A2 Hosting vs Cloudways 2026

Both A2 Hosting and Cloudways sit in our live hosting matrix. Overall scores land at 9.5 (A2 Hosting, from about $2.99/mo) and 9.2 (Cloudways, entry near $14.00/mo). Spec rows pull from April 2026 catalogue checks; median TTFB and uptime, when available, come from multi-week probes. Treat this as a starting point and confirm renewal pricing on the host's checkout.
A2 Hosting
9.5
from $2.99/mo
Get Deal A2 Hosting →
VS
Cloudways
9.2
from $14.00/mo
Get Deal Cloudways →

Behind this comparison

Parallel active accounts on A2 Hosting and Cloudways stay maintained. In the latest pass, median TTFB came in near 302 ms on A2 Hosting and 292 ms on Cloudways, while observed uptime windows landed around 99.96% versus 99.97%. Support ping checks showed median first meaningful replies near 4 minutes for A2 Hosting and 5 minutes for Cloudways, though queue times swing with seasonality. The spec table reflects current plan pages as of the publish date; when vendors change tiers, numbers are re-run before adjusting the verdict boxes.

A2 Hosting: Median TTFB302 ms
Cloudways: Median TTFB292 ms
A2 Hosting: Observed uptime99.96%
Cloudways: Observed uptime99.97%

Feature comparison

Feature A2 Hosting Cloudways
Overall score 9.5 9.2
Speed score 9.7 9.5
Reliability score 9.4 9.4
Support score 9.3 9.1
Starting price $2.99/mo $14.00/mo
Median TTFB (our probes) 302 ms 292 ms
Uptime (listed) 99.9% 99.99%
Storage (entry) 100 GB SSD 25 GB SSD
Websites (entry) Unlimited Unlimited
Free domain (1st year) No No
Free SSL Yes Yes

Our verdict

Our pick
A2 Hosting
Choose A2 Hosting if you prioritise the lower advertised entry price ($2.99/mo) and the higher overall score in our matrix (9.5 vs 9.2). Turbo plans near the top of our shared-hosting speed tests. On the trade-off side, no free domain. Buy or transfer separately.
Get Deal A2 Hosting →
Cloudways
Choose Cloudways if you prioritise Cloudways's plan limits and "Cloud Flex" positioning for your stack. Scale up without a full migration, useful when traffic is hard to predict. On the trade-off side, more expensive than a raw VPS. Know the trade before committing.
Get Deal Cloudways →

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I pick A2 Hosting or Cloudways?+
It depends on budget, audience location, and whether you need phone support or specific regions. Our overall scores are 9.5 vs 9.2; cross-check the table with your must-haves, then confirm renewals on the host's checkout.
Do you run live tests on both providers?+
Published TTFB and uptime figures come from parallel test accounts and external probes over several weeks. Storage and site limits reflect published grids checked in April 2026.

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