At a Glance
123 Reg provides a mix of web-hosting plans, including low-cost shared hosting, dedicated WordPress and e-commerce hosting, and virtual private servers (VPSs). The 123 Reg website has a comprehensive knowledge base to help you solve any problems, and most plans come with a free domain name.
Bandwidth: Unlimited
Free marketing offer: Up to 60% off
Uptime: 99.9% guarantee for premium hosting only
Website builder: Yes
Money-back guarantee: Only with website builder packages
Price per month: £1.99-£47.99
Pros
- Good range of options to choose from
- Free domain with most plans
- 1-click installer with 130+ apps
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Extensive knowledge base for self-support
Cons
Overview
123 Reg is an established domain registrar and hosting company based in the United Kingdom. It offers a range of hosting solutions, predominantly targeting the lower end of the market. If all you need is a basic website or a no-frills e-commerce store, then it provides some good options.
As a bonus, many of the plans come with a free domain name, unmetered bandwidth, and large amounts of storage for the price.
Best Suited For
123 Reg is best suited for freelancers or solopreneurs based in the UK. In particular, the all-in-one e-commerce plan is a good choice for users looking to build their first online store. It's also worth considering 123 Reg if you need large volumes of data storage on your website.
Hosting Types
Shared Hosting
123 Reg offers shared hosting for entry-level users. Your website will be hosted on the same server as multiple other users, which helps keep your hosting costs down.
These basic plans have a limited number of domains and email addresses you can use, and not all shared hosting plans come with a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate. This is a security feature you’ll need if you want your website to be viewed from modern browsers without a warning message appearing.
Managed WordPress Hosting
Managed WordPress hosting makes running a WordPress site easy. All 123 Reg WordPress plans come with 1 free SSL certificate, regular backups, and a malware scan to ensure your site stays safe and secure.
Premium Hosting
Premium hosting provides you with dedicated RAM and CPUs to keep your site running smoothly. These resources maintain your website’s performance, unlike shared hosting, where someone else’s website can slow down your hosting environment. All premium plans include 3 free domains and free SSL certificates.
VPS hosting
123 Reg offers VPS hosting, which gives you a cost-effective way to manage multiple websites. Here, you get the benefits of having dedicated hardware, presented to you in a virtual system. This means you don’t have to lease or purchase hardware when running your website.
The VPS hosting plans all include the choice of Linux or Windows operating systems, and 3 of the plan options allow you to choose between cPanel and Plesk for your control panel.
Hosting Features
When you log into 123 Reg, you’ll find it uses cPanel, which allows you to manage all your hosting settings. For those who want to work on the command line, SSH access is enabled on its shared hosting plans. 1-click installers are available on some plans to make it easy to install software and get your website up and running quickly. You can also register and manage your domain names using 123 Reg.
123 Reg hosting provides unmetered bandwidth and high, or even unlimited, storage quotas. However, the limited number of email addresses and SSL certificates on many of the plans may be a drawback. At this price point, many competing companies provide free SSL certificates by default and from 10 to unlimited email addresses.
If you need access to a website builder, 123 Reg has specific plans starting from £5.59 per month. While the website builder may not be advanced enough for some users, it’s a good choice if you lack technical know-how and only need a basic site.
123 Reg also has a plan dedicated to setting up an e-commerce store in a straightforward way. It features an easy-to-use drag-and-drop interface and includes everything you need to start accepting orders. The only other account you’ll need is with a payment provider such as PayPal, Square, or Stripe.
Plans and Pricing
123 Reg offers shared web hosting from £1.99 per month when choosing a 3-year plan. There are also premium hosting options ranging from £19.99 to £47.99. 123 Reg is a UK-based company, and all advertised prices exclude 20% VAT.
Prices for 123 Reg’s shared hosting plans are below:
Starter | Standard | Pro | Ultimate | |
Introductory price per month (annual plan) | £2.99 | £3.99 | £5.99 | £7.49 |
Price per month (3-year plan) | £1.99 | £2.99 | £4.99 | £6.49 |
Websites supported | 1 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Email addresses | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
Free domains | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Free Offerings
Each plan comes with at least 1 free domain name and email address. Free SSL certificates are only available on more expensive plans.
Uptime and Performance
123 Reg only offers an uptime guarantee with its premium hosting plan. At 99.9%, this is below the 99.99% guarantee offered by some competitors. Performance-wise, 123 Reg sits somewhere in the middle of the pack—not the fastest, but not the slowest either. Antivirus protection and malware detection appear as standard.
Technology
123 Reg doesn’t provide in-depth details of the hardware it provides, other than the number of CPUs and amount of RAM and storage available on each plan.
The default operating system is Linux, with cPanel providing the control panel. If you’re looking to use Windows, you’ll need to choose VPS hosting, although this option is temporarily unavailable at the time of writing.
For many plans, developer features such as SSH access and task scheduling, as well as PHP and Perl programming languages, are available.
Ease of Use
123 Reg offers a range of tools to help make managing your website easy to use and navigate. You access everything via the industry-standard cPanel interface. If you’ve used other hosting companies, you’ll find everything familiar here.
Support Services
You can reach support by phone between 8 am and 10 pm on weekdays, with live chat available between 9 am and 7 pm every day.
You can reach out to 123 Reg through a ticketing system via its support centre, which also holds an extensive knowledge base. Between this and the 123 Reg blog, you’ll find basic beginner guides as well as answers to questions on your account and more technical issues.
In Conclusion
123 Reg offers a range of budget hosting solutions mainly aimed at basic websites and smaller businesses. It provides a wide selection of software applications through the 1-click installer available with its shared hosting plans, making it easy to build your website. The company also offers an all-in-one drag-and-drop e-commerce site builder to simplify setting up an online store.
There are some limitations to 123 Reg’s packages, particularly the lack of email addresses available on shared-hosting plans and the absence of automatic, free SSL certificates on lower-tier plans. However, 123 Reg is one of the top domain registrars in the UK and offers you a free domain with most plans.
