A2 Hosting Web Hosting Review (2024)
Our Research
Is A2 Hosting Worth Signing Up For?
A2 Hosting is a hosting company that lives under the radar, but it’s one that shouldn’t be ignored. With some of the best customer service in the business, insanely fast shared hosting, and top-of-the-line hosting packages, your website will only get the best service. Plans are pricey, but worth it. A2 Hosting only promises excellence, and in our testing, they never came short of that.
A2 Hosting at a Glance 9.0 Editor Score
Simple Setup
9.4
Security Features
9.5
Technical Features
9.0
Servers
8.3
Customer Service
9.1
9.0 Editor Score
A2 Hosting Pros & Cons
PROS
- Easy for the average user to use
- Excellent customer service
CONS
- Feature restrictions on cheaper plans
- Lacks Windows-based server options
How do I know I can trust thisA2 Hosting review?
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Overview
How A2 Hosting Works
When you choose a hosting plan from A2 Hosting, you’re renting space on one of its servers. These servers are constantly connected to the internet (at least, 99.9% of the time, according to A2 Hosting’s uptime guarantee) and let users access your website’s information.
But storing your website’s information is only one piece of the puzzle. To make sure users are sent to the right place, you’ll need to tweak your domain name system (DNS) settings to point to A2 Hosting’s name servers. You can also register your domain directly with A2 Hosting to make this step easier.
Once you have your domain name connected to A2 Hosting’s name servers, your website will be live on the web for customers all across the world. A2 Hosting currently has data centers in Michigan, Arizona, Amsterdam and Singapore, so you’ll choose the location closest to where most of your customers are located.
What Sets A2 Hosting Apart
A2 Hosting reviews indicate customer service is a selling point. All users get 24/7/365 live chat, phone and email support without the need to upgrade to a higher plan—something competitors lack.
Something also unique to A2 Hosting is its Turbo plans. These plans use upgraded servers with 40% faster CPU processors, three times faster NVMe storage and increased RAM. These servers also have limited occupancy, advanced caching software and optimized configurations. Overall, they’re a good pick for businesses expecting a lot of web traffic.
A2 Hosting even offers CDN hosting—this is when content is cached on a server geographically closer to the user. Not all hosts offer this—especially not for free.
A2 Hosting Features
Storage and Bandwidth Limits
All of A2 Hosting’s shared plans come with unlimited RAID-10 SSD storage except for the base plan, which just comes with 100GB. The two Turbo plans have NVMe storage, which should offer faster loading times.
Bandwidth is unlimited on all plans.
Extras and Inclusions
A2 Hosting doesn’t offer any free domain names or domain name privacy, which most other web hosting providers do. However, it does offer a free SSL certificate, robust security features and unlimited business email. You also get unlimited subdomains, parked domains and DNS management on all shared plans.
Ease of Use
A2 Hosting offers one-click setups for e-commerce apps such as WooCommerce, Adobe Commerce, OpenCart, PrestaShop and AbanteCart. You can also get a one-click WordPress, Drupal and Joomla install through the Softaculous app.
If you’re moving your site from an old host, A2 Hosting can migrate one website or one entire cPanel account for free.
User Dashboard/cPanel
Nearly all of A2 Hosting’s plans come with a standard cPanel interface. You can access the cPanel through your customer portal under the “My Services” link, or you can get to it directly by typing in http://cpanel.YOURDOMAIN.com.
If you’ve used cPanel before, you’ll know how to navigate the dashboard and manage your website’s settings. If you’re new to cPanel, A2 Hosting’s live chat can help you if you get stuck.
Security
A2 Hosting’s security features include daily automatic patches and bug fixes with KernelCare to keep your site running fast and safe. There’s also a server firewall, brute force defense and virus scanning to stop hackers and malware. Reinforced DDoS protection and 24/7/365 security monitoring keep attackers from overwhelming your site.
A2 Hosting Pricing and Plans
| Startup | Drive | Turbo Boost | Turbo Max | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Introductory Pricing | $71.88 per year (for the first two years) | $95.88 per year (for the first two years) | $119.88 per year (for the first two years) | $203.88 per year (for the first two years) |
| Renewal Pricing | $119.88 per year | $155.88 per year | $239.88 per year | $299.88 per year |
| Contract Lengths Available | One month, one year, two years, three years | One month, one year, two years, three years | One month, one year, two years, three years | One month, one year, two years, three years |
| Storage | 100GB | Unlimited | Unlimited NVMe | Unlimited NVMe |
| Bandwidth | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Free Domain Name | No | No | No | No |
| Free SSL Certificate | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| cPanel | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Security | KernelCare, reinforced DDoS protection, web hosting firewall, brute force defense, virus scanning, 24/7 security monitoring | KernelCare, reinforced DDoS protection, web hosting firewall, brute force defense, virus scanning, 24/7 security monitoring | KernelCare, reinforced DDoS protection, web hosting firewall, brute force defense, virus scanning, 24/7 security monitoring, security rollback on WordPress | KernelCare, reinforced DDoS protection, web hosting firewall, brute force defense, virus scanning, 24/7 security monitoring, security rollback on WordPress |
| Business Email | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Uptime Guarantee | 99.90% | 99.90% | 99.90% | 99.90% |
| Money-Back Guarantee | 30 days | 30 days | 30 days | 30 days |
| Customer Support | 24/7/365 email, phone and live chat support | 24/7/365 email, phone and live chat support | 24/7/365 email, phone and live chat support | 24/7/365 email, phone and live chat support |
Startup
The Startup plan is a solid pick for businesses new to the web that just need a simple site. The 100GB of storage will be enough for some photos or PDFs (such as menus or a service list). However, you’re limited to just five databases, which could be tricky if you wanted to sort customers, products and other files. This plan also doesn’t come with Node.js capabilities, which could limit developmental features.
Drive
Upgrading to the Drive plan gets you unlimited websites, which is good if you want sites for each of your locations. Unlimited storage and databases are also great for uploading and categorizing your data. An automatic A2 cloud backup is also standard at this level.
Turbo Boost
The Turbo Boost plan is the lowest tier plan that gives you access to A2’s Turbo servers. These give you up to a 20x increase in speed. Even WordPress installs have acceleration technology with this plan. They also come with a deluxe WordPress toolkit with features such as cloning, staging and mass updates.
Turbo Max
As the most expensive plan, Turbo Max includes 4GB of physical memory and four processing cores. However, since this seems to be the only difference between this plan and the Turbo Boost plan, we’re not sure it’s worth the extra $6 a month when it comes time to renew.
Customer Service and Support
A2 Hosting has three ways to reach customer service: live chat, email ticket and phone. There’s also a support knowledge base and setup quick guides that might be able to answer your questions. Overall, A2 Hosting customers largely agree that the support team is knowledgeable and helpful.
When we reached out to speak with the sales chat, we spoke to an agent right away, and they seemed very knowledgeable about A2’s services and features. However, when we tried chatting with a support agent, it took five minutes to get connected. This kind of wait could be an issue if you’re dealing with a site outage and need immediate help.
Additional Features Worth Noting
In addition to its standard shared hosting plans, A2 Hosting offers shared and managed WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, reseller hosting and dedicated hosting. A2 Hosting also provides e-commerce hosting if you plan to sell products on your website.
WordPress Hosting
If you plan on using WordPress to run and manage your site, then A2 Hosting’s managed WordPress plans could be a good deal. You have four plans to choose from, starting from $11.99 per month ($23.99 after renewal) and going up to $41.99 per month ($61.99 after renewal).
The base plan comes with just one WordPress site, while the top plan is unlimited. Storage also increases from 50GB to unlimited. The top plans also come with a premium JetPack license.
VPS Hosting
You can choose between unmanaged and managed VPS plans from A2. Unmanaged plans let you customize your settings for more control, which means they require more maintenance on your end. This also makes them cheaper—prices start at $2.99 per month ($8.99 after renewal) for 1GB RAM, 20GB SSD storage and one core.
With managed VPS hosting, A2 takes care of the maintenance for you, so these plans start at $39.99 per month ($76.99 after renewal). However, they have more RAM, storage and cores at the base level.
Reseller Hosting
If you want to sell web hosting to your clients, reseller hosting from A2 allows you to do that. Plans start at $17.99 per month ($34.99 after renewal) for 60GB SSD storage and 600GB bandwidth. The most expensive plan is $49.99 per month ($119.99 after renewal) and offers 250GB NVMe SSD storage and 3500GB bandwidth.
Dedicated Hosting
You can choose either managed or unmanaged dedicated hosting from A2. Plans start at $105.99 per month ($199.99 after renewal) and go up to $629.99 per month with annual billing ($749.99 after renewal). You’re able to choose from a variety of CPU, RAM and storage options based on your website’s needs.
E-Commerce Hosting
A2 Hosting’s hosting plans are compatible with a number of e-commerce platforms, including:
- WooCommerce
- Adobe Commerce
- OpenCart
- PrestaShop
- AbanteCart
- WHMCS
- Loaded Commerce
- InvoicePlane
- LiteCart
- Open eShop
All of these can be installed with just a few clicks, making it incredibly simple to get your online shop up and running.
A2 Hosting Alternatives and How They Compare
| A2 Hosting | GoDaddy | MochaHost | InMotion | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rating | ||||
| Starting Price | $2.99 per month for your first year (renews at $11.99 per month) | $5.99 per month for your first year (renews at $9.99 per month) | $2.29 per month for your first year (renews at $6.35 per month) | $3.49 per month for your first year (renews at $9.99 per month) |
| Contract Length | One month, one year, two years, three years | One month, one year, two years, three years | One month, three months, six months, one year, two years, three years | One month, one year, two years, three years |
| Storage Limit | Up to unlimited | Up to 100GB | Unlimited | Up to unlimited |
| Bandwidth Limit | Unlimited | Unmetered | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Free Domain Name | No | Yes | All except Soho plan | All except Core plan |
| Free SSL Certificate | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Business Email | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Uptime Guarantee | 99.90% | 99.90% | 99.90% | 99.99% |
| Money-Back Guarantee | 30 days | 30 days | 30 days | 90 days |
| Customer Support | 24/7/365 live chat, ticket and phone | 24/7/365 phone, live chat and text | 24/7/365 live chat, ticket and phone | 24/7/365 phone, live chat and ticket |
A2 Hosting vs. GoDaddy
GoDaddy and A2 are competitive month to month, but A2 is cheaper if you take advantage of its three-year discount. GoDaddy limits the storage you have, but it also gives you a free domain, which A2 doesn’t. Another perk of GoDaddy—it has a free site builder.
A2 Hosting vs. MochaHost
MochaHost offers the cheapest price as well as the most term options, which is nice if you have a small budget and don’t want to be locked in for years at a time. Also, even its base plan comes with unlimited storage. This is a feature you have to upgrade to get with A2.
Is A2 Hosting Right for Me?
A2 Hosting is a top choice if speed is your priority. It’s also relatively affordable compared to other web hosting providers, though that might be because you’re missing freebies such as a domain name and website builder.
A2 Hosting Is Best For:
- Companies that want fast, efficient websites
- Companies that want to set up an e-commerce store without a lot of hassle
- Companies that want an easy-to-use WordPress solution
- Companies that want a lot of security features to protect their data
A2 Hosting Is Not Recommended For:
- Companies that need help building a website
- Companies that want more short-term contracts
- Companies that would prefer a Windows server
Bottom Line
All in all, A2 Hosting has a lot to offer for a wide range of people. If you’re someone wanting to start a small blog, A2 has a hosting plan for you. Or, maybe you’re someone wanting to move a high-traffic Ecommerce site over to a web host. Well, A2 has excellent plans for you to choose from as well. A2 Hosting leans on the pricey side, but with the quality you get, you can’t go wrong with entrusting your site to them.
1 comment
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