A2 Hosting Review
A2 Hosting is a reliable and affordable web host. They will cover everything if you start a new site or migrate from your previous host. I am reviewing A2 Hosting because the company offers excellent service.
After years of using various web hosts for my different websites, having a quick loading site, reliable uptime, and outspread security measures are vital.
| Launch date | 2010 |
| Products and services | Shared web hosting, VPS web hosting, Reseller Hosting, WordPress hosting, dedicated hosting, and domain registration. |
| Solutions for | Blog, eCommerce, LMS, business, agency, nonprofit, and personal website. |
| Uptime | 99.9% |
| Type of control panel | cPanel and WebHost Manager (WHM) |
| Professional email | Available for free |
| Customer support | 24/7 support via email, live chat, and phone |
| Data centers | 4 data centers located in the US, Europe, and Asia |
| Average speed score | |
| Best features and extra services | A2 SiteBuilder, free/paid SSL certificates, free site migration, A2 optimized WordPress, turbo web hosting |
| Quick CMSs install for | WordPress, Drupal, WordPress, Drupal, Joomla |
| 35 eCommerce platforms and software, including | WooCommerce, Magento, Prestashop, Opencart |
A2 Hosting Features
A2 hosting provider is currently one of the ideal platforms providing hosting services. Its worth is marked by the following aspects essential in establishing a successful digital site.
- Swift speed
- Well-grounded uptime
- Robust customer support
- Extensive data security attributes
- Friendly refund policy
- Environmental conscious
Let’s have a brief look into all these features offered at A2.
Swift Speed
A2 is indeed offering exceptional loading speeds since its presence in the market. Their average speed is ideal, i.e., 279 milliseconds. The value is calculated based on the A2 hosted website’s 6 months performance. There are minimum chances of these figures going down, while increment possibility is always high.
Well-Grounded Uptime
Besides hosting websites with exceptional loading speeds, A2 also guarantees assured reliability of 99.99%. The lowest figures have reached 99.93%, which is also due to technical interference. It has been a long since they have provided a constant uptime of 99.99% to entrepreneurs who chose them to host their websites.
The average downtime values were reported as around half an hour or even lesser. When we overviewed the previous six month’s reported uptime, 100% uptime was detected in five of them, while January 2022 had 99.94%, which is also acceptable when happening once in six months.
Extensive Data Security
A website requires a highly-qualified security setup to prevent nuisances caused by hacking and malware breakouts. It is better to ensure all precautionary measures before regretting data loss, which may damage financial assets and your online brand’s reputation.
For such purposes, A2 provides tools for the following purposes;
- Scanning malware
- Establishing firewalls
- Layering private data with end-to-end encryption
Many hosts who offer these services result in a slow website due to overloaded plugins. However, when you have A2, you won’t have to worry about this problem. They ensure the highest performance irrespective of integrated tools for data safety purposes.
Imunify360 is responsible for carrying out malware scans to detect potential threats. They monitor the site’s Server constantly, so any hacking attempt is spotted and resolved on the spot.
Many websites are subjected to DDoS attacks, which is the hacker’s way of harming your thriving business. They would send out unusual traffic on your website, so it crashes down, increasing the hacking possibilities of such websites to the maximum.
But do not worry! A2 has got you protected here as well. The extensive services include all safety precautions to smoothly handle immediate traffic spikes, causing no crashing down of the site.
Free of Cost Migration
Are you planning to move your website from your current host to A2, analyzing its worth? Do you think it is complicated? It is but not when A2 has got your back. The web migration scheme at A2 goes as follows;
- Dedicated hosting services – 25 free migration requests
- Managed VPS hosting services – 25 free migration requests
- Reseller hosting services – 25 free migration requests
- Shared hosting services – single site migrations cost $25
To facilitate website migration with A2, you will have to request their team of customers through customer support ways. They will ask for a few essential things like the username and password of the control panel. After providing credentials, you should be worry-free as the experts handle everything. They will migrate your website within a few hours smoothly.
Content Management System Compatibility
A2 hosting services are compatible will all popular CMS providers. It supports extensive website-building platforms, including;
- WordPress
- Drupal
- Joomla
- OpenCart
- Magento
You can install the above software in a few clicks without complex developer tools. The turbo boost pricing plan at A2 has remarkable features that optimize plugins and enhance their performance. Moreover, each paid plan comes packed with the free content delivery network, Cloudflare, which also plays a vital role in fastening things up.
Developer-Friendly Tools and Cpanle
A2 hosting services are an ideal business solution for large enterprises that require hosting multiple websites under one platform.
The dashboard/control panel is easy to use, and I took only a few hours to get familiarized with all the features. Also, They offer comprehensive tools that facilitate web developmental procedures to support the action. These include;
- Administrative access to the Server
- Costless server backups which you can rewind too
- A library of several versions of SaaS like PHP, MySQL, Python, Apache, etc.
If you want to avail additional web-building features, A2 has a separately paid site builder.
Friendly Refund Policy
All hosting providers usually offer a 30-day money-back guarantee on their services. Here A2 stands unique since its policy supports an anytime money-back guarantee. After paying the amount, you can request a refund if unsatisfied.
However, depending on the days you have utilized their services, they will reduce the returnable amount. There are a few things that you should know if you are planning to ask for repayment at any instance.
- You must have a PayPal account to avail refund after the initial 4 months.
- A2’s services that charge extra, like domain registrations, administration, configuration, and migration, are non-refundable
Impressive Customer Service
A2 has a robust customer support system that works extensively to resolve the issues of its customers instantly. You can contact the team of experts through;
- Live chat
- Help desk ticketing
- Phone
- Knowledge base
The knowledge base contains articles that encompass tutorials and informational blogs for frequently faced queries. The most impressive feature is live chat, where customers can instantly get answers for their issues. Initially, the option was only for subscribed users, but A2 made it available to the general audience afterward.
Environmental Friendly
A2 team puts extra effort into lessening global warming from the world. It is irrelevant to hosting services but a worth appreciating point. But how do they do it? In Michigan, A2’s headquarters area of Ann Harbor has widely spread greenery like trees and parks.
They also collaborated with an environmentally conscious organization Carbonfund, which works to reduce deforestation around the city. At the same time, it targets the use of renewable energies.
Another project of FutureServe is specially designed to tone down the after-effects of server emissions on the environment. Isn’t it an ideal thought to opt for a provider that cares so much for the environment’s well-being?
Downsides of A2 Hosting
A2 hosting services offer exceptional features without any doubt, but the platform may subject you to a few drawbacks. Let us discuss them so you can invest your money satisfactorily with no hidden nuisances.
Paid Domain Name
Most A2 alternatives provide a free domain name for the first year. However, this hosting platform has no such perk for any hosting plan, be it shared, dedicated, reseller, or any other subscription. They charge a few extra dollars for domain registration and renewal, whereas the amount for both processes is the same.
Costly Renewal
A2 does offer economical prices initially on their paid plan. When you opt for annual billing, the prices are reduced to half. However, their high renewal prices outweigh the prior decreased rates, resulting in much higher investment.
Hasty Renewal Deadline
A2 demands to write a written renewal request 15 days before the expiration of the first term. You can send the request either through their customer panel or email them. You can not take a chance to miss this process as you will become ineligible for a refund policy since the plan will get automatically renewed.
Restricted Cheaper Plans
The most basic A2 plan is relatively cheap compared to its other competitors. But it does not provide worth for the money being paid. You can host only one website with 100 GB of SSD storage under this plan.
A few critical missing features include regular backups, server reruns, etc. It indicates that the cheapest plan is just a marketing tactic to earn users as a profitable deal comes with paying extra dollars.
A2 Hosting Vitalities
- It provides no free domain, irrespective of the subscription plans.
- Secured socket layers, content delivery network, and domain name system comprise free-of-cost accessibility.
- The A2 signup process is straightforward and gets done in three easy steps.
- The A2 hosting supports extensive payment methods, including PayPal, Credit Card, Bank Transfer, Skrill, etc.
- A2 might subject you to upsells during signing up.
A2 Hosting Pricing Plan
You can find a variety of pricing plans at A2, which target different hosting types. These include;
- Managed VPS – Starts at $33.99 per month
- Startup Shared Server – $2.999 per month
- Turbo Boost Hosting – $6.99 per month
- Managed WordPress – $11.99 per month
- Dedicated Server – $105.99 per month
Is A2 Hosting Recommended?
Yes, as they have been delivering exceptional speed results for a decade. Even their uptime reliability has excellently enhanced over time. Moreover, their security aspects are also robust and worth appreciation. These features, packed with resilient customer support, make A2 hosting services ideal, despite a few drawbacks we stated before.
The prorated refund policy makes it one unique provider since no other host increases its money return policy by more than 30 days. Overall, A2 hosting will prove ideal for your business to thrive in the sense of enhanced UX and boosted traffic conversion rate.
So if your current host is lacking or just starting, opting for A2 for any hosting type will work in your favor.
Final thoughts
A2 hosting provider is top-rated for its wonderful attributes to develop a prosperous website. It offers enhanced security, faster turbo boost, SSD speed enhancement, and exclusive servers with regular backups and 24/7 monitoring to prevent cyber-attacks.
It has everything your online business needs in an affordable range. Though you may encounter some cons of using their services, the excellent part outweighs the bad ones.
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