Choosing an air fryer

Which specifications change how a machine cooks, which are marketing, and what the number on the box actually measures. Written to help you decide, not to sell you anything.

There is no “best air fryer” on this site and there is not going to be one. AirfryerHQ has not used any of these appliances, takes no advertising and earns nothing on any link. A ranking needs a judgement about which machine is better and that needs having cooked with them, which we have not. What we have read is the manuals — so this section explains the specifications rather than scoring the products.

Start here: what the numbers mean

Four things change how a machine cooks. Most of the rest is comparison-table filler, and the most important figure is not printed on any box.

What litres actually mean, and why they mislead — The number every machine is sold on, and the reason it does not answer the question you are asking.
Which specifications actually matter — Wattage, temperature range, modes — what each one changes, and which are filler.
What actually matters when choosing one — Including the practical things that decide whether you keep using it.
What size do I need? — Answered as honestly as the published evidence allows, which is less precisely than you would like.

Which shape of machine?

The biggest decision, and it is about how you cook rather than about quality. A drawer, two drawers, one flexible space or a cavity with shelves are different appliances that share a name.

Single basket or dual zone? — Two drawers buy independence, not capacity.
Basket or oven style? — A drawer crisps harder and holds less.
Do I need one if my oven has an air-fry mode? — It narrows the gap and does not close it, and the reason is cavity size.
Air fryer or microwave? — They fail in opposite directions, which makes the choice easy.

All the architectures in detail

Running cost, with the evidence

There is now measured data behind this rather than only arithmetic — and it says the saving is real, and that a good part of it comes from the machine being smaller.

Is an air fryer cheaper to run than an oven? — Decisively for small quantities. For a family meal, it depends how many times you run it.
How much electricity does an air fryer use? — Not what the label says, and the gap between those two is the whole subject.
Work out a cost at your own tariff — Takes a measured figure if you have one, and gives an upper bound if you do not.

Before you commit

Two questions that decide how long the appliance lasts, and almost nobody asks either before buying.

Can you buy another basket in three years? — The coating is the wear item and it fails long before the motor. Manufacturers differ enormously on parts.
Will it actually fit where you want to put it? — It needs clearance above and behind for the outlet, which is the commonest placement regret.
What will you need to buy for it? — Mostly nothing. One thing is worth having before anything else.

The machines we hold manuals for

AirfryerHQ has read the manual for 29 models. 29 of those pages carry enough model-specific detail to be worth landing on; the rest are published, linked and honest about holding little. None of them is a review.

Browse by manufacturer if you know what you own or what you are looking at.

Compare them side by side

Why there is no size selector here

A tool that told you which capacity suits your household would need to know how much food each machine holds in a single layer. That figure is published by no manufacturer in this catalogue, and it cannot be derived from litres or from external dimensions without inventing it.

So the tool does not exist, and the gap is recorded rather than filled with a plausible-looking answer. If that changes — if manufacturers start publishing base dimensions, or somebody measures them — it becomes possible, and this is the first page that will say so.