Heart Internet

What they say they tested: Entry cites an A+ grade in their Sucuri load-time tests.

• + Liked: Strong worldwide speed for a local UK host
• + Liked: Free domain for the first year on annual plans
• + Liked: Northern England data centre

• – Disliked: SSL not included on many shared plans
• – Disliked: Expensive

Summarised in our own words.

What they say they tested: Built a test site and monitored it for three months: GTmetrix 0.9 s (PageSpeed D, 67%), Sucuri 0.186 s (A+), and 99.95% uptime. Tickets were answered within minutes to about 75 minutes; live chat was offline three times during its stated hours. Cancellation took several exchanges.

• + Liked: Good speed, including for visitors outside the UK
• + Liked: Reliable in their test
• + Liked: Responsive ticket support
• + Liked: Data centre in Leeds for northern England audiences

• – Disliked: No free domain or SSL on lower-priced plans
• – Disliked: Pricier than other UK hosts
• – Disliked: No uptime guarantee on shared cloud plans
• – Disliked: Cancellation is drawn out

Summarised in our own words.

What they say they tested: The list says it uses WordPress test sites; no figures shown for Heart Internet.

• + Liked: UK data centre
• + Liked: 24/7 support
• + Liked: Easy control panel
• + Liked: Website monitoring included

• – Disliked: Set-up fee on the basic plan
• – Disliked: Expensive plans
• – Disliked: Fewer features than rivals

Summarised in our own words.

What they say they tested: Says it is based on the reviewer's own use of the Home Pro plan; no measured figures appear in the page text. Ticket replies averaged around an hour.

• + Liked: Large support library of over 1,700 articles
• + Liked: Around 70 one-click apps
• + Liked: Easy control panel
• + Liked: Ticket support mostly solved issues first time

• – Disliked: 'Unlimited' bandwidth slowed the reviewer's sites under modest traffic
• – Disliked: No free domain
• – Disliked: Expensive, with paid virus scanning
• – Disliked: Linking an outside domain was difficult
• – Disliked: No phone or live chat support

Summarised in our own words.

What they say they tested: Measured Heart Internet's own website: GTmetrix gave a 3.3 s load with a slow largest-content time; two weeks of UptimeRobot checks found no downtime. A support ticket was answered within an hour.

• + Liked: Good range of hosting types
• + Liked: Free domain with all plans
• + Liked: Free website migration within 48 hours
• + Liked: 30-day money-back guarantee on shared plans

• – Disliked: Few payment methods
• – Disliked: Shared plans are a bit expensive
• – Disliked: No SSL on cheaper plans
• – Disliked: Live chat in practice only on weekday office hours
• – Disliked: Knowledge base search was slow and crashed

Summarised in our own words.

What they say they tested: Hands-on sign-up and set-up; no measurements.

• + Liked: Generous space, bandwidth and databases for the time
• + Liked: Good choice of one-click apps
• + Liked: FTP locking for security

• – Disliked: Most expensive plan in their group test
• – Disliked: No domain included
• – Disliked: Clunky sign-up and route to the control panel

Summarised in our own words.