Ooni Pizza Ovens: Can they cook the perfect pizza?

Ooni has produced 6 pizza ovens since its inception in 2012. They have earned lots of positive reviews from users with the Ooni Fyra and the Ooni Karu models bagging the highest ratings.  All the models are reasonably priced. The Fyra is the most affordable model (at $349) while the Koda 16 is the most expensive at $799. The Ooni Karu and the Ooni Koda 12 come at $399.

The ovens are available in multiple sizes and heat sources. The Koda 16 and Ooni Pro models are the largest. They share almost the same shell design (except the Ooni 3 and Ooni Pro) and quality of materials (stainless steel shell, ceramic fiber insulation, and cordierite baking stone). They are durable too and have a 3-year warranty upon registering them.

We have tried out these Ooni’s pizza ovens and below are our top pics plus some of their closest competitors you can find on the market.

Ooni Pizza Oven Model Comparison

Best Ooni Pizza Ovens:

Best Features

• Glass door – it comes with a full-glass door that gives you a good view of your pizzas as they cook inside the oven.
• Robust shell – has a carbon steel and stainless steel shell that’s more solid and durable compared to the other Ooni ovens.
• Heats high and fast – it’s able to heat up to 950°F (500°C) within just 20 minutes when using wood or gas
• Better temperature control – provides superb insulation that keeps the heat in and has a simple airflow management system that helps control the heat and keep the temperature consistent
• Fairly large cooking space – 16.7 x 16.7 cooking area that’s sufficient to accommodate up to 16-inch pizzas
• In-built digital thermometer – comes with a digital thermometer that helps measure the ambient air temperature of the oven, a feature not included in the other Ooni ovens.
• Multi-fuel oven – you can use wood, charcoal, or gas to fire it up.

You Should Also Know

• Bulky and heavy – measures 33 x 32 x 20 inches, so it’s pretty large and takes up a good amount of space. It’s also heavy, weighing around 60 pounds. It’s generally not quite portable
• Gas burner not included – the gas burner attachment doesn’t come standard with the unit. You’ll have to purchase it separately for you to use gas as fuel.

Full review of Ooni Karu 16 Pizza Oven

Best Features

• Pre-heats fast: the Fyra heats up to 932°F (500°C) in about 20 minutes. Heat distribution and retention are great – the vent at the back and the chimney drive the heat from the back of the oven to the front. The improved insulation and shell keep more of the heat inside the oven too, plus the backing stone also heats quickly and retains the heat well.
• Speedy cooking time: the cooking time of the Fyra was incredible. It managed to cook pizzas very fast, as promised. It took around 1 to 2 minutes to cook most of the pizzas depending on the crust thickness.
• Yields amazing results: we cooked 7 pizzas and they came out great after two failed trials. The toppings were cooked evenly including moisture-rich veg toppings – the cheese caramelize very well. Thin to medium bases/crusts bake uniformly too, even for pizzas with soggy base or wet dough. They are nicely crispy on the outside and quite chewy on the inside.
• Temperature control is easy: you can control the airflow inside the oven using the chimney and the adjustable vent at the back of the unit. The Ooni Fyra comes too with a door that you use to enclose the opening to help retain the heat inside the oven.
• Fuel-efficient oven: the Fyra doesn’t burn through the wood pellets quickly. You get around 20 minutes of cooking time after each refill which is sufficient to cook at least eight 9-12 inch pizzas.
• Simple to clean: the high temperatures pyrolyze the food bits left inside the oven, so there’s no arduous clean-up after cooking. You simply remove and clean the baking board, and empty the pellet tray and then clean the exterior with warm, soapy water.
• Fairly compact and portable: it’s relatively compact in size (27.17 x 18.9 x 10.24 inches) and lightweight (10kg). Carrying and transporting it isn’t challenging – the legs are foldable, and the chimney and the door are detachable and fit inside the oven.
• Solid build quality: the steel shell with ceramic-fiber insulation is thick and sturdy. It can withstand fair outdoor conditions. The cordierite baking board is thick (0.4 inch) and durable too. The three steel legs are also sturdy and keep the oven stable during use.
• Easy to set up: the set-up process is straightforward. You simply fold down the legs, slide in the baking stone, and screw in the chimney and the hopper. The door also sets into place easily and doesn’t get in the way after it’s opened.

You Should Also Know

• Needs regular refills: the hopper is taller than that of the Ooni 3, nonetheless, you’ll need to top the pellets frequently to keep the temperature steady, especially when making lots of pizzas. We were refilling it after about every 15 to 20 minutes (after making about 6 pizzas).
• Requires constant watch: the oven cooks fast and at very high temperatures. You have to constantly keep an eye on the pizza, otherwise, it can end up completely burnt if left unattended for a few seconds. It has to be turned/rotated every 10 to 15 seconds.
• Turning the pizzas is tricky: the interior space is limited, measuring about 13.7 inches wide. It’s large enough to fit in 12-inch pizzas but turning them while they’re inside was a challenge for us. Most other users faced a similar challenge. You have to remove them outside to turn them or make slightly small pizzas (about 9-inches wide).
• Doesn’t include some useful accessories: you’ll need to separately buy a fire starter, the hardwood pellets, pizza peel, and an infrared thermometer.

Full review of Ooni Fyra Pizza Oven

Best Features

• Multiple fuel options: the Karu can be fuelled by charcoal or real wood chunks (or a combination of both). It’s also gas compatible – you can buy the separate Ooni gas burner attachment and fit it to it to use propane gas fire for faster, cleaner cooking.
• Relatively quick heat-up time: heating the oven takes about 20 minutes or less when using gas or charcoal, and up to 30 minutes when using wood. It’s not the fastest but it’s a decent speed, plus it reaches high temperatures of up to 932°F.
• Superb heat retention: it has had many praises for its heat retention capability. The thick stainless steel body with ceramic fiber insulation and the patented flamekeeper effectively help keep the temperature very hot inside the oven. The door also prevents any heat loss through the opening like in the Ooni Koda.
• Cooks fast: on average, each pizza we cooked took two or three minutes maximum to be ready no matter the kind of fuel we used. It worked even faster when using gas – took about 90 seconds to cook the pizzas.
• Delivers fairly good results: the results were mostly good on all three fuel types, especially with gas and charcoal. The crusts of our pizzas were fully baked and crunchy while the toppings also came out nicely cooked. It also roasted meat and vegetables pretty well – you can use it to cook anything that requires a really hot oven.
• Durable overall construction: the unit is solidly built with a shell consisting of 430-grade stainless steel and reinforced with ceramic fiber insulation. It’s able to resist corrosion caused by rain or sun. The baking board is cordierite material. It’s thicker (15mm) and long-lasting than the ones in other Ooni options.
• Portable and easy to set up: the chimney is removable and the legs foldable, so it’s a bit easier to carry although you may find it slightly heavy (it weighs 27 pounds). Assembling it is simple too. It’s only the chimney that you need to attach at the top of the oven.

You Should Also Know

• Requires a slight learning curve: using the Karu, especially wood as fuel is a bit tricky at first, particularly maintaining a steady temperature. You also have to keep an eye on the pizza constantly so that you can rotate it at the right time.
• Needs a few extra accessories: like the Ooni Fyra, you’ll need a pizza peel and an infrared thermometer since they are not provided. The gas burner attachment is also sold separately which adds to the overall cost of the unit.

Best Features

• Ready to use in seconds. You simply have to flip the foldable legs of the oven, insert the pizza stone, and connect to a gas tank.
• Use and move with ease. The Koda is also lightweight and small. It weighs 9.25 kgs (20.4lb) and its measures are 62 x 40 x 18cm (24.4 x 15.7 x 7.1”), which makes it easy to move around. This model does not have a chimney, so it’s the smallest of Ooni ovens.
• Large stone. With its cordierite stone of 13 ¼ inches wide, you can cook pizzas up to 12’’ wide.
• Easy maintenance. There are many positive reviews about how cooking with gas leaves minimal smoke and there is no fuss in keeping it clean.
• Adjustable heat control dial. Its usage is very simple since you can use the heat control dial to cook pizza in less than a minute. Also, users have stated that they tried roasted fish, vegetables, and steaks; all with great results.

You Should Also Know

• The stone is not the thickest. A few reviews remarked that the stone could be thicker. For example; the Koda 16 has a 15mm baking board, while this model board is 10mm.
• It is not compatible with natural gas. Unlike the Koda 16, this model only runs on propane gas. It is compatible with large propane tanks as well as 1-pound tanks with the help of a separate gas adapter.

Full review of Ooni Koda Pizza Oven

Best Features

• 16-inch pizzas. As its name indicates, the Ooni Koda 16 has a cooking surface of 16-inches to fit large 16’’ pizzas, which makes it perfect for a pizza party.
• Stylish design. Buyers have remarked its sleek silver finish along with hints of black on the pizza oven, which gives it an elegant and fancy appearance.
• Heat retaining capability. Ooni Koda 16 has a fiber-insulated interior that makes it retain heat inside the oven in a greater way – It has been insulated around the shell with 20 mm of ceramic.
• Move it easily. The oven weighs 40.1lb (18.2 kg) and while it is a more spacious model, you could expect it to be heavier, but it is not. It is still a portable oven and you can move it around with little effort.
• Compatible with propane and natural gas. It is compatible with both propane and natural gas, using the Ooni natural gas conversion kit. However, for the natural gas conversion kit, you will have to wait for a little because it is not for sale yet, but it will be very soon. Nevertheless, it will be sold separately, so it doesn’t have to affect the purchase of your Koda 16 at the present being.
• L-shape flames. Customers are pleased with the L-shape flame emission technology because it makes sure that such a big oven heats up evenly and quickly. It consists of an L-shape burner that cooks pizzas in also 60 seconds, without the need to turn them around every now and then; if there was only a single, rear burner, the pizza would not cook evenly in this large model.

You Should Also Know

• It is pricey. Koda 16 includes new features that make it more expensive than the models described above – it is not affordable for everybody.

Best Features

• Versatile. You can use the spacious cooking surface to accommodate many types of food, besides pizza. Users have also cooked roast meats, bread, roasted vegetables, and casseroles; all positive feedback.
• Four types of fuel. You can cook your pizzas with wood and/or charcoal, and convert to pellets or gas using the Pellet Burner for Ooni Pro or Gas Burner for Ooni Pro.
• High heats. The insulated steel body and stone baking board mean optimum heat retention. It is ready to cook in 20 minutes.
• Portable. Ooni Pro weighs 48.5lb (22kg) and it is 13 x 19.29 x 31.1’’ (740 x 490 x 790 mm) in size; these measures make it transportable to places beyond your backyard, with ease.
• Pizza size. With a cooking surface of 17.7 x 17.7″, you can easily fit your 16’’ pizzas.

You Should Also Know

• It can lose some heat. Some negative reviews remark that the design of this oven makes it difficult to reach and maintain top temperatures.
• The gas attachment is not included. A few users pointed out that given the price of the product, it should come with the gas attachment for free.
• It has a learning curve. This is the model that most buyers found difficult to learn how to use.

Full review of Ooni Pro Pizza Oven

Compared to other pizza oven brands

Gozney Roccbox Pizza Oven

Upsides

The price of the Gozney Roccbox pizza oven is a little steep compared to Ooni’s pizza ovens and it only comes in one model, unlike the five separate models of Ooni. That said though, it has distinct styling and its overall build quality is very solid, almost restaurant grade.

It’s made from more durable materials. The body is an insulating calcium silicate and it stands out most due to its silicone exterior. It’s a commercial-grade silicone that keeps the outside cool and safe to touch which is a feature that lacks in both Ooni Fyra and Ooni Karu models, as well as all the other Ooni pizza ovens.

Besides the effective insulation, the Gozney Roccbox pizza oven is hotter than the Ooni ovens. They heat up to 932°F while the Roccbox reaches up to 950°F. It as well comes up to temperature fast – in about 10 minutes, not 20 minutes like most of the Ooni ovens.

The other outstanding feature is the built-in thermometer. Unlike Ooni ovens (except the Ooni Pro), the Roccbox comes with a side-mounted thermometer as a standard feature – you don’t need to invest in a separate thermometer to check the internal temp.

You only have two fuel options (gas and wood) but the gas burner comes as standard unlike in the Ooni Karu where it’s sold separately. The gas burner is detachable too. An optional wood burner is provided if you prefer to use wood.

The whole unit is relatively compact. It doesn’t have a tall chimney compared to Ooni pizzas and its tripod legs fold up underneath it. The burner is also detachable, so it’s quite transportable.

Downsides

The Roccobox comes only in one model, so you have limited options compared to the five different models that Ooni offers. It’s just one size that limits you to cooking only 11-inch pizzas. 

The roof of the dome inside is also not that high and the opening is smaller than some of the Ooni models hence turning the pizzas is tricky. Another downside is that the unit weighs over 40 pounds (over 20kg) so it’s heavy and not easy to carry if you plan to move it around often.

Bertello Pizza Oven

Upsides

Bertello is a fairly affordable model (comes at around $300) compared to most of the Ooni pizza ovens and the Roccobox. The company started in 2017 and it has some name recognition from Kickstarter and Shark Tank.

It’s a small and portable pizza oven that can easily be moved around, but it doesn’t offer much in terms of defining features that may make it really stand out from the crowd.

The only impressive thing is that it’s very versatile in terms of fuel options. Like the Ooni Pro, it’s compatible with four different fuel types – you can use gas, wood pellets, charcoal, or wood chunks as a heat source.

Each oven includes a tray for the charcoal, pellets, or wood chunks. The gas burner attachment is purchased separately. They heat fairly fast and get up to 930°F much like the Ooni ovens. The cook time is relatively fast too – you can cook a pizza in under 2½ minutes.  

The overall design is basic but decent and the units feel solid enough to withstand outdoor conditions for long as most of the users mentioned.

Downsides

The size is a bit small – you can only cook 10 to 11-inch pizzas. The biggest problem, however, is launching and turning the pizzas once inside. The Opening is too small and the roof of the dome is also too close to the stone. 

People struggled too with burning the pizzas in the oven. Heat is not evenly distributed inside it and the small opening doesn’t provide much of a view while the pizza is inside, so the side nearest to the fire often ends up burning due to late turning and the high heat at the back.

Generally, the Bertello is a basic outdoor pizza oven with its biggest benefit being the affordable price and multi-fuel options. It’s a decent mid-range oven if you are a novice looking to cook small Neapolitan pizza at home.

Camp Chef Italia Artisan Pizza Oven

Upsides

The Camp Chef is a more robust pizza oven than the other options in this post and it comes at a slightly high price (around $399) much like the Roccobox pizza oven.

It’s a modernized oven with a stainless steel exterior finishing for easy cleaning. It’s very sturdy and durable consisting of a double-layered ceiling made of stainless steel. It won’t rust quickly and its short legs help keep it stable while in use.

The first thing that makes it stand out is that it’s only propane-powered like Ooni’s Koda 12 and Koda 16 models. It doesn’t support charcoal, pellets, or wood burner attachments.

It preheats quickly (less than 15 minutes) but reaches only slightly over 700°F which isn’t as high as the other options. Nonetheless, it’s hot enough to cook pizzas but again, it takes longer to cook them. It can take 8 minutes or less on average for the pizza to cook properly.

The results are, however, pretty good as most indicated. The heat is well-distributed and the double-layered ceiling retains the heat very well cooking the top of the pizzas and the crust properly – the crust browns nicely instead of burning. The unit also has a ventilated door that can help keep the heat inside or ventilate the oven if it gets too hot.

The other advantage of the Camp Chef pizza oven is its wide interior diameter and cordierite baking stone (measures 13.25 inches wide). You can cook pizzas that are up to 13 inches wide inside the oven or two small pizzas.

The unit also features a built-in ignition valve which allows you to light it easily and it even has a micro-adjust valve at the front that lets you turn the heat down or up to find the ideal temperature which is something that isn’t always easy when using the Ooni Fyra or Ooni Karu models.

 In addition to that, it has a built-in temperature gauge, yet another useful feature that lacks in the two Ooni pizza ovens above and other of its models except for the Pro.

Downsides

The major downside is that the temperature is not very high like the other pizza ovens. The other one is that the ceiling is lower similar to the Bertello oven, hence turning the pizza, especially at the right time is tricky and may take some learning curve to get it right.

Finally, the Camp Chef Italia Artisan is slightly wider (measures 30 x 19.5 x 18 inches) than the Roccobox, Bertello, and most of Ooni’s pizza ovens (except the Pro and Koda 16). It’s heavy too, weighing close to 50 pounds, so it’s the least portable option in comparison to the rest.