NameHero and A2 Hosting both use LiteSpeed, but which one’s better?
NameHero uses LiteSpeed on all plans, but A2 only uses this on their higher 2 plans. You get more RAM on most NameHero plans and their uptime status page usually has less scheduled maintenance than A2’s. NameHero’s support is better, but their data centers are only in US/NE. While they’re newer than A2 Hosting, they tend to have better feedback in Facebook groups. I generally recommend their Turbo Cloud plan which includes 3 CPU cores, 3GB RAM, and NVMe.
A2 Hosting has been around longer than NameHero but many people argue their service has declined with frequent downtimes, long support wait times, and a ransomware attack which caused major outages. Only their more expensive plans (i.e. Turbo Boost and Turbo Max) use LiteSpeed. Like NameHero, A2 also uses cPanel. They have a slightly worse TrustPilot rating (4.5/5 instead of 4.7/5) with most complaints relating to the poor support, outages, and billing. One of the only benefits of using A2 is they have a data center in Asia while NameHero doesn’t.
| NameHero | A2 Hosting | |
|---|---|---|
| CPU + RAM | More RAM | Less RAM |
| LiteSpeed Server | All plans | Higher plans only |
| LiteSpeed Cache | All plans | Higher plans only |
| CDN | QUIC.cloud | QUIC.cloud |
| Outages | 2 day outage | 2 week outage |
| Server Locations | US + NL | US + NL + AS |
| Inodes | 250,000 – 500,000 | 300,000 – 600,000 |
| Domain Name | 1 year free | $16.99/year |
| cPanel | Yes | Yes |
| Free Migration | Yes | Yes |
| Security | Great | Not great |
| Support | Good | Average |
| Price | Cheap for 1-3 years | Cheap for 3 years upfront |
| TrustPilot Rating | 4.7/5 | 4.5/5 |
| Winner | Yes | No |
1. CPU + RAM – NameHero Has More RAM On Most Plans
NameHero’s lowest 3 plans include more RAM (1GB, 2GB, 3GB) while A2’s lowest 3 plans have less (700MB, 1GB, 2GB). Both use 4GB RAM on the highest plan. Which means unless you’re using the higher plan, NameHero includes more RAM on all their plans. CPU cores are the same.
2. LiteSpeed Server – All NameHero Plans Use LiteSpeed
All NameHero plans come with LiteSpeed servers but only higher A2 Hosting plans use LiteSpeed like their Turbo Boost and Turbo Max plan (shared hosting) and Mach plan (VPS hosting). Lower plans use Apache. If you’re on a budget but still want LiteSpeed, use NameHero.
LiteSpeed servers are faster than Apache. This also means you can also use the free LiteSpeed Cache plugin + QUIC.cloud CDN which is one of the fastest setups you’ll get on shared hosting.
3. LiteSpeed Cache – Why You Should Use It
Since NameHero and most A2 Hosting plans use LiteSpeed, you should be using the LiteSpeed Cache plugin.
LiteSpeed Cache is faster than WP Rocket and most cache plugins since it uses server-side caching which is faster than WP Rocket’s file-based caching (it also has a 4.8/5 star review).
Just make sure you configure the LiteSpeed Cache settings correctly (request a domain key, setup QUIC.cloud, use Redis or memcached, and enable browser caching, page, and image optimizations). Your website should be significantly faster after setting up LiteSpeed Cache.
There are only a handful things LiteSpeed Cache doesn’t do which are mostly related to image optimization. You can always try a plugin or another image CDN and test your results against it.
| WP Rocket | FlyingPress | LiteSpeed Cache | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $49/year | $42/year | Free |
| Server-side caching | x | x | ✓ |
| Remove unused CSS | Inline | Separate file | Separate file |
| Host third-party code locally | x | ✓ | ✓ |
| Lazy render HTML elements | x | ✓ | ✓ |
| Lazy load background images | Inline | Helper class | x |
| Exclude above the fold images | By URL | By number | By URL |
| Preload images | x | By number | x |
| Add missing image dimensions | x | ✓ | ✓ |
| Self-host YouTube placeholder | x | ✓ | x |
| Control preloading | x | x | ✓ |
| Advanced cache control | x | x | ✓ |
| ESI (edge side includes) | x | x | ✓ |
| Gravatar cache | x | x | ✓ |
| Limit post revisions | Delete all | Delete all | Keep some |
| CDN | SiteGround CDN | BunnyCDN | QUIC.cloud |
| CDN PoPs | 176 | 90 | 70 (standard plan) |
| CDN price | $7.99/month+ | $0.01/GB – $0.06/GB | $.02-.08/GB |
| Dynamic caching | x | x | ✓ |
| Image optimization | x | ✓ | ✓ |
| DDoS protection | x | x | ✓ |
4. CDN – Why You Should Use QUIC.cloud On Both
QUIC.cloud CDN was specifically built to work with LiteSpeed.
It’s needed for image/page optimization (like critical CSS, UCSS, and LQIP). But one of the main benefits is HTML caching which can significantly improve global TTFB when testing your site in KeyCDN. However, the free plan only comes with 6 PoPs without DDoS protection while the paid (standard) plan uses all 70 PoPs with DDoS protection, so ideally use QUIC’s paid standard plan.
5. Outages – A2 Hosting Has Frequent Maintenance + Downtimes
Go ahead and compare A2’s uptime status page with NameHero’s.
A2 Hosting consistently shows multiple interruptions in a single day, but you can easily get no previous incidents in the last 7 days with NameHero. Uptimes tests aren’t accurate since it all depends on which server, location, and node your website is hosted on. Don’t listen to BS tests.
Both A2 Hosting + NameHero had an outage (A2’s was for 14 days on Windows servers when they had a ransomware attack) while NameHero’s was 2 days on a specific node. NameHero posted their response here. No host’s uptimes are perfect and even SiteGround had a major issue where their DNS was blocked by Google for 4 days. Regardless, uptimes are the single biggest reason to use NameHero over A2 since they have a lot less “scheduled maintenance.”
6. Server Locations – They’re Mostly In The US
While both have data centers in the US + NL, A2 Hosting also has one in Asira.
This is a con for both hosts since choosing a data center close to visitors has a big impact on TTFB (using QUIC.cloud with HTML caching can help a lot with this). If your visitors aren’t close these locations, you should really look somewhere else like Cloudways who has 44 data centers.
| NameHero | A2 Hosting |
|---|---|
| Lansing, Michigan (USA) (3x) | Michigan (USA) |
| Phoenix, Arizona (USA) | Arizona (USA) |
| Kansas City, Missouri (USA) | Amsterdam (Europe) |
| Amsterdam (Netherlands) | Singapore (Asia) |
| View NameHero’s Data Centers | View A2 Hosting’s Data Centers |
7. Inodes – A2 Hosting Has Slightly Higher File Limits
Inodes (files) can grow quickly especially when using your hosting for email.
Emails take up a large amount of files which also takes up inodes, storage, and even server resources (this is a big reason why some hosts like Kinsta and Cloudways don’t even support email hosting and encourage you to use something like Google Workspace). While it’s always best to keep your web/email hosting separate, A2 has higher inode limits if you use it for email.
8. Domain Name – NameHero Offers 1 Year Free
NameHero offers most domains free for 1 year, then $14.98/year. A2 Hosting doesn’t offer free domains is about $2/year more than NameHero ($16.99/year). It’s a little bonus for NameHero.
9. cPanel – Both NameHero And A2 Hosting Use It
While both use cPanel, I think NameHero’s general dashboard is cleaner than A2’s.
They recently redesigned their website and made the dashboard much better for UI/UX. Installing WordPress, Cloudflare, changing PHP versions, and other tasks are easy in cPanel.
10. Free Migration – Offered By Both Hosts
Both NameHero and A2 Hosting offer a free website migration. At the time of writing this, NameHero only includes a free migration if you sign up for 2 years (A2 doesn’t have conditions).
11. Security – NameHero Does A Better Job
Considering A2’s ransomware attack, NameHero wins in the security category.
Both have many security features to protect your website, but I always recommend going through a WordPress security checklist yourself because you never know what will happen.
12. Support – NameHero Wins Hands Down
NameHero’s support is significantly better than A2 Hosting.
While it’s something you have to experience yourself, the shorter wait times and helpfulness alone should speak for itself (along with NameHero’s positive feedback in Facebook Groups).
13. Price – A2 Hosting Is Expensive Unless You Pay 3 Years Upfront
A2 Hosting gets expensive unless you pay 3 years, while NameHero is affordable for 1-3 years. Both offer cheap intro prices and high renewals, but NameHero doesn’t jack up prices like A2.
A2 plans are confusing since they offer shared, managed WordPress, unmanaged, VPS, and several other types of hosting. Make sure you look at A2’s features page (and NameHero’s features page) to see what each plan comes with. A2 lists features that are part of LiteSpeed Cache and QUIC (which NameHero has too) but I wouldn’t say this is unique to their hosting.
14. TrustPilot Rating – NameHero Has Better TrustPilot Reviews
NameHero has a slightly better TrustPilot rating. Even though I don’t trust these reviews completely (most of them are funneled through the host’s support), it can often give a good indication on whether a host has good support or not, and that they care about their reviews.
15. Winner – NameHero Is Better Than A2 Hosting
NameHero is better than A2 Hosting because they use LiteSpeed servers on all plans (usually with more RAM) and their uptimes, support, and pricing are all better.
Even though NameHero is a newer host, their CEO (Ryan) is a genuinely helpful guy which you can see in his YouTube videos. I’ve used both A2 Hosting (for my ex’s restaurant website) and NameHero (for my own smaller personal websites) and can definitely say NameHero is better.
You can get started for as little as $40 for your first year on their Starter Cloud plan.
Is NameHero or A2 Hosting better?
NameHero has more reliable uptimes and uses LiteSpeed on all plans, while A2 Hosting has frequent maintenance and only uses LiteSpeed on higher plans. NameHero's pricing is more flexible (and usually cheaper) and their support is arguably better.
Should I use NameHero or A2 Hosting for LiteSpeed?
While both NameHero and A2 Hosting offer LiteSpeed servers, NameHero uses LiteSpeed on all plans while A2 Hosting only uses it on higher plans, then uses Apache on lower plans.
NameHero vs. A2 Hosting speed - which one's faster?
Since NameHero and A2 Hosting use a similar setup with LiteSpeed, you can expect similar speeds on both. However, NameHero's usually has more CPU/RAM compared to A2 plans.
Cheers,
Tom
