Best Bean-to-Cup Coffee Machines UK 2026: Cost per Cup and 5-Year Costs Compared

The 3300 replaced the long-running 3200 this year. The coffee side is the same idea: a ceramic grinder with 12 settings, a 1.8-litre tank and a 275g bean hopper. The changes are an iced coffee setting and Philips' SilentBrew shielding, which the maker says makes it 40% quieter.

The reason it tops this list is LatteGo. The milk jug is two plastic parts with no tubes. Philips says it rinses clean in about 10 seconds, and both parts are dishwasher safe. Owners on Argos and Currys mention the easy cleaning more than anything else. Currys shows 4.7 out of 5 from 79 reviews for the EP3347/90 version.

The running costs are low. Philips rates each AquaClean filter at up to 625 cups and says that if you keep changing it when prompted, the machine will not ask for descaling until 5,000 cups. We budgeted two filters a year at £15.99, which is £32. Add about £9 of electricity and the total over five years comes to about £553, or 15p per drink before beans and milk.

The Magnifica Evo name covers several machines, and this matters. The cheapest versions have a manual steam wand. The ECAM290.61.SB is the one with the LatteCrema Hot carafe, and at £349 at Currys it costs the same as the Philips 3300.

On paper it matches the Philips closely: a 1.8-litre tank, 15-bar pump, 250g hopper and a 1,450W thermoblock that De'Longhi says heats in 30 seconds. The difference is milk. The carafe stores in the fridge and makes a denser foam, and the MyLatte button uses whatever amount you pour in. The Good Housekeeping Institute tested the related Magnifica Evo Next and scored it 84 out of 100.

Running costs are where it loses ground. De'Longhi says its DLSC002 filter lasts up to two months, so you need six a year. At John Lewis's £6.99 that is about £42. You also still need to descale. We allowed three doses a year of De'Longhi's own descaler, at £7.99 for five doses. Over five years it costs about £626, which is £73 more than the Philips.

The 5400 is the step up within the Philips range. It keeps the 3300's grinder, tank, hopper and LatteGo jug, and adds a bigger menu of 12 drinks and four user profiles. If two or three people in the house want different drinks, the profiles save each person's strength, coffee length and milk length.

The Good Housekeeping Institute gave it 94 out of 100 and named it best for families. Its testers said espresso did not drop a mark and LatteGo foamed both dairy and plant milk well. They also found the fixed milk spout caused a few spills. Owners rate it 4.7 out of 5 from 292 reviews at Argos and 4.4 out of 5 from 782 at Amazon.

Price is the catch. Argos and John Lewis list it at about £620, which makes it hard to justify. At Amazon's £399.99 it is only £50 more than the 3300. Because it uses the same AquaClean filters, the running costs are the same, and the five-year total is about £603.

If you are happy to froth milk yourself, the 2200 saves you £80 on the 3300. The coffee side is the same: a ceramic grinder with 12 settings, a 1.8-litre tank, a 275g hopper and a 15-bar pump. Philips rates the grinder for at least 20,000 cups, which is more than 25 years at two cups a day.

The milk side is a steam wand, which Philips calls the Classic Milk Frother. You hold a jug under it and judge the foam yourself. Owners who already make lattes at home tend to like it. Owners who wanted one-touch drinks tend to wish they had paid more. Argos shows 4.7 out of 5 from 91 reviews, and 96% of reviewers would recommend it.

It takes the same AquaClean filter as the 3300 and 5400, so the upkeep is the same £32 a year. Over five years it costs about £473. That is the cheapest total for any machine here that can make a milky drink.

The Rivelia is De'Longhi's newer premium machine, and its party trick is a pair of 250g bean hoppers that lift on and off. Most people use one for regular beans and one for decaf. It has a 3.5-inch colour touchscreen, 16 one-touch drinks and four user profiles.

It is the top scorer in the Good Housekeeping Institute's bean-to-cup tests at 95 out of 100. The testers said espresso did not drop a mark and it made a good cappuccino in about two minutes. Owners agree: Currys shows 4.8 out of 5 from 1,109 reviews for the beige version.

The ledger is less kind. At £600 from Argos it is the dearest machine here, and it uses the same two-monthly De'Longhi filters as the Evo. Over five years it comes to about £877, or 24p per drink before beans and milk. That is 9p a drink more than the Philips 3300 for a bigger menu and the second hopper.

The Purista is for people who drink their coffee black. It makes espresso and café crème, two at a time if you like, and that is it. In return it is only 20cm wide and Melitta says its steel cone grinder is one of the quietest around. Which? notes it is one of the slimmest bean-to-cup machines it has tested.

The small size has a cost in convenience. The tank holds 1.2 litres and Melitta lists the hopper at 125g, so you refill both more often than on the other machines. Owners like it a lot: Currys shows 4.8 out of 5 from 110 reviews. Melitta's own site shows a few complaints about the small tanks.

No filter comes in the box, so we costed it without one. In a hard-water area you would descale every two to three months. We allowed five doses a year of Melitta's Anti Calc at £5.99 for two doses. Over five years it costs about £398. Black coffee works out at about 26p a cup with beans, the cheapest drink in this guide.