So you already narrowed down your web hosting choices to Bluehost and A2 Hosting. But, you’ll want to know, which one is better?
Both web hosting providers are great at what they do and a lot of people can attest to that.
Cell | BlueHost | A2 Hosting |
Owner | Endurance International Group (EIG) | A2 Hosting |
Basic Plan | Basic Shared Plan | StartUp Shared Hosting |
Price | $2.95/mo | $2.99/mo |
Free Domain? | Yes | No |
Average Uptime | 99.93% (August 2023) | 100% (August 2023) |
Average Speed | 616 ms (August 2023) | 288 ms (August 2023) |
One-Click WordPress Installation? | Yes | Yes |
Free SSL? | Yes | Yes |
Number of Sites | 1 | 1 |
Free Email? | No | Yes |
Free Backup? | Manual Backup | Automated |
Moneyback Guarantee | Yes | Yes |
Support Channels | Live chat and Phone | Live chat and Phone |
Control Panel | cPanel | cPanel |
Space | 50 GB | 100 GB |
Free CDN? | Yes | Yes |
Migration Services | Yes for WordPress | Yes |
Overall Rating | ||
Get Hosting | ||
Other Plans | Managed WordPress ($9.95), VPS ($18.99) | Managed WordPress ($12.99), VPS ($4.99) |
Cell |
The easiest way to go about this is to compare the two in several areas. Areas such as:
Uptime and performance
Website building
Migration services
Products and features
Security
Pricing
Customer Support
Without further ado, let’s review these areas and figure out which web hosting is better for YOU.
Uptime and Performance
Uptime and performance are the two most important factors in any website. I mean, no website owner wants their sites down, and web visitors want fast-loading sites.
Bluehost has a very impressive track record of having a 99.93% (August 2023) uptime. This is rare for a lot of web hosts.
Sure, a lot will say that they have a 99.9% uptime, but that is mostly said for marketing purposes. This is not their usual average.
You can be sure that Bluehost doesn’t fit into that category as they always deliver what they promise.
Fortunately, A2 Hosting isn’t like that, either. Even though their uptime is 100% (August 2023), they stick to that number. Also, that‘s still a very high uptime rate.
What about speed?
Among the two, A2 Hosting usually has a faster loading time of 288 ms (August 2023) on its websites thanks to the SSD speed boost and the A2 Optimized feature.
Nonetheless, Bluehost is not that far behind as well with speeds of 616 ms (August 2023). The provider has a very fast loading speed in several large cities across the world. Sometimes, their site speed even goes faster than the average.
WINNER: A2 Hosting. When it comes to uptime, both hosts are pretty evenly matched. Performance on the other hand is better with A2 Hosting with blistering speeds that get even faster if you select their Turbo Boost package options.
Website Building
Don’t have experience in creating a website? Don’t worry, both Bluehost and A2 Hosting have their own website builders.
But which one is better?
A2 Hosting has a drag-and-drop builder that makes it very user-friendly to anyone with experience or not. You can also easily install WordPress.
However, when compared to Bluehost, it is way behind.
In fact, Bluehost is one of the three hosting providers that WordPress recommends. This alone makes it the ideal web host for people planning to create a WordPress site.
And it doesn’t stop there.
Bluehost is also home to free and premium themes that you will love. With hundreds of themes to choose from, you’ll easily find one that will suit your brand.
WINNER: Bluehost. They offer greater support for WordPress with software optimized for the platform. While A2 also offers great software support for WordPress, you tend to find it in their Managed WordPress packages, which can be prohibitively more pricey.
Speaking of WordPress, check out this video on how to create a WordPress site with BlueHost:
Migration Services
What if you already have a web host before and you want to go to either Bluehost or A2 Hosting. Will they be able to cover your site migration?
Thankfully both A2 Hosting and BlueHost offer a free WordPress migration for a single site on their Shared packages.
But unlike BlueHost, A2 Hosting also supports free migrations for non-WordPress sites, too, which is a real help if your pre-existing site runs on another CMS.
WINNER: A2 Hosting. Considering the non-WordPress sites you can get transferred for free to A2’s platform, it comes out on top here.
Products and Features
Comparing Bluehost and A2 Hosting based on their features alone can be challenging since both have the basic features you need to run your website.
Features like WordPress themes, SSL certificate, website builder, and domain are available in their basic plans.
So it all comes down to their unique features and strengths.
If you check out A2 Hosting’s website, you’ll find that their basic plan has an extensive list of features - from security to e-commerce one-click installs and 100GB of storage.
This is what makes it very impressive to a lot of beginners. After all, extra features are always welcome as long as the price remains reasonable.
On the other hand, you have Bluehost who offers a full suite of essential features that’s ideal for beginners. That includes a bunch of quick installs and themes for your WordPress site with 50GB of storage.
And if you’re only just starting, you’d love the fact that it has all the things you’ll need in setting up your presence online.
WINNER: Tie. Both hosts offer a range of different features on their starting packages. BlueHost offers better support for WordPress sites, while A2 Hosting will ensure you won’t face any issues with any other CMS. So they’re tied here.
Security
Even if you’re not a technical person, you should make sure that you check your web host’s security features.
You don’t want to lose your website or have any of your and your customer’s information leaked.
When it comes to security, A2 Hosting has more features than Bluehost.
This is mainly because A2 Hosting has a robust security package that’s included even in their most basic plan.
They call it ‘Perpetual Security’, which is a suite of antivirus and HackScan features that protect your website 24/7.
Unfortunately, Bluehost doesn’t come close to the security suite of A2 Hosting.
For their basic plan, Bluehost only has a free SSL to go with the package. But I appreciate the fact that they can give you a full site restoration in case your data gets wiped out.
WINNER: A2 Hosting. With extra premium features such as 2FA and automated weekly backups in addition to their security suite, A2 Hosting takes the cake for this one.
Pricing
Both Bluehost and A2 Hosting have shared hosting, WordPress, VPS, and dedicated server plans.
As you go up the tiers of web hosting types, the monthly fees also increase.
However, these two are very different when it comes to their prices, especially since they have several different packages under a particular type of hosting.
So to give you a better idea of the price range of each hosting type, let’s take a look at this table:
Bluehost | A2 Hosting | |
---|---|---|
Shared Hosting | $2.95 - $13.95/mo | $2.99 - $14.99/mo |
WordPress Hosting | $2.95 - $5.45/mo | $2.99 - $25.99/mo |
VPS Hosting | $18.99 - $59.99/mo | $4.95 - $134.95/mo |
Dedicated Server | $79.99 - $119.99/mo | $129.99 - $699.99/mo |
Free automated backup | $2.99/mo | $2.99/mo |
It’s clear which web hosting provider has the most affordable packages.
This is one of the main reasons why Bluehost is ideal for price-sensitive individuals or businesses.
But of course, I want to emphasize that there are so many factors to the pricing, like lock-in subscriptions and features.
For both Bluehost and A2 Hosting, you get a cheaper monthly fee if you subscribe to them for 3 years as opposed to just doing it monthly.
WINNER: BlueHost. When talking about entry points, you can see that BlueHost has the cheaper range, which is why they are our winners here.
Customer Support
Not a lot of people realize how important customer support is until they experience technical difficulties with their website.
And for that reason, you should only be considering providers that have 24/7 customer support (because problems can happen anytime!).
Lucky for us, both Bluehost and A2 Hosting have 24/7 customer service features.
But there’s just a slight difference.
A2 Hosting has maintained its email support while Bluehost hasn’t.
This means that customer service is only reachable on call and live chat for Bluehost.
This makes A2 Hosting a better choice for people who prioritize all types of availability.
Nonetheless, these two web hosting services have very strong customer support.
Both have step-by-step guides and beginner videos and tutorials that will easily help you set up and solve basic issues.
WINNER: A2 Hosting. This is a very close call. Both hosts are pretty evenly tied when it comes to support, with quick, 24/7 support on offer with all their packages. But, as we mentioned, A2 Hosting provides an additional email channel, which gives you more options to reach them.
BlueHost vs A2 Hosting - The Verdict
Features | Winner |
---|---|
Uptime and performance | A2 Hosting |
Ease of use | Bluehost |
Migration service | A2 Hosting |
Products and features | Tie |
Security | A2 Hosting |
Pricing | BlueHost |
Customer support | A2 Hosting |
So which one is better?
To be sure, both Bluehost and A2 Hosting shine in certain areas.
If you prioritize affordability, and features, Bluehost might be the better option for you. But if you’re more into security, customer support, and performance, then you might consider A2 Hosting the better provider.