About Centaur

Why we exist

Most people who need a website aren’t web developers. They’re sole traders, makers, consultants and small shops who want a name, a place to put it, and to get on with their work. Yet the usual path is a maze of upsells, renewal-price surprises and dashboards built to confuse you into spending more. We think you should be able to register a domain, point it somewhere sensible, and have email that works — without a sales call or a spreadsheet.

So Centaur is deliberately small in scope and clear in price. Hosting, domains, mail, and a bit of friendly advice when you want it. No 90%-off-for-the-first-year-then-triple tricks, no lock-in that makes leaving a punishment.

What we believe

• Plain pricing. The price you see is the price you renew at. If it changes, we tell you why, in advance.
• No lock-in. Your domain and your data are yours. We’ll help you move to us, and we’ll help you move away if you ever need to — that’s the test of a company worth staying with.
• A real person replies. Support is answered by people who run the servers, not a script that loops you back to the FAQ.
• Tools, not traps. Our free tools are genuinely useful on their own — no account required to use them.

The name

A centaur is half-and-half by nature — the patience to guide and the power to carry. That’s roughly the job: enough hand-holding to get you started, and enough horsepower underneath to keep your site quick and online. It’s also where our toolbox, The Quiver, gets its name.

Who runs it

Centaur is operated by The Centaur Mentor Ltd., registered in England. Our servers are in Europe. We’re a young company and we’d rather grow by being recommended than by being everywhere — so if something’s not right, telling us is the fastest way to fix it.

Free guides

We write plain-English guides for people getting a project online. A few to start with:

• How to choose a domain name that works — The handful of rules that separate a name people remember from one they mistype.
• How much hosting do you actually need? — Shared, VPS or managed — a plain-English way to pick without overpaying.
• Marketplace fees explained: what Amazon, eBay & Etsy really take — Where the money goes on each platform, and how to price so you keep what you meant to.
• Why your emails go to spam — and how to fix it — SPF, DKIM and DMARC in plain English: the three records that decide whether your mail reaches the inbox.
• What is SSL, and why your website needs HTTPS — The padlock, explained — what it does, what happens without it, and how to get one for free.
• How to price a product so you actually make money — Cost-plus, margin vs markup, and the fees that quietly eat your profit — with the maths made simple.
• Wix, Squarespace or your own website? An honest comparison — The real yearly cost, what you can take with you, and why lock-in matters more than the monthly price.
• What is web hosting? A plain guide for beginners — What hosting actually is, how it works with a domain, and the jargon decoded — without the sales pitch.
• .com or .co.uk: which domain should you choose? — When the British ending beats the global one, when to grab both, and how the choice affects trust and SEO.
• How to move your website to a new host without downtime — A step-by-step migration plan — back up, move, test, then switch DNS — so visitors never see a gap.
• How to get professional email on your own domain — Why you@yourbusiness beats a free Gmail address, and the simple way to set it up properly.
• How to start an online shop: a practical checklist — From name and domain to pricing, platform and launch — the order to do things in, with the tools for each step.