A2 Hosting is a web hosting company based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They were established in 2003 and the name A2 came from the name of the city it was founded in. Since their establishment A2 now offer hosting for many applications and services. The applications A2 offering hosting for to name a few are Joomla, Drupal, Magento, OpenCart and WordPress since 2014.
Around the World, A2 have four data centres. They have two in the US, one in Ann Arbor in Michigan and one in Arizona. The other data centres are in Amsterdam, which is their European datacenter and Singapore which is their Asia datacenter. Apart from WordPress and managed WordPress hosting, A2 also has plans for shared, VPS, Re-seller, cloud and dedicated hosting.
A2 Hosting has established itself as an industry leader in managed WordPress hosting, with optimized infrastructure and expertise specifically tailored for WordPress sites. Their specialized Swift, Turbo and Core WordPress hosting plans offer blazing-fast speeds, elite performance and security, along with a wealth of WordPress-specific capabilities other hosts can’t match.
From automated site migration and one-click staging environments, to custom caching configurations and server stacks built just for WordPress, A2 empowers sites with elite hosting capabilities. Their plans scale from single site blogs to enterprise-grade multisite networks hosting thousands of sites. With 24/7 WordPress-skilled “ACA” support, they expertly assist with updates, troubleshooting, migrations and beyond.
In our full review, we’ll analyze A2 Hosting’s WordPress hosting solutions across key criteria like speed, support, scalability and features. We’ll see how they power sites to new performance heights and demonstrate why they remain a top WordPress-tailored hosting provider.
Table of Contents
A2’s Plans for WordPress;
Altogether for WordPress A2 have four different individual plans. All the plans differ in features and price. The plans are called the lite plan, the swift plan, the turbo plan and the managed plan. They rank in that order from cheapest to dearest. With every one of these plans users get access to cPanel and an anytime money-back guarantee. A free SSL and SSD are also part of each of these plans.
They also have Four plans for managed WordPress:
individual managed WordPress plans. Managed means A2 themselves will look after all your sites. Since these plans are managed they don’t all come with unlimited websites. The name of these plans are very simple, there’s the 1-site plan, the 3 site plan and the unlimited plan.
With every managed plan, users will get access to very similar features. Some of the features are the turbo server, an unlimited amount of transfer, unlimited databases, SSD’s and many security features.
Run Plan;
The cheapest plan for WordPress A2 offering:
- 1 WordPress Website
- 50 GB NVMe SSD Storage
- Free SSL Certificate
- Turbo (Up To 20X Faster)
- Optimized Speed/Security
- Free Expert Site Migration
- Onsite Backups
- Jetpack Free
- Easy Staging/Cloning
The price of this plan starts from $9.99/mo, which I believe is a reasonable price a month.
Jump Plan;
The second plan for WordPress A2 offering:
- 5 WordPress Websites
- 250 GB NVMe SSD Storage
- Free SSL Certificate
- Turbo (Up To 20X Faster)
- Optimized Speed/Security
- Free Expert Site Migration
- On & Offsite Premium Backups
- Jetpack Daily Backup
- Easy Staging/Cloning
The cost of this plan starts from $16.99/mo, This is over 60% off from the original price of the plan.
Fly Plan;
The next plan A2 offer is the Fly plan, Offering:
- Unlimited WordPress Websites
- Unlimited NVMe SSD Storage
- Free SSL Certificate
- Turbo (Up To 20X Faster)
- Optimized Speed/Security
- Free Expert Site Migration
- On & Offsite Premium Backups
- Jetpack Daily Backups
- Jetpack Security Daily
- Jetpack Daily Malware Scans
- Easy Staging/Cloning
The Fly can make your sites run up to 20x faster and it does this by having fewer people on whichever servers you are on. The price of this plan costs $26.99/mo, which is the price of the longest plan. The longer you commit to the hosting the cheaper it will be.
Sell Plan;
The Sell Plan offering:
- Unlimited WordPress Websites
- Unlimited NVMe SSD Storage
- Free Premium RapidSSL
- Turbo (Up To 20X Faster)
- Optimized Speed/Security
- Free Expert Site Migration
- On & Offsite Premium Backups
- Jetpack Daily Backups
- Jetpack Security Daily
- Jetpack Daily Malware Scans
- Easy Staging/Cloning
- Traffic Surge Protection
The price of this plan starts from $35.99/mo
Comparison of A2 Hosting to some of its key competitors across important web hosting attributes:
Speed
A2 Hosting is one of the fastest hosting providers, with optimized servers and proprietary accelerator technology. Site load times are up to 20X faster than competitors like Bluehost.
Uptime
With an average uptime of 99.9%, A2 Hosting beats providers like HostGator (99.95%) and is on par with top players like SiteGround (99.99%).
Support
A2 Hosting provides exceptional support, available 24/7/365 via phone, chat, email and knowledgebase. Average ticket response times are 15-30 mins, faster than most competitors.
Ease of Use
The user-friendly control panel allows for 1-click installs of CMSs like WordPress. Not quite as intuitive as InMotion Hosting but far simpler than OVHcloud or Vultr.
Scalability
As one of the most developer and enterprise friendly hosts, A2 Hosting offers virtually unlimited scalability potential, beyond hosts like 123Reg or Hostinger.
Comparison table of A2 Hosting against some top competing web hosting providers:
| Host | Speed | Uptime | Support | Ease of Use | Scalability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A2 Hosting | Extremely fast with proprietary accelerator | 99.9% | 24/7/365 support, 15-30 min response times | Intuitive control panel, 1-click CMS installs | Virtually unlimited scalability |
| Bluehost | Standard shared hosting speeds | 99.98% | 24/7 chat and phone, slower responses | Simple interface, WP optimization | Can scale to higher tier plans |
| SiteGround | Optimized configurations for speed | 99.99% | Knowledgeable support, quick responses | Streamlined cPanel control panel | Enterprise-grade scalability |
| HostGator | Average speeds | 99.95% Up to 4x slower than A2 | 24/7 support with some delays | Easy control panel but upsells | Scales to dedicated plans |
| InMotion | Above average speeds | 99.97% | 24/7 chat, ticketing, phone support | Very user-friendly interface | High scalability potential |
Does A2 offer good support?
A2 have many ways you can contact them for support. This includes a live chat and through tickets. The live chat is available 24/7/365 days of the year for existing customers. This means if you have a problem on bank holidays, Halloween, even Christmas you still can get help from your host. There are also three different kinds of tickets you can get for support. These are called the sales, ticket, the billing ticket and the support ticket. By having these three different tickets, problems can be sorted into different sections, meaning the person helping your problem get to the bottom of it faster.
You’re also able to call A2 directly if you have a problem. This gives users multiple options to contact A2 directly. There are multiple numbers users can use to contact A2 directly on the phone. These numbers are region-based meaning all the countries in Europe would need to contact the UK support. Although some of the lines will cost the user to contact them directly.
Users will also have an any-time money guarantee. This means anyone with the WordPress plans or the WordPress managed plans will be able to get their money back whenever they fell A2 isn’t up to scratch.
What security features do A2 have?
With every plan, users get access to a free SSL certificate. This certificate will help protect any data entered onto your sites. This includes any personal data and card information. Having an SSL Is essential on an E-Commerce site as users will certainly need to enter their details. Having an SSL will help users of your sites peace of mind as they know their data will be encrypted.
One of the greatest security features A2 offer with their plans is Perpetual security. The Perpetual security protects your site from hackers, malware and spam. It does all this by using KernelCare to automatically update your sites daily. It also using virus scanning, server hardening and a dual web hosting firewall to help protect your sites from the best of attacks. Attacks can also be stopped before they actually happen with Perpetual security.
With the Swift and turbo plan, users also get access to server rewind backups. This feature takes automatic backups and snapshots of your sites. This means if you are to make a mistake and/or delete important information, you’re able to recover it. Users are still able to create their own backups which are great. Users are also able to create backups in an offsite location called drop my site. These backups make your site safe as they’re in a completely separate location, so if a disaster happens you’re still able to recover your site.
Patchman is another feature included with every WordPress plan. What is Patchman? Well, Patchman is a feature that makes users aware that they’re using out of date software. Out of date software can provide hackers and malware with a gateway to compromise your sites. Notifications will also be sent to users about compromised files and bug fixes within their applications.
Does A2 have good Performance?
SSD’s are also offered as part of every plan with A2. SSD’s (solid-state drives) help your site’s performance by performing many operations in seconds. A2 use there SSD’s for your files, operating system and databases, to really help make your site perform it’s best.
The A2 optimized feature also can enhance your site’s performance up to 6x. The feature does this by compressing and caching data from your sites, which can make your sites load a lot faster.
Your site’s performance can be boosted even more with the Cloudflare CDN. Not only can this feature improve your site’s performance by up to 200% percent, but it can also identify and block malicious threats to your side. The CDN is also easy to set-up and can improve your site’s uptime even if one server is done, as your site will be re-routed. The Railgun feature can also improve your sites HTML performance by 143%. This feature costs $0.98 dollars a month but is free with turbo plan.
A 99.9% uptime is guaranteed with every plan. This can reassure users that their sites will be available almost every single day of the year. They understand that downtime can lead you to loss of customers, sales and visits to your websites.
A2 also has a Quad-redundant network, which means if one data centre was to go down, your sites will stay connected. Even if three datacenters were to go down the forth datacenter will keep you up and running.
Do A2 have any other/Unique features?
With the WordPress plans, users can add the barracuda firewall to their plan for a small fee.
Advantages of A2 Hosting;
Like many hosting companies, A2 are no exception with many advantages and disadvantages. One of the main advantages is that they offer both WordPress hosting and Managed WordPress Hosting. This means users who would like to have more control over their sites such as updates etc. and users who like to maintain great content can work side by side with A2.
A2 also offers many security features. Much of the security features are within their Perpetual security which helps you sites from malware and hackers. Spam protection is also offered. All these features will make sure your site is at its safest.
WordPress is also already set up for you, to get ready and started on your sites. The auto-setup comes with installed files. Within the WordPress plans the barracuda firewall is an extra feature you can add to your plan for a fee of between £2-£8. You will also get to choose your server location. All of these features are advantages to the user as they can protect their site even more. Your site can never be too protected.
If you are a person who likes to take care of the environment, then you would be happy to know that A2 hosting is a green company, who use green energy to power their data centres.
Site Migration is also free of A2. That is if your current sites already use cPanel.
One other advantage is that A2 hosting offer many performance features that can help your sites perform to their best.
Disadvantages of A2 Hosting;
One of the biggest disadvantages is their support call line. In many countries calling A2’s support may cost you. You’re already paying for a service so the least they could do is give you free phone line support, but sadly that isn’t the case.
Another disadvantage A2 have to their hosting is their costs. Their costs can be expensive and their plans can be confusing at times because some plans don’t cost what they advertise when you go into where you buy the plan.
A lot of there plans make users want to buy the longer time plans such as a one or two year plan as they’re much cheaper and save you a lot of money. Although this may be bad, you can always get money back if it’s not for you.
My Thoughts;
Yes I would recommend A2 WordPress hosting. Overall I believe that A2 has the potential to be a good WordPress host. I say this because I believe that all the performance features offered with each plan could make your website perform really well. The price is a little expensive but I think all the features together make up for the price.
The support seems reasonable for a massive web host, considering they are one of the main web hosting companies in Europe.
FAQ
Is A2 Hosting good for WordPress sites?
Yes, A2 Hosting specialized WordPress plans offer excellent speed, security, and scalability perfect for WordPress sites. Their custom configuration and caching makes them an ideal WP host.
How does A2 Hosting compare for WordPress hosting?
A2 Hosting is one of the fastest and most optimized WP hosts available. Their proprietary technology stacks and Git/staging support provide an elite managed WP hosting solution.
What level of managed WordPress support is included?
All A2 Hosting WP plans include 24/7/365 “ACA” support with WordPress experts trained specifically to assist with sites, updates, migrations, staging, caching and any other issues.
Can A2 Hosting handle enterprise scale WordPress sites?
Yes, their high-end Core WP hosting plan is built to easily power even the largest enterprise WP sites with dedicated resources and custom enterprise-grade configurations.
Conclusion
A2 Hosting remains one of the premier managed WordPress hosting providers, offering the perfect blend of features, performance, expertise and support. Their specialized WordPress infrastructure, custom configurations and wealth of managed capabilities is unmatched.
From small WP blogs to multisite networks and enterprise systems, A2 Hosting delivers an elite hosting experience tailored for WordPress.
This article was last updated on 24th September 2019
*ALL PRICING WITHIN THIS ARTICLE WERE ACCURATE AT TIME OF WRITING. ALL STERLING (GBP) AND EURO (EUR) WERE CONVERTED FROM DOLLARS (USD) USING GOOGLE’S OWN CONVERTER.
*ALL PLANS AND PACKAGES MADE BY A2 ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE BY A2 THEMSELVES.
Check out other hosting reviews; WP Engine | SiteGround | GoDaddy | HostGator | iPage | Flywheel | DigitalOcean | Bluehost | DreamHost | InMotion | NameCheap | 1&1 | Site5| 123Reg | A2 | Liquid Web
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