HostAdvice experts performed an independent study on the VPS Hosting providers for all types of users. our experts performed an study that involved testing all leading providers that fit into this category separately. Our independent study is based on thousands of independent user reviews, surveys, and tests. However, if you want to cut to the chase and want to learn which providers made it on our list, here is our selection of the top 5 best VPS hosting UK providers.
Short on Time? Check Our Top 5 VPS Hosting UK Providers
- Kamatera – Best UK VPS Hosting for Security
- Ultahost – Best Managed UK VPS Hosting
- Time4VPS – Best Unmanaged UK VPS Hosting
- IONOS – Best Cheap VPS Provider in the UK
- Stablehost.com – Best UK VPS Hosting for Customer Support
How Do We Rank and How You Should Choose Your VPS Hosting UK?
- Server Uptime15%
- Root Access13%
- Memory and Storage8%
- Choice of Operating System6%
- Security10%
- Customer Support10%
- Type of Hosting Service8%
- User Reviews30%
We test specifically for each category in order to rank the best hosting providers. Our experts compile a list of important factors for the category we are ranking. Furthermore, our experts perform independent performance tests on each and every provider. Also, each factor that we test is assigned a specific percentage of importance that shows how critical the factor is for the category that we are writing about.
Here are the factors that we tested and that you need to take into consideration when ranking and choosing the best VPS hosting UK providers:
- Server Uptime (15%): Uptime of 99.95% or above, enterprise-grade hardware, SSD Storage, Cloudflare CDN, etc.
- Root Access (13%): Does the provider offer full root access to its users? Will you have complete control over your server? Will you be able to download the control panel of your choice?
- Memory and Storage (8%): Does the provider offer SSD Storage? Does the provider limit the amount of Storage you can get? How much RAM can you get for your server?
- Choice of Operating System (6%): Does the provider support different operating systems? Can you host your server with Windows, Linux, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, etc.?
- Security (10%): Does the provider offer other security tools and measures? Does the provider only protect you from DDoS attacks and nothing more?
- Customer Support (10%): the technical knowledge and availability behind the support behind the VPS plan – preferably 24/7 support via live chat, phone, & email, guides, and tutorials.
- Type of Hosting Service (8%): Does the provider offer both fully-managed and unmanaged VPS services? Can you choose the hosting service type you want?
- User Reviews (30%): Objective reviews and experiences from independent users who have previously used the provider’s services. Unbiased feedback and opinions on the provider.
What is VPS Hosting UK, and Who Is It For?
VPS hosting is a hosting service that caters to UK-based individuals and businesses who want to get online. You can use it to create and host a website, multiple sites on one server, an online store, and more. With VPS hosting, you will get your own dedicated resources and won’t be affected by what the other users on the server are doing.
VPS (Virtual Private Server) providers use virtualization technology to give users private resources that they can use however they want. Even though multiple users share one VPS server, they are not affected by each other’s actions. It provides excellent value for money and is suitable for hosting all kinds of web applications, sites, etc.
VPS Hosting in the UK is ideal for users who:
- Are based in the UK and want to get online;
- Want to sell online to UK-based customers;
- UK-based users who have medium-level traffic;
- UK-based users who also want to be available 24/7 in other European countries;
- Users who want more resources and enhanced security;
- Businesses who want to host their online stores, enterprise apps, and other business-related sites;
- And more.
The Best VPS Hosting UK Services of 2023 (Bought and Tested):
Kamatera is a global cloud hosting provider that offers some of the best VPS hosting UK services on the market. It emphasizes the importance of security and protecting its users’ data online, making it the perfect choice for those looking for a highly secure hosting provider!
- Overall Score: 4.9
- Performance: 5.0
- Security: 4.9
- Support: 4.9
- Features: 4.8
- Pricing: 4.8
Kamatera has 13 enterprise-grade data centers spread out worldwide, including one in London. All of its servers run on cutting-edge technology and are compatible with multiple operating systems, including AlmaLinux, RockyLinux, CentOS Linux 8 & 7, CloudLinux, and more!
Research Findings:
Performance: The provider offers high-performance servers that run on cutting-edge technology, including 600Gbit bandwidth, SSD drives, and Xeon Platinum/Cascade Lake processors. It offers an uptime guarantee of 99.95% and fully-redundant services!
Security: With Kamatera, you can add an extended daily backup service to your server. Also, no matter which server you choose (Linux, Windows, etc.), you will receive high-level security from the provider.
Support: Kamatera offers excellent customer support, which you can reach at all times via email and phone. Its support team responds quickly to all messages and provides users with knowledgeable and helpful solutions.
Features: stop & restart your servers at any time, ultra-quick setup, scalable solutions, root/administrator access to servers, unlimited Storage, no hardware maintenance, assign roles to administrators/users, complete control over subnet and private VLAN, proprietary API, and more!
Pricing: The provider offers a 30-day free trial to its users. After the free trial ends, you can pay by the minute or on a monthly or hourly basis. Its prices start at $4/month, and you can create your own pricing plan by configuring your server to have the resources you need!
Pros & Cons:
Pros:
- High-performance servers;
- Flexible pricing plans;
- Robust security measures;
Cons:
- Its unmanaged services are a better fit for more advanced users (however, beginners can get fully-managed services for an extra fee)
UltaHost offers powerful fully managed VPS hosting services. This is specifically tailored for medium-sized businesses and business owners who do not have the time or the expertise to set up, manage, and maintain a whole VPS server by themselves. All of its VPS hosting plans come with great flexibility, excellent performance, and top-notch features.
- Overall Score: 4.9
- Pricing: 4.9
- Features: 4.8
- Performance: 4.9
- Support: 4.9
- User Friendly: 4.9
Pricing: With UltaHost, you can choose your VPS plan based on your desired control panel. The cheapest option is VPS hosting with Hestia & CyberPanel, which starts at $5.50/month and includes one CPU core, 1GB of RAM, 30GB of NVMe storage, a managed server, and one dedicated IPv4 IP.
Features: UltaHost offers a wide range of features, including a free domain transfer, free backups, free SSL certificates, unlimited bandwidth, auto-healing, dedicated firewalls, fast-paced NVMe storage, BitNinja security, SSH & SFTP access, IPv4 addresses, staging environment, and more.
Performance: UltaHost offers fast page-loading speeds and performance thanks to the fast-paced SSD & NVMe storage, scalable DDR5 RAM, and high-quality hardware that it uses. Also, it allows you to get a CDN add-on to boost your speed even further. In addition, you’ll get a 99.99% uptime guarantee from this provider.
Support: UltaHost users enjoy round-the-clock customer support, which is available via live chat, phone, and email. Also, there’s a knowledge base filled with guides that you can use, as well as support add-ons that you can buy.
User Friendly: UltaHost offers the Hestia, CyberPanel, Plesk, and cPanel control panels, which are some of the best control panels on the market. Also, all VPS hosting plans come with managed services, meaning you won’t need to concern yourself with the technical tasks surrounding your server.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Fully managed services are included on all UltaHost VPS plans.
- UltaHost offers a 99.99% uptime guarantee and fast page-loading speeds.
- You’ll get feature-rich plans and excellent customer support.
Cons:
- Not the cheapest provider out there (but definitely worth the money).
More advanced VPS users and companies with an in-house IT team will find Time4VPS to be the perfect VPS hosting provider in the UK. The unmanaged VPS hosting plans allow you to customize your server however you want and have full control over it. In addition to unmanaged VPS hosting, Time4VPS also offers reliable performance, KVM-based virtualization, powerful hardware, and more.
- Overall Score: 4.1
- Pricing: 4.2
- Features: 3.9
- Performance: 4.2
- Support: 4.1
- User Friendly: 4.1
Pricing: Time4VPS offers a wide range of VPS plans, including Linux and Windows VPS hosting. Linux VPS hosting is the cheaper option, starting at €3.24/month and includes 1 CPU core, 2GB RAM, 20GB of storage, and 4TB of bandwidth.
Features: Time4VPS’ Linux and Windows VPS hosting plans come with full root access, cPanel/WHM, Plesk, DirectAdmin, assistance on demand, KVM-based virtualization, RAID storage, Intel Xeon Gold 6132 processors, HP ProLiant DL360 Gen10 servers, and more.
Performance: With Time4VPS, you’ll get a 99.98% uptime guarantee, which is a promise that your server will be online 99.98% of the time. Also, you’ll get fast and reliable speeds and performance from the provider’s TIER III data center in Lithuania, which has an N+1 redundant network.
Support: Regardless of the fact that all of Time4VPS’ VPS hosting plans are unmanaged, you’ll still get excellent customer support available 24/7 via live chat and a help desk. Also, you can use the provider’s guides and tutorials to fix issues and complete tasks yourself.
User Friendly: With Time4VPS, you can choose from many easy-to-use control panels, such as cPanel/WHM, Plesk, and DirectAdmin. Also, the web host provides an intuitive user interface that’s easy to navigate.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Unmanaged VPS hosting with full root access and complete control.
- The ability to customize your server however you want.
- Reliable VPS services with a 99.98% uptime guarantee.
Cons:
- Not ideal for first-time VPS users (but with a little effort, they can use Time4VPS as well).
Affordability and super-low prices are two adjectives that are synonymous with IONOS. With IONOS, you can get powerful VPS hosting with full root access for as low as $2/month. Also, you can choose your own data center and host your website or websites directly from IONOS’ UK data center. By doing so, you’ll get optimal performance and fast page-loading speeds.
- Overall Score: 3.9
- Pricing: 3.9
- Features: 3.5
- Performance: 4.3
- Support: 4.0
- User Friendly: 3.8
Pricing: With IONOS, you can pay for your VPS hosting plan on a monthly or yearly basis. The cheapest IONOS VPS hosting plan costs $2/month and includes one vCore CPU, 512MB RAM, and 10GB SSD.
Features: Even though IONOS comes with low prices, it doesn’t skimp out on features and offers fast-paced NVMe storage, full root access, full virtualization, unlimited traffic of up to 1 Gbit/s, an SSL certificate, server snapshots, DDoS protection, dedicated resources, and more.
Performance: IONOS’ UK data center is ISO 27001 certified and comes with reliable services and availability. Also, IONOS offers a 99.99% uptime guarantee, meaning that it promises to keep your site(s) up and running 99.99% of the time.
Support: Customer support is another field in which IONOS excels as it offers 24/7 services via phone and live chat. In addition, it offers great written support in the form of tutorials and guides.
User Friendly: IONOS is suitable for all kinds of web hosting users, including beginners, pros, individuals, and businesses. It comes with a custom cloud control panel and a “Deploy Now” feature, via which you can get your website up and running with three quick steps.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Extremely low prices with excellent features included.
- Suitable for different kinds of users, from beginners to professionals.
- Powerful UK data center that’s ISO 27001 certified.
Cons:
- Higher prices on renewal (but they’re still super low, nonetheless).
Customer support is one of the most important features everyone needs to look out for when choosing a web hosting provider. And when looking for excellent customer support, you won’t do better than StableHost. This web host offers professional customer support from Level 3 technicians who offer 20-minute average response times and are available 24/7.
- Overall Score: 4.3
- Pricing: 4.1
- Features: 4.2
- Performance: 4.3
- Support: 4.5
- User Friendly: 4.3
Pricing: With StableHost, you can choose from five powerful VPS hosting plans. The cheapest one, VZ 1GB, costs $10.95/month and includes 40GB of storage, 2TB transfer, one CPU core, 1,024MB RAM, and a 1,000Mbit network.
Features: All StableHost VPS hosting plans come with a wide range of features, including a 1,000Mbit network, pure-SSD drives, the ability to choose your own control panel and operating system, KVM & Virtuozzo technology, full root access, SSH access, cPanel, WHM, enterprise-grade hardware, and more.
Performance: StableHost uses enterprise-grade hardware, such as dual E5-2620, 96 gigs of ram and pure-SSD hard drives, to provide you with reliable and fast VPS services. Also, it offers a reliable 99.99% uptime guarantee, which is great.
Support: StableHost offers one of the best customer support services on the market, providing its users with support from Level 3 technicians who are at your disposal 24/7 via email, live chat, phone, and a ticketing system. You’ll also get 20-minute average response times and hundreds of helpful tutorials and guides available in the StableHost knowledge base.
User Friendly: Since StableHost’s VPS hosting plans are self-managed, you’ll need to know how to set them up and maintain them yourself. However, you’ll always have help from the provider’s customer support team, and you can even purchase managed add-ons to get extra assistance.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Round-the-clock customer support from Level 3 technicians and managed add-ons.
- Powerful VPS hosting plans and a 99.99% uptime guarantee.
- Enterprise-grade hardware and fast-paced pure-SSD hard drives.
Cons:
- More expensive compared to other VPS providers (but worth the money).
Ranking comparison between the Top Providers
VPS Hosting UK Pros and Cons
Let’s take a look at some of the advantages and disadvantages that you can gain/suffer from VPS hosting in the UK.
Pros
- Excellent Value for Money – even though VPS is more expensive than shared hosting, it offers much more resources and enhanced features than shared hosting. Also, it is cheaper than dedicated hosting. So, it falls directly between shared and dedicated hosting. Thus, if you cannot afford dedicated servers but still need something powerful, VPS hosting is the perfect solution.
- Scalability – VPS hosting is excellent for growth. Usually, most VPS hosting providers allow you to upgrade and downgrade your resources as much and whenever you want. So, if you experience more traffic, you can quickly upgrade your resources and handle it with no interruption.
- Round-The-Clock Availability – UK users can benefit greatly from VPS hosting in the UK because it will allow them to have excellent performance and be available at all times for your UK-based and European users. Of course, you will be available for users worldwide as well.
- Flexibility – there are hundreds of VPS hosting providers you can choose from on the market. So, you can always find a plan that suits your needs best and gives you everything you require, including the amount of RAM, Storage, computing power, and other similar resources.
- Excellent Performance and Speed – VPS hosting plans offer excellent performance with little to no interruption. Also, they offer excellent speed and faster load times than shared hosting.
Cons
- Limitations – Even though VPS solutions are extremely powerful, they still come with certain limitations. For example, some providers have a cap on how much Storage you can have, RAM, IP addresses, etc.
- Technical Knowledge – If you want to manage and maintain your server, you will have to have a certain degree of technical knowledge and skills to do so. However, you can get fully-managed services and have your provider take care of all of that for you for an extra fee.
Managed vs. Unmanaged VPS
Managed VPS hosting is a service that many providers offer where they take care of all the technical stuff for you. Some of that includes setting up, maintaining, and managing your whole server for you and making sure that all the updates and installs are done. It allows you to have a more hands-off approach and focus on other things like growing your business. Also, it does not require you to have any technical skills.
Some of the benefits that managed VPS hosting offers include:
- It requires no IT experience from users;
- It can save you time;
- Keeps your server up and updated at all times;
Unmanaged VPS hosting is a service that a larger portion of hosting providers offer. With this service, you will be responsible for everything, including setting up, maintaining, and managing your server. It is suitable for more advanced users who want to have complete control over their servers and want to customize them as much as they want. So, it requires users to have technical skills and to know how to maintain a whole server by themselves.
Some of the benefits that unmanaged VPS hosting offers include:
- It is cheaper than managed VPS hosting;
- It allows users to have more control over their servers;
- You can customize it however you want;
VPS vs. Shared vs. Dedicated Hosting
Shared hosting is the most widely used hosting service. It is a service that most hosting providers offer. When you get a shared hosting plan, you are put on a server that is used by hundreds, maybe thousands of users. So, you will have to share your resources with every user on your server, which can affect your performance. Namely, if one user gets hacked, there is a high likelihood that you can be as well. Also, if one user goes over their resource limit, it can affect you too. Shared hosting is best for small websites with low traffic, like personal websites and blogs.
VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting is a service that offers excellent value for money. It is right between shared and dedicated hosting. If you get a VPS hosting plan, you will also share your server with other users as you would with shared hosting. However, the resources that you will get will be dedicated only to you, and you won’t be affected by what other users are doing on your server. VPS hosting is also highly scalable, offers enhanced security, and many more resources than shared hosting.
Dedicated hosting is the most expensive service that you can get to host your website. With it, you will get a whole server to yourself and won’t share it with others. It offers extremely high load times, security, and overall superb performance. It is ideal for large enterprises that have high-traffic websites and thousands of visitors a month.
Best VPS Hosting UK Service: Summary
With a sound VPS provider, UK-based users can gain all kinds of benefits, including round-the-clock availability, enhanced performance, security, and excellent value for money. Also, VPS hosting solutions allow users to have full control over their sites and are ideal for growth and scalability.
Getting VPS hosting UK services from one of the ten providers we covered will ensure that you receive the best features, services, and overall quality for your money.