The Best Sparkling Water Maker (2025), According to Years of Testing
Dedicating some counter space to a soda maker comes with several benefits. For one thing, these appliances are a great way to cut down on single use plastic and other waste by eliminating the recycling bags full of bottles, cans, and cardboard boxes you inevitably accumulate with a healthy La Croix habit. But they also will save you a lot of money in the long run, as carbonating your own water costs less than buying premade fizz from the store—one standard size CO2 canister, which should cost plus or minus $20, can carbonate around 60 liters of water.
Our top picks
After years of testing soda makers, we have found models that make it quick and easy to make zingy, fizzy drinks (including juice, wine, and cocktails) with the push of a button. Find our top picks below and keep reading to learn more about how we tested sparkling water makers and what we thought of the machines that didn’t earn a top spot.
New in this update: Our latest tests include something old and something new. One model is a retro relic from the early days of home soda making, while the other is a more advanced, electric-powered model from SodaStream.
Throughout our years of testing, the Drinkmate Omnifizz Sparkling Water and Soda Maker has been the most affordable sparkling water maker that is also capable of carbonating wine, cocktails, tea, and (pulp-free) fruit juice.
The Omnifizz has a well-designed detachable siphon with fast and slow pressure release tabs. This gives you more control when carbonating anything with a syrup or other sugars (wine or cocktails, for example) which fizz up a lot more than plain water. The siphon design also offers a much more secure connection than the machines that require you to pop and/or twist the bottle into the base, which diminishes the likelihood of an accidental soda explosion to the face (which happens to the best of us!)
In addition to being kind of meh in the looks department, this carbonator is made of all plastic parts so it doesn’t feel as durable as some others we tested. And depending on the retailer you order from, it may or may not ship with a CO2 cylinder, so be sure to read the product descriptions carefully. If you order from Home Depot, you’ll get a full-size (60 L) cylinder, but at Walmart it’s not included. The machine from Amazon came with an adorable but disappointingly small 3 oz. “test cylinder,” but that’s not the case for every Amazon offer either.
Height: 16.14″
Machine material(s): Plastic
Bottle material: Plastic
Comes with starter CO2 tank: Yes (size varies by retailer)
Requires proprietary CO2 tank: No
Warranty: 2 years
Breville has cornered the market on high-end small kitchen appliances with its top performing countertop oven, induction burner, toaster, and immersion blender. In 2024 the brand added a sparkling water maker to that list.
The Breville Infizz Fusion is a sleek, versatile carbonator, and like the Drinkmate Ominifizz, it will carbonate more than just water. The default setting on the carbonator cap is a slow pressure release that allows carbonation of fruit juice, wine, cocktails, and even creamy drinks if you’re feeling weird. You can manually release the pressure faster if you just need a bottle of fizzy water in a hurry. And unlike the best soda makers in the $100 to $150 range, which usually have all plastic parts, the InFizz Fusion is made of durable, high-quality stainless steel, which is available in a variety of finishes, though options vary by retailer. It also comes with a handful of accessories (including a juice filter and silicone bottle brush) to enhance the experience of using and cleaning the machine and bottle.
A countertop soda maker is a pretty simple gadget, and this is one of the priciest ones you can buy. If it’s worth it to you to pay for quality materials, aesthetics, and the ability to wow your dinner guests by transforming a bottle of bad rosé into something bubbly and palatable, you’ll likely be very happy with this. But do keep in mind that the base model, which is $249 at the time of publishing, doesn’t ship with a CO2 tank, so you’ll either need to buy one or or spend $30 more on one that comes with the tank.
Height: 16.9″
Machine material(s): Stainless steel
Bottle material: Plastic
Comes with starter CO2 tank: Only if you buy the bundle
Requires proprietary CO2 tank: No
Warranty: 2 years
How we tested sparkling water makers
For the purposes of this review, every year, we look at the most popular and highly rated countertop sparkling water makers—the kind that use standard 60-ml CO2 cylinders—taking into consideration availability, price, and customer ratings. As we unbox each, we evaluate the feel and quality of materials and the ease of use as we set up the machine. We use each to make seltzer with cold, filtered water—getting it as bubbly as the machine/manual allows. Depending on the versatility of the devices and models we’re testing, we’ll also carbonate cocktails, wine, juice, etc.
Other sparkling water makers we tested and liked
Mysoda Woody
This simple, stylish carbonator is made from renewable wood composite. It’s beautiful, sturdy, and, when it comes to the level of carbonation, performs as well as any SodaStream. And if you want an aesthetically pleasing, sustainably made, budget-friendly soda maker, you’ll be very happy with this purchase. But there’s a catch to that: Most soda makers ship with a starter CO2 tank and this one doesn’t. New tanks, not tank trade-ins, cost $30 to $40. So when you factor that into the cost, the initial investment is more than the cost of our top pick, which did perform a little better in our testing anyway. If you want to stay under $100 all-in, check out the Philips Sparkling Water Maker below.
Mysoda Glassy
This is the Finnish brand Mysoda’s latest addition to its lineup, distinguishing itself from the others with its glass carafe. Anytime we encounter a soda maker that carbonates in glass we are suspicious because we haven’t seen them work well in the past. This might be because soda makers that carbonate in glass tend to be designed with additional safeguards to minimize the possibility of the bottle exploding, and those safeguards can be a little fussy. Usually those safeguards take the form of some sort of cover that goes over the entire bottle during the carbonation process. In the case of the Glassy, the bottle is covered by a curved sliding door that you shut by hand reminiscent of a changing room curtain or a shower stall. To use the machine, you place the bottle inside and twist it onto the gas nozzle to lock it in place. Then you shut the door and press the top of the machine toward the front to inject the gas (the top is sort of one large button). After a couple of pumps, you’ll hear a hissing sound, which signals that it’s ready. You then press the top toward the back of the machine, which causes the door to fly open, presenting your carbonated water like a magician’s assistant doing a quick change magic trick. It’s all very dramatic, which is kind of fun. As far as soda makers that carbonate in glass, this is the best we’ve tested. That being said, we aren’t sure how important it is to be able to carbonate in glass, especially with the risk (however small) that it will explode into shards with you close by. You can always just carbonate in a plastic bottle and pour it into a glass vessel for serving.
Check out our full review of the Glassy here.
Philips Sparkling Water Maker
The Philips Sparkling Water Maker is a handsome machine with a comparatively accessible price tag, and it’s simple to set up and easy to operate with one button. More importantly, in our testing it made pleasantly sharp carbonated water. Like the Mysoda Woody above, it doesn’t ship with CO2 so you’ll still need to shell out for a standard screw-in 60L CO2 tank, but at the current retail price, even with the addition of a tank, it still comes in at just under $100.
The Aerflo is novel in that it is a portable, personal soda maker, allowing you to have sparkling water on the go. There is a carbonator mechanism inside the lid, which you activate by pressing a button on the top. Instead of full-size CO2 canisters used for most sparkling water makers, it utilizes smaller capsules typically used for airsoft or BB guns. Because of their size, the capsules have to be swapped out more often. One capsule has enough CO2 for about one day’s worth of sparkling water. It’s cool and convenient if you really prefer carbonated water over still. Generally, we think that this is probably a product for a smaller subset of people than the countertop version, but if this appeals to you, we say go for it. Check out our full review of the Aerflo here.
Aarke Carbonator III
This is the model that came after the now-discontinued Aarke Carbonator II, and the main upgrades are materials. The Aarke Carbonator III has more stainless steel and fewer plastic parts than the II. Both models are highly aesthetic machines that are easy enough to use and make perfectly fine sparkling water. If you like the look of it, you’ll probably be very happy with it, but the Breville is in the same general price range and is a lot more versatile. Plus there are lower-priced machines that perform just as well.
Soda makers we don’t recommend
Ninja is among the most prolific small appliance manufacturers with coffee makers, countertop ovens, blenders, ice cream makers, juicers, toasters, air fryers—the list goes on and on and on. So it should come as no surprise that the brand is now in the soda maker business too. Like many of Ninja’s other offerings, the Ninja Thirsti is a bit gimmicky while still being kind of cool. Out of the box, this electric soda maker (yes, you have to plug it in) reminded us of a Nespresso machine. The water tank sits off to the side and the carbonation happens inside the machine before coming out of a little spout. There’s an opening on the front to add up to two proprietary flavoring cartridges, which you can put in your bubbly water individually or combine them both. Currently there are 30 flavors available and the machine shipped with four of them. The control panel on the front of the machine allows you to choose between still water or three levels of carbonation, and four drink sizes (6, 12, 18, or 24 oz.). After testing, we have mixed feelings about this machine. Overall, it seems like a bit much for something to have at home. It could maybe be a great addition to a teachers’ lounge or a small office. But keep in mind that the water tank does require truly chilled, cold water so you’d also need a fridge or ice nearby whenever you want to use it.
Glacier Fresh Sparkin Cold Soda Maker
If you’ve ever dreamed of having a club soda tap in your kitchen, this is probably as close as you’re going to get without cutting into your countertops. Like the Ninja above, the Glacier Fresh Sparkin Cold Soda Maker carbonates water in the machine, not in a bottle. Unlike the Ninja, the machine chills the water for you (though the manual still recommends filling the reservoir on the back of the machine with cold water). Once it’s filled, getting your bubbly water from the “tap” is a three-step process. First, you push a button to send water from the reservoir to the bubbling (and presumably chilling) chamber, then you push down on a lever to carbonate it. Once it’s sufficiently bubbly, you press another little lever on the front to dispense the water into a glass. It’s less complicated than it sounds, but with an 88-square-inch footprint, most people will be better off with a bottle-style carbonator. We should also note that when moved from the counter to a nearby table with the CO2 canister in place and some water still in the chamber (ill-advised, perhaps), it began to make a weird squealing noise.
The SodaStream Art is marketed as the company’s premium carbonator, due to its retro-inspired body and being lever instead of a button operated. Though it produces the exact same carbonated water as other SodaStream models, it operates a little differently: Instead of pushing a button to carbonate, you pull the lever and you can pull it up to six times for the bubbliest water. But it’s made of lightweight plastic that feels cheap. If you want something that looks good on the countertop, there are prettier options that are also sturdier.
SodaStream Fizzi One Touch
At one point, when having an electric soda maker was fine (novel, even), the SodaStream Fizzi One Touch was our top pick for the best electric soda maker. But after years of making soda with a wide range of machines, we think there’s no need to plug in something so basic when you can make better fizzy water without it, so we’re no longer recommending this—or any sparkling water makers that require electricity.
Aarke carbonators are really easy on the eyes, and this “pro” version doesn’t skimp on materials. Instead of the typical plastic bottles, this one uses glass bottles, and the top of the machine (which is available in a matte black, matte sand, or shiny stainless-steel finish) covers the top of the bottle in case you were to over-carbonate and cause the glass to explode. Unfortunately, it’s not very user-friendly. Our tester had issues getting everything to lock into place and ended up with an explosion—though, luckily, it was only water and not glass! We eventually got it to work, but for the price, it should be easier to operate.
Online, we loved the sleek design of this soda maker, but in person, the materials felt cheap and flimsy. Also, because it’s so sleek and slim, the water bottles are really tall and didn’t fit into any shelves in our tester’s fridge.
Instead of using a CO2 tank to produce carbon dioxide, this machine uses citric acid and baking soda. And your very competent and soda-maker-savvy tester ended up getting both in his eyes trying to make it work. After that, we couldn’t get it to function properly so unfortunately we couldn’t offer feedback on the soda water, and colleagues have reported similar issues.
Currently, the Terra is SodaStream’s most basic offering, and functionally, it’s a lot like the original SodaStream, the Fizzi. However, instead of a screw-in CO2 cartridge, this machine uses the brand’s Quick Connect cartridges, which click in. Because the Quick Connect feature is proprietary, using this machine means being married to Soda Stream’s cylinder exchange program. With products like the Mysoda Woody or the Philips Sparkling Water Maker, you can and should get something with a universal connection.
This style of carbonator is a relic of the 19th century, and while it has an abundance of charm, it’s more tedious, fussy, and impractical than its modern counterparts. It relies on small, single-use CO2 cartridges—which negates the whole eco-friendly argument for carbonating at home over buying seltzer from the store— and you have to use two cartridges per liter if you like your seltzer extra sharp. Frankly, the only people we’d recommend this to would be that husband and wife on TLC who pretend they’re living in the 1950s.
There is nothing inherently wrong with the E-Duo. It is one of the few carbonators that gives you the option to use a glass bottle instead of plastic, and it is very easy to use. It does require a few additional steps to lock the bottle safely into place (just in case that glass bottle explodes!), but we didn’t find the safety mechanisms to be overly fussy. But as we noted for the SodaStream One Touch, with so many excellent soda makers that function effectively without electricity, we don’t really see the need to use one that does.
Discontinued soda makers we’ve tested
Soda maker manufacturers are constantly innovating and upgrading and as new machines hit the market, older models are discontinued. Here are models we’ve tried that are no longer available widely, though you may still be able to find them used or through third-party sellers.
The now-discontinued Aarke Carbonator II looked great and was perfectly fine (though not amazing) performance-wise. It was just so pricey given that adequate performance we didn’t give a top spot.
My fellow testers and I liked the original and now-discontinued SodaStream Fizzi. It was nothing fancy, but it was easy to use and delivered an impressive level of carbonation.
The SodaStream Aqua Fizz we tested for an earlier review came with dishwasher-safe glass carafes but the design was clunky and it wasn’t super user-friendly. Our testers were also underwhelmed with the level of carbonation. A variation on this model is still available on Amazon but given the price and our experience with the specific model we tested, we don’t recommend it.