This guide builds on years of testing, as well as soda maker research tapping the knowledge of a wide array of experts, including water sommelier Martin Riese; Emma Christensen, associate general manager at Simply Recipes and author of True Brews: How to Craft Fermented Cider, Beer, Wine, Sake, Soda, Mead, Kefir, and Kombucha at Home; and Gavin Sacks, professor of food science at Cornell University.

Mace Dent Johnson, who worked on this guide’s most recent update, is a Wirecutter staff writer on the kitchen team who loves soda, has opinions about which grocery store sells the best generic seltzer, and made and taste-tested so much carbonated water for this guide, they had to take a week off from the stuff. But only a week.

We looked into every soda maker widely available online, and for our most recent update, we tested a dozen of the most popular and promising models.

If you love seltzer and drink it often, carbonating water at home can be a more economical, environmentally friendly, and convenient alternative to purchasing cans, cases, or bottles of seltzer or soda. It can also be more fun, giving you the freedom to play with all sorts of bubbly options.

First, let’s talk cost. Depending on how you buy your seltzer, a liter can cost from 80¢ to $2. SodaStream and Soda Sense both promise that their carbon dioxide cylinders (which cost about $15 to $20 each if you have empty cylinders to exchange and around $30 each if you buy without an exchange) can carbonate 60 liters of seltzer each, making the cost of gas per liter as low as 25¢. This Consumer Reports tool indicates when the purchase of a soda maker will pay for itself compared with the amount of packaged seltzer you usually drink. There are DIY methods to refill CO₂ cylinders at home, such as one involving dry ice, but they can take quite a bit of work, and handling compressed gas or concentrated chemicals involves more risk than we prefer to encourage.

Beyond potential savings, a soda maker allows you to be more self-sufficient in your soda drinking. If you love a carbonated beverage, you have likely experienced the disappointment of opening the fridge and realizing that you already drank your last can. Having a soda maker at home means that you always have access to a bubbly beverage (assuming that you keep a spare CO₂ cylinder on hand) and saves you the task of lugging seltzer home from the store. Some people find that having a soda maker at home helps them drink more water and less sugary soda or alcohol.

An at-home soda maker lets you get more creative, too, as it provides soda enthusiasts and mixologists a constant source of customizable, bubbly beverages. Our top pick, the Drinkmate OmniFizz, isn’t limited to water—it can carbonate whatever beverage you toss in. Maybe you want to carbonate grapefruit juice for batch palomas or create a sparkling margarita mix or add some fizziness to the watered-down apple juice you give your kids.

Sustaining an at-home soda-making routine requires that you keep cylinders of carbon dioxide on hand. Trading in empty cylinders at a local store seems to be the easiest, lowest-cost approach. SodaStream cylinders are widely available in stores, and the standard screw-in cylinders are compatible with any brand of soda maker that uses 60-liter cylinders (besides certain SodaStream models that use the company’s proprietary Quick Connect cylinders). But if you don’t have a store with an exchange program nearby, SodaStream, Soda Sense, and Drinkmate all offer mail-in cylinder-exchange programs in which you send in empty cylinders and receive full ones (though it can be a little pricier than exchanging in person). If you want to mix and match cylinder brands and machine brands, make sure to buy a soda maker by itself, not in a bundle deal that includes cylinders from the same company as your soda maker.

For most people, we recommend a tabletop soda maker. These machines use 60-liter CO₂ cylinders that can carbonate many liters of seltzer before they run out, rather than 8-gram CO₂ chargers that are single-use. We’ve found that tabletop soda makers more consistently produce sufficiently bubbly, good-tasting seltzer. You may want a handheld soda maker to keep on your bar cart or to take to the gym or on long drives, or you may want to have one at your desk to make your office’s water-cooler offerings more exciting. But we think most people are likely to get the most use out of a full-size tabletop soda maker.

If you want to have seltzer at home that is as good as or better than what you can find in stores, we recommend using one additional tool—a water filter—and making sure that your water is cold before carbonating it. Consider these additional costs and whether you are willing to work these extra steps into your beverage routine.

If you’re unsure, a good way to try out a soda maker is to find one secondhand. In our experience, we’ve often seen soda makers turn up in buy nothing groups and in free piles on the sidewalk.

For the 2023 update to this guide, we tested nine new soda makers and retested three models that we’ve recommended in the past. Most of the soda makers in this test group were tabletop soda makers that use 60-liter carbon dioxide cylinders for carbonation. We also tested handheld soda makers that use 8-gram CO₂ chargers, as well as one soda maker that uses packets of sodium bicarbonate and citric acid. As we tested, we paid attention to the following criteria:

Strong bubbles, clean flavors: We wanted a soda maker that consistently produced seltzer with plentiful, active, long-lasting bubbles and minimal sour flavor. Most at-home soda makers work by injecting carbon dioxide gas into water at high pressure, creating an effervescent solution of carbonic acid and water. Carbonic acid gives carbonated water a slightly sour taste; the flavor becomes more prominent when the seltzer isn’t effectively carbonated or has gone flat.

We’ve found that tabletop soda makers using 60-liter CO₂ cylinders generally produce the cleanest flavors and the most robust bubbles. Consistent with our test results in previous years, in our latest round the soda maker using packets of sodium bicarbonate and citric acid produced weak, sour-tasting seltzer. In our tests of soda siphons—handheld soda makers that use 8-gram CO₂ chargers—we found that most of them were not capable of making evenly carbonated, neutral-tasting seltzer.

Build quality: We looked for sturdy, attractive machines that we wouldn’t mind leaving out on the counter, and that wouldn’t shake or topple during use. We eliminated machines that had spitting and leaking issues, and we made note of any particularly noisy machines.

Fewer demands on hand strength and mobility: Soda makers can require a slew of fiddly hand motions, including screwing or locking in a CO₂ canister and a water bottle, pushing and holding down a flimsy plastic button, and unscrewing a tightly sealed, pressurized cap. No soda maker is perfectly accessible, but in our tests we noted the motions necessary to operate each soda maker, and we ruled out any egregiously difficult-to-use machines.

Versatility: We looked for machines offering a range of carbonation levels that were easy to dial in and each satisfying in their own right. For home mixologists or those looking to add syrups and sweeteners to their seltzer, maximizing the carbonation ensures that the bubbles will hold up in a homemade soda or cocktail. We also favored machines that could carbonate more than just water and produce both exceptional seltzer and other carbonated beverages without too much fuss.

We started our tests by assembling each soda maker and inserting the carbon dioxide canister, noting the steps and hand motions required and taking stock of the size, sturdiness, and aesthetic of each machine.

We used refrigerated bottled spring water, chilled to 40 degrees Fahrenheit. We carbonated the water in each soda maker and then assessed the bubbles visually, both in the bottle and in a glass. We also tasted the seltzer, taking note of the flavor, bubble character, and bubble size. We looked for bubble longevity, returning to the glass of seltzer after five and 10 minutes. With the soda makers that can carbonate beverages other than water, we carbonated a sugary apple juice and an exceptionally dry white wine to see if the machines leaked or clogged while carbonating liquids with different solutes and viscosities. Once we had narrowed down our favorite machines, we made a bottle of seltzer with each of our top contenders and compared them in a brand-concealed taste test with three members of Wirecutter’s kitchen team.

The Drinkmate OmniFizz produces consistently delightful carbonated beverages that you can easily ramp up (or down) to your taste level, creating anything from a subtle fizz to big, tumbling bubbles. The OmniFizz also carbonates nonwater beverages just as well as it carbonates water, handling the task better than any other soda maker with similar capabilities. By contrast, our other picks can carbonate only water.

We carbonated sugary apple juice and dry white wine in the OmniFizz to delightful results and with minimal leakage. Every other soda maker we tested that advertised itself as capable of carbonating nonwater liquids leaked, spewed, and spat considerably. And if you carbonate anything other than water in a SodaStream model, you void the warranty and risk damaging the machine—and making a big mess.

Note that some frothing when carbonating nonwater liquids is unavoidable, even in the OmniFizz. To minimize spillage, fill the bottle only halfway when carbonating anything particularly viscous, rich, or sugary—or when carbonating any nonwater liquid for the first time, as it can take some practice to know how much a liquid will froth. Wait between button pushes for the froth to settle down, and let the bottle sit in the machine for a few minutes before tilting it forward and removing it from the soda maker. Once you remove the bottle, a mechanism in the cap allows you to release pressure gradually so that your drink doesn’t foam over. But just in case, we also recommend holding the bottle over a sink.

The Drinkmate OmniFizz is essentially the same machine as the Soda Sense Sensei. (Soda Sense, a CO₂ cylinder retailer, sells the Sensei through a partnership with Drinkmate.) The machines differ in color—the Sensei comes only in gray—and the Sensei has one unique feature, an unnecessary and difficult-to-clean metal grate on its base, whereas the OmniFizz has a smooth, continuous plastic divot. If you don’t care about the color of your soda maker, we recommend checking the price for both models on Amazon, as well as on each company’s own website, and choosing whichever one is cheaper at the time. Both typically cost around $140 when bundled with one CO₂ cylinder—though we have noticed frequent sales, especially on each company’s website, which can bring the price down to about $100.

You can use the OmniFizz with any screw-in 60-liter CO₂ cylinder, including the SodaStream cylinders available in many big-box stores; if you go with SodaStream cylinders, just be sure to get the type with the blue label, not the pink Quick Connect version. Drinkmate and Soda Sense both offer cylinder-exchange programs by mail. Drinkmate’s system is coupon-based: Mail in your empties and receive coupons—$22 to $55 off depending on how many cylinders you send in—by email for use on your next cylinder purchase. The process is a little annoying, because if you don’t remember to apply the coupons, you pay full price, at two cylinders for $60. Soda Sense’s system is more automated: Once you mail in your empty cylinders, Soda Sense initiates an order for the same number of new cylinders for $21 each. Neither Drinkmate nor Soda Sense currently offers in-person exchange options.

The Drinkmate OmniFizz comes with a two-year warranty, which is decent coverage.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

Unlike the other soda makers we tested, which contain a fixed carbonation nozzle on the machine itself, the OmniFizz carbonates through a nozzle on a separate cap that you screw onto the bottle first and then lock into the machine. Sliding this cap in and out of the machine requires precision and aim, and we needed a few tries to insert it properly. (The silver flap on the cap of the bottle should be facing you as you slide the bottle into the machine.) However, the unique cap is also what enables this machine to carbonate nonwater liquids effectively, since it allows you to carefully release the pressure after carbonating, preventing your drink from frothing over. As with most of the machines we tested, screwing the CO₂ cylinder into the back of the machine is tedious, and the slick plastic sides of the OmniFizz don’t give you much purchase for doing so.

How the OmniFizz has held up

After using the OmniFizz regularly for a year, with around eight months of near daily usage, I’ve found that the machine is still working great and making me the highly carbonated seltzer I crave. Despite my initial clumsiness at inserting the bottle correctly, the motion has become second nature, a task I can perform mindlessly before sitting down to a meal.

As the Drinkmate manual suggests, I’ve figured out what to look and listen for when pushing the carbonation button to get exactly the fizz levels I want. The OmniFizz makes a hissing sound when the water has taken on as much gas as it can (meaning, any more pushes are just wasting CO₂), and I’ve noticed that it emits a higher-pitched noise just before it makes that hissing sound. By listening for that high-pitched noise, I’ve gotten good at taking it right up to that level. Then I remove the bottle, release the pressure, and am rewarded with crackly, zippy seltzer. Leaving the bottle in the fridge filled with water between uses has also become second nature, so I’m always one step closer to some bubbly.

In the past year I’ve carbonated nonalcoholic aperitifs, various juices, lemon water and lemonade, iced tea, and, on one particularly desperate day stuck at home with a cold and no fun beverages, Gatorade. I have yet to find a beverage I would want to carbonate that the OmniFizz can’t handle.

Finally, I’ve been exchanging cylinders through Drinkmate’s website for around eight months. The process is easy for me—I save the boxes the cylinders come in, put the empties back in there with the provided shipping label, and deposit them around the corner at a UPS drop-off location. Then I buy my next cylinders with the coupon that Drinkmate sends once it receives my empty cylinders. I use about a cylinder a month.

Regularly available for around $60 in several trendy, attractive colors, the Philips GoZero Sparkling Water Maker is a good soda maker at a great price. You do have to purchase a carbon dioxide canister separately, which generally costs around $30 (or around $15 to $20 if you’re exchanging with an empty cylinder), but even then it’s still less expensive than our other picks, and you get to choose your cylinder brand from the get-go. Unlike other budget soda makers we tested, which failed to produce an even solution of carbon dioxide and water, this Philips model made consistent seltzer without any sour flavor or aftertaste, though its bubbles were smaller and sharper, not as large or roiling as those of our top pick, and they didn’t last quite as long. (In our brand-concealed taste tests, we initially rated the GoZero’s seltzer as high as that of the Drinkmate OmniFizz, but it dipped in flavor the longer it sat out.)

The GoZero works similarly to the OmniFizz and other button-press manual tabletop soda makers we’ve tested: Once you insert the CO₂ cylinder and a bottle of chilled, filtered water, you press the button on top of the machine in two- to three-second intervals to the carbonation level of your choosing. However, on this model, you have to lift a full bottle of water up into the nozzle mechanism and screw it in manually. We had difficulty aiming the bottle correctly so that it was properly aligned on the threads to screw in. Other machines, in contrast, allow you to just slide or lock the bottle into place.

This soda maker also has a particularly narrow channel for holding the CO₂ cylinder. The space is only slightly wider than a standard cylinder, making for a somewhat tedious insertion and removal process with very little leeway.

The Philips GoZero is particularly sleek and eye-catching, aesthetically similar to the elegant Mysoda Woody, though the Woody’s design allows for easier assembly and carbonation. But since the Woody costs at a minimum $50 to ship internationally (and also doesn’t come with a CO₂ cylinder), we still think the GoZero, at less than $70, is a better budget option—it’s a cute, simple machine that consistently makes satisfying, clean-tasting seltzer. The GoZero also comes with a two-year warranty.

The handheld soda makers we tested were mostly overly complicated to use and produced inconsistent results. The exception was the OTE Portable Sparkling Water Machine, a portable water bottle with one nozzle cap, a space for you to place an 8-gram carbon dioxide charger, and a second, external cap. If you’re considering a handheld soda maker, the OTE model is the best one we’ve found, capable of producing solid seltzer for around $40 (with 20 8-gram CO₂ cartridges included).

But a handheld sparkling water maker is not for everyone. Any portable soda maker requires you to carry around single-use 8-gram CO₂ chargers, one for every bottle of sparkling water you may want to drink that outing. This can be an inconvenience—especially if you forget, rendering your maker useless—and empty chargers can be a hassle to recycle depending on your area’s rules and frequency of metal recycling, since they are single-use and may amass quickly. For many people, it’s probably more convenient to simply buy some seltzer when a craving strikes away from home.

If a handheld soda maker is right for you, however, you likely already know why. Perhaps you need water to drink while you’re driving or working out at the gym, but you really don’t like drinking still water. Maybe you want seltzer on hand at your office, where you can easily keep some CO₂ chargers on hand and avoid hitting up the soda vending machine. A handheld soda maker might be a good option if you want a small soda maker to keep on a bar cart. Machine size aside, perhaps you just want to try your hand at soda making without splurging on the equipment.

The OTE model was the only handheld soda maker we tested that produced seltzer comparable to that of the tabletop machines, with plentiful bubbles and no off-taste. It’s straightforward to use: Once you screw on the nozzle cap and insert the charger into the external cap, you simply screw on the external cap, which activates the charger and carbonates the water. The other handheld machines we tested required the additional step of shaking the bottle vigorously after carbonating, which to us felt counterintuitive and even a little scary. The OTE soda maker, in contrast, carbonated in one twist, no shaking necessary.

You can use any 8-gram carbon dioxide charger for the OTE soda maker, but only the 8-gram size works. Be sure not to confuse them with whipped-cream chargers, which use nitrous oxide (N₂O). You can find packs of carbon dioxide chargers on Amazon and at restaurant-supply stores, and they usually cost between 50¢ and $1 per charger, which might not work out to be cheaper than a bottle of seltzer depending on how many chargers you buy at once. CO₂ chargers are made of steel, a recyclable metal; as long as your chargers are empty, you should be able to recycle them however you recycle metal where you live.

In our tests, the seltzer from the OTE model failed to stay fizzy as long as that from our tabletop picks. Keep that in mind as you consider whether this somewhat niche machine fits into your water-drinking routine—you’ll have to wait to carbonate your water until right before you’re ready to drink it. Still, if you are shopping for a handheld soda maker, this is your best option. OTE offers a one-year warranty covering manufacturing faults or flaws.

Generally, new carbon dioxide cylinders cost about $30 each (some companies require you to buy two at that price). Once you have some empty cylinders, usually you can exchange them for full cylinders at a discount of $10 to $15 off each new cylinder.

Informal polling of soda machine owners among the Wirecutter staff indicated that most prefer exchanging their cylinders in person. SodaStream is the only company that currently offers widespread in-store cylinder exchange. You can find the nearest participating store and what cylinders it has available through SodaStream’s store locator. If you live near a participating store, this is likely the cheapest CO₂ refill option, at about $15 per cylinder.

In addition, SodaStream, Drinkmate, and Soda Sense all offer mail-in CO₂ cylinder-exchange programs, where you send in empty cylinders and receive full ones. Which one you use depends on a few factors:

SodaStream charges $15 per refill cylinder, plus a shipping cost that decreases the more cylinders you exchange: an additional $15 for one cylinder, $8 for two or three, and free shipping if you exchange four or more cylinders at once. To exchange cylinders by mail, use SodaStream’s gas-exchange order form, indicating how many cylinders and what type you want to receive. Once you receive the new cylinders, you have 60 days to return your empty cylinders, or SodaStream will charge you an additional $15 per cylinder, canceling out the cost benefit of exchanging cylinders in the first place. This late fee is a perpetual target of online ire, and it’s the biggest reason we recommend exchanging SodaStream cylinders in person. Keep in mind that SodaStream sells two kinds of cylinders: a standard cylinder that fits most soda makers, and the proprietary Quick Connect cylinder. Make sure to request the correct one when exchanging, either in-store or online. SodaStream will accept another brand’s cylinders once, but you cannot continually trade in another brand’s cylinders after that.

Drinkmate’s cylinder-exchange program is coupon-based. First, buy a cylinder bundle that includes a return box and prepaid label, or pay $5 to receive just the box and label in the mail. Once you return cylinders, at least two at a time, you receive a coupon for your next cylinder purchase: $22 off if you return two cylinders (making the price per cylinder on your next order of two cylinders $19), $35 off if you return three (making the price per cylinder on your next order of three cylinders $18), or $55 off if you return four (making the price per cylinder on your next order of four cylinders $16). Drinkmate does not charge late fees and also exchanges Soda Sense and SodaStream cylinders.

Soda Sense’s refill club offers free shipping, but you must exchange two cylinders at a time. Once you have at least two empty canisters to exchange, you order a free refill shipping box to send them—or, if you’re still in need of cylinders, you can order a bundle that includes full cylinders and a box to send them back once they’re empty. Once the Postal Service scans your package of empties, Soda Sense automatically initiates an order for the same number of full refills and charges the card on your account $21 per cylinder. Soda Sense does not charge late fees, and it exchanges universal 60-liter cylinders from other brands. Of the mail-in programs we looked at, Soda Sense’s exchange program seems to be the most seamless, automated, and easy to get started with. On top of that, when you make an account and order cylinders for the first time, you can sign up to receive a $15 Amazon gift card.

Other than SodaStream’s pink Quick Connect cylinders, CO₂ cylinders are generally universal—you don’t have to go with the exchange system for the company behind the soda maker you purchase. If you want to mix and match cylinder brands and machine brands, however, make sure to buy a soda maker only, not a bundle deal that includes cylinders from the same company as your soda maker.

The canned or bottled seltzer you’re used to drinking is probably made with filtered water. To get the same clean taste when you’re making seltzer at home, we recommend filtering your water before carbonating it.

Also, most of the manuals for the soda makers we tested suggest using cold water for the best results, and we recommend that, too. Water and other liquids are physically able to take on more gas the colder they are. Using room-temperature water in your soda maker is likely to result in a less thoroughly mixed solution of water and carbonic acid, leading to weaker bubbles and a more prominent unpleasant sour taste. Keeping a pitcher of filtered water or prefilled soda-maker bottles in the fridge will set you up for great results anytime you’re ready to make some seltzer.

Soda drinking does not rank among the individual practices with the greatest carbon footprints, and none of those individual practices compare to the large-scale environmental impact of corporate and government policies. But making the switch to a soda maker can feel like an environmental choice, and that’s not entirely wrong. At the very least, a soda maker can help you consume less single-use cardboard, plastic, and aluminum packaging. Ideally, the carbon dioxide cylinders stay in a closed-loop exchange system as you send in empty cylinders to be refilled, receive full cylinders, send those in for refills once they’re empty, and so on. You can also recycle these cylinders at the end of their life cycle.

Beyond reducing the number of cans and bottles you consume, the environmental impact of switching from buying seltzer comes from decreasing the carbon cost of shipping. Carbonated water is heavier, and so more carbon-consuming to ship, than CO₂ cylinders, and each cylinder allows you to produce many more servings of soda than you get from a similar-size can of seltzer.

As is the case with most small appliances, many environmental benefits are lost if the machine retires to a landfill soon after purchase. To prevent this fate, especially if you’re unsure whether a soda machine is right for you, try procuring a soda maker secondhand. You might also see if anyone in your network has empty CO₂ cylinders lying around that you can return and get refilled.

If you’d like a CO₂ system that installs more easily, without repetitive rotating motions: The SodaStream Art was the best SodaStream model we tested, and it was the only SodaStream model we tried that was capable of making seltzer as highly carbonated as the Drinkmate produced. However, the Art often costs more than the Drinkmate and can do less, as it’s limited to carbonating water. The Art takes only SodaStream’s proprietary Quick Connect CO₂ cylinders, which don’t require precision or repeated rotation—you place the cylinder below a lever, lower the lever, and then raise the lever, and it lifts the cylinder into place. Although this cylinder design is a good choice for people who want to avoid inserting CO₂ cylinders by rotating them in, the proprietary design also locks you in to SodaStream’s cylinder exchange, because it is the only company selling this style of cylinder. We prefer machines that use universal CO₂ cylinders because you can use them on different machines, find them more easily, and not rely on SodaStream alone.

If you want a cute, minimalist soda maker that outperforms the Philips GoZero, and you don’t mind paying more for international shipping: Consider the Mysoda Woody, a simple, attractive offering from a Finnish soda-maker company. The Woody, named such because it is made from “almost 100% renewable-based wood composite,” is perhaps most notable for its looks. Its matte, speckled biocomposite and its smooth lines make for a soda machine that we would love to leave out on the counter. The Woody was also particularly easy to use in our tests: The top part of the machine, housing the carbonation nozzle and the threads for the CO₂ cylinder, unscrews entirely from the base of the machine. This design allows you to screw the cylinder in a bit more easily, as you have to handle only the top part of the machine while you install the cylinder, in contrast to the Drinkmate OmniFizz and the Philips GoZero, which require you to hold the entire machine on its side or upside down to install the cylinder. The way the bottle attaches to the Mysoda Woody is also pretty simple. You pull the nozzle forward, pop the bottle on, push the nozzle and bottle back, and screw the bottle in just one quarter rotation to secure it into the machine. This process requires less precision and strain than screwing a full water bottle into the GoZero. In our tests, the seltzer from the Woody was just as good as seltzer from the OmniFizz. But purchasing the Woody in the US requires importing it from Finland or France at a shipping cost that takes it from one of the cheapest options to one of the more expensive models. Our package took around two weeks to arrive, and though Mysoda offers a two-year warranty, any returns or repairs involve more international shipping.

The SodaStream Fizzi One Touch is an electric soda maker, so rather than needing to press a button repeatedly, you can press a button just once, and the soda maker carries out an automated carbonation process depending on which of three carbonation levels you choose. But we found that even on level three, the Fizzi One Touch’s carbonation level was lighter than that of other machines, producing more of a soft, subtle sting than a bubbly, satisfying fizz.

The higher price and stainless steel exterior design of the Aarke Carbonator 3 suggest premium quality, but we found the machine to be wobbly and especially loud. The seltzer was good, with adequate bubbles, but it quickly took on a sour taste as it sat out, whereas seltzer from our picks eventually flattened but still remained flavor-neutral.

With a stainless steel exterior and a glass carafe, the pricey Aarke Carbonator Pro seemed promising as an upgrade option for seltzer aficionados wanting to avoid plastic. But the internal mechanisms of this machine, such as the carbonation nozzle, are still plastic, and the glass carafe adds difficulty to the carbonation process, as you have to slide a metal sleeve over the glass carafe, at which point you cannot see the carbonation happening. The manual suggests carbonating until you hear a buzz, but like the company’s Carbonator 3, this soda maker is particularly loud, making a lot of buzz-like sounds throughout the carbonating process, so knowing when to stop is hard. It took us a few tries to get this one right, and even when we did, the Carbonator Pro’s seltzer was only as good as what we produced on our picks, no better. And unlike the seltzer from our picks, it took on a sour taste the longer it sat out. The Carbonator Pro also leaked, leaving behind a puddle in the basin under the bottle after each use.

We tested two iSi handheld soda makers: the iSi Soda Siphon and the iSi Sodamaker Classic. The two differ in build material but have in common overly complicated processes and unpalatable seltzer. Instead of offering a max-fill line, these soda makers have “measuring tubes” that you are supposed to fill until they overflow, making a mess before you even get started. These measuring tubes also require separate plastic “keys” for removal—single-purpose devices we don’t want in our kitchen. The instructions suggest that the seltzer is ready after the use of one 8-gram CO₂ charger and at least five shakes of the soda maker, but it took us closer to 15 shakes to create any bubbles at all. We don’t recommend either of these models, but between the two we preferred the Classic, as its measuring-tube “key” was easier to use, and its lever was easier to push down than that of the Siphon.

The seltzer from the SodaStream Terra was weak and sour, and the button felt flimsy, requiring precision for a full push.

We were drawn to the rugged, double-walled stainless steel design of the handheld GrowlerWerks uKeg Twist, not to mention its promise to both make seltzer on the go and keep it cold all day. But we found this soda maker extremely difficult to use. Screwing the plastic lid onto the metal bottle threads and screwing the small plastic “regulator cap” on and off were some of the most hand-straining tasks in all of our soda maker testing. The machine leaked throughout the carbonation process, and it was hard to get the CO₂ charger to release fully rather than in weird little chirps. After all of our effort, the seltzer was only barely carbonated.

The Spärkel Beverage System is an electric soda maker that uses packets of baking soda and citric acid to create CO2 and carbonate any beverage of your choice. As long as the bottom cap is screwed on tight, the resulting seltzer tastes okay but loses carbonation quickly. And the machine took the longest of any we tested to complete a carbonation cycle, so we dismissed it.

We learned that the SodaStream Aqua Fizz is being discontinued, so we did not test it.

This article was edited by Marilyn Ong and Marguerite Preston.