Short answer
Per cup, usually yes: in the owner sums we read, beans came out cheaper per cup than pods, though the figures varied a lot. But a bean-to-cup machine usually costs more to buy and asks for filters, cleaning tablets and descaler, so it only ends up cheaper once its savings have paid back the higher price. Below is how to find that point for your own kitchen, with the prices you actually pay.
What goes into the cost of a cup
A fair comparison counts three things for each machine: the coffee (a pod, or the beans one cup uses), the supplies the machine asks for (water filters, descaler, cleaning tablets, milk-system cleaner), and the machine itself, shared out over the cups it makes. Milk from the fridge costs the same whichever machine made the coffee, so leave it out; if your pod system makes milk drinks from pods, the milk is already in the pod price. We leave out electricity and water, because the makers’ documents we read don’t give energy use per cup.
The sums below use letters where prices go: put in the prices you pay. We don’t quote any, because they change too often; each machine’s page shows today’s figures.
Step 1: the cost of a pod
For pods the sum is short. If a pack of N pods costs P, each pod costs P ÷ N. Count every pod that goes into one drink: if a drink takes two, double it. Two things move the figure. One is the system: each machine takes its own system’s pods only, and the choice of brands differs. Philips lists Nespresso Original-type capsules as well as L’OR’s own for its L’OR Barista machine, so more than one brand makes pods for Original, while owners in the UK threads we read say Vertuo pods are bought mostly from Nespresso. The other is how you buy: one Tassimo owner we read buys discs in bulk on discount. Use the price you’d really pay.
Step 2: the cost of a cup from beans
For beans you need the price per kilo and the grams one cup uses. If a kilo costs B and a cup uses g grams, the cup costs B × g ÷ 1,000. The bean-to-cup makers we track don’t publish how many grams a drink uses, and it changes with the drink and the strength. For a sense of scale, Sage’s espresso machine manuals put a single shot at 8 to 11 g and a double at 16 to 19 g, and Melitta suggests about 6 to 8 g of ground coffee for a cup of filter. At 10 g a cup, a kilo makes about 100 cups; at 18 g, about 55. For your own figure, count how many drinks a bag makes at your usual setting, allowing a little for coffee thrown away while you settle the grind.
The quick test: at g grams a cup, a kilo of beans makes 1,000 ÷ g cups. At 10 g that’s 100 cups, so compare the price of a kilo bag with the price of 100 pods. If the bag costs less, beans win on the coffee alone, before you count supplies and the machine.
Coffee per cup
Usually lower in the owner sums we read
Usually higher in the owner sums we read
Machine price
Usually dearer to buy
Usually cheaper to buy
Running supplies
Filters, cleaning tablets and descaler
Mostly descaler on the ones we track
Choice of coffee
Any beans you like
One system's pods only
Daily upkeep
Grounds bin, drip tray, brew-unit rinses
Empty the used pods and drip tray
Choose Bean-to-cup machines if you drink enough coffee for the cheaper cups to earn back the dearer machine, and a little upkeep each week doesn't put you off.
See Bean-to-cup machinesChoose Pod machines if you make only a few cups a day, want the lowest outlay or want the least cleaning.
See Pod machinesStep 3: add the running supplies
This is the part buyers forget. Each machine asks for its own supplies at its own intervals, and the manual names them. Multiply each item’s price by the times a year you’ll buy it, add them up, and divide by the cups you make in a year (two cups a day is about 730). Here is what the makers list.
- Philips Series 3300 LatteGo: an AquaClean water filter when its light flashes after 95 litres, and at least every three months; a coffee oil remover tablet for the brew group each month; grease for the brew group every two months (a tube comes in the box); and a bottle of Philips descaler for each descale. The LatteGo milk jug just rinses under the tap or goes in the dishwasher.
- De’Longhi Magnifica S: a DLSC002 water filter about every two months, or three weeks if the machine stands unused, and one 100 ml dose of DLSC500 Decalk Care descaler per descale (the 500 ml bottle holds five). De’Longhi also sells DLSC550 MultiClean for milk circuits, steam wands included.
- Siemens EQ.300 and EQ.700: a BRITA Intenza filter (TZ70003) every two months at the latest, cleaning tablets (TZ80001B) for each cleaning or calc’nClean run, and descaling tablets (TZ80002B) when the machine asks.
- JURA E8: a CLARIS Smart+ filter (24232) when the machine asks, a cleaning tablet (24225) after every 180 drinks, milk system cleaner (24158) daily when you make milk drinks, and a new HP3 milk pipe (24114) about every three months. With the filter fitted, JURA says the E8 doesn’t ask to be descaled.
- Melitta Purista: a Pro Aqua filter (6784658-uk) and a Perfect Clean tablet every two months, and Anti Calc descaler (6788302-uk) every three months.
- Tassimo Style Friendly (pod): two descaling tablets per descale, about four times a year, so two packs of four (TCZ6004) a year. Bosch lists no water filter for it.
- Nespresso Vertuo Up and Essenza Mini (pod): one unit from Nespresso’s descaling kit (142420, a set of two) per descale; the Vertuo Up lights its maintenance button orange when it’s due.
A water filter doesn’t remove a cost; it swaps one for another. Philips says changing AquaClean filters when asked means up to 5,000 cups without descaling, De’Longhi says its filter lets you descale about 20% less often, and Melitta says a Purista on two cups a day, with six filters a year, needs one descale a year. Work out a year of each to see which costs less for you. Hard water means more descaling, and the Philips 3300 and the Magnifica S both come set to level 4, for hard water, so set your real level with the test strip in the box. The Drinking Water Inspectorate says your water company can give you the hardness for your home; our guide to descaling in a hard-water area covers the rest.
Step 4: spread the machine over its life
The machine is the biggest single cost, and the hardest to share out, because no maker publishes how long a coffee machine lasts. The five machines we feature here each come with a two-year warranty, and the Consumer Rights Act presumes a fault in the first six months was there from the start, but neither tells you how many years you’ll get. Owner stories run both ways. Among the Magnifica S owners we read, some report machines, including earlier De’Longhis they replaced like for like, lasting from 3 to 13 years, and a few report early failures; one Tassimo owner we read replaced an identical machine after three years. Those are anecdotes, not a lifespan.
So divide the machine’s price by the cups you make in a year, then by the years you expect to keep it. Try a short life and a long one, say two years and five: if beans still win at the short one, the decision is safe.
Putting it together: when does bean-to-cup pay off?
Add the three parts for each machine: coffee per cup, supplies per cup and machine per cup. Or go straight to the break-even point. If the bean-to-cup costs D more than the pod machine, and each cup from beans (coffee plus supplies) costs s less than a cup from pods (pods plus descaler), the extra price is paid back after D ÷ s cups. Divide that by the cups you make a day to get days. If you already own a pod machine, D is simply the price of the bean-to-cup. The same sum works against takeaway coffee: put the café price in place of the pod price.
A worked example, with made-up round numbers. Say a kilo of your beans costs the same as 40 pods and your cup uses 10 g, so the kilo makes 100 cups: each bean cup costs 0.4 of a pod, saving 0.6. Say the bean-to-cup’s filters, tablets and descaler cost 0.1 of a pod per cup more than the pod machine’s descaler, so the real saving is 0.5 of a pod per cup. If the bean-to-cup costs as much as 500 pods more than the pod machine, you make that back after 1,000 cups: about 16 months at two cups a day, or about eight months at four. These are not today’s prices; swap in your own.
Which one suits you
The fewer cups you make, the longer the payback: at one cup a day it takes twice as long as at two. So pod machines suit light drinkers and small spaces. The Nespresso Essenza Mini is 8.4 cm wide, against 23 cm for the Magnifica S; the Tassimo Style Friendly adds tea and hot chocolate (see Dolce Gusto vs Tassimo); and the Nespresso Vertuo Up brews all seven Vertuo cup sizes.
Bean-to-cup suits households that drink several coffees a day, want to choose their own beans and like milk drinks. The De’Longhi Magnifica S is our budget bean-to-cup pick, with a steam wand you froth milk with yourself. The Philips Series 3300 LatteGo adds one-touch milk drinks and an AquaClean filter that can put off descaling for months. Our De’Longhi vs Philips head-to-head compares the two.
Ready to compare models? See every bean-to-cup machine we track or every pod machine we track, and our ranked picks in the best bean-to-cup coffee machines and the best pod coffee machines. Still deciding on the type? Start with which coffee machine you should buy.
Cost per cup questions
Does a bean-to-cup machine pay for itself?
It can, but only after enough cups. Take the extra you pay for the bean-to-cup over a pod machine and divide it by what you save on each cup, once filters, cleaning tablets and descaler are counted: that’s how many cups it takes. Divide by the cups you make a day to get the time. The fewer cups you drink, the longer it takes, so run the sum with your own prices.
How many cups does a kilo of beans make?
About 100 at 10 g a cup, or about 55 at 18 g. The bean-to-cup makers we track don’t publish a dose per drink, so count how many drinks a bag makes at your usual strength. For a sense of scale, Sage’s espresso machine manuals put a single shot at 8 to 11 g and a double at 16 to 19 g of coffee.
Can I save money with a generic descaler?
Check your manual first, because a cheap descaler can cost more in the end. De’Longhi says faults caused by an unsuitable descaler may not be covered by its guarantee. Philips says descalers based on sulfuric, hydrochloric, sulfamic or acetic acid, which includes vinegar, can damage the water circuit. Nespresso and Tassimo both advise against vinegar, and Bosch’s Tassimo manual rules out descalers that contain phosphoric acid.
Does hard water make a machine dearer to run?
Yes: the harder your water, the more often the machine asks to be descaled, and the more descaler or filters you buy. Set the hardness at first use with the test strip in the box. The Philips 3300 and the Magnifica S both come set to level 4, for hard water, and setting your true level stops needless descales. Your water company can tell you how hard the water is at your address.
Should I count milk in the cost per cup?
Only where the machines use it differently. Milk from your fridge costs the same whichever machine heats it, so leave it out. Pod machines without a frother, such as the Tassimo, make milky drinks from pods, so there the milk is already in the pod price, and a milk drink that takes two pods costs two.
