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If your seltzer or soda habit has you wracked with guilt over the amount of waste you’re producing, it might be time to switch to a soda maker. Soda makers add carbon dioxide to water to create carbonated water (also known as seltzer, sparkling water or fizzy water). You can then add syrup to the carbonated water to create flavored soda.
Tap water is the base for seltzer, but you’ll need to buy syrups for flavored soda. Of course, you can also get creative with your sparkling water. Instead of adding syrups, you can infuse it with fruits and herbs for a more subtly flavored drink that foregoes sugar or artificial sweeteners.
The SodaStream Terra is our top choice; it’s sleek, compact and simple to use, with just one button to press and no electricity needed. The BestReviews Testing Lab also evaluated the SodaStream Art, which stood out for its ease of use and fun retro design.
Editors’ picks for 2025
SodaStream Terra
If you’re looking for the best home soda maker, the SodaStream Terra is our number one. We love how compact and streamlined it is, measuring 5 inches wide, 8 inches deep and 17 inches high. It looks good on the countertop and comes in black, white, red or misty blue. You can buy it with one bottle and CO2 canister, or in a bundle with three bottles and two canisters.
You carbonate water by simply pressing a button on the top of the machine. It doesn’t need power, so you don’t have to position it near an outlet. You can easily adjust the level of effervescence by pressing the button multiple times. SodaStream recommends three presses for a light sparkle, five presses for medium carbonation and seven presses for extra fizzy water. Each press takes just two seconds.
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iSi North America Soda Siphon
Although it’s different from a standard soda maker machine, this soda siphon is perfect for buyers on a budget. Like all soda makers, it uses CO2 to carbonate water; however, it uses individual iSi soda charger pods instead of a single large canister. To fizz your water, fill the soda siphon, attach the charger pod and shake vigorously. You can then dispense water from the siphon.
This method is quick, but it doesn’t let you adjust the carbonation level. It’s fully manual, so you don’t need access to a power outlet, which makes it great for picnics and al fresco dining.
DrinkMate OmniFizz
What’s cool about this DrinkMate soda maker is that you can use it to carbonate other beverages, not just water. You can fizz up infused water, homemade beer and flat soda. Want to turn your standard white wine or rose into sparkling wine? The DrinkMate can do that.
There’s a button on the top of the machine that, when pressed, makes your drink fizzy, and you can adjust the carbonation level by pressing it more than once. Each press takes just a few seconds and there’s no power required in the carbonation process. Measuring 5 inches wide, 8 inches deep and 16 inches high, it’s countertop-friendly. A single 1-liter bottle is included or you can buy a package with two bottles.
Philips GoZero Sparkling Water Maker
This affordable soda maker machine is a little bulkier than some at approximately 8 inches wide, 9.5 inches deep and 18.5 inches high. However, it’s effective and easy to use, requiring no electricity. It comes with a 1-liter carbonator bottle and is compatible with any standard CO2 canister, but you don’t get one included.
You press a button on top of the soda maker to fizz your water, adjusting how effervescent it is by pressing it more or fewer times. You only need to press it for a couple of seconds each time, so it takes around 10 to 30 seconds to carbonate your water.
SodaStream Art
We tested out the SodaStream Art and found it effective and easy to use. It’s fully manual and has a lever on the side that you pull down to inject the water with CO2. We found this process simple and liked how effortless it was to make the water extra fizzy when we wanted to, just by pulling the lever a few more times. We noted that it only takes a couple of seconds for each lever pull, so the whole carbonation process takes well under 30 seconds.
We liked the retro design of the machine and found it fit under our wall cabinets. At around 7 inches wide, 9.5 inches deep and 17 inches high, it isn’t the smallest soda maker, but it isn’t too bulky, either.
Aarke Carbonator III
If you’re serious about sparkling water, consider this Aarke soda maker. It’s made from metal, rather than plastic like most soda-making machines, so it looks attractive and is built to last. It’s manual and has a lever that you pull down to add carbonation. This lets you easily adjust how fizzy your water is by changing the number of times you pull the lever.
It measures roughly 6 inches wide, 10 inches deep and 16 inches high, so it fits neatly on most counters — and it looks so good you’ll want to leave it out all the time.
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Twenty39 Qarbo
Thanks to its two-stage pressure release valve, you can carbonate more than just water in this soda maker without creating a mess. You can add fizz to beer, flat soda, wine, cocktails and infused water as well.
It’s manual with a press-button mechanism that you can press multiple times to adjust the level of sparkle. You only need to press it for a couple of seconds each time, so it’s extremely quick. It measures around 5 inches wide, 11 inches deep and 18 inches high. It comes with a single 1-liter bottle but no CO2 cylinder, so you’ll need to buy that separately.
How we tested
In addition to thoroughly researching soda makers in general, we tested the SodaStream Art. Here’s what we examined.
Ease of use
- Setup: We looked at how quick it was to set the machine up and connect the CO2 canister.
- Attaching the bottle: It should be seamless to connect the bottle and fix it securely to avoid leaks, so this was an area we paid particular attention to.
Design
- Appearance: Looks aren’t everything, but it’s nice to have attractive kitchen appliances, so we considered how happy we’d be to display the soda maker on our counters.
- Size: We determined the dimensions and how much counter space the machine took up.
Adding the fizz
- Carbonating: A top-notch soda maker lets you quickly add fizz to your water, so we examined the carbonation process.
- Carbonation level: We examined the level of carbonation and how easy it was to get very fizzy water.
More information and tips for purchasing soda makers is available at the official BestReviews website.
