Arvixe vs. Bluehost – Web Hosting Services Comparison 2024

Bluehost Vs. Arvixe: Which One Is More Reliable?

Most business owners who want to go digital and advertise their products and services through a website, find themselves in a devastating situation when it comes to choosing a reliable web hosting company.

However, this is a vital decision that everyone must take to ensure that they continue to stay in business. However, with all the options and plans available out there, it’s quite easy to fall prey to mischievous hosting providers.

In this review guide, we will be comparing Bluehost and Arvixe to see how each hosting provider stacks up against the other. The main intention is to help you make an informed decision.

About Bluehost and Arvixe

If you didn’t already know, both Bluehost and Arvixe have been in the web hosting business for an extended period.

They are both owned by Endurance International Group (EIG) alongside other hosting companies such as HostGator, HostMonster, iPage, A Small Orange, FatCow, and others. 

As one of the most well-known web hosting brands in the market right now, Bluehost is also one of the oldest web hosting companies in the world having started its operations in 1996.

The company is well appreciated by its customers across the world and due to its exemplary customer service, feature-rich customer-centered plans, and competitive pricing. They are also an official WordPress recommended hosting provider. 

Arvixe, on the other hand, has been in the web hosting business since 2003. Its popularity has been growing gradually since its inception which has seen it laden with several awards from different authorities such as the PCMag, Inc. magazine, and HostReview.

However, the company has been dogged by serious problems along the way such as uptime problems and customer service woes which hasn’t been so forgiving on its reputation.

Like other EIG owned hosting companies these two companies offer almost the same services including:

• VPS hosting
• Dedicated server plans
• WordPress hosting
• Shared hosting

Bluehost’s VPS and dedicated server options are the company’s recent additions and run on Linux-based configurations. Arvixe offers Windows and Linux options on all its plans while Bluehost is limited to Linux.

While it’s worth to note that EIG owned web-hosting companies are not duplicates of each other, they do share a few similarities. So, if you’ve hosted your site before with an EIG owned hosting company and had some issues, it’s likely that you might encounter them with another EIG company.

That said, now let’s look at how these two hosting companies compare. 

Bluehost vs. Arvixe: Hosting Plans and Pricing

Because of the stiff competition in the web hosting industry, promotional pricing is common with these hosting companies.

However, the promo prices are only limited to the first time sign up only. As such, signing up for an extended period can help you save some bucks.

Both Bluehost and Arvixe offer a wide range of hosting plans. They range from Shared, VPS, Dedicated, and WordPress hosting.

Shared Hosting

Bluehost offers its customers with three tiers of Linux-based shared hosting plans. Namely, the Basic Plan, the Plus plan, the Choice Plus plan, and the Pro plan. 

The Basic plan is the cheapest and is available at a promo price of $2.95/mo. It comes with 50 GB SSD storage, 1 website, 5 parked domains, a free SSL certificate, and unmetered bandwidth.

Then there is the Plus plan that goes for $5.45/mo and includes perks such as unlimited SSD storage, unlimited websites, unmetered bandwidth, free SSL, spam experts, and more.

The Choice plus, which is the most recommended shared hosting plan packs everything that the Plus plan offers and adds a few extra perks such as Domain Privacy & protection and a one year site backup. The plan is available at $5.54/mo.

The Pro plan, which is the premium plan in this category includes everything that comes with the Choice plus plan but adds a few perks such as a dedicated IP and 2 spam experts.

Arvixe, on the other hand, offers two categories of shared hosting. The Linux-based shared hosting plans and Windows-based shared hosting plans.

The Linux-based plans include the Personal Class, Personal Class Pro, and the Business Class Pro while the Windows-based plans include the Personal Class ASP, Personal Class ASP Pro, and Business Class ASP Pro.

The cheapest Linux-based plan, which is the Personal Class goes for $7.7/mo (2-year subscription) and comes with a free domain, unmetered storage, unmetered monthly data transfer (bandwidth), and 6 domains, and several other features. 

The same features are available with the Windows-based Personal Class shared hosting plan only that this time you get to host just 1 website. The price is also higher and goes for $9.60/mo.

As you can see, even the most basic shared hosting plan that Arvixe offers is a bit expensive compared to what Bluehost offers – which is probably what makes Bluehost one of the most popular shared hosting providers. If you like Bluehost, make sure not to miss their Black Friday deals. You might get an even better deal.

VPS Hosting

For those who want to scale their sites, both hosts offer VPS hosting. Bluehost VPS plans are among the cheapest in the market.

Arvixe’s plans, on the other hand, are slightly expensive but there is a reason for that as we will see from this comparison. Let’s start with Bluehost.

Bluehost offers three VPS plans. Namely, the Standard, Enhanced, and Ultimate Plans.

The Standard plan is the cheapest among the three and it packs a host of features such as 30 GB SSD storage space, 2 GB RAM, 1 TB bandwidth, 1 Dedicated IP address, and 2 cores. The plan goes for $18.99 (discounted price) and renews at $29.99.

The Enhanced plan, which is the most recommended Bluehost VPS plan goes for $29.99 and renews at $59.99. The plan offers 60 GB SSD storage space, 4 GB RAM, 2 TB bandwidth, 2 dedicated IP addresses, and 2 Cores.

Lastly, we have the Ultimate plan which is priced at $59.99 which packs 4 cores, 120 GB SSD storage space, 2 dedicated IP addresses, 8 GB RAM, and 3 TB bandwidth. The plan renews at $119.99.

As it stands, Bluehost’s VPS prices for first-time users are fairly priced. But how do they stack up against Arvixe’s VPS hosting plans?

Just like its shared plans, Arvixe offers both Windows and Linux based VPS hosting plans. The Windows-based plans include the VPS Class Linux and the VPS Class Pro Linux while the Windows-based VPS plans include the VPS Class Windows and the VPS Class Pro Windows.

Now, the VPS Class Linux which is the equivalent of Bluehost’s Enhanced VPS plan offers 50 GB storage space, unlimited bandwidth, 4 cores, 2 GB RAM, and 2 dedicated IP addresses. While the plans are pretty similar Arvixe beats Bluehost both in terms of CPU cores and pricing.

The same applies to the VPS Class Pro Linux plan which is the equivalent of Bluehost’s Ultimate plan. Of course, Bluehost has generous offers for first-time users but as soon as your period elapses, you’ll have to dig deeper into your pockets.    

Also, Arvixe beats Bluehost with its unlimited monthly data transfers (bandwidth) and Linux-or-Windows based server options. While most hosting providers offer Linux-based server options, you should not underestimate the importance of a Windows server.

For instance, if you want to migrate your website or build it on an ASP.NET framework, you’ll appreciate what Arvixe offers.

Managed WordPress Hosting

Both hosts offer Managed WordPress hosting. However, Unlike Arvixe, Bluehost is a little lean on WordPress specific features which undoubtedly makes it one of the best hosts for WordPress sites. 

Bluehost offers three Managed WordPress hosting plans which are well documented on their website. They include the Build plan which costs 19.95/mo, the Grow plan which goes for 29.95/mo, and the Scale plan which goes for 49.95/mo. Note that these are discounted prices for new subscribers only.

All these plans come with premium features. A case in point is the Build Plan which comes with Plan which comes with Jetpack site analytics, 100 plus free themes, daily backups, marketing center, malware detection & removal, and domain privacy plus protection.

All the above plans also come with unlimited web storage, unlimited subdomain, unlimited domains, a staging environment, and no traffic limits, free SSL, spam protection, instant, WordPress install, WP auto-updates, 24/7 customer support, SSD storage, and CDN.

Arvixe, on the other hand, provides its customers with WordPress hosting plans starting from $7 per month, which comes with unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth as well as an unlimited number of sites with all the plans.

The company scales WordPress sites from shared to VPS and dedicated hosting. However, for the VPS or dedicated servers, Arvixe pricing is higher.

What I didn’t like about Arvixe when it comes to Managed WordPress hosting is that they have no clear documentation. The support staff also didn’t seem to understand what managed WordPress hosting is. So, here Bluehost takes it all.

Dedicated hosting

Dedicated hosting essentially means that your website is hosted on its own server. This means that it gets to enjoy all the resources such as bandwidth, CPU power, RAM, and many more – all by itself. In other words, there is no competition.

Dedicated servers also offer a safe environment, immense power, and flexibility – compared to what shared hosting offers. However, these perks come at a price – which makes it absolutely necessary for you to first do some thorough research before committing to a particular hosting provider.

So if you are looking to upgrade from shared hosting to dedicated hosting, you’ll be delighted to know that both Bluehost and Arvixe offer dedicated server configurations.

Bluehost has three dedicated server tiers. Namely, the Standard plan, the Enhanced plan, and the Premium plan. The premium plan is priced at a discounted price of $79.99/mo (discounted price) and it offers 500 GB of mirrored storage, 4 CPU cores, 4 GB RAM, 5 TB bandwidth, and 3 dedicated IP addresses.

The Enhanced plan falls in the middle and is priced at 99.99/mo (discounted price). The plan offers 4 CPU cores and 4 IP dedicated IP addresses. However, it doubles the Standard plan when it comes to storage, RAM, and bandwidth.

Lastly, we have the Premium plan. This is the most expensive plan and it goes for $119/mo (discounted price). It offers 4 cores, 1 TB mirrored storage, 16 GB RAM, 15 TB bandwidth, and 5 IP addresses. This is almost similar to what HostMonster offers.

All three plans are outfitted with a Linux-based operating system and come with a free SSL certificate, free domain for 1 year, root access, and dedicated support. Provisioning is also fast and takes roughly 24-72 hours.  

Something worth noting is that Bluehost’s dedicated server configurations are built on modern technology. They are also maintained by an in-house tech team that is always on standby.

Now let’s see what Arvixe offers in comparison to Bluehost.

Arvixe – once a PC Magazine’s Editors’ Choice for dedicated hosting, offers robust dedicated server offerings. The company has three Linux/Windows-based dedicated server plans under its hood – similar to what A Small Orange Offers. They include the Value Server, the Power Server, and Enterprise Server plans.

The Value Server, which is the equivalent of Bluehost’s Standard plan starts at 89.99/mo. The plan boasts 4 cores of Intel Xeon-D CPU, 1 TB storage space, 8 GB RAM, unmetered bandwidth, and 3 dedicated IPV4 IP addresses.

The Power Server, on the other hand, equates to Bluehost’s Enhanced plan and starts at $119.89/mo. It’s also generously packed with 8 Intel Xeon-D CPU cores, 16 GB storage space, 2 TB HDD or 512 SSD storage, 3 dedicated IPs, and unmetered data transfer.    

Lastly, we have the Enterprise plan. This is Arvixe’s premium dedicated server plan. The plan comes with a whopping 30 GB of RAM, 1 TB SSD storage space, 8 Intel Xeon-D CPU cores, and unmetered bandwidth. Surprisingly, even with all this impressive perks, the plan starts at $139.99/mo. 

Comparing to what Bluehost offers with its dedicated hosting plan – both in terms of price value and features – Arvixe here takes the lead. It’s not surprising why it was voted the best by PC Mag.

Bluehost vs. Arvixe: Reliability and Uptime

For businesses looking to succeed in the online business environment, the reliability of the hosting service provider cannot be overlooked. Without a reliable web host, all your efforts may end up being nothing more than just a disorganized patchwork of unprotected site activity, downtime, and uptime.  

That said let’s look at the reliability of these two great hosts.

Reliability

Bluehost have their data centers located in Utah and different parts of the world to ensure that their hosting services are uninterrupted, reliable, and fast. The company depends on redundant resources to power the data center and diesel backups in case of emergencies.

However, the company does no perform redundant or mirrored backups of data for other plans – except for its Cloud Plans. The backups only exist for 30 days.

Arvixe, on the other hand, have their data centers in Dallas Texas (North America), Hong Kong, and Amsterdam. The data centers are strategically selected to eliminate bandwidth traffic jams and roadblocks which guarantees super-fast response times. 

Each of their data centers is equipped with a fully redundant power management system including backup generators, and UPSs (uninterrupted power supplies) with cooling options. The company also monitors the data centers onsite for reliability and security reasons.

Uptime

Uptime is one of the most crucial metrics when shopping for a hosting provider. Besides, what’s the point of going into bed with a host that will mess up your business? So, make sure you go with a host that has had a consistent uptime over the years.

That said, Bluehost does a pretty good job when it comes to uptime. According to our tests conducted between May and October 2023, Bluehost had an average uptime of 99.98% which is above the industry standard –translating to just about 45 minutes of downtime for the 6 months we tested.

Arvixe, on the other hand, gave us a 99.99% uptime which was undoubtedly amazing. But like I said earlier in this post, there is a reason why it was awarded by PC Mag as one of the best hosts.

To be fair, Arvixe is a good host. And one that I would actually recommend. Only thing is that they aren’t popular like Bluehost probably because they don’t spend so much on selling their offerings.

Now back to Arvixe’s uptime. For those who didn’t know, the company offers an uptime guarantee of 99.9%. And if this guarantee is broken in any given month, the company is willing to issue a refund.

What’s more, they offer a 100% uptime guarantee for those who use any of their dedicated server options. Note that Bluehost does not issue compensation for any downtime.

Here are our uptime statistics for the two hosting companies.

Bluehost vs. Arvixe: Performance

A website’s performance is dependent on several metrics some of which we have already discussed such as uptime. In this segment, I want us to discuss the performance of these two hosts based on various metrics such as CDN, SSD, and page load speeds.

Now, when it comes to CDN (content delivery network), Arvixe falls a bit short of Bluehost. This is because it doesn’t offer an integrated Cloudflare CDN version like Bluehost.

However, you can still activate it yourself, but it would take you some time. A CDN is a very crucial addition that comes with several features that help minimize delays in loading web pages by shortening the physical distance between the server and the user.

Moving on, both hosts offer SSD storage on all their shared hosting plans which is a major addition. The main reason why both of these hosts use SSD is to deliver better performance and speed as well as reduce power usage.

Having talked about CDN and SSD, the next question that arises is that of page load speed. And if you are in business this is a very crucial factor that would impact your ranking as well as your revenue.

Imagine what would happen if your visitors must have to wait for more than 3 seconds for your site to load. Most of them would leave your site and go to that of your competitor or close that tab never to return. You would then end up losing traffic and revenue. Bad right?  

Well, when it comes to page load speeds, both Bluehost and Arvixe performed pretty well.  Our Pingdom website speed tests showed that websites hosted with Bluehost had an average load time of 2.37s. This was 65% faster than other sites that we tested.

Arvixe, on the other hand, gave us a load time of 1.05s which was superbly impressive. This was 89 percent faster than the sites tested.

Overall, the performance of both Bluehost and Arvixe is excellent. However, our research shows that sites hosted by Arvixe are significantly faster in load times and response.

Bluehost vs. Arvixe: Comparing Key Features

It is essential to note that, web hosting companies use words like unmetered and unlimited when describing features. But these terms have different meanings and you should be cautious when agreeing to your hosting provider terms of service.

Domain Registration: Bluehost and Arvixe are both domain registrars. For new sign-ups Bluehost offers its customers a year free of domain registration.

For as long as you have a plan with Arvixe, the company will offer a free domain. It also provides free transfers for customers who have a domain from before.

Website Builder: Bluehost limits 5 web pages to the drag-and-drop Weebly Basic website builder which it offers for free. However, if you desire more features and pages you can get the Weebly Premium but at an extra fee.

Arvixe also offers a site builder with each of its plans called the RvSiteBuilder. The site builder is feature-rich and comes with a WSYWIG (What You See Is What You Get) editor.

The builder also comes with hundreds of templates to choose from and several other tools for managing images, hyperlinks, HTML forms, and tables.

ECommerce hosting: Bluehost is among the few hosting providers in the market that offers a dedicated WooCommerce hosting solution for WordPress users.  However, you can still set up a WordPress online store using any of Bluehost’s shared, VPS, or dedicated plans.

However, the second option will not allow you to fully enjoy the full capabilities of WooCommerce since you’ll have to do most of the technical stuff by yourself. With the dedicated WooCommerce plan, however, the technical team is always on standby and most of the features that you need to set up an online store such as themes and plugins come pre-installed.

Arvixe on the other hand supports some free commercial eCommerce options. Most of these options have 24/7 support as well as automatic installation.

Databases: unlimited MySQL databases are common to both Bluehost and Arvixe. However, Arvixe also supports PostgreSQL databases. Both companies provide unlimited email accounts and forwarding.

Money-Back Guarantee: Arvixe offers a 60-day money-back guarantee while Bluehost has the standard industry 30-day guarantee.

Bluehost vs. Arvixe: Security and Backups

As organizations expand their digital dependence, cybercrime is quickly becoming a lucrative venture for cybercriminals – even surpassing other forms of crime.

You can hardly go a day without news of data theft, ransomware, DDoS attacks, or hacking taking over the headlines.

Be that as it may, the sad reality is that, cyber-threats are not about to stop as long as organizations continue to shift to all-virtual-everything. So, as a website owner, you are at an even greater risk of getting hacked.

As such, you need to ensure that you take the necessary precautions. And that starts by selecting the right hosting provider. Unfortunately, not every hosting provider is secure.

However, some do take the necessary measure to ensure that all the websites hosted on their servers are protected.

Security

Both Bluehost and Arvixe take security very seriously. Bluehost, for instance, offers its users the basic SiteLock service for free on lower tier and higher tier plans to fight malware. Also, Bluehost is equipped with internal processes to protect its users against DDoS attacks.

What’s more, all Bluehost plans come with a free SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate which means you never have to worry if your site getting flagged by browsers as insecure. Bluehost also offers Spam Assassin protection, Secure Shell access, and hotlink protection.

Arvixe also doesn’t lag when it comes to security. Even with their most basic plans, you can rest easy knowing that your website is safe from DDoS attacks and brute force attacks.

The company does nightly security updates, and their plans come with SpamAssassin, Spamhaus & SpamCop Checks, Domain Keys, and SPF for email security.

When Arvixe was still new, the company provided its Linux shared hosting plan users a free shared SSL. However, it seems like the free SSL is no longer available for both Linux and Windows plans. However, as long as you have a plan with Arvixe, you will have a free SSL in the Business plan.

Backups

When disaster strikes, you want to know that all your work is safe. And that’s why most good web hosting providers offer backup services.

Bluehost offers automated data backups but you can also schedule them the way you like such as daily, weekly, or monthly. So, if you want to backup, recover some files, or your entire website, you can access your backups in your cPanel.

Arvixe conducts daily automated backups of its servers. However, we recommend conducting manual backups and storing the data off-site, for additional data security.

Ease of use

Nearly every hosting company uses the standard WHM cPanel including Arvixe. The standard control panel is easy to navigate and offers one an opportunity to access various webmail applications, traffic statistics, and more.

However, one-click install applications such as WordPress are not available and are likely hidden under a section in the cPanel.

However, Bluehost provides users with what they call the “cPanel test drive” where a user can engage with the control panel and access basic instructions for utilization purposes.

The company’s cPanel looks attractive and it is easy to use. The One-Click install applications are at the front page for easy access.

New Bluehost users will have some adjustments to make since the company uses cPanel with a modified interface. Unlike, Arvixe which uses an icon-based cPanel.

Customer support

Just like any other service, all hosting providers will have a customer service department. However, what is vital is how the customer support team handles their customers, their technical prowess, and their reliability in times of need. 

Based on my experience with them and from numerous customer reviews on various online platforms, Bluehost is doing a great job. The company has one of the most technically savvy and dedicated support team in the market.

The team is always on standby and you can always reach out to them via call, email, ticketing, or live chat. The average wait time for live chats is not more than 5 minutes. More still, the company has a rich knowledgebase where you can get solutions for nearly everything such as simple DIY WordPress hacks.

Arvixe, on the other hand, had an excellent customer support reputation before being taken over by EIG. But that is not to say that their customer support is bad. Their customer care still rates above average and the agents are pretty decent.

Just like Bluehost, you can reach Arvixe’s support via phone, email tickets, and live chat. While they say that their support is available 24/7 it limits its phone service to office hours from Monday through Friday.

Which hosting company is best for you between Bluehost and Arvixe?

Both Bluehost and Arvixe have several appealing advantages. Remember that the two hosting companies have crucial differences.

Therefore, it involves an individual’s preference depending on what you are looking for. It is essential to also note that the two companies are EIG-owned. Therefore, you may notice a similar approach to service quality.

Reasons why you should choose Bluehost over Arvixe:

• The first time of service you enjoy affordable pricing for several tiers of shared hosting.
• Free SSL certificate
• A great choice for WordPress-centric websites
• A free domain name for the first year with each hosting plan
• Excellent customer service

Reasons why you should choose Arvixe over Bluehost:

• As long as you have a plan with them, you get a free domain
• All plans are available with Linux and Windows server options
• Several features and add-ons at a cheaper cost
• Cheaper VPS and dedicated hosting plans in the long-run  
• 60-day money-back guarantee

With those few pointers, Bluehost indeed is one of the most well-known hosting providers. The companies Shared hosting plans are the most affordable in the market.

Aside from that, the plans are well tailored for beginners – who are just getting started with WordPress. Bluehost also offers a lot of freebies unlike most hosting companies such as free SSL, free domain, and you can even get better deals during black Fridays and cyber Mondays.  

Similarly, WordPress site owners who want to scale their sites to achieve better performance are better off hosting their sites with Arvixe’s budget VPS and dedicated hosting plans.

Be that as it may, most users on various platforms are not awed by the two company’s customer support which is a concern. However, the two hosts provide full-featured plans at an affordable price range.

Apart from the two companies, there are several other companies you can consider. If the two companies do not have what it takes to host your site, I would recommend you check out Hostinger an industry-leading host.

For those looking for more response and load times, as well as premium features, take your time and check out SiteGround. It is a reliable host and one of the best.

However, for a hosting company with an excellent choice of managed WordPress, with one of the best money-back guarantees, consider InMotion Hosting.

You are also free to check out our list of the best web hosting services in the industry and compare their products and services to help you make an informed decision.