How much does a virtual office cost in 2026?

A virtual office costs between £19 a year and £479 a month in the UK, for a product that is legally the same thing at both ends: an address Companies House will accept. The cheapest verified price in our data is a rural Herefordshire registered office at £19 a year¹. The dearest is Servcorp's Premium Virtual Office at The Leadenhall Building, £479 a month before VAT².

Quick answer: A registered office on its own costs £19 to £100 a year from a formation agent. A monthly plan with a trading address and post scanning costs roughly £10 to £35 a month. A workspace operator's virtual office with lounge access and meeting rooms costs £31 to £479 a month. Most prices are quoted before VAT.

What are the three price tiers for a virtual office?

The UK virtual office market has three tiers with three different business models: formation agents priced per year, digital-first address providers priced per month, and workspace operators priced per month. A £39-a-year address cannot be bought by the month, so a single monthly column misleads you.

How much does a registered office address cost on its own?

A registered office address on its own costs £19 to £100 a year from a formation agent, or £9 to £18 a month from a regional independent. They accept government and court post and refuse ordinary business mail.

The formation agents cluster tightly. 1st Formations and Rapid Formations both charge £39 a year from the same Covent Garden building, and Quality Company Formations matches them³. Your Company Formations undercuts at £29⁴, Capital Office sits at £39.99⁵, and Companies MadeSimple is the dear one at £99.99 plus VAT⁶. Outside London the monthly independents are competitive once annualised: The Exeter Business Hub charges £9 a month plus VAT for an address limited to HMRC and Companies House post⁸, The Hive in Wakefield £15 plus VAT, and WERKS in Brighton £18 with VAT included⁹. In London, LowCost LetterBox sells a Fitzrovia registered office from £10 a month plus VAT⁷.

How much does a monthly virtual office with post scanning cost?

A monthly virtual office with a trading address and scanned post costs £10 to £35 a month from a digital-first provider. The Hoxton Mix charges £24.99 a month or £249.99 a year before VAT¹⁰.

Prestige postcodes are cheaper than people expect. Our page on Mayfair virtual office prices shows the spread, and W1 Virtual Office's £20-a-month Mayfair plan on Albemarle Street includes the registered office, the director's address and trading use, with VAT already in the price¹¹. Servcorp's Address Package at One Mayfair Place is £160 a month for the same postcode district².

York Hub charges £19 a month and states it adds no VAT; Blake House in the same city sells a £30 base plan, also with no VAT, where Companies House use is a £5 a month add-on¹³. The York providers that charge no VAT are a real 20 per cent saving for anyone not VAT registered. One arbitrage worth knowing: Tide's virtual office is powered by The Hoxton Mix, and Tide's Hoxton Mix-powered address costs £190 a year plus VAT against £249.99 direct¹⁰.

What do workspace operators charge for a virtual office?

Workspace operators charge £31 to £479 a month for a virtual office, and the headline frequently excludes the registered office. Work.Life is the cheapest verified operator at £31 a month, with a £50 identity-check fee on top¹⁴. UBC's Essentials tier is £44.95 a month plus VAT, plus £10 a month for Companies House use, plus a £75 setup fee¹⁵.

The pattern repeats up the price list. Elementa's Iconic plan is £108 a month on a 12-month term and the registered office is another £50 a month, so £158 is the real entry price¹⁸. At the summit, Servcorp's three London buildings run from a £94.40 address package at Canary Wharf to the £479 Leadenhall package²; our Canary Wharf virtual office options page sets those against the E14 budget addresses nearby.

Which add-ons change the real price?

Six add-ons routinely turn a cheap headline into a dear plan: post forwarding, the registered office itself, a director's service address, trading address rights, scanning, and setup fees. VAT is the seventh, and it is missing from most headline prices.

Mail Boxes Etc is the extreme case: its £60-a-year registered company address must sit on top of a paid business mailbox at £48 to £59 a month²⁰. How each post service is charged, and what to ask, is covered in our guide to post forwarding and scanning charges.

How do you compare virtual office prices properly?

Compare the annual total for the specific components you need, with VAT added where the provider quotes without it. A £39-a-year registered office with free statutory-post scanning beats a £15-a-month plan if official post is all you need. A £35-a-month plan with forwarding included beats a £20 plan with per-item forwarding once the bank statements start arriving.

Three things distort the comparison. Annual prepay is usually cheaper: The Hoxton Mix charges 20 per cent more for paying monthly than for paying a year up front¹⁰. Many promotional prices are year-one only. And VAT is inconsistent: of the priced plans in our data, 122 state ex VAT, 40 include it, and 152 do not say either way²¹. If you are not VAT registered, the inc-VAT figure is the only one that matters.

The components themselves are explained in the four parts every virtual office plan is built from, and a buying checklist that catches hidden extras covers the contract terms. Or tell the comparison tool what you need and see the real total for your shortlist; the second price under every result is the one to compare. Some providers pay us if you buy through the site, and commission never changes the order.

Where these figures come from

Every price below was read from the provider's own website on 8 September 2026.

1. virtualukoffice.co.uk (Ghost Mail Ltd): registered office £19.00 a year ex VAT, Kington, Herefordshire.
2. Servcorp location pages: Leadenhall Premium Virtual Office £479 a month ex VAT; One Mayfair Place Address Package £160; Canary Wharf Address Package £94.40. Servcorp's overview page showed different figures the same day.
3. 1st Formations, Rapid Formations and Quality Company Formations pricing pages: registered office £39 a year at all three; director's service address £26; business address £89 at Rapid and £96 at Quality; 1st Formations lists its business address as a separate purchase with no price on that page.
4. Your Company Formations: registered office £29 a year, director service address £28, business mail forwarding address £98.
5. Capital Office pricing page, all annual ex VAT: registered office £39.99, director's address £22, virtual business address £120, all three £142.99, complete virtual office £358.
6. Companies MadeSimple registered office and renewals pages: £99.99 plus VAT a year.
7. LowCost LetterBox: registered office from £10 a month plus VAT; Scan Lite £18; Scan Pro £42.50; Collect £40; Forward £49.
8. The Exeter Business Hub: registered office £9 a month ex VAT, HMRC and Companies House post only.
9. The Hive Wakefield: registered business address £15 plus VAT a month. WERKS Group, Brighton: Registered tier £18 a month inc VAT.
10. The Hoxton Mix help centre: £24.99 a month or £249.99 a year, ex VAT; director's address £3 a month per director; forwarding 50p an item plus First Class postage. Tide support page: £22.99 plus VAT a month or £190 plus VAT a year, a service Hoxton Mix states it powers.
11. W1 Virtual Office: VO Collect £20 a month or £220 a year, VO Scan £25, VO Post £30, VO Scan and Post £45, all inc VAT; 45 Albemarle Street, W1S 4JL.
12. UK Postbox business locations page: business street addresses £10 to £35 a month ex VAT; its consumer pricing page shows London Central at £21 inc VAT against £17.50 ex VAT.
13. York Hub: £19 a month or £228 a year, £15 setup, no VAT charged. Blake House, York: £30 a month no VAT; Companies House registration £5; forwarding £10 weekly or £15 twice weekly.
14. Work.Life: £31, £53 and £71 a month; £50 non-refundable AML and KYC fee; VAT not stated.
15. UBC Southampton page: Essentials £44.95 plus VAT, £75 setup, registered office £10 a month extra, scanned post 75p a letter.
16. Wizu Workspace Leeds page: Basic £45, Business £60, Premium £75 plus VAT; Companies House use from Business tier; £25 plus VAT activation.
17. Orega Manchester and London pages: Mail £59 or £69, Business Address £79 or £89, Virtual Office Pro £119 or £149; scanning £25 a month for up to 100 pages.
18. Elementa Workspace: Iconic from £108 a month ex VAT on a 12-month term, registered office £50 a month extra. Argyll: virtual office from £130, registered address £40, directors' service address £25.
19. Virtual HQ: registered business address £7.99 a month, forwarding and scanning £8.99, phone numbers £10.99; VAT not stated.
20. Mail Boxes Etc store price pages: registered company address £60 a year inc VAT, only with a business mailbox at £48 or £59 a month; £30 registration; forwarding £4.25 plus postage.
21. Our dataset as built on 8 September 2026: 314 priced plans across 119 providers; 122 stated ex VAT, 40 inc VAT, 152 with no VAT basis.