123 Reg Review
Are 123 Reg right for you? Find out with our review below
123 Reg’s review scores
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123 Reg have been around since 2000, which in internet years is forever. 123 Reg is currently owned by US hosting giants GoDaddy,
123 Reg are one of the UK’s largest domain name registrars, with over 3.5 million domains registered and 1 millions websites hosting throughout its lifetime.
123 Reg’s marketing is primarily focused on home office and small office businesses, but there’s nothing to stop you using them to host your personal WordPress blog.
123 Reg want to be your one-stop shop for anything related to your website, offering a wide range of related services, including:
- Domain names
- Shared web hosting
- WordPress hosting
- VPS
- Website builder
- Email hosting
- Email marketing
- Online shop
- SEO software
- SSL certificates
- Pay per click management
- The list goes on.
They will also build your website for you, with their “Make me a website” service.
123 Reg run a lot of price promotions to attract new customers, such as 99p domain names. Whilst their normal, non-promotional prices are not the highest you’ll find, they aren’t cheap either.
123 Reg hosting options
The one thing you can credit 123 reg with is their wide range of hosting products and supporting services. Here is an overview of their core hosting products and plans.
Web hosting
There are four shared web hosting option to choose from. The plans vary in the number of domain names included, number of websites you can host, disk space and databases.
If you would like to build your website with WordPress, all but the cheapest plan come with a once-click install option.
123 Reg only includes SSL certificates with the two most expensive plans.
Website builder
123-reg’s click, drag and drop website building tool is is meant for anyone who doesn’t have much, or any, experience building websites.
Hosting is included in the package, along with a domain name and SSL certificate.
The pre-built templates and tools means getting a website up and running can be quick, albeit with very little flexibility when it comes to design.
Premium hosting
123-Reg’s Premium hosting is their attempt to bridge the simplicity of shared web hosting and the more powerful, but more technically difficult VPS (Virtual Private Servers).
123-reg describes Premium Hosting as “super fast, super-reliable hosting built to handle even the mightiest of websites.”
123 Reg is responsible for maintaining the server, providing you with access to a control panel to manage your hosting and website.
A couple of key reasons why you should consider using Premium Hosting include fewer websites sharing your server resources (faster page loads) and load balancing (with a 99.99% up time guarantee).
WordPress hosting
You can choose their traditional hosting to host your WordPress website, or opt for one of their two WordPress specific plans.
Their WordPress hosting boats of automatic WordPress updates, load balancing, unlimited bandwidth and regular site backups.
Only the top plan comes with an SSL certificate included in the price.
VPS (Virtual Private Servers)
123 Reg also sell VPS, a product that attempts to bring some of the power of a dedicated server at a much lower price.
VPS are still a very technical product. Although you have access to tools and more advanced control panel modules, you will still need to have the same server management skills as if it were a dedicated server.
Ordering with 123 Reg
Searching for a domain name is very quick and easy with 123 Reg. Their domain search is one the the best out there.
Simply type if the domain you want to register and you’ll see a number of options, depending on its availability.
They will also recommend other popular extensions you may want to protect.
It is worth pointing out that 123 Reg prices do not include VAT. Because they claim they specifically target business customers they do not have to include it.
So, if you’re not a business customer, what ever price you see advertised is going to cost you 20% more at the till.
Annoyingly, once you add your domain name to your basket 123 Reg will automatically add a product to remove your name and contact details from the WHOIS database, to your basket without your permission.
You can remove it, but I wonder how many people buy this without realising. This does seem like a cheap trick.
That aside, the rest of the order process is super easy, and they don’t bombard you with any other cross-selling.
Signing up to a new account is straightforward and literally takes a couple of minutes.
Once you have logged in their is a shock to the system. It is literally once of the worst control panels you will come across.
A mix of different design styles, UX intent and cross-selling, initially you’ll struggle to navigate around it.
123 Reg customer service
123 Reg have extensive online support documentation for frequently asked questions and ‘how to’ guides.
You can also get in touch with them via phone or raising a support ticket. They also run a dedicated status website (https://www.123-status.co.uk/) to alert customers when their are known issues.
123 Reg’s customer support team are based in the UK and Romania, and they are open between 9AM and 7PM weekdays and 9AM and 430 PM on weekends.
Money back guarantee
123 Reg offers a 14-day money back guarantee for their non-domain products.
If you cancel your qualifying product during this period, you can receive a full refund.
Domain names are exempt because 123 Reg has to pay the domain registry (e.g. Nominet) a fee to register the domain name.
123 Reg up time and reliability
A simple search for “123 reg downtime” will show 123 Reg has a well reported history of technical glitches and issues, which can have quite a dramatic impact on their customers’ websites. Some of these are down to old technology and some down to human error.
Should you host with 123 Reg?
123 Reg have been in the domains and hosting game for a long time, and it shows with some of their outdated technology, price strategy and support (not 24×7). There are cheaper and better hosting options out there.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Have you used 123 Reg before? Help other people thinking about using 123 Reg. Please share your experiences (good or bad) by leaving a review below.