123 Reg vs Fasthosts (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, 123 Reg and Fasthosts share a 1.6 GPA, neither has a free plan, and 123 Reg starts cheaper, at about $2.67 a month against about $7.70 a month.
Checked Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
They get the same grade on all five counts.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
123 Reg
UK domain registrar with shared cPanel web hosting plans
Fasthosts
UK web hosting, domains, VPS and dedicated servers
Which one is for you
Pick 123 Reg if
- Fits if you want a UK host with domain and email bundled for the first year
- Works for small sites that fit within 25GB to 100GB on shared hosting
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you stay past the term: £71.64 for 3 years of Economy becomes £251.64 on renewal
- Watch out: all prices exclude VAT
- Watch out: the free domain and free email apply to the first year only
- Tight if your site gets busy: 512MB to 2GB of shared RAM and 1 to 2 CPUs
- Watch out: phone and some other support are open only in UK office hours
Pick Fasthosts if
- Fits if you run one UK business site and want hosting, domain and email from one supplier
- Works for agencies that need up to 100 sites on the Pro plan
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you stay past the offer: Start renews at £5.75 and Pro at £20.50 a month, excluding VAT
- Watch out: the first-year domain is free, then it renews at the normal price, and it only covers .com, .uk, .co.uk and .online
- Skip it if you want to try before paying, as there is no free plan or trial
- Watch out: the VAT footnote on the plans page is garbled, so check the total at checkout
- Tight if you need a second email address on Start, which includes just 1
How we grade them
| 1.6GPA123 RegWeak | 1.6GPAFasthostsWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CEconomy is £1.99 a month for the first 3 years, then £6.99 at renewal, roughly $9 and above the $5 where the cheaper quarter of hosting starts. Higher plans reach £15.99. | CStart is £5.75 a month after the intro offer, excluding VAT, which puts it in the middle of what web hosts charge. The £1 for 3 months is a teaser, not the price. |
| Free plan and trial | FNo free plan or trial. The 14-day money-back guarantee isn't a trial. | FNo free plan and no trial. The 30-day money-back guarantee is a refund, not a free try. |
| Features | CcPanel, NVMe storage, one-click apps, backups, DDoS protection and a CDN. Shared RAM runs 512MB to 2GB, so busy sites may need Premium or VPS. | CFour shared tiers with unlimited bandwidth, a free first-year domain, SSL and email. The listing does not record VPS and server prices, and Start gives you 1 site and 1 email address. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. cPanel and app installers mean accounts and settings to work through. | CNo store rating on record. You pick a plan, point a domain and install your site, so there is setup to do. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb control panel. WordPress, Magento, Joomla and Microsoft 365 are listed, with no apps or API. | CA web control panel only, with links to WordPress, Acronis and Microsoft 365. No API or app is listed. |
| Best for | UK shared hosting bundled with a domain | cheap UK shared hosting for a first year |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: 123 Reg and Fasthosts. How we grade
Price against what you get
123 Reg starts at about $2.67 a month and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Fasthosts starts at about $7.70 a month and scores 2.0.
They score the same, and 123 Reg starts $5.03 a month lower. Of the other web hosts on the chart, 7 score higher than 123 Reg for less, and 21 score higher than Fasthosts for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- 123 Reg also covers page speed.
- Fasthosts also covers app builder.
At a glance
| 123 Reg | Fasthosts | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| Starts at | £6.99 per month at renewal (excluding VAT), after a first 3-year term at £1.99 per month | £5.75 per month after a first 3 months at £1, excluding VAT (Start) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | 123 Reg | Fasthosts |
| Price read from | 123-reg.co.uk | fasthosts.co.uk |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
123 Reg
- The headline monthly price is a 3-year-term price that renews at roughly three times as much; the renewal figures are £6.99 to £15.99 a month.
- All prices exclude VAT, and the free domain and free email apply to the first year only.
- Shared plans have 512MB to 2GB of shared RAM and 1 to 2 CPUs, so busy sites may need Premium or VPS hosting.
- Phone and some other support channels are only open during UK office hours; the plans carry a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Fasthosts
- Prices shown appear to exclude 20% UK VAT, but the page's VAT footnote is garbled; the site offers a toggle to show VAT pricing.
- The advertised £1 and 99p prices apply to the first 3 or 12 months only; the plan then renews at its regular price.
- The free domain is for the first year and covers .com, .uk, .co.uk and .online.
- VPS, dedicated and cloud server pricing is separate and was not recorded here.
Key features
123 Reg
- cPanel control panel
- The shared plans are managed through cPanel, with email accounts, subdomains, file uploads, SSL and resource usage in one dashboard.
- NVMe storage
- Plans range from 25GB to 100GB of NVMe storage, with bandwidth described as unmetered under the acceptable use policy.
- One-click app installs
- The page says more than 80 apps, including WordPress, Magento and Joomla, can be installed in one click, with site cloning and automatic updates.
- Domain and email included
- Annual plans include a domain for the first year and professional mailboxes of 1GB each. The Economy plan includes a one-year SSL certificate and the higher plans unlimited SSL.
- Backups and security
- Daily automated backups, DDoS protection and monitoring are listed on every plan, along with a CDN for faster delivery.
- Other hosting types
- Managed WordPress hosting, Premium Hosting, VPS (including Windows VPS with Plesk) and a website builder are sold alongside the shared plans.
Fasthosts
- Four shared hosting tiers
- Plans scale from 1 website on 100 GB to 100 websites on 500 GB, all with unlimited bandwidth and the OneClick app installer.
- UK data centres
- The site says hosting runs from UK data centres, with a Tier IV-certified Worcester facility and ISO 27001 certification.
- Free domain and SSL
- Each plan includes free first-year domains and free SSL certificates; Scale and Pro certificates last for the life of the package.
- Servers beyond shared hosting
- VPS, cloud VPS with pay-per-minute billing, dedicated servers, bare-metal servers and GPU servers are listed in its menu.
- WordPress and site builders
- The site also sells WordPress hosting, a website builder, an ecommerce builder and an AI App & Site Builder.
- 30-day guarantee
- A 30-day money-back guarantee is stated on the web hosting page.
Plans
123 Reg
Economy£6.99
per month at renewal; first 3 years £1.99 a month, ex VAT
1 website, 25GB NVMe storage, 1 CPU, 512MB shared RAM and 1 mailbox. A 3-year term is £71.64 up front, then £251.64 on renewal.
Deluxe£8.99
per month at renewal; first 3 years £2.99 a month, ex VAT
Up to 10 websites, 50GB NVMe storage, 1 CPU, 1GB shared RAM and 2 mailboxes. A 3-year term is £107.64 up front, then £323.64 on renewal.
Ultimate£11.99
per month at renewal; first 3 years £4.99 a month, ex VAT
Up to 25 websites, 75GB NVMe storage, 2 CPUs, 1.5GB shared RAM and 3 mailboxes. A 3-year term is £179.64 up front, then £431.64 on renewal.
Maximum£15.99
per month at renewal; first 3 years £5.99 a month, ex VAT
Up to 50 websites, 100GB NVMe storage, 2 CPUs, 2GB shared RAM and 5 mailboxes. A 3-year term is £215.64 up front, then £575.64 on renewal.
Fasthosts
Start£5.75
per month, excluding VAT, after a first 3 months at £1
1 website, 100 GB SSD storage, unlimited bandwidth, 15 databases, 1 email address and a free first-year domain. Advertised at £1 a month for 3 months.
Grow£8
per month, excluding VAT, after a first 12 months at 99p
3 websites, 250 GB SSD storage, 45 databases, 2 email addresses, 2 free domains and 2 free 1-year SSL certificates. Advertised at 99p a month for 12 months.
Scale£13.75
per month, excluding VAT, after a first 3 months at £1
10 websites, 350 GB SSD storage, 150 databases, 4 email addresses and 3 free domains, with Marketing Radar free for the first year.
Pro£20.50
per month, excluding VAT, after a first 3 months at £1
100 websites, 500 GB SSD storage, 1,500 databases, 8 email addresses and 5 free domains, with Marketing Radar free for the first year.
Ways to pay less
123 Reg
- Other savings
3-year term pricing
Locking in a 3-year Web Hosting plan is advertised as saving up to 57%; Economy costs £1.99 a month for the first term against £6.99 at renewal.
Fasthosts
- Other savings
£1 for the first 3 months on Start, Scale and Pro
The web hosting page advertises £1 a month for the first 3 months on Start, Scale and Pro, and 99p a month for 12 months on Grow.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, 123 Reg or Fasthosts?
As of Nov 13, 2026, 123 Reg is cheaper to start with: about $2.67 a month, against about $7.70 a month for Fasthosts. 123 Reg starts at £6.99 per month at renewal (excluding VAT), after a first 3-year term at £1.99 per month, and Fasthosts starts at £5.75 per month after a first 3 months at £1, excluding VAT (Start).
Which has a free plan, 123 Reg or Fasthosts?
As of Nov 13, 2026, neither 123 Reg nor Fasthosts has a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.