Resource Allocation Policy

Last Updated:

August 24, 2026

Scope

This policy applies to any hosting plan with defined resource allocations at signup, including but not limited to:

• Web Hosting (Launch, Growth, Scale)
• Shared Starter
• DreamPress
• VPS
• Dedicated Server

This applies regardless of the plan's creation date.

Shared Unlimited plans and other legacy shared hosting plans that had no defined resource allocations at signup are instead subject to the Legacy Unlimited Policy.

All DreamHost accounts and plans, regardless of Service or product, must comply with our Acceptable Use Policy. Activities such as storing or transmitting CSAM, distributing malware, operating botnets, engaging in phishing or pharming, and sending spam are strictly prohibited.

How Your Plan Is Measured

Every plan covered by this policy operates within finite limits. How those limits are measured depends on your environment, so we've broken it out below by plan type.

Web Hosting (Launch, Growth, Scale) and Shared Starter

These plans are metered by:

• Disk storage
• Inode count
• Monthly visitor threshold

Your “monthly visitor threshold” is the number of unique visitors your site may receive per calendar month under your chosen plan, as measured by DreamHost, excluding traffic we identify as automated, such as bots, crawlers, and similar agents. If your site consistently exceeds its monthly visitor threshold, you may be required to upgrade to a higher tier.

The specific numbers depend on your chosen plan.

DreamHost may also monitor for unusual file, inode, or storage patterns. If we detect something abnormal, we may impose temporary limits at our discretion while we conduct an account review and work with you to resolve any issues.

DreamPress

Because DreamPress is a managed product, it is metered by disk storage and monthly visitor thresholds. If your site consistently exceeds its threshold, you may be required to upgrade.

As with Web Hosting, DreamHost may monitor for anomalous file, inode, or storage patterns and impose temporary limits pending an account review.

However, because DreamPress runs on an isolated, dedicated allocation of resources rather than hardware capacity shared directly with other customers, the CPU, RAM, and disk I/O throttling described later in this policy under Server Performance Safeguards does not apply to DreamPress.

VPS and Dedicated Servers

These platforms have no monthly visitor thresholds, and your resource allocation depends entirely on your chosen plan.

Server Performance Safeguards

DreamHost provides unmetered network transfer across all plans. We don't charge overage fees or impose billing-based bandwidth for standard web traffic, and if your site experiences a legitimate traffic spike, our priority is to keep it online. In some rare instances, bandwidth may be temporarily limited to protect the stability and integrity of our infrastructure.

That said, "unmetered" describes how we bill for bandwidth, not a guarantee against abuse. To keep the network stable for everyone, we monitor for unusual spikes or patterns in bandwidth usage. If your account triggers these safeguards, we may limit bandwidth at our discretion while we review the account.

On Web Hosting and Shared Starter plans specifically, you're on physical hardware with other customers, so your site's code, plugins, or database queries can't be allowed to monopolize that hardware's CPU, RAM, or disk read/write capacity. If the frequency or volume of I/O operations on your account threatens server stability, we may temporarily limit them at our discretion pending an account review.

If your site is already fully optimized but consistently needs more computing power than your current environment provides, you may need to move to a VPS or Dedicated server. This is a separate situation from the visitor-threshold upgrades mentioned above, which are about traffic volume rather than raw processing demand.

Database Limits

MySQL databases on shared hosting platforms (Web Hosting, Shared Starter) are limited to 3GB per database. Unlike the safeguards above, this is a hard limit that applies regardless of account standing.

MySQL is only available on shared hosting platforms or on a dedicated MySQL VPS instance. MySQL cannot be run on a general-purpose VPS. If you're on a MySQL VPS plan, your database storage depends on your chosen plan tier.

Email Limits

To keep the mail system running smoothly, these hard limits apply across all mailboxes and hosting plans:

• The number of email addresses you can create depends on your chosen email or hosting plan.
• Every mailbox has a 25GB storage limit.
• Forward-only mail accounts are limited to 10 forward addresses.
• If a mailbox is converted from Fully Hosted to Forward-Only or Garbage Email, or is set to Disabled, its email data retention is limited to thirty (30) days after conversion.

What does this actually mean for me?

The short version: every plan has real limits. They're just set at different levels depending on what you signed up for.

• Web Hosting, Shared Starter, and DreamPress have visitor and storage caps because they run on gear built and tuned for typical websites, not personal backup drives or file-sharing hubs.
• VPS and Dedicated Servers give you your own dedicated allocation of resources (or, with Dedicated, the whole machine), so you've got a lot more room to do what you want.

If something on your account starts hogging resources or threatening stability for other customers on the same hardware, we'll do our best to reach out and work with you first. In an active emergency, though, we may need to act immediately to protect everyone else. Dedicated Servers don't share hardware with other customers, but network and infrastructure issues can still affect the wider platform, so the same emergency principle applies there too.

The goal isn't to nickel-and-dime you. It's to keep things running smoothly for you and everyone else on the platform.

This summary is for convenience only. If it conflicts with the sections above, those sections control.