Hostinger vs A2 Hosting – Which Web Host is Better this 2023?

So you’re looking for a web host…

You need a reliable web host that won’t rob you of your subscription. You also need a web host that has affordable rates. 

But the question is, what’s a reliable and affordable web hosting provider? 

If we’re to look at all the web hosts that fit that description perfectly, what comes to mind are Hostinger and A2 Hosting. 

These two web hosts’ starter plans are less than $2 a month. I’m not kidding!

However, we can’t just look at the affordability. We want to know if they give value for money and, of course, just how reliable they are. 

To do that, we’ve created a Hostinger vs A2 Hosting comparison review. With this, you’ll be able to determine which one is better for YOU this 2023. 

Let’s take a look, shall we? 

Hostinger vs A2 Hosting - A Side by Side Comparison

For this comparison review, we’ll compare Hostinger vs A2 Hosting in these categories: 

• Uptime and performance
• Website building
• Migration services
• Products and features
• Security
• Pricing
• Customer Support

Now, let’s get into the details. 

Uptime and Performance

When we talk about reliability, the first thing that you should look at is uptime. 

Uptime rates will tell you if your website will be accessible all the time or if there’s a certain number of hours that it will be down.

While we don’t want any downtime, it’s hard to prevent. So the next best thing is for you to get a web host that has a near-100% uptime.

This is where A2 Hosting shines. 

Their average uptime is 100% (August 2023). You will hardly ever experience downtime. And if you do, only for a short period. Impressive! 

Hostinger, on the other hand, used to enjoy a high uptime average. As of now, it reached lows of 99.98% (August 2023). Don’t fret, though, as they can go up again at any time. 

Another thing you should look at is site speed. 

Site speed talks about the web host’s performance more than its reliability. 

To be sure, no one wants a slow-loading site. This doesn’t just increase your bounce rates, but it hurts your SEO as well.  

When it comes to speed-boosting features, A2 Hosting has a lot even if you buy their most basic plan (Startup). Here, you get an SSD speed boost and A2 Optimized software.

If you want even more features, their higher plans come with Turbo Boost. 

A2 Hosting boasts loading speeds as fast as 288 ms (August 2023)!

To make up for their lack of uptime, Hostinger also provides super-fast loading speeds. They use LiteSpeed for automatic caching, which has become very valuable in reducing the loading times of web pages. 

Their average speed today is as low as 435 ms (August 2023).  

Website Building

For its shared hosting plans, Hostinger only has WordPress site builders. So if you aren’t using WordPress, you don’t have a site builder to use unless you buy Zyro as an add-on.

Zyro was made by Hostinger to be a fast and easy site builder. It has AI and SEO tools, plus themes and designs made by the designers themselves. 

The downside to this is that you need to pay an extra $2.90/month for the basic version. This isn’t ideal when compared to providers that already have a full suite of website-building tools for free. 

A2 Hosting also launched its own site builder. They designed it to be intuitive, professional, quick, and easy. 

Even if you don’t know how to set up a website, you’ll be able to do so in just a few minutes! But of course, if you want to use WordPress, you can get their 1 click WordPress installation. 

Check out this video on how to create a site with A2 Hosting: 

Migration Services

Want to transfer your website to another host? 

Thankfully, both Hostinger and A2 Hosting offer free migration services. 

Usually, site migration is done by the customer support team so you shouldn’t worry too much about doing this yourself. 

The only difference here is that A2 Hosting only offers its services for free if you’re a first-time user. 

Products and Features

Which web host has the best value for money? 

The best way to answer this is to check the features found on their basic plans. Here’s a quick comparison:

Domain

Hostinger’s basic plan doesn’t have a free domain. This is probably why it’s more affordable than A2 Hosting. 

A free domain is only available at Hostinger’s Premium and Business Shared Hosting plans. 

As for A2 Hosting, they do offer a free domain. However, it’s only for a year. By the upcoming year, you’ll have to pay to keep it. 

Control Panel

Control panels help you navigate your website’s backend with ease. 

A2 Hosting uses the most popular cPanel. This is one of the most intuitive and user-friendly control panels you’ll find in web hosts. 

Hostinger uses a custom-built cPanel. Though this is easy to navigate as well, you might be less familiar with it, thus posing a learning curve. 

Site Staging

What is site staging? 

Site staging is when you test out changes you’ve made on your website. The “environment” is cloned so you will see a preview of your website. 

Site staging features are very useful in letting your website run uninterruptedly while you make changes in the back end. 

Between the two web hosting providers here, A2 Hosting offers a FREE site staging feature. 

Security

Your web host has a big effect on your website’s security. Nowadays, SSL certificates come free for almost all hosting plans. 

Both Hostinger and A2 Hosting offer free SSL certificates on their plans, but if you want more security, I recommend A2 Hosting. 

Apart from its SSL certificate, A2 Hosting has a suite of security features that are available in every package. This includes KernelCare daily, Hackscan, and two-factor authentication. 

There’s also a dual firewall and a virus scanner that come for free. 

Of course, Hostinger comes with its fair share of security features, including weekly backups and a Cloudflare DNS firewall.  

Pricing

So how affordable is Hostinger compared to A2 Hosting? 

Let’s have a look:

In general, Hostinger has more affordable plans, especially in their VPS hosting packages. However, if you want Dedicated Servers, Hostinger will not be able to service this request. 

As for A2 Hosting, their plans aren’t that expensive compared to the prices of other web hosts in the market. And as we’ve seen in the features section, A2 Hosting has a lot in store even in their most basic shared hosting plan. 

Customer Support

An accessible and responsive customer service team is always a must. Even if technical issues don’t always occur, it’s a big relief to know that you have a customer representative to talk to. 

This is why the 24/7 customer support of Hostinger and A2 Hosting is a great feature. 

You can access their customer support teams via live chat. But for A2 Hosting, you can also contact them via phone or email. 

However, there are several issues with Hostinger’s response time during the whole support process. Even if it only takes them less than a minute to respond to your first message, the waiting time in between messages is long. 

Some responses are closed only after a few hours which is unacceptable for technical issues.  

Hostinger vs A2 Hosting: The Verdict

Based on our comparisons, A2 Hosting seems to have better features and security measures. Not to mention, higher uptime and faster speed. 

However, if your priority pricing, site speeds, and website building, then I recommend Hostinger for those features.

But really, the decisions are all yours. 

Which one is better for YOU?