123 Reg vs Krystal (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, 123 Reg and Krystal share a 1.6 GPA, neither has a free plan, and 123 Reg starts cheaper, at about $2.67 a month against about $9.38 a month.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 and 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
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 Krystal if
- Fits if you are in the UK and want a host you can phone
- Makes sense if you want hosting on renewable power
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a free trial, as none is listed
- Tight if you have several sites, because Amethyst has 1 and Ruby 5
- Pricey if you cannot commit, since the discounts need annual or two-year terms
- Watch out: domain costs are not refunded under the 60-day guarantee, and prices are in pounds
How we grade them
| 1.6GPA123 RegWeak | 1.6GPAKrystalWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | CAmethyst is £7 a month billed monthly, about $9, above the $5.28 cheaper-quarter line for web hosts. |
| Free plan and trial | FNo free plan or trial. The 14-day money-back guarantee isn't a trial. | FNo free plan or trial. A 60-day money-back guarantee is not a trial. |
| 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. | CcPanel, backups, free SSL and migration, and phone, chat and ticket support. Amethyst hosts one site with no free domain. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. cPanel and app installers mean accounts and settings to work through. | CNo store rating on record. cPanel, DNS and migration are yours to run. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb control panel. WordPress, Magento, Joomla and Microsoft 365 are listed, with no apps or API. | CWeb only, with WordPress, Drupal, OpenCart and LiteSpeed support. |
| Best for | UK shared hosting bundled with a domain | UK cPanel hosting with phone support |
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 Krystal. 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. Krystal starts at about $9.38 a month and scores 2.0.
They score the same, and 123 Reg starts $6.71 a month lower. Of the other web hosts on the chart, 7 score higher than 123 Reg for less, and 25 score higher than Krystal 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.
- Krystal also covers malware protection.
At a glance
| 123 Reg | Krystal | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| Starts at | £6.99 per month at renewal (excluding VAT), after a first 3-year term at £1.99 per month | £7 per month, billed monthly (Amethyst) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | 123 Reg | Krystal Hosting Ltd |
| Price read from | 123-reg.co.uk | krystal.io |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 12, 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.
Krystal
- Prices are in pounds sterling. Annual and two-year billing save 16% and 25%, but the page shows only the monthly figures.
- Amethyst hosts one site and has no free domain; the free domain starts at Ruby.
- Emergency phone support is listed from Sapphire up; the cheaper plans have standard phone support.
- Domain costs are not refunded under the 60-day money-back guarantee, though the domain can be transferred away.
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.
Krystal
- cPanel control panel
- Plans come with cPanel, one-click installs of more than 380 applications including WordPress, Drupal and OpenCart, and a drag-and-drop site builder.
- Own cloud servers
- Hosting runs on Krystal's own Dell cloud servers with LiteSpeed caching and NVMe storage. Plans state their CPU and RAM allowance.
- Security and backups
- Servers are scanned for malware and protected by firewalls, CloudLinux and DDoS protection. Backups run daily on the smaller plans and as often as every 4 hours on the larger ones.
- Free migration
- The team moves a site from another host, whether it uses cPanel, Plesk or its own system, at no charge.
- Phone, chat and ticket support
- UK-based support answers by ticket, live chat and phone. Sapphire and the plans above it add emergency phone support.
- Other hosting lines
- Krystal also sells business hosting from £19 a month, managed WordPress from £15 a month, VPS from £10 a month, reseller hosting and a public cloud.
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.
Krystal
Amethyst£7
per month, billed monthly
1 site, 1 CPU, 2 GB RAM, 10 GB NVMe, unlimited mailboxes and bandwidth, daily backups and free SSL.
Ruby£11
per month, billed monthly
5 sites, 2 CPU, 4 GB RAM and 25 GB NVMe, with a free domain.
Emerald£19
per month, billed monthly
Unlimited sites and NVMe storage, 3 CPU, 6 GB RAM, 12-hourly backups and PCI DSS scan compliance.
Sapphire£37
per month, billed monthly
Unlimited sites, 4 CPU, 8 GB RAM, 4-hourly backups and emergency phone support.
Diamond£67
per month, billed monthly
Unlimited sites, 6 CPU, 12 GB RAM, 4-hourly backups and emergency phone support.
Tanzanite£97
per month, billed monthly
Unlimited sites, 9 CPU, 18 GB RAM, 4-hourly backups and emergency phone support.
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.
Krystal
- Annual discount
Save 16% on annual, 25% on two-year billing
The hosting page offers Annually and Biennially billing options that it says save 16% and 25% against paying monthly. The page shows the monthly price only.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, 123 Reg or Krystal?
As of Nov 13, 2026, 123 Reg is cheaper to start with: about $2.67 a month, against about $9.38 a month for Krystal. 123 Reg starts at £6.99 per month at renewal (excluding VAT), after a first 3-year term at £1.99 per month, and Krystal starts at £7 per month, billed monthly (Amethyst).
Which has a free plan, 123 Reg or Krystal?
As of Nov 13, 2026, neither 123 Reg nor Krystal 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.