We’re here to give you the UK’s best web hosting companies of 2015. Whether you’re starting up a blog or an eCommerce store, it pays to look around for the best hosting company to suit your requirements. To help you find the best web hosting provider for you, we have carefully reviewed hundreds of the top web hosts taking into consideration all the things that really matter to you such as performance, customer support and server uptime.
Last Updated: September 22, 2015 (our web hosting table changes often due to the changing number of “votes” that each web host receives)
In general, the question of what really makes the best web host can be answered simply as any one solution that provides you as a website owner with everything you need to run your site and provide your visitors with what they came looking for. Hoping to open an online store? You’re going to need a host that supports eCommerce functions. Planning to power your new site with WordPress? If your hosting company of choice provides what you need to do that, you might have found the company for you.
We suggest you check that it’s within your budget, check all of the features that you require and go ahead and purchase it – job done!
After all, as simple as things might appear on the surface, there’s a lot of technical programming languages, scripts and other vital components that go into powering your website. If you’re using MySQL for example and run into an issue with your database, it could end up taking your entire website off line.
The same goes for setting up a new Virtual Private Server having only ever used shared plans before, or if you’re making your first attempts at using Windows hosting when you’ve usually always used Linux systems in the past.
In that case, it’s critical that your host company is there to help you get your website back up and running. Even if you’re an established pro, things can still go wrong that out of your control. Again, good technical support is vital to putting things right and getting your site operating at peak performance.
Choosing the best hosting provider to go with isn’t as easy you might think. Having selected a few options for hosting companies you feel are right for you, it makes sense to look around and source an outside opinion. A hosting company can tell you how great it is, but what really matters is what their customers think. Before signing up then, have a look around at some web hosting reviews to decide for yourself whether you’ll really be getting the best value for money from your chosen web host.
Think about these factors before signing up to a new web host:
Disclosure: We rank all the web hosting sites based on customer reviews and own own expert personal views. We consider factors such as speed, up time, customer support and reliability as factors when considering which is the best web hosting company. We receive commission from all providers but in no way is this reflected in our rankings.
Last Updated: September 22, 2015 (our web hosting table changes often due to the changing number of “votes” that each web host receives)
In general, the question of what really makes the best web host can be answered simply as any one solution that provides you as a website owner with everything you need to run your site and provide your visitors with what they came looking for. Hoping to open an online store? You’re going to need a host that supports eCommerce functions. Planning to power your new site with WordPress? If your hosting company of choice provides what you need to do that, you might have found the company for you.
Top 5 Web Hosting Comparison Table:
Sometimes having too many options to choose from makes the decision even harder. That’s why we have created a web hosting feature grid that compares the best web hosts so that you can make a decision on which is best suited for you. You’ll see that our Editors choice (iPage) has all the key features and many more that’ll enable you to build and create your perfect website in no time!We suggest you check that it’s within your budget, check all of the features that you require and go ahead and purchase it – job done!
Web Hosting Check List
When your looking around for the best deal it’s critical that you have some kind of a list of features and specifications that you need for your website. Below we have a list of things that you should look for in any web hosting company…- Data Back Up Services – All of our web hosts have monthly backups so that if your website is hacked or you accidentally delete some files then you can quickly and easily restore it to the previous restore point. This has helped me many times and highly recommend it. Losing your whole website is the worst situation that can happen in any environment, particularly if you’ve invested a long time working with a content management system to get your site looking just right.
- Website Hosting Speed – Another critical element and one that has a huge influence on your customer experience. You can’t afford to have a slow web host. You’ll lose customers and your conversion rates will drop. Especially if you run an e-commerce site. When we rate our web hosts, speed one of those crucial elements that you can’t ignore.
- Customer Reviews – We can tell you what we think but at the end of the day it’s the customers that do the talking. Read our web host reviews to get an idea of what customers are saying. Often this changes yearly as many companies now get taken over and often there standards drop.
- Web Hosting Security – Your website can often be the most important aspect of your business so it’s important that you protect your data. Many of our chosen web hosts have security software installed such as fire walls. If your using a CMS like WordPress or a leading alternative such as Joomla, then they also offer updates every few months.
- Additional features - Many top providers these days serve as more than just a cloud storage solution; they act as a fully-functioning dashboards from which to manage your entire online presence and communications, whether that’s setting up your email accounts, marketing your site, or even taking things to the next level and starting your own reseller hosting company, we take all of these into consideration.
- Expert Opinions – Listening to customer feedback is great but you also need to listen to the experts (like us) who have literally tested hundreds of web hosts over the years and therefore have a much wider view and have also experienced the high’s and low’s of all kinds of website hosting, from new cloud hosting solutions to tried and tested shared plans, to fully hands-on dedicated servers to managed hosting accounts. When we rate our web hosts we take into so many different factors and try and find a web host that is most suited to everyone. One that is packed with features, reliability, security and of course uptime!
Good Technical Support
If you’re new to the world of running your own website, having access to helpful support is a must-have when it comes to picking the perfect hosting provider. Though most of the best web hosting companies go out of their way right from the start to make things as easy as possible even for complete beginners, there’ll likely be at least one occasion when you find yourself in a jam.After all, as simple as things might appear on the surface, there’s a lot of technical programming languages, scripts and other vital components that go into powering your website. If you’re using MySQL for example and run into an issue with your database, it could end up taking your entire website off line.
The same goes for setting up a new Virtual Private Server having only ever used shared plans before, or if you’re making your first attempts at using Windows hosting when you’ve usually always used Linux systems in the past.
In that case, it’s critical that your host company is there to help you get your website back up and running. Even if you’re an established pro, things can still go wrong that out of your control. Again, good technical support is vital to putting things right and getting your site operating at peak performance.
Reliability
When you host your website on a server owned by somebody else, you’re relying on your web hosting company to keep that server online at all times. If it goes down, your website goes down too. The longer it’s down, the longer potential customers will be unable to visit your site. If your site is down long enough, there’s a greater chance that those customers will head off to another website. To make sure this doesn’t happen then, you’re going to want to check the reliability, or ‘up-time’ of your hosting provider. Things do occasionally go wrong, so it may be rare to find a web host that boasts absolute 100% up-time, but avoid any that can’t promise you at least 99%. We take all these factors, along with others such as pricing and additional benefits like free domain names, use of the easy-to-use cPanel, into consideration when ranking our picks for the best UK web hosting companies.Choosing the best hosting provider to go with isn’t as easy you might think. Having selected a few options for hosting companies you feel are right for you, it makes sense to look around and source an outside opinion. A hosting company can tell you how great it is, but what really matters is what their customers think. Before signing up then, have a look around at some web hosting reviews to decide for yourself whether you’ll really be getting the best value for money from your chosen web host.
Think about these factors before signing up to a new web host:
- Good customer service
- Additional features such as website builders and free domain name registration
- Good value for money
- No less than 99% up-time (most of the best hosting companies should have a guaranteed uptime)
Disclosure: We rank all the web hosting sites based on customer reviews and own own expert personal views. We consider factors such as speed, up time, customer support and reliability as factors when considering which is the best web hosting company. We receive commission from all providers but in no way is this reflected in our rankings.
Rank: | Web Host Company: | Key Points: | Bonus Features: | Our Score: | Monthly Cost: | Discount Link: |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Editor's Choice! |  |  Free Domain Name Unlimited Storage Unlimited Usage Free eMail Address | Free Web Templates £200 Ad Credits Free Online Store UK Data Centre | 9.7 | £1.75 | |
#2: |  | Unlimited Storage & Bandwidth Free Website Builder Free Domain Name Free Security Tools | Free £350 in Advertising Credits 77% Discount Anytime Money-Back Guarantee | 9.5 | £1.19 | |
#3: |  | Unlimited domains Free domain transfer Unlimited Resources Free eCommerce tools | £100 ad credits Free Domain Name Free sitebuilder Enhanced security | £1.89 | ||
#4: |  | Unlimited Bandwidth Unlimited Storage Free domain name Unlimited domains | Unlimited Bandwidth Free site builder Free site templates £100 ad credits | £1.89 | ||
#5: |  | Unlimited bandwidth Unlimited storage Free domain name 24/7 support | Free ad credits Free eCommerce tools Money-back guarantree Free site builder | £2.50 | ||
eHost | iPage | Hostclear | Ideahost | HostGator | ||
eHost | iPage | Hostclear | Ideahost | HostGator | ||
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| Plan: | All-inclusive | Essential | All-inclusive | All-inclusive | Hatchling | |
| Introductory deal: | £1.75 p/m (12, 24 or 36 month term). | £1.19 p/m (12, 24 or 36 month term). | £1.89 p/m (12, 24, 36, 48 month plan). | £1.89 p/m (36 month term). | £2.50 (12, 24 or 36 month term). | |
| Money back guarantee: | 45 days | Any time | 45 days | 45 days | 45 days | |
| Free domain name: | Yes. For life. | Yes. For first term. | Yes. For life. | Yes. For life. | Yes. For first term. | |
| Basics: | eHost | iPage | Hostclear | Ideahost | HostGator | |
| Storage: | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | |
| Bandwidth: | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | |
| Domains allowed | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | 1 | |
| FTP accounts | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Undisclosed | Unlimited | |
| Email: | eHost | iPage | Hostclear | Ideahost | HostGator | |
| Email addresses: | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | |
| POP3/IMAP: | | | | | | |
| Webmail: | | | | | | |
| Autoresponders: | | | |  | | |
| Spam filters: | | | | | | |
| Forwarding: | | | | | | |
| Technical: | eHost | iPage | Hostclear | Ideahost | HostGator | |
| Control Panel | cPanel | vDeck | cPanel | cPanel | cPanel | |
| Secure FTP | | | | | | |
| MySQL databases: | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | |
| Ecommerce | eHost | iPage | Hostclear | Ideahost | HostGator | |
| OsCommerce | | | | | | |
| AgoraCart | | | | | | |
| CubeCart | | | | | | |
| ZenCart | | | | | | |
| Shopsite | | Starter plan | | | | |
| SSL | Undisclosed. | Shared | Undisclosed. | Undisclosed. | Shared | |
| Support: | eHost | iPage | Hostclear | Ideahost | HostGator | |
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| Phone response: | 2 minute approx. | 1 minute approx. | Minute or less. | 1-2 minutes. | 1-2 minute approx. | |
| Email support | | | | | | |
| User Experience | eHost | iPage | Hostclear | Ideahost | HostGator | |
| Uptime: | 99.8% | 99.9% | 99.9% | 99.8% | 99.9% | |
| Best for: | New site owners | Growing websites | All inclusive hosting | Budget hosting | Ease of use | |
| Recommended for: | Small businesses and those new to owning websites. | Websites with increasing content and traffic | Novice web designers and owners of small websites. | Those looking for a cheaper alternative to current hosting. | Business owners and eCommerce sites. | |
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