Guru.co.uk^, established by UKDedicated Ltd in 2002, is a managed cPanel web host powered by LiteSpeed technology.
As a genuine cloud host, Guru ensures your website isn’t tied to a single server.
What does that mean in practice?
If one server in their network suffers a hardware failure, your site won’t go offline. That’s because the hosting environment is distributed across multiple servers, so if one drops out, another takes over. Think of it like a football match: if a player gets injured, the game doesn’t stop, a substitute steps in, and play continues without interruption.
In 2022, Guru was acquired by Team Blue, the same group that owns well-known UK hosting brands such as LCN and Names.co.uk, further strengthening their position in the UK hosting market.
The Guru Experience
Since joining Guru back in 2018, my experience has been a mixed bag.
On the plus side, uptime and overall service levels have been solid. However, support has occasionally taken longer to respond than i’d hoped.
That said, average response times usually fall between 15 and 25 minutes, which is respectable.
So far, they’ve handled every support request I’ve raised. Most of these were simple tasks such as, opening ports or adding domains not using Guru’s DNS, so I haven’t really pushed their technical skills to the limit.
Overall, I’m satisfied with the level of support, provided response times stay under an hour.
Guru’s Trustpilot rating remains excellent, based on 932 customer reviews at the time of writing.
While not the biggest name in hosting, Guru does it well. Their high-performance LiteSpeed servers deliver speed and reliability that can rival some of the larger players.
Their plans cover everything you’d expect from a cPanel host, except free email. Email mailboxes are only included with reseller plans, but you can add email hosting for an extra £5 per month.
Shared hosting packages are well suited to small WordPress and WooCommerce sites. Upgrading from standard to boosted or semi-dedicated accounts is straightforward and just a few clicks away.
Performance and speed across their servers remain impressive.
All plans come with a generous 100GB of disk space, unlimited domains, free daily backups, free SSL certificates, one-click app installs, and account boosters. Each account also gets 1GB RAM and up to 50% of one CPU core.
Guru Pricing
Since being acquired, Guru has raised prices quite noticeably, something you can expect with corporate owners focused on profit. That said, support and performance have held steady, so they haven’t cut corners in those areas.
Guru is a managed cPanel host, which puts them a bit higher up the price scale compared to other cPanel providers. Their starter plan, Share Cloud, begins at £9.49 per month, rising to £9.99 if you want to add email hosting. The boosted shared plan starts at £15.99 and includes dedicated resources like a doubled processor and increased memory.
Reseller plans kick off at £25.49, offering 10 cPanel accounts, unlimited mailboxes, 100GB disk space, and 200GB bandwidth. The reseller pro plan starts at £74.99 and delivers four times the memory compared to the standard reseller, plus 400GB of bandwidth.
Guru Pros and Cons
There’s little negative to say about Guru beyond the fact that they’re pricier than your average cPanel shared host.
Guru Pros
- Perfect for WordPress and WooCommerce websites.
- Guru is a registered green hosting provider.
- You can pay £1 to try their service.
- 100% uptime guarantee.
- UK data centers.
- UK support.
Guru Cons
- Expensive compared to competitors.
- Raised prices several times in a short space of time.
- No data centres in Europe or the US.
- No email is included on standard accounts.
- Only 50% CPU usage allowance.
Guru Verdict
Guru used to be excellent, but since being acquired and facing ongoing price hikes, I’ve become a bit disappointed. Selling out to a large corporation doesn’t always work in customers’ favour, and unfortunately, not much has changed other than constant price increases.
One other thing to note is that while many competitors guarantee 100% of one CPU core, Guru only offers 50% by default. You can boost individual accounts to get full CPU usage, but given their pricing, this feels a bit cheeky.
That said, if you’re after a high-performance, professional cPanel host with the reassurance that your website will stay safe, secure and online, Guru is still a solid choice. But if budget is your main concern, Guru probably isn’t the most suitable option.
Try GuruFinal Score
6/10
The final score reflects pricing, support, performance and overall value.
