Names.co.uk Discount Codes July 2025

A Veteran Registrar in a Crowded Market

Names.co.uk has been selling domain names since the late '90s - which, in internet terms, makes it practically ancient. Originally launched in 1997, the company built its early reputation helping individuals and small businesses establish a toehold in the online world long before TikTok trends and "personal brands" dominated digital identity. Two decades later, it’s still standing, offering a mix of domain registration, hosting, and website-building tools aimed at everyone from freelance designers to side-hustling students.

Now part of the European hosting conglomerate team.blue, Names.co.uk positions itself as a one-stop shop for digital presence, especially for UK customers. But in a tech landscape crowded with slicker names and sleeker interfaces - think Squarespace, GoDaddy, or Wix - it’s increasingly clear that longevity isn’t the same thing as modernity. The question is, in 2025, does Names.co.uk still meet the moment?

A Domain Buffet - With a Familiar Menu

Domain registrars live or die by their selection and pricing. Names.co.uk offers hundreds of domain extensions, from the familiar .coms and .co.uks to trendier options like .shop and .photography. The site also encourages customers to snap up bundles of domains to protect their brand - .co.uk and .uk, for example - although at a premium.

Prices aren’t exactly jaw-dropping. A .co.uk domain costs £11.99 for the first year, then renews at £13.99. Compare that to Google Domains (which was recently sold off to Squarespace but offered .co.uk domains for £9) - and you see the risk of shopping local in a market where the headquarters matters less than the renewal fee.

"This is where new businesses can get caught out," says Richard Neave, a digital consultant who advises startups on web strategy. "Many registrars offer first-year discounts, but the real story is in the renewal rate - something new site owners often overlook."

Indeed, under its pricing, Names.co.uk tends to lean a little higher than competitors. Even the much-touted "free domain" that comes with some packages usually expires into a paid renewal the following year.

Hosting That Claims Uptime - But Offers Few Surprises

The company’s hosting offerings include shared, VPS, and dedicated servers, boasting what they call "super-reliable" uptime and UK-based infrastructure. Shared hosting begins at £3.99/month, but the features - unmetered bandwidth, email inboxes, one-click installs - are par for the course in 2025. Names.co.uk claims to "never sleep," but then, few servers do.

The added value, according to Names.co.uk, lies in their local support and performance tailored to UK businesses. And while some customers will appreciate support teams that aren’t 14 hours out of sync, others may prefer globally distributed support and newer cloud-native infrastructure found at providers like Cloudflare or DigitalOcean.

"There’s a whole generation of small founders who want services architected for scale, not just reliability," says software engineer and DevOps specialist Shalini Patel. "Names.co.uk is reliable, but the platform hasn’t really evolved to meet more demanding technical needs."

Build-a-Website, the 2008 Way

Website builders are another part of the package, and Names.co.uk offers a proprietary DIY site builder with drag-and-drop templates. The tool is beginner-friendly and mobile responsive, but it lacks the polish and design flexibility of heavyweights like Wix, Webflow, or even SquareSpace–not to mention free, open-source options like WordPress that offer deeper customization.

Templates available through Names.co.uk skew heavily professional - fitness trainers, consultants, wedding venues. But heavy use of stock imagery and fairly basic typography tools reveal limitations quickly.

"It works for a brochure site," says entrepreneur and digital designer Lana Moore. "But if you’re trying to build something tactile or engaging, you’ll hit a ceiling fast."

A Nod to Keyworkers and Students - With Fine Print

Discounts for keyworkers and students are highlighted prominently on the site. The company partners with Blue Light Card in the UK and UNiDAYS to offer reduced rates on services, pitching it as part of its support for those who "do important things."

The exact discounts, however, aren’t always clear until you navigate via those partner platforms. One offer spotted in 2023 gave a 30% discount on first-year domain and website purchases - a solid gesture, yet temporary and somewhat buried. Once the honeymoon ends, the regular pricing resumes.

It's a growing pattern in the web services industry: Get them in with a low entry point, then let the margin bloom at renewal time. Names.co.uk is not an outlier here, merely another practitioner.

Institutional History, with Some Baggage

Names.co.uk has been through several rebrandings and consolidations. Originally founded in the West Midlands, it became part of the Dada Group (Italy) before eventually making its way under the team.blue umbrella - a European hosting group that includes brands across the continent, such as Register.it and HEG.

This networked ownership has its virtues - centralised infrastructure, shared security standards - but it’s also had some consequences. In recent years, customer complaints have centered on slow support turnaround, billing confusion, and service cancellations that don’t quite stick. Trustpilot displays a mixed bag: lots of effusive 5-star reviews, countered by a persistent undercurrent of 1-star frustrations. Reading through them feels like panning for gold: you’ll find some, but there’s a lot of gravel.

Final Thoughts: A Dependable Player That’s Starting to Show Its Age

Names.co.uk is not a scam, nor is it a cutting-edge platform. It’s a competent, primarily UK-focused domain and hosting provider with a long tail of legacy customers and a product line best suited for beginners or organisations that want everything under one roof.

For users who still value phone support, use .co.uk domains, and want their digital services anchored geographically close to home, there are worse options. But modern builders, cloud-native startups, and high-design ventures will likely want more flexibility and better value elsewhere.

The glossy website copy talks a big game. But behind the scenes, Names.co.uk is still playing the same playbook it was running a decade ago - just dressed up in fresher CSS.

Past & Current Coupon Codes

There is one available discount code: ITSSAVED. No expiration date or additional description has been provided.

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