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When it's worth renting a VPS in the United Kingdom
A British server is rarely the cheapest option in Europe, and taking one "just to be abroad" usually makes no sense: the Netherlands or Germany will give you the same thing for less and, for most of continental Europe, with a lower ping. A VPS in the UK is justified when the task is tied to London — an audience, partners, a broker or a requirement for a British IP.
Three tasks people choose Britain for
- A website or service for a British audience. A server in the country gives minimal latency for local users, a British IP and a jurisdiction they're familiar with.
- Trading terminals. Many brokers keep their trading servers in London data centres, and ping to the broker affects order execution. There's a separate selection for this task, Forex VPS in London.
- Bridging Europe and the USA. From London to the US east coast is about 70–75 ms — less than from most continental cities — so it's a convenient place for an intermediate node or an API serving both audiences.
London, LINX and the suburbs
Most British plans are hosted in London and its surroundings. The city is home to LINX, one of the world's largest internet exchange points, and data centre clusters stand in the Docklands in the east of the city and in Slough to the west of it. There are also facilities in Manchester, Middlesbrough and other cities, but for most tasks the difference between them is smaller than between hosts.
Ping and prices
Within Western Europe connectivity is excellent: Amsterdam and Frankfurt are a few milliseconds away. For a website, an API and remote desktop this is plenty; for a game server, put it as close to your players as possible.
The median price of a British virtual server is higher than in the Netherlands or Germany: electricity, floor space and staff cost more. Cheap plans exist too — they're easy to find on the cheap UK VPS page — but on the same budget, continental Europe usually gets you more memory and cores.
Rules and payment
The UK has left the EU, but data protection works almost the same way there: UK GDPR applies together with the local data protection law. Hosts are strict about spam and rights holders' complaints, and their sign-up terms are worth reading in advance.
Payment methods vary between providers: cards are the norm, and a noticeable share of hosts also accept cryptocurrency. The "Payment" column in the table above shows the methods for each plan.