DreamHost are one of the biggest web hosting providers, and I have been hosting my various sites with them for several years now. They provide excellent service and support and an almost infinite storage space and bandwidth, at a very low price. That price can be even lower with the coupon code RANH50 or one of the other coupon codes offered on this page – up to 50$ lower.

These coupons are part of DreamHost's affiliate program, which allows existing customers to bring new ones in for a small commission, and transfer some of that commission to the new customers for a discount.

The coupon code RANH50 provides a 50$ discount – the maximum discount DreamHost allows. Other codes on this page provide special benefits, including an extra free domain names or a free permanent IP address for life.

Enter the coupon code at the bottom of the first signup page:

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If you signed up for DreamHost in the last three months and you haven't used a coupon or referrer link, you can still be retroactively referred by me (if you want to). Contact me at ran (a) ranh.co.il.

Other Coupons

Basic Package – 11$ monthly

DreamHost's basic (and only) package is 11$ monthly (less if you pay in advance), and includes 500GB of storage and 5TB of bandwidth (5,000GB). The storage space grows by 2GB weekly, and the bandwidth grows by 40GB weekly.

I currently have about 676GB of storage and 8.5TB of bandwidth, including two permanent IP addresses (needed for using SSL), and I pay 19$ monthly. I host several blogs and websites there, including a podcast, and backup all my documents, photos and music (using Bandwagon.)

Apart from all the usual features, DreamHost has a few extras including SSH shell access, WebDAV access, a Subversion install that supports http, https and svn+ssh, as well as mod_dav_svn, a git install, a CVS install, Ruby on Rails with FastCGI, graphical cron interface, SSL (with support for third party Certificates), a Jabber server, one-click installs of WordPress, ZenPhoto, Pligg, Joomla, phpBB and MediaWiki, anonymous FTP, automatic backups for all files, mailboxes and MySQL databases including free recoveries (files and mailbox backups are readily accessible by you via SSH), and lots more. Did I mention they have free SSH shell access?

Mailboxes can be accessed via Courier IMAP 3.0.3 server, with IMAP-IDLE support for push mail and SSL access (For SMTP too), with SquirrelMail 1.4.4 and RoundCube 0.1 for webmail and SpamAssasin 3.0.3 for spam protection), but you can also change the MX records for you domains and use Gmail or any other mail service (I use Fastmail). That means that if you already use Gmail, you can continue using it as you always did, but with a custom address on your own domain.

If all this is not enough, DreamHost shell accounts have everything you need to compile source code, which means you can install and run anything you want (as long as it doesn't require root access). Alternatively, you can ask support to install Debian packages for you.

Support is provided via mail or callbacks, and very active forums. Documentation is available via a wiki, and there are tons of guides that were written specifically for DreamHost users (for installing software etc.) DreamHost also has a blog, where they write with surprising transparency about being a hosting provider and about their business practices.

DreamHost doesn't use cPanel for managing accounts – they have a home-grown web interface (recently upgraded), that fully supports the amazing flexibility they provide. For e.g., compared to BlueHost, DreamHost allows activating shell accounts through the web interface, hosting domains that are not registered on their DNS servers, and manually specifying each domain's directory.

Premium features include a permanent IP address (4$ monthly, or 30$ for life with the FREE_IP coupon), improved phone support (10$ monthly), VPN access (20$ monthly) and a GeoTrust SSL certificate (100$ yearly).

In case it wasn't obvious, DreamHost also offers a great referral program, and I recommend everyone giving it a try (and as you will see in the next section, especially if you used one of my coupons to sign up).

Links

• DreamHost on Wikipedia
• WordPress on the DreamHost Wiki
• WordPress MU on the DreamHost Wiki
• WordPress on the DreamHost forums
• Switching to DreamHost
• DreamHost VPS servers (Currently invitation/waiting list only)
• (lost) More about DreamHost's IMAP servers
• PHP 5.2.3 on DreamHost
• Ruby on Rails on DreamHost
• Unofficial DreamHost Blog
• External server status blog
• DreamHost's domain count (about 675,000 at time of writing)
• Remember Mismatched Domains – Firefox/Thunderbird extension that makes it easier to use DreamHost's mail accounts with SSL
• DreamHost Shared Hosting CPU Usage – WordPress plugin for keeping track of CPU usage (CPU usage is limited for VPS accounts)
• Making stats accessible with .htaccess – Solution for disappearing stats section when using WordPress or other CMS with pretty permalinks
• DreamHost status updates Dashboard widget (For OS X)
• 500GB in one day with DreamHost
• DreamHost comparisons on Google
• DreamHost Sucks on Google
• DreamHost Rocks on Google
• DreamHost's 7.5$ million accounting error

Fine Print

With the coupons on this page, you get either 50$ off or various benefits, and I get a the difference between the value of your discount and 97$ – the commission DreamHost gives for referring new customers. You don't lose anything – DreamHost pays me from their cut.

Alternatively, if you use my mail address (ran (a) ranh.co.il) instead of the coupon code, you pay the full amount and I get the full 97$ commission. I created the coupons to make the deal more attractive, and increase the chance you might use it.

After you sign up, you can create your own coupons and refer other users. The comission can be used to pay your hosting bills or be cashed out via PayPal.

If you used one of my coupons during sign up, DreamHost give me 5% from what they make from people you refer – again, this goes out of DreamHost's cut, and you still get the full commission. It's not a pyramid scheme because we all get an actual service for what we pay, and there are only two tiers.

This is what DreamHost's form for creating coupon codes looks like (with minor modifications to make the table fit and display all options at once):