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Bluehost vs A2 Hosting starts with a correction: A2 Hosting no longer exists under that name. World Host Group bought it in January 2025 and renamed it hosting.com that spring, ending a brand that had run since 2001. So this is now a comparison between two hosting groups, Newfold Digital and World Host Group. Each sells through a brand people still search for by its old name. At the same $6.99 opening rate, Bluehost Business renews at $13.99 and hosting.com Turbo Boost at $20.99.
Bluehost vs A2 Hosting: The Short Answer
Bluehost, at 4.0 against 3.3 in our reviews. At the same opening rate it renews for seven dollars a month less, its measured record is complete, and its ownership is settled. hosting.com is mid-transition: a new name, a new control panel, and a retest by CNET describing a service weaker than the A2 Hosting it replaced.
Head to Head
| Criterion | Bluehost Business | hosting.com Turbo Boost |
|---|---|---|
| Brand status | Unchanged | Formerly A2 Hosting, renamed 2025 |
| Owner | Newfold Digital, since 2021 | World Host Group, since January 2025 |
| Intro rate | $6.99/mo | $6.99/mo |
| Renewal | $13.99/mo on a 36-month term | $20.99/mo on annual terms |
| Renewal step | 2.0× over 36 months | 3.0× over 12 months |
| 36 months | $251.64 on a 36-month term | $587.64 on annual terms |
| Measured record | 411 ms, 99.99%, load 41 ms | Retest reports mediocre performance |
| Support | Phone and chat, 24/7 | Phone line disputed |
| Refund window | 30 days, $15.99 kept for the domain | Disputed: 30 days or anytime |
| Our score | 4.0 | 3.3 |
A2 Hosting Is Now hosting.com
World Host Group closed its purchase of A2 Hosting around 29 January 2025. By spring the A2 name was gone and the service ran as hosting.com, with a new account dashboard and server setup. Existing customers kept their logins and services through the change.
That matters for any comparison written before 2025, because it describes a different company. CNET had reviewed A2 Hosting favorably in 2024, and it retested hosting.com in the autumn of 2025. It reported that removing the old site assistant made the service harder to use. It also described mediocre server performance and frustration reaching support. Its conclusion was that quality had dropped against both the old A2 and many competitors.
⚠️ So read older A2 Hosting praise as history. The speed reputation that made the brand famous belongs to a setup that has since changed. Our A2 Hosting review tracks what carried over and what did not.
The Same Opening Rate, Different Renewals
Bluehost Business opens at $6.99 and renews at $13.99 on a 36-month term, which is 2.0× over 36 months. Thirty-six months at the opening rate come to $251.64, and the renewal only arrives after that.
hosting.com Turbo Boost also opens at $6.99 and renews at $20.99, which is 3.0× over 12 months. On annual terms, twelve months at the promotion and twenty-four at the renewal come to $587.64. Its longer-term pricing is not in our table, and one 2026 review notes that the steep rates hit hardest on short cycles.
⚠️ The entry plans cannot be compared cleanly. Reviews this year quote hosting.com’s starting price anywhere from under two dollars to $3.99, under two different sets of plan names. None gives a renewal we could confirm. Bluehost Starter opens at $3.99 and renews at $9.99 on 36 months. Our page on hosting renewal prices lists what we could verify.
| Host and plan | Intro → Renewal | Multiplier |
|---|---|---|
| IONOS Plus | $1.00 → $14.00 | 14.0× over 12 months |
| SiteGround StartUp | $2.99 → $17.99 | 6.0× over 12 months |
| SiteGround GrowBig | $4.99 → $29.99 | 6.0× over 12 months |
| SiteGround GoGeek | $7.99 → $44.99 | 5.6× over 12 months |
| ChemiCloud Starter | $2.49 → not published | Renewal shown at checkout only |
| Scala Hosting Mini | $2.95 → $11.95 | 4.1× over 12 months |
| DreamHost Launch, annual | $2.89 → $10.99 | 3.8× over 12 months |
| Hostinger Premium | $2.99 → $10.99 | 3.7× over 48 months |
| Bluehost Starter | $3.99 → $11.99 | 3.0× over 12 months |
| A2 Hosting Turbo Boost | $6.99 → $20.99 | 3.0× over 12 months |
| HostGator Hatchling | $3.75 → $10.99 | 2.9× over 36 months |
| GoDaddy Economy | $5.99 → $15.32 | 2.6× over 36 months |
| Bluehost Starter | $3.99 → $9.99 | 2.5× over 36 months |
| Namecheap Stellar | $1.98 → $4.88 | 2.5× over 12 or 24 months |
| Namecheap Stellar Plus | $2.98 → $6.88 | 2.3× over 12 or 24 months |
| Namecheap Stellar Business | $4.98 → $9.88 | 2.0× over 12 or 24 months |
| DreamHost Launch, 4-year | $2.89 → $7.99 | 2.8× over 48 months |
| DreamHost, eligible US nonprofits | One shared plan free for the account's life | 501(c)(3) or (c)(19); help article, checked 10 Jun 2026 by a nonprofit directory |
| Bluehost Business | $6.99 → $13.99 | 2.0× over 36 months |
| Bluehost Starter, second reading | $1.99 → $8.99 | Hostingstep, July 2026; conflicts with Bluehost's help page |
| Hostwinds Basic | $4.54 → $6.99 | 1.5× over 12 months |
| WP Engine Startup | $27.00 → $35.00 | 1.3× over 12 months |
| Rocket.net Starter | $25.00 → $30.00 | 1.2× over 12 months |
| InterServer Standard | $2.50 flat | 1.0×, price lock |
| Cloudways, from | $14.00 flat | no promotional term |
| Kinsta Starter | $35.00 flat | no promotional term |
| Liquid Web managed VPS, annual billing | $33.00, no promotional term | No increase described on annual billing |
| Liquid Web managed VPS, monthly billing | $36.00 → $72.00 reported | 2.0× over one month; one pricing guide, disputed |
| GreenGeeks Lite | $2.95 → $13.95 | 4.7× after one term; renewal was $12.95 before 2026 |
| ChemiCloud Starter, third-party figures | $9.95, $11.95 or $12.95 quoted | Sources disagree; 4.0× to 5.2× over 36 months |
| SiteGround StartUp, by term | $2.99 → $14.99, $17.99 or $24.99 | 5.0× over 24 months, 6.0× over 12, 8.4× month to month |
| ChemiCloud Kickstart, reseller | $8.99 → $29.95 | Term not stated in the source we read |
| InterServer reseller | $19.95, price locked | No increase described in sources |
| GreenGeeks reseller | $19.95 with WHMCS included | Promotional rate; renewal not published |
| Hostwinds white-label reseller | $10.00 with WHMCS included | Plain reseller plan excludes WHMCS |
| InMotion Core, 36-month term | $3.19 → $10.99 | 3.4× over 36 months; TechRadar, 2026 |
| InMotion Launch, 36-month term | $4.99 → $13.99 | 2.8× over 36 months; TechRadar and plan cards, 2026 |
| InMotion Core, by term | Renews at $10.99, $11.99 or $14.49 | Longest term lowest; one review, May 2026 |
The Measured Record
Bluehost’s record is complete in the benchmark project we cite: 411 ms response time and 99.99% uptime over 9 outages between November 2025 and August 2026. After its move to Oracle Cloud it passed the load test at 41 ms with no errors, and its hardware scores 9.6 of 10.
hosting.com has no comparable entry in our table under its new name. Our A2 Hosting row carries lab response figures of 150 to 198 ms. We could not name the publisher of those studies, so we set them aside. The named evidence is CNET’s retest, and it points the wrong way for a brand built on speed.
⚠️ That is an evidence gap more than a verdict. A host in the middle of a migration is hard to measure fairly. Our guide to reading an uptime report explains why we will not borrow a figure without a source to fill it.
What Changed for Former A2 Customers
Three things changed at once, and each one matters on its own. The name moved, which affects nothing technical but breaks every old review a buyer might read. The account panel moved to a new design, which reviewers describe as taking adjustment. And the plans themselves were renamed, so the Startup and Turbo tiers that older articles describe now sit beside new plan names with different prices.
The practical advice for an existing customer is to check the renewal invoice rather than the plan page. A renamed plan can renew at a rate set under the new owner, and the first sign of it is usually the charge itself. For a new buyer, the advice is simpler: price the plan on the page today and ignore anything written about A2 Hosting before 2025. The same A2 Hosting figures against Kinsta are in our Kinsta and A2 Hosting comparison.
⚠️ If your bookmarks still point at A2 Hosting, they now redirect to hosting.com, where the plan you renew into matters more than the one you signed up for.
Two Groups, Many Brands
Bluehost has belonged to Newfold Digital since 2021, alongside HostGator and Yoast SEO, and who owns Bluehost traces that group. World Host Group was founded in 2019 and has grown by acquisition. After renaming A2 Hosting, it brought Rocket.net into hosting.com in August 2025, with Rocket.net’s founder becoming the group’s chief product officer.
Rocket.net itself described the deal as a strategic partnership, while hosting.com lists it among the group’s acquisitions. Either way, it now sits inside the same group as the former A2 Hosting. So a buyer choosing between these two is choosing between two consolidators, not between an independent host and a corporate one.
Neither is a verdict on service. Consolidation shapes renewal policy and support staffing, which is why we record it on every page. Our comparison of SiteGround against Rocket.net has been updated to reflect the ownership above.
Support and Refunds
Bluehost answers phone and chat around the clock. For hosting.com the phone line is disputed: one 2026 review lists round-the-clock phone support, while customers report it was removed. CNET’s retest described frustration contacting support. Neither host publishes a measured response time.
Sources also disagree on refunds. A2 Hosting was known for an anytime money-back guarantee, and a July 2026 review describes hosting.com as offering 30 days on most plans. Bluehost refunds for 30 days and keeps $15.99 for the free domain. Confirm hosting.com’s terms in writing, and see our guide to canceling hosting and getting a refund for the safe order of leaving.
Panels and Everyday Use
Bluehost puts a WordPress-focused dashboard in front of cPanel, which is familiar to anyone who has rented hosting before and exports in a standard format. hosting.com has been redesigning its customer panel, which the company calls Turbo Hub, and reviewers describe the new one as taking adjustment.
A panel in the middle of a redesign is a moving target. That is not a reason to avoid hosting.com, but it is a reason to check the current version before committing to a long term. Our guide to migrating web hosting covers the move in either direction.
Where Each One Is Weakest
hosting.com is weakest on certainty. Its plan names, panel, support channels and refund terms have all moved within two years, and the evidence we can name describes a decline rather than a recovery. None of that proves the service is poor today. It does mean a buyer is taking a bet on how the transition ends.
Bluehost is weakest after checkout. Its dashboard sells add-ons most sites never need, including a premium certificate at $89.88 when the free one is enough, and it keeps $15.99 of a refund for the free domain. Its best rate also needs a three-year prepayment. Those are costs a buyer can see in advance, which is more than the other side offers. Our guide to pointing a domain to a new host helps keep either one easy to leave.
Winners by Category
Renewal at the same opening rate: Bluehost, at $13.99 against $20.99. Renewal step: Bluehost, at 2.0× over 36 months. Measured record: Bluehost, complete and current. Support channels: Bluehost, with an undisputed phone line. Brand stability: Bluehost, unchanged since 2021. Refund terms: undecided, because the hosting.com policy is disputed. Upgrade options: hosting.com, which now sells Rocket.net managed WordPress alongside shared plans.
When to Choose hosting.com Instead
Take hosting.com if you want its managed WordPress line, which now runs on the Rocket.net platform. Take it too if you were a happy A2 Hosting customer and want continuity. Confirm the refund window and the support channels first, and price the renewal on the term you will actually sign. Our Rocket.net review covers that managed platform.
Take Bluehost for a new site that needs predictable renewals and a measured record. Its Business tier costs seven dollars a month less at renewal, and nothing about the brand is in transition. Our roundup of the best WordPress hosting shows where both sit.
How We Research
We run no tests. Bluehost measurements come from Hostingstep with their windows. For hosting.com we rely on CNET’s retest and set aside figures whose publisher we could not name. Ownership comes from the companies’ own announcements, including Rocket.net’s release of 26 August 2025 and hosting.com’s own page on its acquisitions.
Prices come from the providers’ own pages and reviews published this year, read on 20 September 2026, and where they conflict we say so. The criteria behind our scores are on our about page, and the full Bluehost workings are in our Bluehost review.
Bluehost vs A2 Hosting FAQ
Not under that name. World Host Group bought A2 Hosting in January 2025 and renamed it hosting.com that spring. Existing customers kept their logins and services. Searches for A2 Hosting now lead to hosting.com.
At the same $6.99 opening rate, Bluehost Business renews at $13.99 on a 36-month term and hosting.com Turbo Boost at $20.99 on annual terms. Across three years that is $251.64 against $587.64, though the terms differ.
The named evidence says no. CNET, which reviewed A2 favorably in 2024, retested hosting.com in the autumn of 2025 and described mediocre server performance and a harder-to-use service. Figures without a named publisher we have set aside.
Bluehost belongs to Newfold Digital, which also owns HostGator and Yoast SEO. hosting.com belongs to World Host Group, which brought Rocket.net into hosting.com in August 2025. Both are consolidators rather than independent hosts.
Sources disagree. A2 Hosting was known for an anytime money-back guarantee, and a July 2026 review describes 30 days on most hosting.com plans. Confirm the terms in writing before paying. Bluehost refunds for 30 days and keeps $15.99 for the free domain.
The Verdict
Bluehost takes this, and the reasons are stability and price rather than speed alone. At the same $6.99 opening rate it renews for seven dollars a month less. Its record is complete, and the brand is not in the middle of a transition. Our scores read 4.0 against 3.3.
hosting.com may yet become what A2 Hosting was, and the Rocket.net platform gives it a serious managed product. For now, the named evidence describes a service that got harder to use after the rename, and sources still dispute its refund and support terms. Revisit it once the transition settles. Until then, charges that follow the first term are collected in hidden hosting fees.