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I’m always surprised that of all the appliances I’ve tested, the one I get the most questions about is the air fryer. You may also have wondered if air fryers work well, and if you should get one. Back when I first started testing them, I would have said no, since a convection toaster oven can do everything an air fryer can do and more. But after four years of researching and testing different air-fryer models, although my main advice remains the same, my take has become more nuanced. If you don’t have the space for a larger appliance, or if you want a dedicated machine to cook smaller portions of frozen snacks, meat, or vegetables, an air fryer might be a better choice for you.

Why did we change our tune? Initially, we didn’t recommend pod-shaped air fryers because they’re less versatile than convection toaster ovens and don’t cook food as evenly, so we didn’t consider them to be a great value. At the time, the best-performing pod-shaped model cost about $100 more than our pick, the Cuisinart Chef’s Convection Toaster Oven TOB-260N1, and we didn’t see an incentive to spend so much more for a less capable machine. Now that the Cuisinart convection toaster oven is closer in price to the pod-shaped Philips Premium Airfryer HD9741/96, the playing field has leveled somewhat, and we’ve made the Philips a pick. (However, if you don’t want to spend over $200 on either appliance, we also recommend the Cosori Pro Air Fryer as our budget pick, which makes some compromises but costs under $100.)

Pod-shaped air fryers use the same technology as convection toaster ovens: Both types of appliances have a fan inside the oven cavity that rapidly circulates the air for more even cooking. But toaster ovens cook food on trays instead of baskets, so they offer more room for the food to spread out and brown evenly. And good convection toaster ovens like our pick, the Cuisinart, can come with baking pans, pizza stones, and multiple racks that allow you to cook a range of items, such as pies, frozen pizzas, toast, or whole roast chickens. Pod-shaped air fryers either lack the capacity to cook those items or don’t cook them nearly as well. For all of these reasons, we still think the Cuisinart oven represents the perfect marriage of value, size, and versatility.

However, we’ve also learned from commenters, customer reviews, and people who own air fryers (and love them!) that many people prefer something more compact than a toaster oven. If you have a smaller household, a machine that prepares only one or two servings of food at a time may be exactly what you need. And most pod-shaped air fryers cook a few minutes faster than convection toaster ovens on account of their smaller size, so you can get chicken fingers from the freezer to your table even sooner. The Philips Premium Airfryer, our pod-shaped pick, browns the most evenly of the pod-shaped machines we’ve tested, and it’s intuitive to use. (If you still need help deciding whether a convection toaster oven or a pod-shaped air fryer better suits your needs, we’ve written a helpful checklist in our guide to the best air fryers.)

After using air fryers to prepare mountains of french fries and fish sticks, I can also see how, for some people, using a pod to cook can be fun. Grabbing the drawer’s cool plastic handle and giving the food a one-handed shake may feel more carefree and convenient than donning an oven mitt and sticking your hand into a hot oven to maneuver pieces of food individually. (To me, flipping beautifully browned morsels on a sheet pan using a pair of tongs feels satisfying rather than fussy—but to each their own!)

To be clear, if someone has a nice empty spot on their counter and is interested in air frying, I’ll still point them toward the Cuisinart Chef’s Convection Toaster Oven. But if a pod-shaped air fryer makes your life easier or allows you to get dinner on the table faster, it’s deserving of space in your kitchen. So, rather than dismissing them as a whole, we’ll continue to test pod-shaped air fryers going forward, and we’ll recommend the best ones we find for anyone who prefers them.

After tests of eight new air fryers, the Cuisinart Chef’s Convection Toaster Oven remains our top pick, and we have a new budget pick, the Cosori Pro Air Fryer.

The Cuisinart Chef’s Convection Toaster Oven is a versatile, powerful mini oven disguised as a toaster.

We’ve been testing toaster ovens since 2015 and have two favorites: the compact Panasonic FlashXpress and the large Cuisinart Chef's Convection.

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