Breville Barista Express vs Barista Pro: Worth the Upgrade? | Bean & Burr

This is the most-asked question in beginner espresso, and it has an unusually clean answer: the espresso is the same. Both machines are 54mm single-boiler all-in-ones with the same conical-burr grinder family, the same baskets and the same fundamental shot chain. Dialed in, the cup does not tell you which machine made it. The premium buys exactly two things — a ThermoJet heater that is ready in about three seconds where the Express warms up for half a minute, and an LCD with a shot timer where the Express has an analog gauge.

Frame it as a convenience purchase, and the decision gets easy. Multi-drink mornings feel the heater every single day: the Pro moves between shot and steam almost instantly, the Express asks for a short pause. One-drink mornings barely notice. The shot timer is genuinely useful while dialing in — then mostly decorative once you are.

The money answer: if the difference stretches the budget, buy the Express and spend the gap on better beans — beans show up in the cup, the heater never does. If the budget is comfortable and mornings are rushed or multi-latte, the Pro is the nicer machine to live with, every day, for years.

The short answer

Quick picks

#	Product	Best for	Score	Price
01	Breville Barista Express (BES870XL) The default first real espresso machine, and it earns that spot: a grinder is built in.	Most people buying their first proper machine	8.0	$549.95Amazon
02	Breville Barista Pro (BES878) The Barista Express with a faster heating system and a screen. Nicer, not transformative.	A step up from the Express, if the budget stretches	8.0	$849.95Amazon

#ad · Live prices from the Amazon Product API, as of Jul 26, 2026. Where we have no verified live price, we show none — we would rather leave a gap than print a number that has rotted.

In detail

The picks, in full

Most people buying their first proper machine

Breville Barista Express (BES870XL)

Built-in conical burr grinder54mm portafilter15-bar pump1600W ThermoCoil

8.0/10

The default first real espresso machine, and it earns that spot: a grinder is built in.

Shot quality: 8
Steam & milk: 8
Ease of use: 8
Build quality: 8
Value: 8

Pros

The integrated grinder is the whole point — one purchase gets you a grind-to-shot setup, which is what most beginners actually need
Dose, grind size, and shot volume are all adjustable, so you can genuinely dial in rather than being stuck with one recipe
Breville's parts and service network in the US is the least painful in the category

Cons

The built-in grinder is good, not great — serious espresso people eventually add a dedicated grinder and this one becomes the backup
Single-boiler ThermoCoil, so you wait a few seconds between pulling a shot and steaming milk

Don't buy this if…

…you already own a good grinder. Then you are paying for a grinder you don't need — look at the grinder-less Bambino Plus and put the savings toward better beans.

$549.95View on Amazon

$689.9920% off

Price as of Jul 26, 2026. Prices change — Amazon's is the one that counts.

#ad · we may earn a commission from this link to Breville Barista Express (BES870XL)

A step up from the Express, if the budget stretches

Breville Barista Pro (BES878)

Built-in grinderThermoJet 3-second heat-up54mm portafilterLCD display

8.0/10

The Barista Express with a faster heating system and a screen. Nicer, not transformative.

Shot quality: 8
Steam & milk: 8
Ease of use: 9
Build quality: 8
Value: 7

Pros

The ThermoJet heater reaches temperature in seconds, so there's no warm-up wait like the Express has
The LCD makes grind size and shot timing visible instead of guesswork
Same built-in grinder convenience as the Express, in a slightly more refined package

Cons

Meaningfully more expensive than the Express for a difference most home users won't feel day to day
Still a single boiler — the fundamental limits are the same as the cheaper machine

Don't buy this if…

…the budget is tight. The Barista Express does the same core job for less, and the money saved buys a lot of good beans. This is a comfort upgrade, not a capability one.

$849.95View on Amazon

Price as of Jul 26, 2026. Prices change — Amazon's is the one that counts.

#ad · we may earn a commission from this link to Breville Barista Pro (BES878)

The decision in three questions

How many drinks per morning?One: Express. Two-plus with milk: the Pro's steam recovery genuinely earns its keep.

Would the price gap buy anything else?If it's the difference between the Express plus a scale and good beans versus the Pro alone — take the Express bundle; it makes better coffee.

Already own a grinder? Then neither: the Bambino Plus plus your grinder beats both all-in-ones on ceiling. The built-in grinder is the whole reason these two exist.

How we picked

We do not run a testing lab

We compiled published manufacturer specifications, computed what each option costs to run where relevant, and cross-referenced aggregated owner reviews, then scored each product against a published rubric. The scores are judgments from documented research — they are not measurements we took, because we do not have a lab and we are not going to pretend we do. Where a number came from a manufacturer or a standard, we name it in Sources.

Questions

Frequently asked

Is the Barista Pro's grinder better than the Express's?

Functionally they're the same family of conical burr with the same practical performance — this isn't where the premium goes. Neither equals a dedicated espresso grinder, and both are good enough that most owners never hit the limit.

Does the Barista Pro steam milk better?

Faster, not better. The wand and the resulting microfoam are comparable; the ThermoJet just eliminates the pause between shot and steam and recovers quicker between drinks. Texture quality is your technique either way.

Which holds value better?

They track each other — both are high-volume machines with steady demand and identical serviceability. Buy on workflow, not resale: the Express if the gap funds beans and accessories, the Pro if the speed pays rent in your actual morning.

Keep reading

Receipts

Sources

We do not run a testing lab, and we do not pretend to. Where a measured number came from a manufacturer spec sheet or a published standard, we name it and link it. Where we could not verify something, we say so on the page rather than quietly leaving it out. Read our full method.