A2 Hosting vs SiteGround: Which is Better?

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By Ewen Finser

Last Updated on December 8, 2023 by Ewen Finser

This A2 Hosting vs SiteGround comparison review is about two extremely close web server competitors. They offer pretty much the same range of hosting solutions, with slight differences here and there.

So, of course, choosing between the two can, understandably, be overwhelmingly difficult.

Besides, both A2 Hosting server and SiteGround are renowned for their excellent web host capabilities. Each of them happens to be one of the best-shared web hosting, best WordPress hosting, best VPS hosting, best-dedicated hosting, and best reseller hosting solutions.

But, here’s the thing. One hosting company has got to be superior to the other, right?

Yes, that’s correct. Turns out SiteGround and A2 Hosting are not completely identical. Although they share some of the basic hosting plan features, there are multiple differences between SiteGround and A2 Hosting .

Well, that’s precisely what this SiteGround vs A2 Hosting comparison review is all about. It gets down to the nitty-gritty of their hosting packages to help you identify the one with better hosting features for your website or web-based application.

And to be more specific, our A2 Hosting server vs SiteGround review compares their ease of use, performance capabilities as a hosting company, as well as the features and pricing of their shared web hosting, WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, and dedicated hosting packages.

Main Differences Between A2 Hosting vs SiteGround 

The Main Differences Between A2 Hosting vs SiteGround are: 

  • A2 Hosting has better customer service, whereas SiteGround is easier to use.
  • A2 Hosting Starting plan is cheaper, whereas SiteGround is one of the few hosting recommended by WordPress.
  • A2 Hosting features high-performing turbocharged servers, whereas SiteGround offers 4 different types of hostings. 
  • A2 Hosting has a better  VPS hosting, whereas SiteGround features a high-performing SSD powered infrastructure. 
Most User Should Start with Siteground

Siteground offers higher end performance for budget prices. I have yet to find a better mix of value and performance for $5.95 or less per month. This is why I PERSONALLY start with Siteground for sites under 100k visits per month.

Start with Siteground!
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

A2 Hosting vs SiteGround Compared – Overview 

A2 Hosting Overview 

For a service that’s been around since 2001, A2 Hosting is extensively experienced when it comes to web hosting. Admittedly, two decades of experience is no joke.  

Make no mistake though. You won’t be able to trace the brand name  “A2 Hosting” to 2001. Rather, it turns out the company began as “Iniquinet” and proceeded to maintain the name for two years.  

Now, Iniquiet at that time had been built to serve a small number of websites. But interestingly, its features proved to be so good that it managed to attract a heck of a lot more users than it had previously anticipated. 

All that growth occurred in just two years, after which its founders decided to make huge changes to the company. And so, in 2003, “Iniquinet” rebranded to “A2 Hosting” and the rest, as they say, is history.  

Today, A2 Hosting is renowned for its cheap web hosting, high-level hosting performance, as well as excellent customer support (with many step-by-step instructions in their knowledge management system).  

Its shared web hosting solutions target typical bloggers, freelancers, startups and small businesses, while VPS hosting is reserved for users who want a bit of an extra kick. This particularly resonated with small to medium-sized businesses, growing enterprises, web developers, plus app developers.  

A2 Hosting’s dedicated hosting package, on the other hand, offers isolated servers to users who need the best possible performance. Some of the clients at this level include enterprises, mid-sized businesses, established large businesses, plus developer agencies.  

Then to top it off, A2 Hosting also happens to provide reseller hosting. This package is ideal for users who’d like to make some money off web hosting. It gives you the features you need to start and run an online business as a hosting provider.  

That said, it’s worth noting that these are just the base packages. A2 Hosting manages to specialize further through optimized hosting packages for selected web applications.  

You can, for instance, purchase WordPress hosting solutions for your WordPress site. It comes with hosting features that are specifically optimized for WordPress.  

Apart from that, A2 Hosting offers Linux Hosting, Drupal Hosting, Joomla Hosting, Windows Hosting, and Magento Hosting options.   

Don’t get it twisted though. That’s not all you can run on A2 Hosting. Since its servers here and the corresponding features are extensively flexible, you should be able to cheaply host pretty much any popular web-based application.  

And speaking of which, the cheapest A2 Hosting package starts at $2.94 a month for shared web hosting. The costliest, on the other hand, starts at $290 a month for dedicated servers.  

SiteGround Overview 

SiteGround came a little later than A2 Hosting. More specifically, it was launched in 2004 by a team of university students and has since grown quite extensively. SiteGround is now a well-established hosting provider with more than 400 workers across different countries.  

The hosting features it continues to offer have proven to be exceptionally reliable that its average customer satisfaction rate by 2018 was 97%. Quite impressive, I must say, especially considering the fact that SiteGround is currently servicing about 1 million domains.  

Now with the same features though. Rather, Siteground’s users leverage different features from the range of varying packages they purchase.   

Shared Web Hosting, for instance, is undeniably the most popular option since it offers cheap web hosting to pretty much anyone- freelancers, web developers, agencies, small businesses, startups, e-commerce sites, you name it.  

Then SiteGround’s Cloud Hosting, on the other hand, offers virtualized server environments to users who need dynamic scalability. This is what you’d consider if, say, you were seeking a hosting solution for an exceedingly growing business.  

But, while that would give you incredibly fast hosting performance, it can’t possibly match up to the alternative Dedicated Server Hosting service. SiteGround has specially optimized its packages for large websites and web-based applications with high-level needs.  

Other than that, SiteGround offers Reseller Hosting, Enterprise Hosting, Student Hosting, as well as Web Hosting for Agencies.  

And while it’s standard packages are capable of hosting all the popular web applications, SiteGround comes with specialized solutions for WordPress hosting, Magento Hosting, Joomla Hosting, PrestaShop Hosting, WooCommerce Hosting, and Drupal Hosting.  

So, in a nutshell, you could think of SiteGround as a flexible multi-faceted web hosting service with sufficient features for everyone.  

But, can it possibly outdo A2 Hosting? Let’s find out by going into their respective packages… 

A2 Hosting vs SiteGround Compared – Main Features 

Ease of Use 

A2 Hosting Ease of Use 

Just like many other web hosting solutions, A2 Hosting comes with a cPanel-based system for managing your hosting account. So, if you’re familiar with the cPanel, customizing your A2 Hosting service should be a breeze.  

But, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that things might be difficult for other users. Not at all. A2 Hosting is friendly even to users who’ve never worked with the cPanel before. Its entire system is incredibly intuitive and it’ll only take you a couple of minutes to get used to its basic functionalities.  

Installing your favorite application shouldn’t be a problem either. A2 Hosting provides a Softaculous installer, which essentially automates the app installation process. You just need to click once and voila!  

SiteGround Ease of Use 

Interestingly, it turns out SiteGround previously used an interface that was pretty similar to the one on A2 Hosting for many years. It’s only recently that it shifted from a cPanel-based user interface to its own custom backend.  

And from the look of things, I have to admit, redesigning the entire interface was a great move. SiteGround now comes with a modern elegantly-designed system.  

 

It offers ultimate control of your hosting account, and you can bet everything is pleasantly straightforward. It only takes a few minutes to register, purchase an ideal hosting package, customize your account, then finally install your preferred app.  

And yes, that’s right- you’ll find automated installers for WordPress, ZenCart, Moodle, Drupal, Joomla, Magento, etc.  

Shared Web Hosting 

A2 Hosting Shared Web Hosting  

Shared Web Hosting is the cheapest hosting package on A2 Hosting.  Starting at just $2.94 a month, the three plans here provide flexible features that can accommodate pretty much any website.  

Its one-click Softaculous installer should get you started by automatically installing your preferred CMS platform. Then subsequently, you get to leverage performance-optimized SSD storage, 24/7 Guru Crew customer support, plus a free Cloudflare Content Delivery Network (CDN).  

While the basic entry-level plan offers standard page loading speeds (load time), the best possible performance at the shared hosting level is only achievable when you pay slightly more for the Turbo plan. It consequently supplements the optimized SSD storage with the A2 Site Accelerator, Turbo Servers, and caching technologies.  

According to A2 Hosting, this alone should boost your speeds by up to 20 times.  

Other notable shared hosting features include multiple data centre locations, 24/7 network monitoring, HackScan protection, free site migration, free SSL certificate, and unlimited storage.  

A2 Hosting Shared Web Hosting Pricing 

  • Lite: It starts at $2.94 a month for Anytime money-back guarantee, Softaculous (1-click Drupal, WordPress & Joomla Install), free Cloudflare CDN, free SSL certificate, easy cPanel control panel, free site migration, 25 email accounts, unlimited SSD storage and transfer, 1 Website, 5 subdomains, PHP 4.4, 5.x, 7.0, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 or 7.4, spam protection, expertly tuned servers, redundant power (ups/diesel generator), quadruple redundant network, 24/7 network monitoring, reinforced DDoS protection, KernelCare daily, Automatic and rebootless Kernel updates 
  • Swift: It starts at $4.90 a month and it combines all the Lite plan features with unlimited email accounts, server rewind backups, free automatic backups, unlimited databases, and unlimited websites. 
  • Turbo: It starts at $9.31 a month for all the features on the Swift plan plus Turbo Servers, HTTP/2 support, Gzip compression, Magento LiteSpeed Cache (LiteMage), XenForo LiteSpeed Cache, PrestaShop LiteSpeed Cache, WooCommerce LiteSpeed Cache, WordPress LiteSpeed Cache, Cloudflare Plus, and A2 optimized Site Accelerator. 

SiteGround Shared Web Hosting  

Shared web hosting on Siteground is essentially a combination of cheap pricing and high-performing SSD powered infrastructure. More specifically, you get the benefit of leveraging unlimited bandwidth, high-level customer support (including Live Chat) and customer service, a range of free tools, plus performance optimization technologies for as low as $3.95 a month.  

Now, I guess you’ve noticed shared web hosting here is slightly costlier than A2 Hosting’s plans. Fair enough. But, there’s a good reason behind that. 

You see, while shared hosting usually entails bundling multiple users within one server, SiteGround happens to isolate its user accounts.  This consequently translates to increased web security (real-time detection) and great web performance. 

Other notable SiteGround shared hosting features include free daily backups, free Cloudflare CDN, free SSL certificate, free site builder, free site transfer, SuperCacher, and one-click Git repo.  

SiteGround Shared Web Hosting Hosting Pricing  

  • StartUp: Starts at $3.95 a month for free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates, free shopping cart install, phone customer support, live chat and ticket support, automated daily backup, proactive updates and patches, server monitoring, account isolation, LXC-based stability, SuperCacher, HTTP/2 enabled servers, free CDN, SSD storage, 5 data centre locations, unlimited sub and parked domains, unlimited MySQL DB, free drag and drop builder, unmetered data transfer, 10 GB storage, and 10,000 monthly site visits. 
  • GrowBig: Starts at $5.95 a month for all the StartUp Plan features plus premium provisions like staging, free site transfer, advanced on-demand backup, 20 GB storage, and 25,000 monthly site visits. 
  • GoGeek: Starts at $11.95 a month for GrowBig Plan features along with Geeky supplementary provisions like pre-installed Git, PCI compliant servers, and advanced priority support team, 30 GB storage, and 100,000 monthly site visits. 

WordPress Hosting 

A2 Hosting WordPress Hosting 

A2 Hosting is one of the biggest players when it comes to WordPress hosting. It’s particularly renowned for its performance optimization features, which are principally available in the form of Shared WordPress Hosting and Managed WordPress Hosting.  

The former, to begin with, starts at $2.94 a month – just like the regular Shared Hosting package. And for that, you could install WordPress through a specialized one-click installer, or alternatively, have A2 Hosting’s experts handle that for you.  

And speaking of which, the WordPress experts hired by A2 Hosting are best leveraged through Managed WordPress Hosting. This is where your package transforms from regular shared hosting to specially-optimized WordPress hosting.  

Your site’s core WordPress platform and its accompanying plugins are automatically updated and patched by WordPress experts, and you get to take advantage of turbo servers, automated backups, 1-click site staging, Plesk control panel, a free JetPack Personal license, WordPress caching technologies, plus unlimited websites.  

A2 Hosting WordPress Hosting Pricing (Managed WordPress Hosting) 

  • Managed 1-Site: Starts at $11.99 a month for Anytime money-back guarantee, free and easy site migration, free Jetpack Personal license, automated backups, 1-click site staging, Plesk Control Panel, Turbo Servers, free SSL certificate, 10 GB storage, 1 WordPress site, unlimited email accounts, unlimited subdomains, expertly tuned servers, quadruple redundant network, 24/7 network monitoring, hundreds of free WordPress templates, Photon unlimited image CDN, free Cloudflare CDN, automatic A2 optimized WordPress updates, built-in caching, RAID-10 storage, WordPress LiteSpeed Cache, 24/7/365 WordPress support, WordPress pre-installed, unlimited databases, managed WordPress updates and patching, and website staging 
  • Managed 3-Sites: Starts at $18.99 a month for all Managed 1-Site plan features plus 2 add-on domain options, 3 WordPress websites, and 25 GB RAID-10 storage.
  • Managed Unlimited: Starts at $36.98 a month for all the features on the Managed 3-Sites plan combined with unlimited WordPress sites, unlimited add-on domain tack ons, and 40 GB RAID-10 storage. 

SiteGround WordPress Hosting 

SiteGround isn’t just a great WordPress host. It’s much more than that, and the proof lies within the WordPress platform itself.  

What does that mean?  

Well, the thing is, SiteGround happens to be one of only three web hosting solutions that are officially recommended by WordPress.org. Yes, that’s right – WordPress itself noticed that SiteGround is truly extraordinary and subsequently made it a hall of famer.  

That said, the secret to SiteGround’s exceptional WordPress hosting is providing managed WordPress hosting at the price of standard shared hosting. Every single WordPress hosting plan here comes with managed services.  

Hence, in addition to specialized WordPress hosting features, you’re assured of technical support by WordPress experts. They’ll install WordPress for you, then proceed to apply the subsequent WordPress and plugin updates automatically.  

SiteGround’s managed WordPress hosting also offers 1-click WordPress staging, WordPress SuperCacher, WordPress CLI and SSH, advanced on-demand backup, free Cloudflare CDN, free WordPress Migrator, etc.  

Then get this. Although SiteGround’s managed WordPress hosting plans can comfortably support a WooCommerce-based online store (e-commerce site), you should choose the specialized WooCommerce hosting option instead. This takes your managed services up a notch by further optimizing your hosting package for WooCommerce  

SiteGround WordPress Hosting Pricing (Managed WordPress Hosting) 

  • StartUp: Starts at $3.95 a month for essential WordPress features. They include WordPress-related support, WordPress advanced security, WordPress auto-update, WordPress Free Install, free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates, free shopping cart install, phone, chat and ticket support, automated daily backup, proactive updates and patches, server monitoring, account isolation, LXC-based stability, SuperCacher, HTTP/2 enabled servers, free CDN, SSD storage, 5 data centre locations, unlimited sub domain and parked domains, unlimited MySQL DB, free drag and drop builder, unmetered data transfer, 10 GB storage, and 10,000 monthly site visits. 
  • GrowBig: Starts at $5.95 a month for all the StartUp Plan features plus premium WordPress provisions like one-click WordPress staging, WordPress special cache, staging, advanced on-demand backup, free site transfer, 20 GB storage, and 25,000 monthly site visits. 
  • GoGeek: Starts at $11.95 for all the GrowBig Plan features plus with Geeky WordPress capabilities like SG-Git for WordPress repo creation, pre-installed Git, PCI compliant servers, and advanced priority support, 30 GB storage, and 100,000 monthly site visits. 

Virtual Private Server Hosting (VPS Hosting) / Cloud Hosting 

A2 Hosting VPS Hosting 

Although shared hosting on A2 Hosting features high-performing turbocharged servers, the company shines best when it comes to VPS hosting.  

This is the sweet spot for any type of website since it mitigates the weaknesses of shared servers at reasonable rates. In other words, VPS hosting allocates dedicated server resources at a fraction of the price you’d pay for real Dedicated Server Hosting.  

The trick that A2 Hosting has used here is simply providing virtually server environments with isolated resources for each user.  

In essence, you get to choose between fully-managed VPS hosting, unmanaged VPS hosting, and core VPS hosting. Three high-performing configurations for different types of users.  

Managed VPS hosting, to begin with, offers dedicated server environments along with managed installation and upgrade of your core apps.  

Unmanaged VPS hosting, on the other hand, suits experienced developers who’d like to run and manage their own apps. A2 Hosting even grants them up to 15 operating system options.  

That said, the most flexible of all VPS hosting packages here is A2 Hosting’s Core option. It combines the best of managed and unmanaged packages by simply supplementing managed services with root access.  

A2 Hosting VPS Hosting Pricing (Core and Managed VPS Hosting) 

  • Power+: Starts at $25 a month for an anytime money-back guarantee, free and easy site transfer, root access, free cPanel control panel, free SSL and SSD, 4 CPU cores, 2 TB data transfer, 75 GB storage, and 4 GB RAM. 
  • Prestige+: Starts at $35 a month for an anytime money-back guarantee, free and easy site transfer, root access, free cPanel control panel, free SSL and SSD, 6 CPU cores, 3 TB data transfer, 100 GB storage, and 6 GB RAM. 
  • Pinnacle: Starts at $50 a month for an anytime money-back guarantee, free and easy site transfer, root access, free cPanel control panel, free SSL and SSD, 8 CPU cores, 4 TB data transfer, 150 GB storage, and 8 GB RAM. 

SiteGround Cloud Hosting 

SiteGround chooses to use a different approach when it comes to virtual private server hosting. Instead of riding on a standard virtual network, SiteGround set up its own custom cloud infrastructure.  

So, while the resultant framework is almost similar to VPS hosting architecture, SiteGround’s cloud network is substantially more flexible with more disk space, solid-state drives, and flexible provider tech stacks.  

You should be able to customize your own cloud environment, scale easily, plus capitalize on managed services. Other benefits include dynamic caching, private DNS, dedicated IP, SSH access, sub-account management, advanced performance, as well as dedicated server resources.  

Sadly, however, SiteGround’s cloud hosting is way costlier than A2 Hosting’s VPS hosting. The latter starts at $25 per month for 4 CPU cores and 4 GB RAM, while the former starts at $80 for 2 CPU cores and 4 GB RAM.  

SiteGround Cloud Hosting Pricing (Managed Cloud Hosting) 

Dedicated Server Hosting Provider

A2 Hosting Dedicated Server Hosting  

 

Just like the corresponding VPS hosting package, dedicated server hosting on A2 Hosting comes in three varying forms that cater to different types of users- managed dedicated hosting, unmanaged dedicated hosting, and core dedicated hosting.  

Unmanaged is, of course, the most flexible option since it offers different Linux OS versions, along with root access and extensive admin-level control privileges. This will cost you at least $99.59 for 2 CPU cores, 10TB data transfer, and 8GB RAM.  

It’s worth noting, however, that unmanaged dedicated hosting is reserved for experienced developers who can work with a command-line interface. But, if you don’t have the skillset, the alternative managed dedicated hosting should save you the trouble that comes with server management and maintenance. The only problem is, it doesn’t provide root access or custom OS options.  

But, in the end, at least you get to capitalize on A2 Hosting’s SwiftServer resources. This is basically a collection of hardware configurations meant to enhance performance and redundancy. Some of its notable features include HTTP/2, Cloudflare CDN, multi-core processors, fast DD3 memory, enterprise-grade hard drives, etc.  

A2 Hosting Dedicated Server Hosting Pricing (Core Servers) 

  • Sprint: Starts at $141.09 a month for an anytime money-back guarantee, free and easy site transfer, root access, free SSL, free cPanel control panel, Intel 3.1+ GHz, 2 CPU cores, from 10 TB data transfer, from 2 500 GB storage instances, from 8 GB RAM. 
  • Exceed Starts at $207.49 a month for an anytime money-back guarantee, free and easy site transfer, root access, free SSL, free cPanel control panel, Intel Xeon 2.4+ GHz, 4 CPU cores, from 15 TB data transfer, from 2 500 GB storage instances, from 8 GB RAM. 
  • Mach: Starts at $290.49 a month for an anytime money-back guarantee, free and easy site transfer, root access, free SSL, free cPanel control panel, 2 Intel Xeon 2.1+ GHz processors, 8+ CPU cores, from 20 TB data transfer, from 2 1 TB storage instances, from 16 GB RAM. 

SiteGround Dedicated Server Hosting 

SiteGround’s Dedicated Server Hosting is a premium managed service that provides enterprise-grade hardware along with proprietary software. The end result is accelerated server performance and unlimited scaling capabilities.  

That said, your package pricing depends on not only your server resource allocation but also your selected data centers. Asia-Pacific locations happen to be the costliest, while the US and Europe-based data centres are the cheapest.  

Not as cheap as A2 Hosting though. While A2 Hosting starts you off at $99.59 per month, the lowest SiteGround goes is $269 per month. That should give you a dedicated server with Intel Xeon e3 processors, 3.20Ghz CPU clock speed, 16GB DDR3 RAM, 10 TB bandwidth, plus a host of specialized performance features.  

SiteGround Dedicated Server Hosting Pricing (Managed Dedicated Server) 

  • Entry Server: Starts at $269 a month for 10TB bandwidth, 480 GB SSD, 16 GB DDR3 RAM, 8 MB CPU cache, 8 CPU threads, 4 CPU cores, 3.20Ghz CPU clock speed, and Intel Xeon E3-1230 SSD. 
  • Power Server: Starts at $349 a month for 10TB bandwidth, 960 GB SSD, 32 GB DDR3 RAM, 8 MB CPU cache, 8 CPU threads, 4 CPU cores, 3.50Ghz CPU clock speed, and Intel Xeon E3-1270 SSD. 
  • Super Power Server: Starts at $729 a month for 10TB bandwidth, 2 960 GB SSD instances in RAID 1, 64 GB DDR3 RAM, 15 MB CPU cache, 2×12 CPU threads,2X6 CPU cores, 2.00Ghz CPU clock speed, and Intel Xeon E5-2630 SSD. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I send spam with an A2 Hosting?

In A2 Hosting is completely prohibited to send unsolicited emails. Breaking this rule can end in a terminated account. 

Is SiteGround HIPAA compliant?

The SiteGround Hosting does not comply with the HIPAA compliant. 

Is SiteGround PCI compliant?

With SiteGround you won’t have to worry about the safety or security of your business as an online merchant. All the hosting plans are compliant with PCI. 

A2 Hosting vs SiteGround Compared – The Ultimate Verdict 

Going by these features, it’s evident that A2 Hosting and SiteGround are both reliable high-powered hosting providers.

Each host here has uniquely optimized its shared hosting, VPS/cloud hosting, WordPress hosting, plus dedicated server hosting environments for enhanced performance.

That means you should be getting some of the fastest page loading times (and response time) with either A2 Hosting or SiteGround.  

Bottom Line: It’s worth noting, however, that while A2 Hosting is a decent performer, SiteGround has an edge over it (with more “Pros” overall).

The isolated account environments make its shared web hosting provider faster, then its increasingly optimized WordPress technologies translate to better WordPress hosting performance (faster, wtih less downtine), while the extensively scalable cloud framework performs better than A2 Hosting’s VPS network (pros and cons to each, depending on your business). 

But then again, A2 Hosting provider manages to make up for that by adjusting its pricing downwards. Consequently, you’re bound to pay much less if you go for A2 Hosting 

The choice is yours.  

Most User Should Start with Siteground

Siteground offers higher end performance for budget prices. I have yet to find a better mix of value and performance for $5.95 or less per month. This is why I PERSONALLY start with Siteground for sites under 100k visits per month.

Start with Siteground!
We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

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