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Note: The winner is HostGator, continue reading to know why
A2 Hosting started as ‘Iniquinet’ back in 2001. But later they have changed their name to A2 Hosting. At this moment, they are one of the most popular web hosting companies out there. They have almost all kinds of web hosting solutions for the website owners all around the world.
Next, we have HostGator — another popular web hosting provider company in the entire world right now. They are also offering all kinds of web hosting solutions like shared, dedicated, VPS, cloud, reseller etc. HostGator was established by Brent Oxley in 2002. However, after a successful run of 10 years, he sold his company to EIG (Endurance International Group) in 2012.
If you need a web hosting account for your new or existing websites, you might have thought about using either of these two providers. But, you are not sure which will be the best option between these two. If that’s the case, don’t get worried. We are here to help you out.
In today’s post, we will be comparing both of these hosting providers. And, finally, we will reveal the result so that you can know who the winner is by yourself. So, if you are ready, we can jump right away.
Table of Contents
- 1 HostGator vs A2 Hosting: Comparison of the Hosting Services
HostGator vs A2 Hosting: Comparison of the Hosting Services
HostGator has 3 shared hosting plans. They are named Hatchling, Baby, and Business plan respectively. Now, we will discuss these plans down below.
- Hatchling Plan:
You can get this pack for just 2.75 USD each month. However, don’t get carried away by seeing the low price. There is a problem with this pack. With this pack, you are allowed to host only 1 website on your hosting account.
- Baby Plan:
For just 3.95 USD/per month, you can get the Baby plan from HostGator. With this pack, you can host unlimited websites. As a result of this feature, it has become one of the best-selling shared hosting plans of HostGator.
- Business Plan:
If you want to go with HostGator’s choice then this is the plan you are searching for. As HostGator officially recommends this to their user base. You can get this one for just 5.95 USD/monthly. It has everything unlimited. And, you will also get some additional advanced features which are not available on the Hatchling and Baby plans.
You will get free SSL certificates with every web hosting packages of HostGator.
A2 Hosting has done something different with their plans. They have two types of packages based upon the operating system you want to use on your hosting account. Thus they have a variety of hosting packages. We will try to touch on all of them here.
For instance, they offer Linux and Windows OS based shared hosting plans. In total, they have 6 shared hosting plans divided into 2 categories. The packs are Lite, Swift, and Turbo respectively. Let’s learn more about them.
- Lite Shared Hosting Plan:
The prices of these packages vary depending on the OS. So, the Lite plan is priced at 4.90$ (monthly for Windows). And for Linux packages, you have to pay 3.92 USD/monthly. Everything is unlimited with pack except for the capability of hosting multiple websites. You are allowed to host only 1 site using the lite plan.
- Swift Shared Hosting Plan:
The Windows OS based swift plan will be 5.88$/monthly and the Linux based one will be 4.90$/mo. With this pack, you are allowed to host more than one websites at once. For that reason, it is one of the best-selling shared hosting plans of A2 Hosting.
- Turbo Shared Hosting Plan:
This pack is costlier than the other two. Because it has some additional advanced features. If you want to get a good performance from your websites then you can get this one. However, you have to pay 10.78$ for the windows based plan. And the Linux based plan will be 9.31$. Almost all of the features are unlimited in this package.
Our thoughts:
Both of these hosting providers are actually providing much reasonably priced shared hosting plans. However, HostGator’s packages are cheaper than A2 Hosting’s. Also, there are more features on the packages of HostGator.
The only positive about A2 Hosting’s packages is that you can choose Windows OS based hosting. So, if you need Windows OS based hosting then you can go with A2 Hosting. However, other than that, you should definitely go with HostGator.
Let’s compare the VPS Hosting Service
HostGator’s VPS Hosting plans
They are offering 3 VPS plans. They have named them as Snappy 2000, Snappy 4000, and Snappy 8000 respectively. Now, we’ll cover all the details about these.
- Snappy 2000 VPS:
You will get 1.5 TB Bandwidth, 2 GB Memory/RAM, 120 GB Disk space with this pack. And the price of this pack starts at 29.95 USD/month.
- Snappy 4000:
This VPS plan comes with 3 TB Bandwidth, 4 GB Memory/RAM, 165 GB Disk space, and 2 Core CPU etc. And you have to pay at least 39.95$ per month. HostGator officially recommends this pack to their customers.
- Snappy 8000:
Now let’s talk about the most expensive VPS plan of HostGator. It will cost you about 49.95$/mo. And, you will be getting 3 TB Bandwidth, 8 GB Memory/RAM, 240 GB Disk space and 4 Cores CPU etc.
You will get full root access with every VPS plan of HostGator. And, you can also upgrade your plan anytime you want. It is fully scalable.
A2 Hosting’s VPS Hosting Service
Similar to the shared hosting packages of A2 Hosting, they have divided their VPS packs into multiple categories. For instance, they have 3 management levels on their VPS hosting which are Core, Managed, and Unmanaged. Besides that, you will be able to choose between Windows OS and Linux packages. So, in total it becomes about 12 VPS packages. Thus, we will cover the managed VPS packages below.
- Power+ Plan:
The price of this pack is at 32.99$ per month for Linux. And for Windows Power+ plan you have to pay 36.29$ per month. The specifications of this plan are 2 TB Bandwidth, 4 GB Memory/RAM, 75 GB Disk space etc.
- Prestige+ Plan:
The Prestige+ VPS plan comes with 3 TB Bandwidth, 6 GB Memory/RAM, 100 GB Disk space. The price of this plan is 46.19$ monthly (Linux) and 49.99$ (Windows OS).
- Pinnacle+ Plan:
This is the best VPS plan from A2 Hosting. Eventually, it will cost you the highest as well. The cost of this one will be 65.99 USD per month (Linux) and 69.29$/mo (Windows). The specifications it comes with are 4 TB Bandwidth, 8 GB Memory/RAM, 150 GB Disk space.
With every VPS plans, you will be given root access.
Our thoughts on this:
Managing VPS hosting account can be a tricky business for a lot of users. You need to have a basic understanding of web hosting before you can use this type of hosting. However, as HostGator is providing managed hosting on every VPS packs, it won’t be a problem to use this type of hosting.
On the other hand, A2 Hosting also provides managed hosting. But, the prices of the managed hosting plans of A2 Hosting are higher than HostGator’s plan. So, we would call HostGator the winner here.
Let’s compare the Dedicated Hosting Services
HostGator’s Dedicated Hosting plans
There are 3 dedicated hosting packages of HostGator. The names are Value, Power, and Enterprise respectively. Let’s explore these packages.
- Value Dedicated Server:
The Value dedicated server is the lowest priced dedicated plan from HostGator. It will cost you 119.00$ per month. And, the specifications of this plan are Unmetered Bandwidth, 8 GB Memory/RAM, 1 TB Disk space, and Intel Xeon-D CPU with 4 Cores/8 Threads etc.
- Power Dedicated Server:
This is the best option if you are looking for the bang for your buck dedicated pack. The price of this plan is 139 USD/mo. This plan includes Unmetered Bandwidth, 16 GB Memory/RAM, and 2 TB HDD or 512 GB SSD Disk space, Intel Xeon-D CPU with 8 Core/16 Threads.
- Enterprise Dedicated Server:
If you have multiple resource-hungry websites then you should opt for this package. This will have Unmetered Bandwidth, 30 GB Memory/RAM, 1 TB SSD Disk space, and Intel Xeon-D CPU (8 Core / 16 Thread). And, in return, you have to pay at least 149.00$/mo.
A2 Hosting’s Dedicated Hosting plans
A2 Hosting is offering 3 primary dedicated servers. They are known as Sprint, Exceed, and Mach server. But you can choose your operating system and the level of management during the checkout. For instance, you can choose between Linux and Windows OS. Also, you can choose between Core, Unmanaged and Managed account management level. Let’s find out the details about these packs down below.
- Sprint Dedicated Plan:
You have to spend at least 141.09 USD for this pack. You will be receiving 10 TB Bandwidth, 8 GB Memory/RAM, 2X500 GB Disk space (RAID-1), 2 Core CPU clocked at 3.1 GHz. This pack will be best if you are just starting to use dedicated hosting because of its price range.
- Exceed Dedicated Plan:
Now, if you want to get a package which could be the bang for your buck then this is the one you should pick. You have to spend at least 207.49$/per month for this pack. And, the specifications of this pack are 15 TB Bandwidth, 8 GB Memory/RAM, 2X500 GB Disk Space (RAID-1), 4 core CPU clocked at 2.4 GHz.
- Mach Dedicated Plan:
Now, we are going to talk about the priciest dedicated package of A2 Hosting. The price of this plan is 290.49$ per month. You will get 2X1000 GB Disk Storage (RAID-1), 20 TB Bandwidth, 16 GB Memory/RAM, two Intel CPU clocked at 2.1 GHz (8 Cores) etc.
Our thoughts:
It is clear that HostGator is offering better packages than A2 Hosting here. On top of that, the prices of these plans are way cheaper than A2 Hosting’s. Again, both of these providers are offering the option to choose your favorite OS.
But the specifications of the HostGator’s’ server is way better than that of A2 Hosting’s. Added to that, HostGator is offering unmetered bandwidth whereas A2 Hosting is offering limited bandwidth on each of their dedicated servers. So, we would recommend going with HostGator if you’re going to use dedicated hosting.
Let’s compare the WordPress Hosting plans
HostGator’s WordPress Hosting plans
They have 3 special WordPress plan. They are labeled as Starter, Standard, and Business plan. Let’s know more about these plans.
- Starter WordPress plan:
This plan will cost you only 5.95$ per month. However, it has a limitation. You can only host one website with this pack. And, it is perfect for 100,000 visitors monthly. Also, HostGator will take 1 GB backup weekly. Other than everything is unlimited.
- Standard WordPress plan:
You are allowed to host 2 sites at once with this package. And, the hosting account is capable of servicing 200,000 traffics per month. With this pack, HostGator will take backups up to 2 GB.
- Business WordPress plan:
The business plan comes with the allowance of hosting 3 sites at once. And it is ok for about 500,000 visitors per month. HostGator will take 3 GB backup for free.
You will be offered 2.5X Faster servers with all these packages. They will provide a lot of features and tools like free CDN, free Cache plugin, supercharged cloud architecture etc. with each package. Added to that, you will get free SSL certificates too. They will also help you migrate your websites from your previous hosting provider for free.
A2 Hosting’s WordPress Hosting packages
They have 2 kinds of WordPress hosting packs which are shared and managed. The Shared WordPress plans are cheaper than the Managed WordPress packs. It’s because the shared packages are not as feature-rich as managed WordPress packages. Let’s learn about these packages now.
Shared WordPress Packages:
They have four shared WordPress plans. Among them, the first 3 packs are similar to their shared hosting packs. But they have added WordPress related features to these plans. The four plans are Lite priced at 3.92$/month, Swift priced at 4.90$/month, Turbo priced at 9.31$/month and Managed priced at 12.97$/month.
The Lite plan has a limitation, unlike the others. You can host only one website with that one. Every other plan is unlimited. You will get every WordPress related tool, plugins, and features included with these plans.
Managed WordPress Packages:
They are offering three managed WordPress packs. Let’s learn more about them down below.
- 1-Site:
As the name suggests, you are allowed to host only one website with this pack. The price of this pack is 12.97 USD per month. You will have 10 GB web storage space.
- 3-SItes:
Again, from the name, you might have already guessed that you can host up to 3 websites using this one. You will have 25 GB web space and the price is 19.48 USD per month.
- Unlimited:
We believe, it is the best WordPress hosting plan from A2 Hosting. Because you can host unlimited websites with this one. And, you will be getting additional pro features as well. However, the price of this one is a bit higher and which is 37.97 USD per month. You will have 40 GB web storage with this pack.
Our thoughts:
In this case, we see that A2 Hosting is providing a variety of WordPress hosting plans. But on the opposite, HostGator is offering just 3 plans. The problem with HostGator here is that you can host at most 3 websites with these packages.
However, with A2 hosting’s shared WordPress hosting plans, you can host multiple websites at once. But, again if you want to use managed hosting you have limited options there. Overall, we can say that if you want to host unlimited websites then go with shared WordPress plans of A2 Hosting. But, if you want great performance then go with HostGator despite having the limitations.
Comparison of the Performances
By this time, you already know everything about the hosting plans of these two hosting providers. Now, we will try to find out about the quality of their performance. To attain this, we will be testing out their load time and server response time.
At first, we will run a test to know the website load time of HostGator and A2 Hosting. We will be utilizing the test servers of Pingdom for this. Next, we will be utilizing the Bitcatcha test servers to find out about the server response time for both of these companies. Let’s begin…
Page speed test (Pingdom) on A2 Hosting:
To conduct this test, we will be using a website which is hosted on A2 hosting as a test subject. And the test server we will be using is the Washington D.C. server of Pingdom.
The Result:
The load time of A2 Hosting is 827 ms. It is quite decent.
Page speed test (Pingdom) on HostGator:
Now, we will be using the San Francisco test server for this test on a website hosted on HostGator.
The Test Result:
HostGator performed really well. The load time here is 824 ms.
Our Thoughts:
The first thing you should know that the load time should be lower. In fact, the lower the load time is the better. Because the load speed of your site depends on this stat. If you want your website to be faster then you would have to choose a web hosting company which has faster load speed. And, we know that nobody likes a slow website. Here we have seen that both of the results are very close. So, we would not pick out a winner here. Rather, we are going to call it a tie.
Server Response Test on HostGator:
Now, we will be testing the server response time of HostGator.
The Result:
Server Response Test on A2 Hosting:
Now, it’s time for A2 Hosting.
The Result:
Our thoughts:
When a visitor browses your website, their web browser sends a signal to the server of your website. After that, your website will return the data in response to the signal. And, the time it takes to travel the data from your web server to the visitor’s web browser is known as the server response time.
As you might have already guessed that it is better to have a low server response time.From the results above, it is evident that it is a close call. Both of these contestants got ‘A’ on the performance grade. And, the server response times from those 8 locations are also similar to each other. So, we would again call it a tie.
Let’s compare the Uptime Performances
Now, we will reveal the uptime record of these two companies for you. But, prior to that, we have to let in on a little secret here. Here’s the thing, we have bought two hosting accounts from these two companies and hosted a couple of websites on each of them.
And, we are keeping a close eye on their uptime performance for a long time. Now, we will be sharing the uptime record of the last 10 months of HostGator and A2 Hosting. So that you can make your decision yourself by seeing the statistics for yourself.
The Uptime Stat of HostGator:
The Uptime Stat of A2 Hosting:
Our thoughts on this:
It is obvious that both of these companies actually have industry-standard uptime record. For instance, on average they have maintained at least 99%+ uptime for the last 10 months. You can also see that on a number of months the uptime was 100% as well.
Overall, we have to acknowledge that there is no winner here. Both HostGator and A2 Hosting has been keeping it perfect. Rather we will leave this one as a draw. But, you can decide it for yourself as well if you want to.
Let’s compare the Support Services
HostGator Customer Support:
Like any other well-known web hosting providers, HostGator is always available. You can find them 24/7 all-round the year. You can contact them in many ways. The most used methods of getting in touch with them are Fax, Email, Live Chat, Phone Call, Tickets etc.
However, we have noticed that the live chat is the best and fastest way to get a response from them. They try their best to answer your queries as soon as possible. We have contacted them a number of times. In all instances, they have solved our problem within an instant.
Most of the time, we have got a fast response. Sometimes, we didn’t even have to wait for more than 15 seconds. That was unbelievable. The customer support team of HostGator is very friendly and highly skilled in their jobs. So, they know the fastest way to solve any web hosting related problems.
Even if you don’t want to talk with them, you can learn all about web hosting from their support page. They have a lot of helpful articles and videos ready for their customers. In fact, anyone can learn from those, you don’t have to be a customer of them. Those are free for everybody. Either way, you will have a great experience getting in touch with HostGator customer support team.
A2 Hosting Customer Support:
A2 Hosting is very serious about servicing their customers. They are also available 24/7 through the year. You can contact them from anywhere in the world regardless of your time zone. The methods of contacting them include Email, Ticket, Live Chat, Direct Phone Call etc.
You can use the Live Chat option to get an instant answer. However, for more accurate answers to your specific questions, you can submit tickets. You can submit tickets on 3 categories (Sales, Billing, and Support). On top of these, they have an FAQ page where you will find all the popular questions already answered.
Apart from that, they also have a collection of helpful videos and articles regarding web hosting. So, you can also learn from these knowledge base contents without any problem. Yet, the customer support team of A2 hosting is also good and professional. But, sometimes you might have to wait for a while to get a response from their side. To be honest, other than that we have no major complaint about them.
Wrapping things up: The Winner here?
In our option, the ultimate winner is HostGator. There are a lot of reasons behind our opinion. However, we have to also give A2 hosting their due credits. They actually performed better than HostGator on a few occasions. But, ultimately, HostGator outperformed A2 Hosting on most instances.
If you check back, you will see that HostGator has cheaper packages than A2 Hosting. But A2 Hosting has more options to choose from. But, we don’t think that there is a need to have that number of options. Most of the times, you would get confused with all these various packages. Rather, we have liked the simplicity of HostGator.
Also, the specifications of the HostGator’s packages are better in every aspect than A2 Hosting. We have seen that in the case of performance both of these web hosting companies were extremely close to each other. So, in terms of performance, you can go with either of them. But if you want better service and better packages with the cheaper price then you have to go with HostGator.
Visit HostGator or A2 Hosting
