6 Best Espresso Machines of 2024, Tested and Reviewed

But buying an espresso maker can still be very expensive, and with a wealth of options on the market, it can be hard to know where to start. To get a better sense of what some of the options offer, we evaluated nine popular home espresso machines that cost anywhere from $90 to almost $2,000. 

They each operate a little differently. All of these models require you to pack coffee grounds into a portafilter, which you lock into the machine to brew espresso (as opposed to coffee makers that take pods or espresso machines that dose the beans themselves), and they all come equipped with a steam wand for milk. Those steam wands also vary in terms of power, length, and range of motion. 

We looked for two main performance features in all of them: the machine’s ability to consistently deliver sweet, balanced shots of espresso with little trouble, and the steam wand’s ability to produce an even microfoam, ideal for lattes, cappuccinos, and latte art. From there, we drilled down on the details to figure out which model might be right for you.