As the name implies, electro house encompasses primary elements from both the electro and house genres. While maintaining the straight 4/4 beat structure of house, electro house incorporates elements from the electro sound, such as sharp melodic analogue synthesizer hits and basslines. As with house music, vocals are also sometimes a part of the electro house sound. The tempo for electro house is often slightly accelerated from standard house, residing somewhere between 125 to 135 beats per minute (BPM). The foundation for electro house is house music, which itself is founded on multiple genres including jazz, funk, disco, soul and r&b. House was established in the 1980s in Chicago and New York in the United States by artists such as Larry Heard, Frankie Knuckles, Loose Joints and Larry Levan. Electro house came into prominence in the mid-2000s after the electroclash scene brought a pop sentiment to electronic music. With electroclash's incorporation of indie rock's use of electronic equipment to create its sound, indie rock had unintentionally become an element that affected the evolution of electro house. After the electroclash sound had run its brief but potent course, the distilled pop effect is what resulted in electro house. Electro house is designed for the dancefloor and has gained interest from both the indie rock crowd and traditional house fans.

Progressive house (also known as prog or prog house) is a form of electronic music that originated in Britain in the early 1990s. Guerilla Records is the first record label credited with releasing the first progressive house records, and the term is said to have been coined by Dom Phillips, the editor of British music magazine Mixmag, as a way to describe the output of Guerilla. British DJs Sasha and John Digweed, through a residency at the club Renaissance in Mansfield, UK were instrumental in popularizing the sound in the early 1990s. Progressive house has a similar drum structure (4/4) and tempo as house music, but it has deeper, dubbier basslines and a more emotional melodic edge. Whereas house music contains obvious builds ups and troughs, progressive house is more subtle and focuses more on atmosphere than prominent lead melodies and beat structure. A key idea of the progressive movement is the layering of sounds and bringing them in and out of a mix, and due to the complexities of the sound, it is considered a deeper form of house music. A progressive house track is also typically longer than a house track because it generally has a longer bar structure. In the mid-1990s, progressive house featured a hypnotic, melodic edge, but as the genre trance became more popular and melodic, progressive house darkened and fused with tribal house and other genres, to become a more underground minimal alternative to trance. The term progressive has since become synonymous with musical genres that are open-minded enough to include new sounds and many dance music genres have developed sub-genres based on the progressive idea, including progressive breaks and progressive trance.