A2 Hosting Review 2022 :
A2 Hosting was founded in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 2001 as Iniquinet. They changed their name to “A2 Hosting” in 2003.
“A2” is a TV series based on the city of birth “Ann Arbor”, which also houses the main information center. Additional data centers in the Netherlands and Singapore
business goals
A2 Hosting strives to be a “High Power Hosting” provider. Client speed and reliability are your top priorities.
One way they accomplish this is by using a “Turbo Server,” which only has an SSD hard drive to back up marketing ads. They offer a 99.9% uptime guarantee on all hosting plans.
They also partner with Carbonfund.org to purchase carbon offsets to offset the calculated carbon load. Carbonfund.org has accepted A2 Hosting as a Carbonfree® company for over 10 years.
All of their plans come with a free SSL certificate, unlimited SSD storage, unlimited transfers. and free site migration. We love to see cool stuff!
According to our benchmarks, the performance is excellent:
Uptime: 99.91%
Response time: 952ms
WordPress processing time: 159 ms.
Three Main Considerations
Speed and reliability
There are other hosting companies on our list that offer better speeds and uptime, but A2 Hosting is near the top. Because you only have a fraction of a second to keep someone on your site. So I’m aiming for at least 99.95% uptime and at least 700ms page load time.
We constantly test the speed and usability of A2 Hosting using a simple WordPress site as a test tab.
In our tests, A2 Hosting came very close to our expectations. They also played better than most games. Below is a breakdown of performance by month:
- July 2019 average uptime: 99.83% average load speed: 785 ms
- Aug 2019 average uptime: 99.89% average load speed: 760 ms
- Sep 2019 average uptime: 99.93% average load speed: 917 ms
- Oct 2019 average uptime: 99.79% average load speed: 828 ms
- Nov 2019 average uptime: 99.76% average load speed: 849 ms
- Dec 2019 average uptime: 99.86% average load speed: 1,274 ms
- Jan 2020 average uptime: 99.90% average load speed: 1,180 ms
- Feb 2020 average uptime: 99.96% average load speed: 1,050 ms
- Mar 2020 average uptime: 99.94% average load speed: 1,056 ms
- Apr 2020 average uptime: 99.95% average load speed: 1,038 ms
- May 2020 average uptime: 99.98% average load speed: 806 ms
- June 2020 average uptime: 99.80% average load speed: 864 ms
- July 2020 average uptime: 99.82% average load speed: 836 ms
- Aug 2020 average uptime: 99.98% average load speed: 1,000 ms
- Sep 2020 average uptime: 100.00% average load speed: 1,066 ms
- Oct 2020 average uptime: 99.98% average load speed: 1,076 ms
- Nov 2020 average uptime: 99.90% average load speed: 992 ms
- Dec 2020 average uptime: 99.94% average load speed: 904 ms
- Jan 2021 average uptime: 99.93% average load speed: 860 ms
- Feb 2021 average uptime: 99.94% average load speed: 974 ms
- Mar 2021 average uptime: 99.99% average load speed: 927 ms
- Apr 2021 average uptime: 99.98% average load speed: 993 ms
- May 2021 average uptime: 100% average load speed: 900 ms
- June 2021 average uptime: 99.75% average load speed: 901 ms
Quick Overview
July 2019 Thru June 2021
| Average Page Speed | 952 ms |
| Average Render Time | 227 ms |
| Average Uptime | 99.91% 420 minutes over 66 outages |
| Average Security Threats | 5 threats |
| Support | 24/7 Live Chat |
| Apps | WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and Magento |
| Features | Unlimited Bandwidth and Storage, Free SSL, Anytime Money Back |
| Plans | Shared, WordPress, VPS, Reseller and Dedicated Servers |
| Transfer | Free Site Transfer |
| Pricing | Starting at $2.96/mo (renews at $7.99/mo) |
Support quality
However, great performance is what we all want and need. But when you have questions or problems arise, having a great technology partner is an absolute must.
A2 Hosting makes it easy for you to get support. You can call support, chat or email 24/7. Also, their support is knowledgeable and provides timely and accurate support.
I have some tests to measure the quality of support for all technical service providers such as web hosting companies. I went into their chat and asked a question they should read quickly:
“Which version of RHEL or CentOS is my site running?”
This is a good question because everyone involved in the support pipeline needs to know what OS their servers are running. Also tell me if your system is up to date?
A quick response to technical issues and a state-of-the-art server infrastructure are key indicators of a well-oiled machine.
Here’s a screenshot of my chat with A2 Hosting support:
The interaction with A2 Hosting support is overall excellent. A popup asked me to verify my account. It took me about 5 minutes to log in. That’s my only real complaint.
Amazingly, my support agent “Brendan” knew the answer to my question immediately and he knocked me out.
The support from the other web hosting companies we reviewed was fascinated by this.
I am happy to receive the right information in the right time frame. Going through the extra steps to authenticate my account with a support PIN is a bit of a hassle.
However, it’s good to know that people “off the street” can’t call me for a fee. Very good cybersecurity and privacy practices.
Affordability
These are very affordable for the type of performance and uptime we see on A2 hosting accounts. Especially with good support.
You can get started with A2 Hosting with a basic plan of $2.96 per month. Their mid-tier plan is $3.70 per month, and their top plan offers “turbocharged” performance starting at $7.03 per month.
This is an introductory offer and get these prices. You must purchase the service 36 months in advance. Prices go up when you renew the service after your initial purchase. This is a good standard in the hosting industry.
One of the things I like about A2 Hosting is that they do away with their 30-day money-back guarantee.
Because they’ve replaced the “Worry-Free Anytime Money Back Guarantee”
Yes, they will prorate refund requests cancelled after 30 days. I love your confidence!
Available Plans, prices and details
Lite Plan
The A2 Hosting Lite plan starts at $2.96 per month, which supports websites. The program was created with new website owners in mind. It has unlimited SSD storage and a free SSL certificate.
Swift Plan
A2 Hosting Swift plans start at $3.70 per month, and it includes everything in the Lite plan, but you can host unlimited websites. Double the speed and it comes with free automatic backups.
Turbo Plan
A2 Hosting Turbo plans start at $7.03 per month, and it includes all the Swift plans but adds to your bill, making it 20x faster.
Plan Feature Comparison
Plan Features
- Domain Name Included: No, the domain registration fee is $14.95/year.
- The installation process is simple – fill out a simple two-page registration form. This form will give you the option to install WordPress at the same time.
- Admin Panel Experience: The control panel is very clean and easy to use. Site administration using cPanel.
- Third-party app support: One-click Softaculous integration for installing popular scripts like WordPress, Weebly, Joomla, Drupal, OpenCart, and more.
- Server Information: Linux CentOS 7, PHP 5 and 7, MySQL 5.6, PostgreSQL 10
- Payment Methods: Visa, MasterCard, Discover, Amex, PayPal, Skrill, Check/Money Order, Bank Transfer.
- Fees and Concerns: Domain names are non-refundable. Domain and hosting renewal fees are increasing.
- Add-on sales: Some add-on sales. But this is normal in the web hosting industry. so don’t worry
Other Plans
If you have other web hosting needs, A2 Hosting offers other types of plans. They offer reseller VPS (Virtual Private Server) plans and dedicated server hosting plans.
Do We Recommend A2 Hosting?
Yes, we recommend your service.
A2 Hosting has proven world-class service in all of our tests. They have responsive customer service and support. We love that they offer free SSL certificates and SSD storage with every plan.
We love that they offer free site migrations and a 30-day money-back guarantee!