We Tested Over 35 Espresso Machines to Find the Best Ones for Your Home

We updated this article in February 2023 to ensure it reflected current prices, espresso machine features and more. Our top picks, based on testing notes from the Good Housekeeping Institute Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab, remain the same except for new picks from Capresso, Breville and Cafe.

The best espresso machines will help upgrade your coffee bar and make you the barista of your home kitchen. Pull a delicious shot of espresso with good "crema" (the creamy, light-colored foam that forms on top of a freshly made espresso), perfect your latte art and whip up a mean cappuccino or flat white with a home espresso maker. Traditional coffee shop machines can seem intimidating, but home espresso machines will have you churning out your favorite espresso or coffee drinks in no time. Super-automatic espresso makers will grind your coffee beans, pack the grounds and make your cup with just the push of a button, while semi-automatic models will require you to learn to fill a hopper (known as a portafilter) with grounds and tamp them evenly (which means to compress the grounds into a puck so the hot, pressurized water can extract a lot of flavor as it passes through quickly).

The Good Housekeeping Institute Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab has tested all types of coffee makers for decades – including pour over coffee makers, single-cup brewers, French presses, drip coffee makers, portable coffee makers for camping, cold brew coffee makers and so much more. To find the best home espresso machine, we have tested over 35 espresso machines in the last few decades. In our most recent test we included well over 20 espresso machines, brewing more than 60 cups of espresso. We tested super-automatic, automatic, semi-automatic and capsule machines picks from popular brands, best-selling machines and looked for attributes like built-in milk frothers and/or coffee bean grinders.

Our top picks:

Read on to find out how we test espresso machines. We also share our Kitchen Lab's top tips on what to consider when shopping for an espresso machine as well as a guide to the different types, so you can figure out which is right for you. If you're looking for more espresso content, check out our guides on the best latte machines and best Nespresso machines.