For a long time, De’Longhi has been the brand that sells the best super-automatic coffee machines. The Italian brand has become popular with models and prices for all audiences.
Still, in recent years, De’Longhi has made a tremendous leap in quality, adapting to the specialty coffee wave and selling models that, as I’ll explain later, can prepare the best espresso on the market at a much lower price than other, much more expensive brands.
My TOP 5
As of today, my five recommended De’Longhi super-automatics are these:
- Magnifica Plus : Fantastic and very complete coffee machine, not only is it the best in quality-price but it prepares the most intense espresso, all in a modern interface with a touch screen and a milk tank with three settings for milk texturization.
- Dinamica Plus : The best alternative -slightly cheaper- to the Magnifica Plus if what mainly interests you are the programmed milk recipes.
- Magnifica S : Despite being an old model, it is still a good purchase in the low range to prepare a good espresso and long coffee without greater pretensions.
- Rivelia : Recommended model for its versatility when it comes to comfortably changing coffee bean varieties.
- PrimaDonna Soul : High-end model for those looking for the best espresso with the greatest comfort and automation possible.
Comparison table of models and ranges
Something often said in the coffee world about De’Longhi is that its catalog is full of almost identical models with confusing names, and that’s true. To simplify, there are five main De’Longhi ranges today: Magnifica, Dinamica, Rivelia, Eletta, and PrimaDonna.
At the same time, within the Magnifica range, the Magnifica S, Start, Evo, and Plus models are clearly differentiated, making it the most difficult to “decipher” due to the number of versions. In the rest of the ranges, things are much simpler: in the Dinamica range, you can choose between the old version or the most recent one, called Dinamica Plus; in the Rivelia range, you can buy the version with a manual frother or milk tank, and in the PrimaDonna range, you can choose between the Soul model or a newer one called Aromatic.
*Scroll the screen horizontally to see the rest of the table.
| Magnifica S | Magnifica Start | Magnifica Evo | Magnifica Plus | Dinamica Plus | Rivelia | Eletta Explore | PrimaDonna | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | |
| Control panel | Analog | Digital | Digital | Digital + Touch screen | Digital | Touch screen | Digital + Touch screen | Touch screen |
| Electronic grinder control |  | | | | | | |  |
| Programmed drinks | 2 | from 2 to 4 (depending on the model) | from 4 to 7 (depending on the model) | 18 | 18 | from 8 to 16 (depending on the model) | 31 | 18 |
| Milk frother | Manual | Manual & Automatic | Manual and automatic | Automatic | Automatic | Manual & Automatic | Automatic | Automatic |
| Prepares cold brew | | | | | | | | |
| Can serve cold milk recipes | | | | | | (With separate accessory) | | |
| Serves two milk drinks at once | | | | | | | | |
| Milk texture adjustment | | | | | | | | |
| Connects to the app | | | | | | | | |
| Double bean container | | | | | | | | |
| With electronic grinder | | | | | | | | |
| Bean Adapt function | | | | | | | | |
| User profiles | | | | | | | | |
| Where to buy | Amazon | Amazon | Amazon | Amazon | Amazon | Amazon | Amazon | Amazon |
From the Magnifica S to Plus: a look into De’Longhi’s most popular range
The Magnifica range is the most popular, most successful, and most populous of De’Longhi. It was born as an entry-level range with economical models, but De’Longhi has been expanding it with more advanced models, including the recent addition, the Magnifica Plus, which is one of the best you can buy today.
The most popular model is undoubtedly the Magnifica S , a coffee machine launched by De’Longhi in 2011 and still selling like hotcakes, more than ten years after its launch, simply because it’s the cheapest. Despite its price, it can make a good espresso.
It only has two drawbacks: the included frother is mediocre, and the analog control panel is very outdated. It is an ideal coffee machine for those with a tight budget who want to serve mainly espresso and coffee with freshly ground beans, without greater pretensions.
De’Longhi tried to correct the weak points of the Magnifica S by adding a panarello, a type of frother that “assists” you when frothing milk, and a control panel that, although still analog, was somewhat more intuitive. It was named Magnifica S Smart (you can see it in the featured image of this article) and is a model that has been practically discontinued from all stores and can now only be purchased on the De’Longhi website.
Another attempt to renew and modernize this coffee machine came with the Magnifica Start , basically a Magnifica S with a completely redesigned control panel featuring a digital touch-button interface, more intuitive settings, and simpler controls.
One downside: this model still comes with the sad frother of the Magnifica S. If you want decent milk foam with little effort, De’Longhi offers you another model, the Magnifica Start version ECAM220.91.B with a milk tank and automatic frother, adding in this case the recipes for cappuccino and latte macchiato.
A year before launching the Magnifica Start, De’Longhi had released another, more modern model within the Magnifica range, the Magnifica Evo. This line is superior to the Start in some features, although inside all these coffee machines have the same components and prepare coffee of the same quality.
The aspects in which the Evo surpasses the Start is in the number of recipes, and the interface is even clearer and more intuitive, especially in the Magnifica Evo Next , (you can read my review here). This is the most advanced model, with a touchscreen and 13 programmed recipes, which are 6 more than the ECAM292.81.B model .
The model ECAM292.33.SB was the first Magnifica Evo to hit the market and has been quite relegated: it has only four recipes and comes with a very basic frother. For the same price, you can buy the Magnifica Start with a milk tank, which is a much better option.
The latest addition to the line is the Magnifica Plus , a coffee machine that lives up to the name of the range —truly magnificent, so to speak. The Magnifica Plus is another of the coffee machines I’ve reviewed, and I can assure you that this model prepares the best espresso I have ever tasted in a super-automatic.
The key to this coffee machine is that it uses a very high dose of ground coffee for the coffee puck. Also, I don’t know what De’Longhi has done with the grinder in this coffee machine, but it can grind a little finer than in other coffee machines. The result is an intense espresso with a much more concentrated body than is typical for this type of machine.
In addition, it has a touchscreen on the control panel, a multitude of programmed recipes, and a milk tank with up to 3 milk texture settings. A very complete coffee machine: the best De’Longhi super-automatic coffee machine, not only for its features but also for its quality-price ratio.
Dinamica range: mid-range coffee machines focused on milk recipes
The De’Longhi Dinamica has its origins almost at the same time as the Magnifica, and after all this time, it is a range that, as its name suggests, has shown itself very dynamic, with new models that have brought continuous improvements.
If the Dinamica range is characterized by something from the beginning, it is by its variety of milk recipes. In this sense, the Dinamica Plus in its version ECAM382.70.B. is especially recommended for its three milk texture settings, from a light texture for flat white to a denser texture for the typical traditional Italian cappuccino.
In addition, the coffee machine’s control panel consists of a touchscreen and a full-color display, which are extremely intuitive for customizing the volume and aroma settings of each drink, and it features four user profiles to save these settings. It is the most recommended version of all: the old Dinamica has become obsolete in terms of features compared to the “Plus” models, and within the latter, the ECAM382.70.B model is the best in terms of quality-price ratio.
You can see a mini-comparison of the De’Longhi Dinamica in the table below. As you can see, there is even a version with app integration; in my opinion, it is not worth paying more for this feature.
| Bars | Programmed drinks | Type of frother | 3 levels of milk foam | LCD screen | User profiles | App connection | |
| Dinamica ECAM350.15.B | 15 | 4 | Manual | | | | |
| Dinamica ECAM350.55.B | 15 | 10 | Auto | | | | |
| Dinamica ECAM 350.35.SB | 15 | 5 | Panarello | | | | |
| Dinamica Plus ECAM370.70.B | 19 | 14 | Auto | | | (3) | |
| Dinamica Plus ECAM372.95.TB | 19 | 14 | Auto | | | (3) | |
| Dinamica Plus ECAM382.70.B | 15 | 18 | Auto | | | (4) | |
Rivelia and Eletta Explore: two models with their own personality
2022 was a year of many novelties at De’Longhi, and in this year, the De’Longhi Rivelia was launched, and just a few months later, the Eletta Explore. It was with that famous campaign using Brad Pitt as a lure and with the slogan “De’Longhi Perfetto”. The truth is that it was with these coffee machines that De’Longhi began to differentiate itself and distance itself from what the competition was offering at that time.
Without going any further, the De'Longhi Rivelia is the cheapest super-automatic coffee machine featuring a double coffee bean container. In my review of the De’Longhi’s Rivelia I mention the great versatility of this coffee machine as one of its strong points, being able to use two varieties of coffee beans whenever you feel like it.
In addition, its control panel has a touchscreen— it is the same interface as the Magnifica Plus and Evo Next. It has quite a few programmed recipes, and the milk tank also has three texturization settings, just like the Magnifica and Dinamica Plus. To top it off, you can buy the LatteCrema Cool jug , an upgrade that unlocks six additional cold milk foam recipes.
Suppose you don’t care about the milk tank but think you will take advantage of that interchangeable double coffee bean container. In that case, you can buy the De'Longhi Rivelia without milk tank , which has a panarello-type frother identical to that of the Magnifica S Smart I mentioned earlier or the one also carried by the popular De’Longhi Dedica Style.
If the Eletta Explore is characterized by something, it is by the enormous number of programmed recipes it has, hence surely the name “Explore”. There are 31 programmed recipes in the machine, plus another 100 you can make through the Coffee Link app (for Android and iOS) via WiFi.
In addition, a cold brew that is quite convincing, and recipes with cold milk foam, using the aforementioned LatteCrema Cool jug, which is already included in the Eletta Explore, plus the LatteCrema Hot jug, which is the one you should use to prepare the typical recipes with hot milk foam.
In addition, it boasts a very elegant design, with the same 3.5″ touch screen as the Magnifica Plus, Evo Next, and Rivelia, and with a sleeker casing and better finishes. But be careful when buying it: there are several identical versions with different accessories, and one that dispenses with the cold brew recipe. Here is another table with the Eletta versions and their differences.
| Color | Cold Brew | Coffee jug | Portable thermos | |
| ECAM452.67.G | Black | | | |
| ECAM452.57.G | Black | | | |
| ECAM450.65.G | Black | | | |
| ECAM450.86.T | Gray | | | |
| ECAM450.65.S | Gray | | | |
PrimaDonna Soul and Aromatic: are the most expensive models really the best?
De’Longhi’s PrimaDonna line represents the brand’s top tier of fully automatic coffee machines. First launched in 2021, the PrimaDonna Soul stands out for one feature that’s far more useful than it might seem: a flat burr grinder (most other models use conical burrs) that’s electronically controlled. This means you can adjust the grind size directly from the sleek 4.3″ touchscreen. It’s actually quite surprising that such an advanced feature barely gets mentioned in De’Longhi’s own marketing materials.
The PrimaDonna models are also unique in another way: they’re the only De’Longhi super-automatic machines without any physical buttons—everything is controlled through that touchscreen interface. You’ll also get Coffee Link app connectivity, a wide range of preset recipes, and an automatic milk frothing system with a dedicated carafe. Combined with the metallic exterior finish, this makes it arguably the most elegant machine in De’Longhi’s entire lineup.
However, one thing it lacks is a cold brew recipe, which some users saw as a drawback compared to the Eletta Explore. That might be why De’Longhi recently released the PrimaDonna Aromatic, a model that introduces Cold Extraction technology for cold brew–based drinks and supports the LatteCrema Cool carafe—unlocking six additional recipes with cold milk foam.
In the Aromatic version, the display grows even larger, up to 5 inches, and the interface expands on the previous models’ Bean Adapt and user profile features. It now includes Coffee Moments mode, which memorizes your most frequently used recipes at different times of day and displays them for quicker, more intuitive access.
For now, this model is also only available through De’Longhi’s official website.
