Breville Bambino Plus vs De'Longhi Dedica: Which Should You Buy? (2026)

The Breville Bambino Plus and the De'Longhi Dedica diverge on heating, milk, and the portafilter, while sharing a 15 bar pump and a 2-year warranty. The table below lists every published spec for both machines side by side.

The Breville Bambino Plus textures milk automatically; the De'Longhi Dedica requires the user to hold and move a wand by hand. That single difference accounts for most of the price gap between the two machines.

The Breville Bambino Plus ships with an automatic steam wand that offers 3 milk temperatures and 3 texture levels, selected rather than judged by feel. You position a jug, pick a setting, and the machine stops on its own. Owner reviews commonly single out this wand as the Bambino Plus's best feature, because it makes microfoam without any hand skill.

The De'Longhi Dedica uses a Panarello-type frother: an adjustable sleeve over the steam wand that a user positions and moves manually. Owner reviews commonly describe the result as stiff foam suited to a cappuccino rather than the silky microfoam a latte needs, and commonly mention the steaming as slow and comparatively weak. The milk frothing guide covers the hand technique the Dedica's wand requires, and applies equally to any other manual Panarello-style frother.

Neither wand changes the shot itself. The automatic wand changes only how much skill and attention milk texturing demands, and how consistent the result is from one morning to the next.

The Breville Bambino Plus reaches brew temperature in about 3 seconds. The De'Longhi Dedica needs roughly 40 seconds. For a single morning shot, that gap barely registers; for a household pulling several shots back to back, it adds up fast.

Neither machine has a boiler. Both heat water on demand as it flows through a heating element. Breville's ThermoJet pairs that element with PID temperature control and rates the Bambino Plus as ready in 3 seconds. The Dedica's Thermoblock takes about 40 seconds by retailer figures.

Both machines run a 15 bar pump, though the Bambino Plus extracts at 9 bar after low-pressure pre-infusion. The Specialty Coffee Association's heritage espresso definition cites 195 to 205°F water at 9 to 10 atmospheres of pressure, the same extraction pressure the Bambino Plus targets. The Dedica does not publish a specific brew temperature, only its Thermoblock heat-up time.

The Breville Bambino Plus ships with a 54mm portafilter and both single-wall and dual-wall baskets. The De'Longhi Dedica ships with a portafilter commonly listed as 51mm and pressurized baskets only.

Breville's 54mm portafilter takes an 18g dose and comes with 1-cup and 2-cup baskets in both single-wall and dual-wall versions. Single-wall baskets let the grind alone control extraction resistance, which matters if a separate grinder gets added later. Dual-wall baskets add a second, perforated wall that builds pressure regardless of grind, more forgiving for pre-ground coffee or inconsistent technique.

De'Longhi does not publish an exact portafilter diameter for the Dedica Deluxe (EC685), but aftermarket basket makers commonly list it as 51mm. The Dedica ships with pressurized single and double baskets plus an E.S.E. pod option, and no unpressurized basket in the box. Owner reviews commonly mention buying aftermarket single-wall baskets for the Dedica to get closer to the control a 54mm unpressurized setup already provides.

For anyone planning to add a standalone grinder, the Bambino Plus's 54mm unpressurized baskets use that grinder's full range from the start. The Dedica can still produce good espresso with its pressurized baskets, but it needs an aftermarket purchase to get the same control.

The De'Longhi Dedica is about 5.9 inches wide, narrower than the Breville Bambino Plus's roughly 7.7 inches. De'Longhi markets the Dedica as its slimmest pump coffee maker, and the width difference is the Dedica's clearest practical advantage.

The Dedica measures about 5.9 in W x 13 in D x 12 in H and weighs 9.3 lb, with 12 cm of cup clearance once the drip tray is removed, enough for a taller travel mug. The Bambino Plus measures about 7.7 in W x 11.8 in D x 12.6 in H and weighs 11 lb. So the Bambino Plus is wider, but about an inch shallower front to back and slightly taller.

On a counter measured in single inches, a dorm room, a studio kitchen, or a shared office pantry, the Dedica's narrower body is the deciding factor regardless of what else it offers. The best espresso machines for small kitchens guide covers footprint tradeoffs across more models at this size.

The De'Longhi Dedica costs $279.95 at MSRP. The Breville Bambino Plus costs $499.95 at MSRP, or $399.95 at its common sale price, a gap of $120 to $220 depending on the day.

That gap buys three specific things: the automatic steam wand instead of a manual Panarello frother, a 3-second ThermoJet heat-up instead of a roughly 40-second Thermoblock warm-up, and a 54mm portafilter with unpressurized baskets instead of 51mm pressurized-only baskets. Both machines use a 15 bar pump, so pump pressure is not part of the gap.

A Dedica plus a good grinder still costs less than a Bambino Plus alone, but it can't use that grinder's full benefit without aftermarket single-wall baskets, since the Dedica ships pressurized-only. Anyone who wants to grow into fresh-ground coffee without a separate basket purchase gets more value from the Bambino Plus's included baskets than from the Dedica's lower price alone. The best espresso machines under $500 roundup places both machines against the rest of the field at this budget.

Owner reviews of the Breville Bambino Plus and the De'Longhi Dedica point to different pain points, matching the design tradeoffs each machine makes.

Owner reviews of the Bambino Plus commonly praise the heat-up time and the automatic microfoam, and commonly complain about a small drip tray that needs emptying about daily, occasional drip-tray leaks, a loud vibration pump, and cups that slide on the tray surface.

Owner reviews of the Dedica commonly praise the price and the narrow footprint, and commonly complain about the pressurized-only baskets, which push some owners to buy aftermarket single-wall baskets. Reviews also commonly mention the Panarello frother producing stiff foam rather than pourable microfoam, slow and comparatively weak steaming, and post-shot dripping from the portafilter after the pump shuts off.

Amazon customer rating: 4.1/5 across 2,418 ratings (October 2026) for the Breville Bambino Plus, and 4.0/5 across 2,358 ratings (October 2026) for the De'Longhi Dedica. The ratings are a tenth of a point apart, so they don't separate the two machines.

The De'Longhi Dedica fits anyone who drinks straight espresso or americanos, needs the narrowest possible footprint, and wants to spend the least money on a real espresso machine.

At $279.95, the Dedica is $120 to $220 cheaper than the Bambino Plus, and at 5.9 inches wide it fits gaps that most pump espresso machines can't. Its pressurized baskets forgive inconsistent grind and dose, which suits a buyer who is not planning to add a dedicated grinder soon. A buyer who rarely or never makes milk drinks loses nothing by skipping the automatic steam wand entirely.

The Breville Bambino Plus fits anyone who makes milk drinks daily, wants a faster heat-up for back-to-back shots, or plans to add a dedicated grinder and use unpressurized baskets.

The automatic steam wand removes the hand-eye skill a Panarello frother demands, which matters most for a household making lattes or cappuccinos every morning. The 3-second ThermoJet heat-up with PID control also means less waiting between shots when more than one person wants coffee at the same time. The 54mm portafilter with included single-wall baskets gives a buyer room to grow into fresh-ground coffee without a separate basket purchase later.

De'Longhi sells a third slim model, the Dedica Maestro Plus, listed in the US as the EC950M, that lists at $499.95, the same list price as the Breville Bambino Plus. It is frequently discounted well below that list price, sometimes down near $249.95.

De'Longhi describes the Maestro Plus's milk system as an automatic steam wand, unlike the manual Panarello frother on the Dedica EC685 covered throughout this comparison. If the Maestro Plus is on sale anywhere near $250, it is a cheaper way to get hands-free milk texturing in a slim De'Longhi body than either machine covered here at full price. Check the current price on all three machines on the same day before buying, since the cheapest option changes depending on which sale is running.