The right hosting depends on your traffic, your need for control, and whether you own hardware. Here's how the main options compare.
Hosting is a ladder: you start cheap and shared, then move up as you need more performance or control. Paying for more than you need is just as wasteful as outgrowing your plan.
Shared hosting, best for most small sites
Your site shares a server with many others. It's the cheapest, fully managed, and perfect for brochure sites, small WordPress sites and shops just starting out. The trade-off: you share resources, so a noisy neighbour can affect performance. Our web hosting plans use LiteSpeed and isolation to limit this.
VPS: your own slice of a server
A Virtual Private Server gives you guaranteed CPU/RAM and full root access on a partitioned server. Choose a UK VPS when you've outgrown shared hosting, need to install custom software, or run a busy store. You manage it (or pay for managed), so it suits more technical users.
Dedicated servers: a whole machine
An entire physical server, rented monthly, for high-traffic sites and heavy workloads. Maximum performance with no neighbours, but you don't own the hardware and you're responsible for the OS upward.
Colocation: your hardware, our data centre
With server colocation you own the server and we provide the rack space, power, cooling and connectivity in a UK data centre. It makes sense when you already have hardware, need full control, or want predictable long-term costs at scale.
A quick way to decide
- Small site / limited budget → shared hosting.
- Growing store or custom stack → VPS.
- High, steady traffic → dedicated.
- You own hardware / want full control → colocation.
Key takeaways
- Shared hosting suits most small business sites.
- Move to a VPS when you need guaranteed resources or root access.
- Dedicated servers give a whole machine for heavy workloads.
- Colocation is for when you own the hardware and want UK data-centre space.
Not sure which tier you need?
Tell us your traffic and goals and we'll recommend the right fit, no upselling.
Get adviceFrequently asked questions
When should I move from shared hosting to a VPS?
When your site is slow at peak times, you hit resource limits, or you need to install software shared hosting won't allow.
Is colocation cheaper than a dedicated server?
Over the long term it can be, because you own the hardware: you're only paying for rack space, power and connectivity.
Can I start small and upgrade later?
Yes. The sensible path is shared → VPS → dedicated/colocation as you grow, and we'll migrate you each step.