Expert Summary
If you ask us to pick between these two equally great hosts we would have a difficult time giving you an answer.
We love SiteGround for its absolutely insanely fast support response times, as well as the technology stack behind the hosting. SiteGround’s Supercacher is extremely easy to use, with OpCache, Memcached, and NINGX added in seconds.
A2 Hosting’s support is excellent but not quite on a par with SiteGround. However, A2 Hosting’s performance-related technology stack is more flexible when setting cache times. Their A2 Optimizer plugin is very easy to setup when using the default settings, but the ability to agressively cache (i.e. longer cache times) for lower traffic sites is very beneficial.
With either host, we can say from experience, you won’t be disappointed.
User Reviews
SiteGround Reviews
I have been in hosting purgatory since EIG aquired my first love, Site5 and laid off their entire US support team rendering the company and its services to garbage. I have used VPS services rendered by a friend of mine until now.
I switched to Siteground (actually had hosting services from them maybe a decade ago) and they’re really great. I got Cloud VPS for its Wordpress monitoring and tools. Unlimited Cpanel accounts and $150 a month for really decent hosting and great technical support.
I have a team to lean on again! These guys are really helpful and I don’t have to fix everything. I just had a problem with an archaic Joomla 1.8 legacy site after migration and they helped me work through the problem. It wasn’t a tough fix, but the fact that I didn’t have to figure it out is priceless. I know I can count on them (like I counted on Site5 before the went to the dark side).
EIG is evil. Google it. Siteground is good.
A2 Hosting Reviews
Overall Hosting Comparison
SiteGround
“If 10 minute support response times doesn’t impress you, their leading-edge technology stack will.
Featuring PHP 7.1 and HHVM, Memcached, OpCache, NGINX, and even HHVM on their Cloud & Dedicated Servers. SiteGround has to be high on your list if you are looking for a new web hosting provider.”
- FREE site transfer or new site setup with 1-click install.
- FREE automated daily backups, CloudFlare CDN, email, and Free SSL.
- NGINX, PHP7, MemCached, OpCache & HHVM available.
- Recommended by The Webmaster for WordPress Sites.
- Ideal for businesses with 99.9% uptime.
- Incredibly fast 10 minute technical support response times.
A2 Hosting
“A firm favorite with our users. What makes A2 Hosting special, is that no matter what type of hosting you need, they have it.
Windows, Linux, Unmanaged VPS, Managed VPS and even Managed VPS with root access. They offer technologies such as LiteSpeed, and LiteSpeed cache, Memcached, OpCache, HTTP/2, Railgun, Anycast DNS, plus much more.”
- FREE site transfer or new site setup with 1-click install.
- FREE automated daily backups, CloudFlare CDN, email, and Free SSL.
- NGINX, PHP7, Memcached, OpCache & HHVM is available.
- Recommended by The Webmaster for WordPress Sites.
- Ideal for businesses with 99.9% uptime.
- Incredibly fast 10-minute technical support response times.
Shared Hosting Comparison
SiteGround
“SiteGround’s shared hosting is incredibly good value, offering a rich array of features and fast hosting support.
We recommend their GrowBig plan which offers more resources, all the features of their SuperCacher (MemCached, OpCache), priority support, and 30-days premium backups as standard. “
- FREE site transfer or new site setup with 1-click install
- FREE Let’s Encrypt Certificates with instant deployment
- FREE 30-days Premium backups with GrowBig or GoGeek plans.
- 24 / 7 Technical Support with 10 minute response time
- HTTP/2 Enabled Servers for greater speed over HTTPS
- Site Staging on their GoGeek Plan
A2 Hosting
“A2 Hosting have created a very powerful product, promising all the latest technologies and fast support. This is definitely one to put on your shortlist.
We recommend their Turbo plan to take advantage of all their features (A2 Optimized Site Accelerator, Railgun, HTTP/2 and more), and includes significantly more resources per account. “
- FREE site transfer or new site setup with 1-click install.
- Turbo Server, SSD Unlimited Storage, Unlimited Data Transfer, and A2 Optimized Caching (includes LiteSpeed, Memcached, PHP 7 & OPcache).
- FREE Hackscan, Backups, and Firewall.
- A2 Optimized WordPress Plugin provides performance & security optimizations.
- HTTP/2 Enabled Servers for greater speed over HTTPS.
- Free CloudFlare CDN, with the option to upgrade for more performance optimizations.
VPS Hosting Comparison
SiteGround
A2 Hosting
“A2 offer a range of VPS plans to suit all needs. They offer both Linux & Windows, Unmanaged, Managed (without Root Access), and Managed (with Root Access). Choose from optional extras including Turbo Boost, Railgun and CloudFlare WAF.
Their managed plans feature worry-free Host-Guard management from a dedicated Guru Crew Support team and include free cPanel. “
- FREE cPanel (Linux) or Plesk (Windows) Control Panel on Managed Plans.
- Turbo VPS options for 20x faster page loads with LiteSpeed & LiteSpeed Cache.
- SSD Storage for lower latency, and higher throughput.
- HTTP/2, OpCache, Memcached, and Railgun are available.
- Free New Relic Server Monitoring Setup & mod_pagespeed Setup.
- Fully Managed with or Without root access available. Cheap unmanaged plans are available.
Cloud Hosting Comparison
SiteGround
“SiteGround’s cloud hosting is suitable for those needing more resources, but who love the comfort of a fully managed hosting solution similar to Shared Hosting.
Their Cloud Hosting comes with all their advanced features, is fully managed, and comes with the option of HHVM for additional performance. “
- FREE WHM + cPanel Control Panel. Easily create multiple accounts.
- HHVM technology makes dynamic websites (i.e. WordPress) faster that when using PHP 7.
- One-click Site Staging, Git and other developer features.
- HTTP/2, OpCache, Memcached and Railgun.
- Automatic Scaling of resources (RAM, CPU) on demand.
- Fully Managed Cloud Hosting with support, backups and uptime guarantee.
A2 Hosting
Reseller Hosting Comparison
SiteGround
“SiteGround’s reseller hosting is targeted towards developers or designers who wish to manage their clients websites.
Their reseller system works off a credit system where you can pre-pay for their basic StartUp plan at a discount. Great if your clients just need the basic features offered by SiteGround. “
- FREE cPanel Control Panel & SSH access
- Resell services at any price, plus discounted domains.
- Easy management via custom-built reseller tools.
- White Label Option for non-branded cPanel & Private DNS.
- Greater Discounts when you pre-pay for more credits.
- Credits never expire, and start with just 5 credits.
A2 Hosting
“A2’s reseller hosting is one of the best around. Unlike many hosts who keep all the best technology to themselves, A2 Hosting allows you to offer all the good stuff to your users, including the Turbo Server option.
All but the basic plan comes with free WHMCS or Blesta billing platform. You can also sell domains with a Free eNom Domain reseller account. “
- FREE cPanel & WHM (Linux) or Plesk (Windows) Control Panel.
- Unlimited websites and free dedicated IP address (if requested).
- LiteSpeed Cache Plugins if Turbo option selected. Full SSD storage.
- White Label Option for non-branded cPanel & Private DNS.
- Free WHMCS and Free eNom Domain Reseller Account.
- High resource allocations with 2 CPU cores (shared) & 1GB RAM per user.
Dedicated Hosting Comparison
SiteGround
“SiteGround’s Dedicated Servers are available for those who require a high performing, stable hosting environment with no noisy neighbours.
SiteGround are one of the few dedicated hosting specialists who take care of everything for you. Even a novice can use them. Furthermore, if you need a completely custom solution you can utilize their Enterprise hosting to get something designed specifically for your needs. “
- FREE WHM + cPanel Control Panel. Easily create multiple accounts.
- HHVM, HTTP/2, OpCache, Memcached and Railgun. Site Staging, Git.
- Full Management, Monitoring with Proactive response.
- 24⁄7 VIP Support via phone, chat and ticket.
- Private DNS, with 5 free Dedicated IP’s. IP Tables Firewall.
- Enterprise Intel Xeon Servers - E3-1230, E3-1270 or E5-2630 with SSD Storage.
A2 Hosting
“A2’s Dedicated Servers are available for those who require access to the entirety of the resources of a high performing, stable hosting environment.
The servers are available with and without Management and are perfect for intensive applications or for reselling hosting to other users. “
- FREE WHM + cPanel Control Panel. Easily create multiple accounts.
- HHVM, HTTP/2, OpCache, Memcached, and Railgun. Site Staging, Git.
- Full Management, Monitoring with a Proactive response.
- 24⁄7 VIP Support via phone, chat, and ticket.
- Private DNS, with five free Dedicated IP’s. IP Tables Firewall.
- Enterprise Intel Xeon Servers - E3-1230, E3-1270 or E5-2630 with SSD Storage.
Website Builders Comparison
SiteGround
“SiteGround have partnered with Weebly to offer a free website builder to it’s line-up, although premium plans are available for more features.
Weebly is one of the most popular website builders that offers clean modern responsive designs that can be built with absolutely no coding knowledge. “
- Can be used with any of their hosting plans.
- Responsive Mobile Ready Themes that adapt seamlessly to any device.
- Powerful E-commerce Store features including cart, search, Shipping, Tax and inventory management.
- Create a blog including categories, sidebar customization, commenting, and SEO.
- Quickly add slideshows, galleries, fully customizable forms and more.
- Fully customize forms by dragging and dropping new fields, customize questions and response types.
A2 Hosting
Managed WordPress Hosting Comparison
SiteGround
“SiteGround is not a typical Managed WordPress Hosting provider, in the sense that they don’t have highly restricted plans (i.e. WordPress Plugin restrictions, no cPanel etc) costing the earth.
Instead, their Shared Hosting Plans come with special WordPress security and other performance related features as standard, for a fraction of the cost.”
- Officially endorsed by WordPress.org.
- FREE WordPress transfer or installation with one-click.
- SuperCacher Plugin for highly tuned performance configuration.
- Automatic Updates and website firewall as standard.
- WordPress CLI, GIT and WordPress Site Staging (GoGeek Plan \ Cloud).
- Special Woocommerce plan for ecommerce websites.
A2 Hosting
“While you can install and optimize WordPress on their shared hosting, they also offer fully Managed WordPress Hosting Plans that include their Turbo (LiteSpeed + LiteSpeed Cache) as standard. This comes on a more optimized platform with more resources and features to help manage your site.
Featuring the Plesk Control Panel, Site Staging, Automated Backups, and a Free Jetpack Personal Licence, it offers exceptional value.”
- Perpetual Security provides proactive protection against hackers and security threats.
- FREE WordPress transfer or installation with one-click.
- A2 Optimized for pre-configured Security and Performance.
- Automatic Updates, Site Staging
- CloudFlare ServerShield helps determine the faster route over the internet (A limited version of CloudFlare Argo). CloudFlare Plus is available.
- Turbo Server as standard, with more resources per user, OpCache and LiteSpeed Cache.
Domain Hosting Comparison
SiteGround
While SiteGround may offer domains, it is not a specialist domain registrar.
We recommend either Namecheap (Namecheap Coupons) or GoDaddy (GoDaddy Coupons).
A2 Hosting
While A2 Hosting may offer domains, it is not a specialist domain registrar.
We recommend either Namecheap (Namecheap Coupons) or GoDaddy (GoDaddy Coupons).
Free Hosting Comparison
SiteGround
A2 Hosting
SiteGround Hosting Plans
Cloud Hosting Plans
| Plan Name | Space | CPU | RAM | Bandwidth | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry [1] | 40 GB | 2 x 3.00GHz | 4 | 5 TB | $80.00 | More Details |
| Business | 60 GB | 3 x 3.00GHz | 6 | 5 TB | $120.00 | More Details |
| Business Plus | 80 GB | 4 x 3.00GHz | 8 | 5 TB | $160.00 | More Details |
| Super Power | 120 GB | 8 x 3.00GHz | 10 | 5 TB | $240.00 | More Details |
Notes:
- [1] All Cloud Plans are fully customizable with CPU, Memory, and SSD space. All come fully managed, with no root access.
Reseller Hosting Plans
| Plan Name | Space | Bandwidth | Panel | No. of Sites | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-4 Credits [1] | 10 GB | Unlimited | cPanel \ WHM | 1 | $49.00 | More Details |
| 5-10 Credits | 10 GB | Unlimited | cPanel \ WHM | 1 | $45.00 | More Details |
| 11+ Credits | 10 GB | Unlimited | cPanel \ WHM | 1 | $42.00 | More Details |
Notes:
- [1] Pricing is per credit. Minimum purchase is 5 credits, and they never expire. 1 Credit = 1 year of hosting.
Dedicated Hosting Plans
| Plan Name | Space | CPU | RAM | Bandwidth | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entry Server [1] | 480 GB | 4 x 3.2 Ghz | 16 | 10 TB | $269.00 | More Details |
| Power Server | 960 GB | 4 x 3.5 Ghz | 32 | 10 TB | $349.00 | More Details |
| Super Power Server | 960 GB | 12 x 2 Ghz | 64 | 10 TB | $729.00 | More Details |
Notes:
- [1] All Dedicated Server plans include Full Management. Performance Booster available at small extra cost, but no Root Access available if selected.
Managed WordPress Hosting Plans
| Plan Name | Space | Bandwidth | Panel | No. of Sites | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| StartUp [1] | 10 GB | Unlimited | cPanel | 1 | $3.95 | More Details |
| GrowBig [2] | 20 GB | Unlimited | cPanel | Unlimited | $5.95 | More Details |
| GoGeek [3] | 30 GB | Unlimited | cPanel | Unlimited | $11.95 | More Details |
Notes:
- [1] Does not include Free Site Transfer, Dynamic NGINX Cache or Memcached.
- [2] Includes Premium Support, 30 Day Backups, all Caching Features.
- [3] Includes everything in GrowBig plus more resources and developer features.
Domain Hosting
| Suffix | Free Domain with Hosting | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|
| .com | No | $15.95 | More Details |
| .net | No | $17.95 | More Details |
| .us | No | $17.95 | More Details |
Notes:
A2 Hosting Hosting Plans
VPS Hosting Plans
| Plan Name | Space | CPU | RAM | Bandwidth | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unmanaged Entry [1] | 20 GB | 1 CPU Cores | 0.5 | 2 TB | $5.00 | More Details |
| Unmanaged Mid | 30 GB | 1 CPU Cores | 1 | 2 TB | $10.00 | More Details |
| Unmanaged Elite | 50 GB | 4 CPU Cores | 1 | 2 TB | $15.00 | More Details |
| Managed Power+ [2] | 75 GB | 4 CPU Cores | 4 | 2 TB | $32.99 | More Details |
| Managed Prestige+ [3] | 100 GB | 6 CPU Cores | 6 | 3 TB | $46.19 | More Details |
| Managed Pinnacle+ [4] | 150 GB | 8 CPU Cores | 8 | 4 TB | $65.99 | More Details |
Notes:
- [1] All VPS are configurable. Add Turbo boost (Litespeed \ Litespeed with LSCache+LiteMage)
- [2] Windows server available at small extra cost. Available with or without Root Access.
- [3] Windows server available at small extra cost. Available with or without Root Access.
- [4] Windows server available at small extra cost. Available with or without Root Access.
Reseller Hosting Plans
| Plan Name | Space | Bandwidth | Panel | No. of Sites | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze [1] | 30 GB | 400 GB | cPanel \ WHM | 40 | $9.80 | More Details |
| Silver [2] | 75 GB | 600 GB | cPanel \ WHM | 60 | $13.72 | More Details |
| Gold [3] | 150 GB | 1 TB | cPanel \ WHM | 80 | $18.13 | More Details |
| Platinum [4] | 200 GB | 2 TB | cPanel \ WHM | 100 | $30.38 | More Details |
Notes:
- [1] No WHMCS. Priority Support, Turbo boost available as an extra on all plans. Windows server available on all plans for additional cost.
- [2] Free WHMCS
- [3] Free WHMCS
- [4] Free WHMCS
Dedicated Hosting Plans
| Plan Name | Space | CPU | RAM | Bandwidth | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sprint [1] | 2 x 500 GB | Intel 3.1+ GHz | 8 | 10 TB | $141.09 | More Details |
| Exceed | 2 x 500 GB | Intel Xeon 2.4+ GHz | 8 | 15 TB | $207.49 | More Details |
| Mach | 2 x 1000 GB | 2x Intel Xeon 2.1+ GHz | 8 | 20 TB | $290.49 | More Details |
Notes:
- [1] All Dedicated Servers are configurable. SSD and other options available. Comes with either Root or no Root Access.
Managed WordPress Hosting Plans
| Plan Name | Space | Bandwidth | Panel | No. of Sites | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-Site [1] | 10 GB | Unlimited | Plesk | 1 | $12.97 | More Details |
| 3-Sites [2] | 25 GB | Unlimited | Plesk | 3 | $19.48 | More Details |
| Unlimited [3] | 40 GB | Unlimited | Plesk | Unlimited | $37.97 | More Details |
Notes:
- [1] Includes website staging, backups, JetPack. No addon domains allowed. 2 CPU cores. 2GB Physical Memory. 8 GB Virtual Memory.
- [2] Includes website staging, backups, JetPack. 2 addon domains allowed. 3 CPU cores. 3GB Physical Memory. 12 GB Virtual Memory.
- [3] Includes website staging, backups, JetPack. Unlimited addon domains allowed. 4 CPU cores. 4GB Physical Memory. 16 GB Virtual Memory.
Other Hosts Vs SiteGround
A2 Hosting v SiteGround (2020)
If you ask us to pick between these two equally great hosts we would have a difficult time giving you an answer. We love SiteGround for its absolutely insanely fast support respons... Read Full Comparison
Other Hosts Vs A2 Hosting
SiteGround v A2 Hosting (2020)
If you ask us to pick between these two equally great hosts we would have a difficult time giving you an answer. We love SiteGround for its absolutely insanely fast support respons... Read Full Comparison
Jonathan Griffin Editor, SEO Consultant, & Developer.
Jonathan Griffin is The Webmaster's Editor & CEO, managing day-to-day editorial operations across all our publications. Jonathan writes about Development, Hosting, and SEO topics for The Webmaster and The Search Review with more than nine years of experience. Jonathan also manages his own SEO consultancy, offering SEO developer services. He is an expert on site-structure, strategy, Schema, AMP, and technical SEO. You can find Jonathan on Twitter as @thewebmastercom.