A2 Hosting and Hostinger are very similar (they’re cheap, use LiteSpeed servers, and they have below average support).
Aside from small differences, I encourage you to choose A2 Hosting over Hostinger because they’re a more ethical company. In this comparison, I’ll show you how Hostinger wrote fake reviews, voted for themselves in Facebook polls, and posed as customers to build their brand.
A2 Hosting uses LiteSpeed servers which are faster than Apache and traditional hosting (most people prefer LiteSpeed if you check Facebook polls). This means you can use the LiteSpeed Cache plugin with QUIC.cloud CDN which is a very fast setup. There’s no need to pay for WP Rocket or CDNs. Their support is “OK” since you rarely get good support with cheap hosting. They have a 4.4/5 star TrustPilot rating and are a decent choice for small websites on a budget.
Hostinger is similar to A2 Hosting since they use LiteSpeed servers and you can also use the LiteSpeed Cache plugin with QUIC.cloud. Support is actually worse than A2 (Hostinger has some of the worst support in the industry which can be seen in Facebook Groups). However, the main difference between Hostinger vs. A2 is that Hostinger is very unethical. They write fake reviews, vote for themselves in Facebook polls on the best hosting, and pose as customers to trick people into buying their hosting. For this reason, I encourage you to NOT use Hostinger.
I use affiliate links to A2 Hosting in this post, but not to Hostinger. That’s because I firmly believe they’re a better, faster, and more ethical choice. I try to keep my reviews honest by NOT supporting bad hosts and would appreciate your support. Thank you :)
| A2 Hosting | Hostinger | |
|---|---|---|
| Feedback In Facebook Groups | Decent | Banned From Groups |
| Server | LiteSpeed | LiteSpeed |
| LiteSpeed Cache | Yes | Yes |
| CDN | QUIC.cloud | QUIC.cloud |
| Server Locations | 4 | 7 |
| Support | Not Great | Even Worse |
| Security | Major Incident | Major Incident |
| Uptimes | Poor | Poor |
| Dashboard | cPanel | hPanel |
| Price | Cheap + High Renewals | Cheap + High Renewals |
| Migrations | Free | Free |
| Inode Limits | 600,000 | 200,000 – 2M |
| TrustPIlot Rating | 4.4/5 | 4.3/5 (Fake) |
| Winner | Yes | No |
1. Facebook Feedback On A2 Hosting vs. Hostinger
Don’t make the same mistake this guy did (probably thought he could save some money).
Hostinger is promoted by affiliates but not recommended by real people.
Hostinger was banned from the WordPress Hosting Facebook Group for voting for themselves in Facebook polls taken on “the best hosting.” When polls were taken, Hostinger’s army of employees would storm the group and vote for themselves to raise awareness (since many people look at these polls). They also created fake profiles to disguise themselves. They were caught numerous times doing this and are still banned from many Facebook Groups to this day.
Hostinger employees were also caught writing fake reviews on their online profiles. When caught, their CEO (Arnas) openly admitted to doing this and encouraged his employees to do it.
And finally, Hostinger would monitor social media sites like Facebook and Twitter waiting for people to ask about hosting. They would jump into conversations and pose as a Hostinger customer (saying how great their hosting is) without disclosing they were actually an employee.
Hosting reviews are biased enough with affiliates. Please don’t support companies doing this.
2. Server – Both Use LiteSpeed Servers
Both A2 Hosting and Hostinger use LiteSpeed servers (all Hostinger plans include LiteSpeed, but only some of A2 Hosting’s plans come with it).
LiteSpeed servers are a newer, faster type of server when compared to Apache and traditional hosting. It’s already become one of the most popular choices in Facebook Groups for it’s speed.
They can handle 2 times the capacity of Apache, use server-level caching with their LiteSpeed Cache plugin, and add extra anti-DDoS security. While A2 and Hostinger both offer LiteSpeed hosting, I would also look into NameHero who uses LiteSpeed servers and has superior support.
3. Cache Plugin – Why You Should Use LiteSpeed
Since A2 and Hostinger use LiteSpeed, you should be using the LiteSpeed Cache plugin.
It has amazing reviews on WordPress and is arguably faster than WP Rocket due to it’s server-level caching (as opposed to WP Rocket’s slower file-based caching). The LiteSpeed Cache settings are robust but you’ll want to make sure you activate QUIC.cloud, Redis or memcached, browser cache, page/image optimizations, and configure the settings for better core web vitals. LiteSpeed Cache is free and often faster than WP Rocket, so this is a big win for A2 + Hostinger.
4. CDN – Why You Should Use QUIC.cloud
CDN speeds can be compared at cdnperf.com.
QUIC.cloud’s CDN is specifically built to use with LiteSpeed (which A2 and Hostinger use). Even though QUIC.cloud is relatively new and not listed on cdnperf.com (yet), I suggest trying it and comparing it against other CDNs like Cloudflare and BunnyCDN. I usually recommend BunnyCDN instead of Cloudflare unless you can use QUIC. A big bonus is that it uses HTTP/3.
5. Server Locations – A2 Has 4, Hostinger Has 7
A2 Hosting only has 4 data centers while Hosting has 7.
Choosing a data center close to your visitors has a big impact on TTFB (time to first byte), so this is a con if neither host has a server close to your visitors. Other hosts like Cloudways have 39+ data centers scattered throughout the world, making a close data center more realistic.
| A2 Hositng Data Centers | Hostinger Data Centers |
|---|---|
| Michigan (USA) | UK |
| Arizona (USA) | US |
| Amsterdam (Europe) | Brazil |
| Amsterdam (Europe) | Netherlands |
| – | Singapore |
| – | Indonesia |
| – | Lithuania |
| View A2 Hosting’s Data Centers | View Hostinger’s Data Centers |
6. Support – Hostinger Is Worse Than A2 Hosting
I’ll be honest here – neither host has great support (but Hostinger has worse).
You rarely get good support with cheap hosting and with A2 Hosting and Hostinger, you may have to wait an hour to reach support (sometimes it’s quick though). While A2 Hosting support is slow, they’re not completely incompetent as Hostinger. I suggest taking a look at feedback in WordPress-related Facebook Groups if you want unbiased feedback about each host’s support.
7. Security – Hostinger Data Breach Impacts 14M Customers
Unfortunately, both A2 Hosting and Hostinger had a security breach.
In 2019, Hostinger had a data breach where their database was accessed which had customer usernames, email addresses, and passwords scrambled with a deprecated SHA-1 algorithm. Also in 2019, A2 Hosting had a ransomware attack which impacted Windows servers resulting in extended outages. A2 Hosting and Hostinger aren’t the most secure hosts. You should really make sure you’re following a good WordPress security checklist to protect your websites too.
8. Uptimes – Both Have Downtimes Or Frequent Maintenance
Neither A2 Hosting or Hostinger have great uptimes.
You can check A2 Hosting and Hostinger’s uptime profile to see each of their uptimes over the last year (this is 2021). Many people complain about Hostinger downtimes in Facebook Groups.
9. Dashboard – A2 Hosting cPanel vs. Hostinger hPanel
A2 Hosting uses cPanel while Hostinger uses hPanel.
cPanel is straightforward, easy to work with, and there shouldn’t be errors. Hostinger argues hPanel is better, but it’s not. It can be slow and buggy which has been reported by many people.
10. Price – Both Are Cheap With Higher Renewals
A2 Hosting makes you pay for 3 years upfront to get the cheapest price while Hostiner makes you sign up for 4 year, then your plan renews at a higher price. This is a huge commitment and a lot of things change in the hosting industry. Luckily, both A2 Hosting and Hostinger offer a 30-day money back guarantee, so make sure you test them out and are happy before those 30 days.
| A2 Hosting Plan | Intro Price | Renewal Price |
|---|---|---|
| Startup | $2.99/mo | $10.99/mo |
| Drive | $5.99/mo | $12.99/mo |
| Turbo Boost | $6.99/mo | $20.99/mo |
| Turbo Max | $12.99/mo | $25.99/mo |
| Run Managed WordPress | $11.99/mo | $23.99/mo |
| Jump Managed WordPress | $18.99/mo | $33.99/mo |
| Fly Managed WordPress | $28.99/mo | $48.99/mo |
| Sell Managed WordPress | $41.99/mo | $61.99/mo |
| Lift 4 VPS | $39.99/mo | $69.99/mo |
| Lift 8 VPS | $54.99/mo | $99.99/mo |
| Mach 8 VPS | $59.99/mo | $139.99/mo |
| Lift 16 VPS | $67.99/mo | $119.99/mo |
| Reseller Kickstart | $18.99/mo | $34.99/mo |
| Reseller Turbo Kickstart | $24.99/mo | $49.99/mo |
| Reseller Launch | $24.99/mo | $49.99/mo |
| Reseller Turbo Launch | $32.99/mo | $69.99/mo |
| Hostinger Plan | Intro Price | Renewal Price |
|---|---|---|
| Single WordPress | $1.99/month | $9.99/month |
| WordPress Starter | $3.99/month | $14.99/month |
| Business WordPress | $6.99/month | $16.99/month |
| WordPress Pro | $11.59/month | $29.00/month |
| Cloud Startup | $9.99/month | $29.99/month |
| Cloud Professional | $18.99/month | $58.99/month |
| Cloud Enterprise | $69.99/month | $99.00/month |
11. Migrations – Both Offer A Free Migration
A2 Hosting offers a free migration and Hostinger does too.
12. Inode Limits – A2 Hosting Has 600K, Hostinger Has 200K – 2M
Inodes are files, and each hosting has limits.
A2 Hosting has 600,000 inodes on all their WordPress hosting plans, and Hostinger has 200,000 – 2 million depending on the plan you choose. The best way to reduce inodes is to not use your web hosting for email hosting, and to use a separate service like Google Workspace.
13. TrustPilot Reviews – Don’t Believe Hostinger’s Fake Reviews
Even though A2 Hosting and Hostinger have a similar TrustPilot reviews, keep in mind Hostinger’s CEO admitted to writing fake reviews, so take their reviews with a grain of salt.
14. Winner – A2 Hosting Is Better Than Hostinger
A2 Hosting is better than Hostinger because their ethics, support, and cPanel are better.
But they’re only good for small websites on a budget, otherwise I suggest something like Cloudways or NameHero. I hope this comparison was helpful and I did my best to provide honest feedback regardless of whether I’m an affiliate. There’s a reason you will find 0 affiliate links to Hostinger on my blog. I refuse to support scammy hosts regardless of the commissions.
Cheers,
Tom
