De’Longhi Magnifica Evo vs Rivelia vs Eletta Explore: which one should you buy?

Magnifica Evo vs Rivelia vs Eletta Explore at a glance

Head to head

The better result in each row is marked, based on my testing and the manufacturer specs. Rows where the machines are identical have no winner.

Keep in mind that the tally is not my verdict. Some rows matter far more than others, and which ones matter depends on what you drink.

Design, size and build

From the front, all three are slim. The De'Longhi Magnifica Evo is about 9.45 inches wide, the Rivelia about 9.6 inches and the Eletta Explore about 10.2 inches.

Depth is the number to check. The Eletta reaches almost 18 inches back toward the wall, and its drip tray needs room in front, so it uses most of a standard counter.

The Eletta Explore is slim from the front but deep from the side.

Depth on the counter

From manufacturer dimensions. A standard counter is about 24 inches deep.

The three look very different. The Evo is the classic De’Longhi shape, with a silver front panel, chunky buttons and drink icons.

The Rivelia is the design piece, with soft curves, a flat touchscreen on top and two hoppers you can lift off. Guests always asked about it.

The Eletta Explore looks the most premium, with a front-facing touchscreen and a tall spout that clears glasses up to about 7 inches. That matters for iced drinks in tall glasses.

Build quality is solid across the board. The Eletta is the heaviest at about 25 pounds and is made in Italy; the Evo and Rivelia both weigh about 21 pounds.

Our tip: Measure the space above your counter with the Rivelia in mind, because you need to see and reach its flat top screen comfortably.

Setup and the first week

Setup took about 15 minutes on each machine and followed the same pattern. You rinse the tank, test your water hardness with the included strip, enter the result, fit the water filter and let the machine prime and rinse.

The Rivelia and Eletta guide you through it on their touchscreens. On the Evo, you follow the quick-start sheet and a few blinking icons, which was just as easy once I had read it.

The first few drinks on all three were weaker than they should be. The grinder needs several cycles to settle and to clear the test coffee left in the chute, so I didn’t judge any shot until the fourth or fifth cup.

By the end of the first week, I had each machine dialed in. All three were happiest a step or two finer than the factory grind setting with my medium-dark blend, and at their strongest dose for milk drinks.

Our tip: Throw away the first three or four shots from a new machine, because the grinder is still clearing factory test coffee.

Screens, buttons and profiles

The De'Longhi Magnifica Evo keeps it simple. Every drink has its own icon and button, and you adjust strength and size with a couple of presses. There is no screen to read and no profiles to set up.

That simplicity is lovely for one or two people. The catch is that everyone shares the same settings, so if you like a stronger espresso than your partner, one of you changes it every morning.

The De'Longhi Rivelia moves to a 3.5-inch color touchscreen with 18 recipes and four profiles. It was the easiest machine of the three to use day to day, and it scored 9.1 for ease in my review.

Its one quirk is placement. The screen sits flat on the top of the machine, which looks elegant but meant my kids and anyone sitting at the counter had to stand up to see it.

The Eletta Explore puts its 3.5-inch touchscreen on the front, where everyone can see it. It has 50-plus recipes on the machine, more than 100 in the app and four profiles.

One-touch recipes on the machine

The Eletta’s app unlocks more than 100 recipes in total.

Our tip: Set up a profile for each person on the Rivelia or Eletta in the first week, so nobody resets someone else’s strength.

Grinder, dose and switching beans

All three use stainless steel conical burrs✕Conical burrsTwo cone-shaped grinding parts, one inside the other. Beans are crushed between them, and the gap between the burrs sets how fine the coffee is. with 13 settings. That is plenty of range for medium and dark roasts, and enough for most lighter blends.

They also share De’Longhi’s removable brew unit, and all three grind a generous dose✕DoseThe amount of ground coffee used for one drink. A bigger dose gives a stronger, fuller cup without simply adding bitterness.. On the Evo, the top level is about 15 grams; on the Rivelia, intensity 5 gave me roughly 15 grams; on the Eletta, the Doppio+ packed 15 to 16 grams.

I timed the Eletta’s grinder at roughly 1.5 grams per second. Its strongest single shot weighed 13.6 grams of dry coffee in one test, and up to 15 grams in others, depending on the beans.

Bean switching on the Rivelia

The Rivelia’s headline trick is its two hoppers. You lift one off, drop the other on, and the machine grinds from the new beans, which is perfect for regular and decaf, or a dark blend and a lighter roast.

There is a catch worth knowing. The brew chamber holds some leftover grounds, and on my machine about 10 grams of the previous bean ended up in the next shot, roughly two-thirds of a single dose.

The Rivelia’s second hopper makes switching to decaf a two-second job.

Our tip: Adjust the grind only while the grinder is running on any De’Longhi, because turning the dial with the burrs stopped can jam beans.

Espresso quality

Because they share the grinder, the brew unit and a similar dose, the three pulled espresso that was closer than I expected. The differences were in body and temperature.

The De'Longhi Magnifica Evo scored highest at 8.5. At the 15-gram dose, its shot had real body and sweetness, with cocoa and toasted nut and very little bitterness.

The Eletta Explore came close at 8.4. My target was a classic 2:1 ratio✕Brew ratioThe weight of espresso in the cup compared with the weight of dry coffee. 15 grams in and 30 grams out is a 2:1 ratio., 15 grams in and 30 grams out, and the shot measured around 169°F in the cup without preheating anything.

The Rivelia scored 8.3. Its shots were full-bodied and round, a little softer than the Evo’s, and they suited medium roasts best.

My espresso ratings

My scores out of 10 for body, crema, flavor and consistency.

The cheapest machine here pulled the best straight espresso.

The two pricier models use a 19-bar pump against the Evo’s 15 bar. That sounds like a big difference, but during a normal shot the coffee sees roughly 9 bar on all three, which is the classic espresso target.

All three use a thermoblock✕ThermoblockA compact heater that warms water on its way through a metal block, instead of keeping a boiler hot. It heats up fast and switches between tasks quickly., so they are ready in well under a minute. The Evo was ready in about 38 seconds from cold, including a short rinse.

Hot milk drinks

All three froth milk at one touch with a carafe you can store in the fridge. The differences are in size, temperature and how many drinks you get.

The Evo’s LatteCrema carafe made dense, glossy microfoam✕MicrofoamMilk foam with bubbles so small you can barely see them. It feels silky and glossy, which is what a good cappuccino or flat white needs.. Milk came out at about 140°F, a comfortable drinking temperature that keeps milk tasting sweet.

The Evo’s clever extra is MyLatte. You pour in the milk you want, and the machine uses exactly that amount, so a small cup and a tall glass both come out right.

The Rivelia’s hot milk carafe consistently gave me milk between 140°F and 149°F, which is right in the range where milk tastes sweetest.

The Eletta Explore’s hot carafe holds about 500 ml, enough for several drinks before refilling, and lets you set foam thickness. My favorite setting was about 75% of the way toward thick foam.

Hot milk-drink ratings

My scores out of 10. The Eletta score covers both its hot and cold carafes.

The Eletta’s hot carafe holds about 500 ml, enough for several lattes.

Our tip: Pour cold milk straight from the fridge into the carafe on all three, because warm milk makes big, loose bubbles that collapse.

Iced drinks and cold foam

This is where the Eletta Explore earns its place.

It has a real cold extraction mode. Instead of brewing hot and pouring over ice, it pushes much cooler water through the coffee, and the water left the spouts at about 98°F, roughly half the temperature of a hot espresso.

Poured over ice, my finished cold brew settled at about 36 to 37°F. It was smooth and low in bitterness, nothing like a hot shot melting into ice.

Its second carafe makes cold foam, about 390 ml at a time. A cold foam cap on an iced latte became my afternoon habit in the third week.

The De'Longhi Magnifica Evo has an Over Ice button, which brews a hot coffee designed to be poured over ice. It works, but a hot shot melts more ice, so the drink tastes more diluted.

The Rivelia has no cold mode at all. If iced coffee is a summer staple in your house, that settles it.

Iced drink temperature in the glass

Both measured on the Eletta Explore soon after pouring over ice. Lower is colder and less diluted.

Our tip: Make cold foam with skim or low-fat milk on the Eletta, because lower fat makes a stiffer, longer-lasting cold foam.

Hot water, tea and cocoa

All three make hot water at one touch, but the Eletta Explore goes further.

In its black tea mode, the water ran continuously between 199 and 203°F, which is right for a strong brew. The Rivelia’s hot water read 194 to 203°F, also hot enough for black tea.

The Eletta even makes cocoa. Mine came out at about 135°F, warm enough to enjoy and safe for kids to drink right away, which made it a hit in my house.

The De'Longhi Magnifica Evo has a hot water button for americanos and tea, but no tea temperature settings.

Our tip: Use the Eletta’s tea mode rather than plain hot water for black tea, because it holds the water near 200°F for the whole pour.

Cleaning and upkeep

All three have De’Longhi’s removable brew unit✕Brew unitThe part that compresses the ground coffee, holds it while water passes through and then ejects the used puck. A removable one can be rinsed under the tap., which you can pull out and rinse under the tap. I did it every Sunday, and the shots stayed clean all month.

The milk side is where they differ. The Evo and Rivelia each have one carafe with an automatic clean setting, and I took them apart and rinsed them every couple of days.

The Eletta Explore has two carafes, and both need a full wash every two to three days. It is not hard, but it is the most hands-on routine of the three.

Descaling is guided on all three. A full descale on the Evo took about 45 minutes, most of it hands-off, and the others were similar.

My daily hands-on cleaning time

My estimate with daily milk drinks, not counting automatic rinses.

One carafe, one brew unit: the Rivelia’s cleaning routine is quick.

Our tip: Rinse the brew unit every week on any De’Longhi and let it air-dry before sliding it back in.

Water, beans and noise

The Evo and Eletta Explore both hold about 60 ounces of water. The Rivelia holds 47 ounces, which is still enough that you’re not refilling it after every couple of drinks.

On beans, the Rivelia’s two hoppers hold about 8.8 ounces each, the Evo about 8.8 ounces and the Eletta about 10.6 ounces.

Water tank size

From manufacturer specifications.

All three were pleasantly quiet. The Rivelia measured 66 to 68 dB in my kitchen, with the grinder as the loudest part for about 10 seconds per drink.

The Eletta’s grinder was quiet enough for early mornings too. The Evo’s grinder is a short burst too, and none of the three woke anyone in my house.

Our tip: Buy a bag of beans you can finish in two or three weeks, because all three grinders show off fresh coffee far better than stale.

A month of ownership: what changed

Living with a machine for four weeks shows things a spec sheet can’t. Here is what each one was like by the end of the month.

The De'Longhi Magnifica Evo became the machine I trusted most. It never surprised me, the foam was the same every morning, and its biggest annoyance was simply that my partner and I kept changing each other’s strength.

The De'Longhi Rivelia was the one my family liked best. The profiles ended the strength arguments, the bean swap became second nature, and its quiet grinder meant nobody heard it before 7 a.m.

The De'Longhi Eletta Explore was the most fun. Iced lattes with cold foam, cocoa for the kids and black tea at the right temperature made it feel like three appliances, but its carafes asked for the most washing and its app tested my patience.

Our tip: Keep a spare carafe lid and gasket in the drawer, because a worn seal is the most common reason foam suddenly goes flat.

Real-life scenarios

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

On hot days, the Eletta Explore was the only machine anyone reached for.

My scorecard

These are my own scores out of 10. The first four come from my single reviews of each machine, and I added drink range because it decides this matchup.

De'Longhi Magnifica Evo

De'Longhi Rivelia

De'Longhi Eletta Explore

Overall, I rate the Eletta Explore 8.6, the Rivelia 8.5 and the Magnifica Evo 8.3. The Evo gets within a whisker of the others for much less money.

Which one should you buy?

It comes down to two questions: do you drink iced coffee, and do you switch between beans? For the wider picture beyond this matchup, see my guide to the best De’Longhi super-automatic machines.

For two of these head to head, read my Rivelia vs Magnifica Evo comparison. If you are weighing other De’Longhi models, see Magnifica Evo vs Dinamica Plus and Rivelia vs Dinamica Plus.

For rich coffee on a budget, the Magnifica Evo is hard to beat.

Magnifica Evo vs Rivelia vs Eletta Explore specifications

From manufacturer specifications and my own testing.

How I tested and compared them

I used each machine as my everyday coffee maker for four weeks, making espresso, long coffee, cappuccinos and lattes, plus iced drinks, cold foam, tea and cocoa where the machine offered them.

I weighed doses and yields, timed the grinders, measured espresso, milk, hot water and cold-brew temperatures with a probe, and frothed whole, 2%, skim and oat milk.

I ran every cleaning and descaling routine, then wrote up my notes and measurements together and compared them with De’Longhi’s specifications and owner documentation.

• Coffee: dose, crema, body and temperature
• Milk: hot and cold foam, texture and temperature
• Workflow: controls, profiles, bean switching and app
• Ownership: cleaning, capacity, noise and footprint