Editor's opinion
Sean Thompson
I am a full-time web developer & IT professional with more than 18 years experience. I have been working with numerous hosting companies over the years.
First impression
123 Reg is a British domain registrar and web hosting company founded in 2000 by brothers Jonathan Brealey and Tim Beresford-Brealey, who before this also set up Heart Internet and Webfusion. This established UK brand, acquired by Host Europe in 2003 and ultimately ending up under the ownership of GoDaddy in 2017, has received numerous awards during the two-decade reign and boasts to have registered over 3.5 million domains and hosting a million + websites worldwide from their eco-friendly data centers, all running on hardware from the world’s leading manufacturers, including the latest HP and Dell servers along with the latest generation of Intel processors.
Their initial focus was primarily on domain registrations but has shifted more towards hosting services over time, and they currently offer Shared Hosting, VPS Hosting, and Dedicated Server Hosting packages to their predominantly UK client base.
Short customer review about 123-reg.co.uk
Comparative table of the main characteristics of the TOP-10 hosting providers
Company name
Cheapest shared hosting plan
Most expensive shared hosting plan
WordPress hosting
Website builder
Dedicated servers
Cloud hosting
Additional features
Uptime for your website
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Forex VPS Hosting
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FastComet.com
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No
excellent
Kamatera.com
No
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Yes
No
excellent
UltaHost.com
$3.29
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MineCraft - Game Server, 7 Days To Die - Game Server
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Scalahosting.com
$2.36
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No
No
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No
medium
InMotionHosting.com
$2.29
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No
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Minecraft Server Hosting
excellent
Name.com
$6
$13
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
very bad
123-reg.co.uk
£2.99 ($3.74)
£7.49 ($9.47)
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
excellent
Trial Period
123 Reg offers a 30-day full money-back guarantee on all their hosting services. To qualify for a refund, cancellation requests must be made within 30 days of placing the initial order and no later than that. This must be done by telephone at +44 (0)345 450 2310, or by raising a support ticket via their control panel. It probably goes without saying, but I think it is important to mention that there are no refunds on domain registrations.
Billing Cycle
All their products have a monthly, quarterly, or yearly payment option, however, their shared hosting packages offer the ability to pay for multiple years at a time, while their VPS allows only one year at a time. 123 Reg offers generous discounts on longer commitments, and depending on the size of the order placed, you could get up to 20% off, or at least a minimum of 10% discount as this is all tailored around the packages you choose. They will accept all major Credit and Debit cards, as well as PayPal as a payment method.
Control Panel
123 Reg makes use of the ever-popular cPanel on all their plans. If you are not familiar with it yet, it allows non-savvy users and experts alike to easily manage their websites, domains, emails, and other aspects of their hosting account from one user-friendly web interface. VPS users will also have Plesk as an option.
Limits
On their Shared Hosting, they offer customers 4 options, namely Starter, Standard, Pro, and Ultimate, none of which offers much to write home about. The Starter plan comes with a decent amount of hosting space, 100GB in total, and although about 20GB of that will be used for preinstalled content like the Operating System, cPanel, and more, it should be sufficient. The problem comes in with the allocated CPU and RAM. Users will only get 1 CPU and 512MB RAM - which is shared between multiple users on the same server. Bear in mind that they don't mention the storage to be SSD, let alone NVMe SSDs, so I assume it will still run on slow and outdated HDDs. For me personally, this plan is a tad too basic.
Starter doesn't offer much more, except for a couple more MySQL databases that you probably won't need and unlimited storage. The Pro plan comes bundled with 2 CPUs and 1GB RAM, and the Ultimate plan has 2 CPUs with 2GB RAM (not shared RAM).
VPS Hosting also comes in four options, Starter, L, XL, and XXL. All that sets them apart is the allocated disc space, CPUs, and RAM allocated on each, with the Starter Plan featuring 1CPU, 512MB RAM, and 25GB Hosting space, whilst the XXL boasts 3 CPUs, 3GB RAM, and 150GB space.
All plans, whether Shared or VPS, come with unlimited Bandwidth.
Website Builder
123 Reg has its own, easy-to-use website builder that comes at an additional monthly cost. There are 4 options that range from £5.59 to £34.99, each with a few more value-added features than the previous one. Customers can choose from dozens of pre-built, mobile-friendly templates, all of which can be easily customized with drag-and-drop tools. They also have a selection of copyright-free content available, including images, icons, and video backgrounds, should you not have your own materials. Simplicity does come at the cost of the flexibility and options allowed, so if you’re looking for something more complex, Managed WordPress might be the way.
Security
Security comes in the form of web application firewalls (WAF), database firewalls, and DDoS protection. Their shared hosting Pro packages and higher come standard with a free SSL certificate, while the Premium plan comes with AutoSSL, a program that allows you to add an SSL certificate automatically, free of charge.
As for the VPS plans, they are completely blank slates and don’t come with SSL certificates or AutoSSL. For the packages that do not offer SSL certificates, customers have the option of buying one at an additional cost, with the cheapest one being an eye-watering £47.88+ VAT per year.
All their Virtual Private Servers are backed up once every 24 hours. So, in the unlikely event of hardware failure, your VPS can easily be recovered with very little downtime.
OS
123 Reg uses the Linux Operating System on their shared and premium hosting packages. Their VPS Hosting plans allow for both Linux and Windows, so Microsoft products can be incorporated into websites more easily.
Support
123 Reg offers 24/7 support in the form of a Live Chat that is available from 9 AM to 7 PM daily, a Ticketing System, and Phone support that is available for all users from 8 AM to 10 PM on weekdays and 9 AM to 5 PM on weekends.
Their support is entirely UK-based and customers need to be logged in to log a fault or to use The Live Chat function, as those options aren’t available otherwise. This could make things tricky to get urgent help if you are based in another time zone.
The agents are friendly, and knowledgeable and do respond quickly (within 6 minutes in my case) should you contact them within their normal support hours.
Conclusion
Pros
Cons
Free Domain on Shared Plans;
30-day money-back guarantee;
Unlimited Bandwidth.
Phone support is restricted to the UK;
Poor Uptime;
Entry-level plans are too basic;
No SSD storage;
More expensive than most.
For a company that's been around for more than 20 years, I expected a bit more, to be honest. The impression I get is that they just do the bare minimum to keep going, and lack that spark that some of the up-and-coming hosting providers have. Their plans are basic, their support average and they don't have the best reputation when it comes to server reliability and uptime. They might be an option for someone that is UK based and looking to host their personal blog or website, but for businesses, there are better providers.
Plans
Note! Some companies do not include VAT in their prices. Prices are indicated for one month’s pay. If you pay for a longer period - discounts are possible. Domain prices are indicated for new domains registration.
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Sorting
Hosting rating
verified
shiela saballa
Philippines
20 apr. 2019
Pros:
- They have 99.99% uptime rate as they use load balancing which means your website will be hosting on multiple servers so if anything happens, your website will remain live.
- Performance is great since their data centre is in UK as well.
- They have great tech/cust support!
Cons:
- Not all their hosting packages offer free SSL. Most of the hosting companies offer this already.
- They only have 1ftp account for each hosting which isn't good especially if you have a lot of websites and you have few developers working on each site.
- There are limits to the number of subdomains you can create on each package.
Hosting rating
verified
Adeel ALI
Pakistan
24 apr. 2019
123-reg-co-uk is very popular web hosting service in the U.K. I am using their service for 10 years Their service is affordable and reliable .Good for hosting small wordpress websites.
Like other European web hosts their dashboard is not so good.
Hosting rating
verified
Vladimir Vasilev-Yanyshev
Russia
27 apr. 2023
I contacted 123-reg.co.uk support with a request to remove my service, but faced difficulties and unwillingness to help me promptly. Below is my correspondence with them:
18 April 2023 @ 01:50
Im not want use your service. accountname: presenttrue@yandex.com password: 000Vladimir.
18 April 2023 @ 01:50
Thanks for getting in touch. A ticket has been created for you and we will respond to you shortly.
18 April 2023 @ 23:10
Hello, Vladimir.Thank you for contacting 123 Reg support. I hope this message finds you well.
To close an account, all the services need to be canceled, including the domains, and all payment methods removed from the account.
You can remove the payment method from here https://www.123-reg.co.uk/secure/cpanel/payment-methods.
The domain freedominternational.uk has been suspended from what I see, but we can try to remove it from our end.
After the payment method has been removed, let us know.
Kind regards, Sebi
18 April 2023 @ 23:32
ready https://www.123-reg.co.uk/secure/cpanel/payment-methods
19 April 2023 @ 00:13
Thank you for the confirmation.
We will escalate this ticket further to the 2nd tier technicians, so they can remove any reference from your account, which means that you will be able to terminate your account.
Kind regards
Sebi, 123 Reg
19 April 2023 @ 01:03
should I expect a letter from them ?
19 April 2023 @ 10:20
Hi,Thank you for reaching out to us regarding the permanent closure of your 123-Reg account.
We have confirmed that the domain references have been removed from your account.
To close your 123-Reg account, please follow the instructions outlined in the article linked below:
https://www.123-reg.co.uk/support/my-account/how-do-i-terminate-my-123-reg-account/
Best regards,123 reg
19 April 2023 @ 17:20
...but your websystem want login/password on this way, after I push button "If you wish to close your account, you can do so here" with this hyperlink: https://www.123-reg.co.uk/secure/cpanel/account/review_data_verification ,but my login/password NOT ACCEPT ! A check it many times.
19 April 2023 @ 23:27
wait second day...
20 April 2023 @ 15:42
login presenttrue@yandex.com/pass:xxxx
20 April 2023 @ 18:11
Hello,We feel sorry to hear that you want to leave 123 Reg.
Your request is now being handled by our specialised department that will remove any stuck service so no further actions are needed from your end.The account deletion is an automated process carried out by our system therefore, once completed, you will no longer have access to this support ticket nor you will not be able to log into your 123 REG Control Panel anymore.
Best Wishes, John , Advanced Technical Support Team
20 April 2023 @ 20:00
ok, but third day, hoster cannot perform an elementary operation )
21 April 2023 @ 15:23
Hello,This request is handled by our system administrators, I will keep an eye on this request and email you once the account is fully deleted.Due to a high volume of tickets we do not have an ETA so your patience is highly appreciated.
Kind Regards, John , Advanced Technical Support Team
23 April 2023 @ 18:17
Hello,Unfortunately, the matter which represents the topic of this ticket is still ongoing and our technical team is trying to have it fixed in the shortest time possible. Please accept our apologies for the delay in providing the much-awaited solution, your understanding being greatly appreciated.Kind Regards, John , Advanced Technical Support Team
27 April 2023 @ 10:40
Hello,Thank you for contacting 123 Reg Support.I apologize for the length of time it takes to have this request solved.
We're currently still waiting for a reply from our development team on this matter.Thank you again for all your patience.
Should there be any more information that we can offer on the matter, or if you encounter any other issues, please do not hesitate to contact us.Best wishes,John , Advanced Technical Support Team
27 April 2023 @ 23:06
You carry nonsense. I will publish your answers in the media, will you be satisfied?
SIMILAR
Check out companies here from the same country, with similar scores and customer numbers.
We highly recommend not to purchase the cheapest hosting package. Usually, they come with a row of issues: the server is often down, the hardware is outdated, lousy and slow support, registration and payment errors, etc.
For your convenience, we have created a tool that can help you to choose the right hosting package for you just by answering a few simple questions.
CMS is a content management system. A lot of hosting providers offer so-called CMS optimized packages. However, this is a marketing trick because most CMSs do not have special software or hosting requirements.
Bulletproof hosting - it’s a type of service that allows to host almost any type of content, even the restricted one (adult content, warez, spam etc). Bulletproof hosting providers do not remove your content in case someone reports an abuse.
Unlimited hosting - refers to companies that provide packages with unlimited disk space, bandwidth, number of domains, databases or email accounts, etc. This is usually a marketing trick but sometimes you can find something worth a try.
Secure hosting - it’s a type of service when the hosting provider is mostly responsible for the security of the user’s account: updates the software installed on their servers, provides an antivirus and malware scanner, firewalls and basic anti-DDoS protection, etc.
DDoS-protected hosting - companies that provide packages that include anti-DDoS protection. These packages are considerably more expensive than regular ones. Nevertheless, they’re totally worth their price because the company will ensure that your website is secured from cyber attacks.
The more comfortable the control panel is, the easier will it be for you to change the website and hosting account settings.
Most hosting providers that are in TOP20 in our rating offer user-friendly control panels, such as cPanel, Plesk or DirectAdmin. That’s why we recommend to pay attention to other, more important parameters, while choosing a hosting provider.
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