Both SiteGround and A2 Hosting are pioneer web hosting providers with a solid uptime, reliable support, and affordable pricing.
If you’re on the fence about choosing between SiteGround and A2 Hosting, we’re here to help.
For quick advice, we highly recommend you go with SiteGround, as it is more reliable and provides robust features to kickstart and grow your online venture.
Getting back to why SiteGround vs. A2 Hosting is a tough call: both providers have their advantages.
As you read further, you will get to know some key differences and similarities between them rather, eliminating the confusion over which one to choose.
Therefore, we have done an unbiased, head to head comparison of SiteGround and A2 Hosting, so that you can select only the best web hosting provider for your website/blog.
We have compared SiteGround and A2 Hosting side by side on some of the most critical parameters that you need to look at, such as ease of use, performance & speed, security, pricing plans, customer support, WordPress optimization, and so on.
Read on to learn which one is the best web hosting provider, SiteGround or A2 Hosting, for your online venture.
Here’s a quick index to help you navigate this article:
So let’s dive in.
SiteGround vs A2 Hosting: Beginner Friendliness
If you are a beginner, your web hosting provider shouldn’t use any complicated methods that will leave you confused and in a lousy situation that affects the overall performance of your website.
An easy to use web hosting provider will give you enough freedom to manage your site on your own without any experience.
SiteGround offers easy and free migration within 24 hours. A2 also provides free movement, but only if your web hosting provider uses cPanel.
SiteGround and A2 Hosting both offer easy to use control panels so that you can manage everything in one place.
Winner: In this battle, it’s a tie because both web hosting providers offer a user-friendly interface, which is perfect for beginners.
SiteGround vs A2 Hosting: Speed Battle
Having a slow page loading time messes up your SEO rankings a lot. The longer your website faces downtime, the more problems it will create on your website.
Apart from that, your engagement and conversion rates are hard hit by slow page loading times. Therefore, having a speedy web hosting provider is essential.
SIteGround offers some of the latest technologies that help to boost the speed of your website. SiteGround uses CDN Cloudflare to speed up the performance.
SiteGround uses one of the latest versions of PHP and uses SSD drives rather than depending on HHD drives, which used to affect the performance and speed of your website.
SiteGround uses some speed-boosting features that help your page load faster, even when your page is facing a high amount of traffic.
Its in-house Cache technology, SuperCache, is built with multiple caching tools to give you rapid page loading times.
With the Startup plan, you get a basic level of caching, but when you upgrade to the higher plans, you get advanced level Caching tools.
Coming to page loading time, SiteGround offers page loading in less than 0.5 seconds, which is way faster than what Google requires to rank your website. You can expect around 8-10 minutes of downtime per year and an uptime of 99.9%.
SiteGround has three data centers in the USA, Asia, and the Netherlands, while A2 hosting has four data centers in the UK, Netherlands, Asia, and the USA.
A2 Hosting beats SiteGround in speed. A2 offers one of the most exciting, fast page loading times because A2 Hosting offers Turbo features, which offers 20x faster performance than the average performance of any web hosting provider.
However, for that, you will have to upgrade to the Turbo plan, which is one of the most expensive plans by A2 Hosting. With A2 hosting, your page loads 2x faster than SiteGround.
This is quite impressive, but when it comes to downtime, SiteGround wins. A2 offers around 30-37 minutes of downtime per month, with an average of 99.9% uptime.
A2’s performance falls when your website encounters high traffic, which affects the overall performance that it offers.
Winner: While A2 provides one of the fastest page loading times, it still falls short when it comes to performance. It is clear to say SiteGround wins here because of the stable performance.
SiteGround vs A2 Hosting: Features Offered
Besides all the security, speed, and other features, both SiteGround and A2 offer some of the best features in terms of web hosting services.
However, there are some of the crucial elements that we want to emphasize. Let us have a broader look into the feature comparison of SiteGround and A2 Hosting.
Staging Area
The staging area lets you see how your website looks in front of your users. You can have a front-end view and make small changes in your website with the help of staging areas before you go live.
This feature is vital to looking polished and professional.
SiteGround offers a free staging tool, while A2 lacks staging tools on their regular plans. To get this feature, you will need to go for managed WordPress hosting.
Website Builder
SiteGround offers a free version of a wizard page builder to make your building process more manageable. A2 Hosting also provides a necessary website builder tool.
Email Accounts
You can create unlimited email accounts with your domain name with SiteGround and A2 Hosting. Both of them do not restrict you from creating email accounts.
Bandwidth
There is no limit on the bandwidth. Without extra charges, SiteGround and A2 Hosting offer unmetered bandwidth.
Domain Name
If you are a beginner, having a free domain name comes in very handy. This feature is lacking in both SiteGround and A2 Hosting.
Money-back Guarantee
SiteGround offers a traditional 30 days money-back guarantee. You get a full refund if you are unsatisfied with their service if you apply for a refund within 30 days. After 30 days, you can ask for a refund for the remaining period of your hosting.
A2 stands out in this case. With their anytime money-back guarantee, you can apply for a refund anytime. This ensures customer satisfaction is kept first by A2 Hosting.
Data Storage
SiteGround offers limited data storage options for you. The startup plan only allows 10GB Webspace while even their most expensive program offers 40GB storage.
Meanwhile, A2 Hosting provides 100GB storage on their startup plan and unlimited storage on all the plans.
Backup
Since backup is one of the important security options, SiteGround offers daily backup and stores your files for 30 days. You can restore your data with their tool anytime you want.
A2 hosting does not provide free backups with their startup plans. However, if you are using a higher plan, you get free automatic backups.
More Freebies
Apart from significant features, there are many additional features that SiteGround offers, and they are as follows.
- If you go for the higher plans, you get priority support from their team.
- Add collaboration on GrowBig and GrowGeek plans.
- Git integration and add collaboration on higher plans.
A2 Hosting also offers some additional freebies that would come in handy for your website:
- Free attractive themes with their page builder to give your website a unique design.
- A2 Offers a wide range of services that you can choose from.
- Turbo options to boost page loading times.
Winner: SiteGround has more versatile features than A2 Hosting.
SiteGround vs A2 Hosting: Security Options Comparison
As a website owner, you know one of the biggest concerns is having tight security for your website. Apart from security, you also need to search for a web host that keeps your site safe by providing threat detection before problems occur.
SiteGround offers first-class security options for your website, such as free automatic daily backups to protect your data. Rather than relying on developers, SiteGround builds its own security patches.
For additional security, SiteGround uses the Al Anti-bot system to detect thefts on your website. This fully managed web host offers free SSL certificates on all of the plans, along with firewall protection.
A2 Hosting offers a strict security protocol on all of its plans. Even with their cheapest hosting, you get the number one best security options for your website.
A2 hosting offers brute detection on your website and dual firewalls. You get virus scanning for free on your entire website and get immediate notification whenever your site is close to receiving any threats.
A2 offers DDoS protection, along with its built-in protection tools, HackScan. However, unlike SiteGround, it does not build its security patches. A2 Hosting also provides free SSL certification on all of its plans.
Winner: While both of them offer tight security that is enough to keep you protected from all threats, hacks, attacks, and malware, SiteGround provides much faster detection of threats than A2 Hosting. So for security, SiteGround is our winner.
Related Reading: Secure a WordPress Website
SiteGround vs A2 Hosting: Customer Support & Documentation
You will need guidance at every step when you are a beginner, and even if you are not, you will still need quick solutions for many new things that your website comes across.
For this, you must have reliable customer support from your web hosting provider.
SiteGround and A2 Hosting both offer 24/7 customer support via call, email, and live chat system. SiteGround is precisely famous for having one of the best customer support teams that help you solve any queries in less than 10 minutes.
Live chat can be accessible 24/7, but when you go for email, you will receive an email from their official team with a quick solution within ten minutes.
SiteGround and A2 Hosting both answer some of the most frequently asked questions on their website to get basic ideas and get your queries solved without having to contact them.
Other than that, SiteGround also offers assistance when it comes to choosing a pricing plan. You also get a free migration service, which means they will do it for you while you sit back and relax.
SiteGround vs A2 Hosting: Pricing Comparison
While you are looking for a perfect web hosting for your website or blog, pricing is one of the most important factors to be considered because some of the web hosts do not offer adequate services for the price they charge.
Let us look into the details of the pricing of SiteGround or A2 Hosting.
SiteGround offers three significant plans:
- StartUp: $6.99/month –Suitable for small website owners who want to host one website and require less than 10GB of Webspace.
- GrowBig: $9.99/month –This package is suitable for small to medium website owners who expect around 25,000 visits monthly and up to 20GB webspace.
- GoGeek: $14.99/month –This plan is suitable for people who own multiple websites and provides up to 40GB Webspace.
Check out our SiteGround Coupon to claim an exclusive discount on SiteGround.
A2 hosting offers four different plans:
- StartUp: $2.99/month –you get up to 100GB SSD storage, and it is suitable for one website.
- Drive: $4.99/month –This plan lets you host unlimited websites and unlimited SSD storage.
- Turbo Boost: $9.99/month –this plan offers 20x faster performance than the other plans. It lets you host unlimited websites and gives unlimited SSD storage.
- Turbo Max: $14.99/month –This is one of the fastest plans, and it has 4x more resources than all the plans.
Check out our A2 Hosting Coupon to claim an exclusive discount on A2 Hosting.
The reason why SiteGround plans are more expensive than A2 Hosting plans is that SiteGround offers a fully managed web hosting service, while A2 Hosting offers unmanaged web hosting services.
SiteGround takes care of the speed, security, and management of your website; everything will be managed by them.
Winner: SiteGround’s pricing is a bit more expensive than A2 Hosting, and the features are limited. This round calls A2 Hosting the winner. If you are looking for affordable solutions, A2 should be your choice.
SiteGround vs A2 Hosting: WordPress Optimization
SiteGround is recommended by WordPress, which makes it one of the best WordPress web hosting providers. You can install WordPress in one click with the help of WordPress.
SiteGround has an official team of experts that provides thoughtful resources and solutions to solve your queries regarding WordPress.
A2 Hosting offers WordPress optimized hosting.
With their managed WordPress hosting, you can take your website to a whole new level with the various tools that they provide while the guru Crew manages and takes care of the finer details of your website.
With A2 Hosting, you get secure and faster WordPress hosting, which makes using and maintaining your site easier than before.
Winner: Both of them are WordPress optimized and reliable web hosts for WordPress sites. Even if WordPress recommends SiteGround, A2 Hosting does not take any chance for complaints in this round; therefore, it is a tie between both.
When Should One Opt for Siteground?
There are some reasons why you should go with SiteGround. The list is never-ending; however, we have listed some of the significant reasons why SiteGround should be your top pick.
- If you are looking for less downtime and speedy servers.
- If you want a fully managed web hosting experience.
- You want one of the best customer support experiences among web hosting providers.
- You need less storage for your website.
- You’re looking for dynamic features from web hosting providers.
- You need an excellent page builder tool.
When Should One Opt for A2 Hosting?
A2 Hosting should be your number one choice if:
- You are looking for a budget-friendly hosting provider.
- You are ready to risk your SEO rankings because of high downtime.
- Can bear all the instability issues that occur sometimes.
- You want unlimited storage for your website without paying extra charges.
Final Verdict: SiteGround or A2 Hosting | Which One to Choose
Believe us when we say SiteGround vs. A2 Hosting is one of the most stringent comparisons, especially with the end-to-end services that they provide. However, you need to make one choice and go with the best web hosting provider.
After comparing SiteGround and A2 Hosting, the clear winner as per the complete comparison is SiteGround. You cannot go wrong when it comes to choosing SiteGround as your host.
Rather than just boasting about their services, SiteGround offers premium quality web hosting for all kinds of websites.
SiteGround uses some of the best new technologies to reduce your downtime with a fully managed web hosting service. It is a reliable hosting provider and offers a good value for the money you pay.
There are many reasons why we choose SiteGround over A2 Hosting, but that does not mean A2 Hosting is a bad service provider.
If you are on a budget, you can choose A2 Hosting as your host, but remember, you will miss out on some essential features that you need to grow your business over time.
Which one is your choice – SiteGround or A2 Hosting? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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