The best thing about this A2 Hosting vs InMotion Hosting comparison is that you can’t go wrong with either. Both services boast robust infrastructures, SSD powered hosting, and a wide range of features at affordable prices. So, it all comes down to the little details that make one host slightly better than the other and the host that suits your needs.
For example, InMotion Hosting offers a free SSL with its annual plans, but A2 Hosting doesn’t. But unlike InMotion Hosting, you can cancel your contract and get a pro-rata refund at any time with A2 Hosting.
To fairly compare A2 Hosting and InMotion Hosting, I tested both web hosting providers in terms of pricing, features, performance, security, and support. I was impressed by both hosts, but A2 Hosting has an overall slight edge over InMotion Hosting. Click here to see A2 Hosting’s best deals, or read on to see why A2 Hosting wins this tough comparison.
1. Plans and Pricing
Both Hosts Offer Affordable Shared Hosting, but InMotion Is a Bit Cheaper
There’s no doubt that A2 Hosting and InMotion Hosting sell an array of reasonably-priced hosting solutions and attractive discounts with their annual subscriptions. However, there are some differences between their shared hosting offerings.
For starters, A2 Hosting offers four shared hosting plans at a cheaper discounted annual rate than InMotion Hosting, but InMotion’s packages renew at a cheaper cost than A2 Hosting.
Even though both services offer free site migration, InMotion will only migrate your website if it’s less than 10 GB. A2 Hosting offers free migration of cPanel accounts from other hosts, or for any type of website if you choose to upgrade to one of its higher-tier plans.
InMotion Hosting offers a free domain name with annual subscriptions (on all but intro Lite plan), but A2 Hosting doesn’t. InMotion Hosting offers a 90-day money-back guarantee. On the other hand, A2 Hosting offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. Plus, you can get out of your contract at any time and get a pro-rata refund (you’ll be only charged for your usage period).
That said, InMotion comes out as the winner of the pricing round.
2. Features
A2 Hosting Offers More Optimized Managed WordPress Hosting Plans
A2 Hosting offers three SSD powered managed WordPress hosting plans – 1-Site, 3-Site, and Unlimited – with one to unlimited hosted websites, 10 GB to 40 GB disk space, free SSL, Plesk control panel, and unlimited bandwidth. A2 Hosting’s platform is built on Cloud Container Technology specifically designed to handle heavy WordPress sites.
All WordPress hosting plans are powered by A2 Hosting’s Turbo server which gives you 20X faster page loads. This host also offers some useful features for free, such as Cloudflare CDN, automatic backups, Jetpack Personal license, and single-click site staging to test and make edits on a copy of the live version of your website.
InMotion Hosting offers four managed WordPress Hosting plans – WP-1000S, WP-2000S, WP-3000S, WP-4000S. These plans offer you one to six hosted websites, 50 GB to 200 GB SSD storage, free SSL, and unlimited bandwidth.
InMotion Hosting offers the free Jetpack Image CDN, which is much more limited than Cloudflare CDN because it only acts as a CDN for your WordPress site’s images.
InMotion Hosting also offers the free version of Jetpack with its WP-1000S plan, but it’s a paid add-on with the rest of its WordPress Hosting plans.
See more differences between A2 Hosting and InMotion Hosting in the following comparison table:
| A2 Hosting | InMotion Hosting | |
| Hosting Types | Shared, WordPress hosting, VPS, reseller, dedicated servers | Shared, WordPress hosting, VPS, reseller, dedicated servers, cloud VPS, bare metal |
| Free Domain | x | ✔ |
| Free SSL Certificate | ✔ | ✔ |
| Disk Space | 10 GB – Unlimited | 50 GB – Unlimited |
| Bandwidth | 400 GB – Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Automatic Backups | Yes, with all WordPress hosting plans, but only with some shared hosting plans | Available for additional fee |
| Control Panel | cPanel, Plesk | cPanel |
| Email Accounts | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Free CDN | ✔ | Free Image CDN with WordPress hosting |
| Free Site Migration | ✔ | Only if website is under 10 GB |
| Money-Back Guarantee | 30 days | 90 days |
The winner? A2 Hosting, because it offers more advanced and optimized WordPress hosting features and most of them are free.
3. Performance
A2 Hosting Can’t Beat InMotion Hosting’s Stunning Performance
Both A2 Hosting and InMotion Hosting promise a 99.9% uptime guarantee, but which one actually keeps their word? While A2 Hosting’s users reported some downtime in the past, InMotion Hosting has exceeded this uptime on several occasions and there are no reports of less.
A2 Hosting has a global network of servers (USA, Netherlands, and Singapore), but InMotion has servers in the US only. That being said, both of InMotion Hosting’s data centers sit directly on internet exchange points.
When we tested loading speeds for A2 Hosting, there were some slower locations, but the overall results were above average. See which locations fell short in our in-depth A2 Hosting review.
On the other hand, InMotion Hosting’s loading speed test results were much better than expected. See all the details in our full InMotion Hosting review.
Due to less downtime and faster page loading speeds, InMotion Hosting takes the lead when it comes to performance.
4. Security
A2 Hosting Has a Security Advantage Over InMotion Hosting
A2 Hosting and InMotion Hosting both offer free SSL certificates with their services. In addition, they both secure their servers and websites with 24/7 monitoring and DDoS protection.
InMotion additionally offers Hack Protection, Advanced Policy Firewall, and internal vulnerability patching application to secure your websites against malicious threats.
On the other hand, A2 Hosting provides a free security pack with all its plans. This includes KernelCare (daily, automatic, and rebootless Kernel updates), reinforced DDoS protection, Dual Web Hosting Firewall, Brute Force defense, HackScan, Auto-Heal hosting protection, Barracuda spam filtering, and virus scanning.
While A2 Hosting offers free automated regular backups with most of its plans, InMotion offers backups as a paid add-on. This is a huge plus for A2 Hosting customers.
The winner? Even though InMotion Hosting offers excellent security features, A2 Hosting’s free automated backups and free security pack make it a winner in this round.
5. Support
Even though both A2 Hosting and InMotion Hosting have informative websites, and each has its comprehensive knowledge base, A2 Hosting’s knowledge base is better organized, making it easier to find what you’re looking for.
A2 Hosting’s customer support is available 24/7 via live chat, phone, and support ticket. Despite some users reporting slow response times, when I contacted the live chat I received an almost instant response. Even with the support ticket I submitted, I received a reply within an hour, which isn’t bad at all.
On the other hand, InMotion Hosting offers 24/7/365 U.S.-based hosting and has the same communication channels as A2 Hosting, and also email. However, when I contacted the live chat here, it took me a little bit longer to get through to an agent. As soon as I did, though, the agent was helpful and answered all my questions. The support ticket channel was equally helpful.
Both vendors have reliable support, and even though InMotion has more communication channels than A2Hosting, A2 Hosting wins this round with its higher responsiveness in the live chat.
A2 Hosting Wins by a Thin Margin
It was definitely a challenging competition between A2 Hosting and InMotion Hosting. These two powerful providers do offer top-of-the-line hosting for beginners and pros alike. No wonder they’re both on our list of the best web hosting services. Nevertheless, A2 Hosting beat InMotion Hosting by a hair in three out of five categories.
If you’re on a small budget, then I suggest that you go for InMotion Hosting. However, if you have some room in your budget and want to enjoy more features, you’ll like A2 Hosting.
FAQ
Who owns A2 Hosting and InMotion Hosting?A2 Hosting is an independently owned company that was launched in 2001 by its CEO Bryan Muthig. InMotion Hosting is a privately held company that was also launched in 2001 and is owned by co-founders Sunil Saxena and Todd Robinson.Does InMotion Hosting offer good speeds?InMotion Hosting offers excellent uptime and has recently been recording almost 100% uptime. It also offers impressive page loading speeds within and outside the U.S. (like India, for example) given that it doesn’t have servers in other locations than the U.S. Learn how we perform web hosting server tests.Does A2 Hosting offer WordPress hosting?Yes, A2 Hosting offers four SSD powered WordPress hosting plans – StartUP, Drive, Turbo Boost, and Turbo Max. The disk space starts from 100 GB to unlimited, unlimited email accounts, and you can host from one to unlimited websites. Key features include free SSL certificates, free CDN, free site builder, free website staging, and automatic backups. If A2 Hosting isn’t quite right for you, check out the best managed WordPress hosting services.Does InMotion Hosting use SSD?Yes, InMotionHosting uses SSD with all hosting plans (shared hosting, WordPress hosting, VPS, and dedicated servers) free of charge. If you want to explore more SSD hosting options, take a look at these fast and cheap SSD web hosting services.
