The 5 Best Keurig Coffee Makers in 2023

Keurigs are so popular for a reason, and even though using a Keurig isn’t my preferred brewing method, there are a lot of situations where having a Keurig is the best option. If you value convenience and simplicity in your coffee-making above all else, a Keurig might be the best coffee maker for you. Which Keurig is the one for you is a more difficult question to answer, and it depends on a lot of things about you and how you like to drink coffee.

In this article, I’m going to cover the best Keurig coffee makers as of 2023. I’ll explain who I think should get a Keurig, how to pick the best Keurig model from the endless variety of options, and when I think you might be better off with a different coffee maker.

Things to Think About Before Buying a Keurig

Before you buy a Keurig, you should think about a few things first. There are tons of different Keurig coffee makers available today, and not all of them are well-suited to every situation.

Here are some things to consider before you buy a new Keurig:

• Capacity. If you only make one cup of coffee in the morning before you head out the door, you don’t need a massive, expensive 12-cup Keurig. A simple one or two-cup Keurig will be more affordable, easier to maintain, and take up less counter space. On the other hand, if you’re looking for a new Keurig for your office, you should probably splurge for one that makes more cups at once if you don’t want to be waiting around while Joe from accounting makes his fourth cup of the day.
• Extra features. There are plenty of Keurigs that come with cool options like auto-off settings, brew timers, and sneak-a-cup, but you should think about whether or not you’ll actually use those features before you drop some extra cash for a fancy model. You can save a lot of money by choosing a relatively bare-bones Keurig instead of one that feels like you’re flying the space shuttle when you use it.
• Budget. It’s a good idea to set your budget before you start shopping for a Keurig. With so many different models to choose from and so many cool settings, you’re bound to let your budget creep up if you don’t set it at the beginning. Setting a budget helps you keep things in perspective while you shop, so you wind up buying a Keurig with only the features that you need.
• Maintenance. One last thing to think about is how easy maintenance is. If your new Keurig is going to see heavy use, you don’t want to purchase one that’s more difficult to clean and maintain. Some features, like an easily removable water reservoir, don’t seem like they’d matter so much until you have to fight with a machine that doesn’t have them.

Okay, with that out of the way, let’s get into specific Keurig models.

Top 5 Best Keurigs of 2023

Here are the top five Keurigs of 2023, in my opinion. I’ve tried to pick models that fit different niches and are good for different uses, so hopefully, there’s one that fits your coffee-making needs.

• Best Overall Keurig: Keurig K-Elite Single-Serve K-Cup Pod Coffee Maker
• Best Premium Keurig: Keurig K-Cafe SMART Single-Serve K-Cup Pod Coffee Maker
• Best Budget Keurig: Keurig K-Mini Single-Serve Coffee Maker
• Best Keurig for Offices: Keurig K155 Office Pro Single-Cup Commercial Coffee Maker
• Best Keurig for Small Apartments: Keurig K-Slim Single-Serve Coffee Maker

Keurig K-Elite Coffee Maker – Best Overall

If you want a Keurig that embodies the spirit of the company’s simplicity-first mantra and won’t break the bank, you want the Keurig K-Elite. This single-serve coffee maker takes K-cups, is versatile enough to make regular coffee and iced coffee drinks, and brews a range of cup sizes.

The only downside to the K-Elite is that it’s a bit expensive, especially since it doesn’t make espresso drinks or come with some of the features you’ll find on Keurig’s higher-end models.

Why I chose the K-Elite

When I think about the reasons someone might gravitate towards a Keurig — convenience, reliability, and access to K-cups — I think about the K-Elite model. It embodies everything that makes Keurigs so popular these days and comes with enough bells and whistles to meet most people’s needs for a simple at-home coffee maker.

The K-Elite is a single-serve coffee maker that can whip up a cup in as little as one minute. You can choose to brew 4, 6, 8, 10, or 12 ounces at a time and select between ordinary strength or strong coffee with the brew strength button. It also comes with a setting for iced coffee, which is good for people who want to use their Keurig to make iced drinks in the summer.

It also comes with a massive 75-oz removable water reservoir, which can make around eight cups — depending on the size you choose — before it needs to be refilled.

What I don’t like about the K-Elite

My main complaint about the K-Elite is its price. While you get a lot for your money, I can’t help but feel like a Keurig at this price point should come with a few extra features. I understand not including a milk frother for espresso drinks, but I would love to see a version of the K-Elite with a movable water reservoir. I love the capacity of the K-Elite, but it takes up a lot of space on the counter, and being able to swivel it or reposition it would be a great feature.

Otherwise, there’s not much I don’t like about the K-Elite. It doesn’t come with a carafe, and it doesn’t have a hot plate, but I find that most people I talk to can live without those features in a single-serve coffee maker.

Features

I’ve already covered the K-Elite’s basic features, but it has a few more tricks up its sleeve I want to mention.

First, I like that the K-Elite can fit a travel mug. The convenience of Keurig’s K-cups and the K-Elite’s brewing speed pairs well with making coffee right into your to-go mug. It’s a great feeling being able to make a cup of coffee in less than two minutes from start to finish and just grab your travel mug and go.

It also has a temperature control that lets you adjust the temperature between 187 degrees F and 192 degrees F. While that’s all well and good, it’s not enough of a range to make a difference between brewing, say, a light Ethiopian coffee and a dark roast Colombian bean. It also highlights one of my main complaints with Keurig in general: its coffee makers just barely get hot enough to brew coffee. Since that’s a problem with all Keurigs, I won’t count it against the K-Elite.

The K-Elite’s display is also easy to use and intuitive. It has a digital clock which is nice, but let’s be honest, you probably have at least two other clocks in your kitchen already.

Here’s a quick rundown of the K-Elite’s main features:

• Choose between 4, 6, 8, 10, & 12 oz. cups
• Temperature control adjusts between 187–192 degrees F
• Strong brew button
• Iced coffee setting
• Large 75-ounce reservoir
• Auto-on/auto-off 

Keurig K-Cafe SMART Coffee Maker – Best Premium Keurig

The K-Cafe SMART is a serious upgrade over the K-Elite. It comes with a built-in milk frother, Keurig’s BrewID system that automatically suggests recipes based on the K-cups you’re using, and it also integrates with iPhones, Androids, and Alexa, which makes me feel like I’m making coffee in the future.

Of course, the K-Cafe SMART is more expensive than the K-Elite, which is why it gets my vote as the best premium Keurig available on the market today.

Why I chose the K-Cafe SMART

The K-Cafe SMART is the coolest coffee maker that Keurig makes, in my opinion. You can control your brew parameters, schedule a brew, and save recipes right from your phone, which is convenient and, frankly, awesome.

But it gets better. “Hey, Alexa, tell Keurig to make me a single shot of coffee.” That’s right; you can tell Alexa to make your coffee with the K-Cafe SMART. Of all the smart home tech that’s out there today, this is by far my favorite one. It also connects to Google Home devices.

If you want to brew coffee the old-fashioned way — you know, yourself — you can scan your K-Cup’s QR code with your phone and use the K-Cafe’s BrewID feature to brew one of the recipes Keurig suggests for that particular coffee. This is an excellent feature that takes all of the guesswork out of trying a new coffee.

And speaking of getting new coffee, the K-Cafe SMART can learn your coffee-drinking habits and have more K-cups sent to you when you’re about to run out, so you never have to wake up to no coffee again.

What I don’t like about the K-Cafe SMART

The biggest drawback to the K-Cafe SMART is that it’s expensive. If you don’t plan to use all of the fancy smart features, you should consider a different model. A lot of the cost of the K-Cafe SMART comes from its BrewID functionality and mobile phone connectivity. Those are great features if you want them, but a waste of money if all you really want is a simple coffee maker.

I also don’t love that the K-Cafe only comes with a 60-ounce reservoir. The 75-ounce reservoir on the K-Elite is 25% bigger than the one on the K-Cafe, and you really do notice a difference. If you make a lot of coffee, having to refill the reservoir more often is more annoying than you think it will be. It’s not a huge deal, but it is something to think about.

Features

I’ve already gushed about what makes the K-Cafe SMART a smart brewer, but now I want to talk about some of its more basic — but still cool — features.

My favorite non-smart feature on the K-Cafe is the MultiStream water dispersing unit. A big problem with most Keurigs is that the water is poured through the K-cup in a single small stream, which leads to channeling and over-extraction. The MultiStream head has multiple exit points for the water, like a showerhead, which makes for a more even water distribution and, therefore, a more even extraction.

Another cool thing about the K-Cafe SMART is that it comes with a built-in milk frother for making lattes, cappuccinos, and other espresso beverages that require milk. This makes it way more versatile than the K-Elite and worth the upcharge if you want to make espresso-like drinks at home with a Keurig. Of course, the K-Cafe SMART doesn’t actually make espresso, but it does produce a reasonable facsimile if you use the strongest brew setting.

Here’s a quick look at the main brewing features of the K-Cafe SMART:

• Settings for 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12-oz. Cups
• 6 adjustable temperature settings
• Milk frother with three frothing speeds
• 5 brew settings from balanced to intense

Keurig K-Mini Single-Serve Coffee Maker – Best Budget Keurig

If the K-Elite and K-Cafe SMART are too complicated and expensive for you, the K-Mini is probably more your speed. It makes coffee. That’s it. As a budget option, the K-Mini doesn’t come with as many cool features as Keurig’s higher-priced models, but if all you want is a small, affordable Keurig to make one or two cups in the morning, the K-Mini is a great choice.

Why I Chose the K-Mini

The main reason I like the K-Mini is that it’s affordable. Keurig’s like the K-Elite and K-Cafe SMART are very expensive, and not everyone can afford to pay so much for a simple coffee maker. Perhaps even more to the point: not everyone needs all the fancy features of Keurig’s expensive models.

The K-Mini is easy to use and doesn’t take up much space on your counter. That makes it a great option for people who just want to make coffee without having to fiddle with buttons or mobile apps. The only option you need to think about on the K-Mini is a strength toggle, which lets you choose whether you want to brew a regular cup or a strong cup.

It also comes with a few passive features like an auto-on timer and an energy-saving automatic shutoff feature, but that’s it. It doesn’t have a fancy screen or a digital clock. It’s a coffee maker, and that’s what it does.

What I don’t like about the K-Mini

There are some concessions you have to be prepared to make if you want to make the K-Mini your everyday coffee maker. The most annoying thing about it is that you have to fill the reservoir before every use. Actually, calling it a reservoir at all is misleading. The K-Mini can only hold 6–10 ounces at a time, which is only enough for one cup.

You’re also implicitly sacrificing all the neat features and options that come with a more expensive Keurig. The K-Mini doesn’t have an iced setting, can’t automatically suggest recipes, and you can’t control it from your phone or Google Home. Whether or not these things are deal breakers is a personal preference, but there are a lot of things you’re missing out on when you go with the K-Mini.

Features

Honestly, there aren’t that many features to talk about on the K-Mini. There’s a strength switch to choose between regular-strength and strong cups, an automatic shutoff for peace of mind, and that’s it. I like the simplicity, but it’s definitely not for everyone.

• Automatic shutoff
• Strength button

Keurig K155 OfficePRO Premier Brewing System – Best Keurig for Offices

Most Keurigs are made for home use, which makes them too fragile and too small to use as an office coffee maker. Luckily, Keurig makes a bigger, beefier coffee maker that is capable of standing up to the wear and tear of office use. If you’re looking for the best office coffee maker Keurig makes, the K155 OfficePRO is it.

Why I chose the K155 OfficePRO

The best thing about the K155 OfficePRO is that it’s designed to hold up to heavy use. If you try to use a home coffee maker like the K-Elite in an office setting, you’ll be fixing it or replacing parts more often than making coffee within a few months. The K155 is made with higher-quality parts and mechanisms that won’t break when you put it through its paces.

It’s also versatile without having a lot of unnecessary features. The OfficePRO can make coffee — of course — but it also makes hot water to use with tea or hot cocoa. In an office with many different people with many different hot drink preferences, having the flexibility to use one machine to satisfy everyone’s needs is a must-have, in my opinion.

Another advantage of the K155 is what you don’t see. It doesn’t come with a built-in milk frother, and it doesn’t have a bunch of fancy settings that will easily get mixed up when Joe from accounting (that troublemaker!) hits the wrong buttons. The decision to leave off some unnecessary features in favor of simplicity is part of what makes the K155 so easy to maintain.

The OfficePRO has a gargantuan 90-ounce reservoir, which can make around 18 cups of coffee before needing to be refilled.

What I don’t like about the K155 OfficePRO

My biggest gripe with the K155 is that it’s really expensive for what you get. I understand that buying a commercial-grade coffee maker is going to cost more than a home coffee maker, but it’s still hard to stomach paying almost double the price of the K-Cafe SMART for the K155.

It also doesn’t have the fancy, eye-catching features like BrewID that make you feel like you get your money’s worth. Paying for better construction and higher-quality parts is less satisfying to my consumer brain than paying more for fancy settings and slick mobile app integrations. Still, there’s no denying that the OfficePRO is made better than Keurig’s home lineup, and it’s worth it for busy offices.

Features

The K155 OfficePRO is a no-nonsense coffee maker that favors reliability and simplicity over having tons of fancy options. It can make a few different cup sizes, has an automatic on/off feature, and comes with a 90-ounce reservoir. It can also make hot water for tea and cocoa and has an iced setting for making cold coffee beverages in warmer weather.

The K155 OfficePRO also has short brew times of right around one minute, which helps prevent morning backups in the break room.

• Auto on/off
• Brew 4, 6, 8, or 10 ounces at a time
• Makes hot water for tea or cocoa
• 90-ounce reservoir makes 18 cups
• Fast brew times under one minute

Keurig K-Slim Single-Serve Coffee Maker – Best Keurig for Small Apartments

Aside from the K-Mini, all of the Keurigs I’ve covered so far take up a lot of space on the counter. That’s fine if you have a spacious counter, like the ones you see on cooking shows, but if you live in a small apartment with limited counter real estate, the K-Slim is the Keurig for you.

It’s the thinnest Keurig model and comes with a few nice features that give you more bang for your buck than the budget-friendly K-Mini.

Why I chose the K-Slim

The K-Slim is only five inches wide, which easily makes it the best Keurig for small spaces and the easiest model to fit onto your counter. If you can’t fit the K-Slim 

It also comes with Keurig’s MultiStream Technology, which is one of my favorite recent developments Keurig has started adding to its coffee makers. It’s also the main feature — besides size — that makes the K-Slim better than the K-Mini for small spaces, in my opinion.

The K-Slim can make 8, 10, or 12-ounce cups of coffee and comes with a reasonable 46-ounce water reservoir, which is actually pretty big for a small-footprint coffee maker.

What I don’t like about the K-Slim

Unsurprisingly, the K-Slim doesn’t have many extra features of note. It’s missing an auto-on setting and doesn’t have a strength selector, iced coffee button, or a movable water reservoir. It also only makes cups in three different sizes, which is more limiting than most Keurigs.

Some people think the K-Slim is too expensive for what you get, and I kind of agree. Unfortunately, if you’re limited by the space you have and you need the smallest Keurig you can find, you’ll have to bite the bullet and pay a little more for the K-Slim.

Features

The Keurig K-Slim is a pretty bare-bones coffee maker, even more so than the K-Mini. It has a showerhead-style spout for more even extraction, an automatic shutoff feature, and a removable reservoir. Otherwise, lacks features you’ll find on most Keurigs, like a strength toggle and an iced coffee setting.

• Makes 8, 10, or 12-oz. cups
• MultiStream water spout
• Auto-off feature
• Removable water reservoir

Are Keurigs the Best Home Coffee Makers?

This is a loaded question, so I’m going to answer it generally first before injecting some opinion of my own.

There is no such thing as the one best home coffee maker since everyone has different priorities and preferences. Keurigs excel at being easy to use and brewing coffee quickly, which makes them extremely popular. If you want to be able to wake up, push a single button, and have your coffee ready to drink less than two minutes later, a Keurig is a great choice.

However, Keurigs fall short in a few areas. One of the biggest drawbacks to buying a Keurig is that almost all Keurigs fail to make water hot enough to extract all the flavors you want to get out of good coffee. Most Keurigs don’t heat up above 200 degrees Fahrenheit, which is not nearly hot enough for most coffees. I brew my pour over at 205 degrees F, and even for super dark roast coffee — which often comes out better with a lower brew temperature — I rarely go below 195 F. 

Another problem I have with Keurigs is that using preground coffee is never going to make as good of a cup as using fresh-ground coffee. Sure, you can buy a reusable K-cup filter, but that’s not as convenient as using a premade K-cup, and the speed and ease you get with a Keurig is one of the biggest benefits of using a pod-style coffee maker.

With all of that said, the easiest way to decide whether a Keurig is the best home brewing method for you is to decide if speed or quality matters more to you. If you like the idea of being able to brew your coffee quickly and get out the door, get a Keurig. If you want to craft the best-tasting cup of coffee you possibly can, choose another method like French press or pour-over.

The Bottom Line: Which Keurig is the Best for You?

The best Keurig for you is the one that fits into your morning coffee routine. I think the Keurig K-Elite is the best overall Keurig and the one that will suit most people best. If you’re on a limited budget and only make one or two cups each morning, go with the Keurig K-Mini instead. On the flip side, if you’re looking to splurge on a Keurig and want all the latest and greatest smart features like WiFi connectivity and BrewID, the Keurig K-Cafe SMART is the one you’re looking for.

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