A2 Hosting vs Hostens: guide for 2024

A2 Hosting vs Hostens: Final verdict

Looking over A2 Hosting vs. Hostens, both have unique strengths tailored to different user requirements.

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  A2 Hosting (Overall grade: 8.1)
  
  stands out for its advanced speed enhancements, making it especially suitable for high-traffic websites and businesses focusing on growth. A wide range of hosting options including shared, VPS, and dedicated server hosting, alongside robust performance features like Turbo Cache and NVMe drives, ensure top-notch speed and reliability. However, the higher-than-average pricing may be a concern for budget-conscious users, despite the excellent uptime and comprehensive support.
• 
  Hostens (Overall grade: 7.9)
  
  offers great value for users on a tighter budget with its competitive pricing, free domains, and user-friendly features like a website builder. The inclusion of various tools for quick software setup and reliability across multiple global locations make it a versatile choice. Hostens’ VPS hosting with full root access is perfect for advanced users who require greater control. While it solidly delivers on uptime and speed, it slightly lags behind A2 Hosting in performance features and lacks specific enterprise-level hosting options.

Hosting types offered

Both platforms provide a variety of hosting types, each designed to meet the different needs of users.

Both platforms provide a variety of hosting plans tailored to different needs, but one platform may prove to be more suitable in certain cases.

Detailed comparison

Winner A2 Hosting: Exceptional uptime performance and reliability.

A2 Hosting consistently demonstrates superior uptime reliability. With percentages of 99.99% in 2020, 99.98% in 2021, and 99.99% again in 2022, it upholds high standards. Their promise of 99.9% uptime is not just marketing fluff, as evidenced by their flawless testing period results of 100% uptime. Such reliability is hard to beat in the competitive hosting market.

On the other hand, Hostens offers a respectable 99.95% uptime guarantee, which is a noteworthy promise. Their data centers, built to TIER III standards, provide essential redundancy and reliability. Despite mixed user reviews, Hostens delivers good speed and solid uptime metrics, making it a decent choice for those seeking dependable hosting services. However, they come slightly short of A2 Hosting’s exceptional standards.

🏆 Winner A2 Hosting: Best for speed and feature-rich hosting.

A2 Hosting boasts a superior speed advantage with its Turbo Cache & APC/opcache, NVMe drives, and up to 20x faster Turbo speeds. This provider has well-distributed data centers, which help in delivering speedy access. Its CDN availability wasn’t mentioned. Meanwhile, Hostens, with its infrastructure in Vilnius, Lithuania, offers satisfactory speed and reliable power supplies but lags slightly behind due to fewer data centers and lower speed optimization features. Hostens does offer free SSL and support for various PHP versions, which is a plus.

Website Speed

A2 Hosting provides an exceptional website speed, leveraging LiteSpeed servers and AMD EPYC CPUs for up to 40% faster performance. The Turbo Cache ensures rapid loading times, contributing to better SEO rankings and user experience. Hostens, while equipped with solid infrastructure and Apache web services, doesn’t match A2 Hosting’s NVMe drive speeds and built-in caching options, which significantly enhance web performance.

Scalability

A2 Hosting excels in scalability, with various hosting options including Shared, Managed WordPress, VPS, and Dedicated Server. You can easily upgrade as your site grows, ensuring you pay only for what you need. The costs start affordably and rise with the services offered, though specific elastic scaling details aren’t provided. Hostens also provides VPS with full root access and backup options for an additional fee, but lacks the same range of dedicated server options, making scaling potentially more complex.

🏆 Winner Hostens: Hostens emerges as the superior choice for security features, offering top-level SSL certificates, comprehensive PHP support, and extensive GDPR compliance measures.

Both A2 Hosting and Hostens have notable differences in their approaches to technical and operational security, as well as in their compliance with regulations.

Technical security measures:

A2 Hosting offers a versatile array of technical security measures, including free SSL certificates, Imunify360 security suite, and ModSecurity to guard against potential threats. The hosting provider also supports various PHP versions and extensions, giving developers flexibility. Hostens, on the other hand, provides high-strength 256-bit SSL certificates tailored for different validation levels (DV, OV, EV). Additionally, Hostens supports multiple PHP versions, including the newer PHP 8.1. Both provide substantial protection, but Hostens excels with its broader SSL offerings.

Operational security measures:

A2 Hosting employs Imunify360 for blocking real-time threats and Virus Scanner for identifying and mitigating security risks. Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) and reCAPTCHA features further bolster security against unauthorized access. Conversely, Hostens implements 24/7/365 network monitoring and runs its own TIER III data center in Lithuania, increasing its control over security aspects. Both providers offer dependable measures, but Hostens’ dedicated data center offers a slight edge in operational management.

Compliance and certifications:

Both A2 Hosting and Hostens comply with GDPR, ensuring that user data is collected, processed, and stored securely. A2 Hosting has updated its Privacy Policy and offers a Data Protection Agreement upon request. Hostens, meanwhile, has taken multiple steps to align with GDPR, including updating legal documents and revising internal processes. A2 Hosting lacks HIPAA and SSAE 16 compliance, which is notable for businesses requiring these certifications. Hostens, while not specifying HIPAA compatibility, has fortified its compliance efforts, making it more robust in this area.

🏆 Winner Hostens: Affordable & versatile hosting perfect for users with diverse needs.

Both A2 Hosting and Hostens offer a range of hosting options, tailored to different user requirements. A2 Hosting boasts features like turbo servers for faster page loads and free website migration, making it a compelling choice for performance-focused users. Their managed WordPress hosting is optimized with a dedicated control panel and automatic updates, catering specifically to WordPress enthusiasts. Meanwhile, A2 Hosting’s inclusion of Softaculous in cPanel for one-click software installations, and a robust support system via live chat, email, or phone, contributes to a user-friendly experience. Notably, they provide a variety of hosting types, including shared, VPS, dedicated server, and reseller hosting, along with free Imunify360 Security Suite for enhanced security.

Hostens, on the other hand, stands out with its value-for-money offerings and user-centric features. The inclusion of a free website builder and free domain with an annual billing cycle will appeal to budget-conscious users and those starting from scratch. Hostens offers unmanaged VPS hosting with full root access, signifying greater control for advanced users. Their proactive support and daily/weekly backups ensure reliability and convenience. The provision of various locations in the EU, USA, and Asia for hosting enhances global reach. Their commitment to integrating essential tools like Installatron for quick software setup and the availability of professional hosting with dedicated virtual servers and daily backups showcases versatility tailored to meet diverse user requirements.

Both providers support a range of users from beginners to experts with user-friendly website builders and WordPress staging areas. However, in terms of developer tools, both A2 Hosting and Hostens offer robust options including SSH access, support for multiple programming languages, and Git for version control, thus appealing to developers looking for advanced capabilities.

Email services:

Email services at A2 Hosting provides email hosting powered by Titan, offering features like multi-account access, configurable interfaces, and shareable contacts. This makes it suitable for businesses needing robust email capabilities. Hostens does not offer dedicated email hosting but focuses on performance and reliability in other areas. Users might need to rely on third-party services if email hosting is a priority.

🏆 Winner Hostens:Exceptional pricing and value for various hosting needs.

Evaluating the pricing of plans among various hosting providers can be complex due to their differing pricing and renewal strategies. Additionally, certain plans require annual commitments, which adds to the difficulty of making comparisons. The prices listed are based on monthly commitments; plans requiring annual commitments are indicated. Additionally, although some providers offer identical plans for WordPress and shared hosting, we have created separate tables for each to enhance clarity.

Comparing the pricing plans of A2 Hosting and Hostens, it’s clear that both providers offer a range of options across different hosting types. A2 Hosting has a slightly higher starting price for most plans but offers robust features such as NVMe SSD storage and LiteSpeed speed enhancements. Hostens, on the other hand, provides significantly cheaper plans with good features, including free domains and extensive bandwidth options, making it an attractive option for budget-conscious users.

Enterprise plans

For enterprise-level hosting, A2 Hosting’s dedicated server options, such as the Warp 1 plan, offer high-performance specs like the Intel Xeon CPU and substantial RAM at a higher price point. Hostens provides robust VPS options in their Maxi Plan, with a significant amount of RAM and vCPUs while maintaining a lower cost, making it the budget-friendly choice with enterprise capabilities. Both providers deliver strong support and performance, but the final decision may depend on your specific resource requirements and budget considerations.

🏆 Winner
A2 Hosting: Offers user-friendly pre-installed WordPress and auto-installation of popular applications.

A2 Hosting uses the widely recognized cPanel for managing websites, files, and databases, which is familiar to many users and provides a seamless experience. It also offers TurboHub, a dedicated WordPress control panel, which is beneficial for users looking for a streamlined way to manage WordPress sites. The WordPress Toolkit further enhances ease of use, allowing for simple management of installations and updates. On the other hand, Hostens utilizes a more streamlined interface with its easy installer tool called Installatron, which is accessible directly from its control panel. While both cPanel and Installatron cater to users of all technical levels, cPanel’s widespread usage may feel more accessible to those with prior hosting experience.

Hostens provides an immediate start service post-payment and a free website builder. This cuts down initial setup time and ensures that even non-technical users can get a website up and running effortlessly. Both A2 Hosting’s TurboHub and Hostens’ website builder aim at simplifying the process, but A2 Hosting’s comprehensive tools like Softaculous and the WordPress Toolkit offer more depth for managing various applications. In contrast, Hostens’ interface focuses more on getting users started quickly, which can be appealing for those new to web hosting.

A2 Hosting offers a free site migration service, streamlining the transfer process from your previous hosting provider with minimal downtime. This is particularly valuable for users who may not be tech-savvy. Hostens does not explicitly mention a free site migration service, which can imply potential additional costs or a more manual transfer process for users. This makes A2 Hosting a more attractive option for those seeking a hassle-free transition between hosting services.

The quality and accessibility of help center resources for both providers are commendable. A2 Hosting provides an extensive knowledge base covering a wide range of topics, from getting started guides to security and developer corner articles. The inclusion of 24/7/365 Guru Crew Support via live chat, email, and phone ensures users can seek help any time. Hostens also offers a comprehensive knowledge base with a focus on practical topics like SEO tools, billing, and VPN configuration, supported by live chat, ticket system, and email. Both platforms maintain detailed, structured help centers, but A2 Hosting’s ongoing effort to translate content may enhance accessibility further in the future.

🏆 Winner
A2 Hosting: A2 Hosting offers highly detailed and versatile user management capabilities with strong control over user roles and permissions.

When comparing the user management features of A2 Hosting and Hostens, A2 Hosting edges out due to its flexibility and thorough control over user roles and permissions using the Plesk control panel. A2 Hosting allows the creation, management, and removal of user roles with detailed permissions settings, enabling administrators to grant or deny access to specific services. This granular control contrasts with Hostens, where user roles are less flexibly managed under the cPanel environment. Hostens distinguishes user management across different hosting types, but users have fewer customization options compared to A2 Hosting’s detailed user role management.

The user interfaces and tools provided by both hosting services cater to different user needs. A2 Hosting leverages the Plesk control panel, which offers an intuitive interface for creating and managing user roles. The steps are straightforward: navigating through tabs and options to configure roles as needed. Hostens primarily uses cPanel, which is familiar but limits some aspects of user role customization. However, cPanel is widely recognized for its simplicity and efficiency in website administration, making it a solid choice for standard user management tasks.

Effective access control measures are crucial for both hosting providers. A2 Hosting’s Plesk allows intricate permissions settings that address specific service accessibility, which can be pivotal for businesses needing finely tuned user roles. Plesk’s management capabilities are robust enough to handle an increasing number of users efficiently with clear role hierarchies and permissions. Hostens, on the other hand, spreads its user management approach across various hosting plans. Its cPanel-based user management in shared and reseller hosting plans is straightforward, but the lack of detailed role customization may be a limitation for users managing a large and diverse user base. Hostens’ VPS hosting offers more control but requires technical expertise, which could be a barrier for less experienced users.

A2 Hosting user roles table:

Hostens user roles table:

🏆 Winner
A2 Hosting: A2 Hosting stands out with its 24/7 Guru Crew support and a comprehensive range of customer service options.

A2 Hosting offers an extensive array of support options including 24/7 phone support and their specialized Guru Crew, making it a versatile choice for technical assistance at any hour. Their support channels, such as live chat, email, and support tickets, ensure that users can resolve their issues through preferred methods, supported by a well-built knowledge base for self-help.

Hostens provides consistent 24/7 support through live chat, email, and a ticket system, with a prompt response via their contact form. While it lacks phone support and a specialized team akin to A2 Hosting’s Guru Crew, Hostens still offers valuable support resources, including a detailed knowledge base and informative blog, catering adequately to users seeking guidance and assistance.

A2 Hosting vs Hostens: User feedback

User feedback on A2 Hosting is largely positive, highlighting its impressive website speed, reliable uptime, and exceptional customer support. Many users appreciate the ease of use, feature-rich plans, and the effectiveness of technical support, though a few reported prolonged resolution times and inadequate initial support knowledge. A common criticism is the higher-than-average pricing, especially upon renewal, yet users often acknowledge that the quality of service justifies the cost. Some isolated issues like service disruptions and inefficient overseas support were mentioned, but overall, A2 Hosting earns strong recommendations from its user base.

Summary: Users generally appreciate the hosting provider for its reliable uptime and responsive customer support. Many reviewers highlight the ease of setup and user-friendly interface as significant positives. However, some users have expressed concerns over occasional slow server speeds and higher pricing compared to competitors. Overall, the hosting service receives favorable reviews, but there is room for improvement in performance consistency and cost efficiency.

A2 Hosting vs Hostens: FAQ