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This is the story of how I went looking for the best value pizza oven to use at home here in the UK, what I actually bought, and what I have learned since cooking on a few more.
Contents
The short version: I set out thinking I wanted an Ooni and ended up buying a Woody Oven on value grounds. I still rate it. Since then I have cooked on a friend's Ooni Koda 2 and also a Gozney Arc, so the picks below come from experience using three ovens, not reading spec sheets.
Full disclosure: this is a true account of my own experience. I have not been sponsored or given any incentive to write it. I am a member of various affiliate partners, so some links may earn me a small commission if you buy through them. It costs you nothing.
My picks, after three ovens
If you want the answer before the story, here it is.
If you are looking for pizza dough options and detailed instructions how to make it, try my pizza dough calculator. This offers all weights and measures to get a great dough.
- Best value, the one I bought: Woody Oven (multi-fuel). It came in cheaper like-for-like than the Ooni Karu 2 once you add the bits you actually need, the peel was included, and it runs on wood, pellet or gas. Honest caveat: the gas burner gave me a far steadier heat than wood or pellet, so the multi-fuel flexibility was less useful in practice than I expected. See the Woody Oven range
- Best for most people, easiest to live with: Ooni Koda 2 (gas). I cooked on a friend's at a pizza party rather than owning one, so my view is on how it performs and travels. The legs fold flat and it ran off a small 7kg Calor patio gas bottle, which made it easy to move between houses. Gas only, no faffing with wood. For ease against the price, it is the one I would point most people towards. Buy the Ooni Koda 2 at Lakeland or directly from Ooni (around £299)
- The step up, if budget is not the constraint: Gozney Arc (gas). This is the one I now own. High quality build, holds its heat well and feels built to last. More than you need to make great pizza, but a pleasure to use. Buy the Gozney Arc (around £499). There is a larger Gozney Arc XL (around £799) too along with a smaller Gozney Lite (£349). I have not used the XL, but it is the bigger version of the Arc I own, so I would expect the same build.
- If you want a mixed fuel pizza oven there is the Ooni range of multi fuel ovens. Or if you are looking to cook indoors, these electric pizza ovens are worth a look too.
The rest of this post is how I got there, what to budget, and the mistakes worth avoiding.
Are home pizza ovens worth it?
Worth asking before you spend anything. I cooked pizza on my gas BBQ with a pizza stone for years and made some genuinely good pizzas. The problem was they were only ever "ok", never that puffed, charred Neapolitan crust you see in the pictures.
The reason was simple: my Weber Genesis 310 gas BBQ does not get hot enough. A home oven tops out around 250C. A pizza oven reaches 450C and above, which is what gives you the crust.
I used to dismiss pizza ovens as a fad that only cook one pizza at a time. But at 60 to 90 seconds a pizza, you can turn out three in under five minutes, which solved that objection for me. On the BBQ each pizza took five to seven minutes, and the base often cooked before the top because the heat sits under the stone. In a pizza oven the heat is at the back and you turn the pizza as it cooks.
So the honest position: if you make pizza occasionally, a gas BBQ and a stone is fine and far cheaper. If you make it often and want the proper crust, an oven earns its place.
Setting a budget
The first thing I noticed was the price range. Pizza ovens run from about £70 to £4,000, and more for custom builds.
A friend once told me "buy cheap, buy twice", which stuck with me. I am happy to pay a bit more for quality, so I set an upper limit of £400 all in.
My justification, with deliberately silly maths: if a shop pizza is £10 and I had one twice a month, that is £520 over two years. A £400 oven leaves £120 for ingredients. There is fuel to buy too, so the sums are rough. And that is one-pizza maths, when there are three of us plus garlic bread, so four pizzas a session. The numbers are easy to bend to whatever you want them to say, but the learning and the experience are worth something a delivery never gives you.
Gas, pellet or wood: which fuel is best?
There are two things that make a good pizza: a hot stone and a hot ambient oven temperature, ideally at least 450C for a Neapolitan base. You can get there on three fuels, and having now used all three on the Woody, here is my honest take.
| Fuel | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Gas | Quick, convenient, steady heat | Sometimes needs a specific gas adapter |
| Pellet | Hot burn | Can be messy, less steady |
| Wood / charcoal | Hot burn, authentic smoke flavour | Slow to heat, harder to control |
The marketing sells the romance of wood. In practice, gas won for me every time, even on the oven that could burn all three. The smoke does add something, but wood is harder to control in a small 12 to 14 inch oven where the fire sits close to the base, and the temperature drops every time you reload. Wood-fired comes into its own in a bigger traditional clay or brick oven that holds the heat. In a compact home oven, gas is the steadier, easier choice. If you are buying for the first time, get gas.
How I chose: the shortlist
I wanted a multi-fuel oven so I had the option of quick gas or experimenting with smoke. My shortlist was:
- Ooni Karu 16 (Pro) (now succeeded by the Karu 2 Pro)
- Ooni Karu 2
- Woody Oven
- Gozney Roccbox
Two went straight away on budget. The Gozney Roccbox looked excellent and reviewed well, but at £399 RRP plus around £100 for the wood burner it was over my limit. The Ooni Karu 16 is a bigger oven and, at around £699 RRP, also out of budget. That left the Ooni Koda2 and the Woody Oven.
Ooni Karu 2 vs Woody Oven
On paper there was a £100 gap between them. But like for like, with the bits I actually needed, the real difference was bigger. These were the prices when I bought, so check current pricing before you decide.
| Item | Ooni Karu 2 | Woody Oven |
|---|---|---|
| Main oven | £349 | £249 |
| Gas attachment | £90 | £90 |
| Pizza peel | £40 | Included |
| Thermometer | £50 | £30 |
| Total | £529 | £369 |
The Woody came out even cheaper once you matched the kit. Reviews from people like Tom Voyage gave me confidence it was a solid buy, and when I queried the pizza stone thickness, Woody's support came back the same day (15mm, for the record). That told me support would be there if I needed it.
National Pizza Day in February sealed it. Woody had 10% off that week, which brought the full order to around £330. The oven arrived by DPD within two working days and took about 15 minutes to set up. You can read how it has held up in my full Woody Oven review.
Getting a good bake
The single tip that fixed my early disasters: get the oven properly hot with nothing in it, hotter than your cooking temperature, then turn the gas down or even off just before you launch the pizza.
Keeping the flame on full while the pizza cooks is where most people go wrong. I burned a few bases learning that. The stored heat in the oven does the cooking. The flame is there to get it up to temperature, not to blast the pizza the whole time it is in there.
A few more that help:
- Launch on parchment paper or a well-floured peel, with a little semolina to stop sticking.
- Turn the pizza part way through, as the side nearest the flame cooks faster.
- Have your toppings ready before you start. Once the oven is hot you are working in minutes.
Accessories without paying the brand tax
A peel, an infrared thermometer gun and a turning peel all make a real difference. You do not need the oven brand's own versions, which are often marked up for the name. Generic equivalents do the same job for less. If you are choosing a peel, I have compared the options in my wood vs metal pizza peel post.
The one accessory I would not skip is a stand or table, because these ovens get very hot underneath and need a heat-safe surface. I use the Ooni folding table, which packs away with the oven.
Pizza oven FAQs
If you make pizza often and want a proper charred, puffed crust, yes. A pizza oven reaches 450C and above and cooks a base in 60 to 90 seconds, which a home oven at 250C cannot match. If you only make pizza now and then, a gas BBQ with a stone is a cheaper route that still does a decent job.
You can get a capable gas oven for around £250 to £4000. I set a £400 all-in limit and spent around £330. Going cheaper than roughly £150 tends to mean thin insulation that struggles to hold heat between pizzas.
Mostly build and insulation. Premium ovens hold heat better between bakes, so the second and third pizza cook as well as the first. A budget oven will still make excellent pizza, you just manage the heat more actively.
A self-built brick or clay oven can work out cheaper on materials, but it is a fixed garden structure that takes time and skill to build and to heat. A bought gas oven is ready in minutes and portable. For most people buying is the practical choice.
Gas. It holds a steady temperature with almost no effort, which matters when a base cooks in under two minutes. Wood adds flavour but is harder to control in a small oven.
Now you need dough
Once your oven is sorted, the next thing you need is a good base. Start with my simple pizza dough, or for a more authentic result using 00 flour, try my Italian pizza dough. You can also buy pre made dough balls if you want to get started quickly with your new oven.
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