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A2 Hosting changed its name to hosting.com in 2025. The rebrand matters because its shared-hosting plans also changed: technologies once reserved for A2’s Turbo tiers—LiteSpeed, NVMe storage, and AMD EPYC processors—are now advertised across the hosting.com lineup.
This review uses the queue’s familiar A2 Hosting name, but a buyer in 2026 should expect to purchase and receive support through hosting.com. It remains beginner-friendly, though the product transition and new control panel deserve attention.
Verdict
The former A2 Hosting is a strong performance-oriented shared host for beginners who want transparent CPU, RAM, I/O, and storage allocations. Starter is enough for one site; Pro is the sensible tier for a busier WordPress project. The main cautions are rebrand-related change, plan/region variations, and renewal cost.
Our top beginner pick: Bluehost
WordPress.org-recommended — free domain for year one, 1-click install, 24/7 support.
The A2-to-hosting.com transition
A2 Hosting announced the hosting.com name in April 2025. The company says the same team and hosting experience continue, with infrastructure and panel investment under the new brand.
Old A2 plan names map approximately to newer hosting.com tiers:
| Former A2 plan | Current hosting.com equivalent | Current advertised annual-term price | Websites |
|---|---|---|---|
| Startup | Starter | about $3.99/month | 1 |
| Drive | Plus | about $3.99/month | 2 |
| Turbo Boost | Pro | about $6.99/month | 10 |
| Turbo Max | Max | about $8.99/month | 100 |
The price is a monthly equivalent for a one-year term on the referenced U.S. offer. Confirm checkout and renewal. Legacy customers may have different products and migration timing.
Published resource limits
Hosting.com now publishes specific allocations, a welcome improvement over vague “unlimited” shared hosting:
| Plan | RAM | vCPU | NVMe storage | IOPS | I/O bandwidth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 2 GB | 2 | 15 GB | 1,024 | 50 MB/s |
| Plus | 3 GB | 2 | 30 GB | 2,048 | 100 MB/s |
| Pro | 6 GB | 4 | 50 GB | 4,096 | 150 MB/s |
| Max | 8 GB | 4 | 100 GB | 8,192 | 250 MB/s |
These are account limits within a shared environment, not dedicated VPS resources. Other customers still share physical infrastructure. Publishing them makes capacity comparisons and troubleshooting easier.
Starter’s 15 GB is ample for a typical optimized first website but smaller than old A2 Startup’s advertised 100 GB SSD. Plus now supports two sites rather than the former Drive plan’s broader site allowance. Buyers gain faster standard technology while receiving stricter storage/site definitions.
Performance without fake benchmark numbers
The current platform advertises LiteSpeed, NVMe, AMD EPYC CPUs, and Anycast DNS. LiteSpeed Cache can serve cached WordPress pages quickly; NVMe reduces storage latency; CPU and I/O allocations determine how much dynamic work an account can perform.
No responsible “speed-tested” review should invent a TTFB. A reproducible test would:
- deploy the same WordPress version, theme, plugins, and content;
- select the nearest data center;
- configure LiteSpeed Cache consistently;
- warm the cache;
- measure cached and uncached pages from multiple regions;
- run a short concurrency test;
- report median and p95 response plus errors.
Cached brochure pages should be an easy workload. WordPress admin, search, WooCommerce cart, and checkout reveal the account’s PHP and database capacity. Pro’s four vCPUs, 6 GB RAM allocation, and higher I/O make it a better candidate for dynamic work, though they do not guarantee store capacity.
Beginner setup
Hosting.com is investing in a new Hosting Panel while retaining familiar hosting functions. Depending on product and migration state, current and legacy users may encounter different dashboards.
For a first WordPress site, the setup remains conventional: connect or register a domain, install WordPress, enable SSL, choose a data center, and configure caching. Daily backups with a 30-day restore window, WAF, brute-force detection, and malware protection are advertised across the new plans.
The panel transition is a potential rough edge. Documentation written for A2’s older interface may not match the screen. Use current hosting.com documentation and ask support rather than following a dated screenshot.
LiteSpeed Cache setup
Avoid enabling every optimization switch at once. Start with page cache, browser cache, and safe image optimization. Test the site while logged out and on mobile.
CSS/JavaScript combination and delay features can break menus, sliders, consent tools, forms, and checkout. Change one group at a time, purge all layers, and retain a list of exclusions. A fast broken site is a failed optimization.
Do not add WP Rocket or another full-page caching plugin on top of LiteSpeed Cache without a deliberate compatibility plan. Duplicate cache layers create stale pages and difficult debugging.
Backups and security
Automated daily backups with 30-day restore options are a strong inclusion at this price. Confirm whether restore is self-service and whether databases/files can be restored independently.
Maintain an external backup. A host backup can be unavailable during account compromise, billing suspension, or a provider incident. Send weekly or daily copies to an independent storage account and test one restore.
The included WAF and malware protection improve the baseline. The site owner still must update WordPress, remove unused plugins, protect administrator accounts with multifactor authentication, and avoid pirated extensions. Clarify whether “malware protection” includes cleanup labor.
Hosting.com plans include email features under current regional packaging. This is convenient for a personal site and testing. A business should evaluate mailbox storage, spam controls, sending limits, support, and migration.
Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or another dedicated mail provider separates critical communication from the website. Use authenticated transactional delivery for contact forms and order messages.
Support and refund policy
Support is offered through live chat, email, and phone. The best test is a real issue during the first weeks: ask for help with restore, cache exclusion, DNS, or a migration.
Hosting.com’s legal policy states that it is operated by A2 Hosting, LLC. Review the current refund window, exclusions, domain charges, and cancellation route. Domain registrations and certain services may not be refundable even when hosting is.
Real disadvantages
The rebrand creates uncertainty. New panel features, migrated accounts, old documentation, and changed plan limits can make comparison harder. An article recommending “A2 Turbo Boost” without acknowledging hosting.com is outdated.
Starter and Plus storage/site caps are tighter than old A2 marketing. Higher performance allocations are clearly published, but shared hosting still has acceptable-use constraints.
The best price no longer requires A2’s former three-year commitment, which is positive, but renewal remains higher than introductory pricing. Obtain the renewal figure in writing at checkout.
A2/hosting.com versus Bluehost
Hosting.com offers LiteSpeed across plans and publishes detailed resources. Bluehost provides a more integrated WordPress onboarding experience, broad beginner support, and a familiar domain/hosting workflow.
Choose hosting.com for transparent allocations, LiteSpeed, and performance-oriented configuration. Choose Bluehost if guided WordPress setup and a less transitional brand experience matter more. Compare backups, email, migration, domain renewal, regular price, and the exact number of sites.
Who should buy it?
Starter suits one portfolio, blog, or service site. Plus fits two modest sites. Pro is the better plan for several WordPress sites or a growing dynamic site. Max targets larger portfolios but should be compared with reseller, managed WordPress, or VPS alternatives.
Avoid shared hosting for custom daemons, sustained CPU-intensive tasks, large video storage, or a critical store requiring dedicated capacity and recovery guarantees.
Verdict
A2 Hosting’s successor, hosting.com, has retained the performance identity while improving hardware and publishing resource limits. The new lineup is more transparent and includes LiteSpeed, NVMe, security, and daily backups across plans.
The product is beginner-friendly, but shop under its current name and use current documentation. Starter is a good first-site plan; Pro offers the best performance headroom. Confirm renewal and test the new panel during the refund period.
FAQ
Does A2 Hosting still exist?
The business rebranded to hosting.com. A2 Hosting, LLC remains the operating legal entity referenced in current policies.
Is TurboBoost still the plan to buy?
The comparable new tier is Pro, while LiteSpeed and NVMe are now advertised across all new shared plans.
Does hosting.com include backups?
Current plans advertise daily backups with 30-day restore options. Keep an independent copy too.
Is it faster than Bluehost?
It has strong performance technology, but only a same-site, same-region benchmark can establish which is faster for your workload.
