There are some definitions which need to be elaborated on in order to get a better idea of the most important factors for choosing a good UK web hosting services provider.

Disk space and bandwidth

These two are not the most important factors to look for in web hosting. The size of an average business website frame created by us is 2.45 Mb (including all program scripts and design files). Every 100 pages of plain text takes about 0.8 Mb, and each picture gallery which consists of 30–35 pictures takes 3.5 Mb. If you sum up the numbers, you will see that the size of your website is about 3–30 Mb. Your website will probably never exceed 100–200 Mb.

Larger websites may seem better in some aspects, but, when choosing the web hosting provider, there are far more important factors to consider.

Price

Our clients often ask us what is the cheapest web hosting service available. Instead of looking at the prices when selecting a domain and server provider, we suggest our clients to start by comparing the actual services they provide, finding out what kind of support is available, checking the server locations, making sure whether the UK domain is included to the whole package etc.

Not choosing a UK web host carefully enough may cause you a lot of headache: slow web response, excessive downtime, annoyingly unprofessional support and many other problems, which you can avoid by just making an aware choice from the very beginning.

We have experiences with all UK web hosting providers listed on this page and they have proved to be good. Thanks to the international orientation and the volume of the servers their prices are quite of the same range.

Domain is integrated into hosting package

When you order your server from any of the UK web hosting providers listed on this page, they will offer you the registration and maintenance of the domain with no extra fee. More important than the fee itself is the fact that the integrated registration and renewal process makes your life much easier. Instead of renewing two things and making two separate payments (for the server and domain), you can make just one and have less things to worry about.

Location of servers

Historically, the web hosting providers abroad were priced much lower than in the UK. However, we do not consider it to be a good idea to host your website in a server that is located in other countries, if your intended audience is mainly here. Those companies that have servers located in the UK provide faster connection (the difference may be as big as 10–15 milliseconds). Secondly, the localized service is important as well. All web hosting companies listed on this page have web hosting servers in the Britain, you can pay for the services in pounds and receive the closest client support by UK staff.

Responding time of host's network

Script’s execution speed depends on how fast and powerful servers there are available. Another quite important parameter is the network’s speed measured in milliseconds. Literally, it means the length and the speed of the cable connected to the hosting provider’s servers. Most UK website hosts publish the technical data of servers and internet connection parameters on their website. The good thing is that you are able to check internet connection speed also by yourself by clicking "Start" => "Run" => type in "command" =>, and then type "ping domainname.co.uk". Any number below 100 ms is good, the faster is always the better (because websites appear on visitors’ browsers quicker). Sometimes a hosting company has servers in multiple locations – in addition to Great Britain, in Germany or even in the USA.

E-mails and domain registration

It is possible to make life much easier with choosing website hosting provider in UK, which provides UK domain registration service within one package. It means, that you need to worry less about updating, configuring and making sure, that domain works well - all this is provided to you by web hosting company. Make sure, that creating new e-mail addresses in format name[no-Smpam).surname@yourdomain.co.uk is possible in hosting management panel. This is really basic service, but there are still host providers, who doesn't have decent e-mail accounts manager in their management panel.

Website visitors statistics

We recomend to choose good hosting web provider in the UK, which has standard website visitors statistics available in web hosting manager panel. There are many similar internet visitors statistics solutions, which work equally well, like AWStats, Webalizer, CrawlTrack. To be able properly track the visitors in your internet page, be sure that there is at least one of those programs available by website host provider in their web hosting server.

Service hours, helpdesk availability



It would be wise to make sure what kind of customer service a particular UK web hosting provider offers; are the communication channels like e-mail, instant messaging or phone, provided by particular web hosting company, suitable for you. Usually the web hosting technical maintenance of domains and servers is provided 24/7 by the UK internet companies, but hosting web customer helpdesk may not be open all day round. Also take a look at best web hosting guidance materials and FAQ pages, and make sure whether there are enough good website hosting manuals available and whether they are easy to understand.

What is web hosting?

To choose the best web hosting for your website, you may also take a look at the definition in "What is web hosting". It will help you to understand what is important when choosing top host provider, but also to get the idea of what kind of web hosting suits your needs the best.

Which UK web hosting is the best?

Many of our clients have been asking us which UK web hosting is the best. Our first suggestion is to analyse your needs regarding web hosting – how much server space, bandwidth, domains, databases and e-mails do you actually need –, and only then decide which web hosting providers meet your web hosting needs. So, instead of asking "Which UK web hosting is the best" you should ask "Which UK web hosting meets your real web hosting needs". To make the choosing between different web hosting providers much easier, see more details on the article "Different Types of Web Hosting Services" in order to find out which parameters are the most important when choosing the best web hosting for your website.

Please take into consideration that the top UK web hosting providers listed on this page are independent web hosting companies, and they have their own web hosting terms and conditions as well as privacy policies. We suggest these companies only because they have been providing excellent services and their technical systems as well as support are on best level we have seen so far.