Who is Britain's Best Hosting Company?

[SEODEV#338055]

Who do you think is the best website hosting provider in Great Britain in 2021?

1. Customer service
2. Pricing
3. Product range
4. Security
5. Value for money

I decided not to do a poll so as not to prejudice your answer

Specifically asking about limited companies headquartered in Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and not the rest of the United Kingdom or British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.

Thanks

 

[fisicx]

Depends on your needs. There is no best, there is just the most suitable for you.

 

[SEODEV#338055]

@fisicx

Politely disagree

There's always a best

 

[johndon68]

I'd agree with fisicx, it's a bit like the the ever recurring threads about which is best bank, there isn't one.

I have two websites with a particular hosting company for 10 years now and I count on the fingers of one hand how many problems I've had in that time. So, for me they have been extremely good but would they be the best for someone else, who knows...

 

[AllUpHere]

@fisicx

Politely disagree

There's always a best

There can't be a best.

 

[SEODEV#338055]

Well then I guess the only way to do it is by statistics

 

[SEODEV#338055]

The fastest company to respond is the best at response speed

The cheapest company for standard SSL is the best at standard SSL pricing

The company with the highest uptime in the best at uptime

 

[fisicx]

The fastest company to respond is the best at response speed

The cheapest company for standard SSL is the best at standard SSL pricing

The company with the highest uptime in the best at uptime

Yes, and that may be three different hosts.

Cheapest SSL doesn’t mean it’s the best if you need something more robust. For you it might be the worst for your business.

 

[AllUpHere]

Yes, but you are never going to have a winner. I have some sites that sit there making a few quid. For those a relatively cheap host will do, and support isn't particularly important. For other sites it's crucially important that there is no down time, if there is a problem support will be lightening fast, and if traffic spikes they will cope.

There is no best company, the right answer is 'it depends'.

 

[UKSBD]

which is best?

The host who is good at responding to any support requests I've made over the last 5 years

The host who hasn't responded to any support requests I've made over the last 5 years

 

[Paul Norman]

We are.

Oh. That breaks the self promotion rules.

So that leaves me having no answer at all. However, we are spoilt with very decent hosting companies around, but getting us to agree on who is best is going to take some effort, I can assure you!

 

[wayzgoose]

What a stupid question !

 

[SEODEV#338055]

What a stupid question !

What a dumb response

I guess Tech Radar is stupid as well

https://www.techradar.com/uk/web-hosting/best-web-hosting-service-websites

Keep your opinions to yourself if you're not going to be helpful

 

[SEODEV#338055]

Judging by your responses it seems that I'd need to ask a more specific question

Such as for what size of business, what sector, how many clients, level of traffic

Point taken, thanks for your helpful feedback

 

[NickGrogan]

Techradar ranked Bluehost number one and used an affiliate link.

Yes, they are stupid.

 

[AllUpHere]

What a dumb response

I guess Tech Radar is stupid as well

https://www.techradar.com/uk/web-hosting/best-web-hosting-service-websites

Keep your opinions to yourself if you're not going to be helpful

Tech radar aren't stupid. Anyone who thinks their recommendations are genuine, however, needs to go and stand in the corner and think about how silly they've been,

 

[SEODEV#338055]

Tech radar aren't stupid. Anyone who thinks their recommendations are genuine, however, needs to go and stand in the corner and think about how silly they've been,

That's precisely why I started this thread

 

[AllUpHere]

I'll stick my neck out and give you a recommendation. For most businesses on these forums, I would say that Stablepoint are among the best of the current providers. Not too slow, not too expensive and good support. I have a reseller account with them and have been happy with it for a year.

 

[SEODEV#338055]

@AllUpHere

I'd never heard of them

Thanks for your recommendation

Checking them out now

 

[fisicx]

Such as for what size of business, what sector, how many clients, level of traffic

Even that won't help.

For example suppose you have a business selling diesel backup generators to farmers. You might only get one visitor per day so low cost shared hosting may well be sufficient.

But if you are a global brand selling millions of products per hour you won't be looking for a UK host.

Or what if your UK business operates predominately in the USA - again the best host for you may not be in the UK.

As always in these situations, the answer is it depends.

My hosting may not be the best but I'm very happy with the service. Moving to a supposedly better host would be far more disruptive than staying put.

 

[gpietersz]

Specifically asking about limited companies headquartered in Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and not the rest of the United Kingdom or British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.

Why? Unless there are legal requirements it matters a lot more where datacentres are than where headquarters are.

Such as for what size of business, what sector, how many clients, level of traffic

Nothing like enough. As @fisicx said where your traffic comes from. Also support for particular technology you want to use, what sort of UI they provide, what skills you have, whether or not you handle sensitive data,.......

The problem is that the original question you asked is akin to asking "what is the best car, taking into account cost, reliability, comfort, performance, and luggage space?".

 

[AllUpHere]

With hosting, as with many things, you can have 2 out of 3 options.
Fast, reliable, cheap. Pick 2.

 

[SEODEV#338055]

Why? Unless there are legal requirements it matters a lot more where datacentres are than where headquarters are.

Makes everything so much easier

 

[SEODEV#338055]

The problem is that the original question you asked is akin to asking "what is the best car, taking into account cost, reliability, comfort, performance, and luggage space?".

Not a totally unreasonable ambition though

 

[AllUpHere]

The problem is that the original question you asked is akin to asking "what is the best car, taking into account cost, reliability, comfort, performance, and luggage space?".

The car you are looking for is an Audi R6 Estate.

 

[fisicx]

Makes everything so much easier

Why? If your host uses a CDN the servers could be across the globe.

 

[makeusvisible]

My answer is going to be slightly prejudiced as we are a web agency, and we provide hosting. However;

I literally shudder in disbelief at some of the providers who people think are providing a good service. The first benchmark is often price, and hosting really is one of those sectors where the cheapest, is never....ever....the best. In fact, 99% of the time, when it comes to hosting, generally you get what you pay for.

Any of the cheap hosting providers are working on the basis of stack em-high.

Hosting providers need several things in order to provide you with service. They need CPUs, RAM, Disk Space, and bandwidth. The simple fact of the matter is, that RAM, and CPUs are expensive. The only way that one provider can charge less than another, is because they are giving you less or sharing it amongst many.

If you're paying like £50 per year, then the provider is putting you on a server that is probably not optimised for any specific platform and has you sharing resource usage with countless other customers.

We took the decision last year to invest in our own server, so that we have direct control of the optimisation of it, and so we know exactly which clients we put on there.

In terms of answering your original question, it's very difficult.

Is good customer service a provider who stacks em high but responds quickly when you send a message saying your site is running slow? Or is good customer service a provider who put you on a server appropriate for your site/needs and you never need to contact?

Is a good price a price which reflects the amount of resource your website needs? Or is a good price a provider who fills their server overcapacity, and under spec, and thus can charge less.

When looking at if we are doing a good job as a host, I have one benchmark. What speed was the site running at prior to moving to us, and what speed does it run at after moving to us.

 

[ctrlbrk]

When looking at if we are doing a good job as a host, I have one benchmark. What speed was the site running at prior to moving to us, and what speed does it run at after moving to us.

Define 'speed'.

 

[AllUpHere]

The car you are looking for is an Audi R6 Estate.

I meant RS6. I must have bikes on the brain because of the weather.

 

[SEODEV#338055]

Why? If your host uses a CDN the servers could be across the globe.

It's a good question

Excellent customer service is by far my number one priority for a hosting company

Not good, excellent

The representative should speak fluent English and understand common British phrases

The company needs to be easy to reach by email, UK landline phone, web ticket or live chat, and ideally by video chat, screen share or skype

Fast response, within one hour for general help or within 10 minutes for urgent help, example a client's site is offline

Polite staff and regular updates until a ticket is satisfactorily resolved

You cannot expect this level of customer service from the international hosting companies, which is why I always choose British hosting companies

Our service industry is outstanding

 

[gpietersz]

Makes everything so much easier

I currently use:

1. Shared hosting in the US, provided by an American company
2. A VPS in the UK, and another in France, provided by a French company
3. A VPS in the UK provided by a Finnish company.

I have used a lot more in the past. Shared hosting in Germany provided by a Swiss company comes to mind. My clients use a lot more. I have a client in Asia with a Uk dedicated server, a global organisation uses a UK VPS, and a lot more.

I have never had a problem with communicating with any of them.

You cannot expect this level of customer service from the international hosting companies, which is why I always choose British hosting companies

Nonsense. The worst company I have dealt with recently is British. Of course there British providers whose customer service is excellent, but there are plenty from other countries too.

The representative should speak fluent English and understand common British phrases

I can usually manage to communicate with Americans in English!

Its only a problem if the provider is outsourcing somewhere cheap and not paying enough to get people who speak decent English. That probably means its a cheap service and you are getting what you pay for in all aspects of it.

 

[SEODEV#338055]

@gpietersz

We each have our own experiences of dealing with British and foreign companies, this is why I started the thread to find out other people's opinions

Thank you for taking the time reply in such detail

 

[fisicx]

In 5 years I’ve never spoken to my hosting company. It’s all done using tickets. I’ve just checked and it’s only been the odd request for an upgrade or reset.

If a hosting company is good there shouldn’t ever be an issue that needs an immediate response.

 

[japancool]

Specifically asking about limited companies headquartered in Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and not the rest of the United Kingdom or British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.

Why? What's wrong with Northern Ireland?

 

[AllUpHere]

Why? What's wrong with Northern Ireland?

They talk funny.

 

[Mark T Jones]

I'd agree with the others 'best" will always be personal and subjective

Previously I've always used and recommended LCN, mostly because the dashboard was easy to use and their helpline (free) was excellent.

Recently they appear to have been 'monetised- trying to slip in extras wherever possible I'll stick with them for now but no longer recommend them

 

[SEODEV#338055]

There's nothing wrong with Northern Ireland

Lovely people and best football fans in the world

Sweet Caroline
Good times never seemed so good
I'd be inclined
To believe they never would
So good, so good

 

[fisicx]

There's nothing wrong with Northern Ireland

So why did you leave them out?

Not quite sure what the Niel Diamond connection is. I was 12 when that came out - long before t'Internet was a twinkle in Tim's eye.

 

[SEODEV#338055]

Recently they appear to have been 'monetised- trying to slip in extras wherever possible I'll stick with them for now but no longer recommend them

It's so true, because they think they can get away with it, and until regulation makes this nefarious behaviour illegal, or customers take to the streets with their pitchforks, it will continue

SSL certificate pricing and domain name renewal pricing being cases in point

Also some hosting companies are offering free website builders, where the small print says something along the lines of 'free for the first year then £xx per year, subject to terms'

Then customers, with their bank card details on file, will forget to cancel the trial and will be automatically charged £xx on day 366

The hosting companies can then quote the terms of the free trial

 

[SEODEV#338055]

Not quite sure what the Niel Diamond connection is. I was 12 when that came out - long before t'Internet was a twinkle in Tim's eye.