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Will Ooni beat its competitors to be crowned our winner?

Pizza ovens are one of this year’s hottest summer buys. They make cooking professional-style pizza easy and are a great focus for parties and get-togethers.

But if you’re wondering which brand to invest in, take a look at our latest pizza oven testing. The Good Housekeeping Institute tried this year’s best-selling models to find the ones that create authentic Neapolitan-style pizzas at home.

Here are the pizza ovens that impressed us the most:

Pizza ovens are more versatile than you think. As well as the obvious, you can use them to cook meat, breads, fish and roasted vegetables. With cast iron cookware, you can even replicate a BBQ – the hardy pans are heat resistant, so you can place them in the pizza oven to grill or fry.

Consider these practicalities before you buy, to ensure you find the right pizza oven for you.

Most pizza ovens use either gas or wood. Gas tends to be easier and quicker to operate, while wood gives your food an added smoky flavour.

We mainly tested gas pizza ovens but have included a couple of dual fuel models too. Plus, we tried out an electric pizza oven suitable for indoor cooking. Find out what we thought below.

To cook the best pizzas, you’ll need an oven that can reach a minimum of 380 degrees. This is the lowest end of the optimum temperature range, as some ovens on our list can reach up to 500 degrees.

Some come with a gauge, too. This will let you know when the pizza oven is heated and ready to cook. Some (like the Gozney Dome) have a digital thermometer, while others (like our winner, the Gozney Roccbox) have a more traditional gauge.

Pizza ovens can take a while to heat up. The heat times for models on our list range from 11 minutes to over half an hour.

Similarly, cooking time varies; while the Gozney Dome cooks pizzas in one minute and four seconds, the portable Vango Camp Chef Pizza Oven took at least nine minutes. Consider what’s a priority before you buy.

Consider how portable you need your pizza oven to be – they can be heavy, so if you’re moving it regularly in and out of your garden, look for one that’s small and light. Our selection of pizza ovens range from 9.25kg to 58kg.

For tabletop models, you’ll also need to ensure you have a table that can support the pizza oven’s weight. Most pizza ovens have fold out legs too, with the LG Outdoor Casa Mia Bravo handily coming with lockable legs.

Lastly, if you’re feeding a lot of people, look for a larger cooking area. Most of the ovens on our list have room to accommodate a 30cm or 12inch pizza.

Given the high temperatures pizza ovens reach, make sure you check and comply with the brand’s accompanying safety advice.

You’ll need a pizza peel to move your pizza around the oven. Some, like the Tepro Burnsville, come with one included but for others you may need to buy it separately.

If you want to store your pizza oven outdoors, or protect it indoors, it’s worth considering a cover. And if the one you opt for doesn’t have a temperature gauge, you can buy infrared thermometers that will do a similar job.

We wanted to find out whether at-home pizza ovens could cook pizza fit for a restaurant in Naples, so we used the official association’s (Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana) standards to judge the quality of the pizza each oven produced.

We assessed how easy each oven was to set up and use and considered how quickly each oven reached optimum temperature. We made three pizzas in each oven – a Margherita, a pepperoni and a vegetable pizza with vegan mozzarella – and timed how quickly they cooked.

Finally, we assessed how easy each oven was to clean and reviewed safety information. We also made a note of any extras such as recipe suggestions or accessories.

Our winning pizza oven’s thoughtful design means it’s easy to set up and ignite, while pulling the pizza in and out of the oven is also simple to do. It reached the lower end of its optimum heat range in 14 minutes and it peaked at an impressive 450 degrees. The flame also moves over the roof of the pizza oven, which provides the perfect condition for delicious pizzas.

Our pizzas cooked in an average of one minute 41 seconds, with well-raised crusts featuring appetising spots of charring and mouth-wateringly melted cheese. It’s also designed to be portable, making it a great option if you’ll need to move it around the garden.

Key specifications Fuel type: Gas (You can buy a wood box to convert it to a dual fuel oven) Max temperature: 500 degrees Temperature gauge: Yes Weight: 20kg Dimensions: 41.3 W x 53.1 L x 47.3 H cm Cooking area: 31.5 x 34 cm Accessories included: Pizza peel, bottle opener

Ooni is the brand that usually springs to mind when you think of a pizza oven, and it didn't disappoint. We found the set-up was seamless with easy-to-follow instructions both in the box and online. Its compact, lightweight design is ideal for moving around too, making it easy to store.

Lighting it takes a little bit of practice, but once fired up it reached 380 degrees in just over 11 minutes and cooked our pizza in an average of one and a half minutes. Like our winner, the flames rolled across the roof providing even coverage and resulted in excellent pizzas, with airy and charred crusts.

The entrance is shallow so moving the pizza around can be tricky – no accessories or pizza peel are included either – but it has a great depth that allows you to control your cooking by moving the pizza from hot to colder spots.

Key specifications Fuel type: Gas Max temperature: 500 degrees Temperature gauge: No Weight: 9.25kg Dimensions: 39 W x 62 L x 29 H cm Cooking area: 33.7 x 33.7 cm Accessories included: None

The newest offering from Ooni also impressed. It’s bigger than the Koda and has the option to use gas or wood fuel. Assembly is fairly involved, and it is heavy. Most accessories needed aren’t included either, including the gas converter. That said, its clever design offers ample cooking control; vents and a chimney let you adjust the air flow and a door helps lock in heat. There’s plenty of room for rotating your pizzas.

With gas, it didn’t reach the advertised 500 degrees, and took just over 20 minutes to heat up. But cooking time was rapid – pizzas were ready in an average of just under one and a half minutes. They were also outstanding quality, only dropping two marks on test. Plus, we found it a doddle to clean. The Ooni app has plenty of guidance on cooking pizzas, too.

Key specifications Fuel type: Gas and wood Max temperature: 500 degrees Temperature gauge: Yes Weight: 28.4kg Dimensions: 50 W x 81 L x 83 H cm Cooking area: 42.42 x 42.42 cm Accessories included: None

We awarded this pizza oven full marks for ease of use, so invest if simplicity is your top priority. The design is robust, and it comes with thorough instructions. It was also quick to set up and start using.

Most ovens we tested took a while to light, but this one ignited immediately and reached its optimum cooking temperature in just 17 minutes. Its flame didn’t roll across the top of the oven consistently, which can impact charring, but our pizzas cooked in one minute 48 seconds and the results were impressive.

You get a great view of your pizzas via the opening too, which helps you decide when they’re ready, but be careful of the legs as they did fold in on themselves easily. Removing and replacing the pizza stone when cleaning was effortless though, and it stores away compactly.

Key specifications Fuel type: Gas Max temperature: Unspecified Temperature gauge: No Weight: 12.2kg Dimensions: 37.2 W x 64.2 L x 31 H cm Cooking area: 33 x 33 cm Accessories included: Pizza peel

This is a statement piece, and it was the closest to a professional pizza oven on test. It comes with thorough instructions, which is useful as assembly is lengthy and requires multiple pairs of hands. It can stay outdoors permanently but a cover is needed for bad weather while the stand and accessories, including a peel, are sold separately.

There’s an in-built temperature gauge and it comes with two meat probes – it can smoke and cook meats too – but it took nearly 30 minutes to heat up. It can reach a scorching 500 degrees though, and cooked our pizzas on test in a blistering one minute four seconds.

Our tester also liked how easy it was to move pizzas around the ample-sized cooking area and the control this oven offered. The resulting food was high quality and once you get the hang of it, you could cook two pizzas at once. One for serious foodies.

Key specifications Fuel type: Gas and wood Max temperature: 500 degrees Temperature gauge: Yes Weight: 58kg Dimensions: 73.2 W x 63 L x 66 H cm Cooking area: 55 W x 47 L Accessories included: 2 x temperature probes

Given the unpredictability of British weather, this indoor pizza oven will appeal if you’re after properly cooked pizza come rain or shine. It comes with detailed set-up guidance and cooking tips, and its user-friendly design means you can pop the pizza in and leave it to cook, with no rotating required. We focused on Neapolitan pizzas on test, but its clever technology also allows you to cook New York-style, deep pan, thin and crispy, and frozen pizzas too.

Like outdoor pizza ovens, it can reach a temperature of 380 degrees, in a speedy 16 minutes. The pizzas took longer to cook than in outdoor models, however, its average of two minutes 17 seconds is still quicker than a traditional oven.

Our pizza crusts rose well but there were a few spots where it could have benefitted from longer in the oven. It also struggled to melt vegan cheese. Its non-slip feet are sturdy though, but the machine takes a while to clean.

Key specifications Fuel type: Electric Max temperature: 400 degrees Temperature gauge: A dial that allows you to select the temperature or you can use one of its 7 preset modes Weight: Unspecified Dimensions: 47 W x 46.1 L x 27 H cm Cooking area: Accommodates 30cm pizzas Accessories included: Peel and pan

Having a pizza oven that looks as good as it cooks is important when you’re hosting. This stylish model ticks these boxes and it’s also easy to set up and ignite, and it reached its cooking temperature in 17 minutes.

The shallow entrance makes it difficult to move the pizza during cooking, which we found was needed to produce the best results. But we were impressed with the beautifully charred crusts and quality pizzas it produced.

Key specifications Fuel type: Gas Max temperature: 400 degrees Temperature gauge: No Weight: 18kg Dimensions: 50 W x 50 L x 25 H cm Cooking area: Accommodates 35cm pizzas Accessories included: None

Elevate your camping menu with this portable pizza oven. Compatible with the Vango Camp Chef Pro 30 Stove, we found it intuitive to use, if initially a little fiddly to set up.

As you’d expect with camping gear, it’s not the quickest we tested, taking just over 20 minutes to heat up and nine minutes to cook a pizza. But while it claims the maximum temperature is 370 degrees, we were impressed to measure 375.

The results are also worth the wait; we were left with crispy bases and perfectly cooked toppings, although it won’t char your crusts. The ideal pizza oven for when you’re away from home.

Key specifications Fuel type: Gas Max temperature: 370 degrees Temperature gauge: Yes Weight: 9.54kg Dimensions: 34 W x 45 L x 10 H cm ‎ Cooking area: Accommodates 30cm pizzas Accessories included: None

Uniquely designed with burners that form a U-shape around the pizza stone, this oven produced beautiful pizzas. It’s also lightweight, straightforward to set up and easy to ignite. It’s the only pizza oven we tested with legs that lock into place too, making it reliably sturdy.

The flames don’t roll across the top of the oven, so if you’re after charring you’ll need to angle the pizza towards the flames. This would also help ensure the centre cooks at a similar speed to the crusts.

Note, it took over 30 minutes to heat up, so plan ahead if you’re on a tight schedule.

Key specifications Fuel type: Gas Max temperature: Unspecified – we measured 390 degrees Temperature gauge: No Weight: 15.3kg Dimensions: 45 W x 35 L x 40 H cm Cooking area: Accommodates 30 cm pizzas Accessories included: None