They’re two of the biggest names when it comes to pizza ovens, but which model should you choose? We’ve looked at everything to help you decide whether an Ooni or Gozney pizza oven is right for your garden
Our experts have tested the following pizza ovens — Ooni Karu 16, Ooni Koda 16, Ooni Koda 12, Ooni Volt 12, Gozney Dome, Gozney Roccbox. For more information our friends at BBC Good Food have a guide to the best pizza ovens.
When cooking pizzas at home, it can be difficult to gain restaurant-level quality without a pizza oven. Pizza ovens are designed to reach the high temperatures needed to achieve the classic mottled, leopard-spotted crust and bubbling toppings, with domestic models now able to reach over 400C – much higher than your standard kitchen oven.
Ooni and Gozney are two of the biggest names in the world of pizza ovens. Both brands can be credited with the rise in popularity of at-home pizza-making in recent years. The trend gained popularity in 2020, likely due to lockdown, but is showing no sign of slowing down with pizza parties taking over from summer barbecues.
If you can’t decide between the different styles of the two brands, it can be hard to know which would better suit your needs — both have models at a variety of price points and all the models we’ve tested have been high quality.
Our experts have tested a range of Ooni and Gozney pizza ovens using olive recipes. Read on to find the right pizza oven for you.
Jump to:
- Gozney vs Ooni pizza ovens: main differences at a glance
- Gozney vs Ooni pizza ovens compared
- Gozney pizza oven models
- Ooni pizza oven models
- Gozney Dome vs Ooni Karu 16
- Gozney Roccbox vs Ooni Koda 12
Gozney vs Ooni pizza ovens: main differences at a glance
Gozney
Tom Gozney first launched the pizza oven company in his own name in 2010. After starting with building a pizza oven in his own back garden, Gozney now makes pizza ovens for both commercial kitchens and for homes.
The two main domestic models of Gozney pizza ovens available in the UK are the Dome and Roccbox. The Dome is a large, professional-scale pizza oven which isn’t portable, and sold out in under eight hours when it first launched.
The Roccbox is Gozney’s answer to the portable pizza oven, with high quality design. The model is multi-fuel so you can use either wood or gas.
Ooni
Ooni was launched in 2012 when husband-and-wife team Kristian Tapaninaho and Darina Garland found that their domestic oven wasn’t hot enough to keep up with their hobby of pizza-making.
Noticing a gap in the market, the company launched the first portable pizza oven of its kind which could be used in a domestic setting to reach temperatures of over 400C. Since the original launch Ooni has made a number of different models, including gas-powered or multi-fuel options where you can use wood, charcoal or gas.
Gozney vs Ooni pizza ovens compared
We tested the pizza ovens for the following criteria:
- Packaging and sustainability
- Overall quality of materials
- Value for money
- Ease of use and cleaning
- Versatility
- Results of cooking
There are also a number of other factors to consider when deciding which pizza oven might be right for you.
Size: Depending on the outdoor space or garden you have, size is important to consider when purchasing a pizza oven. Some come with stands or have stands which you can buy as an accessory, while others will need a sturdy table to rest on. You don’t have to have a large garden to have a pizza oven — some are compact enough that a well-ventilated balcony will suffice. There are also models, like the Ooni Volt 12, that can be used indoors – although it’s worth noting that we found this model needed a lot of ventilation to avoid the smoke detectors being set off.
Weight: Weight is an important factor to consider if you’re interested in a portable pizza oven (like the Gozney Roccbox or one of the Ooni models). Depending on where you’re planning to take your pizza oven you might have to carry it for considerable distances, for example if you’re heading to the beach.
Fuel type: Some pizza ovens run off gas and need to be connected to a canister, like the Koda 16 and Koda 12 from Ooni. Others are wood-fired which bring an authentic flavour to the pizzas such as the new Ooni Fyra 12 which uses wood pellets or the Gozney Dome which uses logs or kindling. Indoor pizza ovens, like the Volt 12 from Ooni, are electric and will need to be plugged in. There are also multi-fuel options which offer maximum versatility and can be used with gas or wood to achieve the cooking result you want.
Price: Pizza ovens are complicated pieces of kit requiring a lot of different parts, and for the most part their prices reflect that. The most affordable option from Ooni is £314, with the Volt 12 being the most expensive model at £799. For Gozney, the least expensive option is the Roccbox at £399, while the Dome is a much more premium option and will set you back £1,799. It’s also important to consider that there are some accessories you often you need to buy separately from the original machine.
Aesthetic: Both brands make sleek, stylish pizza ovens. It’s important to buy a cover if you’re planning to leave your pizza oven outside for extended periods of time, and many of the portable models will benefit from being brought under cover for the colder months. The Gozney Dome has a fairly different aesthetic from the other Gozney and Ooni models. It comes in a choice of cream or green, with an attractive storage section to keep kindling and small logs.
Pizza size: The size of the pizza stone inside the oven will determine the size of pizzas you’re able to cook. Some are large enough that you might be able to cook two small pizzas at once, while others will have enough height that you can use your oven to cook other things, for example to roast a spatchcock chicken. The ovens with the largest pizza stones are the Karu 16 from Ooni and the Gozney Dome.
Gozney pizza oven models
Gozney is well known for its premium quality pizza ovens. There are technically four models domestically available, the Roccbox, Dome, Master and Core. However, as both the Master and Core are only available by request and need to be built into a garden – we haven’t tested them or included them here.
Gozney Roccbox
The Roccbox is Gozney’s domestic sibling to its professional pizza ovens used in the hospitality industry. The portable model boasts the high quality build that you would hope for from a machine costing nearly £400. Every element feels thoughtfully constructed, with the elegant machine being easy to assemble right out of the box.
It has dual-fuel capacity, and when we tested it using gas it heated up in a quick 20 minutes and was ready to use. Even if you’re not a well-practised dough slinger you’ll likely be able to produce a professional quality pizza with the Roccbox. It comes with a pizza paddle which is essential for inserting and removing things from the oven safely.
This oven only has room for a single pizza, but we found that every time they were cooked to perfection in under two minutes, so you can do a quick turnaround if catering for a crowd. If you’re planning on using the oven regularly we’d recommend buying the protective cover so you can leave it outside all summer long.
Buy the Roccbox for £399 at Gozney
Gozney Dome
The Gozney Dome is the feather in the cap of Gozney’s range of pizza ovens. When it first went on sale it sold out in under eight hours and, despite other models being released since, its popularity has hardly waned. There’s no getting around the fact that this is a big investment, especially compared to other models covered here. But for your £1,799, you essentially get a professional-grade pizza oven in miniature, with dual-fuel options and immense cooking precision thanks to internal thermometers.
It might be professional grade, but we found you don’t need professional-grade pizza skills to make use of the Gozney Dome. The wide mouth means you aren’t hampered by the precision which is needed with many domestic ovens — on test we found it really easy to get pizzas in and out. There is room for two small pizzas, although we found that since they cook speedily in under two minutes it’s easier to cook one at a time and devote your attention to the single pizza.
We also really like the versatility of this pizza oven. The size meant we were able to cook a rib of beef and some whole charred aubergines, both of which came out well. It would also be able to fit a whole roasted fish or spatchcocked chicken, plus you can buy the specially designed rope sealed door which turns the Dome into a bread oven and slow roaster. If you’re looking for inspiration, check out the guide to what you can cook in your pizza oven from our friends at bbcgoodfood.com.
Buy the Gozney Dome for £1,799 at Gozney
Ooni pizza oven models
Ooni now has seven pizza ovens in its range. Most of the ovens have the same powder-coated steel with three metal legs which fold out from the base. The exception to this is the Volt 12 which sits directly on your table or surface. Any Ooni ovens which are multi-fuel or are purely wood-fired have the eye-catching steel chimney.
There’s also a wide range of Ooni pizza oven accessories available depending on how prepared you want to be as a pizza chef. This includes the paddle which you’ll need, but you can also buy fuel, cooking tools, thermometers and more.
Ooni Karu 16 multi-fuel pizza oven
This pizza oven was released in 2022 and has an impressive versatility with the ability to cook using wood, charcoal or gas. It is larger than many other Ooni ovens with the ability to fit a 16” pizza. On test, we were impressed by how easy it was to assemble and operate and we liked that the glass door meant we could check on how the pizza was cooking without losing heat by opening the door.
A great option if you’re cooking for a crowd, we found the Karu 16 was extremely quick cooking our pizza in under a minute. We enjoyed the pizza which had a fluffy crust with the tell-tale charred spots you can only achieve in a pizza oven.
Buy the Ooni Karu 16 for £699 at Ooni
Ooni Karu 12 multi-fuel pizza oven
The Karu 12 is the same model as the Karu 16, but more compact with room for a 12” pizza. This not only means it’s convenient to store when not being used, but it could also be a good option if you’ve got limited outdoor space but still want to cook your own pizzas. Just make sure that any outdoor space where you’re cooking is well ventilated.
Unlike the Karu 16, this pizza oven doesn’t have a door, but rather just an opening where you can move pizzas in and out.
Buy the Ooni Karu 12 for £299 at Ooni
Ooni Karu 12G multi-fuel pizza oven
The Karu 12G is an upgraded model of the Ooni Karu 12. There are a few differences between the two, with the Karu 12G being slightly larger and heavier than the older model. Ooni defines the main difference between the two as energy efficiency — the new model requires 1.1kg of fuel to cook 10 pizzas, while the original Karu 12 needs 1.5kg to cook the same number.
Buy the Ooni Karu 12G for £379 at Lakeland
Ooni Koda 16 gas-fuelled pizza oven
The Koda 16 is a gas-fuelled pizza oven which means it doesn’t have the distinctive chimney featured on the multi-fuel and wood fired models. This results in a much sleeker look, which makes it an elegant and understated addition to a garden.
Weighing 18.2kg the machine will take some effort to move around. Once you have it in place, the pizza oven uses an L-shaped flame to ensure even cooking, but be aware that when we tested other Ooni models with this same flame technology we found the pizza burnt very easily so it’s best to keep an eye while you’re cooking and turn the pizza as often as necessary.
Buy the Ooni Koda 16 for £499 at Ooni
Ooni Koda 12 gas-fuelled pizza oven
When we tested the Koda 12 we found it impressive and easy to set up. The oven is modest and compact, with room to cook a 12” pizza, and was lightweight enough for us to move it with ease.
While Ooni claims this oven can cook a pizza in 60 seconds, we found a better technique was to cook for slightly longer with the stone at the lower temperature of 450C which allowed us to have more control of the evenness of the cooking.
Because of the compact nature of this model, the opening of the pizza oven is quite tight, and we found that it required a bit of practice along with a deft flick of the wrist to accurately launch our pizzas. Overall this is an accomplished pizza oven and would make a great addition to your garden especially if you’re limited on space.
Buy the Ooni Koda 12 for £349 at Ooni
Ooni Volt 12 electric pizza oven
The first of its kind, the Volt 12 uses electricity rather than wood or gas to reach an internal temperature of 450C and is suitable for indoor use. So if it’s not quite the sunny summer’s day you were hoping for, or if you’d rather avoid the potential mess and expense of wood-fired and gas-fuelled options, this is the pizza oven for you.
The design of the oven is modern and sturdy with a matte shell, tempered glass door and intuitive controls. It is fairly bulky and won’t sit on most standard kitchen countertops, so you will need a designated space with a safe perimeter around the oven.
We were very impressed by the speed of this pizza oven when we tested it. Once it was up to temperature our pizzas consistently cooked in 2 minutes 30 seconds, with an impressively puffed up crust and deliciously crispy toppings.
Buy the Ooni Volt 12 for £799 at Ooni
Ooni Fyra 12
This is the latest offering from Ooni, using wood pellets to get all the flavours of a wood-fired pizza but with low maintenance. It’s most similar in look to the Karu 12 multi-fuel oven, except it has a second chimney at the back of the oven to insert the wood pellets.
The wood pellets are designed to burn more evenly than logs, which should mean that pizzas cook at a more consistent heat than in a traditional wood-fired oven. You can buy the pellets directly from Ooni but they are an additional cost to the oven.
The oven can reach temperatures of 500C and will take at least 15 minutes to heat.
Buy the Ooni Fyra 12 for £299 at Ooni
Gozney Dome vs Ooni Karu 16
When comparing the two most premium models from each brand, there are some key differences. We really liked both of these pizza ovens when we tested them, in fact they both scored an impressive 4.5/5 stars.
The first difference is a financial one — the Gozney Dome costs over £1,000 more than the Ooni Karu 16. While there are different and arguably more advanced functions available from Gozney’s model, this is no small amount of money and an important factor to take into account.
In terms of size, there isn’t that much between them, although the Karu 16 has folding legs while the Dome needs to sit on a stable surface or a stand. There is a big difference however in weight — at 58kg the Dome weighs nearly double the Karu 16 and will certainly need two people to lift and move it safely.
The primary difference to consider when choosing between these two pizza ovens is function — what will you be using your pizza oven for? Both ovens produce a restaurant-quality, delicious pizza. But if you’re after a greater level of versatility, the Dome comes with an internal thermometer plus two meat thermometers so you can test joints of meat, fish and poultry to make sure they’re perfectly cooked.
Buy the Gozney Dome for £1,799 at Gozney
Buy the Ooni Karu 16 for £699 at Ooni
Gozney Roccbox vs Ooni Koda 12
If you’re in the market for a portable pizza oven, the Gozney Roccbox and Ooni Koda 12 are both great options, gaining 4/5 and 4.5/5 on test respectively by our experts. These two models share a lot of similarities, but there are some key differences which might help you to decide which is right for you.
The first difference is financial — the Gozney Roccbox is the pricier of the two at £399, while the Ooni Koda 12 is £50 less at £349. However, if you keep an eye out you might be able to find a good deal: for example the Ooni Koda 12 is currently £299 at Cuckooland. If you’re interested in deals, our friends at bbcgoodfood.com have a guide to the best pizza oven deals.
The main difference between these two pizza ovens is the fuel type. While the Ooni Koda 12 uses gas, the Gozney Roccbox has the capability to be used with gas or wood fuel. There are pluses and minuses to each fuel method, so it really depends on what’s right for you. If you’re looking for ease and consistency, if you plan on making pizzas with kids or with a large group, gas can be really useful. It means the oven is quick to heat up and you can use a dial to control the flame level, thus ensuring a more even cook on your pizzas. The dual-fuel capacity of the Roccbox means you can use wood fuel which imparts the classic taste associated with traditional pizza ovens.
A dual oven doesn’t let you use multiple fuel types simultaneously, but it means you can adapt the oven for different situations. It’s also worth remembering that you’ll need to buy gas canisters or wooden fuel separately to your pizza oven, which will contribute to the overall cost.
Buy the Roccbox for £399 at Gozney
Buy the Ooni Koda 12 for £349 at Ooni