A virtual office costs between £20 and £50 a month in the UK for an address-only plan, rising to £100 to £150 or more once a phone line and call answering are included. Our own plans at Index House in Ascot run from £39 to £149 a month plus VAT.
That wide range hides some real differences in what you actually get. The cheapest option is not always the bargain it looks.
This guide breaks down UK virtual office pricing tier by tier, using our own price list as a worked example, and flags the extra costs to check before you sign anything.
How much does a virtual office cost per month?
Most UK virtual offices cost £20 to £50 a month for a business address, £40 to £80 once mail forwarding is added, and £100 to £150 or more for a full service with a dedicated phone number and call answering. Prices are almost always quoted excluding VAT and billed monthly.
Here is how the market ranges compare with what we charge at Index House.
| Plan type | Typical UK price | Index House |
|---|---|---|
| Address only | £20 to £50/mo | £39/mo |
| Address + mail collection | £30 to £60/mo | £49/mo |
| Address + mail forwarding | £40 to £80/mo | £74.99/mo |
| Full service with phone line | £100 to £150+/mo | £149/mo |
All Index House prices are plus VAT, with no long-term contract. You can move between tiers as your needs change.
What you get at each price point
The tiers build on each other, so the question is really how much of the admin you want taken off your hands.
Address only, £39 a month
The core product: a real business address at Index House on Ascot High Street.
You can put it on your website, your invoices and your business cards, and use it as your registered office with Companies House. Our guide to using a virtual office for Companies House covers those rules in detail.
Meeting rooms are available on a pay-as-you-go basis whenever you need to see a client in person.
Address and mail, £49 a month
Everything in the address plan, plus mail holding and collection.
Our team signs for your post, stores it securely and holds it until you call in. For £10 a month more than address only, your letters stop piling up unhandled.
Mail forwarding, £74.99 a month
The same service, but your post comes to you. We forward mail to any UK address on a schedule that suits, which is the practical choice if you rarely pass through Ascot.
This is our most popular plan, and the one most limited companies land on.
The complete virtual office, £149 a month
The full service. On top of the address and mail forwarding you get a dedicated local phone number, calls answered in your company name by our reception team, call transfer to your mobile or landline, and hot desk access two days a month.
For a one-person business, that is an address, a receptionist and an occasional desk for less than a day of most consultants’ fees.
The costs to check before you sign
The monthly headline is rarely the whole bill, at Index House or anywhere else. Five things to confirm with any provider:
- VAT. Almost every provider quotes prices excluding VAT, so add 20% to whatever number is on the pricing page.
- Postage recharges. Forwarding plans usually pass on the actual postage cost of what gets sent to you. Ask how it is calculated and billed.
- Setup fees and deposits. Some providers charge a joining fee or take a postage float upfront. Ask what the total first payment will be.
- Minimum terms. A low monthly price on a 12-month contract can cost more than a higher rolling one you can leave. Our plans run month to month.
- Room rates. If you will meet clients regularly, check what a meeting room costs on top, because those rates vary far more than the packages do.
None of these are scandalous, but they change the real annual cost. Get the full year’s figure in writing before comparing providers.
Why are some virtual office addresses under £10 a month?
Because they are sold in bulk. The very cheapest addresses, mostly in central London, have thousands of companies registered at a single building, with mail scanned by machine or quietly discarded.
That model has two problems. Since March 2024, every registered office must be an appropriate address where post can be delivered and acknowledged, and address providers must be registered for anti-money-laundering supervision and verify every client’s identity.
The second problem is reputational. Anyone can search an address and see how many companies are registered there, and banks, lenders and sharp-eyed clients do exactly that.
A staffed building where a named team handles your post costs more than £10 a month because people are doing real work. That is what you are paying for.
Virtual office cost vs the alternatives
A virtual office is one of four ways to give your business an address, and the price differences are large.
| Option | Typical cost | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Home address | Free | Public on the Companies House register and every invoice |
| PO box | Similar to a basic virtual address | Cannot be your registered office |
| Virtual office | £39 to £149/mo at Index House | No daily desk of your own |
| Serviced office | Several hundred pounds per desk/mo | You are paying for space you may not need yet |
The PO box comparison catches people out most often, because the prices look similar while the products are not. Our virtual office vs PO box guide goes through that choice properly.
Is a virtual office worth the cost?
If you run a business from home and want a credible address with your post handled, £39 a month is hard to beat. It is less than most people spend on software subscriptions, and it keeps your home address off the public register.
The maths only stops working when you need a room every day. At that point a serviced office or regular hot desk earns its keep instead, and an honest provider will tell you so.
One practical note if you are forming a company this autumn: identity checks are a legal requirement for address services, so allow a few working days between signing up and needing the address on your incorporation papers.
You can see all four packages, the Ascot address and current pricing on our virtual offices page.