Best WordPress Hosting UK – Who should you choose?

Last update: January 2022

WordPress hosting

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Before we get started, here are some WordPress fact-nuggets to throw at you.

Did you know that WordPress too nearly 400 years to build? No, me neither.

According to Open Hub’s Project Cost Calculator, WordPress has (to date) taken the effort of over 380 person-years. This is based off of 1.4 million lines of code, with an estimated cost of over $21 million.

According to Netfcraft, there are currently 1.3 billion active websites live right now. Of that, an estimated 38% of all sites are powered by WordPress.

That means approx. 494,000,000 sites are using WordPress.

Interesting stuff, but who has the best WordPress hosting in the UK right now, can I just use a £2.49 per month hosting plan and install WordPress myself and what is “WordPress hosting”?

In the article we are going to look at what real WordPress hosting is, what you should look for from a WordPress web hosting plan and who has the best WordPress hosting in the UK.

Why do you need the best WordPress hosting?

I won’t go in to too much detail here. If you’re searching for the “best WordPress hosting UK”, you’ve more than likely already decided to use WordPress to build your website.

On the off chance you are still researching how to build your website, here’s a quick primer on WordPress hosting.

WordPress hosting is a form of web hosting that has been specifically optimised for, you guessed it… WordPress.

Websites built using WordPress have unique characteristics (PHP versions, MySQL databases, scripts etc.), and these can cause performance issues if the hosting is not properly optimised.

This could result in:

  • Certain parts of the website not loading properly
  • Increased page load times
  • Maybe even some downtime

The side-effect of this could be lost traffic and revenue for you. Research has shown there is over 30% increased probability in some one bouncing from your website if it takes up to 3 seconds to load.

It get’s much worse from there!

 

Google page loads and bounce rateYou’ll find most web hosts advertise some form of WordPress hosting, but a lot simply offer it as a one-click install app.

That is not genuine WordPress hosting.

Read on to find out what to look for when choosing the best UK hosting for WordPress.

What makes the best UK WordPress hosting?

I’m personally a huge fan of WordPress, and use it to power this website.

That said, it is not perfect and WordPress on a normal shared hosting server can quickly become slow and difficult to manage.

Genuine WordPress hosting has been developed to address WordPress’ weaknesses and turn them in to a positive.

Key areas where the best UK WordPress hosting companies will invest include:

  • Support staff trained in WordPress and how to fix WordPress hosting issues
  • Servers optimised for WordPress to ensure fast load times
  • Automatic WordPress core updates to ensure your site stays secure
  • WordPress staging environment to test changes before you push them live
  • Free WordPress plugins and themes are always a nice bonus!
  • Regular website backups to protect your website data

Who are the best WordPress hosting UK?

Based on our HostScore and user reviews here are the top three UK WordPress web hosts.

They all offer WordPress optimised technology, support and security, and have a fantastic reputation for product quality and customer support in general.

20i Review

20i home page

20i are a relative newcomer to the world of hosting, but they are backed by the two founders of 123-reg, Webfusion and more recently Heart Internet.

HostScore: 96%

Agree or disagree? Leave your review

20i Pros
+ Advanced hosting platform
+ Best reseller hosting platform
+ 99.99% uptime guarantee

20i Cons
- No money back guarantee on VPS
- That's about it for cons!

Read review 👉 Go to web host

20i's recent investment in software and hardware means their platform is using the most up to date stack available.

It also means their server contention rate (the number of websites you are sharing a server with) is going to be small – that’s a good thing.

20i are totally text based support, and do not offer any support over the phone. For me, this makes total sense; live chat and ticket based support are easier to explain technical issues. All their support team are based in the UK.

>>> Visit 20i hosting to get started or go to our 20i review page

Krystal Review

Krystal hosting home page

Krystal claims to be the largest independent web host in the UK with over 27,000 active clients and more 195,000 websites hosted, and is rated the best web hosting company by many popular review sites, a fact reflected by their high HostScore rating.

HostScore: 93%

Agree or disagree? Leave your review

Krystal Pros
+ 24x7 UK based support
+ 60-day no-fuss money-back guarantee
+ 99.99% uptime guarantee

Krystal Cons
- Domain names not included with shared hosting
- Basic packages a bit pricey for specifications
- Advertised prices don't include VAT

Read review Go to web host

Krystal was founded in 2002 by Simon Blackler after his frustration with the inability to find an “Honest, Reliable & Personal” alternative to the common large hosting corporations that dominated the UK market.

With their 60-day money-back guarantee, Krystal offers twice the risk-free offer compared to the typical 30-day guarantee of other hosting providers.

>>> Visit Krystal hosting to get started or go to our Krystal review page

SiteGround Review

siteground home page

SiteGround were founded in 2004, and the Bulgarian based web host has exploded on to the scene. The company currently manages over 2 million domain names across multiple territories.

HostScore: 89%

Agree or disagree? Leave your review

SiteGround Pros
+ Advanced hosting platform
+ Free SSL and CDN
+ 99.99% uptime guarantee

SiteGround Cons
- Prices go up a lot after first year
- Expensive domain names
- Setup fee for monthly billing

Read review Go to web host

SiteGround have not gone down the path of bolting on a ton of supplementary products like Office 365 or marketing services, focusing their efforts on providing hosting technology and platforms to power your websites.

It is worth noting that SiteGround are one of the few hosting companies that haven't been hoovered up in the great industry consolidation of the past few years.

SiteGround were one of the earliest pioneers of WordPress specific hosting packages, an their first-mover status shows with the breadth and depth of WordPress-based features on offer.

SiteGround offers all customers a 99.99% monthly uptime guarantee. This works out at guaranteeing no more than just over 4 minutes of downtime per month and just under an hour per year.

>>> Visit SiteGround to get started or go to our SiteGround review page

Final thoughts

Hopefully you’ve found this article helpful. If you have any questions feel free to get in touch.

You can also have a look at our web host directory for our latest web hosting reviews, and leave a review yourself. Go here to check out the latest web host deals.

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