20i vs Krystal (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, 20i and Krystal share a 1.6 GPA, neither has a free plan, and Krystal starts cheaper, at about $9.38 a month against about $13.40 a month.
Checked Nov 12, 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.
Which one is for you
Pick 20i if
- Fits if you want a UK host with a monthly plan and no contract
- Makes sense if you resell or run many sites and want plans that scale
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a trial or free tier, as there is none
- Tight if you host more than one site, since Startup and Plan 1 allow one
- Pricey as you grow, because plans jump from £10 to £300 a month
- Watch out: prices are in pounds, and the page does not state refund terms for the £1 month
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
| 1.6GPA20iWeak | 1.6GPAKrystalWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CStartup is £10 a month at renewal, around $13, between the $11 middle and the $19 dearer-quarter line for web hosts. The first month is £1. | 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 £1 first month is a discount, not a trial. | FNo free plan or trial. A 60-day money-back guarantee is not a trial. |
| Features | CAutoscaling, a CDN, backups, malware scanning and free migration. The entry plan hosts one site and 50 GB of bandwidth. | 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. A hosting control panel, DNS and site migration are on you. | CNo store rating on record. cPanel, DNS and migration are yours to run. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb only, with WordPress, WooCommerce and Magento support. | CWeb only, with WordPress, Drupal, OpenCart and LiteSpeed support. |
| Best for | UK-priced web hosting that scales on its own | 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: 20i and Krystal. How we grade
Price against what you get
20i starts at about $13.40 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 Krystal starts $4.02 a month lower. Of the other web hosts on the chart, 23 score higher than 20i for less, and 17 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
At a glance
| 20i | Krystal | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| Starts at | £10 per month at renewal (Startup), after a first month for £1 | £7 per month, billed monthly (Amethyst) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | 20i | Krystal Hosting Ltd |
| Price read from | 20i.com | krystal.io |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
20i
- Prices are in pounds sterling. The £1 first month applies to the first month only; after that the plan renews at its monthly price.
- Startup and Plan 1 host a single website; the Startup plan has 50 GB of bandwidth.
- Each step up the price ladder is large, from £10 a month to £300 a month at Plan 5.
- The page does not say how a plan is refunded or whether the £1 month can be cancelled before it renews.
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
20i
- Autoscaling resources
- The platform allocates resources across its whole network instead of one server, and sets PHP workers automatically. The page says there are no inode limits.
- Free CDN and edge pre-cache
- Every plan includes a CDN with global edge pre-caching and no bandwidth throttling on the CDN, according to the plan page.
- Security and backups
- Plans include free SSL certificates, a web application firewall with malware scanning and automatic daily backups.
- Free migrations
- Sites can be migrated on demand, with the vendor stating no downtime. Migrations are listed as free and unlimited.
- Data centres in three regions
- Plans can be placed in UK, US or Asia data centres. 20i's own 24/7 support team answers by ticket or live chat.
- Twentie AI assistant
- An AI assistant is listed among the features of every web hosting plan.
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
20i
Startup£10
per month at renewal, after a first month for £1
1 website, 10 GB storage, 50 GB bandwidth and 10 mailboxes. The first month costs £1; no contract.
Plan 1£20
per month at renewal, after a first month for £1
1 website, 10 GB storage, 100 GB bandwidth, 20 mailboxes and 5 GB of MySQL storage.
Plan 2£40
per month at renewal, after a first month for £1
3 websites, 20 GB storage, 200 GB bandwidth, 50 mailboxes and 15 GB of MySQL storage.
Plan 3£80
per month at renewal, after a first month for £1
10 websites, 40 GB storage, 300 GB bandwidth, 100 mailboxes and 50 GB of MySQL storage.
Plan 4£150
per month at renewal, after a first month for £1
25 websites, 50 GB storage, 500 GB bandwidth, 250 mailboxes and 125 GB of MySQL storage.
Plan 5£300
per month at renewal, after a first month for £1
50 websites, 100 GB storage, 1 TB bandwidth, 500 mailboxes and 250 GB of MySQL storage.
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
20i
- Other savings
First month of web hosting for £1
Each web hosting plan is £1 for its first month, then returns to the listed monthly price. The page shows no end date.
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, 20i or Krystal?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Krystal is cheaper to start with: about $9.38 a month, against about $13.40 a month for 20i. 20i starts at £10 per month at renewal (Startup), after a first month for £1, and Krystal starts at £7 per month, billed monthly (Amethyst).
Which has a free plan, 20i or Krystal?
As of Nov 12, 2026, neither 20i 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.