Is Hosting.com (formerly A2 Hosting)'s Starter the best deal?

Shared Hosting · $2.99/mo (15 GB NVMe SSD)

Better deals exist

Hosting.com's $2.99/mo intro price is attractive, but renewal rates jump to $11.99/mo (4x), and you're locked into shared hosting. Several VPS and cloud alternatives offer better long-term value, lower renewal shock, and more control—though most also use intro pricing tactics.

Shared Hosting Stellar

$1.98/mosave 34%

Cheaper intro price ($1.98 vs $2.99), more storage (20GB vs 15GB), supports 3 websites vs 1, and includes free domain + migration.

Caveat: Renewal jumps to ~$3.88/mo; renewal pricing increased May 2026 per their KB article.

Shared Hosting Core

$2.99/mo

Same intro price as Hosting.com but includes 100GB SSD (vs 15GB), free domain, and ModSecurity malware protection.

Caveat: Renewal also jumps to ~$11.99/mo; requires 24-36 month prepay for lowest price.

Cloud VPS XS

$2/mosave 33%

Cheaper intro ($2/mo), more RAM (1GB vs none), 1 vCPU, 10GB NVMe, and unlimited traffic up to 1 Gbit/s—true VPS with root access.

Caveat: Renewal pricing is 2-6x higher; 1-year contract minimum; shared hosting offers more email/domain features.

Shared Hosting Starter

$3.99/mo

Slightly higher intro but includes 10 websites (vs 1), 10GB NVMe, free CDN, weekly backups, and WordPress staging.

Caveat: Renewal jumps to $9.99-$15.99/mo; requires 36-month term for lowest price; aggressive upsells at checkout.

Before you switch

All shared hosting plans shown (Hosting.com, Namecheap, InMotion, Bluehost) use aggressive intro pricing with renewal rates 2-4x higher—factor renewal cost into your TCO over 2-3 years.
Hosting.com's renewal rate ($11.99/mo) is among the highest; Namecheap Stellar renews at only $3.88/mo, a significant long-term saving.
If you need more than 1 website or advanced features (staging, CDN, backups), Bluehost Starter or Namecheap Stellar offer better feature parity at similar or lower intro cost.
VPS options (IONOS Cloud VPS XS at $2/mo) offer root access and more control but require Linux/server management skills and are unmanaged by default.
Verify renewal pricing and contract terms on the provider's site before checkout—many require 12-36 month prepay to lock in advertised intro rates.

This comparison is generated from publicly listed pricing and may contain errors or omissions. It is not financial or professional advice, and CloudHosting.io is not responsible for decisions made based on it. Pricing, promotions, and specs change frequently and may not reflect current terms, regional availability, taxes, or contract length. Always verify current pricing and terms directly on the provider's site before purchasing or switching.

Comparable plans across providers

Provider	Plan	Price	Specs
Scaleway	Virtual Instances · STARDUST1-S	$0.43/mo	1 GB RAM, 1 vCPU	Visit
IONOS	IONOS CLOUD vCPU Servers · vCPU RAM - per GB	$1.58/mo	Price per GB RAM per hour (building block)	Visit
Namecheap	Shared Hosting · Stellar	$1.98/mo	20 GB SSD	Visit
IONOS	Cloud VPS (Linux) · Cloud VPS XS	$2/mo	1 GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 10 GB NVMe	Visit
Fly.io	Machines (Shared CPU) · shared-cpu-1x - 256MB	$2.02/mo	256 MB RAM, 1 vCPU	Visit
Bluehost	VPS Hosting · NVMe 2	$2.09/mo	2 GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 50 GB NVMe SSD	Visit
InMotion Hosting	Shared Hosting · Core	$2.99/mo	512 MB RAM, 100 GB SSD	Visit
Vultr	Cloud Compute · Regular 1vCPU/0.5GB	$3.5/mo	512 MB RAM, 1 vCPU, 10 GB NVMe SSD	Visit
AWS Lightsail	Virtual Servers · GP 0.5GB (Linux, IPv6)	$3.5/mo	512 MB RAM, 2 vCPU, 20 GB SSD	Visit
UpCloud	Cloud Servers - Starter · STARTER-1xCPU-1GB	$3.5/mo	1 GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 10 GB Standard SSD	Visit
HostGator	Shared Hosting · Hatchling	$3.75/mo	10 GB SSD	Visit
Microsoft Azure	Virtual Machines · B1ls	$3.8/mo	512 MB RAM, 1 vCPU	Visit
Namecheap	VPS Hosting · Spark	$3.88/mo	1 GB RAM, 1 vCPU, 20 GB SSD	Visit
Bluehost	Shared Hosting · Starter	$3.99/mo	10 GB NVMe SSD	Visit
DigitalOcean	Droplets · Basic 512MB	$4/mo	512 MB RAM, 1 vCPU, 10 GB SSD	Visit

Visit Hosting.com (formerly A2 Hosting)

Comparing prices across every provider we track...