What's all the fuss around the OXO 8-cup vs OXO 9-cup coffee maker? One is better, I promise

The OXO 8-cup coffee maker has been a long-standing member of most buying guides for the best coffee makers of all time. It's quick, convenient, and makes delicious coffee. With a more techy sibling, the OXO 9-cup, close on its heels the question on everyone's lips is 'can the 9-cup be better than the best?'

In the last year, I've tested nearly seventy of the best coffee makers on the market, including both the OXO 8-cup and 9-cup. Both of these are brilliant drip coffee makers, but they serve different purposes.

If you want to know what all the fuss is about as well as the difference between the two and which is the best drip coffee maker for you, here's everything you need to know.

What is the OXO 8-cup coffee maker?

The 8-cup is simple and it makes consistently delicious coffee, across small and big batches. It's not programmable, but there's good reason for it.

The 8-cup was released back in 2020 and has stayed dominant in roundups of the best drip coffee makers ever since. It deserves every ounce of praise, for its price, capacity, and speed, it's a steal.

You can see in the images that this is a minimalistic machine. It's nothing fancy or elaborate, but it's really what's on the inside (and in your coffee cup) that counts. The carafe is double-walled and vacuum-insulated, keeping coffee hot for hours without the risk of a hot plate burning your coffee, making it taste stale and bitter.

You can make everything from a single cup of coffee right up to eight cups. Normally, drip coffee makers aren't great for single-servings, but this was consistent across the board in our tests. Even better, the carafe was easy to pour from, so we could enjoy coffee completely spill-free.

The OXO 8-cup has a narrow, flat brew bed, which is brilliant if you want full flavors, even in smaller batches. It ensures the bed of coffee grounds is always thick, so your water takes longer to drain through, picking up more coffee oils in the process.

If you want to find out more, you can read our full OXO 8-cup coffee maker review

What is the OXO 9-cup coffee maker?

If you want programmable options, a digital display, and more delicate flavors, this is worth the extra $30.

The 9-cup is bigger than the 8-cup and, unsurprisingly more expensive. It was actually released before the 8-cup, back in 2015, and has been sitting in the shadows, until recently.

If you were disappointed that the 8-cup isn't programmable and that it doesn't come with a timer, you can relax. the 9-cup has both auto-functions and a digital timer, which makes this more complex to get your head around the first time, but in the longer term, it makes life a lot easier. The OXO can brew you a morning cup of coffee before you're even awake. The timer will also tell you how long your coffee has been brewed, so you know whether you should tip yours away and start again.

The OXO 9-cup also looks different to the soft edges and straight lines of the 8-cup. This is more interactive with its curved edges and sleek design. The compromise that you make with the 9 is on the brew bed (the feature that helps the OXO 8-cup create a thick layer of coffee even on small batches). The 9 is conical, rather than flat, like the eight, which means that you'll get more delicate and light flavors, but it's more tricky to handle.

If you want to find out more, you can read our full OXO 9-cup coffee maker review.

OXO 8-cup vs OXO 9-cup

Both the OXO 8-cup and the OXO 9-cup coffee makers put quality first. They've both been made to the SCA's gold standard of coffee makers, which means that they can extract the rich flavors of coffee like the best coffee makers on the market. Neither take the temperature too far (or not far enough), delivering delicious, evenly brewed coffee at a reasonable price point. For value and performance, these are both tough to beat, but which is best?

If you want to see a breakdown of the numbers, here's a OXO 8-cup  vs OXO 9-cup coffee maker table, so you can see all the specs, head to head:

Which should you buy?

I fear that I might disappoint you because there's no universally clear-cut winner in the OXO 8-cup vs 9-cup coffee maker debate. The 8-cup is brilliant because of its deeper, rounder, more balanced flavors. It's also smaller and cheaper. However, if you're someone who likes a sip that gives both the high and low notes of coffee, the 9 is perfect. It's more techy and sleek-looking too. 

If you want to know which one I, as a barista, prefer, it's the 8-cup. There's a reason this is more popular. It's unique in being able to make delicious single-servings and I place a lot of value on consistency. However, convenience can be worth the extra cost for some people.