34SP vs Krystal (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, 34SP and Krystal share a 1.6 GPA, neither has a free plan, and Krystal starts cheaper, at about $9.38 a month against about $13.33 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.
Which one is for you
Pick 34SP if
- Fits if you want UK-based hosting with phone support
- Works for small business sites on a month-to-month plan
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you need daily backups, as they cost at least £2.50 a month extra on Professional
- Watch out: prices are in pounds and include 20% VAT, and domains are separate
- Skip it if you want to try first, as there is no free plan or trial
- Watch out: the FAQ gives a base price range that differs from the plan pages
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
| 1.6GPA34SPWeak | 1.6GPAKrystalWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CProfessional Hosting is £9.95 a month incl. VAT, in the ordinary range, billed month to month. | 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 money-back guarantee is not a trial. | FNo free plan or trial. A 60-day money-back guarantee is not a trial. |
| Features | CManaged WordPress containers, container hosting, reseller hosting, SSL and backups. The cheapest plan has weekly backups only. | CcPanel, backups, free SSL and migration, and phone, chat and ticket support. Amethyst hosts one site with no free domain. |
| Ease of use | CManaged hosting with a panel, though sites still need setup. No store rating. | CNo store rating on record. cPanel, DNS and migration are yours to run. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb hosting with a few integrations listed and no apps. | CWeb only, with WordPress, Drupal, OpenCart and LiteSpeed support. |
| Best for | managed UK hosting with phone support | 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: 34SP and Krystal. How we grade
Price against what you get
34SP starts at about $13.33 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 $3.95 a month lower. Of the other web hosts on the chart, 36 score higher than 34SP 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
- 34SP also covers no-code.
- Krystal also covers malware protection.
At a glance
| 34SP | Krystal | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| Starts at | £9.95 per month including VAT (Professional Hosting) | £7 per month, billed monthly (Amethyst) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | 34SP.com | Krystal Hosting Ltd |
| Price read from | 34sp.com | krystal.io |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
34SP
- Prices are in pounds and include 20% VAT; domains are not included and are bought separately.
- Professional Hosting includes weekly backups only; daily backups cost at least £2.50 a month extra.
- The site's FAQ says base packages run from £7.95 to £44.95 a month, which differs from the £9.95 to £41.95 listed on the plan pages.
- Hosting is billed month to month with no setup fee.
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
34SP
- Managed WordPress containers
- WordPress plans run in a site container with staging sites, free migrations, daily backups and managed updates.
- UK phone and email support
- The company says its Manchester support team is open from 8 am to 8 pm every day by phone, email and ticket.
- Container hosting
- Universal Hosting runs each site in its own private container with a dedicated IP address and a 99.9% uptime SLA.
- Free SSL and backups
- SSL certificates are free on all plans, and the site says backups are free on its plans, with daily backups an add-on on Professional.
- Reseller hosting
- The reseller plan allows unlimited sites with a white-label, client-level control panel.
- Money-back guarantee
- A rolling 30-day money-back guarantee refunds the last 30 days of hosting fees.
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
34SP
Professional Hosting£9.95
per month, including VAT
1 main website with 50 GB storage, 500 mailboxes, 50 databases, 500 subdomains and unlimited bandwidth. Daily backups are an add-on from £2.50 a month.
WordPress Hosting, 1 site£11.95
per month, including VAT
One WordPress site container with 25 GB storage, unlimited bandwidth, free migration, staging and daily backups. 3, 5 and 10 site plans run £21.95 to £51.95.
Universal Hosting, Standard£21.95
per month, including VAT
A private container with 15 GB storage and 2 GB memory. Ecommerce is £51.95 (60 GB, 5 GB) and Heavy Duty £101.95 (135 GB, 10 GB).
Reseller Hosting£41.95
per month, including VAT
Unlimited sites on 50 GB storage and 2 GB RAM, with white-label control panel and daily backups. Also £503.40 per year.
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
34SP
- Annual discount
Reseller billed yearly
The Reseller plan lists £503.40 per year beside £41.95 per month, which is the same as twelve monthly payments.
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, 34SP or Krystal?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Krystal is cheaper to start with: about $9.38 a month, against about $13.33 a month for 34SP. 34SP starts at £9.95 per month including VAT (Professional Hosting), and Krystal starts at £7 per month, billed monthly (Amethyst).
Which has a free plan, 34SP or Krystal?
As of Nov 13, 2026, neither 34SP 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.