A2 Hosting review: Pros and cons in 2024
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Updated 9:20 a.m. UTC June 3, 2024
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Pros
- Great for WordPress users.
- Integration with multiple e-commerce providers.
- 24/7 customer support by phone and chat.
Cons
- Web domains and site builder cost extra.
- Renewal price is significantly higher.
- Speed-boosting features only on premium plans.
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A2 Hosting is a well-known web hosting service offering an array of features, excellent customer service and a 99.9% uptime guarantee. A2 Hosting is our choice for the best web hosting service to use for e-commerce business owners, but its strong security features make it a great choice for corporate websites as well, and it also has useful toolkits for WordPress users.
A2 Hosting’s plans are relatively fairly priced. However, keep an eye out for renewal costs as well as separate charges for both domains and its website builder. We’ve put this hosting service under our microscope and will detail its plans, pricing and features in this review so you can see if it’s the right platform for your business.
Featured web hosting offers
Bluehost
Price
Plans starting at $1.99 per month
Free domain included
Yes
HostGator
Price
Plans starting at $2.56 per month
Free domain included
Yes
Web.com
Price
Plans starting at $2.75 per month
Free domain included
Yes
A2 Hosting overview
As with any web hosting service, when you subscribe to A2 Hosting, you can use its servers to host your website. You can either connect your domain to its servers or register a domain with A2 Hosting directly, choosing from data centers in Michigan, Arizona, Amsterdam or Singapore. You’ll be able to build a website with A2 Hosting, though you’ll need to pay extra on most plans unless you’re making a single-page website.
A2 Hosting offers a variety of hosting types, including shared, VPS, dedicated and reseller hosting. It also offers multiple tools designed to work with WordPress websites, as well as supporting plugins for numerous third-party apps like WooCommerce and Joomla. 24/7 customer service by phone and live chat, free migrations and 99.9% guaranteed uptime combine to make A2 Hosting a top web hosting provider.
A2 Hosting pros and cons
Here’s a rundown of the pros and cons of A2 Hosting to help you decide whether it’s the right hosting service for your business:
Pros
A2 Hosting offers the following benefits:
- WordPress support: A2 Hosting allows auto-setup for WordPress websites with pre-configured speed and security settings. You’ll also have access to a variety of WordPress plug-ins and page builders. Both Turbo plans offer a deluxe WordPress toolkit and up to 20 times faster speeds.
- E-commerce plugins: You’ll also have a one-click setup for WooCommerce, Magento, OpenCart, PrestaShop and AbanteCart, as well as support for a number of other plugins. This makes it an ideal hosting platform for companies and individuals using third-party e-commerce apps as part of their business.
- Excellent customer support: A2 Hosting’s customer service team is available 24/7 by live chat, phone and email — ideal for those who want a strong support presence for potential hiccups.
Cons
While A2 Hosting certainly has some solid attributes, you should also consider the following drawbacks:
- Extra costs: You’ll need to pay extra to use A2 Hosting’s website builder unless you’re building a single-page website on its cheapest plan, and domains cost extra on all plans. This can be beneficial for those who already have a complete website setup and just need to host it — for example, WordPress users or those with a presence on an e-commerce website.
- High renewal price: Like many other hosting services, A2 Hosting offers a discount for your first year — however, we found its renewal rates to be particularly high.
- Premium only: Some of A2 Hosting’s flagship performance features, like Turbo speeds, are only available on premium plans.
A2 Hosting pricing and value
| Startup | Drive | Turbo Boost | Turbo Max | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Starting monthly price
| $12.99
| $15.99
| $24.99
| $29.99
|
Websites
| 1 | Unlimited
| Unlimited
| Unlimited
|
Storage
| 100 GB
| Unlimited
| Unlimited NVMe
| Unlimited NVMe
|
Turbo servers
| No
| No
| Yes
| Yes
|
Databases
| 5 | Unlimited
| Unlimited
| Unlimited
|
Cores
| 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
Physical memory
| 1 GB
| 1 GB
| 2 GB
| 4 GB
|
Free SSL
| Yes
| Yes
| Yes
| Yes
|
24/7 support
| Yes
| Yes
| Yes
| Yes
|
Free migration
| Yes
| Yes
| Yes
| Yes
|
A2 Hosting offers four web hosting plans, as summarized in the table above. Startup is the cheapest, starting at $2.99 a month and renewing at $12.99 a month. You’ll get one website, 100 GB of SSD storage and five databases. It also comes with a free SSL certificate, 24/7 support and the same main security features as higher plans.
This is a solid enough base for businesses that will benefit from the free website builder included for a single-page website. However, upgrading to the Drive plan at $5.99 per month for the first year (renewing at $15.99 per month) gives you unlimited websites and storage as well as free automatic backups, so we think it’s worth the extra $3 per month if you’re looking to commit to A2 Hosting and scale up.
If you’re looking for faster and more powerful hosting and you’re prepared to spend the necessary money for a premium service, you might want to consider the Turbo Boost and Turbo Max plans. Offering speeds up to 20 times faster with a LiteSpeed web server that’s up to 11 times faster than Apache, plus a suite of deluxe WordPress features, it might be worth the upgrade if A2 Hosting already works for your business.
However, at $6.99 per month (renewing at $24.99 per month) for the Boost plan and $14.99 per month (renewing at $29.99 per month) for the Max plan, it’s among the more expensive of the services we’ve ranked on our Best List. You might find better value with other providers, and if you’re keen on WordPress features, DreamHost offers a wallet-friendly alternative.
It’s worth noting that all plans come with a money-back guarantee, however none come with a domain included, so you’ll need to purchase this separately.
Type of hosting
A2 Hosting offers a number of different hosting types:
- Shared hosting: A2 Hosting provides shared hosting, which lets you and multiple other users share a single server — a cost-effective option for small businesses and websites.
- VPS hosting: Each user or website gets an isolated unit in the shared server, allowing more resources and greater privacy. A2 Hosting offers managed VPS hosting starting at $35.99 per month or unmanaged VPS hosting starting at $2.99 per month (renewing at $8.99 per month) if you’re willing to take on more maintenance responsibilities for a lower price. With managed hosting, you can start with up to 16 GB RAM, 450 GB storage and up to 4 TB data transfer. Unmanaged VPS hosting starts with up to 4 GB RAM, 150 GB storage and up to 3 TB data transfer.
- Dedicated hosting: A2 Hosting also offers dedicated hosting plans for bigger businesses that need their own server or system of servers. Both managed and unmanaged plans start at $79.99 per month, but managed dedicated hosting renews at $249.99 per month, while unmanaged hosting plan renewal prices start at $199.99 per month. Managed and unmanaged dedicated hosting offer 2×1 TB SSD storage, 6 TB data transfer and a free 1 TB backup drive.
- E-commerce hosting: A2 Hosting is our pick for e-commerce business owing to its flexibility. It integrates with a range of third-party apps, including WooCommerce, Magento, OpenCart, PrestaShop and AbanteCart with a one-click setup.
- Reseller hosting: If you want to resell web hosting, you can use A2 Hosting’s reseller hosting service with plans starting at $22.99 per month (renewing at $50.99 per month). Plans start with 60 GB storage, 600 GB data transfer and up to 20x faster speeds with Turbo servers.
- Email hosting: A2 Hosting’s email hosting services start at $1.59 per month (renewing at $2.49 per month), allowing you to set up a professional email service and send/receive 200 emails an hour or 500 emails a day with a 10 GB storage account. Upgrading adds an extra dollar to both starting and renewal prices, giving you 30 GB of storage, 300 emails an hour or 1,000 per day, and extra features like contact groups, priority inboxes and a signature builder.
- WordPress hosting: You can also subscribe to shared or managed WordPress hosting with A2 Hosting. Plans start at $11.99 per month (renewing at $25.99 per month), and you’ll get one website with 50 GB storage, access to the fast Turbo LiteSpeed server, one database and unlimited email addresses.
Performance and uptime
A2 Hosting offers a high degree of reliability with an uptime guarantee of 99.9%. With servers in Michigan, Arizona, Amsterdam and Singapore, it offers coverage for businesses in North America, Europe and Asia.
Bandwidth and storage
A2 Hosting offers unlimited bandwidth on all plans, and each plan also comes with unlimited storage except for Startup, which only offers 100 GB. The Startup plan is also the only plan that doesn’t offer A2 Cloud backup as standard, while all others do.
Security features
All plans come with a free SSL certificate as well as basic security features such as two-factor authentication, reinforced DDoS protection, a virus scanner, a firewall, brute force defense, free HackScan and KernelCare Daily.
Customer support
All A2 Hosting plans come with 24/7 support from the Guru Crew through phone, live chat and email, as well as free assisted site migration.
A2 Hosting vs. top competitors
| STARTING MONTHLY PRICE | FREE DOMAIN | STORAGE | BANDWIDTH | UPTIME GUARANTEE | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 A2 Hosting | $12.99 | No | Unlimited | Unlimited | 99.90% | |||||||
| ||||||||||||
 DreamHost | $7.99 | No | Unlimited | Unlimited | 100% | |||||||
| ||||||||||||
 Namecheap | $4.48 | Yes | Unlimited | Unlimited | 100% | |||||||
| ||||||||||||
 Mochahost | $6.35 | No | Unlimited | Unlimited | 99% | |||||||
|
A2 Hosting vs DreamHost
If you run a WordPress site and you’re looking for a slightly more budget-friendly option than A2 Hosting, we’d recommend DreamHost. The cheapest plan starts at $4.95 a month, which is a little higher than A2 Hosting; however, it only renews at $7.99 a month. You’ll get many of the same perks, including unlimited traffic, a free SSL certificate and free automated WordPress migrations.
DreamHost’s Shared Starter plan also offers a WordPress installer and automated daily backups — which A2 Hosting doesn’t. You’ll only get 50 GB of storage compared to A2 Hosting’s 100 GB on its cheapest plan; however, the next DreamHost plan offers unlimited websites, storage and email for $13.99 per month. Upgrading with A2 costs a little more at $15.99 per month, so DreamHost is our pick for those looking to design a WordPress site while keeping costs lower.
A2 Hosting vs Namecheap
Namecheap is another excellent choice and one of our top providers, and we recommend them for businesses with simple hosting needs and a relatively low budget. Pricing starts at $1.98 per month and renews at $4.48 per month, making it one of the most affordable hosting services on our list. And for this, you’ll get a free domain name, three websites, 20 GB of storage and unmetered bandwidth, representing good value for the overall price.
You can upgrade to unlimited websites, storage and mailboxes, as well as add AutoBackup with the Stellar Plus plan, starting at $2.98 per month and renewing at $6.48 per month. All plans also include a free website builder, automatic SSL installation and free website migration in under 24 hours. Namecheap offers a well-rounded hosting solution with good value for the money, so it’s ideal for businesses with basic hosting needs that also want to keep prices low.
A2 Hosting vs MochaHost
MochaHost is our pick for businesses with more advanced hosting needs due to the capabilities it offers. Starting at $3.18 per month and renewing at $6.35 per month, MochaHost is a powerful hosting service that offers a range of features. These include LiteSpeed web servers, a cPanel control panel, nine data center locations around the world, free migrations and automated backups.
However, upper-tier plans give you access to unlimited websites, free domain names and increased storage. MochaHost’s Business plan starts at $4.18 per month and renews at $8.35 per month, while the Ultimate plan starts at $11.95 per month and renews at $23.90 per month. With the Ultimate plan, you’ll get free premium backups and unlimited storage, making it a great plan for bigger businesses that will make use of the extra features.
Methodology
Our team researches the key competitors within an industry to find the best products and services for your business. We identify what matters most, including pricing, features and customer support options, to ensure that our recommendations offer products that will meet the needs of various businesses.
We evaluate website hosting services based on the inclusion of unlimited storage and bandwidth, a free domain name and SSL certificate, a free business email and automatic backups. Our data-driven approach encapsulates each company’s entire offerings and promotes a non-biased evaluation of the products and services.
Read our full guide to learn more about how we determine the best website hosting services of 2024.
Featured web hosting offers
Bluehost
Price
Plans starting at $1.99 per month
Free domain included
Yes
HostGator
Price
Plans starting at $2.56 per month
Free domain included
Yes
Web.com
Price
Plans starting at $2.75 per month
Free domain included
Yes
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
A2 Hosting can be a good choice for your business, offering fast load times, strong security features and data backups to meet your hosting requirements so you can concentrate on managing your website and business.
A2 Hosting began in Michigan. However, it also has data centers in Arizona, Amsterdam and Singapore.
Yes, you can change your primary domain name with A2 Hosting as long as it isn’t set up as a parked domain or add-on. The new domain should be ready to work before you change over to avoid downtime.
Yes, A2 Hosting offers managed and unmanaged dedicated hosting for your website.
All plans allow unlimited websites apart from the Startup plan, so you’ll be able to have multiple sites on one account.
The best website hosting service for you and your business will depend on your needs and budget. We’d recommend A2 Hosting for e-commerce businesses and those with advanced WordPress sites.
However, DreamHost is a better option for WordPress users on a budget. Namecheap is a good budget option in general, while Mochahost is ideal for advanced users who can take advantage of its wide array of features.
Blueprint is an independent publisher and comparison service, not an investment advisor. The information provided is for educational purposes only and we encourage you to seek personalized advice from qualified professionals regarding specific financial decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Blueprint has an advertiser disclosure policy. The opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Blueprint editorial staff alone. Blueprint adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. The information is accurate as of the publish date, but always check the provider’s website for the most current information.
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