Breville vs De’Longhi: which espresso brand should you buy?

Breville vs De’Longhi at a glance

Head to head

The better result in each row is marked, based on four weeks with each of the four machines and the manufacturer specs. Where the brands are effectively level, there is no winner.

Keep in mind this is a brand-level table. Individual models vary, and the rows that matter depend on whether you want to make coffee or press a button for it.

The four machines I tested

A brand comparison is only as good as the machines behind it, so I picked two from each brand that most buyers actually shortlist.

From Breville, I used the Barista Express, the classic all-in-one with a pressure gauge, and the Barista Pro, its faster sibling with a ThermoJet heater and an LCD.

From De’Longhi, I used the Magnifica Evo, the brand’s sweet-spot automatic with a LatteCrema carafe, and the Rivelia, a newer touchscreen model with two swappable bean hoppers.

Each one was my only coffee machine for four weeks. I logged shots, weighed doses, measured temperatures and noise, and followed every cleaning routine, then lined up the numbers here.

The De’Longhi Rivelia swaps between two bean hoppers in seconds.

Two philosophies: semi-automatic vs fully automatic

This is the real decision, and it matters more than any spec.

Breville’s Barista machines are semi-automatic✕Semi-automaticThe machine controls the water and pressure, but you grind into the portafilter, tamp the coffee, lock it in and steam the milk yourself.. The machine controls the water, but you grind into a 54 mm portafilter, tamp the coffee, lock it in and press a button.

De’Longhi’s Magnifica and Rivelia machines are fully automatic✕Fully automatic (super-automatic)The machine grinds, doses, tamps, brews and ejects the used puck by itself. You choose a drink and press a button.. They grind, dose, press the coffee into a puck, brew and drop the used puck into a drawer, all from one touch.

Neither is better in absolute terms. A semi-automatic gives you a craft to learn and a higher ceiling; a fully automatic gives you the same good drink every morning with no skill at all.

The question I would ask yourself: when you picture your morning coffee, are you enjoying making it, or just enjoying drinking it?

What that means for a complete beginner

A complete beginner can succeed with either brand, but the first week feels very different. On the Barista Express, my first shot ran thin and pale, and it took an inner-burr adjustment, a scale and about eight shots before it tasted right.

On the Magnifica Evo, my first cappuccino after setup was already good, and moving the grind knob to setting 3 made it very good by the end of week one. The Rivelia went further, with a Bean Adapt wizard that asks about your beans and suggests a starting grind, dose and temperature.

So the trade-off is time now against control later. A Breville asks for a week of patience and pays you back with a skill you keep; a De’Longhi asks for nothing and gives you the same reliable drink for years.

Our tip: If you are torn, picture a busy weekday at 7 a.m. rather than a slow Sunday, because that is when most coffee gets made.

Espresso quality

Here is the good news: both brands make genuinely good espresso. They just get there in different ways.

Once I had moved the inner burr and dialed in, the Barista Express pulled shots that flowed like warm honey, with a deep, velvety crema and sweet, creamy flavor. The Barista Pro reached syrupy, chocolate-and-caramel shots a day sooner, thanks to its better grinder and five easy temperature settings.

On the Magnifica Evo, a medium-dark blend at grind setting 3 and the high strength gave a consistent crema and a full, aromatic body with cocoa, toasted nuts and a little dried fruit. I checked a few shots with a refractometer and they landed at around 8 percent TDS✕TDS (total dissolved solids)The share of the drink that is dissolved coffee. It is measured with a refractometer and shows how strong an espresso really is., a balanced result for an automatic.

The Rivelia grinds up to about 15 grams for its espresso, and my go-to recipe of 15 grams in and 30 grams out gave a classic 1:2 brew ratio✕Brew ratioThe weight of coffee in the basket compared with the weight of espresso in the cup. 15 g in and 30 g out is a 1:2 ratio.. That is a café-sized dose, and it shows in the body.

My espresso scores

My scores out of 10 from each machine’s single review: body, crema, flavor and consistency.

The ceiling is where Breville pulls ahead. With light roasts, the Barista Pro on its High temperature setting turned sour beans into citrus and stone fruit, while the De’Longhis could only go a step finer and pour a shorter shot.

Day to day, though, the De’Longhis were more consistent with zero effort. My Breville logs only reached about 90 percent of shots in the target window by week four.

The Barista Pro had the highest espresso ceiling of the four machines.

Grinders and dose

Every machine here has a built-in steel conical burr grinder, but they behave very differently.

The Barista Express has 16 steps on a side dial plus a hidden inner burr; I had to move that inner burr from 6 to 2 before the dial had useful fine steps. The Barista Pro has 30 near-stepless settings with Baratza-designed burrs, and it was ready out of the box.

The Magnifica Evo and Rivelia both have 13 grind settings on a knob inside the hopper. You set fineness once and the strength icons control the dose.

Coffee dose per espresso

Breville doses weighed by me; De’Longhi doses weighed at each strength level.

That top De’Longhi dose is unusually generous for a fully automatic machine. Many automatics use 7 to 10 grams, which is why their espresso tastes thin.

On the Brevilles, dosing is by time, so it drifts a few tenths of a gram as beans age. A 0.1-gram scale is essential; on the De’Longhis you never need one.

Our tip: On any machine here, only turn the grind control while the grinder is running, because turning it on stopped burrs full of beans can jam them.

Milk drinks

This is where most buyers decide, and where the brands are furthest apart.

Breville gives you a manual steam wand. On the Barista Express it has a single-hole tip and took me about 45 seconds for 6 ounces; on the Barista Pro a four-hole tip did it in about 30 seconds, and the milk came out glossy and smooth, like wet paint.

With practice, both pour real latte art. By week two on the Pro I was pouring hearts and simple tulips most mornings.

De’Longhi gives you the LatteCrema✕LatteCrema systemDe’Longhi’s automatic milk carafe. It draws cold milk up a tube, mixes it with steam and air, and pours dense foam straight into your cup. carafe. You fill it with cold milk, clip it on and press Cappuccino or Latte Macchiato, and the foam pours straight into your cup.

The Evo’s foam was dense, fine and stable, closer to a soft meringue than a bubbly froth, and it held its shape all the way down. The Rivelia’s carafe made milk at about 140 to 149°F, a good drinking temperature.

Milk drink scores, my testing

My scores out of 10, weighing texture, speed and convenience together.

The Evo also has a clever MyLatte✕MyLatteA Magnifica Evo button that uses exactly the amount of milk you pour into the carafe, then pulls the espresso on top. Any size, no leftover milk. button that uses exactly the milk you pour in. I made everything from a 2-ounce cortado to a big weekend latte with no leftovers to put back.

The catch: De’Longhi foam is dense rather than pourable, so latte art is out. And neither the Evo nor the Rivelia I tested makes cold foam.

The Magnifica Evo’s LatteCrema carafe can live in the fridge between drinks.

Our tip: Start every milk drink with cold milk straight from the fridge, because it gives a steam wand more time to texture and a carafe denser foam.

Ease of use

If you have never made espresso, this section will probably decide it for you.

On the De’Longhis, I was making good drinks within minutes of finishing setup. The Evo’s tilted touch panel shows seven drink icons and a row of bean icons for strength, and the Rivelia adds a 3.5-inch color touchscreen with four user profiles.

On the Brevilles, the first few days are a learning curve. My first Barista Express shot ran thin and pale; by day two, after an inner-burr adjustment and a scale, I was pulling shots that poured like warm honey.

Ease of use scores

My scores out of 10 from each machine’s single review.

The Rivelia’s profiles were the big win for families: each person’s drinks are saved, so nobody resets anyone else’s strength. My one complaint is that its screen lies flat on top of the machine, which is awkward for kids and seated users.

On the Breville side, the Barista Express’s analog pressure gauge✕Pressure gaugeA dial on the front of the machine that shows the pressure building in the basket during a shot. It tells you whether the grind is too coarse or too fine. is a fantastic teacher. The Barista Pro replaces it with an LCD shot timer, which with a scale tells you everything you need.

Our tip: On a Breville, buy a 0.1-gram scale on the same day as the machine, because it does more for consistency than any setting.

Speed and noise

The fastest machine of the four was the Barista Pro. Its ThermoJet is ready about three seconds after you press the power button, and switching from brewing to steam takes about five seconds.

The Magnifica Evo was ready in about 38 seconds from a cold start, and the Barista Express took about a minute. The Rivelia’s thermoblock needs a moment to switch between milk and espresso temperatures when you make several drinks in a row.

Minutes from switch-on to a latte

Including warm-up and cleaning the milk side.

The De’Longhis need far less hands-on time, even when the machine time is similar. I could empty the dishwasher while the Evo made a cappuccino.

On noise, the Rivelia was the quietest at 66 to 68 dB on my meter. The Evo’s grinder hit 70 to 71 dB for its first five or six seconds, with milk frothing at 60 to 62 dB. The Brevilles’ grinders are loud for a few seconds and their steam wands hiss strongly.

Noise I measured on the De’Longhis

Sound meter about a foot from the front of each machine.

Cleaning and upkeep

Daily cleaning is easier on the De’Longhis. When a milk drink finishes, the Evo’s Clean light comes on; you turn the carafe dial to Clean and it flushes hot water and steam through the milk path.

Both De’Longhis have a removable brew unit✕Brew unitThe part that compresses the ground coffee, holds it while water passes through and then ejects the used puck. that slides out for a weekly rinse under the tap, with no chemical tablets. Once a week, the carafe lid comes apart for a proper wash.

On the Brevilles, I knocked out every puck, rinsed the basket, flushed the group head and wiped and purged the steam wand straight after every milk drink. When the machine asks, you backflush✕BackflushingRunning water backwards through the brew valve with a rubber disc and a cleaning tablet. It dissolves coffee oils that build up inside. with a tablet.

My hands-on cleaning time per day, with milk drinks

My estimate, not counting automatic rinses.

Our tip: Empty a De’Longhi grounds drawer every day or two rather than waiting for the alert, because damp pucks grow mold surprisingly fast.

Size and build

De’Longhi’s automatics are narrow. The Magnifica Evo is about 9.45 inches wide, 17.3 inches deep and 14.2 inches tall; the Rivelia is about 9.6 by 16.9 by 15.2 inches.

Breville’s Barista machines are wider but shallower. The Barista Express is 12.5 by 13.8 by 15.9 inches, and the Barista Pro about 14 by 13 by 16 inches.

Width on the counter

Measure the gap between your sink and wall: width is where these differ most.

The Brevilles are brushed stainless steel and feel more like café equipment; the Barista Pro’s panels are even magnetic, so small tools stick to the side. The De’Longhis are mostly plastic with a brushed-look front and a stainless cup tray, and nothing rattled in four weeks.

Weights are close: about 22 to 23 lb for the Express, 20 lb for the Pro, 21 lb for the Evo and 21.4 lb for the Rivelia.

Brushed steel and a round gauge give the Barista Express a real café look.

Our tip: If your counter is shallow, lean Breville; if it is narrow, lean De’Longhi, and leave a few inches above either for refilling beans.

The ranges explained

Both brands sell far more than the four machines I lined up here, so it helps to know where each one sits.

Breville’s Barista line starts with the Barista Express and moves up through the Express Impress, the Barista Pro and the touchscreen Barista Touch models. Above them sits the Oracle line, which automates grinding and tamping while keeping a real portafilter.

De’Longhi’s automatic range starts with the Magnifica Start and Magnifica XS, moves through the Magnifica Evo and Rivelia, and tops out with the Dinamica Plus and Eletta Explore, which add touchscreens, apps and more drinks.

If you want the deeper dive on one model, see my Barista Express vs Barista Pro comparison.

Beans, water and long-term ownership

All four machines reward fresh beans more than any setting. Coffee roasted within the last two to four weeks gave the thickest crema and the most even flow, and supermarket beans with no roast date ran thin on every machine.

Medium and medium-dark roasts were the easy choice across both brands. Light roasts favored the Brevilles, and very dark, oily beans were a bad idea everywhere, because the oil builds up in the grinder and chute.

Water and filters

Use filtered or fresh tap water, keep the filter in if your water is hard and skip pure distilled water, because coffee needs some minerals to taste full and the machines’ sensors rely on them.

Breville’s charcoal filter should be replaced every two to three months. On the De’Longhis, the descale light comes on based on the water hardness you set, and a full descale on the Evo took about 45 minutes, most of which I could walk away from.

What lasts, and what to watch

De’Longhi has used the same removable brew unit design across its automatic range for years. You rinse it with water rather than running chemical tablets through it, and replacement parts are easy to find.

On the LatteCrema carafe, the small rubber O-rings and air holes are the first things to check if the foam ever gets thin or sputters. On the Brevilles, the group gasket and the steam tip are the wear points, and the Barista Pro carries a two-year US warranty against one year on the Barista Express.

Our tip: Buy beans in bags you can finish within two to three weeks, so the grind setting you dialed in stays right to the last cup.

Real-life scenarios

Specs only go so far. These are the situations where one brand clearly pulled ahead across my testing.

Profiles and one-touch milk make the Rivelia the easiest of the four to share.

My scorecard

These scores come straight from my single reviews of each machine, all out of 10.

Overall score

Brand averages by category

Overall, the brands come out almost level. Breville wins on espresso ceiling and cleaning scores per shot, De’Longhi on convenience and milk at one touch.

Which brand should you buy?

It comes down to one question: do you want to make espresso, or do you want espresso made for you? Answer that honestly and the brand chooses itself.

For the detail behind each machine, read my Barista Express, Barista Pro, Magnifica Evo and Rivelia reviews.

For one-touch milk drinks in a narrow space, the Magnifica Evo is the sensible De’Longhi.

Two more worth knowing: the Breville Barista Express is the lower entry point into Breville with a great teaching gauge, and the De’Longhi Rivelia is the pick for regular-and-decaf households.

Breville vs De’Longhi specifications

From manufacturer specifications and my own testing.

How I tested and compared them

I used each of the four machines as my everyday coffee maker for four weeks, making espresso, americanos, cappuccinos, lattes, flat whites and iced drinks. Testing notes were written up together by Michael Reynolds and the HouseholdMe team.

I logged shots and weighed doses with a 0.1-gram scale, measured milk temperatures with a probe, timed heat-up and steaming, measured noise with a sound meter and checked De’Longhi espresso with a refractometer.

I followed every daily, weekly and prompted cleaning routine, then compared my notes with Breville’s and De’Longhi’s specifications and owner documentation.

• Coffee: dose, crema, body, flavor and consistency.
• Milk: foam texture, temperature, speed and drink range.
• Workflow: heat-up, controls, guidance and daily routine.
• Ownership: cleaning, water care, noise and footprint.