De’Longhi Magnifica Start vs Magnifica XS: which cheap super-auto?

Magnifica Start vs Magnifica XS 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 two machines are identical have no winner.

Keep in mind that the tally is not my verdict. These two are so close inside that the rows you care about matter far more than the count.

Design, size and build

Put these two side by side and the footprint is almost identical. Both are about 9.4 inches wide and 13.8 inches tall, which makes them two of the slimmest bean-to-cup machines you can buy.

The Magnifica Start is about 17.3 inches deep and weighs about 19 pounds. Mine was black, with a mix of matte and glossy panels and a clean touch panel with backlit icons.

The Magnifica XS is about 17 inches deep and weighs about 20 pounds. It is silver and black, with a small brushed-look panel around the buttons, and it looks like what it is: a sensible, slightly old-school appliance.

The Start’s backlit touch icons make it look more modern than the XS.

Both have the same practical layout. The water tank pulls out from the front on the right, and the drip tray and grounds drawer slide out as one assembly.

That means you can leave either machine pushed back against the wall all month. Only the bean hopper on top needs you to slide it forward.

Width compared with a typical automatic

Both slot neatly between other appliances.

The XS is just as slim, with buttons and a strength dial instead of touch icons.

Our tip: Measure your counter depth before buying either one, because at about 17 inches deep they need more room front to back than their slim width suggests.

Setup and the first week

Setup took about 15 minutes on both. You rinse the tank, fit the water filter, set the water hardness with the included strip and run water through the circuit.

Then expect the first three to five drinks to be weaker on both. The software settles on the right dose and the grinder beds in, so I didn’t change a single setting until I had pulled five espressos.

After that, I moved both grinders from the middle of the range down to setting 3 or 4. On the Magnifica Start, I set three beans; on the Magnifica XS, I turned the dial near the top.

My espresso score over the first week

Averaged across both machines, which behaved almost identically.

Our tip: Don’t change any settings on either machine until you’ve pulled at least five espressos, because both need a few cycles to calibrate their dose.

Controls, lights and programming

This is where the two machines feel most different, and it is the main reason to pick one over the other.

The Magnifica Start uses capacitive touch icons with LED backlighting: Espresso, Coffee, Americano, steam, 2x and three bean icons for strength. I didn’t need the manual for daily drinks at all.

The Magnifica XS has buttons for espresso, long coffee, two cups, steam and power, plus a row of warning lights. In the middle sits a rotary dial that sets the strength from mild to extra strong.

The warning lights

On the Start, warnings use clear icons: empty tank, full grounds drawer, descale needed. An internal float lights a warning before the pump runs dry.

On the XS, some warnings blink in patterns that only make sense with the manual open. In my second week, a light came on and I had to look it up before I realized it simply wanted the grounds drawer emptied.

Both let you set your own cup sizes. Press and hold a drink button, let it brew and press again when your cup reaches the level you want.

Neither has profiles, so everyone shares the same settings. Temperature and water hardness live behind button-hold sequences on both.

The Start’s icons are readable at a glance, even half awake.

Our tip: Take a photo of the indicator-light page in the XS manual and keep it on your phone, because it saves a lot of guessing when a light starts blinking.

Grinder and strength

Both grind with 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. and 13 stepped settings, adjusted with a knob inside the bean hopper. Lower numbers grind finer and slow the shot; higher numbers grind coarser and speed it up.

On both, I landed between settings 3 and 4 with a medium-dark blend. That gave a dense crema and a sweet, chocolatey shot.

The difference is strength. The Start offers three bean icons, and I used three beans for everything except the long Coffee button. The XS’s rotary dial gives you a smooth range from mild to extra strong, adjustable in a second for any single drink.

How grind setting changes the shot on both

How much resistance the coffee puts up with medium-dark beans on the strongest dose.

Our tip: Only turn the grind knob on either machine while the grinder is running, because turning it with the burrs stopped can jam bean fragments.

Our tip: Use the strongest dose for espresso and Americano on both machines, because the extra coffee makes more difference than any other setting.

Espresso quality

This is the most important finding of this comparison: in the cup, the two are effectively the same machine.

Both use 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., shared across its automatic range, with a 15-bar pump and a thermoblock✕ThermoblockA compact heater that warms water on its way through a metal block, instead of keeping a tank of water hot. It heats up fast and switches between tasks quickly. that heats in about 40 seconds.

With a medium-dark blend at setting 3 or 4 and the strongest dose, both gave me a thick, hazelnut-colored crema✕CremaThe golden, foamy layer on top of a fresh espresso. It forms when pressure pushes oils and gases out of the coffee., a full body and flavors of dark chocolate and toasted nuts, with low acidity.

My espresso ratings

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

The XS scored a touch higher only because its dial let me fine-tune the dose. On my blind sips of plain espresso, I couldn’t reliably tell them apart.

One trap applies to the Start. Its 2x button grinds a single dose and pushes twice the water through it, which makes a bigger but noticeably weaker drink. For a real double, I brewed two singles back to back on both machines.

Americano and long coffee

If you drink big mugs of black coffee, this section decides it.

Both machines have a long Coffee button that pushes the whole volume of water through one puck. That long contact time pulls more bitter compounds out toward the end, so the cup is lighter in body, softer and slightly bitter, with a thin crema that fades fast.

The Magnifica Start adds a true Americano button. It pulls a normal, concentrated espresso, then switches its valves and pumps fresh hot water into the cup, bypassing the coffee entirely.

That preserves the sweetness, clarity and body of the espresso while making it longer. It became my daily drink on the Start.

On the Magnifica XS, I made Americanos by hand: one espresso, then about 6 ounces of hot water from the wand. It tasted just as good, but it is two steps every time.

My ratings for a big mug of black coffee

My scores out of 10, same beans and mug size.

The SCA✕Specialty Coffee AssociationA global coffee industry body that publishes brewing standards, such as recommended water temperatures and strength ranges for filter coffee. recommends brewing coffee with water around 195 to 205°F. Both machines brew hot out of the thermoblock, and I set both to their highest temperature.

The Start’s Americano button made the best big mug in this comparison.

Our tip: Set your Americano or long coffee volume with your real mug on day one, because one minute of programming saves you stopping drinks by hand every morning.

Milk and the steam wand

Both use the same Panarello wand✕Panarello wandA steam wand with a plastic sleeve that has a small air hole. As steam rushes through, the sleeve pulls in air automatically, so milk foams without special technique.. You pull your espresso first, fill a small steel jug a third full of cold milk, press steam and froth.

With the sleeve on, both make thick, stiff foam quickly, great for a classic dry cappuccino but harder to turn into the glossy microfoam you need for a flat white.

The trick on both is to slide the plastic sleeve off. Without it, I held the tip just under the surface for a few seconds to add air, then sank it a little so the milk spun into a whirlpool.

My foam quality over four weeks, on both

Rated out of 10 for texture and pourability. My progress was near identical on both machines.

The upside of a manual wand is control. You decide how hot the milk gets, stopping around 140 to 150°F where it tastes sweetest, or going hotter for someone who drinks slowly.

The downside is time. A cappuccino took about three minutes including wiping the wand, and four cappuccinos for guests took about twelve.

How each milk foamed

My ratings out of 10 for texture and stability, averaged across both machines.

Both machines share the same Panarello wand, so milk skills transfer directly.

Our tip: Steaming for several people? Brew all the espressos first, then froth one bigger jug of milk and share it out, because it cuts the time almost in half.

Cleaning and upkeep

Cleaning is identical, and it is one of the best reasons to buy either one.

There is no milk carafe with tubes and passages. You purge and wipe the wand after steaming, empty the drip tray and grounds drawer daily, and once a week slide the brew unit out from the side door and rinse it under warm water.

No tablets, no chemical cleaning cycle and no special tools. Rinse with water only, because soap strips the food-grade lubricant from the moving tracks.

My daily hands-on cleaning time

My estimate of hands-on time per day, including wiping the steam wand.

One difference is long-term confidence. The XS platform has a long track record, owners regularly report seven to ten years with basic care, and spare parts, including a full brew unit, are widely available.

The Start uses the same proven parts inside, so I expect similar longevity, but it hasn’t been on sale long enough to prove it.

Both brew units slide out from a side door and rinse clean under the tap.

Our tip: Let the brew unit air-dry before sliding it back into either machine, so no moisture is trapped inside.

Noise and speed

Neither machine is quiet. Both grinders give a sharp burst for several seconds on every drink, loud enough to hear from the next room.

The Start’s hopper lid has no rubber seal, which lets a little more noise escape. If the grinder rattles, check that the lid is seated squarely on its ridge.

Time per drink

Timed after the 40-second heat-up, including wiping the wand.

Both heat up in about 40 seconds. Running a little hot water through the wand into your cup while it warms makes the first espresso noticeably hotter.

Beans, water and supplies

Both hoppers hold about 8.8 ounces. Neither keeps air out well: the Start’s lid has no seal at all, and the XS’s is a simple lid.

In my test, beans that sat in the Start’s hopper for most of a week tasted noticeably flatter than beans loaded the same morning.

Bean freshness in an unsealed hopper

My flavor ratings out of 10, same bag and settings.

How far one 60 oz tank goes

Rough maths allowing for rinses. The same on both machines.

Use fresh, cold water changed daily and the included filter if your water is hard. Avoid distilled water, because espresso needs some minerals to taste full.

Load only a day or two of beans, and both machines taste their best.

Our tip: Only load as many beans as you’ll use in a day or two on either machine, because neither hopper keeps air out well.

Build quality and long-term ownership

Both housings are mostly composite plastic. They look tidy and wipe clean easily, though the Start’s glossy panels show fingerprints and the XS’s silver front hides them better.

The parts that matter are the same on both: the removable brew unit, the conical grinder and the thermoblock, all used across De’Longhi’s automatic range.

Neither has a milk carafe with electronics to wear out, and neither needs proprietary cleaning tablets. That keeps running costs down to descaler, the odd filter and food-grade grease.

The XS has the advantage of history. It has been on sale for years, and replacement brew units, wand sleeves and seals are easy to find.

Our tip: Grease the brew unit rails with food-grade silicone grease every few months on either machine, because it keeps the mechanism smooth and quiet.

Real-life scenarios

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

For Americano lovers, the Start’s extra button earns its place.

My scorecard

These are my own scores out of 10. The first four come from my single reviews of each machine, and I added big-mug coffee and controls because they decide this matchup.

Magnifica Start

Magnifica XS

In my single reviews, I rated the Start 7.8 and the XS 7.9 overall. Head to head, the Start’s Americano button and clearer controls make it the better everyday machine for most buyers, while the XS stays the espresso purist’s pick.

Which one should you buy?

It comes down to one question: is your daily drink a big mug or a small cup?

For big mugs, the Start’s Americano button is the single most useful difference between these two. For straight espresso, the XS is just as good, a little more flexible and very well proven. If none of these is quite right for you, my guide to the best De’Longhi super-automatic machines covers the rest of the range I’ve tested.

If you drink milk drinks most days, neither is ideal. My Magnifica Evo vs Magnifica Start comparison covers the LatteCrema carafe, and Philips 2200 vs Magnifica Start looks at another budget favorite.

For espresso drinkers, the XS is as good as machines that cost far more.

Magnifica Start vs Magnifica XS 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, doubles, long coffee, Americanos, cappuccinos, flat whites and hot water for tea.

I worked through the grind range, compared every strength setting, reprogrammed cup volumes, compared the long coffee and Americano side by side and steamed whole, semi-skimmed and oat milk with the sleeve on and off.

Michael Reynolds and a second HouseholdMe tester shared both machines and wrote the notes together, then compared them with De’Longhi’s specifications, owner documentation and published data.

• Coffee: dose, crema, body and the long drinks.
• Milk: foam with and without the sleeve, temperature and effort.
• Workflow: controls, warnings and programming.
• Ownership: noise, cleaning, bean freshness and footprint.