Guru Hosting Review 2023: LiteSpeed, 100GB NVMe, UK-based Support

Guru Hosting—perhaps you haven’t heard of this hosting company yet. Still, Guru is a UKDedicated sub-brand cloud hosting company with LiteSpeed servers, NVMe, regular backups, 24H support, and cPanel. And several upsides over average hosts.

Guru hosting is not widely known because there aren’t many affiliates for Guru and other good hosts. Well-known hosts try to prioritize revenue over customer satisfaction.

Bluehost, HostGator, WP Engine, SiteGround, A2, Hostinger, GoDaddy, DreamHost, and other famous hosts grow with their affiliate networks and how to start a blog campaign.

Try to avoid being tricked by affiliates who use outdated technology and overloaded servers. These popular hosting companies provide minimal facility and limited resources, have a slow setup, use super old tech like Apache servers, HDD, No caching layers, narrow protection, CDN, and lack other new technologies and modern hardware.

Guru Cloud Hosting Review: Price, Features, And Pros & Cons

GURU provides semi-dedicated servers better than shared resources. Also, GURU is a better alternative for managing hosts like Rocket.net, Kinsta, WP Engine, etc.

GURU data center is located in London, so Guru will be an excellent choice with perfect server resources if you are a UK/European customer. Read my article to learn more best hosting in Europe. Also, other users can benefit from their cloud hosting platform. 

So, how good is it exactly? Let’s find out in this Guru hosting review.

I’ll share my experiences and what I liked and didn’t like.

1. Guru Client Area

Yep, this is the client area for Guru customers. You can handle many things with this panel except your hosting service because they offer CPanel to control your hosting service.

You can access your active services, status updates, support, affiliate program, domain, invoices, and other hosting-related details. Yes, it is a simple dashboard (easy to use).

2. Shared Hosting

In my personal experience, Guru shared cloud hosting surpasses other large companies such as SiteGround, A2, Hostinger, DreamHost, EGI, and other average hosts.

It may be more expensive than others because of guaranteed resources, 24/7 support, LiteSpeed, off-site backups, etc. (Shared plans relate to Guru’s WordPress hosting).

Shared hosting is OK for new websites with little traffic. It’s effortless, allows handling multiple sites, and is still OK if you select a proper web host. But when you get around 50K+ visits monthly, you should consider moving to a cloud or VPS host.

Shared hosting is similar to a packed bus with noise, little space, security risks, and other faults. The significant problem is that plenty of users are loaded onto a single server.

You should avoid using slow WordPress plugins and themes on a shared host.

A slow or robust one that is shared by plenty of users. It’s not just the server; also other things. Most of these shared hosting allow you to host multiple websites.

I like to give the word to small hosting companies. I’ve noticed that they always provide more reasonable prices and facilities than the leading ones, who only care about revenue.

Many shared hosting accounts may host numerous websites for a low cost.

Avoid famous hosts such as DreamHost, Godaddy, A2, Newfold Digital Hosts (BlueHost, Hostgator), Network Solutions, iPage, GreenGeeks, Hostinger, InMotion, NameCheap, SiteGround, and many others because they are only famous and worthless.

GURU offers 3 shared hosting plans:

1. Shared Cloud
2. Shared Boost
3. Shared PRO

Here is a brief comparison of these packages:

Features	Shared Cloud	Shared Boost	Shared PRO
Price	£7.5/M	£12.5/M	£35/M
D/resources	No	Semi	Semi
Server	LiteSpeed	LiteSpeed	LiteSpeed
Free Migration	Yes	Yes	Yes
RAM	1	2	4
CPU	1	1	2
Backups	1 Day	4 hours	1 hour
NVMe	Yes	Yes	Yes

1. Shared Cloud

This package includes unlimited domains, free SSL, backups, all application frameworks, a firewall, multiple PHP, cron jobs, cPanel, and other basic features.

The Best Features

• 100GB NVMe Storage: better multicore performance than SSD—HDD. Most shared hosting only provides 5—10—25—50GB. 100 GB is massive.
• Litespeed: server-level cache, free cache plugin, and the fastest web server.
• PHP Versions: you can choose between PHP 5 to PHP 8+.
• Monthly Payments: no long-term price traps, and you can pay monthly.
• Free migration: If you want to move from your current hosting provider, GURU’s free migration can help with websites, apps, etc.
• Support: it seems to be good, as is their Trustpilot profile. Most of the five-star ratings are for support.

This package is ideal if your website receives at most 25—50k monthly visits.

2. Shared Boost

Shared BOOST plan includes all of Shared Cloud’s features and some additions.

This provides improved performance over regularly shared hosts. Compared to the first plan, it includes semi-dedicated resources like double cores and more RAM.

Suitable for small or medium-sized websites with less than 100k monthly hits.

3. Shared PRO

Guru Shared Pro is a kind of VPS hosting that allows you to host even WooCommerce and Magento sites. It also has nearly 4TB of extra bandwidth and features similar to VPS.

You have 4 RAM, 2+ CPU, hourly backups, 100GB NVMe, unlimited domains, LiteSpeed cache, and so on. This package can handle 150K+ monthly hits.

You can upgrade or scale down your account at any time.

3. Reseller Hosting

Why Reseller Hosting?

Reseller hosting is ideal for hosting multiple accounts or websites for small businesses, freelancers, and individuals. It is best because it comes with minor limits, so you don’t have to stress about technical faults, management, stability, hardware, or facilities.

You can launch a business, tasks, and projects, but the quality of your reseller host defines the success of that work. You will mess up if you choose a garbage host. Guru reseller is ideal because it is inexpensive and has many features—

—And provides three reseller packages:

1. Reseller 10
2. Reseller 100
3. Reseller 250

Here is a quick comparison of the two plans:

Features	Reseller 10	Reseller 100	Reseller 250
Price	£20	£60	£85
Space	100GB	100GB	250GB
RAM	1	4	6
Bandwidth	2TB	4TB	5TB
Powered	LiteSpeed	LiteSpeed	LiteSpeed
Domains	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
Dedicated IP	No	Yes	Yes
Resources	Shared	Semi-Dedicated	Semi-Dedicated

Other features

• PCI-Compliant: protection data provided by customers
• Oversales: have the option to create packages/accounts that outpace the limits.
• Private NS: uses the domain name to put private name servers.
• Malware/virus scanning: this feature is included in all packages.
• White Label: useful for rebranding.
• Dedicated IP Address: useful for rapid email functions

If you are at the opening level, the Reseller 10 plan is the most suitable option because it costs just £20 per month and includes white label services, LiteSpeed, cPanel, Access, and all the essential managed hosting features. But there is a cap on RAM and CPU.

Suppose your business is tricky; at that point, Reseller 100 is almost £60 per month with extra services like dedicated IP, support, hourly backup, and semi-dedicated resources (4GB RAM, 4TB Bandwidth, 2+CORE). It effectively provides sizable resources.

Reseller 250 is an excellent option for scalable businesses with more powerful features. It is ideal for advanced tasks you want to push onto a dedicated server.

4. Dedicated Managed Hosting

Dedicated servers are where most web servers start. They operate on one hardware device and are used to host websites. Indeed, trying a dedicated server would provide incredible performance because you would not need to share it with anyone.

It’s like having your own car. You don’t need to wait for other transportation services.

All powers are available when you need them. The biggest reasons for using a dedicated server are high-speed performance and the capacity to handle millions of users.

Dedicated hosting also provides speedy performance, especially on faster TTFB.

What can you get with GURU Dedicated Hosting?

GURU dedicated hosting is fully managed, so you don’t need to do anything other than use it as a VPS/regular hosting service. There are some extra features:

• Object cache: ideal for high-traffic or large-scale websites, and Guru supports Redis and Memcached. But, little help for lean sites.
• Any PHP Version: you can use any version.
• MariaDB/MySQL: MariaDB surpasses MySQL in speed/lightweight.
• Priority support: priority customer support over shared/resellers.
• Enhanced security: they offer extra security features like a firewall, hourly backups, brute force, WAF, and performance tweaks.
• Email: access to unlimited accounts and Webmails.
• Private name servers: It isn’t vital for single/small sites but beneficial for agencies.
• Custom branding: once again handy for agencies
• cPanel: for both end users and administration

You can choose 5 GURU-dedicated packages:

• Plan 1
• Plan 2
• Plan 3
• Plan 4
• Plan 5

And here are the key differences:

Features	Plan 1	Plan 2	Plan 3	Plan 4	Plan 5
Price	£159/M	£259/M	£399/M	£569	£899
Fully Managed	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Storage	100GB	200GB	400GB	600GB	1TB
RAM	8	16	24	32	64
CPUs	2	4	8	12	16
PRO Cache	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
C/accounts	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Bandwidth	4TB	8TB	16TB	32TB	40TB
Server	LS	LS	LS	LS	LS

You don’t always need to use DS, but it is helpful for the following:

• You get plenty of traffic (minimum 1 million page hits)
• You require powerful hardware to handle many content and resources, like tools, community, online store, app, etc.
• Dedicated servers are less expensive than VPS or fully managed hosts. You don’t have to pay for hits and can get plenty of bandwidth for $100 or $150 per month.

The riskiest part of using a dedicated server is that it does not care about you.

Once your server is down, you are only one user, and it can take hours to fix the service. However, hosting companies guarantee 99% uptime, which can occasionally happen.

You receive 24/h support and massive hardware resources if you choose Guru. Also fully managed. A dedicated server is the finest and cheapest solution for high-traffic sites, ad networks, or large websites with a lot of dynamic content and traffic.

And it is less expensive than managed hosts like Kinsta, WP Engine, Flywheel, etc.

5. Guru CDN

CDN is always a good option for speeding up your website for global visitors, and Guru offers CDN that is easy to use. But, based on this Guru Hosting review, I do not urge you to use their CDN. Use alternatives like Bunny, Cloudflare, and QUIC.cloud, KeyCDN, etc.

The main reason to avoid Guru CDN is the need for more coverage. They have only 15 data centers, which is a significant weakness. Even Cloudflare’s free plan offers 200+ POPs.

Second, the cost is £12 per month, nearly $15, and is very expensive compared to Bunny, QUIC.cloud, KeyCDN, etc. Guru CDN is definitely not worth that much.

If your site receives fewer than 100,000 monthly hits, use Cloudflare free+Argo, BunnyCDN, or QUIC. If most of your visitors come from the EU or US, KeyCDN is a good choice.

For large or high-traffic websites, you can use premium CDN services such as Fastly, CloudFront, CacheFly, G-Core, Google, Akamai, Edgio, Cloudflare Enterprise, etc. 

Bunny is an ideal option for even high-traffic sites with 110+ POPs, and they consistently have the fastest query speed in Cdnperf. An affordable choice for any website.

CDN provides several edges concerning speed and security.

Still, you don’t need it if you only have local users/traffic, like if your server is in London and you only receive traffic from the UK and nearby countries. But CDNs can help decrease the latency between the server and the users if you have global visitors.

Guru hosting is good, and there have been no major incidents in the recent past. But Guru CDN is not worth a try. Use the good alternatives I cited in this Guru Hosting review.

6. Guru Use LiteSpeed Server

Unlike other hosts, GURU hosting uses Litespeed servers for all plans (Shared, Reseller, Dedicated.) There are multiple reasons to hit LiteSpeed with the fast server Cache.

You can get server-level caching, HTTP/3, and lesser (CPU/RAM) peaks, and LS is the fastest server compared to others. Yes, NGINX is also faster, and the differences are marginal.

The free cache plugin is the clear advantage of LiteSpeed over NGINX. It’s impressive, with plenty of features to help the site speed up on various matters with modern features.

LiteSpeed server-level caching is quicker than PHP caching. The LiteSpeed plugin also supports object caching like Redis and Memcached. And there’s no need to buy a PRO cache plugin; you can also use the FlyingPress cache plugin to make things easier.

Developers are active in the upkeep and server maintenance, securing they always keep up with critical challenges. The LiteSpeed Cache plugin is a top-notch, free solution.

HTML Cache at QUIC.cloud

Get better results by caching the page HTML at the CDN with LiteSpeed + QUIC.cloud.

This is great for a variety of reasons. HTML caching at the CDN improves routine because your complete website is served from the CDN, where you can get fast TTFB.

CDNs commonly only replicate and serve static resources. But QUIC.cloud will cache the entire site’s HTML at the CDN. It’s amazing. CDN loads your entire website, and the origin server will be free of work. No more hardware peaks or bandwidth issues.

LiteSpeed+Cache is created for active websites and aims at enterprise optimization.

It is steady, reliable, and useful. If your host has maximum performance and quality, like Guru, and has a lot of content and traffic.

Your first choice should be LiteSpeed+cache+QUIC.

LiteSpeed server, cache, and QUIC CDN have built-in security features that defend your website from attacks. You don’t need to use security plugins or other security options. 

QUIC.cloud is more than just a CDN solution. It also includes image optimization (WebP format, smaller images, background processing), page optimization (Critical CSS, Unique CSS, Low-quality image placeholders), and Anycast DNS.

LSC typically works with appropriate traffic sites with over 10K visits.

I’m not saying that lean websites can’t use the LiteSpeed cache. But you can use other easy cache plugins like Flyingpress, WP—Rocket, Swift, etc.

Because LSC lacks cache preloading.

7. Great Trustpilot Reviews

Trustpilot is not always a good place to encounter a product or service, but I enjoy reading positive and negative reviews to learn what people talk about.

However, they are unreliable because most good reviews are prompt, maybe loyal, or for money. Trustpilot uses tactics to find scam reviews, and they can still be there.

A lot of hosts use fake reviews. But they can still deliver an outline. GURU Hosting has an excellent Trustpilot profile with 99% positive feedback, most for support and services.

Here are some pics:

But don’t judge just based on user reviews; you should conduct your own tests.

8. Free Migration Service

Usually, I don’t bother with migrations because I prefer to handle things in my way.

It is a simple task. But what if you want to migrate but need to know how to start?

GURU hosting offers unlimited free migration. You can also test the site to ensure that everything looks good. They also migrate applications, emails, databases, and others.

You simply need to send your hosting provider’s control panel, FTP info, passwords, and anything else you maintain, and they will relocate your sites with no outage.

This feature is helpful for beginners and average users because other hosts only provide it once or twice, and SiteGround charges for it. Guru offers unlimited free migrations.

9. Guru Hosting Pros & Cons

10. 24×7 UK-based Support

Have a question?

You have several options:

• Live Chat
• Email,
• Helpdesk, and
• Phone

When you select the chat feature, a technical member will answer your questions. GURU customer service is friendly and skilled. It is necessary during downtime and errors on the hosting end. Support is the leading factor to most positive reactions on GURU Hosting.

Support is not my priority when choosing a hosting service.

It does not bother me in any way. Because Not all users always require fast support.

For example, Cloudways increases their prices for more support, but experienced users don’t need it, and I’ve never asked for support from any hosting service, but I pay for it.

Most managed hosts primarily focus on delivering support rather than hardware or creative tech. Users pay a lot of money for configuration and technical support.

But support only requires for rare reasons like host-side problems, downtime, caching issues, etc. However, we pay more for it than for server resources.

11. Guru vs. (Krystal UK, SiteGround, Cloudways)

We cannot thoroughly compare one host to another, but here is a table of some of the features that these hosts provide. I’ve used almost all of these hosts on various sites.

Features	Guru	Krystal	SiteGround	Cloudways
Price From	£7.49/m	£4.99/m	$4/m	$11/m
Storage Type	NVMe	NVMe	SSD	NVMe/SSD
Server	LiteSpeed	LiteSpeed	Nginx	Apache+Nginx
F/Migration	✓	✓	x	1
Panel	cPanel	cPanel	Their own	Their own
Database	MySQL	MariaDB	MySQL	MariaDB
Free Email	✓	✓	✓	x
Datacentre	1	2	10	50+
Storage	100GB+	10—100GB	10—20—40GB	25GB+
Object Cache	Redis—Mem	Not listed	Memcached	Redis—Pro
WAF	✓	✓	✓	1 Hour
Backups	1 Hours	4 Hours	Daily	Charge
Limited Visits	No	No	YES	No

• Krystal: a UK-based hosting provider with all-power LiteSpeed servers and an affordable and best GURU alternative with some limits but excellent support. Data centers in the UK/USA. But Object cache and some other features are not listed.
• SiteGround: A popular hosting provider, notably for WordPress hosting, but resources are limited. Earlier, you could get a lower price and a free migration. They increased their prices, and migrations now charge $30. Renewal prices can be up to 2,3X. GURU/Krystal/HA/Cloudways are advanced compared to SG.
• Cloudways — Technically, Cloudways is not a hosting provider. It is a fully managed cloud hosting control panel. Work with popular Cloud providers with 50+ data centers, including Google, AWS, DO, Vultr, and Linode. Provide Redis, Varnish, and other optimizations, but the main drawbacks are un— customizable and expensive.

12. Guru Domains

Definitely overpriced. I never recommend GURU as a domain registrar because you have to pay twice the market price. A dot-com domain costs almost $20. Seriously!

This image shows the GURU Doman prices:

If you want a domain/extension that is based in the UK, then GURU is okay. However, for commercial and others, there are plenty of registrars at low prices, including Cloudflare, which costs less than $10. Even with Namecheap, you can register for just $6.

In Conclusion

It’s time to wrap up this GURU Hosting review.

• If you are a UK or EU customer or your website’s primary visitors are from the EU or UK, Guru is an excellent choice with valuable features. But not a cheap option.
• If you are a starter or just need a minimal host, you can get cheap LiteSpeed servers at HostArmarda, Krystal, Chemicloud, Mechanicweb, NameHero, etc. They’re great.
• Whether you care about your server resources, Guru is an ideal option with fine resources such as NVMe storage, RAM, LS, support, regular backup, etc.

I used their shared and reseller hosting for a few websites and noticed significant progress in my WP dashboard loading time. Guru dedicated servers have many features and resources, including advanced features, PRO caching, databases, etc.

All Guru cloud hosting plans are fully managed. It is fast, and pages load quickly. There isn’t much else to say here. Nothing crazy fast, but I haven’t used their dedicated servers.

I’m guessing dedicated servers are incredibly fast because shared hosting gives me noticeable speed compared to other similar hosting companies.

Have anything to share: leave a comment.

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