Cheap web hosting in UK for 2024
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Finding reliable but affordable UK web hosting services may pose a challenge for many users. Unfortunately, many website hosting providers offer premium prices for users in the UK, especially if they have local servers. And even if you manage to find a budget-friendly hosting service, it usually comes at the cost of service quality and scalability.
So, how can you host a website professionally on a budget? After researching 56 hosting providers and testing the top selections, the Cybernews research team and I have found the best cheap UK web hosting solutions. Below, I rounded up a list of affordable hosting services that will help you host your website without cutting back on quality.
Best cheap UK website hosting 2024
- Bluehost – best cheap web hosting in UK overall from £1.59/month
- Hostinger – cheap UK web hosting solution with great performance from £2.20/month
- DreamHost – beginner-friendly cheap UK website hosting
- SiteGround – cheap, reliable web hosting with great customer support
- HostGator – affordable web hosting for UK startups
Our in-house research team and expert writers work hand in hand to regularly test hosting services and provide accurate and fact-checked information. Discover the ins and outs of how we test and evaluate website hosting providers.
Top cheap web hosting providers in the UK – detailed overview
To find the best and most affordable web hosting solutions in the UK, I joined our experts to first review 56 hosting providers. We then tested the top contenders, with main focus on pricing, features, and performance. After thorough analysis and in-house tests, I’ve finalized the top 5 cheap web hosting providers in the UK.
1. Bluehost – cheapest web hosting in the UK in 2024
| Rating: | |
| Starting price: | From £1.59/month |
| Notable features: | Functional interface, cPanel, WordPress staging, AI-powered website builder WonderBlocks |
Bluehost is my #1 cheap web host in the UK when it comes to WordPress hosting. It offers automatic installations, staging, and WonderSuite – a user-friendly website builder that offers customizable templates and blocks on WordPress. Moreover, Bluehost comes with a beginner-friendly dashboard and cPanel integration. All from just £1.59/month.
Performance in the UK. Bluehost does not have servers in the UK. In fact, the provider’s main data center is located in the United States. Nonetheless, it integrates the Cloudflare CDN (content delivery network) for free, which ensures that the provider can distribute content across a global network of servers and ensure great performance. During in-house tests, the site loading time was 1.8s, which is a great result. In fact, all websites that load in under 2 seconds are considered high performers. Bluehost also demonstrated 99.9% uptime, which makes it a reliable hosting provider. And the 361ms average response time demonstrated during in-house testing didn’t disappoint either.
| Uptime: | 99.9% |
| Average response time: | 361ms |
| Site loading time: | 1.8s |
Features. Bluehost users can benefit from one-click WordPress installation and a user-friendly control panel. It also comes with free domain registration for the first year, SSL certificates, 24/7 customer support, and scalable plans so you can easily upgrade as your website grows. With the Basic plan, you can enjoy such benefits as support for 10 websites, 10GB storage, and free SSL. However, note that with upper-tier plans you can go up to 100 websites and 100GB storage.
Pricing. Bluehost plans start at £1.59/month (Basic plan) – a great balance between cost-effectiveness and a robust list of features. Like Hostinger and many other popular hosting providers, Bluehost offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can test this provider risk-free.
2. Hostinger – best UK web hosting service for performance
| Rating: | |
| Starting price: | From £2.20/month |
| Notable features: | Free SSL, weekly backups, SSD storage, LiteSpeed web server |
From just £2.20/month, Hostinger is a great option for anyone on a budget. It’s one of my favorite best cheap UK web hosting services due to its intuitive hPanel, WordPress automatic updates, vulnerabilities scanning, and generous resources. While more expensive than Bluehost, Hostinger makes up for it by offering a solution that’s perfect for both beginners and experienced developers. Whether you’re building a website for your personal brand or an established business, Hostinger can accommodate your needs.
Performance in the UK. Hostinger is the only provider on this list with a data center in the UK, which is one of the biggest provider’s advantages. Unsurprisingly, during in-house testing, Hostinger proved to be able to handle different levels of user traffic, delivering impressive loading speeds and uptime. While stress testing Hostinger, a fully built website had a loading time of just 0.8s. I also was impressed by the 99.9% uptime, which suggests you can rest easy knowing your website is in good hands. On the downside, the average response time was on the slower side (4th result out of all providers). Of course, that’s still good enough for a high-performance website.
| Uptime: | 99.9% |
| Average response time: | 511ms |
| Site loading time: | 0.9s |
Key features. Hostinger guarantees fast site load times, a user-friendly control panel, free domain registration and SSL certificate, free email, and more. This web hosting service also comes with 24/7 customer support. You can choose from 3 web hosting plans, and the starter one (Premium) comes with such perks as support for 100 websites, 100GB of storage, free website migration, and unlimited SSL – something you get with Bluehost’s upper-tier plans. On the downside, CDN is not offered for free with the entry plan.
Pricing. Hostinger’s subscriptions start from £2.20/month, but the budget-friendly price doesn’t mean poor service quality. Compared to other web hosting solutions, Hostinger is the most cost-effective and has the best value for your money. What’s more, it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee so you can test it risk-free.
3. DreamHost – cheap UK web hosting for beginners
| Rating: | |
| Starting price: | From $2.95/month |
| Notable features: | Custom control panel, WordPress website builder, automated migration |
There’s no point in getting a website hosting service you can’t understand or use. DreamHost is my pick for the most beginner-friendly and affordable web hosting solution. I also like that it’s open-source and that it promises unlimited traffic and bandwidth. Although DreamHost only presents pricing in USD, when you convert $2.59/month into GBP, you get a very budget-friendly price.
Performance in the UK. Unfortunately, just like Bluehost, DreamHost doesn’t have servers in the UK. Nonetheless, it fared well when we tested to see how it handles different volumes of user traffic. First and foremost, DreamHost is the only provider on this list to offer a 100% uptime guarantee. And I’ve confirmed that’s the case with in-house tests. I’ve also observed a 1.6s website loading time and a 231ms average response time. While the site loading time isn’t the lowest, the average response time is the best on this list. DreamHost even beats Bluehost and SiteGround.
| Uptime: | 100% |
| Average response time: | 231ms |
| Site loading time: | 1.6s |
Features. If you want an open-source or a beginner-friendly hosting platform, then I recommend DreamHost. It boasts unlimited bandwidth and traffic, perfect for if you need to scale your website to accommodate increasing views. On the downside, the entry plan (Shared Starter) only supports 1 website. If that’s all you need, you will enjoy AI Business Advisor, WP Website Builder, WordPress Installer, and other great features.
Pricing. DreamHost plans start at $2.59/month, making it one of the most competitive web hosting services available. Also, it offers one of the longest money-back guarantees available – you get 97 days to make up your mind if you opt for shared hosting services.
4. SiteGround – cheap web hosting in the UK with excellent customer support
| Rating: | |
| Starting price: | From £1.99/month |
| Notable features: | Caching, staging, multi-user tools, white-label hosting |
SiteGround offers 24/7 support in the form of phone calls, emails, and live chat. If you’re new to web hosting, reliable customer support is essential for answering any of your questions and solving problems. Fortunately, that’s not the only perk you get with SiteGround, which offers subscriptions starting at just £1.99/month.
Performance in the UK. SiteGround is yet another budget-friendly provider that doesn’t actually have a data center in the UK. Instead, the host relies on a CDN to deliver great results for its customers. I’m glad to report that SiteGround actually is a high-performance host. During testing, it demonstrated an uptime of 99.9% with an average loading speed of 0.9s. Moreover, the average response time was 481ms – an overall excellent result for a provider with no data center in the UK.
| Uptime: | 99.9% |
| Average response time: | 481ms |
| Site loading time: | 0.9s |
Features. SiteGround offers free website migration, so you can easily transfer your website from another web hosting service. You also get free SSL certificates, an intuitive Site Tools panel, and automatic daily backups. Just like DreamHost, SiteGround supports 1 website with its entry plan. You also get 10GB storage, free CDN, daily backups, free email, and other great perks.
Pricing. SiteGround plans begin at £1.99/month, a price beat only by Bluehost. Besides being affordable, SiteGround is also great for beginners because of all the features and excellent customer service that come with it. As is the standard, you also get a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can test this provider stress-free.
5. HostGator – best cheap web hosting for UK startups
| Rating: | |
| Starting price: | From $2.75/month |
| Notable features: | cPanel hosting, free website builder |
You may already be familiar with the name HostGator as it’s been around since 2002. This web hosting service offers a variety of plans that can accommodate up to 50 websites. Startups in particular will enjoy HostGator thanks to its drag-and-drop website builder, which can help minimize development costs. Overall, pricing starts at $2.75/month, which, converted to GBP, is a great deal.
Performance in the UK. HostGator doesn’t have a data center in the UK, either. However, it performed well under in-house stress tests. First of all, we’ve confirmed that HostGator sticks to its 99.9% uptime guarantee. Moreover, it performed very well in terms of average response time (1.2s) and site loading time (525ms). When testing the host, I also was impressed by the intuitive website builder – I encountered no performance issues.
| Uptime: | 99.9% |
| Average response time: | 525ms |
| Site loading time: | 1.2s |
Features. You can easily migrate your website to HostGator and get unmetered bandwidth and malware scanning (on shared hosting plans). You can also rely on its user-friendly cPanel to help you manage your websites. The entry shared hosting plan is called Hatchling and it offers such advantages as unlimited bandwidth, free domain and SSL for the first year, malware scanning, and chat support. Plus, it offers support for up to 10 websites – more than what you get with the entry plans of DreamHost and SiteGround.
Pricing. HostGator plans begin at $2.75/month. Like other hosting services, your HostGator subscription has a 30-day money-back guarantee. So, you have the freedom to test the hosting provider and decide whether or not you want to commit full-time.
Cheapest UK web hosting comparison
| Bluehost | Hostinger | DreamHost | SiteGround | HostGator | |
| Rating | |||||
| Servers in the UK | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| Cheapest price in GBP | £1.59/month | £2.20/month | $2.59/month | £1.99/month | $2.75/month |
| One-click WordPress installation | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| WordPress migration | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| Website builder included | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Free domain registration | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Free professional email | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes | ❌ No (from $1.67/month) | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| SSD | ✅ From 10GB | ✅ From 100GB | ✅ Unlimited | ✅ From 10GB | ✅ From 10GB |
| Bandwidth | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
How we tested and ranked the best cheap UK web hosts
To rank the best cheap web hosting in the UK, we’ve performed thorough analysis and testing of the leading web hosting providers. First, together with Cybernews experts, I carefully reviewed 56 hosting providers. Then, based on pricing and features, we selected the top providers. After thoroughly testing them to check the performance metrics, I concluded my top 5 cheap UK web hosting providers. Here’s how I came up with the list:
- Performance in the UK (30%). When reviewing the top affordable hosting providers, I checked their performance. I only included hosts that can offer reliable uptime guarantees and top-notch average response and site load times.
- Pricing (25%). Of course, when choosing the cheapest providers for the UK market, I focused on pricing. However, I didn’t automatically pick the cheapest hosts. Instead, I looked for a perfect balance between affordable pricing and quality services. All providers on the final list are budget-friendly but can offer great services with the cheapest plans.
- Resources (25%). When assessing affordable plans, I checked what resources were available with them. I only picked providers that offer enough resources for small businesses that need to to build basic websites. Simultaneously, I only picked providers that offer a chance to scale with more resources available with other budget-friendly plans.
- Features (20%). During the analysis, I paid close attention to the features and benefits that come with each provider. I was especially interested in features that are included in the cheapest plans. I favored providers that came with website builders, free SSL and domains, marketing and SEO integrations, AI-powered tools, and other perks.
Is it important for the host to have servers in the UK?
Not anymore. A decade ago, it was crucial to have servers in the UK if most of your customers were based here and you wanted a high-performing website. Today, hosting technologies are advanced enough that you are no longer tied to a physical data center.
With a CDN in place, web content can be dispersed across the globe. For example, while Bluehost doesn’t have a data center in the UK, it employs the Cloudflare CDN with servers in various geographical locations. They decrease server load, increase site speed, ensure reliability, and even enhance the overall security. Here are the main benefits of a CDN:
- Global reach. With a CDN, the physical location of the host's servers is no longer critical. Content is distributed across a network of servers worldwide, including the UK.
- Reduced latency. CDNs minimize the impact of server location by serving content from edge servers closest to the user. Therefore, it’s possible that a host with an effective CDN in place could outperform a single UK-based server for global audiences.
- Improved reliability. CDNs provide redundancy and load balancing. This means you non longer need UK-based servers to maintain consistent performance and uptime for UK visitors.
- Scalability. Content delivery networks can handle traffic spikes more efficiently than a single data center. This means your preferred host doesn’t need to have dedicated UK servers for managing high loads from British users.
Final thoughts
You don’t need to sacrifice quality when finding an affordable UK web hosting provider. My best cheap hosting solutions provide a variety of choices for users with diverse needs. Whether you’re building a portfolio of your work, a repository for your podcast episodes, or an online store, these hosting services will accommodate your requirements.
My top recommendation for a cheap UK web hosting is Bluehost. Not only does it have the most affordable plans, but it also has an impressive set of features that other providers struggle to compete with. Subscriptions start from just £1.59/month, you get a free domain, great performance, 24/7 support, and an impressive WonderBlocks builder.
Hostinger is another great pick – it offers one-click WordPress installation, a website builder, free domain registration, free email, unlimited bandwidth, and more. And while it’s no longer the most crucial aspect in today’s world, Hostinger is also the only provider on this list with a data center in the UK.
Cheapest web hosting UK FAQs
How much does server hosting cost in the UK?
Shared hosting in the UK can be as cheap as £1.59/month. This is the entry price of Bluehost. Typically, shared hosting costs range from £2 to £10 per month. Dedicated hosting is much more expensive – Bluehost’s entry plan costs £105.75/month.
What is the best web hosting service in the UK?
Bluehost is the best web hosting service in the UK thanks to affordable prices, rich list of features, and unlimited bandwidth. You also get 24/7 chat support and can test the services risk-free using the 30-day money-back guarantee.
How to create a website free of cost in the UK?
You can create a free website in the UK using such popular free website builders as Wix and Squarespace. However, note in many cases, websites built for free come with branding as well as traffic and bandwidth limitations. As an alternative, consider cheap UK web hosting providers like Bluehost and Hostinger.
How can I get a free domain name in the UK?
Many web hosting providers, like Bluehost, offer free domain names, though domain options may be limited. Popular domains (like .com and .org) or more modern options (like .io) usually require a domain purchase.
Can you buy a domain name UK forever?
No. Domains are rented and not owned, meaning you need to keep paying for your domain if you want to retain it forever.
