Recently I had the chance to try out A2 Hosting and I was more than impressed with the features they offered. Started in 2001, A2 Hosting has been around for 14+ years now. This company has been offering high speed hosting services along with good customer support. I also noticed that they had good uptime record.
Let us take a closer look.
Why should I care about A2 Hosting?
- Cutting Edge Technology – Superior hardware servers and ultra Speed Optimized web hosting services make your website loading up to 20x times faster. Servers are compatible with a large variety of software.
- Unique customer support – Friendly and knowledgeable support staff providing top-notch Live Support.
- Competitive pricing – Get hosting without breaking your bank account. When you require more resources, plenty of options to upgrade without any downtime. Your purchase is backed by a no-hassle 30-day money-back guarantee to ensure your satisfaction.
- Experience – Years of experience in providing web hosting services (since 2001)
- Security – They do everything to keep your data safe.
Fast Servers – SSD Speed Boost
Solid State Drive Speed Boost
When it comes to web hosting, SSD’s(See Article What is SSD Hosting ) improve web site loading time. A2hosting use SSD for your OS, MySQL databases and your files. See the page load time comparison of different hosts.
Free CDN(Content Delivery Network)
CloudFlare Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a group of servers connected worldwide that automatically determines the fastest route to deliver your site to your visitors. CloudFlare have several optimization features to improve the loading of a web page. CloudFlare also provides security protection against most of security threats and keeps your website safe. Your website is automatically protected from a variety of DDoS attacks. You can enable and manage CloudFlare services directly via cPanel.
Highlights of CloudFare:
- Increased Site Speed
- Enhanced Security – CloudFlare CDN recognizes and blocks many malicious threats before they can even reach your site.
- Easy Setup – Click the CloudFlare icon in your control panel for a 1-click CDN setup.
- Increased Uptime – If one CDN server is unavailable, your site’s traffic is automatically routed to the next nearest server. This way your site is never down.
A2 hosting Turbo servers
Load pages up to 20X faster page loads compared to standard hosting.
- Fewer users per server
- Turbo Web Hosting servers have their own PHP API that provides speed improvements
- Hosted on SwiftServer SSDs
- Turbo Web Hosting servers compile .htaccess files to make speed improvements.
- Turbo Web Hosting servers have a built-in caching engine
- Provides enhanced stability
A2 Optimized Caching
Unlike many other hosts, A2 hosting allows caching solutions on shared servers. They have a cPanel plugin called A2 Optimized, which provides pre-configured caching for your applications from a single interface for even faster page loads. There are 3 A2 Optimized caching Options:
- Turbo Cache – The entire HTML contents of a page is stored by Turbo Cache and served without running PHP for up to 20X faster page loads.
- OPcache/APC – External tests show OPcache can cut PHP page response time in half. OPcache comes pre-configured with PHP 5.5 and later version, while APC is available on earlier PHP versions.
- Memcached – Increases the speed of your MySQL databases by keeping your most important data in memory for quicker retrieval.
A2 Hosting – Developer Features
All accounts have access to all the popular applications, such as WordPress, Joomla and Drupal, shopping cart, other CMS, Forums etc. A2 supports the following: PHP (PHP 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6 or 7), Ruby on Rails, Python, Ruby, PERL, Git, CVS, Unlimited MySQL 5.5 databases, PostgreSQL 9.1, phpMyAdmin & phhpPgAdmin, SSH access, Apache 2.2 , free Shared SSL Certificate and more.
You may want to note that A2 Hosting was the first host to introduce php7 Hosting.
WordPress Hosting Features
- A2 Optimized: A2 hosting provides a WordPress plugin called A2 Optimized to provide the best WordPress performance and enhanced Security. With auto-optimizations like compression and caching, you will get 6X faster page loads compared to standard hosting. Also this plugin auto-hardens your WordPress sites to help prevent hacks.
A2 Optimized plugin provides the best WordPress performance and enhanced Security With A2 Optimized, you automatically get: Unique WordPress Login URL, automatic WordPress Updates, ReCaptcha on WordPress Login Page.
- WordPress Preinstalled – You can either WordPress auto-installed right when you purchase your hosting account or use the 1-click Softaculous installer found in your cPanel control panel. A2 Optimized is a WordPress plugin, exclusive to A2 Hosting customers, providing auto-configuration for your site so you get the best WordPress performance. With auto-optimizations like compression and caching, you can turn your focus to building your site and writing content.
- Free ManageWP Account – Use ManageWP to run all of your WordPress sites from a single dashboard! Just click the ManageWP icon in cPanel, enter your email address, click sign in and just like that ManageWP will auto-detect WordPress sites on your A2 Hosting account. Your free ManageWP account features include:
- Manage and update your WordPress sites from a single dashboard
- 1-click theme and plugin updates
- Install and manage plugins and themes for each of your WordPress sites
- Mass spam comment removal
- Built in page view stats
- Two-factor login authentication for enhanced security
Free Site Transfer
If your current host uses cPanel, then A2Hosting can assist or transfer the site for you. Shared hosting accounts are easily managed using the popular cPanel control panel.
Anytime Money Back Guarantee
You can try A2hosting risk free. Cancel your account within 30-days and you will get a full refund or a prorated refund for your unused service after 30-days.
Server Rewind Backups + Free HackScan
Server Rewind is a free file recovery program. Account backup snapshots are taken regularly and you can restore your data from saved snapshots when recovery is necessary. Restore a single file, MySQL database, site or your entire account. You can access Server Rewind from your control panel.
Free security features
HackScan is a hack protection scanning that helps block hacks before they can invade and damage your site. Other Security features include:
- Daily, Automatic & Rebootless Kernel Updates
- Dual Web Hosting Firewall
- Brute Force Defense
- Auto-Heal Hosting Protection
- Virus Scanning
- Server Hardening
- 24/7/365 Security Monitoring
A2 hosting Control Panel
A2Hosting offers the most popular and easy-to-use cPanel 11 control panel to customize your hosting account. After signing up, you will receive a welcome email. It will include all the necessary info you’ll need including a link to access your control panel. The address is either http://cpanel.YourDomain.com or http://www.YourDomain.com/cpanel.
You will view a screenshot as shown below when you access control panel.
After login in the cPanel home screen as shown below will be displayed.
File features in cPanel
- cPanel File Manager – to easily manage your web site’s files.
- FTP Accounts and Sessions – to manage FTP accounts and sessions by using cPanel.
- Backups – to download backups and restore them to your web site by using cPanel.
- Server Rewind – to restore your files and databases with just a few clicks.
- Disk Space Usage – to view your account’s disk usage.
- Web Disk – to manage your web site’s files as if they are stored on your local computer.
Mail features
- E-mail Accounts – to add, modify, and delete your web site’s e-mail accounts.
- Barracuda Spam Firewall – can help to reduce spam and protect your domain from harmful e-mail threats.
- Webmail – to check your e-mail through cPanel. You can compose and read e-mail messages, maintain an address book, and perform other common tasks. There are three webmail applications: Horde, Roundcube, and SquirrelMail.
- SpamAssassin – to enable and configure SpamAssassin in cPanel to reduce the amount of spam your e-mail accounts receive. You can set up your e-mail account to filter messages marked as spam and automatically redirect them to a folder.
- Forwarders – automatically forward a message from one e-mail account to another e-mail account. Here you can also forward incoming e-mail messages to a script file and process in an endless number of ways.
- Auto Responders – configure e-mail auto responders to send response messages automatically for your e-mail accounts. A common example of an auto responder is an out-of-office message that informs the sender that the recipient is not available.
- Mailing Lists – to create, modify, and delete mailing lists for your web site and simplify sending e-mail messages to multiple recipients at the same time.
- Import E-mail Accounts and Forwarders – Here you can import lists of e-mail addresses and forwarders. Importing can save you a lot of time instead of manually creating each account or forwarder. Save information in comma-separated values (CSV)files or Microsoft Excel spreadsheet(XLS) files.
- E-mail Authentication – to set up e-mail authentication in cPanel to help reduce unwanted e-mail (spam). E-mail authentication in cPanel is based upon two complementary technologies, DKIM and SPF, which help reduce the amount of spam.
- Mail Exchanger (MX) Record Entry – to change the Mail Exchanger (MX) entries in cPanel. Only advanced users should use this feature.
- Google Apps Wizard – to quickly and easily set up your domain to work with Google Apps.
Security features
- Password protect directories – Add password protection to a directory
- IP Deny Manager – To prevent specific IP addresses or domains from accessing your web site.
- Hotlink protection – Suppose another site adds direct link to an image file that is stored on your web site, then each time visitors go to the other site’s web page, your site serves the image files, and your bandwidth is effectively stolen. You can prevent this by enabling hotlink protection.
- Leech Protection – enables you to prevent a user publically posting usernames or passwords in restricted areas of your website. This also limits the number of logins per Username allowed in a 2 Hour Period.
- The GNU Privacy Guard – is an open-source implementation for public-key cryptography. Public-key cryptography systems use public and private keys (keypairs) to encrypt and decrypt e-mail messages, files, and so on. Senders use recipients’ public keys to encrypt items, and recipients use their own private keys to decrypt the items.
- Password protect directories – Add password protection to a directory
Software Installer
Add a variety of useful web apps and social media tools to your website to enhance its functionality. hosting plans include apps such as photo galleries, web forms, blogs, and forums.
Advanced features in cPanel
- Apache Handlers – You can add and delete custom Apache handlers for your web site to specify how certain file types are processed by the server.
- Image Manager – The Image Manager allows you to view and modify images in your account.For e.g Thumbnail Converter to create small versions of the images in your site, Image Scaler to change the size of an image on your site, the Convert Image Format feature allows you to change an image’s format.
- Index Manager – The Index Manager allows you to customize the way in which visitors view a directory on the web.
- Cron jobs – to configure cron jobs so commands run at user-defined intervals.
- Error Pages – to create custom error pages for your web site to define what a user sees when an error occurs.
- MIME Types – to configure custom MIME types for your web site.
- Virus Scanner – to scan your account files for viruses, trojan horses, and other types of malware.
A2 hosting – Hosting Packages
A2 hosting offers a variety of hosting services designed to meet different needs. When starting out a website you can start with shared hosting. As a website grows, you can always upgrade to a higher plan hassles free.
Shared hosting
If you want to host your blog, personal site, run a storefront or create a small business website then A2Hosting’s shared Web Hosting package is perfect for you.
There are 3 hosting plans for a very low price.
- Lite, which cost at $3.92/month
- Swift at $4.90/month
- Turbo at $9.31/month
All three hosting plans are powered by Solid State Drive Speed Boost. The Lite plan comes with unlimited storage and data transfer, host only 1 website, use 5 databases and create 25 email address; while both Swift and Turbo accounts come with unlimited everything: storage, transfer, emails, domains, subdomains, parked domains and databases.
VPS hosting
If you want to host a high traffic blog or a website with lot of videos, then you have 2 options- VPS Hosting or Managed VPS Hosting. If you’re an experienced developer and want more flexibility and full root access , choose their VPS Hosting option.
- Design your perfect VPS
- Different Linux OS Options(CentOS, Fedora, Ubuntu, Gentoo, Slackware, Debian)
- Auto-Install Popular Software With A2 QuickInstaller
- Full Root Access, Full Network Control
- Boot, Shutdown & Reboot Controls
- High-performance Turbo Boost for up to 20X faster page loads
Managed VPS hosting
If you want to host your high traffic personal blog, run larger and more demanding site with videos or create a medium business website and blog, but still want the same ease of use, then choose their managed VPS Hosting option. US-based support team is available 24/7/365 to manage the server.
Dedicated
If you have high traffic, high load and most demanding software,then choose their Dedicated Server hosting. There are 2 types of dedicated server hosting.
A2 hosting – Uptime Record
Here’s a screenshot that shows A2hosting’s Uptime Score -for July 2015 (for our test website). For last 30 days, the uptime score was 100. You can also see the site speed where best response was just 1/2 a second(500 ms) while worst was 2.5 seconds. I think this is impressive. Let me reiterate that Google cares a lot about site speed nowadays and faster response means your site nas better chance to get better rankings that slower sites(your competitors included)
Customer Service
A2 Hosting’s support is available 24/7 every day of the year. Their support is 100% US-based with no outsourcing. The support staffs are responsive, knowledgeable & patient. Support is provided via ticketing, a live chat box and by phone line.
Details: A2 Hosting takes after sales support very seriously. A2 Hosting is a BBB accredited business. This shows confidence on A2 Hosting’s part. We checked BBB website and they have only just 8 complaints in last 10 years. All complaints were resolved. Just 8 complaints in 10 years is a very good record. Worst hosts get at least 10 every year.
Data Center
A2 hosting has multiple datacenter locations, and customers can choose the most suitable one to store their data, and get the fastest speed at the same time.
Primary Data Center Location
- USA – Southfield, Michigan
Additional Equinix Data Center Options
- Europe – Amsterdam
- Asia – Singapore.
Data center’s are equipped with quadruple redundant network, redundant UPS, diesel generator power and 24×7 monitoring supports to ensure high-performance hosting .
Verdict
A2 hosting offers a variety of web hosting packages to ensure you get the very best value for money. We liked the Solid State Drive Speed Boost feature that can boost your SEO score, since page speed of a website is something Google is definitely considering as part of their search ranking algorithm. A2 Hosting is a very good choice indeed.