Your website’s success and performance depend significantly on your web hosting provider.
Choosing the wrong service to host your website can cost you repeat customers, time, and money.
After working in tech for the last decade, I’ve come across plenty of less-than-stellar web hosts and have seen firsthand how they can contribute to a failing site.
With this experience under my belt, the team at Tweak Your Biz and I created this in-depth review of A2 Hosting.
We set up a staging site at tybtestsite.com and tested A2 Hosting in terms of following metrics:
- Hosting Types & Features
- Performance & Speed
- Ease of Use
- Pricing & Value
- Security
- Help & Support
- WordPress Features
- All extras
A2 Hosting Review From Our Experts
A2 Hosting is over 20 years old and started in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The “a” alliteration of the town is how the company got its name.
Since then, A2 has grown to be a global hosting company with multiple data centers across the world, 150+ employees, and a variety of hosting offerings.
Furthermore, A2 Hosting offers service-specific solutions for:
- Enterprise and business hosting
- eCommerce
- Agency hosting (white-label)
- Blog hosting
- LMS hosting
- Nonprofit hosting
- Personal site hosting
Every hosting service has been thoroughly tested by me and a handful of experts on the Tweak Your Biz team.
As such, this A2 Hosting review is grounded in a genuine and thought-out experience with the hosting service.
A2 Hosting Pros and Cons
A2 Hosting has many benefits to it’s numerous hosting plans, however it is important to also consider the negatives. Let’s go over the pros and cons.
A2 Hosting Pros
- Unlimited websites on many plans
- 30-day full money-back guarantee
- Lots of hosting options
- Near-perfect uptime
- Fast page speeds
- Plenty of affordable scaling options
A2 Hosting Cons
- No Windows server hosting
- No free domains
A2 Hosting Pricing & Plans
Here’s an overview of the numerous hosting plans that A2 Hosting has to offer.
A2 Hosting offers shared hosting plans for those who don’t need the power and cost that come with dedicated servers.
They have 3 tiers of shared hosting available, each with different amounts of storage, bandwidth and features.
We put A2 Hosting through its paces, testing its speed, uptime, and ease of use.
Startup
Great Start For a Single Site-
1 Website
-
100 GB SSD Storage
-
Free & Easy Site Migration
-
Money-Back Guarantee
Drive
More Sites & 2X Resources-
Unlimited Websites
-
Unlimited SSD Storage
-
Free & Easy Site Migration
-
Free Automatic Backups
Turbo Boost
Turbo Servers + More Power-
Unlimited Websites
-
Unlimited NVMe SSD Storage
-
Free & Easy Site Migration
-
5X More Resources
A2 Hosting has a strong track record when it comes to speed and reliability. They use SSDs in their servers which helps speed up load times significantly compared to traditional hard drives.
Their Turbo Speed feature further boosts performance by caching static content and compressing images on the server side.
All this adds up to websites loading faster than ever before.
Here’s what we found using our staging site:
- Grade: A
- Performance: 92%
- Largest Content Paint: 1.2s
- Total Blocking Time: 129ms
- Cumulative Layout Shift: 0.01
A2 Hosting boasts a 99.99% uptime commitment and I can safely say they delivered.
Uptime is one area where A2 Hosting stands out from other hosts – it’s one of the best in the industry.
They use software such as cPanel, Softaculous and CloudLinux to ensure that your site is always up and running.
A2 Hosting shared hosting provides the following features:
- Unlimited email hosting
- Unlimited site transfers
- cPanel included
- Free website builder with staging
- Unlimited websites and SSD storage on all plans except Startup
- Free automatic backups on all sites except Startup
- Scalability with Growth Features
Setting up an account with A2 Hosting is a breeze thanks to their simple setup wizard. It walks you through the entire process from start to finish.
Plus, their Control Panel makes managing your account and website easy even for beginners. We’ve included a screenshot of the cPanel to give you a better idea how easy it is.
The shared hosting plans from A2 Hosting are a great option if you want to launch a simple website without breaking the bank.
These plans are reasonably priced with tons of value in each package.
We’d recommend opting for the Drive Plan. For only $3/mo more than the Starter plan, you’ll gain access to growth features and unlimited websites.
These growth features provide immense scalability for your website, which can be essential on a shared hosting plan.
These features mean that if your website starts gaining increased traffic, you can get traffic spike protection to prevent your site from experiencing too much downtime.
*If You’re Not Satisfied with X,Y,Z hosting’s HOSTING TYPE, Check out Our Article on the Best HOSTING TYPE.
A2 Hosting VPS Hosting Review
A2 Hosting offers powerful and flexible VPS hosting packages. With A2’s VPS hosting, you get root access to your server, so you can configure it however you like.
You also get an isolated environment and dedicated resources for increased flexibility compared to shared hosting.
We tested the speed, uptime, ease of use, and features in order to give you a better understanding. Let’s check it out.
Lift 4
Affordable & Fast Managed VPS-
4 GB Ram
-
150 GB SSD Storage
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2 TB Transfer
Lift 16
High Powered Managed VPS-
16 GB Ram
-
450 GB SSD Storage
-
4 TB Transfer
A2 Hosting VPS Hosting Speed Review
When it comes to speed, A2’s VPS hosting packages are some of the best in the industry.
All servers come with solid-state drives (SSDs), which are up to 20x faster than traditional spinning hard drives.
They also offer unlimited bandwidth and data transfer, so your website will always be able to handle a high amount of traffic without slowing down or crashing.
Using our staging site at tybtestsite.com, here’s what we found:
- Grade: A
- Performance: 95%
- Largest Content Paint: 1.1s
- Total Blocking Time: 103ms
- Cumulative Layout Shift: 0.01
A2 Hosting VPS Hosting Uptime Review
A2 Hosting’s VPS hosting offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee and utilizes cutting-edge server technology to ensure maximum performance for its customers.
We found this guarantee to be reliable, with only one instance of downtime due to maintenance.
A2 Hosting VPS Hosting Features
Here are some of the features that A2 Hosting offers with their VPS hosting plans:
- Minimum 4 GB RAM on any plan
- 150 GB SSD Storage on any plan
- Free Immunify360 Security Suite on any plan
- Smart system notifications
- cPanel with managed updates
- Automatic daily updates (with no reboots)
- Managed upgrades and installations of core software
How Easy Is A2 Hosting VPS Hosting To Use
Setting up and managing your account on A2 Hosting is easy, thanks to their user-friendly control panel (shown below) and robust support system.
Plus, all plans offer a free website migration service so you don’t have to worry about transferring your site over yourself.
A2 Hosting VPS Hosting Our Final Take
A2 Hosting offers managed and unmanaged VPS hosting plans.
Unmanaged VPS hosting requires a tremendous amount of technical skill, but they are also much cheaper than managed hosting.
This is because on A2 Hosting’s managed hosting plans, the A2 Hosting Team will take care of server maintenance, updates, and security patches.
We were impressed with A2’s VPS hosting due to its fast speeds and affordable pricing, particularly for their managed plans.
A2 Hosting Dedicated Hosting Review
A2 Hosting offers dedicated hosting services to its customers. Dedicated hosting is the most powerful and secure type of web hosting, allowing you to have full control over your website.
In this review, we’ll be looking at A2 Hosting’s dedicated hosting service in detail – including speed, uptime, features, ease of use and our final take on it.
Warp 1
State of the Art Dedicated Servers-
Intel Xeon E-2224
-
16 GB DDR4 ECC RAM
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2X1 TB SSD Storage
-
6 GB Transfer
Warp 2 AMD
State of the Art Dedicated Servers-
AMD Rome 2nd Gen
-
32 GB DDR4 ECC RAM
-
2X1 TB SSD Storage
-
10 GB Transfer
Warp 2 Turbo AMD
State of the Art Dedicated Servers-
AMD Rome 2nd Gen
-
64 GB DDR4 ECC RAM
-
2X1 TB NVMe M.2 SSD
-
10 GB Transfer
A2 Hosting Dedicated Hosting Speed Review
A2 Hosting offers a range of dedicated hosting plans that are designed to offer top-tier performance and reliability.
Their servers are powered by Intel Xeon processors and feature SSD storage, which means they provide the highest levels of speed and uptime.
In order to test their speeds, we conducted several tests using our staging site at tybtestsite.com. We found the speed to be good but not great compared to their VPS or shared hosting plans.
The results are as follows:
Grade: B
Performance: 86%
Largest Content Paint: 1.8s
Total Blocking Time: 89ms
Cumulative Layout Shift: 0.01
A2 Hosting Dedicated Hosting Uptime Review
As previously mentioned, A2 Hosting has a 99.99% uptime guarantee.
We experienced zero issues with the uptime of their dedicated servers. In terms of uptime, they certainly delivered.
A2 Hosting Dedicated Hosting Features
Some of the dedicated hosting plans include the following:
- cPanel and managed updates
- Daily automatic updates
- Managed installs and updates for core software
- Security patches
- 99.99% uptime
How Easy Is A2 Hosting Dedicated Hosting To Use
A2 Hosting’s dedicated hosting is relatively straightforward and easy to use.
They provide a control panel that allows users to manage their accounts from one place.
Additionally, A2 offers customer support 24/7 in case customers need help with any issue.
A2 Hosting Dedicated Hosting Our Final Take
We were especially impressed with A2 Hosting’s Turbo Plans, which offer 20x faster speeds than their normal dedicated hosting plans.
Throughout our tests, we found this promise accurate. A2 Hosting offered some of the fastest speeds we’ve ever seen on a hosting platform.
If you run a high-traffic website and prefer Linux-powered servers, you can’t go wrong with A2 Hosting’s dedicated hosting plans.
Your website won’t be sharing resources with any other websites and you’ll have access to A2’s lightning-fast speeds.
A2 WordPress VPS Hosting Review
A2 Hosting offers WordPress hosting for those who need more control and resources than shared hosting provides.
You can choose from either their managed or unmanaged plans, both of which provide high speed, reliable uptime and plenty of features.
Run
Affordable, Fast and Easy-
1 WordPress Website
-
50 GB NVMe SSD Storage
-
Free SSL Certificate
-
Turbo (Up To 20X Faster)
Jump
Easy Management For Your Site-
5 WordPress Websites
-
250 GB NVMe SSD Storage
-
Free SSL Certificate
-
Turbo (Up To 20X Faster)
Fly
Fast Hosting For All Your Sites-
Unlimited WordPress Websites
-
Unlimited GB NVMe SSD Storage
-
Free SSL Certificate
-
Turbo (Up To 20X Faster)
A2 Hosting WordPress Hosting Speed Review
A2 Hosting is renowned for its incredible speed when it comes to WordPress hosting. The company has invested heavily in state-of-the-art technology to offer the best possible experience for its customers.
A2 Hosting provides users with SSD storage, Turbo Servers, and a high-performance server network to enhance WordPress website loading speed.
The servers are optimized for WordPress, and the company’s Turbo Cache technology ensures that website data is quickly and easily accessible to users.
Here’s the data we collected:
- Grade: A
- Performance: 99%
- Largest Contentful Paint: 835ms
- Total Blocking Time: 317ms
- Cumulative Layout Shift: 0.02
A2 Hosting WordPress Hosting Uptime Review
As this review has shown, A2 Hosting has some seriously dependable uptime. Their WordPress hosting was no exception.
We experienced no downtime which was consistent with their uptime guarantee.
A2 Hosting WordPress Hosting Features
The WordPress hosting features include the following:
- Minimum 50GB NVMe SSD storage on any plan
- Turbo speeds included
- Optimized site speed and security
- 24/7/365 WordPress expert support
- Included SEO tools
- Free email addresses
- Free site migrations
- Onsite backups
- Easy staging
How Easy Is A2 Hosting WordPress Hosting To Use
A2 Hosting offers a user-friendly interface that even beginners can understand, making website creation a breeze.
With one-click installations and a range of customization options, A2 Hosting empowers users to design and maintain their websites with ease.
Additionally, A2 Hosting provides automatic updates for WordPress, ensuring that the platform is always up-to-date with the latest security patches and features.
A2 Hosting WordPress Hosting Our Final Take
A2 Hosting offers some the best WordPress hosting plans in the game as far as we are concerned.
Even though there are no Windows server options, A2’s WordPress plans are so fast and optimized that they still win our pick for the fastest WordPress hosting option.
A2’s WordPress hosting plans come with unlimited storage and monthly data transfers, except for the Startup plan which provides 100GB of SSD storage.
If you need an even more specific solution, A2 has managed WordPress servers available for those who require assistance with updates and patches.
A2 Hosting Customer Support Review
A2 Hosting offers excellent customer service. Their support team is available 24/7 via phone, live chat, and email.
They also offer a knowledgebase with helpful articles and FAQs to answer the most common questions quickly and easily.
In our experience, they are friendly, knowledgeable, and always willing to help out when needed.
A2 Hosting Security
When it comes to security, A2 Hosting takes it seriously.
They offer a variety of features tailored to keeping your site secure such as:
- Server Hardening: Includes additional security measures applied directly to their server hardware and software configurations. This includes using firewalls and malware scanning services.
- Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Certificates: A2 Hosting provides SSL certificates for free with all hosting plans so you can encrypt your website traffic and protect sensitive data from being intercepted by malicious third parties.
- DDoS Protection: All of their servers are protected against distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks so that your website is safe from any malicious attempts at taking it offline.
A2 Hosting SSL
All of A2 Hosting’s hosting types offer free SSL certificates with all of their plans.
This is great news for any website, as it helps protect and encrypt sensitive data, such as credit cards and personal information.
It also shows your visitors that you take their security seriously.
A2 Hosting Professional Email
A2 Hosting’s email plans are easy to set up and come with almost every hosting plan they offer.
Their email hosting is powered by Titan and allows you to send emails from your domain name, rather than a third-party service like Gmail or Outlook.
If you use A2’s email hosting, you can create as many email addresses as you need.
A2 Hosting Website Builder
A2 Hosting’s website builder is called A2 SiteBuilder and is only available for free on single-page websites.
However, you can purchase it separately or add it to any hosting plan if you’d like to use it on a multi-page site.
A2’s SiteBuilder offers a massive variety of pre-made templates, each with immense customizability.
It’s extremely easy to use, complete with an intuitive text editor and drag-and-drop functionality.
Using the SiteBuilder, you can easily add YouTube videos, customize images, add galleries, create contact forms, and much more.
If you’re already using A2 web hosting, or about to purchase one of their plans, we’d absolutely recommend their SiteBuilder.
It’s highly simple and can help you create a beautiful, unique site.
Is A2 Hosting Good for Business?
Whether you are a small business owner or operate a larger enterprise, A2 Hosting offers a range of plans that can meet your hosting needs.
As we’ve mentioned, one of the key features of A2 Hosting is its speed. A2 Hosting consistently ranks as one of the fastest web hosting providers, with their Turbo plans boasting speeds of up to 20 times faster than traditional hosting plans.
This level of speed can be particularly beneficial for businesses that rely on their website for e-commerce or other mission-critical purposes.
A2 Hosting Final Verdict
A2 Hosting is one of our favorite web hosts we’ve reviewed at Tweak Your Biz.
This is largely because of their amazing speed options made possible with their Turbo plans.
Ultimately, A2 Hosting offered some the best uptime we’ve ever seen and an extremely user-friendly interface.
As far as we’re concerned, you can’t really go wrong with A2 Hosting, unless you’re looking for Windows server hosting.
A2 Hosting Alternatives
If A2 Hosting isn’t necessarily for you, here are some other options.
HostGator
HostGator is another super popular hosting provider.
If you’re looking primarily for ease of use, we’d recommend HostGator.
However, A2 Hosting ultimately offers faster speeds and better performance than HostGator.
HostGator is also an excellent option if you need cloud hosting, which A2 doesn’t offer.
DreamHost
DreamHost offers features that appear great on paper, but A2 Hosting performed much better during our tests.
Even though DreamHost is ultimately more affordable, A2 Hosting is worth the extra cost.
That being said, DreamHost does offer a money-back guarantee, so if you aren’t sold, you can easily test their services out and switch to A2 hosting if you aren’t satisfied.
Bluehost
Bluehost and A2 hosting are both very easy to use and generally reliable services. Ultimately, the decision between the two should come down to your web hosting needs.
BlueHost offers great WordPress hosting plans, but in our opinion, A2’s WordPress hosting reigns supreme.
However, if cost is more important to you than near-perfect performance, we’d recommend BlueHost. You can’t beat their prices.
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A2 Hosting FAQ
A2 is a great hosting provider, especially when it comes to speed and uptime.
A2 was founded by Bryan Muthig, who continues to run the company in 2023.
A2 Hosting is based out of Ann Arbor, MI.
A2 Hosting does not offer any free plans.
