UK Web Hosting Reviews

Beginners Guide to UK Web Hosting

If you are a seasoned website owner, then you may want to skip this section.

However, if you are new to web hosting, it may be a good idea to familiarise yourself with the web hosting features and some of the jargon out there, before you start to dive in and compare UK web hosting providers.

First off, let us start by taking a look at some of the web hosting types out there.

Shared Hosting: This is what most people are talking about when they refer to web hosting. It is generally the cheapest and easiest to use. Most plans will provide you with everything you need, such as emails, installers, SSL certificates etc. Shared hosting is what 99% of the users will want to use, especially when starting.

The way shared hosting works is multiple websites will share the same server. With the server resources pooled amongst its users. It is low cost and simple to use.

If you have never had a website before or setting up a brand new website, shared hosting will always be the way to go. We even run this website on shared hosting! (We use Krystal Hosting if you are wondering 👍).

What Types of Sites Can I Use Shared Hosting For?

Knowing what type of hosting is best for your situation is important. Generally, business sites, blogs and even small eCommerce websites are all suitable for shared hosting. 

With the right type of plan, even busy websites can be well suited to shared hosting. If you have a particularly busy website, speak to the web hosting provider before signing up to ensure they are suitable for your needs.

So we now have a good idea on the types of websites you can use on shared hosting, next, we’ll take a look at some of the tips on choosing a web hosting provider, the terminology that you will come across and what it all means.

Web Hosting Jargon

Before you start your research, its best to know the hosting type you require. If needed, brush up with some of the web hosting jargon you will come across:

Bandwidth: (Data, traffic, visitors) – These are all essentially the same thing. Put simply its the amount of data that can go to and from your website.

Web Space: (Space, Disk Space, Storage) – The amount of space you are allocated to store your website and its files (emails, images, databases etc.).

Domain Name: This is the address for your website i.e. yourbrandname.co.uk, .com, .me etc. Nearly every website will want one of these.

The above are some of the many terms that you come across. Understanding these three will put you in an excellent position to know what you are looking at when comparing.

Not All Web Hosting Comparison Sites Are The Same!

Before we dive off can start comparing web hosting plans. We wanted to offer some advice on UK web hosting comparison sites. Many of these comparison sites claim to have compared hundreds of hosting providers to bring you the very best. One thing you may have noticed is most of these ‘web hosting reviews’ are all recommending similar companies. The way many of the best web hosting companies that make it to the top of these lists is due to massive marketing budgets, which can ‘influence’ who is the top of these lists.

Therefore it is important to remember that not when you are comparing web hosting, not all comparison sites are the same.

We understand that top 10 lists are popular and have their place. Allowing to quickly compare some of the best web hosting services. However, with most of these lists, they provide only a small picture of the services out there. Instead, we like to provide you with information allowing you to make an informed choice. The fact is there is no perfect web hosting; there are lots of excellent providers along with some bad ones too.

Everyone’s experience will be different, as well as everyone’s expectations.

Tips For Comparing UK Web Hosting Providers

When comparing hosting providers, it can be a minefield of information and tricks to get you to sign up with a particular company.

One of the most important factors to remember is there not the best web hosting provider. Everyone’s expectations, requirements and budget are different. Overall knowing your requirements and budget will allow you to select the best web hosting for your needs.

Pricing: While I won’t base a decision solely on pricing. Pricing is a can be a deciding factor for many. Consider all pricing factors (including the contract / pre-payment term you are prepared to choose).

Check Contract Length: One thing many web hosting comparison sites fail to show is to receive the best discount you need to pre-pay up to 36 months in advance. Opting to pay monthly often attracts considerably higher rates. Therefore doesn’t always make their recommendations the best.

Extras & Addons: Some web hosting providers will include a while shost of extras and addons. Don’t forget those some of these extras may come at an additional cost. So make sure they are needed (or cancelled) before you are billed for these services.

UK Servers: Server location should be crucial for anyone looking for UK web hosting. Just because a company offers prices in GBP doesn’t mean their servers are based in the UK. We recently wrote an article on Bluehost, which is one of the most recommended companies on so-called UK web hosting review sites. Spoiler Alert: Bluehost does not offer UK web hosting.

Why Choose UK Web Hosting?

Why is hosting your website with a UK web hosting provider important? There are several reasons why you may want to host your site in the UK. The main factor being speed. Hosting your website as close to your core visitors as possible reduces the time it takes your pages to load for those visitors. Other factors may include support times, data laws or even currency fluctuations. 

If you’re catering to a UK audience, then our recommendation would to always choose a UK web hosting provider.

Why Use Hostfind?

FAQs

A selection of frequently asked questions to help our users.

What is Hostfind?

HostFind is a web hosting review site with a difference, firstly we only list the genuine top 10 UK web hosting reviews, all written by our users so there are none of these fake ‘best rated’ or ‘top ten lists’. Secondly, we also will only list companies that cater for the UK web hosting market. When we were looking for a UK based web hosting company we found that there was a distinct lack of reviews for UK based web hosting companies, therefore we created HostFind to allow others to share their experiences and opinions. Our aim is to help our users find the best web hosting service.

Why only List UK Hosting Services

While, the internet is a global environment. There are several benefits in hosting your website with a UK based web hosting company. However, there are still a few reasons why a local host is a better option than an international one: Local Customer Service and Support – A international web host may be offering cheaper prices, but what happens when a problem arises? Many USA based web hosting companies only offer free-phone support for customer’s based in the USA. Overseas customers will have to call a separate number (which tends to be a regular international rate). Even a short international phone call can soon add up! Same Currency – Currency rates are fluctuating all the time. You will undoubtedly be paying a different price each month – depending on the exchange rate. Another important note, credit card companies never give you the same rate as you may see on some currency conversion sites. You usually get around 10% less than what you see on these sites. Quicker Page Loading Times – No matter what you may hear from many web hosting companies, pages loaded from a UK based server will load quicker than a server based in say Dallas, Texas. If you are aiming you site to a UK market, your visitors will thank you for the faster page load times! If your website is e-commerce driven, that could mean the difference between making that sale or your leaving and going to a competitor’s website. Search Engine Visibility – Like most websites, the majority of your website visitors will come from search engines. Hosting your website with a UK based provider will, also allow your website will show up in the “UK Only” results along with the international results. Generally as there are less results for “UK Only” your site has a higher chance of being listed closer to the top. This will increase your chances of gaining that “potential” new customer. Your website says a lot about you and your company, a poor or slow loading can loose you that potential new customer.

How do you rate web hosting companies?

We like to do things a little differently around here so we don’t create fake ‘best hosts’ or top 10 hosting companies lists. Instead we prefer to list companies based on genuine user reviews. While most web hosting review sites will list companies based on the review score we believe this is by no means 100% accurate way of showing the best web hosting. For example a company with one positive review can outrank a company with ten positive and only a few negative. We felt this was not an accurate representation on a company’s service so at Hostfind we take into account the number of positive reviews as well the overall review score. This we believe gives you the best representation of a web host’s service.

How do we ensure reviews are accurate?

At HostFind we have a rigorous vetting procedure to ensure that the reviews that we publish are as accurate as possible. This ensures that we do our best to only list genuine web hosting reviews. As with any system, there will always be companies that are looking to try and cheat the system. Along with customers that feel they have been wronged or have been cheated by a company. Anyone out there who has had to work in customer service or has had direct involvement with customers, will know that there are just some people that you just cannot please, whatever you may do. Its important, to remember that there are always two sides to every story. So one bad review in a mix of good reviews is never anything to worry about. Also customers can be quick to leave a bad review when things don’t go wrong but not so quick when exceptional service has been offered. So we always recommend you read the reviews listed within our site with a objective view.