= Best Cheap Web Hosting UK =

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While the design of your site is undoubtedly important, the hosting plan you choose is equally vital, even if it’s not as easy to see. Your hosting provider influences your site’s accessibility, loading speed, security, and more.

As a collection of professional web developers, we’ve experienced the good, bad, and everything in-between regarding hosting providers. After considering their reputation, features, speeds, prices, and other important factors, we’ve rounded up the ten best cheap web hosts in the UK.

Check out our recommendations plus a complete guide right now:

Price: £0.99

Disk Space: 10 GB

Support: Live Chat

Hostinger’s plans offer a full range of features suitable for sites of all sizes and webmasters of all experience levels.

At £0.99 a month, their lowest-priced option is their Single Web Hosting Plan. It includes everything you need to host a single site online, including one domain name, an email account, a bandwidth of 100 GB, and a free SSL Certificate.

However, this price is available only when you purchase a four-year subscription. While normally we’re not fans of long-term commitments to a web host, Hostinger is different. They’re a well-established company capable of delivering fast speed and reliable service for UK customers. You’re only spending £50 for four years of hosting, which is a price no competitor can beat.

We’d never recommend signing up for a four-year plan for a host you’ve never used before. Fortunately, you can purchase your plan with no financial risk. Hostinger offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you’re not satisfied for any reason, you can opt-out of the plan and receive a full refund.

Even if you’re never used a web host before, you’ll likely have no problem using the Hostinger platform. It walks you through the entire process, from securing a domain name, to installing WordPress or another CMS, and everything else necessary to get your site online.


Hostinger uses a custom user interface. It’s easy and intuitive to manage your site. You can adjust settings related to your email accounts, SSL certification, general account info, and more.

They have a data centre in the UK, plus others in the US and Netherlands. They’re a good choice if your business is local and your customer base is located anywhere throughout Europe or the US.

They offer fast speeds with multi-tier caching, high-performance SSDs, and the latest PHP 7 and HTTP/2.

Full-featured, low-priced plans

Control panel is intuitive and user-friendly

Servers located in the UK, US, and Europe

N/A

Price: $2.95 USD a month

Disk Space: 100 GB

Support: Support Ticket, Live Chat, US Phone

HostPapa offers a solid blend of features suitable for individual and business sites of practically any size and complexity.

They maintain a fairly wide-ranging presence around the world. Their server farms are located in the UK, US, Australia, Mexico, and elsewhere. If you’re operating in the UK, but provide a service or product to many different countries, HostPapa helps deliver fast speeds to your entire customer base.

Many hosting packages offer an all-in-one basic plan for a single website, but HostPapa gives you more. Their Starter Package includes unlimited bandwidth, 100GB of storage, and free domain registration for two sites.

It’s great if you want to expand your brand across two sites, or even if you just want to develop a side business or personal project.

Starter Package allows hosting for two web sites

Servers located in the UK, US, and in many other countries

All packages include unlimited bandwidth

Technical support can be difficult to reach

Price: £2.20 (Introductory Offer)

Disk Space: 50 GB

Support: Phone, Live Chat, Support Tickets

Even if you’re new to the world of web hosting, you’ve likely heard of BlueHost. They’re one of the largest web hosting providers in the world, with a special emphasis on beginners who use WordPress.

Let’s get the biggest strike against BlueHost out of the way first.

BlueHost is a US-based business, so most of their servers are located in that country. While they have a few UK-servers, it’s not a major focus. If your business caters to a US audience, BlueHost can provide them with a smooth experience.


BlueHost is one of only three providers specifically recommended by WordPress. As you’d expect, the platform’s WordPress integration is among the best in the biz. Installing WordPress is entirely automated and requires just one click.

While most of the platform is designed with WordPress in mind, it also has no problem working with other site creation software such as Drupal and Joomla.

BlueHost’s technical support staff is friendly, knowledgeable, and easy to reach. You can submit a ticket, chat with a team member, or call them on the phone. Even better, they have an international contact number as well as their US toll-free number.

Additionally, their site has a robust knowledge base, including forums and video tutorials. You can learn everything from basic setup to advanced operations.

Large, well-established hosting provider

Customer support is easily among the best

Fully-automated installation with intuitive control panel

Unlimited bandwidth options have detailed conditions

Price: $10 USD for lowest-tier plan

Disk Space: Unlimited with shared hosting

Support: Support Ticket and Email

Cloudways offers cloud hosting, which you won’t find in many other platforms. Although navigating cloud servers can seem complicated at first, it provides you with increased flexibility and storage space.

Cloudways doesn’t maintain its own dedicated, physical servers. Instead, they partner with third-party companies, including Google Cloud, Digital Ocean, Linode, and other cloud server providers. You can connect to cloud servers across the globe, making this an excellent option for any business with an international presence.

You’re not locked into any long term contracts. Cloudways offers monthly contracts with no commitments. You can alter your plan to meet the needs of your growing site, while also avoiding paying for features you don’t want.

You can also pay for cloud hosting on a more short-term basis. They charge fractions of a penny per one hour of hosting. While not well-suited for a traditional website, it’s useful if you need cloud storage temporarily.

Allows you to find servers near your target audience

Reliable access to cloud servers

No long-term contracts

Cons:

Only offers cloud-based servers

Requires more technical know-how than many other hosting providers

Price: $30 USD per month for the cheapest plan

Disk Space: 10 GB

Support: Live Chat, Support Tickets, Phone

Kinsta offers hosting specifically designed for WordPress users with an emphasis on security and flexible server locations.


Kinsta’s hosting services are designed from the ground up for WordPress users. You get access to a suite of WordPress-specific services such as automatic updates, firewalls, and a variety of useful add-ons. If you want the most automated WordPress hosting, this is the provider to choose.

They’re committed to keeping your data secure. They offer free backups every 24 hours, with the option for additional paid backups more frequently. Additionally, Kinsta’s hack guarantee offers free repairs if their servers are ever hacked.

Other safeguards offered for free with all plans include DDoS protection, an SSL Certificate, hardware firewalls, and more. If your business deals with confidential information or financial transactions, you and your customers will appreciate this commitment to security.

Offers multiple features and add-ons for WordPress users

All plans include a wide range of security features

Data protection service includes free daily backups

Services are heavily geared towards WordPress users

Price: $2.95 USB for Lite plan

Disk Space: Unlimited

Support: Phone, live chat, support ticket

GreenGeeks offers a whole range of features at an affordable price with an environmentally-friendly twist you won’t find elsewhere.

Not only are they an industry leader in hosting, but they’re an awesome example of a company that leads the way in environmentally-friendly policies, too. They return three times the amount of energy they use back to the grid.

All of their plans, even their lowest-priced one, offer a variety of unlimited options. You get unlimited bandwidth, web space (disk space), and email accounts.

If you’re launching a new site, you probably don’t need unlimited storage and bandwidth right away. But it can make life easier. You can set up your new site and never worry about upgrading your plan as your business grows.

Aside from those unlimited services, all plans include one free SSL certificate, a free domain name, and free nightly data backup. Their lowest-priced plan includes everything you need to get one website online.

GreenGeeks is based in California, and they don’t maintain servers in the UK. Despite this, their speeds are surprisingly fast because they offer their own CDN.

As you’d expect, their own website-creation software integrates seamlessly into their hosting plans. While you can use WordPress or most other major CDNs, using their free built-in option typically delivers the fastest speeds.

Eco-friendly operations return energy to the grid

Unlimited bandwidth, disk space, and email accounts with every plan

Built-in CDN helps boosts speeds for UK-based sites

No UK-based servers

Prices are only available in USD

Price: $6.99 a month for lowest-priced plan

Disk Space: 10 GB

Support: Phone, Email Support Ticket, Live Chat

While many sites work well with WordPress, SiteGround is one of only a handful officially recommended by the popular CMS. They offer three shared hosting packages, each with an automatic way to migrate your existing sites to your new host.

Using WordPress as your CMS is the best option with SiteGround because they offer a wide range of custom plugins. Using them can increase your site speed by up to four times. Unfortunately, they’re not available with the StartUp plan.

SiteGround’s support team is available 24/7 to help you with everything from basic setup to in-depth operations. Their talented team knows both SiteGround and WordPress, so you can receive precise answers that are easy to implement.

Official WordPress hosting partner

Customer support among the very best

Fast loading speed with WP-specific plugins

Not designed to work with CMS besides WordPress

Price: £2.31

Disk Space: Unlimited

Support: Live Chat, Support Tickets, Phone

While A2 Hosting doesn’t have UK-based servers, they’re still capable of delivering blazing fast speeds. Plus, they’re one of the best options if you want unlimited disk space and bandwidth.

If you’re in the UK, their traditional plans are fast, but still remain comparable to any major US-hosting provider. However, where you’re far more likely to see a significant speed upgrade is with their Turbo Servers.

They increase loading speeds by up to 20 times. The Turbo Servers have fewer users than their shared ones, resulting in a higher allocation of resources for each site.

A2 offers specialized one-button installation. For example, if you created your site in WordPress, you’ll use their WordPress installer. If you used Drupal, they have a different installer for that. They also support Joomla, Magneto, and other major CMS platforms.

They take the concept of a 30-day refund andit out of the water! You can cancel at any time. You’re charged for the previous 30 days, which is basically the time you used the host, but your remaining balance is refunded.

Turbo Servers boost loading speeds

Easy installation specific to your preferred CMS

Refund policy allows you to cancel at any time


No UK-based servers

Price: $1.99 for the lowest-priced plan. USD only.

Disk Space: Unlimited

Support: Live Chat, Support Tickets, Phone

DreamHost is a well-established hosting provider. They offer a wide range of shared hosting plans with unlimited bandwidth and disk space, making them a good choice for a growing business.

If you’re starting completely from scratch, DreamHost makes it easy to get a site online. WordPress is included with every hosting plan subscription. You don’t have to download it separately, and it's already set up to work directly with DreamHost.

Of course, if you want to use a different CMS, that’s no problem. DreamHost’s own CMS, Remixer, is easy to use, and obviously works well with their hosting platform. It also supports Weebly, Wix, and Squarespace.

All of their shared hosting plans offer unlimited bandwidth and unlimited disk space. That’s a fairly significant deal compared to most unlimited plans offered by other platforms.

On the downside, shared hosting does pose some security concerns, especially if you operate a fairly large e-commerce store. However, for smaller online businesses, DreamHost’s unlimited plans offer an easy way to manage growth, because you don’t have to upgrade your plan if you experience a sudden increase in traffic.

Web hosting companies offer a wide range of trial periods. Some places give you just a week or even only a few days. However, DreamHost lets you check out their service for 97 days, giving it one of the longest trial periods in the industry.

DreamHost promises 100% uptime, which is actually the biggest strike against the service. It’s a bit unrealistic to think a host never experiences accidental downtime. However, after looking at third-party audits, DreamHost does maintain uptime in the 99% range, right in line with other major providers.

Unlimited disk space and bandwidth with all shared hosting plans

Easy WordPress integration

97-day trial period lets you check out the site with no financial risk

100% uptime guarantee is likely marketing hype (although they have reliable uptimes)

Price: $2.75 a month USD

Disk Space: Unlimited

Support: Email Support Ticket, Live Chat, Phone


HostGator is a large hosting provider that’s popular among a diverse group of online retailers. If you want to sell a product or service securely online, HostGator has a lot to offer.

They’ve put a lot of effort into developing an intuitive, easy-to-use platform. Even if you’ve never used a web host before, you should have no problems connecting your site and getting it only.

Like most hosting providers, HostGator provides full WordPress integration. However, they also work well with Moodle, phpBB, and some of the lesser-known CMS. Not everybody uses WordPress, and if you have a different preference, HostGator can likely accommodate you well.

Well-established host with an emphasis on e-commerce sites

User-friendly platform

Works with a wide range of CMS, including more niche options

Some security features aren’t available with the basic plan

Renewal rates can increase significantly from initial costs

Roughly 99% of all adults between the ages of 16 and 44 use the internet. No matter what product you sell or service you provide, your customer base is already online. Unfortunately, your business could be superior to the competition, but you won’t succeed if customers can’t find you on the web.

Think of your website as a physical store for your customers. In many ways, your hosting provider is similar to the roads that lead to your business. You want those roads to stay open and easy for your customers to drive on, so they can arrive at your location.

A web hosting company maintains servers which they rent out to clients. Hosting your site on a server makes it accessible to anyone on the internet. When someone arrives at your site, the server thenstored files back and forth (a process called “serving”) between the site and the visitor’s computer or mobile device.

Here’s a closer look at what features to consider when selecting a hosting provider in the UK.

Hosting companies provide access to servers, and where those servers are located makes a difference in how they’ll perform. However, location doesn’t matter in quite the way many people think.

Don’t worry too much about finding servers located in your specific city. The speed difference between servers in Birmingham, Leeds, London, and so on, is negligible.


If your business is based entirely in the UK, then UK-based servers will deliver the fastest speeds. Fortunately, you have quite a few UK-based hosting companies to choose from, such as SiteGround and A2 Hosting.

What if your business is located in the UK, but most of your customer base isn’t? In that situation, you might want to consider a web host with more of an international presence. When the servers you use are located in the same country as your customers, they’ll have a quicker and easier time accessing your site.

Each web host gives you storage space. The amount of space you need depends on the size of your site, and the type of content on it. If your site contains heavy use of video and images, you’ll need more storage space than you would for a more text-based site.

If you have a personal site or one dedicated to a small business, the lower storage limits on basic plans from most major hosting providers should more than meet your needs. For the most part, upgrading your storage capacity is fairly easy, even if you’re in a long-term contract with a company.

The biggest potential issue regarding storage is locking yourself into a long-term subscription with more storage than you need. Most hosting companies let you upgrade without issue, but downgrading your service needs can get trickier. Usually, the most cost-effective option is to start with a smaller, less expensive plan, such as a month-to-month plan from Cloudways.

Do you remember how web hosting acts as a road for customers to find your business? Uptime is the amount of time that road is open for traffic. Server problems, which you have no control over, can knock your site offline, which results in lost revenue and customer loss for your business.

Uptime is measured in the amount of time each month that your site is online. You’ll find most major providers promise uptime between 99.8% to 99.99%. That works out to just a few minutes each year when your site might go down.

You can verify a company’s claims by viewing what are called third-party audits. Tech organizations independently analyze server uptime and then publish their results. Generally, you don’t have to worry about significant downtime from any of the major providers listed above. By the time a company can provide hosting for millions of users around the world, they typically have reliable systems in place.

However, be careful of any company that promises 100% uptime. A slight amount of unexpected downtime during a year is normal. Although the difference is minor, an uptime guarantee of 99.99% is legitimate and believable, while a promise of 100% uptime is often just marketing hype.

A Secure Socket Layer allows for encrypted data transfer between a website and the computer accessing it. You’ve likely seen a green padlock in the browser bar next to the domain name of the site; it indicates you’re protected by an SSL Certificate.

In the early days of the internet, SSL protection was only needed for sites that accepted payments. However, these days it’s necessary for every type of site. Without one, browsers will send a warning that your site isn’t secure, which will certainly drive away potential traffic! Additionally, Google looks at SLL Certification when determining a site’s overall ranking in the search results.

Most major hosting providers offer at least one free SSL Certificate with their lowest-priced plan. Keep in mind that if you choose a plan without SSL Certification, you’ll need to purchase it separately, as forgoing it entirely isn’t feasible for a business.

When someone connects to a website, data is sent back and forth between the site and the person viewing it (called the “end user Bandwidth is the amount of data that can move at one time.

The two biggest factors that determine how much bandwidth you need are the following:

The number of videos and images on your site

The number of visitors you have at one time

Generally, a bandwidth of 10 GB works well for most standard business pages that receive 10,000 or fewer unique visitors each day. If your site has more visitors than that, you’ll likely want more bandwidth. Likewise, you’ll want more if your site makes excessive use of images or video, especially HD video.

When people first land on your site, and when they move around on it, every page should take no more than three seconds to load. Site speed is determined by three factors:

Server Location

Custom Scripts

Server performance

Of those three, server performance has the biggest influence. It’s the number of resources the host allocates to your site.


You don’t have to worry about this too much with any of the hosts listed above. They all offer plan tiers designed to deliver enough resources to ensure fast-loading pages on sites of any size. Typically, free hosts are the only type where you’ll encounter major problems related to resource allocation.

Ideally, you won’t need to contact customer support often. But when you do, you want a fast and informed response. Most major web hosts offer 24/7 support in three different ways:

Phone

Email / Support Ticket

Live Chat

If you’re in the UK, you’ll have some difficulty finding non-US phone numbers for some of the hosts listed above. However, support tickets and live chat are an option regardless of where the host company is located.

Generally, live chat is the quickest way to handle urgent, simple issues. If you have a more complex problem, opening a support ticket often gets the best results, because you can describe the problem in detail.

Not all web hosts cater to the same audience. You want to match the host’s specialty with your specific needs. Here’s a closer look at popular types of cheap web hosting in the UK:

WordPress is the world’s most popular website creation software, so you’ll have no problem using it with any of the major hosting providers. However, they don’t all work with WordPress in the same way.

While all providers work with WordPress, some hosts offer a higher level of WordPress integration than others. If you want the easiest setup possible, look for one-click installation, which gets your existing site online in a minute or two.

Also, the hosting company’s support staff should have extensive knowledge of WordPress. If you have a problem, it’s helpful when the team can walk you through the solution as it specifically relates to the software you’re using.

Hosting providers with easy WordPress integration and UK servers include:

Kinsta

SiteGround

Hostinger

You’ll find a variety of web hosts that won’t cost you a dime. Unfortunately, the phrase “you get what you pay for” usually applies with a free hosting provider. You’ll face bandwidth limitations, obtrusive ads, unreliable service, and other restrictions.

While a free host can work for a temporary project, it’s usually not suitable for a professional website. Instead, if you have a limited budget, you should use any free trial periods offered by a traditional web host.


If you do have a need for a free web host, we recommend 000webhost.

No business is too small or too local to not benefit from a website. Even if you have no intention of reaching a customer base outside of your immediate area, a local site helps establish your legitimacy. It also provides an easy way for customers to learn the basic facts about your business, such as your hours and prices.

If you run a site that mainly caters to a local audience, how important is a UK-based host? While a local host does improve speeds and reliability, a host with servers in the US isn’t always a bad option. If your business page is relatively simple, with minimal images and video, suitably fast speeds are still possible.

Server location is just one factor to consider when searching for a host for your small business. Excellent support staff and a comprehensive knowledge base play a key role, too. Finally, you want easy integration with whatever software you use to make your site (most likely, WordPress).

Best Hosting for Small Businesses:

Hostinger

Hostpapa

SiteGround

If you run an e-commerce store where you sell a product or service directly from your site, the hosting provider you need will depend on a few factors.

First, consider the size of your site. If your online store is relatively new and small, shared hosting is usually the most cost-effective option. However, if your store is already well-established, and sees lots of traffic, cloud hosting might be a better choice due to its flexibility. You can easily increase storage capacity as your customer base grows.

Next, you might also want a host that works well with WordPress. WordPress offers a variety of e-commerce functionality. Using WordPress to run your store is easier when your hosting provider offers full WP integration.

The Best Hosts for eCommerce Stores:

Kinsta

Hostinger

SiteGround

Unlimited web hosting has no limits on disk space, websites, or both. While unlimited hosting has benefits, it’s not necessary for every type of site. If your site is a small to medium-sized business, you might get more space than you can use even with the lowest-priced plan. Typically, unlimited hosting is needed for two situations:

Your site contains lots of media, especially videos, and has frequent new content updates.

Your run several different sites


Typically, unlimited plans are the priciest options offered. Except for Greengeeks – they’re the exception to remember because they offer unlimited space with every plan. If you’re looking for unlimited web hosting, we recommend:

Greengeeks

Hostinger

A2 Hosting

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