Gozney Arc pizza oven review: Style meets substance

If you’re going to be making pizzas in your backyard, you want to do it with a bit of style, right? 

The Gozney Dome is one of the better-looking pizza ovens around, but at $2,000, it’s a very expensive model. 

If you like the look of the Dome, but want something cheaper, the Gozney Arc and Arc XL share a similar design, but cost less than half as much — the smaller Arc costs $700, and can fit 14-inch pizzas. The main tradeoff is that the Arc is a gas-only oven, whereas the Dome can also use wood as a fuel. 

But looks aren’t everything, which is why I put the Gozney Arc to the test to see how it compared to the best pizza ovens, and if it should grace your outdoor kitchen.

Gozney Arc review: Price and availability

The Gozney Arc, which can make pizzas up to 14 inches in size, went on sale in March 2024, and costs $699. A larger model, the Arc XL, which can fit pizzas up to 16 inches in size, costs $799.

Both the Arc and the Arc XL are fueled by propane; the Gozney Dome ($1,999), which looks similar to the Arc, can be fueled by propane or wood. Gozney’s original pizza oven, the Roccbox ($499) works with propane only.

Gozney Arc review: What I liked

It’s attractive
Like the Gozney Dome, the Arc has a modern, rounded design that will look good on anyone’s Pinterest page. The top of the oven is gently curved, with a small grate towards the front that vents hot air. The Arc is finished in a bone-colored paint that separates it from the charcoal-colored Ooni and the stainless steel Solo Stove, and, depending on your point of view, is the most attractive of the group. 

I especially liked the color display on the front of the Gozney Arc, which shows the internal temperature in bright white numbers, and has a colorful bar indicating its overall heat level. Towards the right side is a knob to control the temperature.

Gozney also sent me a cover for the Arc ($49, sold separately), which I recommend if you plan to leave your oven outdoors. If you don’t have a table, the Arc Stand ($249) is another useful accessory; it put the oven at the perfect level for me to slide pies in and out, its base has a resting spot for a propane tank, and it has two wooden side wings. They’re not big enough for you to prepare pizzas, but they’re handy for resting your beer.

Perhaps my favorite Gozney accessory is its pizza cutter. At $45, it’s not cheap, but it’s the most solidly built cutter I’ve ever used — it’ll slice through a Sicilian as if it were a bar pie. It also has a super-sharp wheel that can be removed to be cleaned.

Easy to control
Just turn the knob and fire it up. For newbies — or for those who don’t want the hassle of having to continually feed wood pellets or charcoal into an oven — the Gozney Arc makes things super-simple. I liked the small bumps on the knob itself, which made it easy to turn when my hands were coated in flour and other ingredients from the pizza-making process.

It makes great pizzas
The first time I used the Arc, the oven seemed to take forever to heat up — 45 minutes — and the stone never got hot enough to put a nice crispy bottom on my pizzas. However, on all subsequent tests, it heated up quickly (about 20-30 minutes) and cooked my pizzas to perfection. 

As with other ovens, you have to really pay attention so that your pizzas don’t burn, especially when making Neapolitan-style pies. With the oven cranking along at 800-900 degrees F, my pizzas were ready in as little as 70-80 seconds. Because the oven’s flames are on one side, you have to turn the pizza at least once while it’s cooking. 

I also made a number of New York-style pizzas (including a plain and one with pancetta, leeks, corn, and ricotta) by turning the Arc’s temperature down all the way until it was hovering around 700 to 750 degrees; these took about three to four minutes to cook, but I still ended up with a nice browned crust and underside. 

The Gozney’s relatively thick 20mm cordierite pizza stone was quick to recharge. I would give it around 5 minutes between pizzas, with the oven cranked to its max, and found that was enough to keep the bottoms of my pizzas nice and charred.

Gozney Arc review: What I didn’t like

The price
At $699, the Gozney Arc is a bit pricier than comparable pizza ovens. The $599 Ooni Koda 16, for instance, is also a propane-only oven, but it can fit 16-inch pies. The Solo Pi Prime is even cheaper, at $349. All performed equally well, but the Gozney is arguably more attractive, and it also has a built-in thermometer, which the other two lack.

The only Ooni with a digital thermometer similar to the Arc’s is the $799 Ooni Karu 16. However, that oven can use multiple fuel sources

Gozney Arc review: Bottom line

The Gozney Arc is a pizza oven with both style and substance. Not only does it look the part, but it also delivers with well-cooked pies. It was hard for me to find any fault with the oven, other than its price, which was higher than its direct competitors. But, you are getting a more polished oven with a built-in thermometer, a feature only found on pricier models from Ooni. 

Those on a more limited budget should check out the Solo Pi Prime, which costs half as much, but the Gozney Arc will make a sleek statement as you sling pizzas.