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Choosing a web host is one of those jobs that looks simple until you read the small print. The price on the advert is rarely the price you pay in year two, “free” domains and mailboxes often expire after twelve months, and some of the cheapest deals only work if you pay for four years up front.
This guide compares five hosts for UK small businesses, sole traders, clubs and first-time website owners: Hostinger, SiteGround, Krystal, 20i and DreamHost. We show the introductory price and the renewal price side by side, say plainly who each one suits, and point out the catches.
Prices checked 15 November 2026 on each provider’s own UK website, during Black Friday sales. Prices exclude VAT unless we say otherwise: if you are not VAT-registered, add 20%. DreamHost charges in US dollars. Offers change often, so the price at the provider’s checkout is the one that counts.
The short answer
- Cheapest way to get started: Hostinger, if you are happy to pay for four years in one go. See Hostinger’s UK plans (affiliate link)
- Best for predictable, same-price-every-year hosting with UK support: Krystal. See Krystal’s plans
- Best for a hands-off WordPress site with strong support: SiteGround, as long as you budget for the renewal price. See SiteGround’s plans (affiliate link)
- Best if you want no contract and expect to grow: 20i. See 20i’s plans
- Best for lots of small hobby sites on one account, if you don’t mind US dollars: DreamHost. See DreamHost’s plans
Comparison table: the five hosts side by side
These are the entry plans most small sites would start on. “Renewal” is what the same plan costs once the introductory offer ends.
| Host | Entry plan | Intro price (ex VAT) | Renewal (ex VAT) | What you commit to | UK data centre? | Money-back period | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hostinger | Single (1 site) | £1.49/mo – £71.52 paid up front for 48 months | £7.99/mo | 48 months up front for the headline price | You choose a server location at setup; check the UK is offered for your plan | 30 days | Lowest cost over four years; beginners on a tight budget |
| SiteGround | StartUp (1 site) | £1.99/mo – £23.88 for the first 12 months | £13.99/mo | 12 months up front | Yes, London | 30 days | Hands-off WordPress with well-regarded support |
| Krystal | Amethyst (1 site) | £70 a year (or £7/mo monthly) – no intro discount | Same: £70 a year | Monthly, yearly or two-yearly | Yes | 60 days | UK businesses wanting a steady price and UK phone support |
| 20i | Startup (1 site) | £1 for the first month | £10/mo | Monthly, no contract | Yes (also US and Asia) | Not stated on the plan page; ask before buying | Growing sites and people who may run several sites later |
| DreamHost | Web Hosting Launch (up to 25 sites) | $2.89/mo for the first year (US dollars, plus tax) | $10.99/mo | 1 year up front for the sale price | No – nearest is Amsterdam | 30 days | Several small sites on one plan; US-based company |
What one small site would really cost over four years
Because introductory prices vary so much, the fairest comparison is the total over a few years. This table adds up hosting only, excluding VAT, at the prices we checked, and assumes renewal prices stay the same (they may not).
| Host and plan | Year 1 | Total over 4 years | Things to add |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hostinger Single (48-month term) | £71.52 (covers all 4 years) | £71.52 | Domain renewal after any free period. Renewal for the next four years is £7.99/mo. |
| Krystal Amethyst (yearly) | £70 | £280 (or £252 paying two years at a time) | A domain: Krystal charges £7.99 a year for a .co.uk, the same at renewal. |
| 20i Startup (monthly) | £111 | £471 | A domain. No free domain on this plan. |
| DreamHost Launch (yearly) | $34.68 | about $430 plus tax | Email after the 3-month free trial; domain after year one. |
| SiteGround StartUp (yearly) | £23.88 | £527.52 | Domain renewal after year one (the free domain is a .com, .org or .net). |
The pattern is clear: Hostinger is cheapest if you can pay four years up front; Krystal is the cheapest host here that charges the same every year; SiteGround is cheap in year one and the dearest after that.
How we chose and compared these hosts
We want to be straight with you about how this guide was put together.
- It is research-based. Prices, plan limits, refund terms and data-centre locations come from each host’s own published UK pages, checked on the date shown above. We have not run our own speed or uptime tests, and we don’t pretend to have.
- We only cover hosts we can recommend through an affiliate programme. Our founder, David Price, has been a paying customer of SiteGround, Hostinger and DreamHost over the years. We have not used Krystal or 20i ourselves; we include them because they are well-established UK hosts with clear pricing. This site itself runs on Hostinger.
- We weigh what matters to a small UK business: the true cost over several years, whether email and backups are included, UK data centres, how easy it is to get help, and how fair the refund terms are.
Who each host suits
Hostinger: the lowest cost if you can pay up front
Hostinger’s UK prices are the lowest here, but the headline £1.49 a month depends on paying £71.52 (plus VAT) for 48 months in one go. That is still very good value: around £18 a year before VAT for four years of hosting. The catch comes at renewal, when the Single plan goes to £7.99 a month and the Premium plan (three sites) to £10.99 a month.
The Single plan includes one website, 10 GB of storage, weekly backups and a free mailbox. If you want daily backups, you need the Unlimited plan (£2.49 a month on the same 48-month term, renewing at £13.99). Hostinger uses its own control panel, hPanel, rather than cPanel; most beginners find it straightforward.
Choose Hostinger if you want the lowest cost for the next four years and you’ll set a reminder to review it before renewal. Check Hostinger’s current UK prices (affiliate link) · Read our Hostinger review
SiteGround: polished WordPress hosting with a big renewal jump
SiteGround runs on Google Cloud, has a London data centre, and includes daily backups, free business email, a CDN and its own security and speed plugins for WordPress on every plan. Its support has a strong reputation. The first year on StartUp is just £23.88 before VAT.
The renewal is the sting: StartUp goes to £13.99 a month, which is £167.88 a year before VAT, roughly seven times the first-year price. SiteGround is open about this on its plan cards, but you should go in knowing it.
Choose SiteGround if you value a well-supported, hands-off WordPress setup more than the lowest long-term price. Check SiteGround’s current UK prices (affiliate link) · Read our SiteGround review
Krystal: same price every year, UK-based support
Krystal is an independent UK company and a certified B Corp. It does not do teaser prices: the Amethyst plan is £70 a year before VAT now and at renewal. That includes unlimited mailboxes, daily backups, cPanel, free SSL and phone support, and it comes with a 60-day money-back guarantee, double the usual 30 days.
Amethyst hosts one website with 10 GB of storage and does not include a free domain; the Ruby plan (£110 a year, five sites) does. Krystal sells .co.uk domains at £7.99 a year, the same on renewal.
Choose Krystal if you want a UK host, a price that doesn’t jump, and the reassurance of being able to phone someone. See Krystal’s plans · Read our Krystal review
20i: no contract, room to grow
20i is a UK host best known among web designers and resellers. Its Startup plan is £1 for the first month and then £10 a month, with no contract. It includes daily backups, a global CDN, malware scanning, ten mailboxes and UK data centres, on an autoscaling platform designed to cope with traffic spikes.
For a single small site it costs more than the others over time, and you buy your domain separately. 20i’s plan page doesn’t say whether prices include VAT; independent price trackers list them as excluding VAT, so budget £12 a month if you’re not VAT-registered.
Choose 20i if you prefer paying monthly with no tie-in, or you expect to add more sites or traffic. See 20i’s plans · Read our 20i review
DreamHost: lots of sites per plan, but it’s a US company
DreamHost is an independent, employee-owned US host founded in the late 1990s. Its Launch plan allows up to 25 websites, with daily backups and a free domain for the first year, at $2.89 a month for the first year and $10.99 a month after that.
For UK buyers there are real drawbacks: you pay in US dollars (your card may add a foreign-transaction fee), tax is added at checkout, the nearest data centre is Amsterdam, and email is only free for three months. Support is by chat and email, 24/7.
Choose DreamHost if you want to run several small or hobby sites on one inexpensive plan and don’t need UK-based hosting. See DreamHost’s plans · Read our DreamHost review
What to look for in a UK web host
1. The renewal price, not just the intro price
Multiply the renewal price by the number of years you expect to keep the site. A host that is £2 a month this year and £14 a month for the next five can easily cost more than one that is £7 a month throughout.
2. Email at your own domain
An address like hello@yourbusiness.co.uk looks far more professional than a free webmail address. Check whether mailboxes are included for good, or only for the first year or a trial period.
3. Backups you can restore yourself
Websites do get hacked, and updates do occasionally break things. Daily backups that you can restore with a click are worth more than any speed claim. We’d also keep an independent copy elsewhere, such as Google Drive, using a free plugin like UpdraftPlus.
4. UK data centres and UK hours support
A server in or near the UK makes pages a little quicker for UK visitors and keeps your data under UK or EU rules. Being able to reach support during UK working hours, ideally by phone, matters more than people expect.
5. A fair money-back guarantee
Most hosts give 30 days. Krystal gives 60. Domain fees are almost never refundable, even when the domain was “free”.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest web hosting in the UK for a small business?
Of the hosts we compare, Hostinger is cheapest over four years if you pay the 48-month term up front (£71.52 before VAT at the time of checking). If you’d rather pay the same price every year, Krystal’s Amethyst plan at £70 a year before VAT is the cheapest steady option here.
Do UK web hosting prices include VAT?
Usually not. Hostinger, SiteGround and Krystal all show UK prices without VAT, and 20i’s prices are listed by independent trackers as ex VAT. If you aren’t VAT-registered, add 20%.
Do I need a UK-based host?
It isn’t essential, but a UK or nearby European data centre helps speed for UK visitors and keeps data handling simpler. Krystal, 20i and SiteGround have UK data centres; Hostinger lets you choose a location; DreamHost’s nearest is Amsterdam.
Is WordPress hosting different from ordinary web hosting?
Mostly it is the same shared hosting with extra WordPress tools: one-click installs, automatic updates, caching and staging. All five hosts here run WordPress well. See our guide to the basics of hosting a WordPress website.
When would I need a VPS instead?
Only when a busy or demanding site outgrows shared hosting, or you need full control of the server. Most small business sites never do. Our VPS guide explains the signs.
Can I move hosts later?
Yes. Your domain and your website can both be moved, and most hosts offer free WordPress migration. Keeping your own backup copy makes any move far less stressful.
Our verdict
There is no single “best” host, only the best fit for your budget and how much help you want. For most UK small businesses starting out, we’d shortlist Krystal for steady pricing and UK support, or Hostinger for the lowest cost if paying four years up front suits you. Pick SiteGround if premium WordPress support is worth the higher renewal, 20i if you want no contract and room to grow, and DreamHost if you run several small sites and don’t mind dollars.
Want the full picture of costs, including the domain and email? Read how to get your small business online for under £100 a year.