Which Ooni pizza oven is best for you?

Ooni makes some of the best pizza ovens, but with seven models to choose from (and soon to be eight) — which Ooni oven makes the most sense for your budget and pizza-making needs?

Below, we’re going to take a look at every one of Ooni’s pizza ovens, examining their features, size, fuel and price. We’ll see what they’re best at, and who they’re best for, to help you make a more informed decision when it comes to buying a pizza oven.

All of the ovens share a few commonalities. Each can reach temperatures of up to 950 degrees Fahrenheit, are ready to start cooking in about 15-20 minutes, and are supported in the air by a collapsible stand. However, there are differences in the size of the oven, which determines how big of a pizza (or other food) you can cook, as well as the type of fuel they use.  

The quick list

The best Ooni pizza ovens

Best overall

The Ooni Karu 16 is the company’s top-of-the-line model, offering the greatest number of features, but also coming with the highest price tag. The Karu 16 costs $799, but you’ll have to tack on another $99 if you want to use it with propane or natural gas. Otherwise, you can use wood chunks or charcoal, which some (like me) would argue delivers a better-tasting pie, even if it’s a bit more work on your end. 

Not only does the Karu 16 have the largest cooking area, but it also has the tallest opening of any of Ooni’s ovens, allowing you to make a wider variety of things, such as loaves of bread or even a chicken. I also love the Karu 16’s glass door, which lets you easily look into the oven to see how well it’s cooking, without you losing all the heat.

The Karu 16 is the sole model in Ooni’s lineup with a built-in thermometer. While I advise that anyone who is serious about making pizzas invest in a laser thermometer, it’s a nice addition. Aside from its price, the only other drawback to the Karu 16 is its size and weight. At 62 pounds, it’s not an oven you’ll want to carry around. But once you start making pizzas in the Karu 16, everyone is going to come to you. 

Read our full Ooni Karu 16 review.

Best budget

At $349, the Fyra 12 is Ooni’s least expensive pizza oven, and one of its smallest and lightest models, too. The Fyra 12 uses wood pellets as a fuel source — a 20-pound bag of pellets, which will last you a long time, costs around $15 at any home improvement or hardware store. The pellets are fed through a tube at the rear of the oven, which you need to refill every 10-15 minutes or so while you’re making pizzas. It’s also a little more difficult to control the temperature of the Fyra 12 than with Ooni’s gas-powered ovens.

Despite its size, I was able to get the Ooni Fyra 12 up past 900 degrees Fahrenheit in my tests, which means I was able to cook pizzas in as little as 90 seconds. However, it has a narrower opening than the Ooni Koda 12 and 16, so you won’t be able to make anything taller than a calzone in the oven. And, the Fyra’s 12-inch opening means you can’t make as large of a pizza as with some of Ooni’s other offerings. But, it makes pizzas so quickly, that might not be a problem. Because of its relatively low price, the Fyra 12 also makes a great gift for someone — which is how I received mine. 

Read our full Ooni Fyra 12 review.

Best for beginners

The Ooni Koda 12 is essentially a propane-powered version of the Fyra 12, which makes it well suited for those who are on a budget and don’t want to bother with feeding wood pellets into the back of an oven. Because it uses gas, it’s a lot easier to control the temperature of the Koda 12 than the Fyra. However, you do have to lug around a propane canister in addition to the oven itself. As its name suggests, the Koda 12 can make pizzas up to 12 inches in size, much like the Fyra 12 and the Karu 12. And, because its opening isn’t as tall as other models, you’re limited to cooking things that aren’t as high. 

But, its ease of setup and use may make it the best model for those new to making pizzas on their own. At $399, it’s $50 more than the Fyra 12, but the extra price could be worth the added convenience, especially for those who have never made their own pizzas before.

Best for large pies

Uniquely among Ooni’s ovens, the Ooni Koda 16 has an L-shaped burner, so it can more evenly cook your pizzas without you having to turn them as much. The Koda 16 is one of two Ooni ovens that can use natural gas (with a conversion kit), so it could be incorporated more easily into your outdoor kitchen if you have a gas line. 

Also, the Koda 16’s opening height of 4.37 inches is taller than all but the Ooni Karu 16, so it could be easier to bake taller items, such as loaves of bread. However, all this comes at a cost: at $599, the Koda 16 is the second-most expensive and second-heaviest Ooni pizza oven. And, it can't run on wood or charcoal, for those who are looking for that taste in their pizzas; for that, you'll want to step up to the Karu 16.

Read our full Ooni Koda 16 review.

Best budget wood-fired pizza oven

The Ooni Karu 12 is the company’s least-expensive model that lets you use either wood or charcoal (in addition to propane) to cook your pies. Propane is convenient, but there’s something to be said for the flavor that comes with cooking with wood and charcoal. However, if you want to use propane, you’ll have to purchase an adapter separately for $99. 

The Karu 12 can only make pies that are about 12 inches in size, and though its opening is 3.89 inches tall, it’s still smaller than the Koda 16 and Karu 16 (4.37 and 5.7 inches, respectively.) But, if you want to cook using wood or charcoal, this is your least expensive option. Like the more expensive Karu 16 and Koda 16, the Karu 12’s pizza stone is also 0.6 inches thick, which means it will retain its heat better than the Koda 12 and Fyra 12 — so you’ll have less time to wait between pies. As a bonus, it’s also one of Ooni’s lighter ovens, which makes it more portable than other models.

The Ooni Karu 12G is essentially a scaled-down version of the Karu 16. It has a fold-down glass door so you can see what's cooking, a built-in thermometer (on the right side here, which isn't as easy to read), and it works with wood, charcoal, and propane, if you purchase the gas adapter.

The Karu 12G starts at $429, making it about twice as expensive as the Karu 12, but about $300 less than the Karu 16. The size of the Karu 12G's opening is 3.86 inches, which is a hair smaller than the Karu 12. 

Best for indoor pizza making

Ooni's first indoor pizza oven, the Ooni Volt 12 uses electricity, rather than wood, charcoal, or gas to cook your pies. It has a flip-down door with a glass front, so you can watch your pizza as it's cooking. 

Three dials on the front of the Volt 12 let you manually adjust the oven's temperature (up to 850 degrees F) and control both the upper and lower heating elements. 

While Ooni says the Volt 12 can only reach temperatures of around 850 degrees — about 100 degrees lower than its outdoor ovens — it says that the Volt 12 can cook a pizza in as little as 90 seconds, which is on a par with the rest of the company's models.

Read our Ooni Volt 12 hands-on.

Ooni Pizza ovens compared