The Best Pizza Ovens to Make the Perfect Slice

Ooni

Amazon

Ooni

Amazon

Pizza is Universal.It is America's favorite food—the thin sliver of Venn occupied by both preschoolers and sophisticates. But until recently, the best pizza ovens for home use required compromise or expensive obsession. A Neapolitan-style pie asks for a blistering 900 degrees Fahrenheit. Most built-in home ovens feel lucky to crest 500, too low even for a New York slice.

Well, congratulations for being born at the right time. Now there's a wide variety of home pizza ovens that reach the perfect temperature for making a crisp Neapolitan pizza in minutes, leaving you free to run wild with your imagination on sauces and toppings. The previous model of our top pick for best outdoor pizza ovens, the wood-firedOoni Karu 2 ($449), ranks among the only home ovens recommended by theAssociazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, the world authority on Neapolitan pies. TheSolo Stove Pi ($450)offers brilliant design for those inclined to cook with gas.

But we’ve also included indoor pizza ovens, a good budget pizza oven, a “portable” pizza oven, and even a pizza oven that doubles as a grill for pizza makers who equally love steaks. Be sure to check out our many otherbuying guides, including theBest Griddles,Best Cast-Iron Pans,Best Portable Grills, andBest Grills. Thirsty? Here are theBest Slushie Machines.

Updated July 2025: We added the Ooni Karu 2, the Ooni Koda 2, and the Cuisinart Propel+ 3-in-1 Grill and Pizza Oven to our top picks, and also tested the Current Backyard pizza oven.

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We are busy testing the newAll-Clad Gas-Powered Oven, which features a rotating pizza stone. TheHalo Versa 16is also on WIRED's testing docket.

Ooni

Ooni

Amazon

There aren’t any obvious big differences between the original and updated versions of Ooni’sbest-selling multifuel oven. The Karu 2 is still light and portable, a mere 33.7 pounds, which makes it easy to move around your backyard and assemble. The powder-coated finish over a stainless steel shell still achieves the remarkable feat of concentrating heat without a ton of heavy, dense insulation. You can still use either charcoal or wood or buy an optionalgas burner ($120).

But while the upgrades are small, they're very much appreciated. The fuel tray is 45 percent bigger, which means you can buy larger fuel sticks thanOoni’s proprietary ones—I found pecan and cherry logs that fit in the burner at my local hardware store. Bigger pieces of wood mean you no longer have to stoke the flames to maintain heat, like a coal shoveler on a WWII-era steamship. The bigger tray also means the pizza stone heats more evenly. I got it up to 750 degrees within 20 minutes and verified that the temperature varied only a few degrees from edge to edge.

There is also a new ClearView technology to keep that all-important glass door from getting smoked up and smudgy. It’s been several weeks of use, and I have yet to get the door dirty. If you really want to achieve the top high temp of 950 degrees Fahrenheit, I would suggest getting the burner: Past 750 degrees, the temperature is a little hard to maintain. If you need a little more space, it also comes ina 16-inch Karu 2 Pro size. This is still the most gorgeous, versatile, portable backyard pizza oven for your money. As a consequence, my family has been eatingwaytoo much pizza.—Adrienne So

Solo Stove

Amazon

If you've heard of Solo Stove, it's because of its smokeless,stainless steel fire pits. This makes the company's transition to high-heat pizza ovens more or less seamless. Instead of the conventional elongated design, the Pi Prime oven's fuel attachments are long and slim and hug the back of the oven. This allows Solo Stove to keep its signature round, symmetrical design.

This really is a great design. The oven is remarkably compact, and the opening quite small. The cooking surface is large enough to accommodate my biggest Lodgecast-iron pan, but I can leave the handle sticking out—a boon to anyone who has ever burned their hands through heat-resistant gloves. If you have a small backyard, the top's flat surface is a convenient storage space, and the stove doesn't sacrifice any of its heating capabilities for these details. I do miss being able to cook with wood, however. —Adrienne So

Ooni

Ooni

Williams Sonoma

Ooni's second-generation Koda oven is a great option for first-time pizza oven buyers who might be put off by the idea of dealing with chimneys, firewood, attachments, assembly, or any other stumbling blocks. Just hook in the propane, open the valve, click the auto-igniter, and heat the oven for about 30 minutes—which generally gets you well above 800 degrees Fahrenheit.

We loved the portability and simplicity of the first-generation, lightweightOoni Koda (8/10, WIRED Recommends). This Koda 2 remains portable at 35 pounds while offering 2 inches more cooking space and a thicker pizza stone—which holds temperature better and lowers recovery time between pies. A new gas system promises more even heat distribution across the stone, but you'll need to keep the Koda's rear flames low while cooking to avoid charring, anda good turning peelwill still be your friend. For bigger pies, Ooni offers an18-inch Promodel. —Matthew Korfhage

Ooni

Amazon

Ooni

Williams-Sonoma

Our previous pick in this category was theBreville Pizzaiolo (8/10, WIRED Recommends). But aside from the fact that the Breville is slightly smaller to fit on a countertop, theOoni Volt (8/10, WIRED Recommends) has objectively better specs. The door is triple-paned glass, while the Pizzaiolo's is double-pane; the Ooni can heat up to 850 degrees Fahrenheit instead of 750.

The main difference is philosophical. With the Pizzaiolo, you can put on a setting and walk away. Even though the Volt has dials that let you shift the source of the heat, it requires you to keep an eye on your quick-cooking crust. It also takes a lot of electrical energy to keep an oven this hot; every time I opened the door, the temperature dropped by about 50 degrees. That said, if you want a safe, convenient, and compact oven that can work equally well indoors and outdoors without having to refill a propane tank or buy wood, this is your best bet. —Adrienne So

Gourmia

Target

At a low cost, theGourmia All-in-Oneoffers a few lovely qualities. It plugs into a regular outlet, can be used indoors, and crests 750 degrees Fahrenheit in 20 or 25 minutes. It also offers individual control over the top and bottom heating elements, so you can adjust if your cheese isn't melty enough or your bottom not quite cooked. Pizzas baked on this oven came out quite well, with a leopard-spotted bottom, a bubbly cheese topping, and a lovely puffy crust.

It's also, technically, an air fryer and a conventional oven. But caveats are in order. The heating can be wonky and uneven, and there's an awful lot of heat loss through the door. If you preheat the stone, your pizza will come out well. But it's not a top-linetoaster ovenorair fryerwithout the thermal mass of the stone keeping things even. Consider this a gateway pizza oven that's quite easy to stow away when not in use—an affordable entry point until you decide that you love making pizza enough to finally ball out and get an Ooni. —Matthew Korfhage

Breeo

Amazon

Home Depot

Breeo

I've been dreaming of building a backyard firepit for decades, having been inspired by my late father's stories of taking his mom's pies down to bake inthe neighborhood’s community pizza ovens. I've owned three Ooni ovens (one as anUuni) but always wanted to cook on live fire, wood-burning fire pit instead of pellets or gas. The Breeo finally made that dream come true. The base Breeo is a heavy-dutycompetitor to the better-known Solo Stove fire pit. I love the stylish Corten steel, which I treated to speed the weathering process, but what really separates it is the assortment of available accessories, headlined by a well-designed pizza oven that sits on top and turns the pit into a wood-fired pizza oven. I've made about a dozen pies on the Breeo and had mostly good results, though it is important to read the temperature of the deck and spritz it with water if it has gotten too hot, as real logs will reach temps little wood pellets won't. Master the quirks (all backyard pizza ovens have quirks) and you'll be rewarded with quick cooks and true char. I've even gotten legit leopard spots a few times.—Martin Cizmar

Gozney

Crate & Barrel

Ace Hardware

Gozney

Let's be clear—almost every one of these ovens could be considered portable. In fact, I have transported the Koda to Airbnbs and friends' houses, and put the Karu on a paddleboard across the lake. A more accurate characterization ofGozney's Treadmight be that it technically has the smallest dimensions, even if it's not lighter than some of our other picks. It also has a wide variety of great accessories that make it easy to bake pizzas outdoors.

WIRED reviewer Chris Haslam found that it was an absolutely beautiful oven with plenty of insulation that helped it maintain an even and consistent internal temperature, even at 900 degrees Fahrenheit. Most important, when traveling with an extremely hot oven, you can buy a very well-engineeredVenture Stand ($250). This stand has four telescoping legs so you can position it outside securely, in almost any place that's even vaguely level. If you want to impress your cohorts at your next tailgate oroverlanding trip, you will seriously want to consider this oven. —Adrienne So

Ooni

Ooni

Ace Hardware

Ooni's newest large oven is for everyone who is sick of feeding their families with multiple teeny-tiny 12-inch pies and just wants to make a massive cheese pizza for all the kids at once. You can either attach a propane tank or hook it to your natural gas line. If this is a possibility for you, then I recommend the latter. Ooni has a new gas management technology that keeps the temperature consistent across the huge surface. However, it's alotof gas line and a lot of fuel. Even just waiting for the propane to fill so I could light the oven took a really long time.

With such a big opening and no door, heatpoursout of this thing. You can feel it from several feet away, which means it's not ideal for smaller patios. However, the temperatures are remarkably consistent across the cooking surface, and the new digital temperature hub checks the heat at multiple points throughout the oven. You can even connect it to Ooni's new app (iOS,Android) to monitor the heat remotely, although I get a little nervous stepping away from an oven that is burning at 900 degrees Fahrenheit. You can control each side independently, so you can either cook multiple pizzas at a time or just push some broccoli in next to your steak. The price includes two food probes, but oddly enough, no pizza peel. —Adrienne So

Cuisinart

Home Depot

Wayfair

Technically, you can turn any lidded grill into a pizza oven, as long as you've got the right size pizza stone and a good mounting bracket. But thisCuisinart Propel 3-in-1 (7/10, WIRED Recommends)is one of the only stand-up grills I've seen specifically designed that way—complete with a smoked-glass door to let you monitor your pie and also turn your pizza without losing all the heat. A side griddle and burner means you can even cook toppings or sauces on the same device, without having to wander inside and outside. It's ingenious, honestly.

Like a lot of combowhoosawhatsit cookers, this grill and oven is not as good at baking pizza as our top dedicated ovens like theOoni Karu 2orKoda 2. You can definitely heat your stone above 900 degrees Fahrenheit without troubles, but you won't get reliable ambient baking temps much above 750. And so there's a bit of a learning curve. You'll want to turn your middle burners down but leave the side burners on, to cook something between a New York pie and a Neapolitan. It'll be delicious. It will not taste like compromise. And when you're not making pizza you can cook burgers or hot dogs on a powerful propane grill, or griddle a few pancakes on the side griddle: It's an American quadfecta. The build's a little clattery, though, and I really wish the knobs were better. —Matthew Korfhage

Who We Are and How We Tested

WIRED reviewer Adrienne So has tested many pizza ovens and made more than a thousand pizzas overthe past seven years.WIRED reviewer Matthew Korfhage is a longtime food writer who's written about pizza on both coasts over 15 years, fromsausage slices in Portlandtothe story of Mexican pizza in Philadelphia.

We test each pizza oven over the course of a few weeks, using homemade dough (Adrienne likesOoni's classic pizza dough recipe), fresh dough balls procured from local pizzerias, store-bought fresh dough, and frozen pizzas. We use infrared thermometers to make sure the temperature of the cooking surface is consistent (and is what the built-in thermometer says it is). Where relevant, we also cross-check built-in thermometers on each oven against our own ambient thermometers.

Pizza ovens are also quite a bit more versatile than you might think. Over years of testing, Adrienne has used her pizza ovens to sear steaks, quick-cook salmon, and pan-fry broccoli. Matthew has air fried wings in a pizza oven, grilled pork chops, charred asparagus, and blackened chicken.

Pizza Baking Tips

It's taken me many years, and many thousands of pizzas, to refine my pizza-making technique. And to be honest, my Neapolitan-style pizzas don't really meet the standard set by theAssociazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, the world authority on Neapolitan pizzas. (Ooni pizza ovens, including previous models of our top-rated Karu 2, are the only models we recommend that the AVPN has also recommended.)

But over the years, I have accumulated a few tips for those of you who find making a pizza to be a little bit awkward or intimidating. If you've refrigerated your dough, bring it to room temperature first. Sprinkle flour or cornmeal generously on the peel before you assemble your pizza. Be patient and stretch it from the inside out. It is cheating, but I also am guilty of usinga tiny rolling pin ($10)to help me get the dough as thin as possible.

An authentic Neapolitan pie will use a few specific ingredients. When you're making your own dough, reach for00 flour, which is milled specifically for pizza and pasta. Fresh mozzarella will make your pizza damp, so I use a mix of fresh and shredded, low-moisture cheese for the cheesiest, meltiest pie. If you're not sticking to a strictly Neapolitan recipe, we also have a few favorite pies we'd like to recommend. Cizmar and I like a good Buffalo pie withFrank's Red Hotandpickles. I also recently triedBrightland's Pizza Oilin a squeeze bottle; while it's good as a finishing sauce to drizzle over pies, you could make your own for much cheaper by putting olive oil and herbs in asqueeze bottle.

Pizza ovens are more versatile than you might think: I cook everything from salmon to steak to chicken thighs in mine by preheatinga cast iron panin a hot oven and popping the food right in. For more guidance, Ooni hasa cookbook;chef Francis Mallman's booksare also a good source of inspiration. —Adrienne So

Make Your Own Oven

Is your patio already occupied by a giant Traeger? Your grill or smoker probably has a pizza attachment that you can buy for less than a new oven. Senior director Martin Cizmar's favorite is the Yoder Smokerwood-fired oven attachment ($499), which has saved him from many a night of pellet fire flameouts. It sits under the smoker’s hood, atop a steel sheet that sits over the firebox. The sheet is a diffuser and has holes of increasing size as you move away from the fire so that the section farthest from the flame gets more exposure. The design provides a consistent temperature along the oven’s floor, and it works well, with the farthest corners of the oven still cresting 650 degrees Fahrenheit.

You can also turn your normal, indoor oven into a pizza oven. While most ovens max out at 500 degrees Fahrenheit, one way to impart more heat to your pizza is by pre-heating a baking surface with a high thermal mass—which will maintain temperature stability and directly deliver its stored-up heat energy. An easy way to do this is by pre-heating acast-iron panorbaking steel. A classicLloyd panis one preferred tool for Detroit- or Sicilian-style pan pizza, which work well in conventional ovens.

Several of our favorite grill and pizza oven manufacturers, likeKamadoandWeber, also make ceramic pizza stones. Check out our guide to theBest Portable GrillsandGrill Accessoriesfor more.

We've tried a lot of pizza ovens. Here are a few that we liked that didn't quite make the cut.

Ooni Karu, First Edition for $349:Ooni is still selling the previous generation oven of WIRED's top pick, theKaru 2, for about $100 less. Like other Ooni pizza ovens, O.G. Karu is an excellent oven—light, portable, and easy to clean—and WIRED reviewer Adrienne So couldn't stop using the thing after first testing it. Nonetheless the newer Karu 2 heats more evenly, and holds more fuel than the first-generation oven.

Ooni Koda 12 for $399:The original Ooni Koda 12 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is a mere 21 pounds, making it the most light and portable Koda. Its thin, powder-coated steel shell insulates well enough that it remains cool to the touch, even when the fire is burning. Just slide in the baking stone, screw on the propane tank, and you're ready to go. The door fits 12-inch pizza peels and 10-inch cast-iron skillets. However, you shouldnotstore it outside.

Gozney Roccbox for $499:When Adrienne So first reviewed the dual-fuelGozney Roccbox (5/10, WIRED Review), she praised the fast recovery time that has made the Roccbox popular among pizza pop-up chefs, allowing her to make 10 pies in less than 30 minutes when cooking pizza with propane. That said, few home pizza makers need such throughput, and the 44-pound device is heavier than other competitors. The optional woodbox was oppressively difficult to use, for those who want the ability to cook with fire. But the Gozney's price, previously among the most expensive entrants, now seems pretty reasonable.

Ninja Wood-Fired Oven for $300:If you're looking for a remarkably sturdy and versatile outdoor oven, this isa pretty good pickwith a top temperature of 700 degrees. The door is a little sticky which makes baking pizza at high heat a little tricky, but if you want one device that can do everything from smoke a pork shoulder to make muffins to bake a pizza pie, this is your pick.

The Piezano for $99:ThisTikTok-popularoven is affordable, small, and convenient. It looks a little like awaffle iron, and comes withhandy double paddlesfor easier placement. Astonishingly, its claims of heating the top and bottom elements to 800 degrees Fahrenheit are accurate, and it takes about 15 minutes, which allows for short cook times. But note the heating element at the top doesn't cover the whole surface area, so you have to rotate your pies pretty frequently. Also, opening the top like a waffle maker means that it doesn't retain heat very well. It dropped by 100 to 200 degrees between pies and requires a bit of recovery time.

Current Backyard Model P for $699:No less a TV food personage than Alton Brown has signed on as an endorser of this 1,750-watt electric indoor/outdoor pizza oven, which will heat to 850 degrees Fahrenheit using a standard power outlet. Heat is relatively even across the oven, and it'll get up to top temp in around 30 minutes. But cook settings are constrained to a few preset levels (New-York style, thin crust, Neapolitan, frozen), whose temps and cooking times can be a bit fussy to fiddle with. At least during early months, the app and on-device controls tend to offer more quirks than functionality. Display temp and actual temp don't always match, and its top thermal elements turn on and off like the lights in a David Lynch movie, according to what the company calls a proprietary algorithm. Still, you can make a great pizza on this thing, and you can make it indoors. Current says it plans to add more functions and cooking modes in future updates, and we'll keep testing. But it feels less than fully baked at the moment, especially at its price.

Pizzacraft Pizzaque for $130:This oven is adorable and affordable, and you can stand it in your driveway and cook a good pizza while sitting in your camp chair. However, it just doesn't get as hot or cook as evenly as a better-insulated oven does.

Some pizza ovens provide you with proprietary accessories to set you on your pizza path. But we've also found a few extras to be helpful along the way:

A handheld infrared thermometer for $47:Even if the oven has a built-in thermometer, a handheld infrared thermometer is a great way to check the temperature on different areas of the pizza stone. It's also important to make sure the stone has time to reheat after each pizza.

A wooden pizza peel for $34:If you own multiple peels, it's quick and easy to prep one pizza while another is baking. WIRED reviewers Adrienne So and Matthew Korfhage each own several peels, including auseful small turning peel. But for launching, the dough is much less likely to stick on a wooden peel, especially if you first sprinkle on some semolina or flour.

A cast-iron skillet for $25:You can also use a cast-iron pan in your pizza oven to sear steaks or pan-roast broccoli. Lodge's panswork just as wellas much more expensive options.

Heat-resistant gloves for $20:That cast iron getsextremelyhot, so you'll also need a good pair of mitts. (Even these won't protect your hands for long, so you'll need a place near the oven to set the pan down.)

Fire starters for $20:If you've ever been intimidated by the idea of cooking with wood, don't be! These fire starters make it quick and simple. Just light the end with a match, drop it in the fuel tray, and line upa few oak stickson top. Be sure to keep your wood dry if you don't want to create a smoke stack in your backyard.

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