Web Hosting UK Comparison

SiteGround is one of the most well-known and respected web hosting companies. It was founded in 2004 by experts and it quickly grew into a very popular service. Their continous growth has allowed them to invest in quality equipment and a large and experienced support team. SiteGround are also known for their extensive list of plans that cater to every need. In comparison to other competitors they also offer discount plans for certain users. The company has established offices around the world and they usually work with other businesses via affiliate programs.

Data Centers

SiteGround operates servers and data centers around the world. They partner with leading companies to host their machines and the possibility of choice allows the customers to choose the nearest machine for their own site. At the moment of writing this article the following centers are available:

• Europe — The Netherlands (Amsterdam), Italy (Milan), United Kingdom (London)
• North America, South America, Africa — United States of America (Chicago)
• Australia, New Zealand, Asia, South Pacific — Singapore

Security
SiteGround web hosting UK has invested a lot in various technologies and services that are related to securing their machines. All client accounts are separated by using Linux containers. Not only are the setups really flexible and allow for instant reconfiguration, but the team has developed their own in-house server monitoring systems that are far more advanced than typical applications of this type. Furthermore the data centers utilize automated backups. According to information supplied by the company the generated backups can restore victim sites 4 times faster than ordinary setups.

Speed
The SiteGround web hosting UK team has customized the NGINX web servers in order to optimize them for heavy load. All data plans can take advantage of them. If the clients are going to use services such as online shops and content management platforms then a powerful caching system can be enabled which further increases the delivery speed. All servers take advantage of SSD drives to deliver top performance. The Cloudflare content delivery network can be activated upon request. The HTTP/2 protocol can be enabled to speed up the delivery of encrypted pages.

Price
SiteGround web hosting UK offers a very balanced selection of plans. They have starter hosting options for beginner options all the way to custom enterprise solutions. We especially like the service-specific options (for WordPress for example) that are optimized for specific setups. In comparison to other hosts they offer many features as standard an provide a very quick registration form.

Support
The SiteGround support team is available at all times (24/7 service). They have implemented their own ticketing system and are known for replying very quickly to the sent tickets. Other contact options include a live chat. Like other premier web hosting UK companies they maintain a self-help section that contains many tutorials and guides that cover all web master and hosting aspects.

The A2 hosting company is one of the leading providers that has been in operation since 1999. It is based in the USA and thanks to their history they have been able to recruit and manage a great support team. Their customers praise them for an excellent service. Many of their plans cater to beginner users specifically. Of course they provide a rich selection of options for enterprise clients as well. The company is noteworthy for being among the biggest web hosting UK providers with cloud hosting for projects of any size.

Data Centers
Web hosting UK clients should know that the primary data center for Europe is located in Amsterdam, The Netherlands which provides excellent connectivity qith all countries in the continent. Two other facilities are located in the USA (state of Arizona and Michigan) while the Asian servers are hosted in Singapore.

Potential customers can also test the connectivity and speeds by visiting the specialist page.
Security
A2 Hosting offer all of their clients the “Perpetual Security” package which is made up of several components. It includes free HackScan Protection which automatically prevents any intrusion attempts. The servers themselves use the KernelCare rebootless kernel updates that keep the systems protected against critical vulnerabilities without causing any downtime. Distributed denial of service attacks are prevented by the use of dual firewalls. This feature is effective against brute force attempts as well.
Speed
One of the goals that A2 Hosting strives for is speed. They use several layers of web caching services to provide the fastest loading time. The team of developers that work for A2 Hosting have implemented their own custom A2 Optimization Tool which can significantly boost the performance of the clients servers with a single click.
Price

The cheapest plans offer a lot of features that are enough for smaller sites. As the price is increased so does the number of extra features.

As a consequence the prices are more than favorable and present a very good value for money.
Support

The support team is dubbed as “The Guru Crew” and it can be reached using a variety of ways. The easiest way is to dial the phone line or to engage the live chat. A ticketing system is also available if the clients prefer to use it. The company also operates an extensive community portal that contains many guides, instructions and tips for web masters.

The 1and1 hosting company is among the oldest and widely known providers that are still in operations. They offer all services related to site creation including online shops, emails and marketing services.

They introduced their services to the United Kingdom in 2000 and acquired Fasthosts Internet Ltd. which was one of the leading providers. Worldwide they are among the largest Internet hosting providers having more than 7000 employees across tens of locations.

Data centers:
The 1&1 hosting data centers are located at the most important locations worldwide. The company has placed them in strategic locations where the worldwide traffic intersects and can provide top speeds.

The following locations are mentioned on their site: London, Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt, Karlruhe, Munich in Europe and at four facilities in the United States of America (Washington, New York, Chicago and Kansas).
Security:
All plans offer a rich set of security features. Symantec provides SSL certificates for all 1&1 web hosting UK packages which allows the web administrators to secure their sites. They are also protected against DDOS attacks that may originate from botnet under the control of hackers.

The company has invested heavily in other data retention solutions such as a decentralized backup system.

Speed:
When it comes to performance 1&1 Hosting can provide a lot of optimized services. Their services rely on customized platforms along with smart SSD drives that use a combined hybrid technology. Both the werb server and storage platforms are hosted on the same platform in order to reduce the parallel response time. A content delivery network integration is offered to all clients as well as the opton to instantly scale the servers in order to meet changing traffic patterns.
Uptime:
1and1 Hosting guarantees 99.9% uptime and we had never had clients complaining about significant downtime with them.

Support:
The support service can answer all potential user queries, not just technical questions. The team can be reached via the customer web portal or the phone line.

Price:
The company offers one of the the cheapest plans on the market at the moment. Many of their options have an attractive initial price which makes it relatively cheap for anyone to invest in a web presence.

WPX Hosting is a web hosting service oriented toward WordPress. Some past clients might know it as Traffic Planet Hosting, as that was its previous name. The company specializes in optimizing the WordPress experience for all who use its services. WPX has a fast registration guide to ease users and get them to set up their preferred web hosting UK plan with just a few steps. When you consider that, while adding the other features provided by WPX Hosting, you see that the company is a great fit even for advanced users. The service is also suitable for people who want to run more than one website simultaneously, as well.

Data Centers
The company’s data center is located on the territory of the UK. There are insufficient details related to it, at least not to the public, which could be considered as a good security measure. However, it is guaranteed that there are employees who are 24/7 on site of the data center. WPX has also set up a center for network operations nearby the data center to be able to respond quickly if the need arises.

Security

WPX hosting keeps up with the latest security standards and has implemented them, to help make safe the websites which they maintain. They also offer SSL features for free, unlimited malware removal and security repairs on their website. More security features include scanning your site(s) for malware and checking if it has been hacked, plus a fortnight backup archive which allows you to choose to which date you want to bring your website back to. To make you even more satisfied, WPX can reimburse you with up to $500 if they have done you wrong.

Speed
In terms of speed, WPX hosting provides an outstanding service, according to clients who have been using it over more than two years. In reality, if you run your website on WPX hosting, there is a high probability that your website will load about 95% faster than all other sites on a global scale. In addition to this, clients who operate more than ten websites simultaneously through this company, have reported load times of less than a second. All of this speaks volumes about the speed that WPX provides to its clients.

Price

The pricing plans available from the WPX hosting company are very decent, even though they are oriented only on the WordPress platform. The WordPress focus is a bit disappointing for advanced users who would like to run their websites on more platforms. Regardless, when we take into consideration the huge ammount of features which are included with WPX hosting, for example the free SSL, which usually costs a ton in other firms, the price seems balanced for the package you receive. Another advantage is that if you go for the annual plan, you will get two months completely free and pay for ten months only.

Support
Reviewing the support section, we see a big amount of user reports stating that the support of WPX hosting is reputable and very capable. Some users who have experienced more than a few hacker attacks and different interruptions have even stated to have received financial reimbursement from WPX. This is well-received, since some hosting providers take a lot of time to bring a site up and do not even apologize or take any kind of responsibility.

TSOhost is a Web Hosting service which is based in the UK and provides a gread service in case you are going to base your site on the island. The company has been reported to have the absolutely lowest latency time in comparison to the other competitors that are listed in this article. They guarantee %99.99 percent of an uptime and this includes 24.7 access to your site, even if they are making a hardware upgrade during that time.

Data Centers
TSO has one data center located in UK and it offers local hosting services via it.

Security
When it comes to securing their service, the company has gone to a great extent. They are up to date with most of the modern security standards and their data centers employ the latest firewalls as well as security hardware from top vendors, like Cisco and Dell. These are companies that are use primarily for custom configuration and security of big organizations both private and government.

Speed

TSOhost provides fast speed, primarily due to new servers which they have added. They aim to ensure faster speeds in combination with the previous ones, which results in a better overall peformance which is also quicker in opening web pages.

Price

When it comes down to pricing, TSOHost is very similar to other companies in that it offers cheap price for a lot of features. Such include one-click apps, Linux and Windows servers, ZendGuard, ionCube Loaders, Perl, ASP and ASP.net plus many others.

Support

The suport of the company has been reported by it’s customsers to be quick in terms of response and to have a very friendly and capable staff. When it comes to the ticket system, customers also report that 30 minutes or less is the approximate time which is required to completely resolve issues. In addition, you are also actively updated on the latest developments which are happening on the network. In addition to this based on your preferences they could add the option to receive support, free backups, via the phone during most of the day. We at SensorsTechForum feel that TSOhost could improve their phone support and make it 24/7.

WebHosting UK also known as WHUK Is a company which was created in 2001 and it now offers a wide range of prices as well as hosting plans with various features among which you can make an informed choice on what to do.

Data Centers
WebHosting UK is focused primarily on the domestic market, meaning that most of their data centers are based in the UK. Reports from customers are that they provide a decent service.

Security
The company features a high level of security and uses all of the necessary security measures and in addition to this has a backup service which makes it possible that your website can be kept safe even when a security problem occurs. However, no specific data is revealed about the features regarding security which are implemented.

Speed
If we discuss speed, the domestic performance of the copany is impressive with a 99.95% uptime plus completely unlimited bandwidth, e-mails and database storage. This is really impressive when we consider that their budget plan includes those features.

Price

When it comes to pricing, it is definitely a bargain to choose WHUK, primarily because of the feautes offered. Such features are the core competence of this company since so many are not offered by any of their direct competitors. In addition to the unmetered bandwidth, the e-mails, databases, WHUK also provides the ability to host more than one website which is a good offer. The offers for their VPS servers start at 13 british pounts, their cloud hosting servers begin at 36 pounds and the decicated hosting plans they offer start at 70 british pounds which is a good price, considering that you get around 10TB of monthly bandwidth. However, the plans are not perfect, after all. The storage offered at their lowest plans is only 5GB, which is ok, If you are a begginer blogger or publisher, but if your website begins to grow and expand, you may experience some storage issues. Furthermore, other services, like WordPress or plugins you want to add may present a difficulty in the future because of that.

Support
When we discuss support, WHUK is UK-oriented so it offers a decent support in English only. The support is 24/7 though and it can be done:

• Over a free phone call.
• Via call-back service.
• Via live chat.

In addition to this, they also have a ticketing system which offers fast solution to any issues you might be having.

If the purpose of your business is web or other form of design or any creative process that involves different forms of art, this is definitely the hosting company to go with. Flywheel has been created to be a stylish hosting provider that is suitable primarily for designers and it immediately becomes clear when you visit their web page.

Data Centers
The company has one data center in the UK specifically and no other information is known about it’s other data centers.

Security
All of the security features which are required and implemented in Flywheel’s hosting plans and the company also offers some extended extras as bonus:

• Enabling of password protection for increased security.
• Flushing of the cache.
• Creating and restoring of previous revisions and backups of the site or it’s pages.
• Disabling or enabling the usage of the cache.
• Free migrations of web sites.

Speed
When it comes down to speed, the company makes it possible to use the service with great loading speeds, but they do not reveal exactly what is their choice for the servers’ hardware. All you should know if you are looking for a UK-based hosting is that you should be fine in terms of speed if you are based there if you use WHUK servers. Most of the people who have tried their site speed report up to 2 seconds of loading times for different locaitons and to different sites.

Price
When you first check the website of Flywheel, you may quickly discover that the company does not waste it’s users time with advertising different promotions or plans – they get right down to business. All you have to do is scroll down on their web page and see their 3 pricing plans for default hosting.

Support
When we discuss the support of Flywheel, the company is fully capable of responding adequately and quickly solving your hosting-related issues. The support team is an experienced one, but the downside of this situation is that it is not 24/7. But they do have a ticketing system where you can open a ticket and the issue will be solved when it’s your turn.

InMotion is the type of company which can offer a rich choice of hosting services to a wide range of customers. The company also proposes web design solutions and website hosting tools which can make it easier for web admins to manage different types of web applications based on their preferences.

Data centers
InMotion Hosting has put in a lot of effort in order to create a sustainable data center which is also “green”. The location of the facility is in Los Angeles, California and it has a technology for the air cooling which reduces carbon output in the air of up to 2000 tons anually. In addition to this, the company also actively collaboates with a non-profit organization in order to support green agroforestry – a noble mission to support, indeed.

Security
One of the main pluses of becoming an InMotion customer is that they provide advanced installars which can help you to easily install web instances that are also safe.

Their knowledge base also has a lot of security tips and protection methods which can help you prevent hacker intrusions proactively. Furthermore spam protection, automatic backups plus other security features come as standard.

Uptime
The services of InMotion hosting provide 99.9% uptime guarantee.

Speed
Each InMotion hostng plan provides SSD drives for storage as standard and this makes it possible to load the website extremely fast in comparison to conventional HDD’s. In addition to this, they have also employed Max Speed Zones proprietary technology and they also use business-class hardware in order to ensure all ops run smoothly and quickly.

Price
The plans offered by InMoton hosting are appropriate for all types of users, starting from small business users all the way up to enterprises and companies from large scale. A lot of useful services are available, like Google Apps integration plus the option to choose the servers with the most stable connection. When we take all of this into consideration, the prices offered by InMotion are reasonable and they have more perks on their cheaper offers, in comparison to the competition.

Support
The support offered by the support team is 24/7 and it can be conducted via the following methods:

• The support center.
• The ticketing system.
• E-mail.
• Live chat.

The company HostGator is created in order to provide the maximum variety of hosting services that are tailor made to support the customer’s preferences. They specialize in cloud, VPS, WordPress, dedicated and other customizable services. Their services and plans are very suitable for beginner web admins who want to create a website easily with few clicks and start to use their blog. Furthermore, they also offer custom web design, SEO support and pay-per-click advertising services for developed businesses as well.

Data centers
The data centers of HostGator which are it’s main ones are located in Houston, Texas and Provo, Utah. The infrastructure of their servers is managed based on a plan with full redundancy and the company does not make compromise when they choose the hardware. HostGato uses the top brands for hardware vendors in their facilities along with the best gear to manage and control them. In addition to this, their data centers are humongous, allowing them to provide hosting plans on an extremely competitive level, not only in the UK, but all over the world too.

Security
HostGator are the type of company which has established it’s reputation over the years, especially in terms of securing their servers. The company uses active monitoring systems which aim to consistently prevent intrusive software and malware to attack them and they also look for absuses of their services. In addition to this, they also offer the proprietary CodeGuard tech, which aims to guard the websites via a daily backup service that is always active. In addition to this, HostGator also use a malware-protection mechanism, which can additionally be added as a feature to your hosting plan. It’s name is SiteLock and it aims to protect your computer against viruses by utilizing cloud-based technologies.

Uptime
HostGator guarantees 99.9% uptime of websites.

Speed
HostGator is not the type of company to prove a slow service. They have managed to solve the issue of loading times by setting up servers via using cloud hosting tech. The servers are from the “low-density” type and they include multiple different caching layers aside from the fact that they also have premium hardware to keep the pages from lagging. The optimization of the servers loading time does not stop there, since it has been made to be completely automatic and you as a client can even monitor the metrics of your website via an easy to use dashboard.

Price
When it comes to pricing, HostGator does not surpise with extremely low fees, but the overall UK Web Hosting plans that they offer are at a very decent price for the multitude of extras they are packed with. Each of the plans has a free website builder and unlimited traffic plus you have the chance to receive a $100 Google Adwords and $100 Bing Ads credits by purchasing some of their plans since it comes inclusive.

Support
The options for the support offered by HostGator are standard since they are available 24/7 via live chat via phone and also via a ticketing system. If you are a web admin, you can also use their online portal which is extremely rich when it comes to knowledge and tutorial videos. And if you do not find something you need there, you can also use their forums.

Being one of the top reccomended hosting companies by the WordPress team, BlueHost is surely a company to conider if you want to use the engine. The service is specially created for blogs and offers an easy 1-click setup package which also include $150 worth of offers in ads and merketing services in order to help begginer enterprises to grow their presence.

Data centers
The data centers of BlueHost are hidden and the company does not reveal a lot of information on their home page. But they do provide specifications about their shared hosting plans and other technocal information, concerning different services that they offer when it comes to your preferences. They also have an ad video in which they offer completely custom hosting solutions, based on the requirements of each user – very clever.

Security
The security offered by the company combines many features in that come as standard – automatic backups, customized server instances and extended support for optimizing technologies. The company also provides isolation of separate hosting accounts on their servers which divides them in a secure manner, preventing security issues and intrusions to become major.

Speed
The IT engineers at BlueHost have programmed the servers with the word optimization in mind. They aim to get them to deliver the best performance for the WordPress platform and to improve it even more, they have collaborated with the WordPress community to create a service that Is specifically organized in order to run blogs.

Uptime
BlueHost has guaranteed to deliver an uptime of 99.9%.

Price

BlueHost’s cheapest UK WebHosting plan begins at approximately $2.95 per month which is a good deal, considering that you get all of the support, plenty of storage for a begginer blog and professionally developed hosting solutions for WordPress platforms.

Support

The resources of the support team behind BlueHost include a ready-made educational materials as well as tutorials The team itself is dedicated and experienced in UK WebHosting and can solve a ticket relatively fast. The customers can contact support via a phone call or live chat.