Hostinger vs A2 Hosting: Close Match, but Only One Winner 2024

A2 Hosting built its fame on low-cost, high-performance web hosting, but my colleagues and I have tested both A2 and Hostinger, and the results were surprising. Not only is Hostinger much cheaper than A2, but its performance is similar, and sometimes better, worldwide.

Don’t get me wrong: A2 Hosting can deliver outstanding results, especially if you opt for one of its Turbo plans. In addition, A2 gives you more storage space and slightly better security, but the question for me is: do these small advantages justify the added cost?

I took it upon myself to compare both hosts in everything from features and ease of use to pricing and support. Not only did I personally research both providers, but I also made use of my colleagues’ expert reviews to decide once and for all which is better for you.

Though it was a close competition, Hostinger proved itself to be the better of the two for most users. Does that mean that I would recommend it over A2 Hosting every time? Not necessarily.

So, keep reading to find out why Hostinger came out on top (and when it doesn’t), or sign up for a Hostinger plan right now.

Plans and Pricing

You Can Save More with Hostinger in the Long Run

Both Hostinger and A2 Hosting offer a broad range of services, from shared hosting to managed WordPress and more advanced VPS solutions. However, Hostinger’s shared plans are significantly cheaper than A2 Hosting’s.

Take A2 Hosting’s Startup and Hostinger’s Single – two shared hosting plans with similar prices for the first prepaid term, which spans three years with A2 Hosting and four years with Hostinger. A2 Hosting looks more worth the price at first glance because it gives you more storage space.

But the two plans are only fairly balanced during the first term. Following renewal, A2 Hosting’s Startup plan becomes almost thrice as expensive as Hostinger’s Single. Something to keep in mind if you’re in it for the long run.

Hostinger’s Single shared hosting plan comes with 50 GB of SSD storage and unlimited bandwidth, which is more than enough for a small project. If you want to host a blog, a personal website, or a landing page for your business, Hostinger’s Single plan is the perfect, low-cost solution.

Features

Hostinger’s Control Panel Is More User-Friendly, but A2 Hosting Gives You More Tools

Hostinger and A2 Hosting include similar features in their shared hosting plans. You get generous storage space, bandwidth, and email, as well as free website transfers. But there are a few noteworthy differences.

For one, the two hosts use different control panels. A2 Hosting comes with the more traditional cPanel, while Hostinger has its proprietary hPanel solution. hPanel is less cluttered with options that most users never need, which makes it easier to navigate overall.

hPanel also makes it easy to install WordPress or any other popular content management system (CMS). However, once the setup is complete, you have to tweak the settings and plugins yourself to obtain the best possible performance. A2 Hosting gives you the option to install a pre-optimized version of WordPress, which may save you some time.

One downside with A2 Hosting’s entry-level Startup plan is that it doesn’t include automated backups. Hostinger, on the other hand, gives you peace of mind with automated weekly backups on all plans.

Overall, though A2 Hosting’s feature set is nothing short of impressive, Hostinger’s user-friendly hPanel gives it just enough of an edge to be a tie-breaker.

Performance

The Race Was Close, but Hostinger Performed Slightly Better

Both Hostinger and A2 Hosting include SSD storage and full support for Cloudflare CDN on all plans, but that’s about as far as similarities go. The most important distinction between the two is that Hostinger uses LiteSpeed technology and caching on all servers, whereas A2 Hosting makes you pay extra for these features.

LiteSpeed is arguably the fastest web server for WordPress, which is why it’s slowly replacing the more traditional Apache. With Hostinger, you have access to a LiteSpeed web server and an automatic caching function regardless of the plan you choose. With A2 Hosting, you’re stuck with Apache unless you go for the more expensive Turbo Boost or Turbo Max plans.

Plus, Hostinger gives you more options in terms of data center locations. A2 Hosting has data centers in the US, the Netherlands, and Singapore, while Hostinger also covers Brazil, India, France, the UK, and Lithuania. If you want your website to load quickly for your target audience, choosing a server that is closer to them is one way to make it happen.

To test the performance of both hosts, I signed up for their entry-level plans, created two identical websites, and ran speed benchmarks over the course of several months. I used GTmetrix to monitor both hosts’ performance, and I was surprised at just how similarly both fared.

Both A2 Hosting and Hostinger returned typical loading speeds of about 0.8 seconds. The best time I recorded with A2 Hosting was a loading speed of 0.5 seconds, and I never got a result higher than 1.12 seconds, which is well below the recommended 1.2-second mark.

For the full results of the speed tests, see our in-depth A2 Hosting review.

Though Hostinger’s slowest recorded time came in at a little over 1.5 seconds, it stayed between the 0.6s and 0.8s marks with much more reliability.

Given the price difference between the two hosts, I didn’t expect Hostinger to deliver similar performance, but that’s exactly what happened. The same phenomena occurred when I tested both hosts’ global performance scores using the Sucuri Load Time tester. Hostinger and A2 Hosting delivered B performance scores, with Hostinger performing slightly better.

Though the overall score was the same with A2 Hosting, you can see how it struggled just a bit more on locations that were farther away from its server. Considering that neither host had a CDN installed, both hosts far surpassed my expectations.

Even so, these tests made one thing clear: although its shared plans are incredibly cheap, Hostinger can deliver similar performance compared to A2 Hosting. For a more in-depth look at how Hostinger performs, check out our expert Hostinger review.

Finally, I tested both hosts’ uptime with the aptly named UptimeRobot. Honestly, there’s not much to say here. Both Hostinger and A2 Hosting offer a 99.9% uptime guarantee, and during my prolonged tests, both delivered perfect uptime results.

Overall, the race between Hostinger and A2 Hosting was neck-and-neck for performance. Ultimately, I had to give the performance win over to A2 Hosting, but only based on its best performance score. This is far from my favorite criteria for comparing web hosts’ performances, but it was the only differentiating factor given that the two delivered almost identical results for everything else.

That said, I do urge you to keep in mind that Hostinger went toe-to-toe with A2 Hosting on a noticeably cheaper plan. For me, that little edge that A2 Hosting offered isn’t worth it when you can get an almost identical level of performance from Hostinger at less than a third of the cost.

Security

Hostinger Has Great Security, but A2 Hosting Does Slightly Better

Whether you go with Hostinger or A2 Hosting, you can rest assured that your website is in good hands. Both hosts include free SSL certificates on all plans and take active measures to prevent malicious attacks.

Hostinger offers DDoS protection, server-wide firewalls, and BitNinja security. You also get weekly backups on all plans, so you can always restore a previous version of your website if needed.

Similarly, A2 Hosting has DDoS protection, a dual firewall, and a virus scanner, plus the Patchman security tool. The latter helps you detect any outdated software installed on your account and immediately quarantines any suspicious files.

Also, A2 Hosting’s Perpetual Security Initiative includes server software on all plans that ensures the most up-to-date Linux security and malware protection.

The drawback of A2 Hosting is that the Startup plan does not include automated backups. However, you can schedule your own backups using cPanel without the need to upgrade to a pricier plan.

Support

Don’t Expect Much from Either Hostinger or A2 Hosting

Both Hostinger and A2 Hosting offer 24/7 customer support. With Hostinger, you can get support through live chat and email, while A2 Hosting also gives you the option to get in touch through phone or tickets.

Unfortunately, one problem with both hosts is that an agent isn’t always available. Sometimes, it can take several hours to get an answer, which means that you have to comb through a knowledge base to find a “quick” solution.

That said, I had better luck getting a useful answer from Hostinger than I did with A2 Hosting. For instance, when I asked one of Hostinger’s agents for help optimizing my website, I was given several good links for reference, including to a helpful article in the knowledge base. I followed the steps described, and this improved my website loading speeds.

Although slow, Hostinger’s support is in-house, and it shows. I had a very different experience with A2 Hosting, a company that has almost entirely outsourced its customer support.

Whenever I got in touch with an agent, they were slow to respond, and not always clear. Many times, I ended up even more confused.

The responses improved slightly when I used the ticket system. Still, I could have gotten the same information faster if I had searched for my questions on Google.

Overall, I had a fairly disappointing experience with both hosts, but if I had to pick a winner in this category, I’d go with Hostinger. Yes, its agents took several hours to respond, but they at least provided some useful answers when they did get in touch.

In both cases, the knowledge base proved to be useful, but this’ll give you little comfort if you’re not a fan of DIY solutions.

Go with Hostinger for Outstanding Performance at a Low Cost

There’s no doubt that Hostinger vs A2 Hosting is a tight matchup, especially when it comes to features and performance. It’s no wonder that both hosts made our list of the best web hosting services.

That said, Hostinger’s shared hosting plans are considerably cheaper, giving it the advantage.

A2 Hosting’s plans might offer pre-optimized CMS installations and slightly better performance in specific cases, but if you ask me, these features alone are not worth the extra cost. As for the Turbo servers, it’s likely that they offer even better performance, but once again, they don’t come cheap.

Still not sure? Here’s a quick summary of my comparison between Hostinger and A2 Hosting:

FAQ

Does A2 Hosting offer WordPress hosting?

Yes. In fact, A2 Hosting has some of the best managed WordPress plans in the industry. These plans are not as cheap as Hostinger’s equivalents, but they do come with some excellent features, such as extra speed optimizations, automatic updates and backups, a one-click staging environment, and a Jetpack Personal license.

Is Hostinger cheaper than A2 Hosting?

Yes, if you’re looking for shared or managed WordPress hosting, Hostinger is more affordable than A2. This is especially true if you intend to stick with your web host long-term. Following renewals, Hostinger can be up to three times cheaper than A2 Hosting.

Is A2 Hosting fast?

Yes, A2 Hosting is one of the fastest low-cost hosting solutions in the industry. That said, Hostinger can deliver almost the same results for a much lower price.

Is Hostinger the best host?

Hostinger is by far one of our favorite web hosting services. It offers reliable and high-quality performance, a user-friendly proprietary control panel, and surprisingly low prices for shared hosting.

However, to say that Hostinger is “the best host, period” would be inaccurate. The only best host is the one that better adapts to your needs, your purpose, and your budget. If you’re curious as to which is the best host for you I recommend you check out our expert list of the best web hosting services in 2024.