5 Best Virtual Office Address Providers for UK Startups

Launching a business is rewarding, but it isn’t easy, and there are a lot of things you probably won’t have considered beyond winning those first customers.

For example, as a startup, you probably won’t have dedicated office space. So, which address do you use to register your business with Companies House and HMRC? Where do you send your mail to? What if you want to work abroad on a nomad visa? Where can you hire short-term office space or meeting rooms if you need them?

This is where a virtual office address may come in. In this article, we’re going to take a closer look at five of the best of these vendors, including what they offer, how much they cost and what their existing customers think of them.

How to choose the best virtual office address providers

When choosing between the top virtual office address providers, there are a lot of factors you need to consider:

• How do the features of the service suit your specific needs?
• Is the provider suited to the type of business you are?
• Does the cost make sense for your budget?
• Are there additional membership benefits and discounts available for other business tools?
• Do the reviews demonstrate a company that can be trusted to provide an excellent service?

To help you decide, we’ve whittled down your list of options to the five best virtual office address providers around, at least in our opinion.

Reviews from Trustpilot

Ready to find out the rationale behind those reviews and why we think Hoxton Mix (that’s us by the way) is the best virtual office address provider for UK startups?

Let’s take a closer look at each one.

1. Hoxton Mix

Hoxton Mix offers a fully bespoke, tech-led virtual address service that takes a lot of headaches away from businesses when first starting out, and then supports its growth moving forward.

We share the joint-best review score (4.6 / 5) of the five providers we’re looking at in this article, and we’re incredibly proud to have been involved in the creation of over 100,000 businesses since our foundation in 2010.

Hoxton Mix features & benefits

With prices starting from just under £21 per month, we’d argue we’re one of the best value virtual office providers on the market right now. Armed with a prestigious London virtual office address, you’ll be able to protect your family’s privacy and enhance the credibility of your business, but our services go beyond a simple registered office address service.

One of the first challenges to overcome when you launch a startup is staying on top of all the official correspondence you’re going to receive from Companies House and HMRC, not to mention customers, suppliers and other key stakeholders. However, Hoxton Mix’s AI-powered mail handling makes this so much easier.

We scan and digitise your mail within one business day, uploading it to a dedicated customer portal that you can access at home or on-the-go. This ensures you never miss essential post, while AI summaries, categorisation and a built-in junk mail filter makes dealing with business mail a breeze.

You can also feel confident that your physical mail is safe, handled and stored in our central London headquarters that’s monitored 24/7, while it will be safely destroyed within 30-days of receipt. If required, we’ll also forward your physical mail to you within one business day of receiving it.

Hoxton Mix has been specialising in mail handling for startups and SMEs since 2010, but what if your customers want to get in touch by phone? Fortunately, Hoxton has you covered here too, with a WhatsApp Business phone number that will provide you with a WhatsApp-compatible virtual phone number to further protect your personal privacy, as well as allow you to take advantage of all the benefits offered by a WhatsApp Business account.

Our range of benefits are secured through our scale and relationships, including heavy member discounts on accounting software, business banking, business software and much more.

With over 100,000 SME customers to date, Hoxton Mix is one of the leaders in the UK virtual office category.

Hoxton Mix pricing

Our registered office address service is available from less than £21 per month + VAT when billed annually, which includes an address that’s compliant with Companies House rules, as well as AI-powered mail handling as standard.

You can forward individual mail items for the price of first-class postage and a 50p service charge, or you can sign up to the virtual office mail forwarding to have all of your mail forwarded for an additional £170 per year, while the WhatsApp Business phone number service is just £49.99 per year.

Hoxton Mix also offers a Full Privacy Service, which provides you with a director’s service address to ensure your personal residence can be kept off the Companies House public register. This is available for an additional £30 per year, per director.

Hoxton Mix reviews

Hoxton Mix has an excellent reputation for its virtual office address services, as evidenced by the ‘Excellent’ score on Trustpilot of 4.6 out of 5.

We’re most often praised for our professionalism and the quality of customer service, as well as the reliability of our AI-powered mail handling solution. Specifically, some recent reviewers have described us as ‘a pleasure to work with’, as well as commenting that the service is ‘easy to use, mail is scanned clearly and sent quickly, and their additional services are easy to enable and use.’

Who is Hoxton Mix best for?

We’re a great match for UK startups and SMEs, particularly for those that want to:

• Protect their privacy and not allow their private residence to be publicly accessible information.
• Take the hassle out of business mail handling and ensure they never miss the most important correspondence.
• Boost professional credibility with a prestigious central London office address.
• Extend the virtual office service to include a WhatsApp Business phone number.

Set up your virtual office in less than 10 minutes

Our Virtual Office London plan offers all the benefits of a prime London business address from just Under £21 per month.

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2. Tide

Tide is a leading challenger bank, offering a digital-first banking experience that’s ideal for sole traders, startups and SMEs. Through their partnership with Hoxton Mix, they are also a great choice for small businesses looking for a virtual office address service alongside a new business bank account.

Tide offers its service as a fully baked-in product, and you can apply for both during a single checkout process.

Tide features

Tide is best known for providing business bank current accounts and savings accounts, but they also offer a wide range of services to support startups and entrepreneurs. This includes company registration, website and email hosting, as well as a London-based virtual office address service.

Included in Tide’s service is:

• London registered office address
• Correspondence address for a single director
• Same-day mail scanning and email forwarding

Tide’s virtual office solution is powered by Hoxton Mix, so you’re arguably getting the best of both worlds if you choose this option. However, it’s important to note that not all of Hoxton Mix’s additional services are available through Tide, for example the WhatsApp Business phone number or physical mail forwarding.

Tide pricing

Tide’s virtual office solution costs £22.99 + VAT per month if you pay monthly, or £190.00 + VAT per year if you pay annually.

You can also register a limited company via Tide for just £14.99, or as little as £1 when combined with their Company Secretary tool. You can also open a Tide business bank account at no cost, and use a Tide Mastercard free of charge at home or abroad.

Tide reviews

Tide scores slightly lower than Hoxton Mix on Trustpilot, but with 4.4 out of 5, the business bank and virtual office provider still has an excellent reputation among entrepreneurs and small business owners. However, it’s worth noting that not all of the Trustpilot reviews will be from customers who use the virtual office service. You also have to sign up to the Tide bank account at an additional cost.

However, specific customers that have purchased the virtual office service have noted that it was an ‘easy to set up’ that it allowed them to ‘set up a new limited company, get a bank account and also register with a 'virtual' company address within a few clicks’.

Who is Tide best for?

Tide is best as a one-stop shop for company formation, business banking and a virtual London address. However, note that the virtual office address service lacks some of the features of specialised providers like Hoxton Mix.

3. MYCO Works

MYCO Works is a popular virtual office service provider, offering locations in London, Ipswich and Edinburgh. 

MYCO Works features

MYCO Works offers virtual offices to help protect your privacy and enhance your corporate image, while they will also scan and email your business correspondence to your client portal at no extra cost.

However, this service lacks the advanced AI functionality of other tools on the market, while physical mail forwarding is charged at £0.50 per item plus postage, rather than at a fixed annual cost.

What MYCO Works does offer is meeting room hire in London, Ipswich and Edinburgh, as well as company formation and business call answering, although these are all charged separately.

MYCO Works pricing

MYCO Works offers a tiered pricing system, with their registered office address available for £49.99 + VAT, which includes:

• a virtual address
• mail forwarding, scanning and collection options for ‘statutory’ mail
• access to a client portal
• meeting room access, although additional fees apply depending on location, size and duration

You can add a director’s service address for an additional £10 per year, while their Virtual Business Plus package is charged at £190.00 per year + VAT, and also includes forwarding, scanning and collection options for all business mail, a ‘prestigious’ business address and signed for packages.

MYCO Works reviews

MYCO Works has one of the lower overall Trustpilot scores when compared to the other providers in this article, but the reviews are largely positive, with users specifically pointing out the ‘outstanding customer service’ and ‘clear communication’, and that the platform is easy to use.

However, some reviews have called out MYCO Works’ manual renewal process, and a ‘late renewal payment’ if this deadline is missed.

They are a perfect example of always checking reviews before deciding purely on price.

Who is MYCO Works best for?

MYCO Works is best suited to small businesses that are on a budget and looking to secure a Companies House-compliant address and basic mail handling. They lack some of the advanced services offered by other virtual office providers in this article, but their basic service is one of the cheapest around.

4. UK Postbox

UK Postbox provides comprehensive mailbox and mail management solutions to individuals, businesses, non-profits and the public sector. They also boast a variety of address locations, with options for Westminster, North, South and Central London, as well as Poole and Glasgow.

UK Postbox features

UK Postbox are virtual mailbox specialists, and as such they offer a wide range of mail management services, including:

• Envelope and letter scanning
• Monthly, weekly or daily mail forwarding
• Digital and physical mail storage (up to 30 days)
• Secure mail disposal
• An online outbound letter sending service 

All of UK Postbox’s services are accessible via their fully compliant mail management platform.

UK Postbox pricing

UK Postbox’s Street Address service is location dependent, ranging from £10.00 per month + VAT for a Dorset address, up to £35.00 per month + VAT for a Westminster address.

However, these headline figures do not include unlimited mail scanning, while the number of pages scanned per mail is also limited. For startups requiring up to 25 scans per month, the pricing options can be found below:

• Letter PAYG (£0 per month) — £1.00 per letter, £1.00 per page scanned, £5.00 per parcel received.
• Letter 5 (£5.00 per month) — Receive unlimited letters, 5 scans per mail (£1.00 per scan thereafter), £5.00 per parcel received.
• Letter 10 (£7.50 per month) — Receive unlimited letters, 10 scans per mail (£0.75 per scan thereafter), £5.00 per parcel received.
• Letter 25 (£10.00 per month) — Receive unlimited letters, 25 scans per mail (£0.40 per scan thereafter), £5.00 per parcel received.

There are higher-tier packages for larger companies with greater requirements, with prices for letter scanning going as high as £1,000 per month for the set plans. The highest package, Letter 10,000, requires businesses to request a quote.

UK Postbox reviews

UK Postbox has excellent reviews on Trustpilot, scoring 4.6 out of 5. 

Although some reviewers noted a slow setup, the vast majority of them were positive, commenting that the setup process is ‘simple and easy’, and that ‘UK Postbox has been an invaluable service’ with ‘seamless mail scanning, forwarding and secure online access.

Who is UK Postbox best for?

UK Postbox is potentially the best choice if your business receives a lot of parcels, and great if you value extensive virtual mailbox services, but don’t want or need broader virtual office services like company formation, a WhatsApp Business phone number or meeting room hire.

5. Regus

Regus offers virtual addresses for over 400 locations across the UK, including London, Surrey and Greater Manchester, as well as thousands more across the globe.

Regus features

Regus’ primary service offering is the renting of office space, dedicated coworking desks and meeting rooms, but they do also provide virtual office plans. These plans are broken down into three distinct categories:

• Business Address — a prestigious virtual business address and mail handling at a location convenient for you.
• Virtual Office — An address and mail handling, as well as a virtual call answering service.
• Virtual Office Plus — Everything included in Virtual Office, plus five days of private office access each month.

Regus pricing

Regus does not publish its virtual office plan pricing on the website, instead requiring you to go through an online registration process.

Regus reviews

Regus scores the lowest on Trustpilot, with 3.9 out of 5. Ultimately, reviews are mixed, with approximately 13,500 5* reviews, and approximately 5,700 1* reviews.

However, it’s important to note that these reviews don’t just include reference to their office and meeting room hire. They are also global, rather than simply referring to their UK operations.

The positive reviewers have remarked on the friendly and receptive staff, but others have been frustrated by disorganisation and mail not being passed on, resulting in late payment penalties.

Who is Regus best for?

If all you’re looking for is a virtual office services provider, Regus probably won’t be the best option. However, if you need regular access to hot desks and meeting rooms, their global network of locations could be invaluable.

Get started with Hoxton Mix

Ready to get started? Launching your virtual office address with Hoxton Mix couldn’t be faster or easier.

Simply head over to our checkout page, select the products you need, and you’ll be up and running within 10 minutes with a new address you can use to register with Companies House and communicate to your customers.

FAQ

What is the difference between a virtual address and a registered address?

A virtual office address is a service that provides a business address without physical office space, often including mail handling, mail forwarding and call forwarding. By contrast, a registered office address is the official location registered with Companies House, ensuring legal compliance and receipt of official communications.

What is the best virtual office provider for startups?

The ‘best’ virtual office depends on your exact needs,  but top-tier providers serving the UK market include Hoxton Mix, best for startups and contractors; UK Postbox, for digital mail management; and Regus, for access to short-term office space and meeting rooms.

How much does a virtual office address cost in the UK?

It depends on the specific services you are looking for, as well as location. Some virtual office addresses can be very low-cost and offer mail handling, but some offer services such as in-person meeting rooms or physical mail forwarding, which can increase the price. Unfortunately, many virtual office service providers hide the true cost of their services by adding them in as extras later. Hoxton Mix’s pricing is fully transparent from day one, ensuring you know exactly what you’ll be paying each month