As a web developer I'm often asked by clients to recommend a UK hosting service for their new site. I've taken some time out to research what's currently available in terms of good value hosting backed by guarantees of reliable service and consistent up time.

The following short list details the two UK Internet Service Providers that from personal experience I know to offer unbeatable value for money combined with a solid reliability record and the highest standards of customer care.

1and1.co.uk - the UK's leader

• Shared Linux web hosting from £1.99 + VAT per month, including some unique features for novice and professional webmasters alike.

• Dedicated Windows Servers starting at £69 + VAT per month. Unlimited bandwidth at 100 MBit data transfer speed, 64 bit architecture, 1-4 GB RAM, MS Server 2003 64 bit edition, RAID storage... Wow!

• Hosted eCommerce services from 1&1 Internet eCommerce  - straightforward e-commerce website creation and hosting service, allowing quick and easy online creation of your eShop. Hosting starts at £9.99 and includes £400 worth of free software.

• Domain names from 1&1 Internet come at easily the best prices in the UK. All my recent domains have come from 1&1. Prices start at £1.99 per year + VAT for .co.uk/.org.uk domains, and less than a fiver per year including VAT for .com and .org names, which is the lowest I've found. Unbeatable. click for more info...

(prices checked 1-Dec-06)

Krystal Hosting - best independent ISP for Linux hosting

Krystal offer extremely competitive hosting plans that, when combined with their ultra-personal, warm & friendly customer service make them a very tempting proposition against the slightly cheaper but totally faceless corporations out their. Starting at under £4 a month for 250Mb of space with 10 MySQL databases, 10 Gig of transfer, PHP / CGI support and automated backups, their entry-level Topaz plan even includes a free domain name so you can be up and running from scratch for under £48 a year.

Their domain prices are also extremely competitive, until recently they were the cheapest UK supplier of .com and .org domain names (although 1and1 are currently running a promotion on these which beats them - see below)

click here for more info...

Even better deals available in the U.S.A.

For a full directory of hosting companies on both sides of the Atlantic please check my links directory

The list includes the world's cheapest seller of .com names! Unbelievably, I've recently discovered where to buy .com, .biz, .info, .net, .us & .org domains for only $6.50 (that's less than £3.50!) per year by looking to US hosting specialists iPower.com (price checked 2-aug-06)