A2 Hosting has gained a good reputation as high-powered hosting. What makes their services great is that they focus on reliability and speed. The company has named its SSDs “Turbo servers.” These load pages by up to 20x faster than standard non-SSD servers.
The high speed isn’t only for their high-end clients. Instead, the turbo options are even included in their shared hosting plans. So, at a low cost, you can enjoy the high speed.
A2 Hosting ranks high on the list of best hosts quite constantly. Plus, they have won numerous hosting awards as well. Their guru crew team is available round-the-clock in case of problems.
A2 Hosting started off as Iniquinet in 2001 as a web hosting support. It began from Ann Arbor in Michigan. So, as the company began to grow, the name was changed to A2 to pay tribute to their roots. What’s great about the host is that it has always supported the latest technology. Ultimately, this has ensured its tremendous success.
Back in 2013, it introduced SSD hosting to support the SwiftServer platform. The company then adopted the SSDs for its shared hosting plans too. As a result, it was able to raise speed. By the end of 2014, it started to make use of turbo servers. Consequently, it offered better page load speeds as compared to many other web hosts. Over the years, A2 Hosting has grown into a high-speed and reliable host.
Since 2001, A2 Hosting has worked to become the choice of many. With 24 hosting plans, it has hosted 186,152 domains. The domains they have hosted include .com, .org, .us, .biz, and .info. Overall, it has experienced a growth rate of 14% year after year.
For this review, we signed up for A2 hosting services and installed WordPress. Then, we made a dummy website using the default theme. We also filled up our site working like a real, average WordPress website.
Speed is crucial for any website, regardless of its niche. Thus, using Pingdom, we first tested the host’s speed. The results show that the load time is almost half a second which is remarkable in itself.
Our dummy WordPress website was checked every minute for the overall availability of the host. In other words, response times and downtimes both are tested. It is pretty clear that for the last two months, A2 Hosting didn’t experience any downtimes. Thus, a 100% server uptime is quite impressive.
The response time is also excellent. As you can see from the graph, the response time is well below half a second throughout the day. It only takes almost a fraction of a second to respond at only one time of day.
Month | Uptime Stats | Load Time Stats |
---|---|---|
June 2019 | 99.97% | 278 ms |
May 2019 | 99.98% | 257 ms |
April 2019 | 99.99% | 263 ms |
Tools like Pingdom let you see how data on your site loads. This includes the media that takes longer to load than plain text. Thus, for more accurate server response time, we used Bitcatcha. With this tool, it is possible to test the server response time without loading the data.
As the results show, the response time in the USA is under one second which is exceptional. In other places too, the stats are impressive. All the servers respond within half a second.
To ensure it caters to a large customer base, the company has numerous hosting packages. Depending on your needs, you can choose the hosting plan suiting you the best.
Type of Hosting | #1 Package | #2 Package | #3 Package | #4 Package |
---|---|---|---|---|
Shared (Basic) | $3.92 / mo | $4.90 / mo | $9.31 / mo | ✖ |
WordPress | $3.92 / mo | $4.90 / mo | $9.31 / mo | $11.99 / mo |
VPS | $32.99 / mo | $46.19 / mo | $65.99 / mo | ✖ |
Dedicated | $141.09 / mo | $207.49 / mo | $290.49 / mo | ✖ |
For shared hosting, both Windows and Linux server packages are available. Those packages are almost the same. The only difference is that cPanel is different for both. In addition, the Windows packages are a little more expensive. In total, there are three different shared plans for each kind of hosting.
Main Features | LITE | SWIFT | TURBO |
---|---|---|---|
Started Price | $3.92/mo | $4.90/mo | $9.31/mo |
Renewal Price | $7.99/mo | $9.99/mo | $18.99/mo |
Websites | 1 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
SSD Disk Space | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Bandwidth | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered |
Email Accounts | 25 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Domain(s) Hosted | 25 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
FREE Domains Included | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ |
FREE SSL Certificate | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
If you don’t want to deal with all the technical details, you can opt for VPS hosting. There are two options available; Managed VPS or Dynamic VPS hosting plan. The dynamic VPS plan gives you a completely customizable account. Meanwhile, the managed VPS plan provides full HostGuard management.
There are again two options available for dedicated hosting. With the flex dedicated hosting, you get the chance to develop the command line. Meanwhile, with managed flex hosting, you get a fully managed hosting solution. For both the categories, there are three plans available; Sprint, Exceed, and finally Mach.
All the cloud hosting plans are centered around the Linux server. In other words, there is no option available for Windows. However, you can choose your Linux OS. Plus, you can also select the storage you want; SDD or HDD.
There is a various reseller hosting plans available on both Linux and Windows servers.
The basic shared plan that the company offers is called the Lite package. It is available for both Windows and Linux. It is one of the ideal choices for a single website.
Let’s look at the features of the basic plan and the price you will have to pay. There are two upgrade options available as well for those who need them. With the Swift plan, you get twice the resources and more websites. The other option is the Turbo plan which is the company’s fastest service to date.
LITE (Basic Package): Apart from one website, the plan includes quite a lot of features. These include 5 databases, free SSD and SSL, unlimited transfer, and unlimited storage. Plus, like with all plans, this one also includes the anytime money back guarantee. Note that the basic Lite plan doesn’t include the company’s Turbo servers. The package starts at $3.92/month. It renews at $7.99/month.
SWIFT: The Swift package includes unlimited websites, transfer, databases, and storage. It also includes free SSD and SSL. However, turbo servers are not included. Other features also include anytime money back guarantee and cPanel. The starting price of this plan is $4.90. Meanwhile, the renewal price is $9.99/month.
TURBO: Like other plans, this also includes unlimited transfer, storage, and database. It also includes the turbo server which offers up to 20 times faster speed. Other features include a cPanel control panel and anytime money back guarantee.
Main Features | LITE | SWIFT | TURBO |
---|---|---|---|
Started Price | $3.92/mo | $4.90/mo | $9.31/mo |
Renewal Price | $7.99/mo | $9.99/mo | $18.99/mo |
Websites | 1 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
SSD Disk Space | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Bandwidth | Unmetered | Unmetered | Unmetered |
Email Accounts | 25 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Domain(s) Hosted | 25 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
FREE Domains Included | ✖ | ✖ | ✖ |
FREE SSL Certificate | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Total Databases | 5 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Website Transfer | Free | Free | Free |
SSD Boost | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Turbo Server | ✖ | ✖ | 20X Faster |
Perpetual Security | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
A2 Optimized Software | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Cores | 1 x 2.1 ghz | 2 x 2.1 ghz | 2 x 2.1 ghz |
Physical Memory | 0.5 GB | 1 GB | 2 GB |
Server Location Options | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
CloudFlare Basic | ✔ | ✔ | ✖ |
CloudFlare Plus | ✖ | ✖ | ✔ |
Server Rewind Backups | ✖ | ✔ | ✔ |
WordPress LiteSpeed Cache | ✖ | ✖ | 20X Faster |
Dedicated IP Address | $1.96/mo | $1.96/mo | $1.96/mo |
DNS Management | Free | Free | Free |
SSH Access & Rsync | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
cPanel Control Panel | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Softaculous | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Anytime Money Back Guarantee | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
As mentioned before, the prices for Linux and Windows hosting are different. So, for Linux, the Lite package starts at $3.92/month for 2 and 3 years plans. Meanwhile, for Windows, the package costs $4.90/month. However, the prices vary if you opt for annual plans, two-year plans, and three-year plans. For instance, if you opt for the 24-month period for the Lite Plan, then it will cost you $3.92/month. Generally, the longer the plan, the lower the prices. You can check out the following table to know the exact cost according to your desired duration:
Payment Period / Plan (for new users only) |
LITE | SWIFT | TURBO |
---|---|---|---|
1 month | $4.90/mo | $6.37/mo | $12.25/mo |
12 month | $4.41/mo | $5.39/mo | $10.29/mo |
24 month | $3.92/mo | $4.90/mo | $9.31/mo |
36 month | $3.92/mo | $4.90/mo | $9.31/mo |
Just like the starting prices, the renewal prices also change as the time period increases. As seen from the table, the cost per month is the lowest for the 24 and 36-month plan.
Payment Period / Plan (renewal options) |
LITE | SWIFT | TURBO |
---|---|---|---|
1 month | $9.99/mo | $12.99/mo | $24.99/mo |
12 month | $8.99/mo | $10.99/mo | $20.99/mo |
24 month | $7.99/mo | $9.99/mo | $18.99/mo |
36 month | $7.99/mo | $9.99/mo | $18.99/mo |
Let’s take a look at the main features that A2 hosting has to offer. Knowing these will help you determine if this web host is the right one for you!
A2 Hosting doesn’t provide a domain name for free. However, you can get a domain name at a small price. It will cost you $14.95/year. You can additionally get the domain protection option.
Moreover, the basic plan includes 25 email addresses. Meanwhile, both the Swift and Turbo plan include unlimited email addresses.
With A2 Hosting, you get unlimited storage as well as free SSDs. In fact, the most basic plan includes both of these features. So, even if you select the basic plan, you won’t miss out on the two.
The cPanel control panel features Softaculous. Using its one-click WordPress installer, you can easily install WordPress.
With this web host, you get to enjoy free site migration. If you are using cPanel with the current host, then A2 will migrate your website for you without charging you for it!
A2 offers an efficient A2 website builder. There are basically 4 different plans. The cheapest one that is ideal for the one-page website starts at $3.92/month. Meanwhile, the most expensive one that is suitable for eCommerce websites costs $11.76/month. The site builder plans include a variety of templates as well as sufficient storage.
A2 offers quite a lot of features for developers. However, their most impressive feature is their Turbo server which promises excellent load time. Other features also include 99.9% uptime commitment.
A2 Hosting provides ID Protection. Using this feature, you can safeguard your personal data. At the same time, you can also ensure that the amount of spam arriving into your inbox is reduced. Note that this costs $9.95 annually.
The SSL certificate basically verifies your website’s identity. Plus, it encrypts the data that is sent between the site and the server. To put it simply, it adds another layer of security which is crucial for websites that accept payments.
A2 offers numerous SSL certificates that fit the needs of your websites. The basic SSL is included for free. However, an advanced SSL is with top business security is also available.
A2 Hosting ensures the security of their client’s site. For this reason, it incorporates proactive protection measures known as Perpetual Security on all their accounts. This includes numerous features such as virus scans, server hardening, and auto-healing protection. It also has partnered up with SiteLock to ensure further security.
You can order a dedicated IP address from your customer panel. It will cost you $4/month regardless of your chosen plan.
You have the option of creating a backup anytime you want. This comes in handy when you don’t want to wit for your scheduled weekly or daily backup to occur. You can either create full or partial backups for your site.
For additional security, A2 includes the free HackScan Protection. This helps to block hackers before they can do even the slightest of damage. Other features include a dual firewall, KernelCare, and brute force defense.
Their servers are spread in three continents which is another reason for their solid performance. The servers are situated in Amsterdam in Europe, Singapore in Asia, and Michigan and Arizona in the USA. So, you can get access to the server that is the nearest to your location.
As a result, you get to enjoy enhanced performance and speed of your website. Moreover, the servers are monitored around the clock. In addition, they are owned exclusively by A2, so you can, without a problem, rely on the security.
While A2 Hosting is a more developer-friendly host, it is still not difficult to use. Let’s briefly take a look at the features that ensure this ease of use.
Signing up involves just three basic steps. All the steps are basic and easy to follow so you’ll have no problems with the signing up part.
Numerous payment methods are accepted. These include PayPal, bank transfer, money order, credit card, Skrill, PayULatam, and check.
Your account will be instantly activated. You won’t have to wait to get access to top-quality hosting services.
To ensure ease of use, A2 offers cPanel, the standard control panel. Even for those using it the first time, the control panel is quite easy to use. Plus, it is easy to navigate through different options to manage the website.
Similarly, installing scripts of different CMS requires only a few clicks. Moreover, other applications like Drupal and Joomla can be easily accessed from the control panel. Additional eCommerce tools are also included for added functionality. None of these involve any complex coding so you’re good to go.
The customer service is up to par and there are various ways to connect with them. In fact, the support team is called the Guru Crew that is ready to help at all times.
Live chat is available 24/7 throughout the week. You can message them at any time.
A contact support ticketing system has also been set up. So you can see the questions answered about your chosen existing services.
Phone support is also quite efficient. Even if you call them late in the night, someone will answer the call. In some cases, you might be asked to leave behind a message. However, they will call you back in just a short time.
There is also a knowledge base for all those wanting to look for solutions by themselves. In this knowledge base, you’ll find articles on various topics. These include PHP, SSH keys, WordPress, and email accounts. For quick results, there is also a search box where you can enter a keyword and get related articles.
With A2 Hosting, you get a risk-free trial along with the anytime money back guarantee. This means that you get a hassle-free refund from the host. Plus, by canceling your account within a month, you will get the full refund. You can also get some of the pro-rated refunds if you cancel the account after the initial month. However, that depends on your use.
Overall, A2 is capable of offering all the tools beginners and experts need to get their website running. Based on performance, speed, and reliability, it seems to be a good option. Their customer support is also highly skilled, friendly, and willing to help at all times.
While the prices are high, the anytime money-back guarantee makes up for it. In fact, the guarantee only shows the faith they have in their services.