The best drip coffee makers are what you should be shopping for if all you want is a proper cup of no-fuss coffee. No pods, no steam wands that need constant cleaning, just some ground beans and water to deliver your morning caffeine fix. These options rank among the best coffee machines not just because they're easy to use, but also because they deliver great results every time.
Of course if you need something more sophisticated, we can also direct you towards the best espresso machines that'll enable you to create barista-level drinks at home. However these come with quite a steep learning curve, often require quite a bit of maintenance, and they're generally more expensive too.
We test scores of coffee machines here at TechRadar, and when we're considering the quality of a drip coffee maker we pay attention to the important details such has how quickly it'll fill your carafe with coffee, the temperature of the finished brew and, of course, how good it actually tastes. And each model here has been put through its paces in a reviewer's home so that it can be tested in real-life situations to ensure that it complements the average morning routine.
Whether you’re looking for a budget, well-rounded or feature-filled option, read on to discover the best drip coffee makers available here.
The quick list
Want to get straight to the best drip coffee makers for your needs? Use our quick round-up below to immediately find a pour-over coffee maker that suits you – and you can read more about it by jumping to our full write-ups and explanations using the links.
The best drip coffee maker overall
Stylish and effortless to use, the Moccamaster KBGV Select is the best drip coffee machine you can buy, brewing consistently good coffee in moments. During our tests it brewed a full carafe in just three and a half minutes, and the hotplate kept it ready to drink. The catch is that it's more expensive than most, but for us it's worth the price tag.
Budget pick
The best budget drip coffee maker
This drip coffee maker is excellent value, offering an impressive array of features - including a built-in grinder. In our tests it took 10 minutes to prepare a full carafe, and the jug poured smoothly without dripping. All parts of the filter and carafe are dishwasher-safe too. If the Moccamaster is outside your budget, this is an affordable yet worthy rival.
Best drip coffee maker with timer
This Smeg coffee maker delivers the brand's signature curvy retro style, and it's available in a range of colors. The timer is extremely handy to help you get moving in the morning (just add water and coffee before bed) and we particularly liked the ability to mute its beeps if we wanted to sleep in. Coffee was ready fast, and tasted smooth.
Best drip coffee maker with grinder
You can buy this premium drip coffee maker and grinder separately, but they work best as a pair so that the grinder can can adjust the dosage of coffee depending on the amount of water in the machine's tank. It's a smart feature that helps your filter coffee taste more consistent. Our reviewer loved the Aarke's simple, tactile interface as well, and it comes highly recommended.
Best drip coffee maker with milk frother
An all-singing, all-dancing drip coffee maker equipped with a milk frother, a hot water line, and can even brew single-serve coffee from K-Cup pods. Our reviewer found it trickier to use than a simple drip coffee maker, but the results were consistently good (with the exception of the espresso option, which wasn't as rich as proper espresso).
Best quiet drip coffee maker
A retro-styled coffee maker that comes with a pretty affordable price tag. We love that you can set the hotplate to one of two keep-warm temperatures - which is not a common feature. We also enjoyed the ingenious 'pause and pour' feature, which lets you grab a sneaky cup before the entire carafe has finished brewing.
Meet the expert
Cat has been a tech journalist for over 10 years and is an SCA-certified barista, so you can trust her to recommend the best drip coffee makers to give you a kick-start in the morning, whatever your budget.
The best drip coffee maker
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The best drip coffee maker overall
This is the drip coffee maker to buy if you want to add a real wow factor to your kitchen counter. Available in a range of colors, this stunning design-led appliance is a treat to look at. But it's not all style-over-substance, it's a quality coffee maker that's hand-built in the Netherlands. It meets the European Coffee Brewing Centre standard as well as the Speciality Coffee Association "Gold Cup" standard, so it's a serious bit of kit.
Featuring just two buttons, it's effortlessly simple to operate. But, if you like to be able to customize settings you might find this simplicity off-putting. However, there's really little need to change up the settings since it delivers such a tasty, well-rounded, and flavorful cup of coffee.
It takes just six minutes to brew a full carafe or 3 ½ for a half carafe. The hotplate automatically switches off after 100 minutes to avoid stewing the coffee, but this might displease people looking to return to a hot pot of coffee several hours after brewing. But rest assured that everything about this coffee maker is purposeful and has been designed to deliver the best possible coffee.
It requires paper filters and you’ll be able to enjoy about four decent size mugs from a full carafe. All this style and hand-built design comes at a price though, and while that’ll push it out of reach for some people, we think it’s a worthy investment.
Read our full Moccamaster KBGV Select review
The best budget drip coffee maker
With its affordable price tag, you'd be forgiven for assuming this Cuisinart coffee maker will only offer the bare minimum - but you'd be wrong. It features an integrated bean grinder that will grind up whole coffee beans and deliver them into the filter so that your drink is made with the freshest possible coffee. The only slight oversight here is that without a bean hopper, you have to fill it with beans every time.
And if you have a decaf coffee drinker in the house, it's not a problem, simply add ground coffee instead and press the 'grind off' button. There are few adjustable settings, but it does have a timer so you can set it up the night before and your first wake-up brew will be ready and waiting for you when you walk into the kitchen in the morning.
Its sturdy stainless steel exterior won't win any awards for style, but it's by no means ugly. You might be surprised that it doesn't have a hotplate and relies on the insulated carafe to keep coffee hot. But don’t worry, it does an impressively good job - only dropping by 19F/ 11C when left for two hours. Plus your coffee won’t stew like it can on a hotplate.
We enjoyed fresh, well-rounded coffee from this affordable drip coffee maker, and we can assure you that even if your budget is tight, you won’t have to compromise on the quality of your cup of Joe.
Read our full Cuisinart DGB-650BC Grind & Brew Automatic review
The best drip coffee machine with timer
Smeg is one of the go-to brands for retro-style appliances and this coffee maker doesn't disappoint. Its bulbous, curvy shape has a playful feel and the choice of colors means you can choose the one that best coordinates with the rest of your kitchen. The downside of its shape is that it takes up more counter space than some others.
It’s not a coffee maker that takes itself too seriously, yet it still works efficiently to deliver a tasty carafe of coffee. The settings are simple so our tester got to grips with it quickly. You can adjust the aroma intensity or select a four-cup brew when a full carafe will be too much. And the only other feature of note is the timer for automatic brewing, which is a must if your mornings are hectic.
The reusable filter does away with the need for wasteful paper filters, which is a plus. The warming plate only keeps coffee warm for 40 minutes so you’re best off brewing the correct quantity because you can’t refill your mug with still-hot coffee 2 hours later like with some coffee makers on this list.
The price is a tad high given its features, we suspect you’re paying for the brand name and the way it looks on your counter.
Read our full Smeg Drip Filter Coffee Machine review
The best drip coffee maker with grinder
The Aarke Coffee System comprises two parts: a drip coffee maker and a grinder. These can be bought and used separately, but work best when linked so that the grinder can adjust how much coffee it grinds depending how much water is left in the water tank. It's a neat idea, and one that helps ensure a consistent flavor while avoiding waste.
The Aarke system impressed our reviewer Christian Rowlands with its stylish polished stainless steel finish and clean lines, which give it a timeless look. Christian also appreciated its simple controls, with just a single button for the grinder and a knurled knob for the coffee maker. The cable connecting the two parts isn't the most attractive, but doesn't detract too much from the otherwise lovely design - and unlike some other premium drip coffee makers we've tested recently, it has a hot plate to keep your finished brew warm. Helpfully, this switches off automatically when the carafe is removed.
The Aarke Coffee System is certainly a premium set, with the complete system costing $758 / £620 (about AU$1,200) and the optional insulated jug adding another $99 / £80 (about AU$160)
Read our full Aarke Coffee System review
The best drip coffee maker with milk frother
We've come to expect multi-purpose, multi-functional appliances from Ninja and this coffee maker is no exception. It offers far more than your average drip coffee maker. In addition to brewing drip coffee to fill the 12-cup carafe, the brew sizes range from 4oz to 55oz. So you can skip the carafe and dispense the correct volume of coffee directly into your to-go cup just before you leave the house.
An integrated milk frother gives you the option to make barista-style coffees such as cappuccino and latte. It takes pre-ground coffee, there’s no integrated grinder so you can’t add whole beans but instead, it can produce single-serve coffees using K-cup pods, which will please those looking for the ultimate convenience. It’ll even deliver hot water for your herbal teas.
Its effective warming plate can keep a carafe of coffee warm for an impressive four hours. Or, if you’re a cold coffee fan, you can make use of the ‘over ice’ setting. Our tester enjoyed the cool rich coffee produced when she used this setting.
In busy households where everyone likes a different style of coffee, this machine will be invaluable. But our tester found the espresso-style coffee didn’t deliver on flavor or strength, plus it lacked crema. So this isn’t a machine for espresso drinkers.
On the whole, given the amount of different options on offer, it’s an easy-to-use coffee maker that delivers flavorful coffee. It’s not the cheapest coffee maker you can buy but we think it’s great value considering all that it offers.
Read our full Ninja DualBrew Pro review
The best quiet drip coffee maker
It’s not quite as retro-looking as the Smeg coffee maker above, but this KitchenAid model still has a kitsch retro vibe. And if your counters are already full of KitchenAid appliances, it’ll be right at home. Its warming plate can be set to one of two temperature options, and since we rarely see machines with the ability to adjust the warming plate temperature, it’s worth a special mention. The downside is that it only stays on for 40 minutes.
The permanent gold-tone filter will mean you can strike filter papers from your shopping list. Plus, on the filter you’ll find handy coffee markers, to take the thinking out of adding the correct level of coffee grounds for your brew. We like the ability to adjust the brew strength, as well as the timer function so coffee can be ready and waiting for you when you get out of bed.
Our tester enjoyed the deliciously smooth coffee and noted the convenience of the ‘pause and pour’ feature that allows you to pour out a mug of coffee before brewing has finished. If you’re considering this machine, make sure to measure up your space, because our tester struggled to fit it under wall-mounted cabinets, and you’ll need extra clearance above it to access the filter via the flip-up lid. This machine does have a removable water tank - a useful feature that is often missing from drip coffee makers - and makes filling up easier. All-in-all a decent coffee maker at a fair price.
Read our full KitchenAid Classic 5KCM1208 Drip Coffee Maker review
We also tested
We test new coffee makers every month here at TechRadar. Here are some of the drip machines we've tried that didn't quite make our shortlist:
How to choose a drip coffee maker
How to choose the best drip coffee machine for you
To get the coffee machine that's right for you, you'll need to figure out your main priorities. For example, if budget is driving your decision then you probably won't get the one with the sleekest design and the fanciest features.
If there are several coffee drinkers in your household you'll need a coffee machine with a large capacity, to make sure everyone gets that much-needed morning wake-up brew.
Think about whether you want a very simple control panel that you can operate with your eyes closed. Or, do you like lots of controls that will allow you to personalize temperature, strength, and the volume of coffee poured?
If you're hoping to leave a pitcher of coffee on the hotplate, it's worth checking how long the hotplate stays hot. Not all hotplates will stay on for hours, and while some can be switched back on, others can't.
Also, consider whether you want to add whole coffee beans to a machine that'll grind them for you. Or maybe you have a separate grinder so you don't need this function. And if you like to wake up to freshly brewed coffee, you need one with a timer that you can set up before you go to bed.
Looks are important if you're planning to leave it on your kitchen counter, so consider if you want a jazzy color or a modern stainless steel finish. Lastly, have a measure up and make sure you don't buy a coffee maker that's too bulky for the space you have available.
What coffee do you buy for a drip coffee maker?
Firstly the answer will somewhat depend on the drip coffee maker you choose. If yours has an integrated grinder then you'll need to buy whole coffee beans. But if it requires ground coffee, then getting the correct grind size is vital. Too fine and it'll potentially clog the coffee maker, too coarse and you risk a watery brew.
Usually, store-bought coffee clearly indicates what machines it's suitable for. But if you grind your own beans, you may have to play around with grind size for the most optimum results.
As a general rule, the tastiest cup of coffee will come from beans that are freshly roasted. And you'll notice a difference if you buy your coffee from a local artisan coffee roaster, as opposed to the coffee that's been sitting in a vacuum-sealed bag at the store for 6 months.
Once open, store coffee in an airtight container and use it quickly. Coffee quality does deteriorate over time, so for the tastiest and most nuanced flavor and aroma, buy little and often and don't keep it hanging around for months.
How do I clean a drip coffee maker?
Any appliance that gets warm and uses moisture is in danger of harboring nasty bacteria and even mold - if not cleaned frequently and thoroughly. Our best advice is to keep hold of the manual, all coffee makers are different and ideally, you'll want to follow the manufacturer's guidelines for best results.
Some coffee makers will have dishwasher-safe parts, whereas others require washing by hand. Likewise, some have automatic cleaning programs, so it's hard to give specific advice on the best way to deep clean your drip coffee maker.
But on a daily basis, you'll need to empty the used coffee grounds and filter paper. Or, wash out the filter if it's a reusable style. The pitcher will also need washing after use. And if there's a hotplate, wipe away any drips that have gathered there, so they don't burn the next time it switches on.
If in doubt you can run fresh water - without any coffee grounds - through a brew cycle, to give the inside a rinse. And if you live in a hard water area, don't forget your coffee maker will require frequent descaling to keep it performing at its best. Before descaling, check the manual, using the wrong descaling products can in some circumstances invalidate the warranty, so it's worth paying attention to this.
For more details, head over to our article on how to clean a coffee maker
How we test the best drip coffee makers
You won't be surprised to learn that we drink a lot of coffee when we test and review a coffee maker. We taste the coffee to check that the flavor is balanced and not overly bitter or burnt. But the flavor is in part dependent on the coffee used, so we check plenty of other things too.
We also check the temperature of the brew, and if there's a hotplate, what temperature does it keep the coffee at and for how long. During use, we're assessing how straightforward the settings are. Nobody wants complicated menus first thing in the morning, so we're looking for machines that are intuitive and easy to use.
Build quality is another important factor, we don't want to see any brittle or flimsy parts. And if you're going to give an appliance space on your counter, it needs to look good, or at least, not hideous.
Finally, we want to know how long it takes to brew a coffee as well as how noisy it is. And we use the machine several times in a real-world environment to unearth any hidden quirks, so that we can bring you a well-rounded review.