- 30-days Money-back Guarantee
- Up To 20x Faster Turbo, Free Website Migration, Free website migration
- Support available 24/7/365 via Phone, Tickets, Chat, Knowledge Base
- 30 Day Refund Policy
- Free domain, Free site transfers, Free SSL certificate
- Support available 24/7/365 via Phone, Chat, Tweet, Knowledge Base
A2 Hosting vs HostGator: Quick Summary
A2 Hosting takes the win thanks to its faster performance, stronger uptime, and more affordable plans.
During testing, A2 Hosting’s pages loaded much faster than HostGator’s. Plus, it offered unlimited SSD storage even on basic plans, which is something HostGator doesn’t match.
Both providers include free SSL, daily backups, and unmetered bandwidth, but A2 Hosting adds free site migration and Cloudflare CDN for extra speed and security.
HostGator, on the other hand, includes a free domain, more server locations, and useful video tutorials for beginners.
A2 Hosting vs HostGator: Overview
A2 Hosting Profile
A2 Hosting was Founded in Michigan in 2001. The company provides services in 223 different countries around the globe, with their data centers in 4 locations.
Apart from providing a wide range of hosting solutions, the company also offers domain registration, site builder, and SSL certificates.
A2 Hosting also made it to Hostadvice list of “10 Best Web Hosting Services” owing to their affordability when it comes to long-term hosting plans.
HostGator Profile
HostGator is a Houston-based web hosting company that was founded in 2002. The company provides shared, reseller, VPS, and dedicated server hosting to their global clientele.
The provider also offers cloud hosting, WordPress hosting, domain name registration, website builder, SEO, PPC, web design services, and SSL.
Moreover, they’re also popular for their WordPress hosting plans, which are incredibly affordable and easy to manage.
1. Hosting Features and Services Comparison
A2 Hosting Features
A2 Hosting offers 100 GB SSD storage with its most basic plan priced at $2.99 / month, and unlimited storage with nearly all of its other hosting plans.
Although they don’t offer a free domain with the purchase of hosting, you’re sure to get a free website transfer if you’re migrating from another hosting provider.
Moreover, you’d obviously get a 99.9% uptime guarantee, free 1-click WordPress installs, as well as 1-click installation of WooCommerce, Drupal, CubeCart, B2evolution, phpBB, SMF and Joomla. Plus, they provide free daily backup, a free SSL and 24/7 customer support.
HostGator Features
In comparison to HostGator competitors, the web host is offering unmetered bandwidth with all of their hosting plans. The SSD disk space is limited to 40 GB in shared hosting, 100 GB in managed WordPress hosting, and to 240 GB in VPS hosting.
You’ll get a free 1-click installation of WordPress, Magento, Joomla, Drupal and phpBB. Moreover, their hosting plans come with a free domain, SSL certificate and automatic backups.
Unlike A2 Hosting, HostGator does not offer a free website migration on all plans. You can enjoy a free migration only on VPS and Dedicated hosting plans within 30 days of signup.
2. Prices and Plans Comparison
A2 Hosting Pricing Plans
The hosting provider offers four shared web hosting plans for their clients that are highly economical.
- Startup – Their most basic plan is priced at $2.99 / month and offers 100 GB SSD storage which is just enough for hosting a single website.
- Drive – This hosting plan is for $5.99 / month with unlimited storage and a capacity for running two websites.
- Turbo Boost – Priced at $6.99 / month, this plan comes with the power of their Turbo servers and unlimited NVMe SSD storage.
- Turbo Max – This is their most powerful shared hosting plan which is priced at $14.99 / month and offers the fastest hosting experience for multiple sites.
HostGator Pricing Plans
While A2 Hosting offers four plans, HostGator has only three in its shared hosting category, namely Hatchling Plan, Baby Plan, and Business Plan.
- Hatchling Plan – Their most basic plan priced at $3.75 / month. This plan can help you run one website smoothly with its unlimited storage and bandwidth.
- Baby Plan – Perfect for hosting a growing business website, this plan is for $4.50 / month and is highly recommended.
- Business Plan – Priced at $6.25/month, this plan is the complete solution that you’d need for your business website, including free SEO tools as well as 2.5x faster page loading speed.
3. Website Performance Comparison (Uptime and Speed)
If you wish to determine the performance of your website, the speed and uptime percentage of the server on which it’s hosted matters a lot.
To put it in plain words, the uptime of a server is the percentage of time for which the machine keeps running continually so that the websites hosted on it stay up and accessible.
Apart from this, the server speed determines the page load speed of a website.
A2 Hosting Uptime and Speed Test
I tested a website hosted on A2 Hosting’s servers and the page load speed was pretty good.
On GT Metrix, the website showed a page load speed of 1.3 seconds, whereas the loading speed turned out to be 8.6 seconds when tested on PageSpeed Insights, which is better than most of A2 Hosting competitors.
I’ve attached the screenshots of both the test results here:
GT Metrix test:
PageSpeed Insights:
HostGator Uptime and Speed Test
The PageSpeed Insights of a website hosted on HostGator showed 14.6 seconds page load speed.
On the other hand, when I tested the same website on GT Metrix, the results were 9.9 seconds.
Here are the screenshots of both the tests:
GT Metrix test:
PageSpeed Insights:
4. Customer Support Comparison – Who Has the Best Support System?
A2 Hosting Customer Support
My experience with their customer support didn’t go as well as expected, majorly because their response time wasn’t up to the mark.
Firstly, I had to wait for someone from their team to join the live chat. Secondly, even after their support representative had joined, the responses were quite delayed.
Anyhow, I was provided with the information/help that I needed.
Here are some screenshots of my chat with A2 Hosting:
Apart from this, they also provide support through email/tickets if you can’t wait to get a response on live chat.
HostGator Customer Support
The live chat responses by HostGator weren’t as prompt as one expects live chat to be. There was even an instance where the customer support provider left the chat on their own and then joined back in after 6 minutes.
Also, I felt as if the support executive wasn’t really in the mood to answer my questions.
Here’s how the chat went:
However, I did find their video tutorials to be quite helpful, something that many HostGator alternatives don’t provide. Plus, they have knowledgebase blogs on a wide range of technical topics and you may find answers to many of your queries there.
5. Ease of Use Comparison – Which Platform is Easier to Use?
A2 Hosting Ease of Use
A2 Hosting is well-known for their user-friendly admin interface which makes it incredibly easy for clients to manage their services such as web hosting and domains.
Here’s what their admin panel interface looks like:
Apart from this, they provide the standard cPanel management system.
If you’re someone with little to no technical knowledge, managing your web hosting plans and website won’t be very difficult with the admin panel and control panel offered by A2 Hosting.
HostGator Ease of Use
Similar to its competitors, HostGator also provides industry-standard cPanel to its clients for managing their web hosting plans. You can also easily manage your billing, domains, and hosting account through their admin panel.
Here’s what HostGator’s admin panel interface looks like:
And the cPanel dashboard:
6. Privacy and Security Comparison – Which Platform is More Secure?
A2 Hosting Security
The security features offered by A2 Hosting include free backup and restore as well as a free SSL certificate with all their hosting plans.
Moreover, they also provide DDoS protection, Firewalls, and malware scans.
Additionally, one thing that many of A2 Hosting’s competitors don’t provide is the free Cloudflare CDN offered by the host.
HostGator Security
Many of HostGator’s security features are similar to those provided by A2 Hosting.
The company also offers a free SSL certificate and free backup and restore service with all their hosting plans. In addition to this, they also provide DDoS protection, malware scanning and Sitelock security.
If you buy their Business Plan, you can also get a free upgrade to a Positive SSL certificate.
7. Server Locations Comparison
One of the most significant features that affect your website’s loading speed is server location. That’s because if the server is located too far away, the website files and data would take longer to be transferred.
A2 Hosting Server Locations
A2 Hosting has four different server locations, including Michigan, Arizona, Amsterdam and Singapore.
The best part about these server locations is that A2 Hosting lets you choose the desired one when ordering a web hosting plan!
HostGator Server Locations
In comparison to the four server locations of A2 Hosting, HostGator has six in the USA and Asia, including Houston, Provo, Dallas, Austin, Hong Kong and Mumbai.
A2 Hosting vs HostGator: Final Recommendations
Why Choose A2 Hosting?
In general, I believe A2 Hosting is way better than HostGator in a lot of ways. Plus, they have really affordable hosting plans that are perfect for small to medium businesses, as well as individuals and startups.
Here are some A2 Hosting features that I really liked:
- Really affordable pricing for feature-rich plans
- Easy-to-use control panel
- Provides free Cloudflare CDN
- 30-day money back guarantee
- Free SSL and backup with all of their hosting plans
- Faster server speed
When to Consider HostGator?
The pricing of HostGator’s hosting plans is a bit high in comparison to A2 Hosting, but you should choose HostGator if:
- You’re looking for more server locations
- Want a free domain with web hosting
- Want a web host who would also provide you with SEO and PPC services
- 30-day money back guarantee
A2 Hosting and HostGator Alternatives
| Provider | Overview | Expert & User Reviews | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Hostinger offers affordable shared hosting, VPS hosting, and cloud hosting, along with domain registration services. | Hostinger Review | Visit Hostinger |
 | HostArmada focuses on speed, security, and reliability and offers features like SSD storage, free website migration, daily backups, and a user-friendly control panel. | HostArmada Review | Visit HostArmada |
 | ChemiCloud’s hosting services include SSD storage for faster website performance, a free domain name for the first year, a 45-day money-back guarantee, and easy WordPress installation. | ChemiCloud Review | Visit ChemiCloud |
The Bottom Line
Overall, HostGator and A2 Hosting both have their pros and cons in terms of support, ease-of-use and performance, but I’d vote for A2 Hosting as the winner owing to their affordable services with faster page load speed.
They also offer a really easy-to-use admin panel even if you have no technical knowledge. Plus, A2 Hosting provides support through a ticketing system as well, which means if you’re unable to connect with their team via live chat, you can always share your query and have a reply emailed to you.
