WordPress hosting is a hosting plan that makes hosting your WordPress site easier and faster. The best WordPress hosting plans offer simplified CMS installation, improved plugin management, automatic updates, one-click installations, and other benefits within a WP preconfigured environment.
At HostAdvice, we always look for the best hosting plans for our readers based on their individual needs and preferences. This article explores the best WordPress hosting providers of 2024 for websites that target users in the United Kingdom.
Our review team applied their web hosting experience and expertise to find the best WordPress hosting providers for those in Britain, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. Any website operating or targeting users in these areas can be sure to get quality WordPress hosting providers from the companies in this review.
This independent study ranks providers based on their performance during our web testing and reviews from past and present customers. We also consider new features and upgrades and pitch the providers against one another to see which offers the most value for customers.
Key Points to Consider Before Choosing UK WordPress Hosting
Here are five practical-oriented points that you should keep in mind when selecting a UK WordPress hosting provider:
- Reliability: Ideally, you want a provider with a 99.99% uptime guarantee.
- Security: Your WordPress host provider should provide in-house security solutions and allow you to implement your security measures.
- Customer support: Read reviews from other users and contact the customer support agents through all available channels during your testing phase to see how fast, helpful, and accurate the customer support is.
- Cost-effectiveness: Compare the pricing with the features available in each plan to get the provider that offers the most bang for your buck.
- User-friendliness: Even if you are a pro, you need a provider that offers an easy-to-use interface. A user-friendly control panel will make your hosting processes faster, more effortless, and stress-free.
The Best UK WordPress Hosting Services of 2024 (Bought and Tested)
- Overall score: 4.6
- Features: 4.6
- Support: 4.7
- User Friendly: 4.7
- Pricing: 4.6
- Reliability: 4.6
Overall score – 4.6: Hostinger doesn’t have any edge regarding WordPress hosting, but it doesn’t drop the ball either. It performs well enough to be on the list of the top-ranked WordPress hosts on the market.
Features – 4.6: Hostinger offers excellent features such as free domain, free migration, and its custom-built hPanel.
Support – 4.7: You can contact helpful customer support via live chat and email. You can also get answers and other resources from their knowledge base and tutorials and learn about hosting from the Hostinger Academy.
User Friendly – 4.7: Hostinger is very easy to use, and you can carry out most processes with only a few clicks. And although the custom-built control panel is not what many people are used to, it is easy to learn and intuitive.
Pricing – 4.6: Hostinger offers low prices for plans on more extended contracts. The starting plan costs $1.99/mo (renews at $3.99). It offers 1 website hosting, 50 GB SSD storage, ~10 000 Visits Monthly, 1 Email Account, free domain, and 100 GB Bandwidth.
Reliability – 4.6: You can expect outstanding performance and security from Hostinger servers thanks to its reliance on CloudLinux and its data center locations in Asia, America, and Europe. The company also offers a 99.99% uptime guarantee.
Additional parameter – Website builder: Although many of the other providers in this article provide website builders, Hostinger stands out due to their superb in-house website builder, Zyro. Zyro is an excellent choice for digital creatives looking to create an online portfolio. So if you are a photographer or graphic designer, and require a WordPress website that showcases your work in the best light, then you should consider Hostinger.
Hostinger has the best WP hosting plans for those who want all-around features for a reasonable price.
Pros & Cons
- Free SSL Certificates in All Plans
- The Cheapest Offers on The Market
- 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
- Excellent Set of Features
- User-Friendly Control Panel
- Optimized for WordPress Performance
- No Free Domain in The Cheapest Shared Hosting Plan
- No Phone Support
- Live Chat Is Limited to Existing Clients
- Overall score: 5.0
- Features: 4.9
- Support: 5.0
- User Friendly: 5.0
- Pricing: 4.9
- Reliability: 4.9
Overall score – 5.0: At the very top of our recommendations is HostArmada because it offers an affordable managed WordPress hosting plan, a 99.99% uptime guarantee, and many great features. These features include unlimited websites and 24/7 support.
Features – 4.9: HostArmada offers all the features we have come to expect and love from a WordPress hosting plan. These features include seamless WordPress installation, comprehensive WordPress security, SSD cloud storage, automatic daily backups, and web server cache. You also get free cPanel and SSL certification in every WP hosting plan.
Support – 5.0: With 24/7 technical support available via chat, ticketing, and phone, you don’t have any reason to worry about this provider. You can reach customer care to migrate your WP site, install plugins and SSL certificates, or optimize your website.
User Friendly – 5.0: HostArmada is very easy to use, even for beginners hosting their first websites. The one-click installation processes and beginner-friendly cPanel will make WordPress hosting seem like a piece of cake. If you encounter issues, you can contact the ever-present and helpful customer care support team.
Pricing – 4.9: You can choose to pay monthly, annually, biennially, or triennially for any of HostArmada’s WordPress hosting plans. You get more discounts and promotions when subscribing for a year or more. The cheapest plan costs $ 2.99/mo (three-year contract) and offers 1 website, 15 GB SSD Storage, 2 Cores CPU, and 2 GB RAM.
Reliability – 4.9: You can expect impressive round-the-clock performance thanks to HostArmada’s Cloud-powered shared hosting servers, SSD storage, low client-server ratio, and a 99.9% uptime guarantee.
Additional parameter – Impressive Cloud WordPress Hosting: HostArmada offers the best WP hosting performance we’ve seen so far. It is no surprise considering that the managed WordPress hosting plan offers the exact specifications as its cloud-shared hosting. They also offer a 45-day money-back guarantee to encourage you to try their service at zero risk to your budget.
HostArmada is widely known for its well-priced WordPress hosting plans that offer excellent value for money and essential features.
Pros & Cons
- Free migration
- Free SSL for all domains and subdomains
- Fast loading speed
- Impressive website performance
- Inexpensive hosting plans
- Round-the-clock, helpful customer support
- High renewal rates
- Some features are only available on higher-priced plans
- Overall score: 4.8
- Features: 4.8
- Support: 4.9
- User Friendly: 4.8
- Pricing: 4.7
- Reliability: 4.8
Overall score – 4.8: Coming in at second best with its blazing server speed is FastComet. Its speed is complemented by its offerings of SSD-only cloud servers, RocketBooster and Cloudflare CDN.
Features – 4.8: FastComet offers shared hosting, cloud VPS and dedicated WordPress hosting plans. Each plan includes 1-click App Marketplace, user-friendly Client Control Area, cPanel/WHM, FastGuard, WordPress Resource Monitoring, and more!
Support – 4.9: There are over 3,000 tutorial pages to help you quickly launch and manage your WordPress hosting. If you need human support, you can reach the technical customer support team on any day of the week via mail, ticket, chats, and calls.
User Friendly – 4.8: FastComet pricing is quite competitive. The cheapest plan costs only $1.99/mo (discounted price) and contains 15GB SSD Space, 2 CPU Cores, and 2 GB RAM. You also get a 45-day money-back guarantee.
Reliability – 4.8: Regarding performance, FastComet delivers excellently due to its out-of-the-box WordPress optimization, superior WordPress security, SSD-only cloud servers, and resource monitoring.
Additional parameter – Fully managed WordPress cloud hosting: Although HostArmada steals the number one spot with super impressive WP hosting plans, FastComet also offers a fantastic deal. It provides an exceptional, fully managed WordPress cloud hosting solution for anyone who wants cost-effective WP hosting with expert 24/7 Technical Support.
Pros & Cons
- Incredible loading speeds and website performance
- Free daily backups, website migrations, and domain transfer
- Multiple data center locations worldwide
- 24/7/365 support channel
- 45-day money-back guarantee
- Free CDN
- Higher renewal fees
- Some features are limited to higher-priced plans
If you’ve never used WordPress and you want to start doing so now, there’s no better provider for you to use than ChemiCloud. With this web host, you can easily create, launch, and manage WordPress websites, blogs, online stores, and whichever other kind of WordPress site you want. That’s because you’ll get easy-to-use control panels like cPanel & WHM, one-click WordPress installs, fully managed services, managed software updates, and more.
- Overall Score: 5.0
- Pricing: 4.9
- Features: 5.0
- Performance: 5.0
- Support: 5.0
- User Friendly: 5.0
Pricing: With ChemiCloud, you can choose from three WordPress hosting plans, and all of them come with 45-day money-back guarantees. The entry-level option, called WordPress Starter, costs $1.95/month (on a triennial basis) and includes hosting for one website, 20GB NVMe storage, unlimited bandwidth, and a free domain.
Features: This web host comes with a wide range of features, including over 5,000 WordPress themes, more than 58,000 WordPress plugins, WordPress staging, unlimited bandwidth, free website migrations, 10 days backups, a free SSL certificate, unlimited email accounts, advanced firewall protection, malware scan & removal, proactive server monitoring, and more.
Performance: By using ChemiCloud, you’ll get super-fast loading speeds and performance as the provider uses LiteSpeed web servers, LiteSpeed cache, fast-paced NVMe storage, and Cloudflare CDN to boost your performance. Also, you’ll get a 99.99% uptime guarantee and a robust data center in London, UK.
Support: As a ChemiCloud user, you’ll have access to 24/7 WordPress support, available via multiple channels, including live chat, a ticketing system, a Knowledge Base, and video tutorials.
User Friendly: ChemiCloud comes with a wide range of great beginner-friendly features, including the Softaculous one-click installer, cPanel & WHM, manager software updates, proactive server monitoring, application auto-updates, and one-click WordPress installs.
Pros & Cons
- You’ll get immediate account setup and many WordPress-optimized tools and features.
- The provider will take care of all technical tasks for you.
- You’ll enjoy super-fast website speeds with a 99.9% uptime guarantee and servers in the UK.
- Prices are higher on renewal (but still worth the investment as they come with great features and services).
- Overall score: 4.5
- Features: 4.5
- Suppor: 4.3
- User Friendly: 4.5
- Pricing: 4.8
- Reliability: 4.5
Overall score – 4.5: IONOS offers the most flexibility, allowing you to seamlessly scale your hosting resources up or down. You can switch between any of its WordPress hosting plans without interruptions or downtime. It also includes freebies like domain and SSL certification.
Features – 4.5: IONOS offers an optimized WordPress platform and settings to ensure you get the best WordPress hosting experience. It also provides other features such as SSH access, free SSL certification, WP-CLI control, daily backups and recovery, free caching plugin, DDoS and malware protection, and free domain name for one year.
Support – 4.3: You can access IONOS’ technical support team round the clock via phone. You can also get valuable assistance through its numerous guides and help centers.
User Friendly – 4.5: Thanks to IONOS-managed WordPress hosting, you can quickly launch and manage your hosting environment. The plans also offer automated processes and many great plugins and themes.
Pricing – 4.8: IONOS offers low starting prices. One of the plans begins at $0.5/mo (but renews at $8/mo). However, the cheapest overall plan is the essential plan that starts at $3/mo and renews at $4/mo. It comes with 25 GB SSD storage, 2 MariaDB databases, an Autouptdates option, and a free domain for one year.
Reliability – 4.5: IONOS offers excellent performance and reliability thanks to its 99.97% uptime guarantee, 100% SSD storage, a geo-redundant hosting platform that hosts your data on two data centers, and a free caching plugin. You can also choose from any of its ten ISO-certified data centers in Europe and the USA.
Additional parameter – Flexibility: The first two providers on this list offer comprehensive managed WordPress hosting with seamless downgrades and upgrades, and IONOS is no exception. WordPress website owners can choose from its WordPress hosting options and switch from one hosting plan to another without experiencing server interruptions or downtime!
IONOS is famous for its ten ISO-certified data centers in Europe and the USA and geo-redundant hosting platform.
Pros & Cons
- Multiple data center locations
- Free SSL certification
- Supports multiple website hosting
- Competitive pricing
- Money-back guarantee
- Popular among WordPress website owners
- Platform has a learning curve
- Backup is a paid add-on
Ranking comparison between the Top Providers
Best UK WordPress Hosting Services: Final recommendations
After reading our extended comparison and review article, you might ask: How do I choose the best UK WordPress hosting service? Without context, our answer would be HostArmada since it provides all the necessary WP hosting features with affordable plans. However, when focusing on specific areas, you will see that some providers have the edge over others. We recommend finding a provider that meets your particular needs and hosting preferences.
However, do not be overly biased in the choosing criteria and ignore crucial aspects. Choose a provider that excels in your chosen aspect but also performs optimally in other standards. For instance, Hostinger is our recommendation for those who want to create an online portfolio of their designs and photographs. Hostinger also scored well in customer support, server performance, and ease of use.
This balanced approach will help you get the right web host while compromising on other areas.
Types of WordPress Hosting and Which Is the Right One for You?
WP hosting is a web hosting plan preconfigured for hosting WordPress websites. It is not a type of hosting solution like shared or dedicated hosting but rather an add-on to these. You can find WP hosting plans based on shared, VPS, or dedicated hosting solutions. This integration makes installing WordPress on servers easier and allows users to enjoy enhanced security, performance, and functionality.
Shared WordPress Hosting
Shared WP hosting offers more benefits than traditional shared hosting plans. They provide one-click installations, automatic updates, a variety of themes and plugins, and a support team to help with any WP hosting issues.
This WP hosting is an excellent option for beginners and small businesses. The web host handles server management and provides ample resources and an easy-to-use control panel. It is also the most ad-possible WP hosting plan.
The drawback to this shared WP hosting is the security risk you face from other websites sharing the server. Furthermore, you have no say over the server configuration, and your website might suffer downtime during server maintenance. You can reduce these risks by going for a quality web hosting provider.
VPS WordPress Hosting
VPS WordPress hosting works like shared web hosting with one distinct feature: you have complete control over your server environment. The hosting provides virtualization technology or cloud hosting to split a physical server into multiple standalone virtual servers. Each virtual server has its share of allocated resources and self-contained software.
Due to these unique features, VPS WP hosting is the perfect choice for businesses with medium to heavy website traffic. Depending on the provider and plan, you may also be able to host eCommerce websites with this type of WP hosting.
On the other hand, VPS WordPress hosting costs more than shared hosting. If your web host offers cloud VPS WordPress hosting, you should expect to spend more during traffic spikes. Furthermore, enterprises requiring hardware control will find a VPS limited and prefer a dedicated web hosting plan.
Dedicated (VDS) WordPress Hosting
A dedicated WordPress hosting solution offers you complete control over the server. You can configure the server to your needs and enjoy all the resources with it. It provides the most performance, security, and functionality.
There are two significant drawbacks to this dedicated web hosting. Firstly, it is the most expensive plan on the market. Secondly, you have to handle server maintenance and updates on your own.
We only recommend dedicated WordPress hosting for enterprises that require enormous resources and complete control over their server hosting environment.
Managed WordPress Hosting
A managed WordPress hosting plan is any plan where the web host offers server optimization and maintenance. You can find this hosting plan on shared, VPS, cloud, and dedicated server hosting.
The key benefit is that the hosting provider is responsible for maintaining the site. The drawback is that the provider can impose certain restrictions to ensure your site’s security.
We recommend managed WordPress hosting for companies and teams without server maintenance knowledge and skills.
Factors to consider when choosing a WordPress hosting plan
There are vital factors you should look out for when looking for a quality WordPress hosting plan for your website. They include:
- Type of WordPress hosting: The first step is deciding on the hosting you need for your business. Your WP-specific hosting can be on shared VPS or dedicated environments. Scroll up to review our examination of these types of WordPress hosting.
- Uptime Guarantee: An uptime guarantee tells you how long the hosting company can keep your site online within a calendar year. We recommend sticking with only providers that offer 99.95% guaranteed uptime and above.
- Loading speed: WordPress-specific hosting should guarantee blazing speed. However, you can get better performance with providers that offer SSD-only storage drives, Cloudflare CDN, caching, a data center near your web visitors, and Apache or Nginx servers.
- WP-Specific Security: WP-specific hosting should also offer a variety of WordPress security solutions, such as Secure Shell (SSH), activity log, 2-Factor Authentication (2FA), Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), and a dedicated firewall. You can expect other basic security features such as SSL certification, malware removal tools, backup and restore, site cleanup, and a DDoS protection system.
- Traffic Volume: Most WP hosting plans will indicate the traffic volume that the plan can handle. Choose a plan that supports slightly above your expected traffic volume.
- Scalability Options: You should ensure your chosen plan allows you to increase your resources during traffic spikes or when you add more functionality to your website. Cloud WP hosting is the best choice there as it enables seamless upgrades and downgrades of resources.
- Plugin Access: Unmanaged WP hosting plans allow you to install any plugin on your site. Managed plans sometimes place restrictions to secure your website. You should ensure that the restriction does not affect the tools you need for your business.
- WordPress Specific Support: The support team should know WP-specific hosting issues such as plugin conflicts, server issues, and page optimization.
- Money-back guarantee: A money-back guarantee protects you if you’ve made a mistake with your web hosting. However, you should check the refund policy to avoid any unpleasant surprises.
- Pricing: You need to be careful with providers who offer discounts. Usually, the deal doesn’t apply when you’re renewing your plan. So if you choose a monthly plan with a 90% discount, you will pay more than you did the following month. To lock in the deal, you must go for a longer-term contract, usually a year or more. But note that you must pay the original price whenever your contract expires.
- Be wary of free offers: Many providers advertise freebies such as backups and domains. However, these freebies might be limited to specific plans. Read the fine print to know if these freebies are available for the plan that suits your needs. Some also claim to offer unlimited hosting resources. There is always a limit. Ask the customer support team about those limits.
- Website migration: if you are changing WP hosting providers, you must ensure your new provider will migrate your website for free. Not all providers offer this service for free, so you should ask before signing up. If you choose a paid migration service, know how much you’re spending and ensure it is a human making the migration.
- Extra Features: You can look for features such as free domain name, website migration, automatic backups, and WP CLI. Depending on your specific needs, these features might be deal breakers or optional elements.
How do we rank, and how should you choose your UK WordPress Hosting?
- Types of WordPress Hosting Offered5%
- Uptime Commitment8%
- Speed Optimization9%
- Available Space and Bandwidth7%
- Scalability Options6%
- Security7%
- Ease of Use8%
- WP-Specific Support12%
- Developer Tools and Extras5%
- User Reviews30%
- Starting price3%
Here is a rundown of our ranking factors:
- Types of WordPress Hosting Offered (5%): We check to see if the provider offers shared, VPS, cloud, and dedicated (VDS) WordPress hosting.
- Uptime Commitment (8%): Does the provider offer an uptime guarantee of 99.95% or more?
- Speed Optimization (9%): We focus on providers that develop modern hosting infrastructure and offer multiple server locations. These two factors can improve your website’s speed and responsiveness.
- Available Space and Bandwidth (7%): Here, we look at the storage type, memory allocation, available bandwidth, and the number of websites you can host on each plan.
- Scalability Options (6%): Ideally, your provider should allow you to quickly get more resources when you exceed the limits of your WordPress hosting plan.
- Security (7%): We focus on crucial security features such as malware scanning and removal, dedicated firewalls, daily automatic backups, updates, and SSL certificates.
- Ease of Use (8%): A WordPress hosting solution should be beginner-friendly and offer a one-click process to handle installs, add plugins, and more.
- WP-Specific Support (12%): the WordPress hosting plans should include a round-the-clock dedicated WordPress team to quickly assess and resolve hosting issues.
- Developer Tools and Extras (5%): These features are essential for websites that require more control to enhance their functionality.
- User Reviews (30%): Reviews from past and current users give us an overview of how well a provider has performed over the years.
- Starting price (3%): We compare the starting price with the value offered in the plan. Note that the starting price is usually lower than the renewal price.
What is UK WordPress Hosting, and who is it for?
WordPress hosting is a specialized hosting plan for hosting WordPress websites. It is not a hosting solution like shared, VPS, or dedicated hosting. Instead, it works like an add-on for these hosting types.
You don’t need a WordPress hosting solution to host a WordPress website; any of the traditional types of web hosting will do. However, a WordPress hosting plan offers more accessible installation, better performance, security, and overall functionality. It also makes website management more accessible and faster.
A UK WordPress hosting solution is any WordPress hosting solution that offers the most benefits to businesses targeting internet users in the UK. Generally speaking, you don’t need a UK website hosting before users from the UK can access your website. Nevertheless, a UK WordPress hosting solution offers vital benefits that other providers don’t provide.
- Proximity: A UK WordPress hosting provider has data centers in the UK or rejoins close to the UK. Your users will experience faster loading times if your website is in a data center close to their location. The closer the data center is, the better.
- Experience: A UK WordPress host makes web hosting easier due to their experience dealing with users in that region. So if there are region-specific housing issues to address, you can trust your provider to provide sound solutions.
You have a solid web hosting plan when you combine these extra benefits with the general benefits of a WordPress hosting service.