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A2 Hosting vs BlueHost – Similar Pricing, Which is Better?

A2 Hosting and BlueHost are very similar on the surface. Both have built a large userbase over the years and are very popular among individual bloggers and small business owners. Both come with a rock-solid combination of powerful performance and flexibility in very competitively priced packages.

Yet, as they say, the devil is in the detail.

Despite similar foundations, these two hosting giants have many differences that may influence your decision one way or another. If you're searching for a dependable web hosting solution, this comparison guide between BlueHost and A2 Hosting will help you make an informed choice.

Our Ratings & Overall Comparisons

FeaturesA2 HostingBluehost
Our Rating
Server PlansShared Hosting, VPS Hosting, Dedicated Hosting, Managed WP HostingShared Hosting, VPS Hosting, Dedicated Hosting, Managed WP Hosting
Shared Hosting $2.99 - $12.99/mo$2.95 - $13.95/mo
VPS Hosting$6.59 - $143.00/mo$19.99 - $59.99/mo
Dedicated Hosting$105.99 - $185.99/mo$79.99 - $119.99/mo
Special Promo CodeWHSR-
Free DomainYesYes
ControlcPanelcPanel
Free SSL SupportYesYes
Paid SSL RapidSSL - $49.99/yearSingle Domain SSL - $6.67/month
Customer SupportTelephone, Email Ticketing System, Live Chat (Sales)Live chat, Telephone, Email
Telephone No.+1-734-222-4678+1-888-401-4678
PaymentCredit Card, PayPalCredit Card, PayPal
Free Trial30 Days30 Days
Energy SourcesTraditional + Offset with Green CertTraditional
Server LocationNorth America, Asia, EuropeNorth America
Payment SupportCredit Card, PayPal,Credit Card, PayPal,
Learn More A2 Hosting ReviewBlueHost Review
Order Click HereClick Here

BlueHost – Overall Cheaper Shared Plans

Tl;DR: BlueHost is better than A2 in term of:

  • Cheaper shared hosting plans
  • Officially recommended by WordPress

Pitting the two together plan to plan, it doesn’t really come to the fore that there is anything remarkably different. BlueHost shared hosting plans start out at a modest $2.95 per month with 50 GB SSD storage and a free one-year domain. A2 Hosting, on the other hand, starts off at $2.99 per month with 100GB SSD storage without the free domain.

With a paltry dollar or so as a difference in sign-up pricing, A2 further pulls ahead with its Anytime Money-back Guarantee; while BlueHost edges off with slightly lower renewal prices at the end of contract ($9.99 vs $10.99 per month for basic shared hosting).

BlueHost's Shared Server Hosting offer an easy and economical way to get your website connected to the Internet. A basic one site hosting with 10 GB SSD Storage costs $2.95/month if you signup for 3 years (order here).
BlueHost - Recommended WordPress Web Hosting
BlueHost is on top of WordPress.org's host recommendation list. Their official statement on BlueHost hosting: ” Easily scalable and backed by legendary 24/7 support by in-house WordPress experts” (source).

A2 Hosting – Better Server Speed Features

TL;DR: A2 Hosting is better than BlueHost in term of:

  • Shared hosting speed features
  • Overall web hosting speed performance

Feature-wise, (again) there are a lot of similarities between A2 Hosting and BlueHost at similar price points. Yet, there are some critical shortcomings in BlueHost plans that unfortunately makes it fall behind in performance compared to A2 Hosting.

The first reason for A2 Hosting’s speed advantage is its Turbo server option which it claims can help sites load pages up to 20x faster. It also has unique customized in-house optimization and lets its users have flexibility in server locations. This can make another big difference, especially for sites that are regional-specific or targeted.

These are major features in an industry that must compete neck to neck on technology points. You might say one has NVMe storage and another has not for example, but there no real way to overcome a tried and tested feature such as custom optimization on Turbo A2 Hosting servers.

More on A2 Hosting Speed Features

FeaturesStartupDriveTurbo BoostTurbo Max
SSD Storage100 GBUnlimited N/AN/A
NVMe Storage (3x Faster)N/AN/AUnlimitedUnlimited
Physical Memory700 MB1 GB2 GB4 GB
Core1224
Server Locations4444
HTTP/3 (30% faster)NoNoYesYes
A2 Optimized YesYesYesYes
Server Rewind BackupsNoYesYesYes
Signup Price$2.99/mo$5.99/mo$6.99/mo$12.99/mo

A2 Hosting Speed Test Results

Speed is one of the key performance indicators. To determine A2Hosting's speed, we host a simple website at A2 Hosting and run regular speed tests on different tools – and I was impressed with A2 Hosting servers. Overall speed results consistently showed outstanding ratings on both Bitcatcha and WebPageTest.org.

Test site hosted at A2Hosting recorded average server speed of 125ms. Test date May 31, 2022 – see actual test result here.
A2 Hosting speed performance test from different locations: Singapore (top), United States (mid), United Kingdom (bottom), and Singapore (bottom). Test site's TTFB rated “A” by WebPageTest.org in all results. See actual test results herehere, and here.

Final Thought: So A2 Hosting or BlueHost?

Personally, I feel that if you aren’t too fussy with performance and are only seeking some form of simple online presence, then either one of the affordable shared plans by BlueHost or A2 Hosting can be considered.

For anything else I would strongly recommend you look at A2 Hosting.

This is not to say that BlueHost is a terrible provider, especially since it’s officially still an officially recommended WordPress.org host. However, when it comes to a comparison between these two big names in the business, I can find no option but to recommend A2 Hosting.

More About BlueHost

BlueHost Homepage (visit online, click here)

BlueHost is one of the older shared hosting service providers in the business and today has grown into a highly commercial giant. Acquired by Endurance International Group (EIG) in 2020, the company also has become the proverbial octopus, with tentacles in almost every aspect of the web development and marketing business.

BlueHost Shared Hosting Plans

FeaturesBasicPlus
Websites1Unlimited
Email Accounts5Unlimited
Website Space50 GBUnmetered
BandwidthUnmeteredUnmetered
Free DomainYesYes
SubDomains25Unlimited
Free MigrationNoNo
Free SSL CertificateAuto SSLAuto SSL
WordPress IntegrationYesYes
Git SupportNoNo
BackupNoNo
MySQL Databases20Unlimited*
Signup Price$2.95/mo$5.45/mo
Renewal Price$8.99/mo$11.99/mo

Learn more in our full BlueHost review

More About A2 Hosting

A2 Hosting Homepage (visit online, click here)

A2 Hosting, on the other hand, doesn’t have such a distinctive history but instead has come across my attention time and again as an excellent host with a sterling reputation.

A2 Shared Hosting Plans

Features / PlansStartupDriveTurbo Boost
Websites1UnlimitedUnlimited
Storage100 GBUnlimitedUnlimited
Databases5UnlimitedUnlimited
Rewind BackupsNoYesYes
Turbo ServerNoNoYes
Free MigrationYesYesYes
Free SSLYesYesYes
Price /mo$2.99/mo$5.99/mo$6.99/mo

Learn more in our full A2 Hosting review

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Article by Jerry Low

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