A2 Hosting vs GoDaddy – A Complete Comparison Review

If you’re not familiar with web hosting, you might have a hard time selecting one host for your website. 

If you’re not sure which one to get, then we’ve compiled an A2 Hosting vs GoDaddy: A Complete Comparison Review for you. 

So if you're looking for an easy way to compare which of these two options offer the features that will suit your needs better, this article will help you out. 

Let's get straight into it.

A2 Hosting vs GoDaddy - A Side by Side Comparison

Here, we will look at:

• Uptime and performance

• Ease of use

• Migration services

• Products and features

• Security

• Pricing

• Customer Support

Now, let’s take an in-depth look at each one. 

Uptime and Performance

First, let’s look into A2 Hosting and GoDaddy’s uptime and performance.

With these two hosts, you can expect good uptime scores on average. A2 Hosting has an average of 100% (August 2023), while GoDaddy’s average comes at 99.98% (August 2023).

So what does this mean? Although A2 Hosting’s score is higher than GoDaddy’s, both scores are high enough that you probably won’t notice any significant downtime if you choose either of them.

These uptime scores also mean better SEO, which will grow your site’s chance of ranking on the front page of Google.

Similarly, you won’t have to worry about your site’s performance with either of these two options as well. This is because they both offer a ton of features to improve loading speeds and user experience.

For example, A2 Hosting provides a free CDN on all its packages. This improves loading speeds by routing user data to the nearest available data center. 

This feature is also available on GoDaddy’s WordPress Hosting plans, but you can only get it as an add-on on their most basic Shared Hosting plan (Economy).

In terms of server locations, both A2 Hosting and GoDaddy have data centers spread out across the world. This will ensure that your site is able to provide optimal loading speeds no matter where your user base is located.

Meanwhile, A2 Hosting may have an advantage when it comes to storage space. They use the standard SSD storage which is significantly faster than the HDD storage space that comes with GoDaddy’s plan. 

If you want even faster speeds, A2 Hosting provides a turbo boost feature in their higher plan. This feature promises 20X faster speeds. 

Ease of Use

Next, let’s take a look at how each host will make your site design and management process less complex. 

To start, both hosts offer a web builder that will help you create a site tailored to your specific tastes with a selection of different themes to choose from.

One-click software installs come standard with both hosts as well, while A2 Hosting provides a wide selection of different plug-ins to choose from, ranging from eCommerce to LMS.

Software installs and site options such as email management can be handled through the traditional cPanel that both hosts offer. This gives you a simple dashboard to handle site activities.

A2 Hosting also provides a site staging area, which allows you to test site changes on a dummy site before actually applying these changes to your real site. This will help you root out problems beforehand to prevent any errors from affecting your visitor’s experience.

Migration Services

If you already have an existing website and you want to transfer hosts, you should check into their migration services. 

For this, A2 Hosting offers users 1 free site migration on their basic package. This means that their team will handle the migration for you, for FREE. 

GoDaddy, on the other hand, only offers a WordPress migration plug-in that, while easy to use, means you will have to do it yourself. Plus, it’s only free if you use WordPress. 

The cost for the migration plug-in can vary based on the size of your site, but it usually starts from $100.

Products and Features

Moving on, let’s now look into the different products and features that each web host offers. 

We’ll check out their offer for bandwidth, storage space, email support, domain, package options, and refunds.

First, let’s check their allotted storage space for their basic Shared Hosting plans and basic Managed WordPress plans:

You’ll see here that they both offer 100GB of storage space in their basic Shared Hosting plan. This is more than enough to upload a sizable amount of data-heavy content, such as images and videos.

GoDaddy offers 20GB more storage space for their basic Managed WordPress plan, but you should consider that A2 Hosting provides an option to avail of their Turbo Boost feature that promises 20X speeds with all their WordPress plans.

Next, if there’s a need for you to send out emails to keep in touch with your clients and site visitors, you won’t have any problem as both providers do provide FREE email support. 

Both hosts also provide a free domain with their packages. So if you don’t have a domain name yet, you can save around $10 to $15 on your first year of use.

Meanwhile, in terms of available products, both providers offer higher-end hosting plans that offer greater power and resources to support sites with heavy needs. However, A2 Hosting offers a greater selection of higher-end package options in each hosting category.

When it comes to refunds, both offer a 100% 30-day money-back guarantee, which allows you to fully experience their services before you decide to commit.

Security

Another important factor to look into is how your chosen web hosts will ensure security.

In this area, I’d say that A2 Hosting beats GoDaddy, no questions asked.

This is because GoDaddy doesn't offer SSL certification on its basic Shared Hosting plan, a feature that is standard in almost all hosting providers. 

SSL certification is important as it encrypts your users' sensitive information to ensure that hackers aren’t able to read data such as credit card information, even if they somehow do get access to it.

GoDaddy only includes this feature with its WordPress plans and offers them as an additional add-on to the other plans.

That said, GoDaddy does offer site scanning to detect and contain malware that may have found a way onto your site.

Meanwhile, having backups will allow you to restore your site’s latest version in the event that you experience data loss. 

GoDaddy provides daily backups for only $2.99/mo. A2 Hosting, on the other hand, only provides weekly backups, but for FREE. 

What’s more, both hosts provide DDoS protection on all their plans. This feature puts up a firewall between your site and bots that hackers use to flood your site in an attempt to take it down.

They also maintain server security through 24/7 monitoring, while the servers have backup power to keep your site running in the event of a power outage.

Pricing

When it comes to pricing, GoDaddy’s Shared Hosting plans range from $5.99 (Economy) to $19.99 (Maximum}, compared to A2 Hosting’s cheaper starting point of $2.99 (Startup) to $12.99 (Turbo Max).

However, GoDaddy offers cheaper WordPress Hosting ranging from $8.99 (Basic) to $20.99 (WooCommerce) a month. A2 Hosting’s Managed WordPress offerings range from $11.99 (Run) to $41.99 (Sell).

GoDaddy also offers Business Hosting starting at $19.99 (Launch) a month, while A2 Hosting offers Reseller Hosting starting at $18.99 (Kickstart) a month.

What’s more, both hosts offer VPS solutions, with GoDaddy’s ranging from $4.99 (1vCPU) to $69.99 (8vCPU) and A2 Hosting’s $39.99 (Lift 4) to $59.99 (Mach 8).

For Dedicated solutions, GoDaddy’s offer ranges from $129.99 (DS-32) to $399.99 (DS-256) and A2 Hosting offers it from $179.99 (WARP 1) to $249.99 (WARP 2 Intel).

Customer Support

Lastly, you might want to check on their customer support. 

Luckily, both hosts have 24/7 coverage through live chat and phone to answer your queries at any time.

Both are average when it comes to response times but are able to solve issues whether they be routine or complex.

Moreover, both hosts offer knowledge hubs filled with useful guides and articles that’ll help you solve routine issues without having to wait on customer support.

Conclusion

Winner Board:

Looking at the board above, you might think, “So A2 Hosting is the better host?”

It really depends on what you’re looking for. 

A2 Hosting offers an affordable starting point without sacrificing security features. It also offers fast loading speeds that rank as one of the best in the industry.

GoDaddy, on the other hand, provides excellent WordPress plans that offer significant space and features, which is great if you’re planning to use this CMS.

So the final choice will depend on your site’s needs and what features you value most.