Updated March 2026 — 16 entry-level plans compared

Compare Hosting Plans

Not all hosting plans are built the same. This page compares entry-level website hosting packages from 16 UK providers — what each plan actually includes, what it costs monthly vs annually, what happens at renewal, and which plans offer the best value rather than just the lowest price.

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Plan Comparison Table — What Each Entry Plan Includes

Every provider's cheapest shared hosting plan compared side-by-side. This tells you exactly what you get at the entry-level price — storage, websites, email, backups, and key features. Scroll sideways on mobile.

Provider / PlanIntro PriceStorageWebsitesEmailDatabasesBackupsFree SSLFree DomainScoreVisit
SiteGround logo
SiteGroundStartUp
£2.99/mo10 GB1
9.1
Visit
Bluehost logo
BluehostStarter
£2.95/mo10 GB1520
7.8
Visit
IONOS logo
IONOSPlus
£1.00/mo200 GBUnlimited2
8.0
Visit
Kinsta logo
KinstaStarter
£30.00/mo10 GB101
9.3
Visit
Hosting.com logo
Hosting.comStartup
£2.99/mo100 GB15
8.2
Visit
DreamHost logo
DreamHostShared Starter
£2.59/mo50 GB116
8.0
Visit
InMotion Hosting logo
InMotion HostingCore
£2.99/mo100 GB1102
7.9
Visit
HostPapa logo
HostPapaEssentials
£2.95/mo25 GB11005
7.6
Visit
HostArmada logo
HostArmadaStart Dock
£1.59/mo15 GB15
8.5
Visit
HawkHost logo
HawkHostLaunch
£1.97/mo20 GB510
8.2
Visit
AccuWeb Hosting logo
AccuWeb HostingBudget
£1.57/mo10 GB1255
8.0
Visit
Flashcloud logo
FlashcloudWeb Hosting Start
£2.20/mo35 GB110010
7.8
Visit
Web Hosting Buzz logo
Web Hosting BuzzPersonal
£5.17/mo30 GB110
7.6
Visit
Fasthosts logo
FasthostsShared Start
£5.00/mo100 GB1115
7.8
Visit
123 Reg logo
123 RegEconomy Hosting
£2.99/mo25 GB1110
7.0
Visit
Dynadot logo
DynadotWebsite Builder Pro
£0.00/mo0 GB110
7.0
Visit

Plans shown are the cheapest shared hosting plan from each provider. Prices reflect the introductory (first-term) rate. See renewal pricing below for ongoing costs.

Monthly vs Annual Pricing

Most hosting plans advertise the annual-commitment price, but paying monthly costs significantly more. This table shows the real difference so you can decide whether the upfront saving justifies locking in.

Provider / PlanMonthly RateAnnual RateYou Save (Annual)Year 1 TotalMoney-Back
Dynadot
DynadotWebsite Builder Pro
£2.00/mo£0.00/mo£24.00/yr£0.000 days
IONOS
IONOSPlus
£1.00/mo£1.00/moSame rate£12.0030 days
AccuWeb Hosting
AccuWeb HostingBudget
£1.57/mo£1.57/moSame rate£18.8430 days
HostArmada
HostArmadaStart Dock
£1.59/mo£1.59/moSame rate£19.0845 days
HawkHost
HawkHostLaunch
£1.97/mo£1.97/moSame rate£23.6430 days
Flashcloud
FlashcloudWeb Hosting Start
£2.20/mo£2.20/moSame rate£26.400 days
DreamHost
DreamHostShared Starter
£2.14/mo£2.59/moSame rate£31.0897 days
Bluehost
BluehostStarter
£2.94/mo£2.95/moSame rate£35.4030 days
HostPapa
HostPapaEssentials
£2.95/mo£2.95/moSame rate£35.4030 days
SiteGround
SiteGroundStartUp
£1.99/mo£2.99/moSame rate£35.8830 days
Hosting.com
Hosting.comStartup
£2.99/mo£2.99/moSame rate£35.8830 days
InMotion Hosting
InMotion HostingCore
£2.35/mo£2.99/moSame rate£35.8890 days
123 Reg
123 RegEconomy Hosting
£6.99/mo£2.99/mo£48.00/yr£35.8814 days
Fasthosts
FasthostsShared Start
£5.00/mo£5.00/moSame rate£60.0030 days
Web Hosting Buzz
Web Hosting BuzzPersonal
£5.17/mo£5.17/moSame rate£62.0430 days
Kinsta
KinstaStarter
£22.23/mo£30.00/moSame rate£360.0030 days

💡 Tip: If you are unsure about a provider, look at their money-back guarantee. DreamHost offers 97 days — the longest in the industry. This lets you commit to an annual plan and still bail out risk-free for over 3 months.

Renewal Pricing — What You Pay After Year 1

The intro price on most website hosting packages is a promotional rate. This section shows what each plan actually costs once that promotion ends — the figure that determines your true ongoing expense. Sorted by lowest renewal first.

Provider / PlanIntro PriceRenewal PriceIncreaseYear 2 Cost3-Year Total
Dynadot
DynadotWebsite Builder Pro
£0.00/mo£2.00/moNo increase£24.00/yr£48.00
AccuWeb Hosting
AccuWeb HostingBudget
£1.57/mo£4.73/mo+201%£56.76/yr£132.36
Fasthosts
FasthostsShared Start
£5.00/mo£5.00/moNo increase£60.00/yr£180.00
Web Hosting Buzz
Web Hosting BuzzPersonal
£5.17/mo£5.17/moNo increase£62.04/yr£186.12
DreamHost
DreamHostShared Starter
£2.59/mo£5.99/mo+131%£71.88/yr£174.84
HawkHost
HawkHostLaunch
£1.97/mo£6.80/mo+245%£81.60/yr£186.84
123 Reg
123 RegEconomy Hosting
£2.99/mo£6.99/mo+134%£83.88/yr£203.64
Flashcloud
FlashcloudWeb Hosting Start
£2.20/mo£7.89/mo+259%£94.68/yr£215.76
HostArmada
HostArmadaStart Dock
£1.59/mo£7.96/mo+401%£95.52/yr£210.12
IONOS
IONOSPlus
£1.00/mo£8.00/mo+700%£96.00/yr£204.00
Bluehost
BluehostStarter
£2.95/mo£10.99/mo+273%£131.88/yr£299.16
Hosting.com
Hosting.comStartup
£2.99/mo£12.99/mo+334%£155.88/yr£347.64
InMotion Hosting
InMotion HostingCore
£2.99/mo£12.99/mo+334%£155.88/yr£347.64
HostPapa
HostPapaEssentials
£2.95/mo£14.03/mo+376%£168.36/yr£372.12
SiteGround
SiteGroundStartUp
£2.99/mo£14.99/mo+401%£179.88/yr£395.64
Kinsta
KinstaStarter
£30.00/mo£30.00/moNo increase£360.00/yr£1080.00

Colour key: under 100% increase · 100–200% · over 200%. For a full breakdown, see our hosting prices comparison.

Cheapest Plans vs Best Value Plans

The cheapest hosting plan is not always the best value. This section puts the 5 cheapest entry plans next to the 5 highest-rated value plans — so you can see where price and quality diverge.

5 Cheapest Entry Plans

1
Dynadot
DynadotWebsite Builder Pro
£0.00/mo
7.0
2
IONOS
IONOSPlus
£1.00/mo
8.0
£1.57/mo
8.0
4
HostArmada
HostArmadaStart Dock
£1.59/mo
8.5
5
HawkHost
HawkHostLaunch
£1.97/mo
8.2

5 Best Value Plans (by score)

1
HawkHost
HawkHostLaunch
£1.97/mo
Value: 9.0
2
IONOS
IONOSPlus
£1.00/mo
Value: 8.5
3
DreamHost
DreamHostShared Starter
£2.59/mo
Value: 8.5
£1.57/mo
Value: 8.5
5
Flashcloud
FlashcloudWeb Hosting Start
£2.20/mo
Value: 8.5

💡 Key insight: The cheapest plan and the best-value plan are rarely the same. Value scoring accounts for renewal pricing, features included (backups, SSL, email), performance, and support quality — not just the headline price. For our full methodology, see how we compare hosting.

Who Each Plan Is For

The right hosting plan depends on what you are building. This section matches website hosting packages to common use cases so you can skip straight to the right shortlist.

Your First Website

Needs: Simple setup, 1 site, email, daily backups

1
IONOS

£1/mo + personal consultant

8.0
2
Bluehost

Free domain + 1-click WordPress

7.8
3
Fasthosts

£3.49/mo, no renewal hike

7.8

Small Business Site

Needs: Unlimited email, SSL, reliable uptime, UK support

1
SiteGround

NVMe SSD + 99.99% uptime

9.1
2
IONOS

Dedicated resources from £2/mo

8.0
3
123 Reg

UK phone support + .co.uk bundle

7.0

WordPress Blog

Needs: WordPress-optimised, staging, auto-updates

1
SiteGround

SuperCacher + free migration

9.1
2
Bluehost

Official WordPress.org recommended

7.8
3
HostArmada

Free daily backups + speed boost

8.5

Budget Portfolio / Side Project

Needs: Cheapest reliable plan with SSL

1
IONOS

£1/mo with 200GB storage

8.0
2
HostArmada

£1.59/mo with NVMe SSD

8.5
3
HawkHost

£1.97/mo with 20GB + email

8.2

Multiple Websites

Needs: Host 5+ sites on one plan

1
HawkHost

5 sites on entry plan

8.2
2
SiteGround

Unlimited sites from mid-tier

9.1
3
DreamHost

Unlimited sites + 50GB SSD

8.0

Growing / High-Traffic Site

Needs: Scalable resources, CDN, caching

1
Kinsta

Google Cloud + auto-scaling

9.3
2
Cloudways

Pay-as-you-go DigitalOcean/Vultr

8.5
3
SiteGround

CDN + SuperCacher included

9.1

Hosting Plans FAQs

What should I look for when I compare hosting plans?
When you compare hosting plans, focus on five things: (1) what's included at the entry price — storage, email accounts, SSL, backups; (2) the renewal price, which is often 2–5× higher than the intro price; (3) how many websites you can host on a single plan; (4) performance indicators like storage type (SSD vs NVMe) and uptime guarantee; and (5) support quality. Our plan comparison tables above break all of these down side-by-side.
Why is there such a big difference between monthly and annual hosting prices?
Most providers offer steep discounts for committing to 12, 24, or 36-month terms upfront. The monthly price (pay-as-you-go) can be 2–4× higher than the annual equivalent. For example, a plan advertised at £2.99/mo on an annual term might cost £7.99/mo if you pay monthly. Our pricing table above shows both so you can compare like-for-like.
What is the difference between hosting plans and hosting types?
A hosting type (shared, VPS, dedicated, WordPress) describes the underlying technology and server architecture. A hosting plan is a specific package within a type — with set storage, bandwidth, email accounts, and price. For example, SiteGround offers three shared hosting plans (StartUp, GrowBig, GoGeek) at different price points with different resource limits. This page compares entry-level plans across providers.
Is the cheapest hosting plan always the worst?
Not necessarily. IONOS offers their Plus plan at just £1/mo with 200GB storage, unlimited bandwidth, and daily backups — making it one of the best-value entry plans in the UK. However, very cheap plans from lesser-known providers may cut corners on support quality, server speed, or uptime. Our "cheapest vs best value" comparison section above helps you distinguish genuine value from false economy.
How many websites can I host on an entry-level plan?
It varies enormously. Some entry plans support only 1 website (SiteGround StartUp, Bluehost Basic), while others allow 5 (HawkHost) or even unlimited sites (DreamHost, HostPapa). If you need to host multiple websites, check the "Websites" column in our plan comparison table — it could save you from needing a more expensive plan.
Should I pay monthly or commit to an annual plan?
If you're testing a new project, monthly billing gives you flexibility to cancel. But for an established website, annual plans typically save 40–60% compared to monthly pricing. Most providers also require annual commitment to access their lowest advertised prices. Check the money-back guarantee — SiteGround offers 30 days, DreamHost offers 97 days — so you can commit annually with a safety net.
What happens when my hosting plan renews?
After your initial term (typically 12–36 months), your plan renews at the standard renewal price — which is almost always higher than the intro rate. Some providers increase prices by over 400%. Fasthosts is a rare exception with no renewal increase. Our renewal pricing section above shows the exact increase for every provider so you can budget accurately.
Do I need daily backups on my hosting plan?
Yes — daily backups are one of the most important features in any hosting plan. They protect you from accidental deletions, hacking, failed updates, and server issues. Some providers include daily backups free (SiteGround, IONOS, HostArmada), while others charge extra or only offer weekly backups. Check the "Backups" column in our comparison table above.