Short answer
Choose Nespresso Original and the Essenza Mini if you mostly drink espresso, want capsules from more than one brand and have very little space. Choose Vertuo and the Vertuo Up if you want mugs and large cups at one button, ready in seconds, and are happy to buy Nespresso’s own pods. If you drink long coffees, the Vertuo Up is the safer buy.
This is the first fork for anyone buying Nespresso. The two systems use different capsules that don’t swap, so the machine you buy decides which pods you’ll be buying for years. To keep the comparison fair, we’ve set our compact Original pick against our favourite Vertuo, the two machines we’d point most people to on each side. What separates them is capsule choice, cup size and how much worktop they take; descaling and recycling are much the same. Both are in our comparison of every pod machine we track, and the wider field is in the best pod coffee machines.
Capsule choice
Original capsules, other brands included
Nespresso Vertuo pods only
Cup sizes
Espresso 40 ml and lungo 110 ml
Seven sizes, ristretto to carafe
Worktop space
8.4 cm wide, 20.4 cm tall, 2.3 kg
12 cm wide, 25.5 cm tall, 4 kg
Tank and pod bin
0.6 L tank, 5 to 6 used capsules
1.4 L tank, up to 18 used pods
Heat-up
About 25 seconds
About 3 seconds
Settings Tie
Two buttons; volumes set on the machine
Iced mode; hardness and temperature in app
Care and recycling Tie
15-minute descale; Nespresso recycling
15-minute descale; Nespresso recycling
Choose the Nespresso Essenza Mini if you mostly drink espresso, want a choice of capsule brands and have very little space.
Choose the Nespresso Vertuo Up if you drink mugs or large cups, want it ready in seconds and are happy with Nespresso's own pods.
Capsule choice
This is the difference that lasts. Original is the older and more open format: Nespresso makes Original capsules, and so do other brands. Philips, for one, lists Nespresso Original-type capsules as compatible with its L’OR Barista machines, alongside L’OR’s own. Vertuo is closed. Each Vertuo pod carries a barcode that the machine reads before it brews, and the Vertuo Up takes Vertuo pods only; Original capsules don’t fit. If the machine can’t read a barcode, Nespresso says it runs about 40 ml of rinse water instead of coffee, so use fresh, undamaged pods, put in the right way up. If you want to shop around for capsules, Original wins.
Cup sizes
Vertuo was built for bigger drinks. The Vertuo Up brews all seven Vertuo sizes: ristretto, espresso, double espresso, gran lungo, mug, alto and carafe, the largest of which De’Longhi gives as 535 ml. The pod sets the size, so there’s nothing to choose. The Essenza Mini makes two drinks, a 40 ml espresso and a 110 ml lungo. You can store a longer or shorter volume on either button by holding it while it brews, and the Vertuo Up lets you do the same by holding its button, but on the Essenza it’s the same small capsule either way. If you drink mugs of coffee, or want a carafe for guests, Vertuo wins clearly.
Worktop space
The Essenza Mini is the smallest Nespresso machine: 8.4 cm wide, 20.4 cm tall and 33 cm deep, and it weighs 2.3 kg. It fits beside a kettle, on a shelf or in a corner of an office. The Vertuo Up is slim for a Vertuo at 12 cm wide, but it stands 25.5 cm tall, Nespresso lists it as 49 cm deep, and it weighs 4 kg, so check the depth against your worktop. If the machine has to go under wall cupboards, measure the gap and leave room to lift the lever. For the tightest spaces, our compact coffee machines that fit under cupboards lists the smallest machines we track. Space goes to Original.
Tank and pod bin
A small machine means a small tank. The Essenza Mini holds 0.6 litres, and its capsule container takes five or six used capsules, so in a house that drinks several coffees a day you’ll be refilling and emptying it often. The Vertuo Up holds 1.4 litres in a tank that swivels round for refilling, and its basket takes up to 18 used espresso pods or 13 mug pods. For one person drinking a couple of espressos a day, the Mini is fine. For a household, or anyone making mugs, the Vertuo Up saves trips to the tap and the bin.
Heat-up
Nespresso quotes about three seconds for the Vertuo Up to heat, so you can switch it on and brew straight away. The Essenza Mini takes about 25 seconds, its lights blinking while it warms. Neither is a long wait. They also differ in how long they stay on: the Vertuo Up turns itself off after two minutes without use, while the Essenza Mini waits nine minutes by default, or 30 if you change the setting, which suits a second cup. Vertuo wins, narrowly.
Settings
The Essenza Mini is two buttons and nothing more. You store your own espresso and lungo volumes by holding a button as it brews, and restore the factory volumes by holding the lungo button for five seconds with the machine off. The Vertuo Up adds Coffee Creations, a mode that brews a concentrated shot to pour over ice or into milk; Nespresso says ristretto, carafe and Bianco milk-recipe pods skip it. Its finer settings, water hardness, coffee temperature and cup volume, are in the Nespresso app. If you like apps and iced coffee, that’s a plus; if you’d rather never pair a coffee machine with your phone, it’s a minus. Call it a tie.
Care and recycling
Day-to-day care is similar. Empty the Essenza Mini’s drip tray, drip base and capsule container every day. On the Vertuo Up, empty and rinse the maintenance module and pod basket daily: the vertical brewing design leaves a little coffee behind, which Nespresso says is normal, not a leak. Both descale with the same Nespresso Descaling Kit (part number 142420) in about 15 minutes, when the machine asks. Recycling is identical too. Nespresso takes Original and Vertuo capsules back free in its recycling bag, by a booked Royal Mail collection, at a Royal Mail location or at a Nespresso Boutique, and both kinds of capsule can also go to Podback drop-off points. A tie.
If you want milk drinks
Neither machine froths milk. Nespresso sells the Aeroccino3, a separate frother for hot and cold milk, to sit beside either. If milk drinks are most of what you make, a machine with milk built in will suit you better: on Vertuo, the Vertuo Lattissima makes cappuccinos and latte macchiatos from a carafe at one touch; on Original, the Sage Creatista Plus froths milk in a jug with an automatic steam wand.
Which should you choose?
One caveat first: we found almost no UK owner reviews that we could read for either machine (one for the Essenza Mini, which praised its size, and none for the Vertuo Up), so this comparison rests on Nespresso’s and De’Longhi’s own specs, manuals and support pages. On those, the choice comes down to the drinks you make.
Choose the Nespresso Essenza Mini if…
- You mostly drink espresso or lungo
- You want to buy capsules from more than one brand
- Space is tight: it’s 8.4 cm wide and about 20 cm tall
- You don’t mind refilling a 0.6-litre tank often
Choose the Nespresso Vertuo Up if…
- You drink mugs or large cups, or want a carafe for guests
- You want the machine ready in about three seconds
- A 1.4-litre tank suits your household better than a small one
- You’re happy buying Nespresso’s Vertuo pods and using its app
Neither quite right? Our best pod coffee machines covers Dolce Gusto, Tassimo and L’OR Barista too, and Dolce Gusto vs Tassimo settles the other big pod question. You can also see every Nespresso machine we track, or work out whether bean-to-cup is cheaper than pods before you commit to a system.
Where to buy
We check prices by hand on the exact model and show the date we checked. Nespresso also sells both machines in its own shop under its own model codes: C30 for the Essenza Mini, MC1 and MD1 for the Vertuo Up.
Where to buy the Nespresso Essenza Mini
- De’Longhi£119Go to De’Longhi (opens in a new tab)
Prices and stock change; the retailer’s page is always the final word.
Where to buy the Nespresso Vertuo Up
- John Lewis£139Go to John Lewis (opens in a new tab)
Prices and stock change; the retailer’s page is always the final word.
Original vs Vertuo questions
Can you use Original capsules in a Vertuo machine?
No. Vertuo machines brew Vertuo pods only: each pod carries a barcode that the machine reads to set the drink, and Original capsules don’t fit. If a Vertuo machine can’t read a pod’s barcode, Nespresso says it runs about 40 ml of rinse water instead of coffee. Original capsules need an Original machine, such as the Essenza Mini.
Which makes bigger coffees, Original or Vertuo?
Vertuo. The Vertuo Up brews seven sizes, from a ristretto to a carafe pod that De’Longhi gives as 535 ml, and the pod sets the size for you. The Essenza Mini’s two buttons make a 40 ml espresso and a 110 ml lungo by default. You can store a different volume on each button, but it’s the same small capsule either way.
Is the De'Longhi Vertuo Up the same as Nespresso's?
Yes. The Vertuo Up is sold as the De’Longhi ENV200, the Krups XN940 and XN941, and under Nespresso’s own MC1 and MD1 codes. Likewise the Essenza Mini is De’Longhi’s EN85 and Nespresso’s C30, C31, D30 and D31. The codes mark the maker, shape or colour, not a different machine, so compare prices on the machine rather than the code.
How do I descale a Vertuo Up or an Essenza Mini?
When the machine asks, with Nespresso’s descaling liquid; each cycle takes about 15 minutes. On the Vertuo Up, the maintenance button glows steady orange: add 0.6 litres of water and one unit of descaler, run the cycle, rinse with a full tank and let it rest for ten minutes. On the Essenza Mini, fill to the 0.6-litre line with one sachet, hold both buttons for five seconds, then rinse twice.
Can either machine froth milk?
No, neither has a milk system. Nespresso sells the Aeroccino3, a separate frother for hot and cold milk, for machines like these. If you want milk built in, the Vertuo Lattissima adds a one-touch milk carafe on the Vertuo system, and the Sage Creatista Plus adds an automatic steam wand on Original capsules.
