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A soda maker looks like a money-saving gadget right up until you do the cartridge math. The question I keep circling back to, every time a new one lands on my counter, isn’t whether it fizzes — they all fizz — but whether I’d still be reaching for it in month four, once the novelty wore off. What a good one buys you is smaller than a grocery budget and better than it sounds: cold sparkling water on demand, no cases to haul home, and no half-flat two-liter sliding back into the fridge.
The differences between machines hide in what the box doesn’t tell you. Some carbonate water only; others fizz juice, iced tea, or a cocktail and revive soda that’s gone flat, which is a real dividing line once plain seltzer gets old. Some arrive with a CO2 cylinder and bottles included, ready to hand over as a gift; others have you buying a cylinder before your first glass. Finish, footprint, and how the bottle locks in round out the call. We’ve spent six months with 12 of these, and the ones worth owning are below.
Our Top Picks
The Best Soda Makers, Reviewed
Drinkmate OmniFizz – Best Overall
Key Features
- Carbonates: Water, juice, tea, cocktails
- Dimensions: 8"D x 5"W x 16"H
- CO2 included: 1 x 60L cartridge
- Bottles included: 1L and 0.5L
- Price: Budget
Nearly every machine in this roundup fizzes water and nothing else. The OmniFizz ships with a second cap — a fizz infuser — that lets you carbonate the drink itself: orange juice, iced tea, lemonade, a batched cocktail. That is the feature that made it our top pick, and it costs less than anything else we’re recommending here.
The kit is genuinely complete. A 60-liter CO2 cartridge, a 1-liter bottle, a half-liter bottle, and the infuser arrive together, so you can fizz a glass the day the box lands — worth saying, because two of our picks show up with no gas at all. The half-liter turned out to be the one we used most: it’s the right size for one drink and it fits in a crowded fridge door.
Operation is a button on top and a cylinder that threads into the back. If the cylinder stops turning while it still feels loose, gas escapes around the collar and the bottle comes out flat; give it a firm final turn and the problem goes away. The body is plastic and looks it, which is the honest trade at this price — it earns its place on what it can carbonate, not on how it looks doing it.
If plain seltzer is the whole ambition, that versatility is money you don’t need to spend, and the SodaStream Terra covers the job with more bottles in the box. But if a soda maker has been sitting unused in a cabinet because fizzy water got boring, this is the one that keeps its counter space.
Pros
- Carbonates juice, tea, and cocktails, not just water
- Ships with a 60L cylinder and two bottles
- Press-and-release carbonating with no cord
Cons
- Plastic body feels ordinary next to metal machines
SodaStream Terra – Best Bundle
Key Features
- Dimensions: 7.9"D x 5"W x 17"H
- CO2 included: Yes, Quick Connect 60L
- Cylinder system: Quick Connect only
- Bottles included: 3
- Price: Midrange
The Terra box holds gas and three 1-liter bottles, which makes it the most complete kit we’re recommending. The bottles are the part that changes daily life: one can sit chilled in the fridge, one can be half-drunk on the counter, one can be in the dishwasher, and you’re never waiting on a warm bottle to chill before you can fizz.
Clicking a cylinder into place takes one push rather than a dozen turns, and the bottle snaps into the collar instead of screwing on. The result is a machine you can work one-handed while doing something else, and it’s the reason this is our pick for a household rather than a single seltzer drinker. At 17 inches tall and 5 inches wide, it slides under an upper cabinet and takes less counter than a toaster.
Fizz is by press count: one slow press for a sparkle, more for a proper seltzer, with a pause between presses or the gas just foams out of the top. Cold water takes carbonation more readily than tap temperature, so keeping a bottle in the fridge is the difference between two presses and four. The bubly drops in the box are a freebie and a divisive one — sweet, artificial, and not why anyone buys this machine.
Where it comes up short is at the very top of the fizz range: a store-bought mineral water still has more bite, and if that aggressive burn is what you’re chasing, no home machine here delivers it. For everyday sparkling water, three bottles and a snap-in cylinder are the combination most kitchens will keep using.
Pros
- Three bottles and gas in one box
- Cylinder clicks in with one push
- Slim 5-inch footprint under a cabinet
- Bottles are dishwasher safe
Cons
- Refills limited to SodaStream Quick Connect cylinders
Breville InFizz Fusion – Best Splurge
Key Features
- Body: Brushed stainless steel
- Weight: 7.87 lb
- CO2 included: No, standard screw-in
- Bottle included: 1L with FusionCap
- Price: Premium
The Breville arrives with no CO2 cylinder, which is an unwelcome surprise in a machine at this end of the range. The compensation is that it takes the standard screw-in 60-liter cartridges sold just about everywhere, including through SodaStream’s own exchange, so one purchase solves it and you’re never tied to a single supplier afterward.
The FusionCap is what you’re paying for. It seals the bottle so you carbonate the drink rather than the water — juice, iced tea, wine, a cocktail — and then holds that drink fizzy in the fridge instead of letting it die in a pitcher. Re-fizzing a flat soda works too, which is the same trick the Drinkmate performs in plastic at a lower price.
The hardware is the part we liked most. Brushed stainless, a twist-and-lock collar with a ring pull that’s kind on the wrists, and 3.57 kg of heft so it stays put when you lock a bottle in. Set beside the plastic machines, it’s the one that looks designed rather than molded, and it’s the one guests ask about.
Whether it earns its place comes down to what you fizz. For plain seltzer, the Drinkmate does the same job for less and the Terra does it with more bottles in the box. For a kitchen where the machine stays out and the drinks go beyond water — a splash of sparkling wine before dinner, a fizzy lemonade for the kids — this is the one we reach for.
Pros
- Carbonates wine, juice, tea, and cocktails
- FusionCap keeps the fizz in the bottle
- Brushed stainless with a secure ring-pull lock
Cons
- Extra bottle sold separately
- Priciest machine in this roundup
Mysoda Ruby 2 – Best for Quiet Kitchens
Key Features
- Body: Aluminum
- Dimensions: 9.45"D x 5.63"W x 16.14"H
- CO2 included: No, any screw-in cylinder
- Bottle included: 1L
- Price: Premium
Carbonating water in most of these machines is loud enough that you stop talking until it’s finished. The Ruby 2 doesn’t do that — the gas comes out as a hiss rather than a roar, and it’s the one machine here we were happy to use at a table with people around it. Add an aluminum body in black copper and you have the pick for a kitchen where the machine stays out.
Mysoda doesn’t sell gas, and that turns out to be a feature. The Ruby 2 takes any standard screw-in 60-liter cylinder from any manufacturer, so exchanges happen wherever is convenient rather than through a single brand — just order one with the machine, or the first glass waits on a delivery.
The nozzle is tuned for more, smaller bubbles, and the pour reads smoother than the big, sharp fizz the SodaStream machines put out — closer to bottled mineral water than to a soda fountain. Set against the Breville it gives up carbonating wine and juice, and it still costs less even after you’ve bought the gas; in exchange you get the quiet and the freedom to buy cartridges anywhere.
Pros
- Quiet enough to carbonate at the table
- Takes any brand’s screw-in CO2 cylinder
- Aluminum body with a scratch-resistant coating
Cons
- Only one bottle in the box
How We Tested 12 Soda Makers
Our shortlist started with every soda maker we could find sold in the U.S., then got cut down by the things that actually change how you use one: whether the CO2 comes in a cylinder you swap out or one you send back for a refill, what bottles fit, how much counter the base takes up, and whether anything besides the machine was in the box. That left 12 models, which we ran side by side for six months.
Testing happened in our own kitchens, on real breakfasts and weeknight dinners. Each machine got the same start: unbox it, time how long it took to go from sealed carton to first glass, and note whether we had to buy anything before we could fizz. We pressed the button and counted the seconds to full carbonation, drank the result immediately, then tasted again the next morning and after two days in the fridge to see how the bubbles held.
Then we went after the claims that separate machines — carbonating juice, iced tea, and a soda we’d deliberately let go flat, watching for foam-overs and how much cleanup followed. Bottles ran through the dishwasher on repeat, we snapped them in and out one-handed while holding a glass, and we wiped the exteriors twice a week to see which finishes showed every fingerprint. We counted liters against each cartridge to work out the real cost per glass, and kept an eye on levers, buttons, and bottle threads for the kind of wear that only shows up in month four. Each box also got judged as a gift, since some were ready to hand over and some needed a shopping trip first.
How to Choose a Soda Maker
The machine is the cheap half of the purchase — the gas, the bottles, and where you can exchange a cylinder are what you live with, so settle those before you fall for a finish.
Decide What You Want to Fizz
The standard machine is a water carbonator: you fizz cold water, then add syrup, a squeeze of citrus, or a dash of bitters in the glass. Put the flavoring in the bottle before carbonating and it foams straight up the neck and over the counter. That single habit explains most of the mess people blame on these appliances.
If you want sparkling juice, tea, wine, or a cocktail, you need a machine designed for it — the Drinkmate with its fizz infuser, or the Breville with its FusionCap. Everything else in this group is a seltzer machine, and the good ones are very good at that one job.
Follow the Cylinder, Not the Machine
Every machine here runs on a 60-liter CO2 cylinder, which the makers rate at about 16 gallons of fizz. The question is the fitting. SodaStream’s Quick Connect clicks in with one push and is exchanged through SodaStream; standard screw-in cylinders are sold and swapped far more widely, and both the Breville and the Mysoda take them.
That matters more the longer you own the thing. Heavy carbonating burns gas faster than the rating suggests, so a household that drinks seltzer daily will be exchanging cylinders often; pick the system that lets you exchange where it’s convenient rather than the one that looks nicest on day one.
Count the Bottles Before You Choose
One bottle is the minimum, and it’s what most single-machine kits include. It works, but cold water carbonates far more readily than tap temperature, so a lone bottle means waiting on the fridge between rounds. A kit with three bottles, like the Terra, is the difference between a daily habit and a gadget you use when you remember.
Use only the pressure-rated bottle that came with the machine, or one the maker lists as compatible. Bottles are generally brand-specific and built for carbonation pressure, which a standard reusable water bottle is not.
Measure the Counter and the Overhang
These are tall appliances: most run 16 to 18 inches high on a footprint five to eight inches wide, so height rather than width is what rules out a spot. The Terra is built to tuck under an upper cabinet, but check your clearance before you count on it.
They’re also light, and they can feel top-heavy once a full bottle is locked in. Lift from the body rather than dragging the machine around by the bottle, and leave a couple of inches of headroom for pulling the bottle out.
Plastic, Metal, and How Loud It Gets
Two of the four machines here are plastic-bodied; the Mysoda’s aluminum and the Breville’s brushed stainless look and feel a class above, and both show fingerprints where plastic shows scratches. Neither changes how the water tastes, so this is a decision about whether the machine lives in a cabinet or on display.
Noise is the other thing you can’t see in a listing. The Mysoda is quiet enough to run mid-conversation; the others are not. If you carbonate at the table rather than in an empty kitchen, that’s worth paying for.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does it cost to keep a soda maker running?
The gas, not the machine, is the recurring expense. Exchanging an empty cylinder for a full one is far cheaper than buying a new cylinder outright, which is why these pay off for people who drink sparkling water most days; syrups and flavor drops are optional and easy to skip.
One cost catches people out: the Breville and the Mysoda arrive with no cylinder at all. If the kit you’re buying doesn’t list gas in the box, add a 60-liter screw-in cartridge to the order or the first glass waits on a delivery.
Do soda makers need to be plugged in?
No. Every machine here is manual and runs on CO2 pressure — you press a button or pull a lever to release gas — so none of them needs an outlet or a battery, and any stretch of counter will do.
What they do need is cold water and a charged cylinder. Warm water and a cylinder on its last legs give you a glass of faintly angry tap water no matter how long you hold the button.
Can I use my own bottle with a soda maker?
Only the pressure-rated bottle that came with the machine, or one the maker lists as compatible. These bottles are built for carbonation pressure and a standard reusable water bottle is not, which is why every maker sells its own.
Bottles are brand-specific in practice, so if you want two in rotation, order the spare when you order the machine rather than assuming a SodaStream bottle will fit a Mysoda.
Final Verdict
Start with the Drinkmate OmniFizz. It’s the only machine here that carbonates juice, tea, and cocktails as readily as water, it arrives with gas and two bottles, and it costs less than the machine that does the same trick in stainless. If plain seltzer in quantity is the whole ambition, the SodaStream Terra is the better buy: gas, three bottles, and a cylinder that clicks in without a fight.
If the machine is going to sit out on the counter, the calculation changes. The Breville is the best-built and best-looking of the group, the Mysoda is the quietest and the only one that takes any brand of cartridge, and both are worth the extra money — just put a cylinder in the cart with them.