Six home espresso machines worth buying, from a budget starter to a 58mm enthusiast machine, and what to look for before you buy.
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Ratings are our editorial scores out of 5. How we rate
| Product | Price tier | Heating | Portafilter | Built-in grinder | Steam wand |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breville Bambino Plus | mid-range | ThermoJet | 54mm | No | Automatic |
| Breville Barista Express Impress | premium | Thermocoil | 54mm | Yes | Manual |
| De'Longhi Stilosa | budget | Stainless boiler | Not listed | No | Manual |
| Breville Bambino | budget | ThermoJet | 54mm | No | Manual |
| Breville Barista Touch Impress | premium | ThermoJet | 54mm | Yes | Automatic |
| Gaggia Classic Evo Pro E24 | mid-range | Brass boiler | 58mm | No | Manual |
Price tiers compare products within this guide. Specs come from manufacturer pages, or from reputable retailers where a maker publishes none.
Best overall
Ready in seconds, makes properly textured milk on its own and fits on any counter. The easiest machine to recommend to most people.
Best for beginners
A built-in grinder plus assisted dosing and tamping removes the steps beginners get wrong most often.
Best budget
A real boiler machine for very little money. Fine for milk drinks, limited for straight espresso.
Best compact
The Bambino Plus engine in a narrower, cheaper body, if you are happy to steam milk yourself.
Best with built-in grinder
Touchscreen presets, assisted tamping and automatic milk make café drinks with almost no learning curve.
Best for enthusiasts
The long-running purist pick. A commercial-size 58mm portafilter, a brass boiler and a machine that lasts for years.
We compared what the most consistent espresso reviewers recommend, the machines’ specs and long-term owner feedback, then picked one machine for each type of buyer. We left out machines that only shine in one review or that owners report failing early.
Once you have a machine, our espresso accessories guide covers the tamper, scale and milk pitcher that make the biggest difference.
This decides your daily workflow more than anything else. Thermojet and thermocoil machines like the Breville Bambino are ready in seconds but steam more slowly. A single boiler, like the Gaggia Classic, holds heat better but you wait between pulling a shot and steaming milk. Heat exchanger and dual boiler machines do both at once, at a much higher price.
The grinder matters as much as the machine. Fresh, fine, even grounds are what make espresso work. Unless you buy a machine with a grinder built in, set aside budget for a separate espresso grinder. Built-in grinders are convenient but cannot be upgraded later.
A PID controller keeps the water at the same temperature for every shot, which makes your results repeatable. Breville machines have it. The Gaggia Classic does not, so owners either learn to time their shots around the heating cycle or fit an upgrade kit.
58mm is the commercial standard, with the widest choice of baskets, tampers and accessories. Breville uses 54mm, which works well but limits you to accessories made for that size.
Automatic wands texture milk for you and suit people who mostly drink lattes and flat whites. Manual wands take practice but give you more control over the foam.
Budget machines ship with pressurized baskets that forgive a poor grind but cap how good the shot can get. If you want real espresso, look for a machine that also comes with standard baskets.
Measure your counter and the height under your cabinets. Compact machines are about 6 to 8 inches wide. Boiler machines and machines with a grinder are much larger and heavier.
Yes, unless your machine has one built in. Pre-ground coffee goes stale quickly and is rarely fine enough for espresso.
No. Above the budget tier, the grinder and your technique matter more than the machine. A mid-priced machine with a good grinder beats an expensive machine with stale pre-ground coffee.
Semi-automatic machines like every pick here let you control the grind, dose and shot, and make better espresso. Super-automatics grind, brew and steam at the press of a button, trading shot quality for convenience. See our guide to the best bean-to-cup coffee machines if convenience matters most.
It depends on your water hardness. Every one to three months is typical. Our guide on how to descale an espresso machine walks through it.
Torn between two of our picks? These comparisons go deeper.
Coffee Tested editors
Coffee gear research
We read the reviewers who test coffee gear for a living, compare the specs that change your daily routine and dig through years of owner feedback before recommending anything.
No brand pays for a spot in our guides, and commissions never decide our picks.
