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Pizza is Universal. It is America's favorite food—the thin sliver of Venn occupied by both preschoolers and sophisticates. But until recently, the best pizza ovens for home use required compromise or an expensive, backyard-filling obsession. A Neapolitan-style pie asks for a blistering 900 degrees Fahrenheit. Most home ovens are lucky to crest 500, too low even for a New York slice without a good pizza stone to absorb and retain heat.

This has rapidly changed in the past decade since Ooni (then called Uuni) pioneered the modern, affordable backyard pizza oven. Since then, I and fellow reviewers Adrienne So, Martin Cizmar, and Kat Merck have made more than a thousand pizzas in the quest for the best backyard pizza ovens. A decade later, an Ooni remains the top outdoor pizza oven pick for most people. The Ooni Karu 2 ($449) is both attractive and versatile, letting you swap between wood-fired rusticity and the convenience of cooking with gas.

But others have caught up a bit. The All-Clad Gas-Powered Pizza Oven ($800) is an excellent propane oven with an accurate temperature gauge that will rotate your pizza for you to ensure even heat. As of early April, it's available for a steep discount right now if you buy directly from All-Clad. For those who simply must have blistering temperature stability at 950 degrees needed for real Neapolitan pies, the Gozney Dome Gen 2 ($2,300) with a Neapolitan arch ($60) is your best bet.

But we’ve also included indoor pizza ovens, a good budget pizza oven, and an excellent portable pizza oven for those who want to make pizza at base camp or a cabin. Be sure to check out our many other buying guides, including the Best Griddles, Best Cast Iron Pans, Best Smokeless Fire Pits, and Best Grills. Thirsty? Here are the Best Slushie Machines.

The 5 Best Outdoor Pizza Ovens

Best Pizza Oven OverallOoni Karu 2

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$449 Ooni

Best Gas Pizza Oven (With Rotating Stone)All-Clad Gas Pizza Oven

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$1,000 $500 (50% off) All-Clad

Best Upgrade Pizza Oven for Neapolitan PizzaGozney Dome Gen 2 Pizza Oven

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$2,300 Gozney (Oven Only)

Best Large Pizza Oven for FamiliesOoni Koda 2 Max

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$1,300 Ooni

April 2026: I've added the Gozney Dome Gen 2, our top upgrade pick for Neapolitan pizza. We also tested and added the Gozney Arc Lite to our honorable mentions, and the Ooni Volt 2 to our roundup of indoor electric pizza ovens. I have updated prices and descriptions throughout, and added information on new oven models.

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- Best Pizza Oven Overall: Ooni Karu 2

- Best Gas Pizza Oven: All-Clad With Rotating Stone

- Best Upgrade Pizza Oven for Neapolitan Pizza: Gozney Dome Gen 2

- Best Big Pizza Oven for Families: Ooni Koda Max

- Best Portable Pizza Oven: Gozney Tread

- Compare the Top 5 Pizza Ovens

- Useful Pizza Accessories

- How We Tested

- Honorable Mentions

- Indoor Electric Pizza Ovens

- Also Tested

Best Pizza Oven Overall: Ooni Karu 2

Photograph: Adrienne So

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Ooni

Karu 2

$449 Ooni

$449 Amazon

WIRED/TIRED

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WIRED

- Gorgeous wood oven with a propane-add o

- Lightweight, but still well insulated

- Expanded fuel space from previous model

TIRED

- Might need propane add-on to maintain top heat of 950 degrees Fahrenheit

The Karu 2 from Ooni remains the most gorgeous, versatile, portable backyard pizza oven for your money. It's also among the easiest wood-burners to use. The original innovation behind Ooni's ovens is still what has kept them atop this list of the best pizza ovens: They have managed to make a wood-burning backyard pizza oven portable, functional, and kinda lovable—while still also allowing for the convenience of propane cooking.

The Karu 2 is the updated version of Ooni's best-selling multifuel Karu 16, and the new version has kept the original's virtues intact. The Karu 2 is still light and portable (a mere 33.7 pounds), which makes it easy to move around your backyard and assemble. The powder-coated finish over a stainless steel shell manages to concentrate heat without heavy, dense insulation. You can still use either charcoal or wood, or buy an optional gas burner for $120 more.

But the upgrades are important. The fuel tray is 45 percent bigger than the original, allowing fuel sticks beyond Ooni’s proprietary ones. Bigger pieces of wood—like the cherry and pecan my colleague Adrienne So found at a local hardware store—remove the need to stoke flames to maintain heat “like a coal shoveler on a WW II–era steamship,” as she put it. The larger fuel tray heats the pizza stone faster and more evenly, up to 750 degrees within 20 minutes. The temperature varied

The 5 Best Outdoor Pizza Ovens: Wood-Fired, Gas, Propane (2026) | WIRED