Singapore”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official site · Report a correction

Backup retention

Hostinger
Weekly backups on the Premium plan; daily on Unlimited. Hostinger does not state how many are kept.
DreamHost
Daily automated backups on every shared plan. DreamHost does not state how many are kept.
Sources (2) →

Support on entry paid plan

Hostinger
24/7 support on every plan, alongside a 30-day money-back guarantee.
DreamHost
In-house support staff available 24/7, 365, with no tier to buy.
Sources (2) →

HIPAA

Hostinger
Hosting plans are not designed to meet HIPAA compliance standards; review before storing protected health information on them.
DreamHost
Explicitly not HIPAA compliant; the Security FAQ states DreamHost is not HIPAA compliant.
Sources (2) →

GDPR / data residency

Hostinger
All personal data processed under GDPR; servers outside the EU/EEA (US, Brazil, Singapore, Indonesia) are covered by EU standard contractual clauses.
DreamHost
Customer DPA relies on EU Model Clauses for GDPR transfers; DreamHost may transfer and process customer data anywhere it or its sub-processors operate. No contractual residency guarantee; an EU data center (Amsterdam) exists but is not committed in the DPA.
Sources (2) →
  • Privacy policy ↗

    “All personal data are processed in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 [...] Some of our servers are located outside EU or European Economic Area (EEA), such as US, Brazil, Singapore, Indonesia [...] which comply with the European Commission approved standard contractual clauses for data transfers”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction

  • Customer Data Processing Addendum — DreamHost ↗

    “Company may transfer and Process Customer Data anywhere in the world where Company, its Affiliates or its Sub-processors maintain Processing operations. [...] the parties acknowledge that Company shall be deemed to provide adequate protection (within the meaning of Applicable Data Protection Law) for any such Customer Data by complying with the Model Clauses.”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction

PCI DSS

Hostinger
Hosting plans are not designed to meet PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliance standards; Hostinger advises against storing payment card data on them.
DreamHost
PCI compliant for Managed VPS, DreamPress and Dedicated servers; shared hosting servers and customer websites are not covered.
Sources (2) →

Encryption at rest

Hostinger
Encryption of personal and sensitive data at rest (databases, shared directories) is listed among the DPA's technical and organisational measures.
DreamHost
DreamObjects object storage: data uploaded is unencrypted by default and server-side encryption is not supported; client-side or SSE-C only. Scope is DreamObjects; no page states at-rest encryption for shared/VPS/dedicated hosting.
Sources (2) →

Role-based access control

Hostinger
Account Sharing assigns a shared user the Collaborator or Admin role, each with a different permission set; per-website sharing requires an Agency plan.
DreamHost
Account Privileges grant a second panel user scoped access per privilege (billing, domains, users, databases, hosting plans) and down to a single domain.
Sources (2) →

Private networking / VPC

Hostinger
No private networking on Web and Cloud hosting plans: VPN is supported only on VPS hosting, and Cloudflare Tunnel and Access require VPS root access.
DreamHost
DreamCompute US-East 2 only: private networking enabled on request by support; beta, free during the trial period, estimated $5/month per private network.
Sources (2) →
  • Which web standards and connectivity features are supported at Hostinger ↗

    “Due to technical and resource requirements, VPN is supported only on our VPS hosting [...] They are only supported on our VPS Hosting plans since they require root access to your server. [...] For security reasons, these settings are fixed and additional ports cannot be opened.”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction

  • Private networking overview — DreamHost Knowledge Base ↗

    “Currently, the only way to enable private networking on your US-East 2 account is to contact support and request to enable it. [...] Private networking in US-East 2 is currently free of charge during its beta trial period. [...] The current estimate is $5/month per private network but that pricing may change when the private networking feature is officially released.”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction

Dedicated infrastructure

Hostinger
Cloud hosting includes a dedicated IP address (web hosting uses a shared IP); dedicated resources and root access are attributed to VPS hosting. Dedicated IP addressing only; no single-tenant hardware option is published inside the managed hosting range.
DreamHost
Dedicated Servers are single-tenant: no other DreamHost customers have access to or share resources on the server, and admin users get full root via sudo.
Sources (2) →

When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.

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03.

Documented by only one.

These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing — except where we say we read the other provider's own page on a given date and it does not state it. Those rows lean, and the provider can correct them with a link.

When you exceed a capHostinger: Throttled or errored rather than billed: exceeding CPU slows the site, exceeding RAM or process limits returns 503 errors, and exceeding the inode limit blocks new file creation
Memory (entry plan)Hostinger: 2 GB memory (RAM) on the Premium web hosting plan; 1 GB on Web Single, 3 GB on Unlimited.
File, inode or volume limitHostinger: 400 000 inodes on the Premium web hosting plan; 200 000 on Web Single, 600 000 on Unlimited.
Max request durationHostinger: 360 seconds PHP max execution time on every shared plan, with a matching 360-second input time. MySQL statements are separately capped at 300 seconds and queries at 60 on Premium.
Git deploymentHostinger: Limited
Scheduled jobsHostinger: Supported
Managed databasesHostinger: Supported
Edge networkHostinger: Supported
Uptime SLADreamHost: 100% uptime guarantee, stated on the shared hosting page with no tier attached.
Connection limitHostinger: 50 MySQL connections per user on the Premium plan, against a 500-connection global ceiling per server. 25 per user on Single, 75 on Unlimited.
ISO 27001Hostinger: ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certified hosting provider; the certificate is listed under Compliance in the Hostinger Trust Center.
Customer-managed keysDreamHost: DreamObjects supports SSE-C, which requires you to create your own encryption keys to upload, download and encrypt content; billed as advanced-user only.
04.

Questions this comparison answers.

Entry paid plan: Hostinger or DreamHost?

Hostinger: $10.99/month on renewal (Premium plan)

DreamHost: $10.99/month on renewal for Web Hosting Launch, the cheapest shared plan. The advertised $2.89 is a first-year rate on an annual prepay.

Included bandwidth: Hostinger or DreamHost?

Hostinger: Unlimited on Premium and Unlimited plans; 100 GB on Web Single, the cheapest tier.

DreamHost: Listed as Unmetered on every shared plan. DreamHost states $0 overage charges on its VPS plans; no equivalent statement is published for shared.

Storage (entry plan): Hostinger or DreamHost?

Hostinger: 20 GB SSD storage on the Premium plan (cheapest paid shared web hosting plan)

DreamHost: 25 GB NVMe SSD on Web Hosting Launch, the cheapest shared plan

Should I choose Hostinger or DreamHost?

Pick Hostinger if Small sites where the recurring cost matters most and a control panel is preferred to a command line. Cron jobs are available through hPanel.

Pick DreamHost if Running many small sites on one cheap plan — 25 websites and 40,000 visits at the entry tier, where most shared hosts give you one or three. Employee-owned, with no private-equity parent behind the renewal pricing.

Provider pages

HostingerShared web hosting sold on prepaid multi-year terms and managed through the hPanel control panel, with data centers in Europe, Asia, North America and South America.DreamHostEmployee-owned shared web hosting sold on annual prepay, with per-plan visit caps, unmetered bandwidth and daily automated backups.

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Comments

Every page here is sourced and dated.