Struggling to decide between A2 Hosting and Hostgator for your website? With countless hosting options available in the market, finding the right hosting provider for your website can surely be a daunting task. So you’re not alone. We have got you covered!
Moving forward, you’ll find a head to head comparison of A2 Hosting vs Hostgator. Our rigorous speed trials and reliability checks for performance and uptime reveal insight into which hosting provider truly delivers the best value for your website.
So let’s dive right into the details.
A2 Hosting vs. Hostgator: Features At A Glance
Here’s a quick comparison of the key features of HostGator and A2 Hosting:
| Feature | Hostgator | A2 Hosting |
| Free Domain | Yes | No |
| SSL Certificate | Free | Free |
| Pricing | Starting from $3.75 per month | Starting from $2.99 per month |
| Uptime Guarantee | 99.9% | 99.9% |
| 24/7 Support | Yes | Yes |
| Money back guarantee | 30 Day Refund | 30 Day Refund |
Site Migration
Both hosting providers offer website migration services to facilitate user convenience.
- Hostgator offers a complimentary WordPress/cPanel migration along with inter-server migration, which allows you to transfer your websites seamlessly.
- A2 Hosting, on the other hand, also offers a free migration service for one site and paid options for larger migrations.
Hostgator gets an edge due to the seamless inter-server migration that ensures additional flexibility for users with diverse hosting requirements.
Money Back Guarantee
Hostgator offers the standard 30 day money back guarantee, which you can use to request a full refund within the first month if you are unsatisfied with the service.
On the other hand, A2 Hosting goes a step ahead and offers a 30-day full refund option as well as an anytime refund for unused services. This means you can cancel your subscription at any time and receive a refund for the unused portion of your hosting plan.
So clearly, A2 Hosting provides more flexibility and peace of mind when it comes to refunds.
Automatic Backups
Both hosting providers offer automated backup services, but their availability varies depending on the hosting plan you choose.
With Hostgator, you’ll have to subscribe to an additional backup service and pay extra money for saving your website data. A2 Hosting in contrast, offers automated backups as part of their Drive, Turbo Boost, and Turbo Max plans, providing peace of mind with regular automated backups that too without any additional cost.
Performance: A2 Hosting vs. Hostgator
Both Hostgator and A2 Hosting offer impressive performance metrics, including quick page loading speeds and reliable uptime.
Uptime & Response Time
Both uptime and response time are responsible for providing a positive user experience and maintaining the success of a website. And our tests of A2 hosting and Hostgator revealed that both providers offer commendable uptime and loading speed.
With A2 hosting, website availability will be the least of your worries as our tests revealed an impressively minimal downtime of only 7 minutes over a span of 60 days.
- A2 Hosting had 4 outages in 60 days, accounting to a total downtime of 7 minutes.
This means your site will have an average uptime of 99.9% as is originally claimed by the hosting provider too. Moreover, you can expect a responsive server performance with an average response time of 597ms.
As for Hostgator, the uptime is even better than A2 hosting. The website experienced only 3 outages in sixty days, which translates to a downtime of roughly 5 minutes only. So exceeding industry standards, Hostgator offers more than 99.9% website uptime. The response time of 525ms is also up to par for maintaining a smooth and responsive browsing experience.
- Hostgator had 3 outages in 60 days, accounting to a total downtime of 5 minutes.
The edge goes to Hostgator due to less outages and better response time. However, A2 Hosting also excels in both regards and stands as a great hosting provider too.
Website Speed
In addition to better user experience, fast website speed also helps improve search engine rankings of the website, making it an important factor for maximizing online visibility and increasing engagement.
With an impressive website loading speed of 1.4 seconds, A2 Hosting surpasses the standard 3-second loading time recommended by Google.
The data centers of A2 Hosting are located in:
- United States, Europe, and Asia
So you can expect the fastest website speed in these regions.
On the contrary, Hostgator performed even better in terms of website speed too. The website exhibited a fast loading speed of 1.2s only.
- Hostgator Data Centers are located in US Only
So, the only downside is Hostgator’s data centers being exclusively located in the US, which may impact website speed for users in other regions.
Pricing
The basic shared hosting plan by A2 Hosting starts at $2.99 and can go up to $14.99 per month whereas Hostgator’s hatchling plan costs $3.75 and can go up to $6.25 per month.
- A2 Hosting Shared Plan: $2.99 to $14.99 per month
- Hostgator Shared Plan: $3.75 to $6.25 per month
And here’s the deal:
Despite being cheaper, A2 hosting offers a generous amount of features, such as:
- A dual firewall, virus scanner, advanced DDOS protection, and brute-force defense.
Hostgator, on the other hand, offers:
- Unlimited storage and email accounts, unmetered bandwidth, a free domain name registration, and a server-level firewall
Apart from shared hosting plans, both hosting providers offer VPS, WordPress, and Dedicated hosting plans with advanced features.
Just keep in mind that the renewal prices for both A2 hosting and Hostgator plans are steep so you must consider subscribing for at least a year or two so you can lock in lower rates and maximize cost saving.
Overall, Hostgator does get a slight edge as it provides a free domain in contrast to A2 Hosting that doesn’t offer a free domain in any hosting plan. But A2 hosting won us over with its solid set of security features in the basic plan.
Ease Of Use
Both A2 Hosting and Hostgator offer a user-friendly interface and simplified tools to make the management of your website easy for you.
A2 Hosting uses WHMCS and cPanel that complement each other in terms of features, making it easy to manage the website for both beginners and experts.
- WHMCS provides billing support, account management, and streamlining admin tasks.
- cPanel allows you to easily manage website settings, email accounts, databases, and other hosting features.
In contrast, Hostgator uses its native user interface and cPanel both. We liked it particularly better due to its clean and user intuitive design, which made navigating through the settings completely effortless.
- The native interface helps with billing, site management, SSL, domain, email management, and 1-click WordPress installation.
- The cPanel can be used to modify domain names, activate the SSL, install CMS, access file manager, backup and restore data.
Overall, both A2 Hosting and Hostgator offer a simplified user experience with their intuitive control panels and user-friendly interfaces. Regardless of your expertise level, you shouldn’t encounter any issues with either of these hosting providers.
Traffic Impact
Typically, websites tend to perform well until there’s a significant traffic influx and users experience slow loading times as a result. Therefore, we figured it was crucial to test websites under conditions of high traffic to find out if these hosting plans are worth it.
To our surprise, both servers performed well even with high visitor load.
- The Hostgator server showed a temporary dip in speed when the visitor count passed 70, but quickly recovered and returned normal.
- A2 Hosting in contrast, managed to maintain its speed effectively up to 40 visitors only. However, this slowdown period was also short-lived, as the server returned to its normal speed after a while.
All in all, both Hostgator and A2 Hosting servers successfully passed the load impact test and hence, prove to be a reliable choice for websites that expect high traffic.
Storage
Both A2 Hosting and Hostgator offer a versatile range of storage options in different hosting plans.
However, Hostgator takes the lead as it provides an unlimited amount of storage even in its hatchling plan that costs $3.75 per month. As opposed to that, the basic shared plan by A2 Hosting offers 100 GB storage, which is still great for most websites.
This makes HostGator’s plans appealing for users who want lots of room to grow and store stuff on their website without worrying about hitting any storage limits.
A2 Hosting vs. Hostgator: Website Security
Both A2 Hosting and Hostgator offer the standard security features in their basic shared hosting plans, including:
- Server Firewalls
- Free SSL Certificate
- 2 Factor Authentication
However, A2 Hosting outshines Hostgator in terms of website security due to the additional security features in its basic plan. Some of the stand-out hosting features by A2 Hosting include:
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- Advanced Encrypted SSL Certificate: Hostgator charges an additional $40 per year for an encrypted SSL certificate while A2 Hosting provides it for free.
- Automated Backups: With A2 Hosting, your website data will be backed up daily automatically for free. Whereas Hostgator requires additional subscription for this perk.
- Additional features offered by A2 Hosting include DDoS protection, Dual Firewall, Brute force Defense, Virus Scanning, Auto-heal, and Patchman Security Tool – all of which cost extra $$$ if you choose Hostgator.
So clearly, A2 hosting offers better security solutions and website tools. While Hostgator is also capable of providing the same, they charge additional fees for features such as automatic backups and encrypted SSL certificates.
A2 Hosting vs Hostgator: Hosting Plans
Both hosting providers offer various hosting plans with a wide range of specifications, which means you get the option to choose a plan based on your site requirements.
Hostgator
Hostgator offers 4 types of plans, including Shared Hosting, VPS Hosting, WordPress Hosting, and Dedicated Hosting.
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- Shared Hosting: Ranging from $3.75 to $6.25 per month, shared hosting plans are a budget-friendly option for individuals and small businesses looking to establish an online presence.
- WordPress Hosting: Priced between $4.50 to $13.95 per month, this plan offers 2.5x the speed, advanced security, and migration services.
- VPS Hosting: Ranging from $36.99 to $95.99 per month, VPS hosting allows for your choice of CMS, hosting unlimited domains, and a full suite of powerful tools.
- Dedicated Hosting: Starting from $91.98 to $141.99 per month, this plan provides users with dedicated server resources, enhanced security features, and full control over server configurations.
Each plan is divided into further categories, allowing you to select the most appropriate hosting solution based on factors such as website size, traffic volume, performance requirements, and budget constraints.
A2 Hosting
A2 Hosting also offers Shared Hosting, WordPress Hosting, VPS Hosting, and Dedicated Server Hosting plans.
- Shared Hosting: Starting from $2.99 to $14.99, the shared hosting plans are ideal for users launching their websites at budget-friendly prices.
- WordPress Hosting: Ranging from $11.99 to $41.99, these plans offer additional WordPress tools to build a professional-looking site with ease for beginners.
- VPS Hosting: Priced between $2.99 to $54.99, VPS hosting provides full control over your resources and allows you to scale up or down as required.
- Dedicated Hosting: Starting from $79.99 to $179.99, dedicated servers offer the highest level of security and are great for businesses that require maximum performance.
Every hosting plan is classified into further categories. Most users tend to go for the the Turbo Boost plans by A2 Hosting as it offers enhanced performance with features like Turbo Servers and powerful tools, making it suitable for small to medium-sized websites with low to medium traffic load.
Customer Support
Both A2 Hosting and Hostgator offer great customer support via different channels. You can get in touch with their representatives via live chat, email, and phone. Moreover, you can find answers to most of your questions from the extensive knowledge base available at their websites.
If we talk about the live chat support, A2 Hosting’s support connects you to an agent instantly. Nine out of ten times the representatives are super responsive and knowledgeable and provide helpful assistance. The only minor downside is the ticketing system, which may introduce some delays in communication as it redirects queries, rather than providing immediate assistance.
As for Hostgator, the live chat assistance is even better than A2 hosting as it doesn’t rely on ticketing system and provides faster responses. The customer support representatives are thoroughly informed about all potential issues and provide reasonable guidance.
We connected with representatives of both hosting providers via phone call too and let’s just say both of them lived well up to our expectations. Call support is just as helpful as live chat so you can pick whatever channel of communication suits you best.
A2 Hosting vs Hostgator: Final Verdict
In short, it’s a tough call between both A2 Hosting and Hostgator as both of them have turned out to be reliable hosting providers. A2 Hosting does get a slight edge over Hostgator in some aspects, such as better security features in the basic plan, more data centers, and cheaper plans. However, Hostgator stands superior when it comes to website uptime, traffic influx management, and customer support.
With that said, the choice between them may come down to specific preferences such as pricing, performance, customer support, and additional features.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is Better Than HostGator?
While Hostgator is one of the leading hosting providers in the market, a few others like Dreamhost and Bluehost are often considered excellent alternatives for it. Bluehost takes the lead in terms of customer support while DreamHost offers better pricing. However, in terms of performance and customer satisfaction, Hostgator stands unbeatable due to its consistently reliable uptime, stellar traffic influx management, and fast loading speeds.
What Are The Cons of HostGator?
While Hostgator turns out to be an excellent hosting provider in almost every aspect, it does have some quirks. For instance, some upselling tactics such as additional fees or features pushed during the checkout process are frustrating for users.
Moreover, the renewal prices of Hostgator, like many other hosting providers, are significantly higher than initial promotional rates. Also, the data centers being limited within the US are yet another downside for Hostgator.
Does A2 Hosting use cPanel?
Yes, A2 Hosting does use cPanel that allows you to manage website settings, email accounts, databases, and other hosting features. It provides an intuitive and easy to navigate interface, which is accessible for all kinds of users.
What Companies Use A2 Hosting?
A2 Hosting is used by thousands of companies, most of which are located in the United States. Construction and retail industries are the leading customers of A2 hosting. Some of the companies that use this hosting provider include Perceptron, The University of Texas, Open Text, and Coord 3 Industries.
