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Published August 2, 2026. Updated October 10, 2026.
Each home espresso machine in this comparison advertises a 15-bar pump. Espresso is pulled at about 9. Breville prints “9 bar extraction” on the same page as its “15 bar Italian pump”, and Gaggia prints “OPV Calibration 9 Bar” in the same spec block as its “15 Bar Italian-made Ulka Pump”. De’Longhi’s US page for the Dedica DeLuxe EC685M prints 15 bar and nothing else. The tally, on six weighted axes: Gaggia Classic Pro E24 at $549.00 takes it with 68.2 out of 100, the Breville Bambino Plus at $499.95 is 2.0 points behind at 66.2, and the Dedica DeLuxe EC685M at $279.95 finishes last at 41.0 while costing $269.05 less than the winner.
Two points is not a result. There is a tie-breaker below.
I’ve spent years making espresso at home, and the number on the box has never been the one that mattered. The basket size and the steam wand have been.
Which home espresso machine makers print the 9-bar number?
Six claims, each checked against the page that makes it. All three product pages were read on 31 August 2026.
Do the home espresso machine pressure and portafilter claims hold up?
| Claim | What the maker’s own page says | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| 15 bar of pump pressure. | True on all three, and it is the pump’s ceiling rather than the pressure at the coffee. Breville’s page carries “15 bar Italian pump” and “9 bar extraction”. Gaggia’s spec block carries “15 Bar Italian-made Ulka Pump” and, two lines down, “OPV Calibration 9 Bar”. De’Longhi’s US page for the EC685M carries “15 bar” and no second figure. | Accurate everywhere, and only two of the three tell you what it means. |
| Portafilter size is a spec you can compare. | Gaggia publishes “58mm stainless steel”. Breville publishes “54mm stainless steel portafilter”. De’Longhi publishes no diameter anywhere on its own US product page. Sellers of aftermarket bottomless portafilters describe the EC680 and EC685 as 51 mm, which is their figure and not De’Longhi’s. | Two of three publish it. The third leaves it to the aftermarket. |
Do the name, warranty and heat claims hold up?
| Claim | What the maker’s own page says | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| The machine is called the Gaggia Classic Pro. | Gaggia North America sells the “Gaggia Classic Pro E24” at $549.00 in stainless steel and $599.00 in eight colours: Cherry Red, Classic Blue, Thunder Black, Polar White, Industrial Gray, Lobster Red, Jungle Green and Sunshine Yellow. | A generation behind, and paint costs $50. |
| The machine is called the De’Longhi Dedica. | Dedica is a family, not a machine. De’Longhi’s US site sells the “Dedica DeLuxe EC685M” at $279.95. | Under-specified. Ask for the model number. |
| De’Longhi backs it for three years. | A banner on the same product page reads “Industry Leading 3 Year Warranty Included”. The specification block on that page reads “Full manufacturer’s warranty. Warranties vary according to the product.” | The page disagrees with itself. It is still the only warranty term any of the three publishes. |
| The Gaggia holds more heat. | Gaggia publishes the numbers to check it: a single-boiler, dual-use lead-free brass boiler of 3.5 oz, a 1370-watt boiler element inside a 1425-watt machine, and a 72-oz tank. Breville publishes “ready to start in 3 seconds” and “266°F steam” and no wattage or tank figure. De’Longhi publishes “Thermoblock” and an “Easy-to-use Premium Adjustable Frothing Wand” and no figure at all. | Supported, and it is the only one of the three you can audit. |
Note what the pressure row does not say. Not one of these three companies is caught lying. The 15 is real, the pump does make it, and an over-pressure valve bleeds it down to roughly 9 before the water reaches the coffee. The difference between these three companies is whether they tell you that on the page where they take your money, and two of them do.
How do these home espresso machines score on six axes?
How do the portafilter, price and pressure axes score?
| Axis and why it carries this weight | Points | Gaggia Classic Pro E24 | Breville Bambino Plus | De’Longhi Dedica DeLuxe EC685M |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portafilter standard. Heaviest, because it is the one thing on this list you can never change afterwards and it decides which baskets, tampers and distributors will fit for as long as you own the machine. | 25 | 58 mm, the size shared with commercial machines. 25.0 | 54 mm, Breville’s own size, supplied by Breville. 15.0 | No diameter published by De’Longhi. 5.0 |
| List price on the maker’s own page. Second heaviest, and scored as the cheapest list price divided by this machine’s list price, because the spread here is nearly two to one. | 20 | $549.00. 279.95 ÷ 549.00 × 20. 10.2 | $499.95. 279.95 ÷ 499.95 × 20. 11.2 | $279.95, the cheapest here. 20.0 |
| The pressure the shot is pulled at, published. Weighted at 15 because it is the difference between a spec and a sales figure. | 15 | “OPV Calibration 9 Bar”. 15.0 | “9 bar extraction”. 15.0 | Not published. 0.0 |
How do the warranty, thermal and naming axes score?
| Axis and why it carries this weight | Points | Gaggia Classic Pro E24 | Breville Bambino Plus | De’Longhi Dedica DeLuxe EC685M |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A published warranty term. Weighted at 15 because an espresso machine is a pressure vessel with a pump in it and things go wrong. | 15 | No term in the spec block. 0.0 | No term on the product page. 0.0 | “Industry Leading 3 Year Warranty Included” in a banner, undercut by “Warranties vary according to the product” on the same page. 9.0 |
| A published thermal or steam figure. Weighted at 15 because steaming is the job most home machines are bought for and most makers describe it with adjectives. | 15 | 3.5-oz lead-free brass boiler, 1370-watt element, 1425 watts total, 72-oz tank. 12.0 | “ready to start in 3 seconds” and “266°F steam”. 15.0 | “Thermoblock” and an adjustable frothing wand. No number. 3.0 |
| Sold under its original product name. Lightest, because a renamed machine is a nuisance rather than a fault. | 10 | Sold as the Classic Pro E24. 6.0 | Sold as the Bambino Plus, exactly. 10.0 | Sold as the Dedica DeLuxe EC685M against a bare “Dedica”. 4.0 |
| Tally (all six axes) | 100 | 68.2 | 66.2 | 41.0 |
How does the home espresso machine ranking change?
Move one weight and the top two swap. Take five points off the portafilter axis and give them to the thermal axis, scaling each score in proportion, and Breville leads by one point. Raise the portafilter axis instead and Gaggia’s lead only grows. The 25 points sitting on 58 millimetres are the single most arguable judgement on this page, so here is the defence. Every other axis measures what a company chose to print this month, and that can change next month. The portafilter cannot.
The De’Longhi’s 41.0 is not a hidden fault. It is the price axis carrying the machine almost by itself, and it does carry it: 20 of its 41 points come from being $269.05 cheaper than the winner.
Which home espresso machine should you buy?
68.2 against 66.2 is a rounding error wearing a rosette. Anyone who weights steaming convenience above accessory compatibility gets the opposite answer, and they are not wrong.
My own money goes on the Gaggia Classic Pro E24, for one reason that is not on the ledger. 58 millimetres is the size the rest of the espresso world uses, and the first thing most people want after six months is a better basket. On the Breville that is a Breville purchase. On the Gaggia it is a purchase from anyone. Fifty dollars separates the two machines and one of them keeps the door open.
Gaggia Classic Pro E24: the one that publishes its own boiler
68.2. The Gaggia Classic Pro E24 wins the heaviest axis outright on 58 millimetres, publishes the 9-bar OPV calibration, and is the only one of the three that gives you a boiler capacity, a boiler wattage, a total wattage and a tank size to check. It weighs 19 pounds and measures 14.2 by 8 by 9.5 inches, with a filter basket rated 7 to 18 grams. Stainless is $549.00 and every colour is $599.00, which is $50 for paint on an identical machine.
Skip this if you want the machine to steam the milk for you. Gaggia publishes no automated milk routine and no heat-up time, and 19 pounds on a 14-inch-tall body is not a thing you slide into a cupboard between drinks. Skip it too if $549.00 against $279.95 is the number that decides your kitchen.
This One Heats in Three Seconds and Says So on the Page
66.2, two points back, and it wins the thermal axis outright because Breville is the only one of the three that puts a time and a temperature on its own product page: “ready to start in 3 seconds” and “266°F steam”. It publishes the 9-bar extraction figure, publishes 54 mm, and is $499.95 in a body measuring 11.9 by 7.4 by 14.3 inches. On October 10, 2026, Breville’s own site showed it on sale at $399.95 and out of stock; the tally uses list prices because sales move, and at $399.95 the price score would rise to 14.0 and put the Bambino Plus ahead, 69.0 to 68.2.
Skip this if you expect to buy baskets, tampers or a bottomless portafilter from anyone other than Breville. Fifty-four millimetres is not the world’s size, and the accessory shelf for it is Breville’s shelf. Skip it too if a warranty term matters to you before you buy, because Breville does not print one where it sells the machine.
De’Longhi Dedica DeLuxe EC685M: cheaper, but publishes almost nothing
41.0, and it is the named loser here. The Dedica DeLuxe EC685M is $279.95, six inches wide, and De’Longhi calls it the slimmest machine it makes. It also gets the only warranty term anybody publishes, and then undercuts it on the same page with a line saying warranties vary. What De’Longhi does not publish for this machine: a portafilter diameter, a wattage, a tank capacity, a heat-up time, or any pressure figure other than the 15 on the box.
Skip this if you drink milk drinks daily. An adjustable frothing wand with no published figure behind it is a promise, not a specification. Buy it if the counter is six inches wide and $269.05 is real money, which for most kitchens it is.
Prices are approximate, current as of publication, and change frequently — confirm the latest price with the retailer before buying.
These Sibling Pages Own the Money Questions This One Skips
The three-year running cost of a beginner machine, grinder and descaler included, is worked out in our cost-per-shot comparison of the Bambino Plus, the Dedica Style and the Rancilio Silvia. The warranty, repairability and parts side of these same three brands is covered separately in Breville, De’Longhi and Gaggia read as long-term ownership ecosystems. If you have not settled on a manual machine at all, the cost-per-shot ledger for manual, super-automatic and pod espresso is the earlier decision. The rest of the category sits in our coffee and espresso comparisons.
