Data centre or data center?

Both are right: data centre is the British spelling and data center the American one. In UK writing, use "data centre".

What the references say

• Cambridge Dictionary lists "data centre" as UK and "data center" as US.
• Oxford Learner's Dictionaries gives "data centre", with "data center" as the US English form, and "server farm" as another name for it.
• Merriam-Webster, the American dictionary, uses "data center".
• The GOV.UK style guide says "data centre", and specifically "Not 'datacentre'". Government departments, Ofgem and the House of Commons Library all write "data centre".
• The Guardian is the exception: its style guide spells it as one word, "datacentre".
• UK industry body techUK uses "data centre", for example in its Data Centres Council.

Why you see both in the UK

Many operators are American or run global websites, so their careers pages and trade headlines often use "data center" even for UK sites. When searching for UK jobs, it's worth trying both spellings; our job listings search for both.

New to the subject? Read what a data centre is.