A2 Hosting vs Krystal
Both cover similar ground, so the useful question is which is better for your specific situation. Here is how they differ on the things that change the answer.
Developer-friendly shared hosting with tuned "Turbo" tiers
UK-owned hosting running on renewable energy
Quick verdict
Krystal takes 1 of the 8 categories we can currently judge. 7 could not be decided on verified data. That is a scoreline, not a recommendation — read the categories that matter to you.
Category by category
Who wins what
A category shows “not enough data” when either side has a gap. We would rather leave it blank than invent a winner.
| Category | Winner | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Not enough dataNeither provider has a verified current price yet, so this cannot be called. | Neither provider has a verified current price yet, so this cannot be called. |
| Performance | TieComparable performance tooling on both, on the data we have verified. | Comparable performance tooling on both, on the data we have verified. |
| Beginners | TieNeither is meaningfully easier to start with than the other. | Neither is meaningfully easier to start with than the other. |
| Support | TieSimilar support coverage on both sides. | Similar support coverage on both sides. |
| WordPress | TieBoth handle WordPress to a similar standard. | Both handle WordPress to a similar standard. |
| Ecommerce | KrystalKrystal is the stronger option for selling online. | Krystal is the stronger option for selling online. |
| Developers | TieComparable developer access on both. | Comparable developer access on both. |
| UK visitors | Not enough dataBoth offer UK-region hosting, or neither does. | Both offer UK-region hosting, or neither does. |
Specifications
Feature by feature
| Feature | A2 Hosting | Krystal |
|---|---|---|
| Control panel | cPanel | cPanel |
| UK data centre | Unknown | Yes |
| Free SSL | Yes | Yes |
| Email hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Staging | Yes | Yes |
| CDN included | Unknown | Yes |
| Free migration | Unknown | Yes |
| SSH access | Yes | Yes |
| Git | Yes | Yes |
| WP-CLI | Yes | Yes |
| WooCommerce | Yes | Yes |
A2 Hosting in short
Worth a look if you want shared hosting that does not fight you when you need SSH, Git or a specific PHP version.
- + Developer tooling available on shared plans
- + Choice of PHP versions
- + Anytime money-back guarantee
- − No UK data centre
- − Turbo branding makes plan comparison harder than it needs to be
Krystal in short
The pick if you want a UK company, UK servers and UK support with a real phone number — and are willing to pay a little more for it.
- + UK company, UK data centres, UK-based support
- + Renewable energy and B Corp certification
- + cPanel, so migrating away later is straightforward
- − Costs more than the international budget hosts
- − Fewer global regions if your audience is outside the UK
Some links here are affiliate links — if you buy through one we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes a Hostoholic Score.