Arvixe is a popular hosting company that was founded in 2003, and later acquired by the hosting giant EIG who also owns Bluehost and HostGator.
They aren’t particularly known for exceptional customer service and lightning fast hosting servers, that’s for sure.
Click here to see the #1 rated web hosting
Arvixe offers just a few hosting options for individuals and businesses to scale and grow.
Here is how they’ve trended over the years:
Features
Arvixe offers three main features that you might be interested in.
1) No hidden fees:
Arvixe is unique in that they have no “introductory fees” that seem standard with other web hosting companies.
Many companies lure you in with their ultra low introductory fees while presenting in fine print what they really have to pay when they renew. Arvixe has one straightforward pricing system for each plan. When you sign up for their service, you’ll be specifically told when the renewal is, and how much you’ll be expected to pay at that time. And that fee is the same as what you’ll be paying right now if you sign up.
As with other companies like InMotion and SiteGround, you’ll save more money if you pay annually versus monthly or semi-annually, but that’s standard across the industry. The biggest saving comes from signing up for a 2-year plan, at 43% discount. Arvixe makes this clear when you go to the order page.
2) Free domain for life:
Most companies charge separately for your hosting account and your domain. But Arvixe offers free domain for life. As long as you stay with Arvixe and renew your hosting account year after year, the same will be the case for your domain name. This could potentially represent a ton of savings if you host more than one domain (website) on your hosting account, as you wouldn’t need to pay $10 for each new domain you register.
You still have the flexibility to transfer it to another hosting company if you discontinue your account with Arvixe. This can be a very attractive feature for webmasters with multiple sites.
3) Returning customer discounts:
If you’re a repeat customer, Arvixe offers up to 50% off for life on all your hosting account orders. This might not be necessary or particularly useful if you stick to one type of plan.
For example, if you primarily use their shared hosting plan, Personal Class or Personal Class Pro, you can have anywhere from 6 to unlimited number of websites. So you wouldn’t need to purchase another hosting account. But if you want a different type of plan, such as VPS or dedicated server hosting in addition to what you already have with Arvixe, the discounts could add up over time.
Customer Support
Not Arvixe’s strongpoint by any means.
Telephone support phone number is nowhere to be found. First red flag.
Lot of reports saying customer support team is hard to reach with long wait times just to get an email back. If you value efficient and helpful customer support, probably not the web host for you.
Reviews
We checked several online sources looking for Arvixe reviews. We found users were happy with the control panel options and uptime.
One happy customer writes: “My overall experience with Arvixe is great, I have everything I need on the Cpanel starting from domain management to custom software installers for ” ready to install scripts” which is regularly updated with the latest versions.”
Another reviewer please with uptime states: “Uptime has been very stable; I use uptime robot to monitor and it tells me my site has 99.96% uptime over the last 30 days. I’m very pleased with the value offered by Arvixe, their hosting is very affordable.”
Not all reviews were positive. We found users were upset with customer support and ticket resolution times.
One frustrated reviewer writes: “Their tech support doesn’t even care that they are not helping you. I have had a ticket open for over 2 months to try and get my e-mail back up.”
Another disappointed customer warns: “Tickets are responded to after months (yes, months!), which in this century is the same as a non-response.”
Pros
1) Reasonable Pricing: All of Arvixe’s hosting plans are priced reasonably. For the shared plan, you’ll pay around $7 per month or $60 per year, with free domain included. Their dedicated server plan starts at $175 per month for single processor servers.
2) Free Website Transfer: Arvixe offers free website transfer if you’re moving over from another hosting company.
3) Simple Pricing and Extras: With no confusing introductory fees, free domain for life of your Arvixe account, and returning customer discounts, Arvixe has enticing but simple extras that stand out from their competitors.
4) Multiple Plans: You have a choice of five different plans or “classes”: Personal, Business, Reseller, VPS, and Dedicated. One of these plans will most likely meet your needs.
5) 60-Day Money-Back Guarantee: Arvixe offers a very generous 60-day money-back guarantee, whereas the industry standard is 30 and very rarely, 45 days. You can cancel your account by emailing Arvixe’s sales department.
Cons
1) Complaints on Support: While Arvixe provides the standard support through live chat, and ticket system, there are some complaints on how they handle the customer issues. They don’t seem to offer phone support starting in 2015, which can be another issue.
2) Cloud Hosting: Arvixe does offer cloud hosting, but that option is hidden under “Dedicated Class” which can cause some confusion.
3) Website is Hard to Navigate: Arvixe’s website is somewhat haphazard and not user-friendly. You have to mouse over a lot of links to see the full explanation of features. It’s also not mobile-friendly.
Summary
Arvixe stands out from their counterparts in just a few ways: no introductory prices, free domain for life, and repeat customer discounts.
Their hosting plans are robust and should meet most beginners’ needs. With Arvixe’s generous money back guarantee you can feel safe giving them a shot.
Their support seems to have gone down since another company acquired them this year. If you are not technically savvy and feel you will need more support, Arvixe may not be right for you.