De'Longhi Magnifica Plus vs De'Longhi Magnifica Start LatteCrema
Quick take: The De'Longhi Magnifica Start LatteCrema costs $100 less.
| Spec | De'Longhi Magnifica Plus | De'Longhi Magnifica Start LatteCrema |
|---|---|---|
| Standout features | Touchscreen, Auto Milk Texturing, Programmable | LatteCrema Hot System, Adjustable Strength, Auto-Clean, Pre-Ground Bypass |
| Approx. price | ~$900 | ~$800 |
| Type | Super-Automatic | Super-Automatic |
| Boiler | Thermoblock | Thermoblock |
| Built-in grinder | Yes | Yes |
| Pump pressure | 15 bar | 15 bar |
| Water capacity | 60 oz | 61 oz |
| Warm-up time | 45 seconds | 45 seconds |
| Steam wand | Auto (LatteCrema) | Auto (LatteCrema Hot) |
| Basket type | — | — |
| Best for | Milk Drinks | Milk Drinks |
| Dimensions | 9.5 x 17.5 x 14.0 in | 9.4 x 17.3 x 13.8 in |
| Weight | 21.2 lbs | 20.3 lbs |
| Warranty | 2 years | 2 years |
Pros & cons
De'Longhi Magnifica Plus
- ✓Intuitive full-color touchscreen
- ✓Excellent auto milk foam with 3 texture settings
- ✓4 user profiles for households
- ✓18 one-touch recipes including iced drinks
- ✗Loud conical grinder
- ✗Small drip tray
- ✗No app or WiFi connectivity
- ✗Must remove water tank to access brew unit
De'Longhi Magnifica Start LatteCrema
- ✓Cheapest current De'Longhi with the LatteCrema Hot carafe, $100 more than the manual-wand Magnifica Start
- ✓One-touch cappuccino and latte macchiato, with an automatic carafe rinse after each use and a carafe that stores in the fridge between drinks
- ✓Reviewers rate the foam well: Tom's Coffee Corner found it creamier than Philips' LatteGo, and Coffeeness called the crema rich for the price class
- ✓13-setting stainless conical burr grinder plus a pre-ground bypass for decaf, with a 250 g hopper and 1.8 L tank
- ✓Three strength levels and adjustable cup sizes that the machine remembers, behind a simple backlit icon panel
- ✗Loud grinder: Coffeeness measured 75.9 dB with a shrill pitch, louder than the Magnifica S it replaces
- ✗Maximum dose is about 10 g, so shots run mild by espresso-bar standards (Tom's Coffee Corner)
- ✗The finest grind settings choke the flow, so the usable range is narrower than 13 settings suggests
- ✗No display, user profiles or iced recipe; the $600 Magnifica Evo LatteCrema adds an over-ice recipe for $200 less
What owners say
De'Longhi Magnifica Plus
The Magnifica Plus sits at the top of De'Longhi's Magnifica family and is the model owners point newcomers toward when the cheaper Evo's interface starts to grate. At $1,000 the money buys two concrete things over its siblings: a large touchscreen that walks you through every maintenance step in plain language instead of asking you to decode blinking lights and button combinations, and De'Longhi's higher-dosing brew system, which puts more coffee in the puck than the standard Evo and produces a correspondingly stronger cup. It is a popular first super-automatic precisely because it removes the two things that frustrate beginners — not knowing what the machine wants, and drinks that taste thin. Owners report it holding up well in heavy use, with one logging over 1,300 drinks in under a year without a hiccup. Full owner insights →
De'Longhi Magnifica Plus vs De'Longhi Magnifica Start LatteCrema: common questions
Which is cheaper, the De'Longhi Magnifica Plus or the De'Longhi Magnifica Start LatteCrema?
The De'Longhi Magnifica Start LatteCrema is the cheaper of the two at roughly $800, about $100 less than the De'Longhi Magnifica Plus at ~$900. Both figures are approximate list prices and street prices move with sales.