Parallel active accounts on DigitalOcean and DreamHost stay maintained. In the latest pass, median TTFB came in near 275 ms on DigitalOcean and 338 ms on DreamHost, while observed uptime windows landed around 99.97% versus 99.95%. Support ping checks showed median first meaningful replies near 25 minutes for DigitalOcean and 7 minutes for DreamHost, though queue times swing with seasonality. The spec table reflects current plan pages as of the publish date; when vendors change tiers, numbers are re-run before adjusting the verdict boxes.
| Feature | DigitalOcean | DreamHost |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 9.0 | 9.2 |
| Speed score | 9.0 | 9.1 |
| Reliability score | 9.0 | 9.3 |
| Support score | 8.2 | 8.9 |
| Starting price | $4.00/mo | $2.59/mo |
| Median TTFB (our probes) | 275 ms | 338 ms |
| Uptime (listed) | 99.99% | 100% |
| Storage (entry) | 25 GB SSD (basic droplet) | Unlimited SSD |
| Websites (entry) | Unlimited (self-managed) | 1 |
| Free domain (1st year) | No | Yes |
| Free SSL | No | Yes |