Best Air Fryers of 2026: 10 Top Picks Compared

The best air fryer for most kitchens is the Instant Pot Vortex Plus 6-Quart. It crisps evenly and stays under $150. That said, the right pick depends more on how many people you feed than on which model reviewers are crowned. Below are ten air fryers worth buying, each one chosen for a specific job, with the trade-off it comes with.

How we picked these air fryers  

Every model here has been through someone's test kitchen. Every machine cooks frozen fries, a bone-in chicken breast and a yellow cake from a boxed mix. Testers score how evenly each one browns. They also mark it on ease of use, noise and cleaning.  

The 10 best air fryers  

We ordered this list by use case instead of rank. A two-quart mini and a nine-quart dual basket are chasing different buyers. Prices here move constantly. Check the current one before you order.  

Instant Pot Vortex Plus 6-Quart  

6 quarts, six functions, $90 to $150. The broil preset is weak and the fan hits 66 decibels, which is the loudest thing in most kitchens after the blender. Everything else lands. Testers pulled crisp fries, juicy chicken and a properly baked cake out of it, and the dehydrate function dries fruit without babysitting.  

Cosori 9-in-1 TurboBlaze  

Bon Appétit made this their overall winner after testing more than 20 machines. It runs from 90 to 450°F across five fan speeds, a wider range than anything else here, in a 6-quart basket at 1,725 watts for around $120. You preheat it manually, and it never reminds you to shake the basket.  

Beautiful by Drew Barrymore 6-Quart  

6 quarts, 1,750 watts, $69. The motor matches machines at twice the money and the basket swallows two pounds of fries. It also comes in more than a dozen colors, if the thing has to look like it belongs on the counter. Walmart is the only place selling it.  

Instant Pot VersaZone 9-Quart  

This one takes the counter hostage at 16 inches wide. The basket is also awkward to wash in a small sink. What you get for that is nine quarts. No other model here comes close. A removable divider splits it into two quart chambers. Fries and bacon cooked together came out well. It costs around $220.  

Ninja Foodi 8-Quart DualZone DZ201  

Two four-quart baskets at $160 to $200. Each basket alone is small. This is a machine for two dishes rather than one big one. Smart Finish times both to land together. Chicken and fries cooked side by side without either suffering. One Food Network tester has run the same unit for three years.  

Instant Pot Vortex 2-Quart Mini  

2 quarts, four presets, $60. Under half the capacity of a standard model, which is the point if you cook for one. The beeps and fan are loud for something this small, but it browned fries, chicken and cake as well as its full-size siblings.  

Ninja 4-Quart AF101  

Ninja built this better than most of the plastic-shelled competition. Four quarts holds two chicken breasts comfortably and caps you at two or three people. The ceramic-coated crisper plate releases food cleanly. List price is $120, though it discounts often enough that paying full is usually a mistake.  

Cuisinart AIR-200 6-Quart  

6 quarts, 10 presets, $100 to $150. The glass window is the reason to buy it: you can check progress without yanking the basket out and dropping the temperature. Presets cover fries, wings, vegetables and frozen snacks, and it performed well across every test. Buttons instead of a dial make it slower to set.  

Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro  

One cubic foot and 13 functions for $400. It holds a whole chicken. A 9x13 casserole dish or a quarter-sheet pan also fits. Frozen fries browned evenly in 15 minutes. The price only makes sense as an oven replacement for most weeknight cooking. As a fries machine it is four times what you need to spend.  

Cosori TurboBlaze (PFAS-free version)  

Six quarts, around $120. Same machine as the entry above. What changes is the coating. The basket and crisper tray use PFAS-free ceramic instead of conventional nonstick. Coating chemistry keeps some people from buying an air fryer at all. This is the mainstream answer. You will not pay a specialist price for it.  

What to look for when buying an air fryer  

Two things decide whether an air fryer stays on the counter or gets shelved after a month. One is capacity. The other is how much hassle it takes to clean and put away.  

Capacity  

One or two people do fine with two to four quarts. A family of four wants five or six. Households of five and up need eight quarts or a dual-basket model. Shape counts as much as volume. A wide basket browns more evenly than a deep one.  

Style  

Basket models are the simplest and the cheapest. Dual-basket units run two foods at two temperatures at the same time. The trade is serious counter space. Toaster-oven models take sheet pans and casserole dishes. They also take longer to preheat.  

Cleaning and footprint  

Check that the basket and crisper plate are dishwasher safe, and measure your counter before ordering. Anything you have to haul down from a shelf before every use will end up living on that shelf.  

Read More: Air Fryer vs Deep Fryer: Which Is Better?