Zen broadband deals: a price that holds for the term, and two packages that cost the same
Zen quotes by address rather than publishing a price list, so these are the prices our own hand-checked comparison recorded on 1 September 2026: £28 a month for Full Fibre 100, £34 for Full Fibre 500, £34 for Full Fibre 900 and £45 for Full Fibre Max, all on 24 months, with £0 to set up on the CityFibre route and £15 on some Openreach addresses. Read the middle two again, because they are the same number. Full Fibre 500 and Full Fibre 900 cost the same on every Zen deal we verified, so there is no reason to buy the 500. The price holds for the whole term, and Zen's contract says so as plainly as its marketing does, so the 24-month cost is the monthly price times 24 plus any set-up fee and nothing else. One more thing in that data is worth knowing, and it is aimed at anyone already with Zen. Zen's part-fibre packages cost more than its full fibre ones: Unlimited Fibre 2 runs at 67 Mbps for more than Full Fibre 900 costs, so anyone on a legacy package at an address full fibre has since reached is paying more for a far slower line. Compare every line at your address at broadbandswitch.uk/compare/.
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Every figure on this page carries the date it was checked. Zen quotes by address and publishes no price list, so its prices come from our own hand-checked comparison, last verified on 1 September 2026; its terms, promises, speed guarantee and complaints route were read from zen.co.uk on 16 September 2026; the company figures come from Zen's own pages and from ISPreview's reporting; the other providers' prices come from their own sites or our deals table on the dates shown; the live comparison lower down is refreshed daily.
What does Zen cost right now?
Direct answer: Zen quotes by address rather than publishing a price list, so every figure below is the price our own hand-checked comparison recorded for a real address, not a rate card. On 1 September 2026 those prices were £28 a month for Full Fibre 100, £34 for Full Fibre 500, £34 for Full Fibre 900 and £45 for Full Fibre Max, on 24 months, with £0 to set up on the CityFibre route and some Openreach addresses and £15 on the rest.
Because the price is fixed for the whole term, the arithmetic is unusually short: the monthly price multiplied by 24, plus any set-up fee, and nothing else. Full Fibre 900 with no set-up fee comes to £816 over 24 months, an average of £34 a month. The same package at an Openreach address with the fee comes to £951, an average of £39.63. The range runs from £28 to £45 a month.
| Package | Speed | Price, no set-up fee | Average over 24 months | Where set-up applies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full Fibre 100 | 101 to 164 Mbps, or 155 Mbps symmetric on CityFibre | £28 £0 to set up | £28 £672 total | £33 £807 over 24, or £33.63 a month |
| Full Fibre 500 | 500 to 550 Mbps | £34 £0 to set up | £34 £816 total | £39 £951 over 24, or £39.63 a month |
| Full Fibre 900 | 910 to 950 Mbps | £34 £0 to set up | £34 £816 total | £39 £951 over 24, or £39.63 a month |
| Full Fibre Max | 1,600 to 2,300 Mbps | £45 £0 to set up | £45 £1,080 total | £45 £1,095 over 24, or £45.63 a month |
What is included at that price
Every full fibre package includes a static IP address, which almost no other consumer provider includes at all, and a router, with EveryRoom and eero mesh Wi-Fi available as add-ons. Unlimited data throughout. The CityFibre route carries the same speed up as down, where the Openreach route does not.
What is not included: Zen sells no television and no mobile, so there is no bundle discount to weigh and no package to unpick. There is no line rental on the broadband either, so a landline is a separate product rather than an assumption.
For the arithmetic on any provider, our price and contract checker works out the real cost of a deal over its term, price rises by provider lists who raises what and when, and our gigabit deals page shows every gigabit option at your postcode.
The two packages that cost the same
Direct answer: Full Fibre 500 and Full Fibre 900 cost the same on every Zen deal we verified, so there is no reason to buy the 500. On 1 September 2026 both were £34 a month with no set-up fee, and both were £39 at the Openreach addresses that carry one. Same money, 910 to 950 Mbps against 500 to 550 Mbps.
This is the most useful thing on the page, and it is the kind of thing that only shows up when somebody reads a whole price list at once. Zen prices by address, so we cannot promise the two tiers will still match the month you read this, and that is exactly why it is worth checking rather than assuming. Ask for both in the same quote. If they come back at the same number, there is no argument to be had: take the faster one. If they do not, the gap tells you what the extra speed actually costs, which is the number to weigh rather than the headline.
The same discipline is worth applying anywhere. A provider's tiers are priced to steer you, and the middle one is usually where the margin sits; when two of them converge, the steering has stopped working and the customer wins. Our guide to comparing broadband deals covers the rest of the checks, and what speed you actually need is the sanity check to run before paying for a faster tier you will not notice.
The legacy tiers that cost more than full fibre
Direct answer: Zen's part-fibre packages cost more than its full fibre ones: Unlimited Fibre 2 runs at 67 Mbps for more than Full Fibre 900 costs, so anyone on a legacy package at an address full fibre has since reached is paying more for a far slower line. £35 a month for 67 Mbps against £34 for 910 to 950 Mbps is not a close call.
| Package | Speed | Price | Average over 24 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unlimited Fibre 1 | 31 Mbps | £31 £15 to set up | £31.63 £759 total |
| Unlimited Fibre 2 | 67 Mbps | £35 £15 to set up | £35.63 £855 total |
| Full Fibre 900, for comparison | 910 to 950 Mbps | £34 £0 to set up | £34 £816 total |
To be fair to Zen, this is not a trap it set. Part-fibre packages are sold where full fibre has not arrived, and they cost what they cost because the underlying wholesale product costs more per megabit than fibre does. The problem is what happens afterwards: full fibre reaches the address, nobody tells the customer, and a bill that was reasonable in 2022 quietly becomes the worst deal on the price list. Nothing in a contract obliges a provider to move you.
So the action is yours, and it takes two minutes. Check whether full fibre has reached your address, and if it has, ask Zen to move you. Ofcom's Spring 2026 data puts full fibre availability at 82% of UK premises, up sharply year on year, so an address that could not get it two years ago very often can now. Our guide to full fibre against part fibre explains the difference, and why you might not be able to get full fibre covers the addresses still waiting.
The Contract Price Promise, and what it does not cover
Direct answer: Zen's promise is that the broadband prices you sign up for will remain fixed throughout the lifetime of your contract, and its contract says the same thing: we will not change the agreed fixed monthly charges during your contract term unless we are required to do so by a regulatory body. What it does not cover is what happens next. The promise covers the contract and not what follows it: once the term ends Zen says an out-of-contract price may rise from time to time, with at least 30 days' written notice.
Marketing promises and contract clauses do not always match, which is why it is worth putting both side by side here. Zen's do. Since 17 January 2025 Ofcom has banned in-contract rises linked to inflation and required any in-contract rise to be stated in pounds and pence before you buy; Zen's answer is to have no in-contract rise at all, which clears the rule with room to spare. Set against the rest of the market that is a real difference: £4 goes on at BT each April, £4 at EE, £4 at Plusnet, £4 at TalkTalk, £4 at Virgin Media and £3.50 at Vodafone, every one of them while you are tied in. Our guide to in-contract price rises sets out the rules.
Nothing moves
£34 in month one is £34 in month 24, which is what makes the 24-month figure of £816 something you can actually plan around rather than an estimate.
The promise stops
The promise covers the contract and not what follows it: once the term ends Zen says an out-of-contract price may rise from time to time, with at least 30 days' written notice. There is no published list price to quote, because Zen quotes by address, so the only way to know what you would pay is to ask. Diarise the term end and do exactly that.
Price for Life
customers who took Zen's old Price for Life plan before 1 June 2022 keep it, including out of contract; everyone since is on the Contract Price Promise instead. If your paperwork says Price for Life, that is a better deal than anything sold today and worth keeping; check before you agree to any change that resets it.
One small point in Zen's favour that it does not make itself. Zen's own comparison claims a saving of up to £108 over 24 months against providers that raise the price mid-contract Zen's footnote puts those annual increases at £3 a month, which was true in 2025; BT, EE and Plusnet all moved to £4 in 2026, so Zen is understating its own advantage. On our own arithmetic a £4 monthly increase adds nearly £100 to a 24-month contract against a price that does not move, before any set-up fee is counted, so the gap Zen is claiming is if anything conservative.
Static IP, the router and the speed guarantee
Direct answer: Included on every full fibre package: a static IP address, a router, unlimited data and a speed guarantee with a penalty-free exit if Zen cannot fix a slow line within 30 days. The static IP is the unusual one.
A static IP, included
Zen includes a static IP address, which almost no other consumer provider includes at all. For most households it changes nothing; for anyone running a home server, a camera system or a VPN back to the house it is the whole reason to be here.
Router and mesh
Zen supplies a router, with EveryRoom and eero mesh Wi-Fi available as add-ons. It has historically shipped hardware with more control than a locked-down ISP box, which is part of why it keeps turning up in recommendations from people who run their own network.
The speed guarantee
if your speed drops below the minimum guaranteed figure and Zen cannot fix it within 30 calendar days, you have the right to leave without penalty. That follows Ofcom's voluntary code rather than going beyond it, so treat it as table stakes. Zen gives you your own minimum guaranteed speed when you join rather than publishing one per package, so get that figure in writing and keep it
The static IP deserves the attention it gets. Almost every consumer provider hands out an address that changes, which is fine for browsing and awkward for anything you want to reach from outside: a home server, a network drive, a set of cameras, a VPN back to the house, or a piece of work software that expects a fixed address at the other end. The usual workarounds are a dynamic DNS service or a business tariff, and both cost money or effort. Zen simply includes it. If none of that describes you, it is worth nothing; if it describes you, it is worth more than the price gap to a cheaper provider. Our guide to working from home without downtime covers the rest of the home-office questions.
The one thing Zen has that most independents do not
Direct answer: Zen is signed up to Ofcom's automatic compensation scheme, so a total loss of service, a missed engineer appointment or a delayed start is paid automatically rather than argued for. The current payments are £10.34 for each day of total loss of service after two working days, £32.31 for a missed appointment and £6.46 for each day a start date slips.
Ofcom's automatic compensation scheme is voluntary, which is the fact that makes it worth checking rather than assuming. Providers in it pay set amounts when service is lost, an appointment is missed or a start date slips, and they pay without the customer having to ask, notice or argue. Providers outside it may still compensate, but you have to raise it, chase it and accept whatever is offered. Of the smaller providers on this site, Zen and Hyperoptic are in the scheme; Community Fibre, Gigaclear and YouFibre are not. For a household that has ever lost broadband for a week, that difference is worth real money. Our guide to automatic compensation rates lists the payments and every provider signed up.
It sits alongside the ordinary complaints route rather than replacing it. If something goes wrong that compensation does not cover, Zen's scheme is CISAS, which you can go to free of charge once a complaint has run six weeks, or sooner if Zen issues a deadlock letter.
Which network you get, and why it changes the price
Direct answer: Openreach and CityFibre, with the network chosen by the address rather than by you. It is not a detail: it decides your upload speed, your set-up fee and sometimes the price of the package itself.
Two networks, one brand
Openreach and CityFibre, with the network chosen by the address rather than by you. Our comparison recorded both routes on 1 September 2026, at different prices and different speeds for the same package name.
Upload follows the network
The CityFibre route carries the same speed up as down, where the Openreach route does not. If you upload video, back up to the cloud or work from home, the CityFibre draw is the better one, and it is not something you get to choose.
So does the set-up fee
£0 on the CityFibre route and some Openreach addresses, £15 on the rest. On a 24-month contract that is the difference between £34 and £39.63 a month.
Zen builds no network of its own, which is the ordinary arrangement for a retail provider and not a criticism. What it means in practice is that the Zen experience is identical everywhere and the line underneath it is not, so two neighbours can pay different money for the same package name. You will see which network is serving you when you order. Ofcom's Spring 2026 data puts full fibre availability at 82% of UK premises and gigabit-capable availability at 89%, so most addresses now have at least one full fibre route and many have two. Our guide to which network each provider uses explains why the same brand behaves differently at different addresses, and One Touch Switch covers the move itself, which Zen uses One Touch Switch, so it tells your existing provider you are leaving and manages the switch.
Who Zen is, and who it has been buying
Direct answer: Zen was founded in 1995, in Rochdale and is led by Richard Tang, who founded it and is still chief executive. It employs more than 600 colleagues. It is a certified B Corp and a carbon neutral business, working to a Net Zero target of 2040 aligned with the Science Based Targets initiative. And it has been growing by buying other providers' customers: Zen has been buying other providers' customers rather than building network: it took on FibreHop's consumer base in September 2025 and Lit Fibre's in December 2025, migrating those customers during January and February 2026 on their existing packages, prices and terms
That last part is worth a sentence of its own, because it is how a retail-only provider grows when it is not laying fibre. Both bases came from providers leaving the consumer market rather than from distress, and in both cases the customers moved across on their existing packages, prices and terms rather than being repriced. If you signed with FibreHop or Lit Fibre and now find Zen on your bill, that is why, and your original terms are the ones that still apply.
The B Corp certification is the part that is independently assessed rather than self-declared, and it is rare in this market. For a household choosing between two providers at the same price it is a reasonable tiebreaker; for one choosing between a cheaper provider and a dearer one it is not an argument on its own, and we would not pretend otherwise. Our consolidation tracker follows who is buying whom across the smaller providers.
Awards, reviews and what each one measures
Direct answer: Zen claims a Which? Recommended Provider for broadband six years running and a 22-time PC Pro Best Broadband ISP winner, and 93% of its customers would recommend it. Its Trustpilot profile stood at 4.3 out of 5 from 18,461 reviews on 16 September 2026, which is below several altnets on this site. And it has no published Ofcom complaints figure, because Ofcom tables only providers with a stable market share of 1.5% or more, so the standard independent check is unavailable.
Those first two measures disagree, and it is worth understanding why rather than picking the flattering one. Zen wins the expert awards and the altnets win the review scores, which are two different measures of two different things: a panel judging the product against its rivals, and customers writing about the day they were installed An expert panel comparing products year after year is testing the thing this page is about: the package, the terms, the support when it is needed. A review profile is mostly people writing in the first fortnight, when what they are really rating is the installation. Zen wins the first and does less well on the second, and both facts are true at once.
| Provider | Complaints per 100,000 |
|---|---|
| Plusnet | 4 |
| Sky | 5 |
| Virgin Media | 6 |
| EE | 6 |
| Industry average | 6 |
| BT | 7 |
| Vodafone | 8 |
| TalkTalk | 10 |
| Zen | no published Ofcom complaints figure, because Ofcom tables only providers with a stable market share of 1.5% or more |
An absence is not a good record or a bad one; it means Zen sits below the market share at which Ofcom tables a provider. It is worth saying clearly because Zen's reputation often gets described as having the best complaints record in the industry, and Ofcom publishes no figure that could establish that either way. What can be said is narrower and still useful: it is in the automatic compensation scheme, its dispute scheme is CISAS with a six weeks route in, and its award record is long and independently judged. Our Complaints Floor report explains how much of the UK market now sits outside Ofcom's tables, and our complaints and your rights guide walks through the steps if something goes wrong.
Zen against the other lines at the same address
Direct answer: Zen is not cheap and does not claim to be. Full Fibre 900 averaged £34 a month across 24 months on the prices we verified, against £34.41 for BT's entry full fibre, £26 for Sky's, £25.82 for Plusnet's and £25 for YouFibre's symmetric gigabit. What you are buying for the difference is a price that does not move, a static IP, and membership of the automatic compensation scheme.
| Provider | What it is | Entry price | Average over 24 months | Rise in contract | Automatic compensation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zen Full Fibre 900 | Openreach or CityFibre | £34 (verified 1 September 2026) | £34 | None | Yes |
| Zen Full Fibre 100 | Openreach or CityFibre | £28 | £28 | None | Yes |
| YouFibre | Its own full fibre, on Netomnia | £25 for 1000 Mbps (checked 16 September 2026) | £25 | None | No |
| Hyperoptic | Its own full fibre | from £17 for 500Mb (checked 16 September 2026) | £21 | £4 each April | Yes |
| BT | Full fibre, Openreach | £29.99 (checked 15 September 2026) | £34.41 | £4 each April | Yes |
| Sky | Full fibre, Openreach or CityFibre | £23 (checked 15 September 2026) | £26 | No fixed amount | Yes |
| Plusnet | Full fibre, Openreach | £20.99 (checked 15 September 2026) | £25.82 | £4 each April | Yes |
Read the last two columns together, because they are the argument. Several cheaper providers are in the compensation scheme too, so that is not Zen's alone; what is unusual is holding the price and being in the scheme and including a static IP at the same time. When we last hand-checked every deal, on 1 September 2026, the 373 broadband-only deals from the 28 providers we compare started at £13.50 a month (4th Utility, 150 Mbps on CityFibre), with good full fibre clustering between £23 and £34 a month and a median of £28. Zen's gigabit sits above that median, which is the honest summary: you are paying above the middle of the market, on purpose, for things that are not speed.
Put Zen next to every other line at your address
Enter your postcode and our comparison lists every provider we can switch you to, on every network that reaches you, lowest price first, so you can see exactly what the Zen premium costs at your address.
Compare at my postcode →Who should choose Zen, and who should not?
Direct answer: Choose it if you want a price that does not move for 24 months, if you need the static IP, if you value being in the automatic compensation scheme, or if you have been burned by a mid-contract rise; look elsewhere if you want the cheapest working line, if you want television or mobile on the same bill, if you need a social tariff, or if you might leave early.
Take it when
One or more of these applies to your household
- You want certainty: the broadband prices you sign up for will remain fixed throughout the lifetime of your contract, and the contract says the same thing
- You run something at home: a static IP address, which almost no other consumer provider includes at all
- You want the safety net: Zen is signed up to Ofcom's automatic compensation scheme, so a total loss of service, a missed engineer appointment or a delayed start is paid automatically rather than argued for
- You are buying the 900: Full Fibre 500 and Full Fibre 900 cost the same on every Zen deal we verified, so there is no reason to buy the 500, so the fast tier costs what the middle one does
- You are on a Zen part-fibre package at an address full fibre has reached, in which case moving is the cheapest upgrade you will ever make
- Service matters more than price: Zen claims a Which? Recommended Provider for broadband six years running and a 22-time PC Pro Best Broadband ISP winner
Another line is the better buy when
Zen's model does not suit you
- You want the cheapest working connection, because the same fibre is sold for less at the same address
- Money is tight: Zen has no social tariff on Ofcom's list, so a social tariff means a different provider
- You want one bill for everything: Zen sells no television and no mobile, so there is no bundle discount to weigh and no package to unpick
- You might leave early: Zen's consumer terms say that if you end the contract early you remain liable for the charges due for the whole contract term, where several rivals discount it
- You want to know the complaints record before committing: it has no published Ofcom complaints figure, because Ofcom tables only providers with a stable market share of 1.5% or more
- Upload is critical and the quote comes back on Openreach, because The CityFibre route carries the same speed up as down, where the Openreach route does not.
The test is the same as everywhere on this site: run the postcode, see what is actually available, and compare the total over the term rather than the headline. Zen will rarely be the cheapest line on that list, and the page above is an honest account of what the difference buys.
Switching in, and getting out
Direct answer: Zen uses One Touch Switch, so it tells your existing provider you are leaving and manages the switch. Leaving early is where Zen is less generous than several rivals: Zen's consumer terms say that if you end the contract early you remain liable for the charges due for the whole contract term. Leaving at or after the term end needs 14 days' notice in writing, and there is a cooling-off period of 14 days from the date the agreement is made.
The early termination position is the one to read carefully before you sign, because it differs from the market in a way that is easy to miss. Gigaclear and YouFibre both discount their early termination charge for the wholesale costs they no longer have to pay once you have gone, which usually takes a meaningful amount off the bill. Zen's published terms do not offer that: they say you remain liable for the charges due for the whole contract term. On a 24 months contract at £34 a month, that is a large number if you leave early, so treat the term as a real commitment rather than a formality.
The notice period runs the other way, in your favour. 14 days' notice in writing is shorter than the 30 days most providers ask for, so the window between deciding and leaving is smaller once the term has ended. Give that notice a fortnight before the term date rather than on it, and you avoid paying for a month you did not want.
What should you check before you order Zen?
Direct answer: Six checks, five minutes: both mid tiers in the same quote, which network you are getting, whether an existing package has been overtaken by full fibre, your minimum guaranteed speed in writing, the term end date in your calendar, and whether you are sure about the commitment.
Six-step Zen check
Run each before you commit to a contract.
Ask for the 500 and the 900 in the same quote
Full Fibre 500 and Full Fibre 900 cost the same on every Zen deal we verified, so there is no reason to buy the 500 If both come back at the same number, take the faster one. If they do not, the gap is what the extra speed actually costs, which is the figure to weigh.
Check which network you are being offered
Openreach and CityFibre, with the network chosen by the address rather than by you. The CityFibre route carries the same speed up as down, where the Openreach route does not. The set-up fee follows the network too: £0 on one route and £15 on the other.
If you are an existing customer, look at your current package first
Zen's part-fibre packages cost more than its full fibre ones: Unlimited Fibre 2 runs at 67 Mbps for more than Full Fibre 900 costs, so anyone on a legacy package at an address full fibre has since reached is paying more for a far slower line Moving from a part-fibre package to full fibre at the same address is usually cheaper and far faster, and nobody will prompt you to do it.
Get your minimum guaranteed speed in writing
Zen gives you your own minimum guaranteed speed when you join rather than publishing one per package, so get that figure in writing and keep it The guarantee itself is real: if your speed drops below the minimum guaranteed figure and Zen cannot fix it within 30 calendar days, you have the right to leave without penalty.
Diarise the end of the term
The promise covers the contract and not what follows it: once the term ends Zen says an out-of-contract price may rise from time to time, with at least 30 days' written notice. Leaving then needs 14 days' notice in writing, so give it a fortnight before the date rather than on it.
Be sure about the term before you sign
Zen's consumer terms say that if you end the contract early you remain liable for the charges due for the whole contract term, where several rivals discount it for the costs they no longer carry. On 24 months that is a real commitment, so take the shorter view only if you are confident.
Related reading: how to switch broadband, One Touch Switch, full fibre vs part fibre, automatic compensation, and gigabit deals.
Live Zen deals at your postcode
See every provider at your address, not only Zen
The list above is Zen only. The full comparison shows every provider we can switch you to at your postcode, lowest price first, so you can see exactly what the Zen premium costs at your address, including the cheapest deals, full fibre from every network and social tariffs.
Show every provider at my postcode →Zen: frequently asked questions
How much is Zen broadband a month?
Zen does not publish a price list, so these are the prices our own comparison verified by address on 1 September 2026: £28 for Full Fibre 100, £34 for Full Fibre 500, £34 for Full Fibre 900 and £45 for Full Fibre Max, each on 24 months. Set-up is £0 on the CityFibre route and on some Openreach addresses, and £15 on the rest. Because the price is fixed for the whole term, the 24-month cost is simply the monthly price times 24 plus any set-up: £816 for Full Fibre 900 with no set-up fee, an average of £34 a month, or £951 where the set-up fee applies.
Which Zen package should I buy?
On the prices we verified, Full Fibre 900. Full Fibre 500 and Full Fibre 900 cost the same on every Zen deal we verified, so there is no reason to buy the 500 At £34 for 910 to 950 Mbps against £34 for 500 to 550 Mbps, the 500 has nothing to recommend it at all: same money, less speed. We cannot promise that will still be true the month you read this, because Zen prices by address, so check both tiers in the same quote before you choose. If both come back at the same number, take the faster one.
Does Zen put its prices up during the contract?
No, and the contract says so as plainly as the marketing does. Zen's promise is that the broadband prices you sign up for will remain fixed throughout the lifetime of your contract, and clause 14.1 of its consumer terms says we will not change the agreed fixed monthly charges during your contract term unless we are required to do so by a regulatory body. Every large provider now writes a fixed annual increase into the contract instead: £4 at BT, £4 at EE, £4 at Plusnet, £4 at TalkTalk, £4 at Virgin Media and £3.50 at Vodafone, each going on every April while you are tied in. Zen's own comparison claims a saving of up to £108 over 24 months against providers that raise the price mid-contract Worth noting in Zen's favour: Zen's footnote puts those annual increases at £3 a month, which was true in 2025; BT, EE and Plusnet all moved to £4 in 2026, so Zen is understating its own advantage.
What happens at the end of a Zen contract?
This is the part the promise does not cover, and it is the reason to diarise the term end. The promise covers the contract and not what follows it: once the term ends Zen says an out-of-contract price may rise from time to time, with at least 30 days' written notice. There is no published list price to quote, because Zen quotes by address, so the honest advice is to treat the end of the term as the moment to ask for a new contract price or compare elsewhere. Leaving needs 14 days' notice in writing, which is shorter than the 30 days most providers ask for. One piece of history worth knowing if you are a long-standing customer: customers who took Zen's old Price for Life plan before 1 June 2022 keep it, including out of contract; everyone since is on the Contract Price Promise instead. Our page on out-of-contract prices covers the same moment provider by provider.
Is a static IP really included?
Yes, and it is rare: Zen includes a static IP address, which almost no other consumer provider includes at all. For most households it makes no difference at all. For the ones it does, it makes a large one: a static IP is what lets you reach a home server, a camera system or a VPN back to the house without paying for a dynamic DNS service or a business tariff. If that describes you, it is worth more than the price gap to a cheaper provider, and it is the main reason Zen keeps turning up in recommendations from people who run something at home.
What is Zen's speed guarantee worth?
It is a real commitment with a real remedy: if your speed drops below the minimum guaranteed figure and Zen cannot fix it within 30 calendar days, you have the right to leave without penalty. That follows Ofcom's voluntary code of practice rather than going beyond it, which most large providers also do, so treat it as table stakes rather than a differentiator. The practical catch is in how the number is set: Zen gives you your own minimum guaranteed speed when you join rather than publishing one per package, so get that figure in writing and keep it. Test on a cable rather than over Wi-Fi if you ever need to rely on it, and keep the result with the date.
Does Zen pay automatic compensation?
Yes, and this is the thing that most separates it from the other independent providers on this site. Zen is signed up to Ofcom's automatic compensation scheme, so a total loss of service, a missed engineer appointment or a delayed start is paid automatically rather than argued for. The current payments are £10.34 for each day of total loss of service after two working days, £32.31 for a missed appointment and £6.46 for each day a start date slips. Of the smaller providers we cover, only Hyperoptic is also in the scheme: Community Fibre, Gigaclear and YouFibre are not, so a fault at one of those means a conversation rather than an automatic credit. Our guide to automatic compensation rates lists the payments and who is signed up.
Which network does Zen use?
Openreach and CityFibre, with the network chosen by the address rather than by you. It matters to you in two ways. The CityFibre route carries the same speed up as down, where the Openreach route does not. So if upload matters, the CityFibre route is the better draw. And the set-up fee follows the network: £0 on CityFibre and some Openreach addresses, £15 on the rest. You will see which network is serving you when you order, and you cannot choose it, so treat it as something to check rather than something to decide. Our guide to which network your provider uses explains why the same brand behaves differently at different addresses.
Does Zen have a social tariff?
No. Zen has no social tariff on Ofcom's list, checked against Ofcom's own published list. Zen's positioning is a premium service at a premium price, and a social tariff does not fit that, which is a fair commercial choice and a real gap if money is tight. The alternatives at most addresses are BT Home Essentials at £16.50, Virgin Media Essential Broadband at £12.50, Vodafone at £20 or NOW Broadband Basics at £20 a month, and in London Community Fibre's Essential at £12.50 with no eligibility criteria to prove. Our social tariffs guide lists every one.
Is Zen worth paying more for?
Sometimes, and it depends entirely on which part of the premium you are buying. You are paying for a price that does not move for 24 months, a static IP, UK support with a strong award record, and membership of the automatic compensation scheme. You are not paying for a faster line: the same Openreach or CityFibre fibre is sold by cheaper providers at the same address. So the question is whether price certainty, the static IP and the service layer are worth the gap to you. For a household that wants the cheapest working connection, they are not. For someone who works from home, runs something on their own network, or has been burned by a mid-contract rise, they often are.
How good is Zen really?
It depends which measure you take, and the two available measures disagree. Zen claims a Which? Recommended Provider for broadband six years running and a 22-time PC Pro Best Broadband ISP winner, and 93% of its customers would recommend it. Against that, its Trustpilot profile stood at 4.3 out of 5 from 18,461 reviews on 16 September 2026, which is below several altnets we cover. Zen wins the expert awards and the altnets win the review scores, which are two different measures of two different things: a panel judging the product against its rivals, and customers writing about the day they were installed A third check is unavailable: it has no published Ofcom complaints figure, because Ofcom tables only providers with a stable market share of 1.5% or more. Our Complaints Floor report explains how much of the market now sits outside Ofcom's tables.
What does it cost to leave Zen early?
More than it does at several rivals, and the terms are blunt about it: Zen's consumer terms say that if you end the contract early you remain liable for the charges due for the whole contract term. Providers including Gigaclear and YouFibre discount their early termination charge for the wholesale costs they no longer have to pay, and Zen's published terms do not. Leaving at the end of the term instead needs 14 days' notice in writing, and there is a cooling-off period of 14 days from the date the agreement is made. Our guide to leaving a contract early works through the arithmetic.
Who owns Zen, and has it changed?
Zen was founded in 1995, in Rochdale and is led by Richard Tang, who founded it and is still chief executive, which makes it one of the longest-running independent providers in the country and one of the very few still run by the person who started it. It employs more than 600 colleagues. It is a certified B Corp and a carbon neutral business, working to a Net Zero target of 2040 aligned with the Science Based Targets initiative. What has changed is the shape of the business: Zen has been buying other providers' customers rather than building network: it took on FibreHop's consumer base in September 2025 and Lit Fibre's in December 2025, migrating those customers during January and February 2026 on their existing packages, prices and terms. Buying customers rather than laying fibre is a sensible way for a retail-only provider to grow, and it is why a former FibreHop or Lit Fibre customer may now find Zen on their bill.
Does Zen do TV or mobile?
No. Zen sells no television and no mobile, so there is no bundle discount to weigh and no package to unpick. For a household that wants one bill for everything, that is a real gap, and BT, Sky and Virgin Media are the pages to read instead. For a household that would rather choose its own streaming and its own mobile deal, it is a feature: there is no bundle to unpick when you leave, and no discount that quietly disappears when you drop one part of it.
In short
- Zen quotes by address, so the prices here are the ones our own comparison verified on 1 September 2026: £28 for Full Fibre 100, £34 for Full Fibre 500, £34 for Full Fibre 900 and £45 for Full Fibre Max, on 24 months.
- Full Fibre 500 and Full Fibre 900 cost the same on every Zen deal we verified, so there is no reason to buy the 500
- Zen's part-fibre packages cost more than its full fibre ones: Unlimited Fibre 2 runs at 67 Mbps for more than Full Fibre 900 costs, so anyone on a legacy package at an address full fibre has since reached is paying more for a far slower line
- The price holds for the whole term: the broadband prices you sign up for will remain fixed throughout the lifetime of your contract. But The promise covers the contract and not what follows it: once the term ends Zen says an out-of-contract price may rise from time to time, with at least 30 days' written notice.
- Every full fibre package includes a static IP address, which almost no other consumer provider includes at all, and Zen is signed up to Ofcom's automatic compensation scheme, so a total loss of service, a missed engineer appointment or a delayed start is paid automatically rather than argued for
- Two gaps: Zen has no social tariff on Ofcom's list, and Zen sells no television and no mobile, so there is no bundle discount to weigh and no package to unpick
Each line above stands on its own and carries its date, so it can be quoted as it is. Prices are refreshed from the providers' own price lists and our monthly deals check; the guide itself is reviewed by a person at least every three months, last on 16 September 2026.
References
- Zen Internet
Zen Internet. (2026). Full fibre broadband. Retrieved 16 September 2026, from zen.co.uk
- Zen Internet
Zen Internet. (2026). Contract Price Promise. Retrieved 16 September 2026, from zen.co.uk/contract-price-promise
- Zen Internet
Zen Internet. (2026, May 18). Consumer standard terms and conditions. Retrieved 16 September 2026, from zen.co.uk/legal-hub
- Zen Internet
Zen Internet. (2026). Broadband speeds and our speed guarantee. Retrieved 16 September 2026, from zen.co.uk
- Zen Internet
Zen Internet. (2026). Complaints code of practice. Retrieved 16 September 2026, from zen.co.uk/complaints
- Zen Internet
Zen Internet. (2026). Our story. Retrieved 16 September 2026, from story.zen.co.uk
- ISPreview
Jackson, M. (2025, December). ISP Zen Internet acquire Lit Fibre’s UK consumer broadband base. ISPreview. ispreview.co.uk
- ISPreview
Jackson, M. (2025, September). ISP Zen Internet acquire FibreHop’s UK consumer broadband base. ISPreview. ispreview.co.uk
- Ofcom
Ofcom. (2026). Social tariffs: cheaper broadband for people on benefits. Updated 17 August 2026. ofcom.org.uk
- Ofcom
Ofcom. (2024, July 19). Ofcom bans mid-contract price rises linked to inflation. ofcom.org.uk
- Trustpilot
Trustpilot. (2026). Zen Internet reviews. Retrieved 16 September 2026, from uk.trustpilot.com
- BroadbandSwitch.uk
BroadbandSwitch.uk. (2026). Broadband deals, checked by hand. Verified 1 September 2026. broadbandswitch.uk/broadband-deals/
- BroadbandSwitch.uk
BroadbandSwitch.uk. (2026). Ofcom automatic compensation rates. broadbandswitch.uk/guides/automatic-compensation-rates/
- BroadbandSwitch.uk
BroadbandSwitch.uk. (2026, July). The Complaints Floor: Report No. 30. broadbandswitch.uk/reports/the-complaints-floor/
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