When it comes to customer research, nothing is more important than finding the best cloud hosting provider in the UK. You need to make sure you choose the provider that’s the best fit for your business and your needs. There are a few things you need to take into account before making a decision, including your budget, website traffic, and space requirements. We’ve put together a guide that will help you choose the right cloud hosting provider for your business.
How the Cloud Hosting Provider Works
Cloud hosting providers come in different shapes and sizes, but all of them provide a service that allows users to access their websites and applications through the use of a cloud-based technology. These providers can be divided into two main types: public cloud hosts, which are operated by governments or other organizations, and private cloud hosts, which are run by individuals or businesses.
Cloud Hosting Provider Types
Public Clouds
The public cloud host is the most common type of Cloud Hosting Provider. This provider is operated by governments or other organizations, and they offer its services to their citizens through a web-based platform. The public cloud host offers many benefits such as low cost of ownership, ease of use, and scalability.
Private Cloud Hosts
The private cloud host is the second most common type of Cloud Hosting Provider. This provider is run by individual or business owners, and they offer their services through a private server rather than through the web platform. Private clouds are often more expensive to own but offer better scalability and performance because they can handle larger numbers of clients at once. They also tend to have more advanced features than public clouds.
Best Cloud Hosting Providers in the UK
SiteGround: (£48.00/Month)
It’s my top overall web host, as well as my best cloud web host too. SiteGround’s cloud hosting is even faster than their shared web hosting (which I thought would be hard to beat).
Their cloud hosting plans are customisable as well as scalable, alongside 24/7 VIP support. Although their cloud hosting plans are more expensive (understandably) than their shared plans, they are suitable for any kind of website.
All of SiteGround’s cloud hosting plans are hosted with SSD disks for ultra fast speeds. If you find out that you need more or less resources along the way, you can literally add or remove these as you go (this can be done with the click of a button).
Their cloud servers are all fully managed so you won’t have to worry about any back-end jobs. SiteGround’s cloud web hosting gives you the freedom to work on your website the way you want to, without the hassle. They also include free daily back-ups too, so if you make a mistake (yes it happens), you won’t need to fret.
SiteGround’s cloud web hosting comes with 4 data center choices. This will ensure you choose the best location for your website’s needs. Oh, and did I mention you’ll get a free CDN included in all of that as well?!
Pros:
• Scalable resources with the click of a button
• Free CDN included in all plans
• 24/7 VIP support
• Ultra fast servers
• Fully managed servers
• SiteGround SuperCacher included
Cons:
• Pre-installed OS can take up to 13GB of your available storage
Bluehost Review
Best for hosting WordPress websites in a secure environment.
BlueHost is a top-rated web hosting service provider. The website hosting provider offers both hosting and website builder services. You can select from over 300 design templates to build your website. The hosting services are best for personal and eCommerce WordPress websites.
Features:
- Free domain for a year.
- Free SSL certificate.
- Drag and drop website builder.
- 1-click install of WordPress Website.
Verdict: Bluehost is a great hosting platform for WordPress websites. The web host service provider offers all the tools required to build and host a website.
Price:
- Shared Hosting: £3.67 per month
- Online Stores: £11.81 per month
- Managed Hosting: £7.37 per month
Hostinger: Best Overall UK Cloud Web Host (£7.99/Month)
If you’re looking for high-speed cloud web hosting, Hostinger boasts superior speed performance. With a 99.99% uptime guarantee and a 30-day money-back guarantee, it’s hard not to be tempted.
Those who sign up to Hostinger for web hosting will be provided a free web designer (fancy stuff)! You’ll get a free domain name and will be able to edit your new site from the get-go. Don’t be put off if you’re a beginner because Hostinger is incredibly user-friendly and their control panel is easy to use.
If security is one of your concerns, Hostinger provides daily backups of your site. If you’re like me and like experimenting (or end up making mistakes), it’s a great reassurance to know your hard work hasn’t gone to waste. Hostinger’s web hosting also includes BitNinja DDoS protection.
Starting from just £7.99 per month (what a bargain), cloud hosting includes a dedicated IP address, 200GB storage, unlimited bandwidth, 3GB RAM, and 2 cores.
Pros:
• Fast server speeds and performance
• Decent security features
• Free domain included
• User-friendly control panel
• Free SSL & domain name
• Unlimited bandwidth
Cons:
• Hidden fees
• Price reflects 48 month plan
A2 Hosting
Best for website hosting for small and medium-sized companies.
A2Hosting offers a great package for website owners to host their websites. You can select managed VPS, or dedicated hosting plans. Additionally, the web host company also offers reseller hosting services.
You can host Drupal, Joomla, or WordPress websites. The company offers software and hardware optimizations to ensure fast website performance. It also supports tools for custom website and app installation.
Features:
- Unlimited SSD Storage.
- Unlimited Websites.
- Shared website hosting.
- Automatic backups.
- Supports WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla.
Verdict: A2Hosting is one of the best website hosting providers for UK website owners. The web hosting packages are affordably priced. It is recommended for businesses, e-commerce firms, agencies, and blog owners.
The website hosting platform provides scalable plans that can grow with the requirements of the website. The company claims that its Turbo package provides up to 20 times faster performance than traditional hosting servers.
Price:
- Startup: £1.84 per month
- Drive: £3.15 per month
- Turbo Boost: £4.44 per month
- Turbo Max: £8.88 per month
HostGator: (£3.50/Month)
HostGator’s cloud web hosting is surprisingly uncomplicated. Their virtual servers are reliable and scalable and offer an affordable option for those looking to take their web hosting to the next level.
Their Hatchling Cloud plan comes in at just $4.95 (£3.50) per month (I’m really not joking)! Customers on this plan will have support for one domain and can enjoy unmetered bandwidth and storage. Performance wise, the server will share up to two cores, 2GB RAM and includes a distributed Varnish local caching system.
HostGator’s cloud web hosting boasts 2x faster load times than their shared web hosting. When I was using their cloud web hosting, I was able to move my site to alternative servers to gain the best possible performance for my website. This is also reassuring should there ever be any hardware issues.
As with all cloud hosting options, scalability is key, and HostGator sure does offer this. If your website needs increase, you can scale your plan with 8 cores and 8GB RAM with the click of a button (nothing more to it).
Pros:
• Very easy to use
• Affordable plans for all types of customers
• Variety of plans for scalability
• Free SSL and caching included
• Unmetered storage and bandwidth
Cons:
• Can’t create your own plan like SiteGround
Cloudways
Best for eCommerce businesses and growing agencies.
CloudWays offers a managed cloud hosting platform. The company offers services that are suitable for growing agencies and e-commerce websites. All plans include Free CDN and SSL certificates. The premium packages include Object Cache Pro that allows faster web page load speeds.
Features:
- Single to Multi-core processor.
- Up to 5 TB bandwidth.
- Storage up to 160 GB.
- Object Cache Pro.
Verdict: Cloudways provides reasonable website hosting services. But the services are not suitable for large enterprises due to limited bandwidth and storage. Unlike most other website hosting providers, the company does not offer unmetered bandwidth. The bandwidth is capped that most high-traffic sites will find to be inadequate.
Price: £8.89 to £71.08 per month
IONOS: (£5/Month)
1&1 IONOS, often a popular choice for domain hosting, provides powerful cloud hosting which can be configured within 55 seconds. Their flexible and scalable solutions use the latest cloud hosting technologies and start from as little as £5per month.
They do offer managed cloud solutions, but I tested out their self managed cloud hosting. You’ll get £100 credit included in each package (at the moment). 1&1 IONOS’s basic cloud web hosting includes 1 vCore CPU, Intel Xeon Processor, 1GB RAM and 50GB SSD. Whilst that may not be as competitive as other cloud hosting solutions, they do give you unlimited bandwidth, email accounts, SSL certificate, DDoS protection, and as I mentioned, the £100 credit.
All plans include the option to choose Windows hosting or your own managed hosting. There’s plenty of technologies to get your teeth into, including Apache, PHP 7.2, MariaDB, WordPress, Joomla and Drupal.
As with many cloud solutions, 1&1 IONOS’s flex package gives customers the flexibility to adjust the number of cores, amount of RAM, and storage as and when. Billing is based on a minute by minute basis, and goes up to a maximum of £15.84 per month. Although this may seem a little strange, it’s great for those who aren’t 100% sure on their usage, and it’s a great starting point in my opinion.
Pros:
• Very flexible plans
• Billed up to a maximum amount
• Wide choice of technology installations
• DDoS protection included
• Free trial available
Cons:
• Basic plan doesn’t offer as much as other web hosts
• Initial prices don’t include VAT
What are the Requirements for Selecting a Cloud Hosting Provider?
Cloud hosting providers are available in which countries? Cloud hosting providers are based on a number of factors, including the size and population of the destination country, the level of cloud infrastructure that is available, as well as the price and performance expectations of the user base. In order to choose the right provider for you, it’s important to understand these requirements.
How to Choose the Right Cloud Hosting Provider for You
The following sections provide helpful tips on how to choose a cloud hostings provider for your specific needs. The first section reviews some general requirements for choosing a cloud host provider and provides an overview of which countries are best suited for cloud Hosting services. The second section presents detailed instructions on how to select a cloud hosting provider that is perfect for you based on your specific needs and budget. Finally, the third section provides an overall summary of all this information so that you can make an informed decision about which cloud host provider is right for you.
How to Find the Cloud Hosting Provider for You?
Cloud hosting providers are a great way to get started with online storage and computing. They offer a variety of services, including web hosting, email, phone numbers, and more.
To find the right cloud host for your needs, you first need to identify the categories of cloud hosts that best suit your business or personal needs. This can be done by using a search engine like Google or Bing, or using a service like Cloud Host Finder that helps you research different cloud hosting providers by topic.
Find a Cloud Hosting Provider by Country
Once you haveidentified the category of cloud host that best suits your business or personal needs, it’s time to start searching for server space and other resources. This process can be complicated but is easily completed with an online search tool like Capterra or Server Space. Once you have determined which clouds host provider meets your needs and budget, it’s time to create an account and begin exploring their features and options.
Best Cloud Server For Personal Use
HostGator — Best Cheap Cloud Hosting
- STARTS AT $12.95/MONTH
- $4.95/MONTH IF YOU PAY ANNUALLY
- FREE DOMAIN AND SSL CERTIFICATE
- 45-DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE
HostGator offers some of the most cost-effective cloud hosting on the market today. They’re certainly the most affordable options on this list.
Let’s take a look at some the three basic cloud hosting plans offered by HostGator:
Hatchling Plan
- Starting at $4.95
- 2 CPUs
- 2 GB of memory
- Single domain
Baby Plan
- Starting at $6.57
- 4 CPUs
- 4 GB of memory
- Unlimited domains
Business Plan
- Starting at $9.95
- 6 CPUs
- 6 GB of memory
- Unlimited domains
These rates are for for 36-month contracts. They are 45% cheaper than the actual price, which you’ll end up paying when you renew your contract.
All HostGator cloud hosting plans come with a free SSL certificate. The Business plan comes with a dedicated IP, free SEO tools, and free domain as well.
Not only are they affordable, but they don’t sacrifice quality either. HostGator’s dashboard makes it easy for you to monitor the performance of your website. You can quickly view data related to page speed, uptime, reach, and more.
Scaling your server resources is simple as well. This can be done with just one click, without any downtime, reboots, or data migrations.
A2 Hosting — Fastest Cloud Web Hosting
- STARTS AT $5.00/MONTH
- UP TO 20X FASTER SERVERS
- MANAGED & UNMANAGED OPTIONS
- 30-DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE
A2 Hosting offers some of the fastest hosting services out there.
While they don’t offer traditional cloud hosting services, they do offer VPS hosting solutions with dedicated server resources. With a turbo plan from A2, you’ll benefit from a fully optimized hosting solution and that’s 20x faster than traditional cloud packages.
Plans start at $5, $10, and $15 per month, respectively. But you only pay for the resources that you use based on how you configure your cloud servers.
If you want to have cPanel, it’s an extra $19.95 per month and not available with the lowest-tier pricing plan.
As I mention in my full review of A2 web hosting services they offer a 99.9% uptime promise as well as an anytime money-back guarantee. Although there are some contingencies to both, so make sure you read the fine print of your contract.
If customer support is important to you, then you’ll definitely be satisfied with A2’s 24/7/365 guru support team.
This cloud hosting provider is ideal for those of you who want unmanaged cloud hosting with lightning fast page loading speed.
SiteGround — Best for Scaling Resources
- STARTS AT $100.00/MONTH
- AUTOMATIC SCALING
- DAILY & ON-DEMAND BACKUPS
- PRIORITY SUPPORT
SiteGround offers fully managed, high-performance cloud hosting built on Google cloud infrastructure. This means you’ll get auto-updates, tools to make managing websites easier, optimized servers, and a handy auto-scaling tool so your site stays running even with unexpected traffic spikes.
These plans are fully managed. That means they take care of your account for you.
SiteGround handles the IT of your hosting. This allows you to focus on other areas of your website. Plus, Siteground’s speed and performance are great. Every cloud hosting plan has the SG Optimizer plugin preinstalled and a unique PHP setup for extra speed boosts.
SiteGround cloud plans come equipped with an Automatic Scaling tool, preventing traffic loss and downtime. You can also add CPU and RAM at any time with one click in your admin settings.
With SiteGround, you can completely configure your own cloud and plan based on the resources you need. For example, they have six data centers on four continents to choose from, so you choose the one that is closest to your users. Here is a look at their plans:
The Business or Business Plus plans should be more than enough resources for the majority of you, so that’s what I would recommend starting with. As your traffic rises, you can always scale as needed.
You’ll also benefit from webmaster tools like a dedicated IP, free CDN, free SSL, daily backups, and a private DNS.
Conclusion
Choosing the right Cloud Hosting Provider can be difficult, but with the right requirements it can be a lot of fun. It’s important to find a provider that is good in every category, as well as have a country-specific focus. By exploring providers and looking at reviews, you’ll be able to make an informed decision about which cloud hosting provider is right for you.