Ooni VS Gozney Roccbox: Portable Pizza Oven Battle

A huge number of portable, outdoor pizza oven brands have flooded the market in recent years.

At the top of the pack, you’ve got Ooni and Gozney, who both sell multi-fuel ovens capable of hitting 950°F+ temperatures for restaurant-quality pizza at home.

At this price point, Gozney only sells the Roccbox, which is available in gas-only or dual fuel for a little extra. Ooni offers a few different models with different fuels and sizes, so read on to learn which pizza oven is best for you.

Ooni VS Gozney

We conducted a thorough test of all the best outdoor pizza ovens and Ooni and Gozney stood out due to their features, build quality, and value for money.

To help you narrow down your choice, we should explain the main models available.

Gozney keeps things simple, offering their popular Roccbox in one size, available with gas only, or for an extra $100 you can get dual fuel with a wood-burning attachment.

The Ooni lineup is a little more complex. The closest models to the Gozney are the:

• Ooni Koda – Available in 12″ or 16″ sizes with propane gas (plus natural gas for the 16″)
• Ooni Karu – Available in 12″ or 16″ sizes with wood or charcoal or a $100 gas burning attachment

We find using gas easier and more convenient, narrowing your choice down to the Ooni Koda vs the Gozney Roccbox.

However, if you want dual fuel, you will be looking at the Karu + the gas burning attachment.

Confused by all this? I sure was. If you’re struggling, remember that the Roccbox is a gas oven that can add wood-burning capability, while the Karu is a wood-burning oven that can add a gas-burning attachment.

Now that we’ve finally narrowed down your options, we’ll briefly explain each model before getting stuck into our head-to-head comparison.

Gozney Roccbox Gas Fired Portable Outdoor Pizza Oven

We named the Roccbox our best overall pizza oven, so it’s only fair to look at it first.

Made of high-grade 304 stainless steel, the Roccbox weighs in at 44lbs and measures 16.3 x 21 x 18.6 inches externally.

The most important measurement is the cooking floor, which comes in at 12.4 x 13.4 so you won’t be able to cook large pizzas on the Roccbox.

The compact size and folding tripod legs make the Roccbox the most portable oven we tested.

Lined with calcium silicate, the Roccbox comes up to temperature quickly and reaches a maximum of 932ºF / 500ºC in around 60 seconds. 

The outside of the Roccbox is covered with safe-touch, commercial-grade silicone to offset some of the danger of that scorching temperature.

Pros:

• Portable – The lighter weight, smaller size, and folding legs of the Roccbox make it easily portable.
• Pizza peel included – The Roccbox comes with its own specifically designed pizza peel that fits exactly into the oven.
• Mounted thermometer – This helps you know when the oven is up to temperature

Cons:

• Preheat times – In our tests, the Roccbox took a few minutes longer to preheat than other ovens
• Size – The Roccbox can only accommodate a 12-inch pizza

You can choose between green and grey color options.

Ooni Koda Gas Powered Pizza Oven

Unlike the Gozney, the Ooni Koda is available in both 12″ and 16″ sizes. At the time of writing the 12″ Koda was $100 cheaper than the Roccbox, while the 16″ was $100 more expensive.

I liked the extra size on the 16″ Koda. Even if you only plan on cooking 12″ pizzas, having a little more room to maneuver your pizza will come in handy.

The Koda is limited to gas (or natural gas on the 16″), so if you want the option to use wood you’ll have to go with Roccbox or Ooni Karu.

I think that gas is the best fuel choice for this style of pizza oven. I won’t deny that a wood-fired oven has a romantic appeal, but if you just want to smash out some pizzas on a Friday night you can’t beat the convenience of gas.

What we like:

• Large surface area – Can cook pizzas up to 16 inches and gives you more room to move
• Sleek curved design – Looks great in any outdoor space
• Minimal set up – I was ready cook in 5 minutes
• Oven gets hot – Oven temps got up to the stated 950°F with ease

What we don’t like:

• Long preheat time – Just like the Gozney the preheat times were a bit longer than stated 
• No accessories included – Would have been nice to get a peel or thermometer included

Ooni VS Gozney Roccbox head-to-head comparison

Now that we know the basic specs of each oven let’s put them up against each other on the four key aspects of pizza oven design – overall design, fuel, size of pizza, and portability.

Design

The designs of the Roccbox and Koda are quite different and make for a nice contrast.

The Koda is squat and sleek with a curved roof, metal finish, and short legs. The wider firebox means you can get in a larger pizza but it cuts down on portability.

The Roccbox, by comparison, has a higher dome and longer legs. Because of the silicone outer cladding, the Roccbox also comes in two colors, grey and green. 

Only the Roccbox comes with a built-in thermometer, although we would suggest investing in a quality infrared thermometer for a more accurate readings

Choosing between designs is at least a little subjective, but we preferred the look of the Roccbox and the fact that the folding legs stood a little higher gave it a better working height.

The touch-safe silicone cladding is a great feature to save you from the occasional burn.

Fuel

As we’ve already explained, the Roccbox runs off propane by default but can be expanded to dual-fuel with an optional wood-burning accessory that can be purchased later if you want to experiment with wood-fired pizza.

If you go for the Koda you’ll be limited to gas only, so if using wood is important to you then you’ll want to go for a Karu which burns wood by default or can be upgraded with a gas burner attachment.

It’s worth noting that both ovens have excellent insulation, temperature control, and built-in pizza stones.

Gas is our preferred fuel choice for a portable pizza oven so both the Koda and Roccbox are tied there, however, we like that the Roccbox can add wood via the optional attachment.

Size

In terms of the size of the pizza you can cook, the Koda’s wider design lets you cook a 16-inch pizza compared to the 12-inch pizza you can cook in Roccbox.

For some people, this will be deal breaker. Just remember that these ovens cook pizza fast, so you can always just churn out more 12″ pizzas.

The larger size of the Koda also means you can use it for cooking a larger range of other foods like roast meat or vegetables.

Portability

Both the Ooni Koda and the Roccbox have legs that fold up for storing or moving around.

Despite its larger size, the 16″ Koda actually comes in at 39.2 lbs which is actually 1.8 lbs lighter than the Gozney. The 12″ model is a petite 20.2 lbs.

In the 12″ size, I would have to give the Ooni the tick for portability due to the lighter size.

What stands out the most

We’ve broken the Roccbox and the Ooni down by their design, fuel, size, and portability, but what is it about these ovens that makes them stand out from the rest of the competition?

The Roccbox – ease of use

The Roccbox is a perfect combination of build quality, features, and ease of use for the price. I love that you get a built-in thermometer and free pizza peel included.

The safe-touch silicone cladding is important to me as my kids like to sit around the table while I cook.

What stands out about the Roccbox is just how well-designed and easy to use this oven is. It’s portable, the folding legs make it easy to set up, the gas burner attaches with one fitting and a hose, and it’s easy to clean.

The Ooni Koda – size

For some, the extra size of the Koda is worth the slightly higher price.

Especially if you don’t want the wood burning option.

The extra cooking space provided by its width and the fine temperature control means you can roast meat, char veggies, and still have time to cook a pizza at, literally, the last minute.

Company Overview

It’s good to know a little bit about the companies behind each product.

Ooni

Ooni, who has also confusingly traded under the name Uuni, was founded in Birmingham, UK, by Kristian Tapaninaho and Darina Garland in 2012 to sell Tapaninaho’s idea of a portable and affordable wood-fired pizza oven.

The company is a crowdfunding success story, having accrued the funding for their first model, the original Ooni oven from Kickstarter. 

The larger Ooni Pro model was launched on the crowdfunding website Indiegogo and was the first countertop oven to be able to cook a 16-inch pizza with wood, charcoal, gas or wood pellets as fuel.

Gozney

Interestingly, the Gozney Group, manufacturer of the Roccbox, has a similar origin story to Ooni. Both companies were founded in the UK and both made liberal use of crowdfunding to get their products off the ground.

Tom Gozney, CEO and founder of the Gozney Group, set up the Stone Bake Oven Company in 2010 to supply high-end pizza ovens to restaurants and hotel chains. 

The first Roccbox took four years to develop using a grant from Virgin’s Pitch to Rich initiative, and construction was funded by backers from the crowdfunding website Indiegogo.

Now that we know a little more about the companies, let’s take a look at their ovens.

Wrapping it all up

The Ooni Koda and Gozney Roccbox are both excellent outdoor pizza ovens with a well-justified reputation for quality.

Have you used either of these ovens? If you have some tips on how to get the best out of them or a recipe for the perfect pizza Napoletana, we’d love to hear about it in the comments below.