Web hosting allows businesses, organizations, and individuals to make their websites or apps visible on the internet. Whether they’re using a dedicated server, or sharing resources, every website is hosted on a server. The only way for a website to be visible on the internet is if it’s hosted by a web hosting service provider, also known as a web host. In order to find a website, you type the domain name (or URL) into your browser. Your computer will then connect to the server where the website is hosted, and the webpage is delivered onto your screen.

DreamHost offers several different types of hosting plans that work for all website hosting needs.

Shared Hosting:

Shared hosting is the most affordable option, but it does have its limitations. Shared hosting customers share the server’s resources with other customers. If another website on the same server is receiving large amounts of traffic, or using a lot of the server’s limited resources, it’s possible that your site may run slower as a result.

While DreamHost works hard to make sure all sites on a shared server never disrupt other sites, this is always a possibility due to the nature of the product. That’s why we recommend that you look at our more powerful options if you’re expecting to experience high traffic levels on your site.

What can I host on shared hosting?

Shared hosting is perfect for blogs, portfolios, personal/business sites, and database-driven sites.

Learn more about shared hosting

Buying a domain name with DreamHost is simple and comes with features that a lot of other hosts don’t offer. Use our domain search tool to buy your desired domain name; we’ll let you know if someone else has already purchased it, and will serve up alternative versions that are available.

After buying your domain name with DreamHost, you’ll also receive:

• + Free WHOIS Privacy Protection (which keeps your website registration details private)
• + auto-renewals (so you don’t have to worry about a lapse in ownership)
• + unlimited subdomains (like blog.yoursite.com, or mexico.yoursite.com, for example)
• + domain setting controls at your fingertips (like MX records, CNAME, etc.)

If you want to move your web hosting to DreamHost, the first step is to create a DreamHost account – you can do that from any of our product pages (Shared Hosting, VPS, Dedicated, DreamPress) During the signup process, select the option to add your current domain to your new account – don’t worry, this does NOT affect your current live website!

Next, you’ll need to backup your website files and upload them to DreamHost. You can learn more about this.

Once you’ve migrated your website to DreamHost’s servers, you’ll need to check the site to confirm that it looks and functions just as intended. If everything looks great, you’ll need to point your DNS to DreamHost so people know where to find you! If this sounds complicated, don’t worry. We have some documentation.

Have some questions before you get started? No worries. Get in touch with us and we’ll be happy to help.

Definitely. We have some awesome WordPress guides that can help answer most of your questions. If you get stuck, we are always here to help as well.

Yes! DreamHost offers professional email @yourdomain, with 25GB storage, mobile and desktop sync, ad-free webmail — as well as spam, virus, and phishing filters. Promote your site with every message you send! Learn more about email.

Of course! Visit our support page and select ‘Sales’. Or, if you’re on our site between 8-4 PM PST, you can chat with us from any of our product pages (Shared Hosting, VPS, Dedicated, DreamPress).