Jimmy ParkerUK2
UK2 is a great web hosting company offering reliable and cost-effective hosting solutions for businesses of all sizes. It offers an array of features including fast and secure servers, a wide range of tools to help build and manage websites, and a helpful 24/7 customer support team. With UK2, you can easily host multiple websites with their shared hosting packages, or use their Virtual Private Servers (VPS) for more power and control.
3.5
Pros
- 24/7 support
- Free SSL
- Competitive pricing
- Experienced hosting provider
Cons
- Mixed reviews
Table of Contents
About UK2
UK2 has been around for about 20 years now. This London-based company is best known for its web hosting services and as a domain registrant, but they actually have other products (web design, website builders, etc.).
Their web hosting services include website hosting, managed hosting, e-mail hosting, and dedicated servers. In this post, we’ll focus on their website hosting plans and help you decide if you should get one of their packages.
Right now, UK2 is hosting thousands of websites all around the world. They’ve also registered over a million domains. They also have 200+ servers located in different parts of the world.
Look below for their pricing system. Prices are in GBP.
1. Starter
This is UK2’s offering for starting websites. It costs GBP 2.99 per month, and you can host 1 website with it. You get 10 GB of disk space.
2. Pro
This plan is for those who have more demanding needs for their websites. It’s currently priced at GBP 5.99 per month and you’re allowed to host 10 websites with it. You’ll also get unmetered storage space, unmetered bandwidth, and unlimited MySQL databases.
3. Enterprise
People with really complex sites will find this plan powerful enough to handle all their needs. Priced at GBP 7.79 per month, it also carries unlimited everything (websites, storage, bandwidth).
Support
UK2 is providing its customers with a lot of options to reach them in case of trouble. Their phone support, live chat, and e-mail service (ticketing system) are all working 24/7. This is a good thing as you will always have an avenue to contact them. Having a 24/7 service is especially beneficial to customers from different parts of the world as their time zones won’t matter.
UK2 also has a status page on their site. We find this very useful as you can always check there first when you’re experiencing some problems on your website. In fact, we always recommend going there first when you experience downtimes, slow responses, and other weird stuff. When you see that there are maintenance schedules or some emergencies, you’ll know that your site will be back up as soon as the issue is fixed or the maintenance work is over. Of course, you can always contact their support team, nevertheless.
They also have a knowledge base on their site if you want to read up on articles, tutorials, and troubleshooting tips. This usually works for non-emergency situations and you’ll find their materials there really useful (they’re specially made for UK2 hosting).
UK2 obviously has social media accounts too (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). However, they really don’t entertain serious matters on these platforms. Most of the time, if you ask them a question that’s more answerable by their customer support team, they’ll point you to contact them via ticketing, live chat, and phone. In short, their social media accounts are mostly used for engaging with their audience and not for helping with complicated problems.
Now, you may be asking if their customer support is helpful or not. Well, they’re actually getting mixed reviews on this aspect of their service. Some people report getting quick responses from their support team and being provided with quick solutions to their problems. They say that the UK2 people are really helpful and knowledgeable about what they do.
We’d like to inform you, however, that there are also reports of people not getting their needed help from the same customer support team. Some people say that they don’t get replies on their e-mails, and there are even those that have bad experiences with their live chat feature.
Pros
1. Reliable uptime
Based on UK2’s uptime performance since day 1, they’ve maintained an average of 99.95% uptime through all these years. That’s not so bad, not bad at all.
2. They’re fast
Aside from having a guaranteed fast cloud hosting feature, they also have strategically located data centers throughout the world. Speed has become one of its top priorities as it has become a ranking signal for SEO. Pleasant visitor experience also converts well (people love fast-loading sites and web pages).
3. The company is stable
When choosing a hosting provider, it’s important to go with a company that’s well-established and reputable. You wouldn’t want your hosting company to disappear overnight, right? What will happen to your website then? Well, in the case of UK2, you can bet that they’re here to stay.
4. Hosting options
UK2 is giving you 3 hosting options to choose from. Just look at the pricing list we presented above and check out each plan’s main features. You can then get the package that’s most suitable to your current needs (you can always upgrade or downgrade your plan with them).
5. Powerful plans
Look at the included features in the pricing system we listed above. Even their cheapest plan (their most basic plan) is powerful enough to host up to 10 websites. That’s because it also comes with unlimited storage space and unlimited bandwidth.
6. Free domain
Ok, you won’t automatically get a free domain name when you sign up with UK2. However, they’ll give you a free domain if you pay for one whole year. You can save some money this way.
7. 1-click installs
UK2 has a partnership with Softaculous. You can find it in the control panel and use its 1-click installation features to quickly set up your chosen platform (WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, etc.).
8. Good customer support
Fortunately, there are more positive feedbacks than negative feedbacks with regards to UK2’s customer service. They have also improved on this aspect of their service the last time we checked. What we like best about their customer support system is that you can reach them through different ways (e-mail, chat, and phone) 24/7.
9. Standard control panel
Know that UK2 makes use of the standard control panel. If you’ve already used one before, you’ll already be familiar with UK2’s cPanel. And if it’s your first time to use a cPanel, don’t worry – it’s user-friendly (that’s why it has become a standard format for control panels).
10. Website builder
All of UK2’s plans have access to their inhouse website builder. It’s a drag-and-drop editor that’s simple to use (no coding knowledge required). You can easily create a professional-looking website with it even if it’s your first time to design a site.
11. Money-back guarantee
Having a refund policy is always a pro for us as some hosting companies don’t. In the case of UK2, they’re giving their customers up to 30 days to cancel their plans if they’re not satisfied with the company’s services.
What you need to remember about UK2’s money-back guarantee is that setup fees (if any), domain name (if you registered through them), and other add-ons are non-refundable. This is often the case for third-party apps that you purchase through hosting companies.
Another thing to take note of is that in the case of cancellations, you’ll need to contact their customer support to request for the same.
Cons
1. Mixed reviews on customer service
UK2 doesn’t have a perfect record for customer support. We’ve seen some bad reports concerning their response times and the inability to provide solutions for complex problems.
2. Free SSL certificates feature is limited
UK2 only provides free SSL certificates to Business and Business Cloud subscribers (their cheapest plan is not qualified for this freebie). Also, keep in mind that the free SSL certificates are only valid for a year (from date of signup) – you’ll have to shoulder the renewal fees every year.
3. No uptime guarantee for cheaper plans
Remember, UK2’s 99.95% uptime guarantee is only applicable to their most expensive plan (Business Cloud). However, they have good uptime record on all their plans.
Conclusion
In our opinion, UK2 is OK as a UK website hosting service. It’s not perfect, but it’s worth checking out and considering.
We like that it comes with a website builder (great for newbies). You can use ready-made templates to design your site and put it up quickly. Their website builder is also optimized for SEO and is easy to integrate with Social media accounts.
We especially like UK2’s cheapest plan. It’s really a powerful startup plan – while other hosting providers only allow for 1 website for their basic plan, UK2 allows for up to 10. You also get unlimited everything with it (storage and bandwidth), so you can really grow your 10 websites without having to worry about storage and bandwidth for a long time.
Of course, you need to pay for at least a year to get the most savings on their plans (free domain name, free SSL, introductory price, etc.).
Our only main concern with the cons we listed is their customer service reputation. It’s simply not perfect, but it’s not that bad. Still, we want you to think about this aspect of their business when making your final decision.
All in all, we still recommend UK2 because of its uptime record, speed, and generous features (especially on their cheapest plan). We suggest taking advantage of their 30-day money-back guarantee by giving one of their plans a try. You know you can always cancel your subscription if you find their services unsatisfactory. We particularly suggest testing out their customer support functions.