Pizza ovens continue to take the appliance market by storm, as more and more of us start to cook delicious, authentic pizzas in our backyards.
But the one thing that has always stood out in my quest to find the best pizza oven is the eye-watering price. All the bells and whistles of our favorite pizza oven cost about $1200 put aside, which is a lot to spend on some pizza.
After years of testing pizza ovens, I have a good sense of how much you should spend. This is exactly how much you spend on every type of pizza oven so you aren't overcharged.
How much should I spend on a wood-fired pizza oven?
Never overspend on a wood-fired pizza oven. These are very simple appliances, and while they're often listed for hundreds of dollars, you should never spend more than $350 dollars. This is true across sizes; from 12" to 16", anything above $350 is too expensive.
The exception here is if you want a huge oven for an outdoor kitchen. Manufacturers like Alfa make huge ovens from 23" to 39". For example, check out the Alfa Allegro at BBQ Guys, a huge 39" oven that costs more than $4000. These cost well into the thousands, and you should only consider this if you have a huge budget, regularly feed a crowd, or have a lot of space for an outdoor kitchen.
It's not the best pizza oven out there, but it's my personal favorite. I've had some great nights making perfect wood-fired pizzas in this with friends.
How much should I spend on a gas pizza oven?
Gas pizza ovens are a little more complicated because the price varies between sizes. From my experience, $400 is the hard limit for 12" ovens - any more and you're overpaying. Look to spend no more than $600 for a 14"-16" pizza oven and you won't be overcharged.
Again, the truly massive pizza ovens will start costing you into the thousands, but I advise against these. They're fun, and they look incredible in an outdoor kitchen, but it's overkill for almost any family and you're paying a premium for a few extra inches of room.
I always cringe a little when frquently recommending the same brand, but Ooni really do make the best ovens. The Koda is my favorite gas oven, making delicious pizzas without the fuss of stoking wood pellets.
How much should I spend on a combo?
Combos are where things get a lot more complicated. My fellow product tester Emilia Hitching says that 'combination ovens can run off both gas and wood pellets, which is a great feature; you have the convenience of gas if you just want a quick pizza after work but the more complex flavor of wood smoke if you want to impress your guests.'
I think $500 is a good price for a small 12" combo pizza oven. Unfortunately, this type of oven has a big jump up in price between sizes, because these tend to be flagship models with fancy digital thermometers and glass doors. Because of the extra tech, expect to spend around $1000-$1500 for a full-size 16" combination gas and wood pellet oven.
This is quite simply the best pizza oven in the world. It makes perfect pizza and it's loaded with tech to make the whole process incredibly simple and fast.
This pizza oven is pretty cheap and small, but it's great if you're new to homemade pizza; it has a guard that keeps you from throwing your pizza into the back on accident.
A friend happens to have one of these and they made me an incredible flatbread with this oven. It reaches high temperatures and delivers a delicious char.
How much should I spend on an indoor pizza oven?
My honest advice is that you shouldn't buy an indoor pizza oven. You'll see lots of cheap countertop ovens like this advertised on Amazon, but my experience tells me that they're a bad idea. They're cheap, and I'm sure some of them work fine, but they're ultimately no different to an air fryer or an oven, which totally defeats the point of using a pizza oven.
Unfortunately, I also think that indoor ovens from large manufacturers aren't worth buying. Don't get me wrong, they can be great; the Ooni Volt 12, available at Ooni, is packed with intriguing features, and the Breville Smart Oven Pizzaiolo, available at QVC, has dedicated settings to help you cook different styles of pizza. However, the point of a pizza oven is that it cooks a pizza with flame in a way that the usual kitchen oven can't match. While I've made some good pizza with indoor ovens over the years, it's not much different from baking a pizza in an oven.
If you are tight for space and still interested in an indoor oven, I wouldn't spend more than $350. I recommend this Cuisinart Indoor Pizza Oven, available at Cuisinart. I'm partway through testing it, but it's about as good as the Ooni and the Breville, despite being hundreds of dollars cheaper.
I'm not totally on board with the Pizzaiolo, but I love the dedicated pizza settings, which make it easy to use.
I've never seen an oven like the Volt 12, because it's the only pizza oven I know of which is certified to use both indoors and outdoors. However, it's pretty bulky.
How much should I spend on a grill-top pizza oven?
Again, my honest advice is to steer clear of these ovens. I covered this when I dove into the debate between pizza ovens vs grill-top pizza ovens, but grill-top ovens aren't true pizza ovens.
They're heated from the bottom and don't cook with flames, so not only are they no different from using an oven, but actually worse, because it's hard to cook the top of the pizza. If you still think it's worth considering, I recommend that you spend no more than $150.
How much should I spend if I'm on a budget?
If money is tight, you need a cheap wood-burning pizza oven. Wood burners are cheaper than gas ovens because they don't have gas pipes or gas connectors. You don't need a fancy brand, either. They're definitely better - my favorite is the Ooni Fyra 12 - but places like Amazon have some gems that won't break the bank. If the $350 Ooni is too steep, my best advice is to grab an oven like this Aidpiza oven from Amazon.
In full transparency, I haven't tested that particular model, but I've tested lots of similar Chinese-made ovens from Amazon which have since been discontinued. None are as good as a fancier oven from Ooni, but all cook delicious, smoky pizza. They all make better pizza than you'd make in a kitchen oven.
The only drawbacks are that these ovens don't have customer service, so you're in trouble if anything goes wrong. It may not be the case for the oven above, but lots of the cheaper ovens I've tested from Amazon have slightly sketchy safety features, like poorly-balanced doors and insufficient heatproofing. However, they make excellent pizza.
FAQs
What's a good warranty for a pizza oven?
A good warranty for a pizza oven is around 5 years. However, make sure to check the fine print, because sometimes this warranty only applies to the pizza stone, not the whole pizza oven.
If you want to know even more, the team and I have covered the best wood for a pizza oven and how to light a pizza oven.
