Comparing the 13 Best Keurig Coffee Makers for Your Home & Office

Most people can’t function before their morning cup of joe. For many, making a cup of coffee with a traditional coffee maker can feel like too tall a task when you still have crusts of sleep in your eyes and an alarm going off in one-minute increments. If your brain relies on its primitive operating system in the morning, the best Keurig coffee makers simplify the brewing process so even your caveman morning brain can understand: drop K-cup in K-cup sized hole. Press start. Drink coffee. Repeat.

That incredibly simple process is exactly how Keurig coffee makers took over the coffee world. It’s easy to use clichés like “This product revolutionized the industry” or “such and such brand disrupted the game.” But when it comes to Keurig, that’s the truth.

So what is the best Keurig for your home? According to Keurig, the company has produced 87 different models and has 24 currently in production. The company provided its newest coffee makers to SPY for testing, and we’ve been hard at work brewing coffee, taste testing, and comparing the best Keurig coffee makers side-by-side.

In this guide, we’ll share all of our in-depth Keurig reviews and compare the best Keurig coffee makers. We’ve also gathered some of our favorite K-cups and the top Keurig alternatives.

After testing multiple Keurig coffee makers, we’ve picked the following top choices. We’ve chosen products that are the best overall for all users, as well as picks for specialty drink lovers, people brewing in small spaces and those who fear a single-serving maker might not satisfy their coffee cravings. You can find more details about our testing process and criteria after the product selection.

The K-Elite offers the perfect amount of control while maintaining the notable ease expected of the best Keurig coffee makers. It’s programmable, so you can schedule a brew the night before and wake up to the smell of a freshly brewed cup of coffee. If you forget to schedule your morning brew, don’t worry. Even in a state of sleep-deprived confusion, this machine is easy to use. It’s the most straightforward Keurig machine with this level of customization. Plus, the large reservoir can brew up to eight cups of coffee before it needs to be refilled, so you have eight full mornings of uninterrupted brewing.

For hot summer days, you can brew iced drinks. For the holiday season, you can make hot cocoa. And for those times you just don’t feel like coffee, you can opt for a cozy cup of hot tea. (For tea, you may have to run the hot water a couple of times to get a clean pour without residual grounds).

If you’re the kind of person who begrudges cleaning your small kitchen appliances, the Keurig K-Elite makes it easy by alerting you when it is time for a cleaning (known as descaling). In our testing, we found that using and programming this Keurig coffee maker was a breeze.

The K-Supreme PLUS SMART is the best Keurig coffee maker in terms of features, so why is it the runner-up to the K-Elite? An affordable price and one-button controls are some of the biggest reasons people love Keurigs, and so the higher price tag and smart features aren’t for everyone. Still, if you’re sharing your Keurig with multiple users and want a smart coffee maker, then this is the best Keurig for you because, with BrewID, you can save up to 10 customized brew settings.

The K-Supreme PLUS SMART uses MultiStream technology to extract the full flavor and aroma of a K-cup and automatically adjusts brew settings based on the specific pod you’re using that day. By far, this machine produced the best-tasting coffee in our brew testing, though the brew might take a bit longer compared to other Keurig coffee makers. 

This coffee maker remains easy to use once you explore the app and all the settings, but it does complicate Keurig’s usual button-press ease. Using the app, you can brew in an instant from your phone. You can also schedule a brew the night before, but we had trouble accessing this feature during testing. When you open the app for the first time, you’ll want to enable push notifications, otherwise the scheduled brew can be difficult to set up.

If lattes and cappuccinos are your jam, the Keurig K-Cafe is the best Keurig coffee maker for you. The milk frother creates both hot- and cold-frothed milk to go with your specialty coffee drinks. And if you have a little leftover, you can store it in the fridge using the lid. Plus, cleanup is easy considering the frother is dishwasher safe. When plain ol’ coffee doesn’t do it for you anymore, this milk frothing option is the way to go.

The versatility of this premium Keurig appliance is also a bit of a drawback if you prefer single-button operation. Most people don’t buy a Keurig because they want barista-quality drinks. Rather, they’re looking for simplicity and coffee for coffee’s sake. However, if you prefer a little variety and love the convenience of Keurig, then this will be the best Keurig machine for you.

When you want a cup of coffee but a few more sizing options than the K-Classic featured below, then the K-Select is a nice upgrade. With four different cup-size options, as well as the ability to choose between regular and strong coffee, the K-Classic keeps things simple with a little more variety. 

Like the Elite and K-Cafe options, this Keurig coffee maker will let you know when it is time to descale, ensuring that you continue to have tasty fresh brews. Plus, just like the popular (and retired) Keurig K-250, the K-Select comes with more fun color options to match your kitchen decor. 

If you’re looking for the most affordable Keurig, then the K-Select is our top recommendation. 

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While we think there are plenty of good Keurig coffee makers for sale right now, there is a lot to love about the Keurig K-Supreme — the earlier generation of the K-Supreme Plus SMART. The K-Supreme has a streamlined design that’s typical of newer Keurigs, taking up little space on your counters.

This model offers Keurig’s MultiStream Technology, which Keurig promises will extract all of the flavor and aroma from your pod of choice. During testing, we found this technology does deliver on taste. On top of that, the K-Supreme comes with a 66-ounce water reservoir that can rest in two places on the machine, making it one of the best Keurig coffee makers for small spaces. The machine also offers a “Strong Brew” setting.

Note: Keurig has discontinued the K-Duo Plus, but it is still available from online retailers while supplies last.

The K-Duo Plus offers a single-serving pod brewer as well as a 12-cup steel Keurig coffee pot for brewing drip coffee — a unique feature that sets it apart from the best Keurig coffee makers. By combining a traditional coffee maker with the convenience of a Keurig, the K-Duo line offers the best of both worlds. Hosting a dinner party? Brew a carafe of coffee with dessert, then use the single-serve coffee maker to unwind the next morning.

The Keurig K-Duo Plus is the premium version of the popular K-Duo model. While we haven’t listed the Plus version of Keurig coffee makers as a separate product previously, we’re making an exception here. The Plus version features a different design that takes up far less room on your countertop. The Plus combines the Keurig coffee pot and single-serve brewers into a single spout, which means this coffee maker is slimmer and more convenient than the K-Duo pictured below.

Finally, the carafe coffee maker can be programmed up to 24 hours in advance, which is a great feature for those who love the convenience of Keurig but prefer a full pot of coffee.

This is the smart version of Keurig’s K-Cafe machine, and it’s capable of brewing espresso style drinks using the built-in milk frother feature. The app gives you step-by-step instructions for “barista mode,” so you can make your favorite cafe-style drinks in a flash. Multistream technology more evenly saturates the grounds for fuller flavor.

Though we haven’t yet gotten our hands on this model for testing, we’re impressed by the features it offers. Of course, there is a catch, and that’s the price. At $250 for regular retail, this is a pricier coffee maker than your average brewer.

If you need an affordable, space-saving option that can brew multiple cups, opt for the Keurig K-Slim, which is a more recent model from Keurig that we’re looking forward to testing. The appeal of this option is the ease with which it can brew hot or iced.

Plus, it’s very compact and space-saving, but still has a large enough reservoir for brewing multiple cups without having to refill, unlike the K-Mini, which has a smaller reservoir. Plus, if you remove the drip tray, you can brew straight into your travel mug.

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The Keurig K-Mini is the slimmest Keurig coffee maker, making it the best option for people living in smaller spaces. The Mini Plus even includes a hidden storage compartment to keep up to nine pods. Like other K-cup machines, it can brew 6 to 12-ounce cups of coffee. 

The K-Mini reservoir needs to be refilled before every brew, which can be tiresome if you drink more than one cup a morning. The small reservoir can be removed for refilling, but its awkward shape makes it prone to spilling. In our testing, we found this machine produced the least satisfying cup of joe and its brew was louder than other Keurig machines, but we think it might still be the best Keurig machine for cramped spaces.  

The Keurig K-Classic offers three different-sized brews” 6, 8 and 10 ounces. Without the option to choose the strength of the coffee, this machine offers the least customization. This is great for people who prefer simplicity. The machine is relatively compact, while still boasting a 48-ounce reservoir.

The standard version of the K-Duo Line, the Keurig K-Duo has a more reasonable price point, although it does feature a clunkier design. While it takes up more counter space, the Keurig coffee pot gestures toward a traditional percolator, making it feel homier.

As in other models, the K-Duo has a large water reservoir (shared between the two coffee makers), a compact design and can brew 6 to 12-ounce cups of coffee in seconds. This programmable Keurig coffee maker has another notable feature: it can be set to brew a carafe of coffee up to 24 hours in advance making the K-Duo a great option for second homes, AirBnb rentals and large households.

For offices with more than 10 people, a standard Keurig coffee maker for a family won’t do. That’s when you need to upgrade to one of Keurig’s commercial coffee makers. This commercial Keurig coffee maker has an extra large 90-ounce water reservoir that can make up to 18 cups before refilling. Employees can brew tea, coffee and hot cocoa with this behemoth. The K155 also has an easy-to-use touchscreen and can brew coffee in a variety of sizes. If you’re a business owner or office manager searching for the best Keurig coffee makers for your office, this is a dependable option that’s perfect for small and mid-size businesses.

The Keurig K-Express delivers on value, and it’s a great option for an apartment or dorm room thanks to its space-saving design. The brewer features buttons on the side for selecting your cup size, and you can also select strong when you need a little extra kick.

Though the K-Express isn’t one of the models we tested hands-on, it’s a good option for the value-oriented price and simple operation. After all, the whole point of Keurigs is simplicity, and this brewer delivers on that.

How We Chose the Best Keurig Coffee Makers

For this review, we tested the newest models available from Keurig and compared them side-by-side. While testing these Keurig coffee makers we judged them based on the following criteria:

The SPY team tested multiple Keurig machines, brewing too many cups of coffee to count. We performed taste tests, temperature tests and brew time tests for 8-ounce cups using the same K-cup across multiple machines. 

We noted a noticeable difference in taste in those using MultiStream Technology. The five-stream brewing process extracts more flavor. 

We noted that Keurig machines can all brew an 8-ounce cup of coffee in under two minutes, but the machines take varying amounts of time to heat up before brewing. 

We used a thermometer to test each machine’s brew temperature. We found Keurig coffee makers to be remarkably consistent, with most hovering somewhere around 173 degrees Fahrenheit. Those with the option to increase temperature did so. 

We will continue to update this post as we test additional models and as new products are released. To read more about our testing process, check out our in-depth page on How We Test Products at SPY.com.

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How Keurig Forever Changed the Coffee World

Keurig coffee machines were first introduced to the home in 1992, around the same time Starbucks started to hit its stride. This is important because Starbucks was popularizing the idea of single cups of coffee to the masses, even though single cups of coffee were (and still are) far more expensive compared to buying in bulk. By 1998, when the first K-cup Keurig machines were released, the company went all-in on a simple premise: People want a single cup of coffee in the morning, but they don’t want to pay Starbucks prices.

Keurig K-Cups, although still more expensive than bagged, bulk coffee, were less expensive than going to your local Starbucks or indie coffee shop. But for nearly a decade after developing the first K-cups, Keurig struggled to break into the “holy grail” of the coffee market: your kitchen counter. According to The Boston Globe, the turning point was the company’s acquisition by Green Mountain Coffee in 2006. Soon after, amid the 2008 Great Recession, the company finally reached critical mass, and America has been obsessed with single-serving coffee ever since.

Have you ever tried to make a single cup of coffee with a pot-coffee machine? It sucks. Sure, making a pot of coffee isn’t difficult, but not everybody drinks multiple cups of coffee a day. And making a single cup’s worth in a pot is hard; it comes out too watery or like mud. In the same way that cooking for one should seem simple but is often more difficult than cooking for a group, making a single cup of good coffee with a regular coffee machine is way harder than it should be.

There are plenty of people in the world for whom a single cup of coffee is all they need (this article was written by one), and Keurig coffee makers are the ideal solution. Single cup, check. Fast, check. Easy, check. Consistent, check. So much so that over 42% of American households now own a single-cup coffee maker, according to Statista. And now that Keurig machines have new tricks up their sleeve like making teas, lattes and iced drinks, the best Keurig coffee machines are poised to remain a staple in our homes.

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The Drawbacks of Keurig Coffee Makers

Truth be told, K-cups are a blessing and a curse. They are a blessing for our easily created morning cup of coffee, they are a curse to Mother Earth. Most K-cups are not recyclable, although Keurig is striving for 100% of their K-cups to be recyclable and 100% of all packaging to be converted to recyclable materials. Currently, there are many recyclable and compostable pods, but users still need to peel off the top foil, remove the grounds and remove the filter from the cup before it is considered “recyclable.”

Let’s be honest: if you already aren’t willing to grind up your coffee to make your morning cup, you probably won’t be willing to take the necessary steps to recycle those pods.

Here’s a good compromise. Keurig does make a re-useable K-cup that allows you to put your ground coffee into it, which does two things: helps you save the environment and allows you to brew single-serving coffee using your favorite ground coffee. You lose a little of the convenience factor, which is a big reason why you bought a Keurig in the first place. And speaking from experience, they are a pain to clean.

There are non-Keurig branded reusable pods. Keurig discontinued its own line of reusable coffee pods in 2022, but you can still find these products for sale on sites like Amazon while supplies last.

On a much smaller scale of drawbacks (it’s hard to trump “destroying the planet” as the No. 1 drawback), K-cups are relatively expensive compared to bagged coffee. You can get better-tasting coffee (whole bean is the way to go) and more of it if you’re willing to take the extra time to grind your coffee beforehand (trust us, it is worth it).

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Keurig 1.0 vs. Keurig 2.0

Remember: if you’re surfing Amazon for a budget pack of K-cups for your Keurig machine, be sure to read the user reviews. Not all K-cups are sized to work for Keurig 2.0 coffee machines.

As you are right to assume, Keurig 2.0 machines are the newest version of Keurig coffee makers. Unfortunately, when the upgrade happened, so did the size of the pods. Keurig 2.0 machines use bigger pods than previous versions, but most 1.0 K-cup sizes are still compatible with newer machines. But it doesn’t go backward — Keurig 2.0 K-cups won’t fit in a 1.0 machine.

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Cleaning Your Keurig Machine

Cleaning your Keurig is pretty straightforward. This is a process called “descaling,” which removes built-up calcium deposits which can hinder the performance of your machine. Keurig sells a descaling solution, but you can just as easily use distilled white vinegar instead. Cleaning your machine is a simple couple of steps:

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