De’Longhi Rivelia vs Magnifica Evo: is the newer model worth more?

Rivelia vs Magnifica Evo 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. Some rows matter far more than others, and which ones matter depends on how many people and beans share the machine.

Design and size

The Evo is the classic slim De’Longhi box: about 9.45 inches wide, 17.3 inches deep and 14.2 inches tall, with a front-loading tank and the hopper under a lid on top.

The Rivelia looks more modern, with softer curves, a matte finish and a touchscreen set into its flat top. It is a similar width at about 9.6 inches with the tank fitted, but taller at about 15.2 inches, and you need a few extra inches above it to twist a hopper off.

Weight is almost identical: about 21.4 pounds for the Rivelia and 21 for the Evo.

The Rivelia’s hoppers twist off the top, so it needs extra headroom.

Height on the counter

Add a few inches above the Rivelia to lift its hoppers off.

Our tip: Measure the gap under your wall cabinets with a hopper lifted off before buying the Rivelia, because it needs more headroom than its height suggests.

Both have a pre-ground coffee chute, which is handy for an occasional decaf on the Evo. On the Rivelia, the second hopper makes that chute far less necessary.

Bean Switch: the big difference

This is the Rivelia’s headline feature, and the reason most people consider it.

It comes with two 8.8-ounce hoppers that lock onto the grinder with a 90-degree twist. I kept a regular blend in one and decaf in the other, and swapping took about three seconds.

The catch is the beans already in the grinder. On my machine, that leftover amount weighed about 10 grams, roughly two-thirds of a single shot. In Switch mode, the machine either grinds it out and discards it, or uses it in a transition coffee.

Each hopper locks on with a quarter turn and swaps in seconds.

Beans lost to switching, per day

Weighed on my machine. A single shot uses about 15 grams.

If you switch to decaf at 3 p.m., don’t make the transition drink. It still contains the regular beans, which defeats the point, so choose grind and empty instead.

Bean Adapt helps too. It suggests a grind setting and sets dose and temperature for each bean, so you start somewhere reasonable instead of guessing across 13 grind settings.

Screen, profiles and controls

The Rivelia’s 3.5-inch color touchscreen is sharp, bright and responsive. It shows each drink with a picture, lets you change strength, size and milk with a swipe, and keeps four profiles.

Its Coffee Routines feature learns which drinks you make at which time of day and puts them first. By the second week, my morning cappuccino was waiting on the home screen.

The Evo has no screen. It uses backlit touch icons, with three bean icons for strength, a cup size control and the milk drinks along the bottom. Nobody in my house needed instructions for either.

The one design flaw is the screen’s position. Because it sits flat on top, it is easy to read standing up but awkward for children or anyone seated, and under low wall cabinets you have to lean over to see it.

The Rivelia’s touchscreen is clear, but it faces the ceiling.

The drink menu: 18 vs 7

The US Rivelia I tested has 18 one-touch recipes, from espresso and coffee to flat white✕Flat whiteA short milk coffee with a thin layer of silky microfoam. Stronger and less foamy than a cappuccino., cortado✕CortadoA small drink of espresso cut with roughly the same amount of warm milk, with very little foam., cappuccino and latte macchiato.

The Evo makes espresso, coffee, Over Ice, cappuccino, latte macchiato, MyLatte and hot water. MyLatte uses all the milk you pour into the carafe, so it covers everything from a cortado to a big latte with one button.

One-touch recipes

Counted from each machine’s menu, including hot water.

In practice, the gap was smaller than the numbers suggest. The Rivelia’s named flat white and cortado were convenient, but MyLatte on the Evo got me the same drinks by changing how much milk I poured.

Both can also make two coffees at once through twin spouts, though neither makes two milk drinks at the same time. For a family breakfast, that means milk drinks come out one after another on both machines, about a minute apart.

The Rivelia’s profiles saved the most time here. Each person tapped their own name and got their own drink, while on the Evo I adjusted strength and milk between cups.

Grinder and dose

Both use stainless steel conical burrs✕Conical burrsTwo cone-shaped grinding parts, one inside the other. The gap between them sets how fine the coffee is. with 13 settings, and both dose generously for automatic machines.

On the Evo, the three strength levels ground about 9, 12 and 15 grams. On the Rivelia, intensity 5 ran the grinder for about 10 seconds and gave me roughly 15 grams, which fits its 44 mm brew chamber.

Top dose I measured

Weighed on my scale right after grinding.

On both, a few steps finer than the factory middle setting made the biggest difference. Setting 3 became my default on the Evo with a medium-dark blend; on the Rivelia, Bean Adapt’s suggestion was close, and I went one step finer.

Our tip: Only turn the grind dial while the grinder is running, because turning it with the burrs stopped strains them on both machines.

Espresso quality

This is where the cheaper machine surprised me.

With a medium-dark blend at grind setting 3 and high strength, the Evo’s espresso had a consistent crema✕CremaThe golden, foamy layer on top of a fresh espresso. It forms when pressure pushes oils and gases out of the coffee. and a full, aromatic body, with cocoa and toasted nuts. My shots landed around 8 percent TDS✕TDS (total dissolved solids)The share of coffee that ends up dissolved in your cup. Higher numbers mean a stronger, more concentrated drink..

The Rivelia’s espresso at intensity 5, about 15 grams in and 30 grams out, was full-bodied and balanced. A shorter ristretto-style pull of about 22 grams was its best straight shot, but it never quite matched the Evo’s depth.

My espresso ratings

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

The Evo pulled the richer espresso of the two with the same beans.

Long coffee and americano

Neither has a dedicated americano button. On both, I ran hot water into a big mug first and pulled an espresso on top, which kept more crema and tasted fuller than the coffee button.

The Rivelia’s long coffee, at about 120 ml from 13 to 15 grams, was mild and easy. The Evo’s coffee button was similar, at about 100 ml by default, and I scored it 7.0, below every milk drink it made.

Our tip: Put the hot water in the mug before the espresso on both machines, because pouring the shot on top keeps more crema.

Milk drinks

Both make one-touch cappuccinos and latte macchiatos from a milk carafe that clips onto the front, foams the milk, pours it and then cleans itself.

The Evo’s LatteCrema carafe made dense, fine foam at about 140°F, and it goes straight into the fridge after its Clean cycle. MyLatte was my favorite feature on either machine: pour 2 to 3 fl oz for a cortado or a full carafe for a weekend latte, press one button.

The Rivelia’s carafe made smooth, café-style foam a little hotter, at about 140 to 149°F. Its touchscreen let me set milk amount and foam level per drink and save them to each profile.

The Rivelia’s milk drinks are set and saved per person on the touchscreen.

My milk drink ratings

My scores out of 10 for foam, temperature and convenience.

How each milk foamed on the Evo

My ratings out of 10. The Rivelia showed the same pattern.

Our tip: Use cold whole milk or a barista-style oat drink in both carafes, because regular plant drinks make big, loose bubbles.

Iced coffee

The Evo wins here. Its Over Ice drink brews a concentrated, slightly cooler coffee designed to be poured over a full glass of ice, and with a splash of cold milk it was my afternoon drink on warm days.

The Rivelia I tested has no true cold extraction and no cold milk foam. You can pour hot espresso or coffee over ice and add cold milk by hand, which works, but it melts more ice and tastes thinner. De’Longhi sells a cold-milk upgrade set for the Rivelia in some markets, which I didn’t test.

My iced coffee ratings

My scores out of 10 with a full glass of ice.

Our tip: Fill the glass completely with ice for iced coffee on either machine, because a few cubes just make a watery, lukewarm drink.

Hot water and tea

The Rivelia’s hot water measured about 194 to 203°F, hot enough for black and herbal tea. The Evo has a dedicated hot water tap that I used for tea and for americanos, and it was hot enough for both.

Cleaning and upkeep

Both rinse their coffee path on start-up and shutdown, and both have a removable brew unit✕Brew unitThe part that compresses the ground coffee, holds it while water passes through and ejects the used puck. On De’Longhi machines it slides out for rinsing. you rinse under the tap weekly, with no tablets.

Both carafes run a Clean cycle after every milk drink, and both need a proper wash of the lid and tubes once a week. Skip it, and milk fat builds up and the foam starts to sputter.

The Rivelia prompts you through each step on the screen and tells you when the grounds container needs emptying. On the Evo, I learned the rinse-water habit quickly: about 1.9 fl oz at start-up and 0.6 at shutdown, straight into the drip tray.

Both carafes clean themselves after each drink, but the lids need a weekly wash.

My cleaning scores

My scores out of 10 for daily and weekly effort.

Both make dry, compact pucks, and mine went into the compost every couple of days.

Our tip: Rinse both brew units with water only, because soap strips the grease that keeps the seals working.

Noise

The Rivelia was quieter than I expected. Its grinder measured 66 to 68 dB in my kitchen, somewhere between normal conversation at about 60 dB and a vacuum cleaner at about 75 dB.

The Evo’s grinder peaked at about 70 to 71 dB for the first five or six seconds of each drink, then frothing and the pump settled at about 60 dB.

Grinder noise I measured

Measured from about 3 feet away.

Water, beans and supplies

The Evo has the bigger tank at about 60 ounces, against 47 ounces on the Rivelia. That meant more frequent refills on the Rivelia, but its side top-fill design means you can pour water in without removing the tank.

Beans are where the Rivelia shines. With 17.6 ounces across both hoppers, you can keep two full bags open and sealed under their lids.

Capacity compared

Manufacturer capacities.

If one hopper holds decaf, keep an eye on how you switch. Caffeine adds up across a day, and for most adults the FDA cites about 400 milligrams a day as an amount not generally linked to negative effects.

Our tip: Fit the water filter and set the hardness on day one on both, because descaling every month with hard water gets old fast.

Mistakes to avoid on both

Because the two share a lot of hardware, the same habits make or break the coffee on both. These are the ones that cost me a good cup during testing.

One more difference worth knowing: the Rivelia tells you about most of these on its touchscreen, from emptying the grounds to changing the filter. The Evo relies on lights and your own routine, so a weekly reminder on your phone helps.

Four weeks with each machine

A machine can feel very different on day one and day thirty, so here is how my view of each changed.

The Rivelia took a little setting up: four profiles, two bean types and a few drinks to save. From week two it was the friendliest machine in the house, with everyone’s cappuccino on the home screen and decaf a quarter turn away.

The Evo was easy from the first morning. By week two the grind was at 3 and the carafe lived in the fridge, and by week four it was the machine that made my favorite espresso.

The common mistake on both was waiting for the full-container alert before emptying the grounds. Emptying every day or two kept smells away on both.

Real-life scenarios

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

In a busy household, the Rivelia was the machine everyone could use alone.

My scorecard

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

De’Longhi Rivelia

De’Longhi Magnifica Evo

Overall, I rate the Rivelia 8.5 and the Evo 8.3. The Rivelia is the better machine to share; the Evo makes the better espresso and iced coffee and is the better value for one or two people.

Which one should you buy?

It comes down to one question: does your household need two kinds of coffee, or two or more sets of saved settings? If yes, the Rivelia earns its place. If not, the Evo gives you better espresso and iced coffee for less. Still weighing other options? I rank every model I’ve tested in my guide to the best De’Longhi super-automatic machines.

For more De’Longhi matchups, see my De’Longhi automatic espresso machine comparison, my Magnifica Evo vs Magnifica Start and Magnifica Duo vs Rivelia comparisons. The full single reviews are here: Rivelia and Magnifica Evo.

For one or two coffee drinkers, the Evo is the better value.

Rivelia vs Magnifica Evo 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, latte macchiatos and, on each, its own extras: bean swaps and saved profiles on the Rivelia, MyLatte and Over Ice on the Evo.

I weighed doses and shots, measured milk and water temperatures with a probe thermometer, measured grinder noise with a sound meter app, and weighed the beans left in the Rivelia’s grinder after each swap.

I ran every cleaning routine and then compared my notes with De’Longhi specifications, owner documentation and published test data.

• Coffee: dose, ratio, crema, body and consistency.
• Milk: foam texture, temperature and convenience.
• Workflow: controls, profiles and bean switching.
• Ownership: noise, cleaning, water care and footprint.