The 7 Best Outdoor Pizza Ovens, According to Our Tests

Overall Best Pizza Oven

Ooni Koda 16 Pizza Oven

$599 at Amazon $600 at Williams Sonoma View on Ooni.com

The Ooni Koda 16, now almost synonymous with tabletop pizza ovens, is the most reliable and user-friendly pizza oven we've tested among dozens of products and after making hundreds of pizzas. It's one of the easiest to use and assemble of all the models we tried — just take it out of the box and open the legs. Once it was hooked up to the gas and ignited, we found that the heat was consistent from the back of the oven to the front (a tall order for most ovens). It took about 25 minutes to heat up to the ideal temperature, and we cooked our pizzas in a lightning-fast 75 seconds — less than the 90 seconds that Ooni touts for average cook time.

One caveat for this model is you'll need to be mindful about turning the pizza (those flames are HOT), but the large oven opening makes it easy to maneuver the pies. We love Ooni's pizza gloves (which double as grill gloves) for extra heat protection. We had far more control over the finished product with the Ooni Koda than all other models we tried, which is critical for a quality pizza oven. Though it's a heavy-duty gadget, it's still lightweight enough for one person to move. It's a fantastic option for pizza enthusiasts looking for their next favorite gadget, and its convenience is undeniable for everyday use. For speed combined with heating power, crust consistency, and ease of use, all at a relatively good price tag, nothing else quite compares to the Koda 16.

Fuel source: Gas | Pizza Diameter: 16 inches | Temperature range: Up to 932°F

Best Value

Ooni Karu 12G Multi-Fuel Outdoor Pizza Oven

$399 at Amazon $400 at Williams Sonoma $399 at Sur La Table

This nifty pizza oven from Ooni is small enough to be portable and can operate on wood, charcoal, or gas (with a burner attachment), so you can customize your cooking experience. The 12G is an upgraded version of the popular Ooni Karu 12, adding a built-in temperature gauge, rubber grips on the feet, a cool-touch door handle, and a borosilicate glass door. Keeping the door closed and the chimney open lets the oven reach and maintain temperatures up to 950°F, while opening the door allows heat to escape. A redesigned burner tray encourages airflow for wood and charcoal. 

Because the stone gets incredibly hot, we rotated pizzas every 20 to 30 seconds to avoid burning. It’s not a hands-off process, but we found it easy for the oven’s small size, as the drop-down door leaves plenty of room for a pizza peel to slide in. Still, we had mixed results with the dough, finding that homemade fared better than store-bought, which needed more heat to fully cook. You’ll probably go through a learning curve with cook time and heat control like we did, but overall, it’s easy to use. Lighting it is similar to lighting a grill. Ooni recommends using firestarters for lump charcoal or wood. For gas, turning a dial adds propane to the line and ignites a spark. 

The lightest pizza oven we tested, the Karu 12G weighs just over 34 pounds. Its legs fold down, but the height of the chimney keeps it from being compact, so you may need to detach it for storage or traveling. Compared to the portable Roccbox, we preferred its overall design and chimney damper for heat control. While the propane burner attachment ($99 on Amazon) ups the initial cost, it’s worth buying if you want a quicker option.

Fuel source: Wood, charcoal, or gas | Pizza Diameter: 12 inches | Temperature range: Up to 950°F

Best Wood-Fired Pizza Oven

Gozney Dome Dual-Fuel Pizza Oven

View on Gozney.com $1,800 at Ace Hardware $1,999 at Crate & Barrel

If you want to fire up Neapolitan-style pizza at home, consider the beginner-friendly Gozney Dome your best bet. We love that this sizable oven gives us space to make multiple pies. Extra space also means more control over direct heat exposure because you can keep the pizza near the fire or move it to a slightly cooler part of the oven. It takes a long time to heat up but easily retains a consistent temperature throughout the cooking process. It produced pizzas with melted toppings and crisp crusts all around. Gas, of course, is still the fastest route to cooked pizza, and the dual-fuel Dome gives you that option with a gas burner and regular. We tested the propane version, but Gozney makes one for natural gas, too. 

The Dome’s digital thermometer gives precise temperature readings throughout cooking and regulates air flow controls, allowing for proper ventilation. Its water-resistant, UV-stable, ceramic-bonded outer coating is durable enough for outdoor use in all types of weather. Keep in mind that this is not a portable option. If you want to be able to move it freely, you'll need to purchase the stand separately. Despite its size, however, we found it easy to use and assemble. The price is equally hefty, but if you're serious about your pizzas and outdoor kitchen, it's a true upgrade.

Fuel source: Wood or gas | Pizza Diameter: 16 inches | Temperature range: Up to 950°F

Best Compact

Gozney Arc

$700 $630 at Amazon View on Gozney.com $630 at Home Depot

With the Arc, Gozney scaled down the design of the Dome and removed its wood burner and flue for a more compact form. Quicker cooking is the main advantage of a gas pizza oven; controls for ignition and gas flames add to the Arc’s convenience. We found it easier to use than the brand’s Roccbox, which we reviewed as a strong contender. A digital thermometer at the front leaves no question about temperature, and an open damper lets out smoke and heat. 

The stone reached 750°F in just 24 minutes, and pizzas needed no more than 4 minutes to cook. The flame sits on the left side of the oven, so we turned the pizza every 20 seconds in our tests. A mouth almost as wide as the Dome’s — a 1.3-inch difference — leaves room for this. The Arc’s results were some of the most consistent in our tests. Mozzarella and ricotta both browned evenly, pepperoni crisped without burning, and vegetables roasted nicely. The crust turned golden and developed spots on the top, but the bottom of every pizza looked pale. Homemade dough cooked better than store-bought.

While it’s compact, the Arc’s weight of 47.5 pounds (heavier than the average portable grill, for comparison) and the need for a propane tank rule it out as a conveniently portable option for us. We tested it with Gozney’s Arc Pizza Oven Stand, which let us wheel it around easily. We like the height of the stand for accessing the oven, and a lower shelf keeps the propane tank out of the way of children and pets. 

Fuel source: Gas | Pizza Diameter: 14 inches | Temperature range: Up to 950°F

Best New Release

Everdure KILN S Series Oven

$699 at Amazon

Everdure makes some of the sleekest outdoor appliances on the market, and since testing its portable charcoal grill, we’ve kept an eye out for new releases. The brand’s debut pizza oven, the futuristic-looking Kiln comes ready to use out of the box. Adjusting the flame to find the best took some trial and error, but its controls are easy to use. The Kiln resembles the Gozney Dome in size and shape, but it’s more than half as expensive. Given the price difference, we’re not surprised that Gozney ovens gave us better results across the board. Still, this newcomer’s design and mostly consistent results make it a solid choice.

We wish the Kiln had a built-in temperature gauge to read the stone. Instead, we used an infrared thermometer to determine when to load the pizzas. While we planned to pre-heat it to 750°F, we cut it at 693°F at the 30-minute mark, per the manufacturer’s instructions to lower the heat after 30 minutes on high. With the flames lowered, the pizzas took between 3 minutes 56 seconds and 6 minutes 8 seconds to cook, making it one of the slower gas ovens. The crust turned out doughier than we’d like, cooking the most around the edges and the least right below the sauce. We were pleased with how well the ricotta browned, the pepperonis cupped, and the vegetables charred. 

Fuel source: Gas | Pizza Diameter: 16 inches | Temperature range: Up to 932°F

Best Splurge

Alfa Forni Moderno 2 Pizze Oven

View on Alfaforni.com

If you want a pizza oven to be the focal point of your outdoor kitchen, we recommend investing in the extra-large Alfa Moderno 2 for its top-tier results and polished retro design. It can burn wood, charcoal, propane, or natural gas, should your fuel preferences change over time (or day to day). Pre-heating the stone to 750°F took almost an hour using propane, a relatively long time. Pizzas cooked in under four minutes with perfectly charred edges. Homemade dough gave us the most consistent browning across the top and bottom. While the instructions don’t mention turning pizzas, we found it necessary for even cooking and too easy not to — it’s a spacious oven, even for two 10- to 12-inch pizzas. 

Connecting the Moderno 2 to propane was a bit confusing, but setting it up, on the whole, daunted us, as it comes with three instruction manuals. It ended up being a simple but time-consuming process. Just removing the protective film from the stainless steel parts took about 20 minutes. We recommend having a second person around, especially to lift it. After assembly, we found it intuitive to use with controls like a built-in temperature gauge, a push-button ignitor, and a knob to regulate gas flow (as you’d find on a gas grill).

Fuel source: Gas, charcoal, or wood | Pizza Diameter: Two 10 to 12 inches | Temperature range: Over 900°F

Best Pizza Oven for the Grill

KettlePizza Pro Pizza Oven Kit

$289 at Amazon View on Bbqguys.com $330 at Crate & Barrel

This kit has a 15-inch pizza stone, wooden peel, and stainless steel lid that transforms any gas grill into a pizza oven. If you want to try your hand at pizza-making but don't have room for another big gadget, this kit is a great way to do it. Unlike an actual oven, it's easy to store when not in use and produces similar results to some of the full ovens we tested. We found it easy to set up and bring to a relatively consistent heat, with a few minor hot spots. The angle of the lid helps direct heat down, so it cooks the top and bottom of the pizza. The large opening makes it easy to turn the pizzas, and we found that cooking pizzas with the grill lid closed produced the best results.

Fuel source: Gas | Pizza Diameter: 15 inches