Bluehost vs A2 Hosting

Features

When you take a closer look at the features on offer by Bluehost you will not be disappointed at all and you get pretty much the entire suite of features you need to run a website.

Even if you have access to multiple accounts under one plan you will get unlimited disk storage space for each of them along with their exclusive email accounts and FTP accounts.

You also have the option to host multiple domain websites in a shared plan.

BlueHost

Bluehost does not restrict you when it comes to the number of domains you can manage at the same time and all of it is accessible via their proprietary management tool for monitoring and tweaking your websites.

There are a number of frameworks you can take advantage of including PHP, JavaScript, Perl 5, and Flash.

If you want to set up your e-commerce website with the hosting provider there are a number of tools that will be available at your disposal for setting up shopping carts, payment options, and more.

A2 Hosting

Unlike Bluehost, you do not get access to as many features with A2. However, you get everything you would normally need and the quality of features is quite impressive.

All of the plans that are on offer from the provider offer you unlimited data transfers and RAID-10 storage. Just like Bluehost, you can have as many email accounts as you need which is perfect for large businesses with a number of employees.

There are a number of tools available that offer you control over multiple domains at the same time if you need it.

All of the packages offer cPanel access, and there are site transfers available as well if you have an existing site that you want to move to A2’s hosting plans or want to move out of A2 to another provider.

Verdict: When it comes to quality there is not much difference between the two, and you can’t go wrong with either of them.

However, Bluehost does offer a number of extra features and supports more development frameworks that may be of relevance to you.

Server Quality

With both companies being top-tier hosting providers over the years, we can’t expect either of them to falter when it comes to their uptime, reliability, and technology. Let’s find out if they really live up to their marketing claims.

Bluehost promises 99.9% uptime, but they do not have an uptime guarantee which means that if you face more than 0.1% downtime, you will not be compensated for any losses that you may face out of it.

A2, on the other hand, offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee and any kind of technical issues leading to losses will be compensated by the company up to 5% of the monthly fee for every hour.

Server Technology

When it comes to the technology powering the servers, Bluehost takes advantage of AMD’s Opteron processors that come with 16-cores and are quite capable.

A2, on the other hand, uses Dell servers with quad-core processors, and of course, SSD storage is available from both providers.

Do note that the number of cores does not necessarily translate to better performance, so we went a little deeper and tested out real-world results.

Websites hosted on Bluehost websites loaded at an average of 2.37 seconds at our end, and they were marked as 65 faster than all websites that have been tested on Pingdom.

A2, on the other hand, was significantly faster with an average load time of 1.49 seconds, marked at 81% faster than all websites tested on Pingdom.

These performance tests are to be taken with a grain of salt as numbers may vary based on server location and where you are located, but A2 does offer more consistent results across the board.

Reliability

When it comes to the reliability of the technology available from both providers, the data center for Bluehost’s hosting services is located in Utah (US) and the servers take advantage of server-cooling and backup diesel generators to minimize downtime.

Bluehost does not offer any kind of automatic data backups outside of their Cloud plans which are kept for a maximum of 30 days.

A2 hosting, on the other hand, offers data centers and colocation data centers in Michigan (US), Amsterdam (Europe), and Singapore (Asia). 

The data centers are constantly monitored for maximum security and reliability, and there are four different network connectivity options in place to ensure your websites are always accessible.

Verdict: When it comes to reliability both Bluehost and A2 offer excellent services and the performance tests we conducted had both providers meeting our standards.

However, if you are someone who wants guaranteed uptime, then we recommend going for A2 as Bluehost does not offer any kind of uptime guarantee.

User Experience

At the end of the day, it does not matter how many features a hosting provider offers to its customers, all that matters is how convenient they are to use.

Bluehost offers cPanel, but the UI is heavily modified to make it easier to use. You have access to a one-click installer for installing all the tools and plugins that you need. There are hundreds of apps available via Softalicious.

A2 uses cPanel as well with its custom UI and hundreds of available add-ons. When it comes to customer support quality both hosting providers both of them, offer multiple channels of contact phone, email, and a live chat feature that is active around the clock.

A2 also has a blog that offers tips to customers to make the most out of the available tools.

You also have self-help literature available from both providers if you want to get more hands-on and understand how to get things done yourself.

Verdict: When it comes to user experience it’s a tie between both operators as you get the same level of service and going by reviews for customer service for both companies, you can expect round-the-clock service from both providers.