Is DreamHost DreamShield Protection Worth it?

If you are planning to host your website on Dreamhost, you might have come across Dreamshield. It’s a security addon you can use to keep the virus and malware out of your website. However, is it worth it? We will answer this question in this guide. It’s all about knowing whether Dreamshield by DreamHost is worth your money or not.

We will also see some free alternatives to Dreamshield and then head over to the final verdict on whether you should be using it or not. So, without any further intro, let’s directly get into the Dreamhost Dreamshield review.

What is DreamHost Dreamshield Protection?

Dreamshield is a malware removal service that cleans your website from viruses and malware. It’s a paid add-on offered by Dreamhost when you buy any of their hosting packages. In simpler words, you will have to pay extra money if you want to access Dreamshield security.

It will scan your website completely, detect all the vulnerabilities and malware, and then it will also remove them automatically. The tool specializes in automated scan and clean-up regularly. This will allow you to keep your website secure.

It was previously known as Malware Removal. So, if you visited the Dreamhost website a few years back, you might have seen the Malware Removal tool instead of Dreamshield. There are some changes in the addon as well but the main concept is the same.

You surely want to know more about it, right? Let’s discuss it then.

Features of Dreamshield?

Let’s have a look at the features you will get while using Dreamshield. The Dreamshield protection review covers all these things you should know about it. We will see the top features you will get here.

Automated Scanning and Cleanup

At first, you will get the automatic scanning feature. With this, there will be weekly scans. It will scan the website and find the vulnerabilities if any. You don’t have to worry about scanning it manually.

There is also an automated cleanup. It will run the cleanup and all the malware and permissions issues will be fixed.

Monitoring

You can always monitor all the logged-in users. The dashboard allows you to see all the people that logged in and the users that have failed logins. If the login fails, it also shows how many times they have attempted to log in.

You will see messages like “Successfully logged in” or “1 failed attempt”. You can surely monitor these things and know when you will have to take the action.

Troubleshooting and Reports

Faced a big issue that crashed your website or has done something to your website? In that case, you can surely use the troubleshooting and reports. You can always know whether you have updated the plugin or you have deactivated a plugin. There will be complete details on what was the previous update you did.

Further, you can also see the stats and the reports with this addon. You can surely increase the efficiency with every little detail.  It will allow you to see what other admins have updated.

Overall, it will help you with troubleshooting and help you solve the problem at hand.

What are the benefits of using Dreamshield?

We already saw what features you will get here. Now, let’s have a quick look at all the advantages of using this addon. This will give you a better idea of whether you should use it or not.

• You will have a clear eye on the website users. You will know whether have logged in to their account or not.
• Further, you will come to know about the history of what you have done on your website. You can easily troubleshoot any issue if it occurs.
• The biggest advantage of using Dreamshield is that you don’t have to worry about doing manual scans. The scans will be done on weekly basis.
• You can have peace of mind as your website is secure and there will be no attackers who can target your website.
• It comes directly with Dreamhost. So, management can be done easily.

You will get many more advantages.

How much does Dreamshield cost?

You can’t simply choose to go with any addon without knowing its cost, right? It’s important to know how much it will cost before you go with this security add-on.

Since the purpose of this review is about DreamShield, you must have come across it on the checkout page. So, what is the real cost of Dreamshield?

Well, it will cost you $3 every single month to use the Dreamshield addon.

Now, it might be easier for you to select whether you want to go with the addon or not. Even if you don’t, there is nothing to worry about as we will see more about it as we proceed with this Dreamshield malware removal review.

Before that, let’s talk more about the price. It’s $3 a month which is roughly $36 a year. A thing to keep in mind here is that it’s an addon by a hosting company and is applicable only when you buy their hosting plan.

Shouldn’t security be the basic feature of any hosting offered for free?

Many people might have got the answer here. However, if you are still afraid of the website being targeted by hackers, there is nothing to worry about. We have a dedicated section for that case.

If you are wondering about Dreamshield’s purchase page, then you can head over to the next section.

How to activate DreamShield Malware Remover?

It’s time to see where you will find Dreamshield Malware Remover. You get this as a hosting addon. So, at first, you will have to get the hosting, and then you will get the option to activate the addon.

When you buy the hosting and go to the final step of making the payment, you will see an option to add Dreamshield to your website.

If you enable it from here, it will automatically add the addon to the website when your account is being set up. This is one of the easiest methods to add Dreamshield. You will have to pay for it with the hosting. So, the total cost will be increased by $36 if you have added it for 1 year.

One can directly activate it from here. However, if you are reading this Dreamshield protection review, there are good chances that you haven’t yet activated it. In that case, we will see the exact way on how you can activate it after you have signed up for Dreamhost.

Enabling Dreamshield after Signing up

The steps are simple. At first, you will have to head over to Manage domains. You will see a list of domain names that are active on your account.

From here, you will see the option to add the Dreamshield. Click on “Add Malware Remover” and you are halfway there.

When you click on it, you will be asked to make the payment. You can make the payment after you have confirmed it.

As soon as you confirm it and make the payment, it will automatically start the first scan of your website.

When it’s completed, you will see the success message.

This is how you can confirm that you have successfully added Dreamshield security to your website. Now, your website will be secured. You can also clean the website using the same feature.

DreamShield free alternatives

What if we tell you, there are some free alternatives available that you can use instead of buying Dreamshield? Shocked, right? Let’s see the name of the tool we are talking about and reveal the secret.

Before we get more into this, it’s important to understand one thing. Many security plugins will help you in securing your website. So, there is not one but many free alternatives that you can use here. We will see more about it in this Dreamshield review.

Here are the best alternatives you can use for WordPress. All of them are free.

• Wordfence
• Sucuri
• iThemes Security

If you want the advanced version, you can also go with the premium version of all of these. There are only a few differences between all of them. So, it won’t be a big issue. You can select any plugin that you like. It’s important to have at least one security plugin to ensure protection.

Now, many people might be looking for the exact and the best free alternative to Dreamshield. Therefore, we will surely see it here. It’s important to know that you can surely use any of them as per your choice. However, many people might be looking for the best one here.

In that case, you can definitely go with WordFence. WordFence is a free WordPress plugin you can install on your website and it will do all the work that Dreamshield does. There are even better features here. Let’s learn more about it.

WordFence

Wordfence is the best Free Alternative you can use to secure your website. There are a lot of interesting features here that you can have a look at. Before that, we will see more about the plugin.

It’s a free web application firewall that will protect your website in real-time There are scanning features to scan and detect the vulnerability on your website. It has everything you will need to keep your website secure and away from hackers. If you are not satisfied with the free version, you can always upgrade and go with the premium version. The premium version has more features compared to the free one.

Now that you know all the things about WordFence, we will see the features list. You will have a clear idea of whether it’s the perfect alternative to Wordfence or not. Please note that as we are seeing the free alternative, we will only see the features that are available in the free version.

• It gives leaked password protection. Now, you don’t need to worry about breaches.
• The live site traffic monitoring will filter out all the attacking bots from the website.
• Not to mention, you can scan and repair the files directly.
• Manual and Automatic blocking is also available in case you want to block someone.
• The firewall and the security scanner are all that you will need to protect your website and secure it.
• If you want an extra layer of security, you can surely activate two-factor authentication.

There are definitely more features than those mentioned here. As it’s a WordPress plugin, all the things will be done from the dashboard itself. You don’t need to open another website to do the procedure. This makes things easier for the admin.

Conclusion: Is Dreamshield protection worth it?

If you are still looking for a direct answer, it’s NO. You shouldn’t get Dreamshield as it’s purely a waste of money. If you want premium security, you can surely go with the premium version of Wordfence or Sucuri but paying for Dreamshield is not recommended.

As we have mentioned before, security should be offered for free especially when you are buying hosting from the same company. It’s the responsibility of the hosting company to keep their servers and your website secure. So, the point we are trying to make here is that Dreamshield should be offered for free. If it’s paid, there should be better features.

The free alternative that we have suggested has more features than Dreamshield paid version. This makes it pretty clear about the final verdict.

You can surely go wit Dreamhost hosting. They have awesome hosting with transparent pricing. Here, we have done a complete Dreamhost Dreamshield review. The hosting is excellent but the addon is just a waste of money. So, you can install any free alternative that we have suggested and it will do the job here. There is no need for Dreamshield. Lastly, it is surely your choice on how you want to proceed with this.

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Does DreamHost have a firewall?

Yes, it uses mod_security the web application firewall (WAF) for apache that filters and blocks known malicious HTTP requests.

Does DreamHost have DDoS protection?

No, DreamHost does not offer DDoS protection. However, you can use the free CDN (Cloudflare) and connect it with DreamHost to benefit from the free DDoS protection.