Fasthosts vs Strato (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Fasthosts and Strato share a 1.6 GPA, neither has a free plan, and Strato starts cheaper, at about $5.36 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.
Fasthosts
UK web hosting, domains, VPS and dedicated servers
Which one is for you
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
Pick Strato if
- Fits if you want a domain and mailbox bundled with hosting
- Works for UK or European sites that run WordPress or Joomla
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you have several domains, as each package includes one and more cost extra
- Watch out: prices exclude VAT
- Watch out: the page says both a 6-month contract period and a 12-month minimum term
- Skip it if you want to try before paying, as there is no trial, only a money-back guarantee
- Watch out: DynDNS is not available on Basic Web
How we grade them
| 1.6GPAFasthostsWeak | 1.6GPAStratoWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | CBasic Web is £4 a month excluding VAT, around the category's cheapest-quarter line once VAT and currency are counted. |
| Free plan and trial | FNo free plan and no trial. The 30-day money-back guarantee is a refund, not a free try. | FNo free plan or trial; the 30-day money-back guarantee is not a trial. |
| Features | 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. | CDomain and mailboxes, CMS installs, backups, malware scans and unlimited traffic, but one domain per package and no DynDNS on Basic. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. You pick a plan, point a domain and install your site, so there is setup to do. | CNo store rating on record, and you set up the site and CMS yourself. |
| Platforms and integrations | CA web control panel only, with links to WordPress, Acronis and Microsoft 365. No API or app is listed. | CWeb only, with WordPress, Joomla, Typo3 and Drupal installs. |
| Best for | cheap UK shared hosting for a first year | hosting with a domain and mailbox included |
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: Fasthosts and Strato. How we grade
Price against what you get
Fasthosts starts at about $7.70 a month and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Strato starts at about $5.36 a month and scores 2.0.
They score the same, and Strato starts $2.34 a month lower. Of the other web hosts on the chart, 21 score higher than Fasthosts for less, and 19 score higher than Strato 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
- Fasthosts also covers app builder and managed WordPress.
- Strato also covers databases and malware protection.
At a glance
| Fasthosts | Strato | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| Starts at | £5.75 per month after a first 3 months at £1, excluding VAT (Start) | £4 per month, ex. VAT (Basic Web) |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Fasthosts | STRATO GmbH |
| Price read from | fasthosts.co.uk | strato-hosting.co.uk |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
Strato
- Each package includes only one domain; more domains are optional extras.
- Prices exclude VAT, and the page says both a 6-month contract period and a 12-month minimum term.
- Strato runs separate country sites (Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, France, UK); the .com site only redirects visitors.
- DynDNS is not available on the Basic Web package.
Key features
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.
Strato
- Domain and mailboxes included
- Each package includes one domain and mailboxes with webmail, spam filtering and virus protection.
- One-click CMS installs
- WordPress, Joomla, Typo3 and Drupal can be installed from the customer login, with git, Ruby, Python and Matomo also listed.
- Backups and malware scanning
- Backup Control makes website backups several times a day, and SiteGuard and a SiteLock scan check for malware.
- No traffic limit
- All four packages list unlimited traffic, SSD storage, SSL certificates and DDoS protection.
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- The UK site promises a refund for almost all products within the first 30 days, requested from the logged-in account.
Plans
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.
Strato
Basic Web£4.00
per month, ex. VAT
1 domain, 1 mailbox, 50 GB web space and 2 SSD databases.
Power Web£6.00
per month, ex. VAT
100 GB web space, 2 mailboxes, 25 SSD databases and Python and Ruby support.
Advanced Web£10.00
per month, ex. VAT
150 GB web space, 2 mailboxes, 50 SSD databases and 50 SFTP accounts.
Enterprise Web£15.00
per month, ex. VAT
200 GB web space, 5 mailboxes, 75 SSD databases and 80 SFTP accounts.
Ways to pay less
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.
Strato
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Fasthosts or Strato?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Strato is cheaper to start with: about $5.36 a month, against about $7.70 a month for Fasthosts. Fasthosts starts at £5.75 per month after a first 3 months at £1, excluding VAT (Start), and Strato starts at £4 per month, ex. VAT (Basic Web).
Which has a free plan, Fasthosts or Strato?
As of Nov 13, 2026, neither Fasthosts nor Strato 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.