Krystal vs Zume
Both UK picks on the r/webhosting list sell hosting the honest way — one price, VAT included, no introductory rate to expire — which makes this the rare comparison where the renewal column is boring. The differences are scale, guarantees, and hours. Verified on krystal.io and zume.net on September 25, 2026.
Disclosure: 1 of the 2 providers listed here pay us a commission on a purchase — the ones without a paid link are captioned "Non-affiliate recommendation". Commission does not affect the ratings or the order.
Summary verdict
Short answer
Krystal for business sites: a 60-day refund, a 100%-availability SLA with credits on every hosting plan, a named London data centre plus Amsterdam and New Jersey, phone support, a 22-year track record, and a stack it documents in detail. Zume for small sites on a budget: £6/mo month-to-month with an explicit published promise that the price never rises for existing customers, same-day migration, and email included — accepting a 14-day refund window, weekday-only chat, and no uptime SLA on the entry product.
Top pick
Krystal
At a glance
Comparison table
Krystal
UK hosting with no introductory pricing
- Starting price
- from £7/mo (~$9.24), VAT includedAmethyst, monthly billing; annual saves 16%, biennial 25%Verified September 2026
- Ease
- 4 of 5
- Performance
- 4 of 5
- Support
- 4 of 5
- Migration
- Included
- Included
Zume Hosting
Flat UK pricing, monthly, no contract
- Starting price
- from £6/mo (~$7.92), VAT includedLaunch plan, monthly billing, no contractVerified September 2026
- Ease
- 4 of 5
- Performance
- 4 of 5
- Support
- 4 of 5
- Migration
- Included
- Included
| Provider | Best for | Starting price | Ease | Performance | Support | Migration | Get it | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
KrystalUK and EU sites that want one price, no intro games, and a phone number
|
UK hosting with no introductory pricing | from £7/mo (~$9.24), VAT includedAmethyst, monthly billing; annual saves 16%, biennial 25%Verified September 2026 | Ease of use: 4 of 5 | Performance: 4 of 5 | Support: 4 of 5 | Included | Included | |
|
Zume HostingUK small sites that want a no-contract monthly price that never moves
|
Flat UK pricing, monthly, no contract | from £6/mo (~$7.92), VAT includedLaunch plan, monthly billing, no contractVerified September 2026 | Ease of use: 4 of 5 | Performance: 4 of 5 | Support: 4 of 5 | Included | Included |
See current pricingNon-affiliate recommendation
|
Providers in this guide
The two contenders
Krystal
UK and EU sites that want one price, no intro games, and a phone number
- Pricing
- from £7/mo (~$9.24), VAT includedVerified September 2026
Pros
- +No introductory pricing — the listed price is the renewal price
- +LiteSpeed + LSCache on triple-replicated NVMe; UK, Amsterdam, and New Jersey locations
- +60-day money-back guarantee; UK phone and chat support on weekdays, tickets 24/7
Cons
- −Sterling billing only — US buyers pay card FX
- −Live chat and phone are weekday-hours; 24/7 phone only on Sapphire and above
Confirm current pricing on the provider's site.
Visit KrystalZume Hosting
UK small sites that want a no-contract monthly price that never moves
- Pricing
- from £6/mo (~$7.92), VAT includedVerified September 2026
Pros
- +Published no-hike promise: the sign-up price is the renewal price
- +Monthly billing with no contract; cPanel and LiteSpeed on NVMe
- +Free same-day migration; 14-day refund; UK-based human support
Cons
- −The 99.99% SLA covers Managed and Business plans only — Website Hosting has no uptime guarantee
- −Sterling billing only; live chat is weekdays 9–5 with no phone line, and the refund window is 14 days
Confirm current pricing on the provider's site.
Visit Zume HostingPrice, verified — and what 'no intro rate' means at each
Krystal Amethyst: £7/mo (~$9.24) including VAT, 1 site, 10 GB NVMe, 2 GB RAM; annual billing saves 16%, biennial 25%. Zume Launch: £6/mo (~$7.92) including VAT, 2 sites, 10 GB NVMe, monthly with no contract. Step up a tier and Krystal Ruby is £11 (5 sites, 25 GB, free domain) against Zume Ultimate at £10 (unlimited sites, 50 GB, daily backups, developer tools). Zume gives more per pound at both rungs.
Neither has a renewal cliff, but they promise different things. Krystal's terms renew 'at the Price' and it offers no intro discounts — yet its list prices did change in October 2023 (Amethyst £4.99 → £7) and applied at customers' next renewal. Zume's promise page goes further: 'If we ever adjust pricing for new customers, existing customers stay on the rate they signed up on.' Zume's older 2020 terms still reserve a right to change prices at term end with notice, so the promise is the newer, stronger document — and we noticed a '£1 first month' code on Zume's pages while verifying, a small intro rate on a site that promises none.
Guarantees, support, and infrastructure
Refunds: Krystal 60 days, no-quibble; Zume 14 days, first order only. Uptime: Krystal's hosting SLA commits to 100% network availability with 5% credits per 30 minutes on every hosting plan; Zume's 99.99% SLA covers Managed and Business plans and explicitly excludes Website Hosting. Support: Krystal runs tickets 24/7, live chat Mon–Fri 9–5:30, phone 9–8, and a 24/7 emergency line on Sapphire and above; Zume runs tickets with a quoted 26-minute average, live chat Mon–Fri 9–5, and no phone.
Infrastructure: Krystal owns its servers in Netwise East (London), Iron Mountain Amsterdam and Edison, New Jersey, on LiteSpeed + LSCache, cPanel, CloudLinux, and triple-replicated NVMe; it is a B Corp, Green Web Foundation-verified, and 94% founder-owned. Zume (Alpha Internet Limited, Congleton, founded 2017, formerly Gnu Host) runs LiteSpeed + LSCache, cPanel, CloudLinux, AMD EPYC and NVMe in UK and Netherlands facilities it does not name, powered by solar per its green page. Both are now Cohort 2 monitors in our uptime study.
Best fit for
- +UK and EU sites that want sterling billing without a renewal cliff
- +Owners leaving a 48-month-prepay host who want the price to mean what it says
- +Small businesses choosing between a larger independent and a smaller one
Consider another option if
- −Your audience is mostly US — both bill in sterling and Krystal's only US site is New Jersey
- −You need 24/7 phone or chat at the entry tier — neither offers it (Krystal's 24/7 emergency line starts at Sapphire)
- −You need a published data-centre location from Zume — it names only 'UK' and Netherlands
Questions readers ask
FAQ
Ready to move forward?
Krystal is our top pick for this category.
Check current pricing on the provider's site — promos and renewal rates change frequently.
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Written and reviewed by
W. Miller — Editor, Digital Hosting
W. Miller is the founder of TetraCore, LLC, the software company that owns and publishes Digital Hosting, and has spent 35 years in software development, technology and related services, including cloud and hosting. The uptime monitoring and price-collection infrastructure behind this site's original research is built and run in-house.
See our affiliate disclosure and how we test and score providers.