Putting the Breville Smart Grinder Pro vs the Baratza Encore face-to-face may look simple, judging by their appearance. But once we start examining them in-depth, it gets a bit more complicated than that.
| Picture | Product | Key Features | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Breville Smart Grinder Pro |
| Check on AmazonCheck on Wayfair |
 | Baratza Encore |
| Check on AmazonCheck on 1stincoffee |
The Breville Smart Grinder Pro is a beautiful grinder with an LCD display, more adjustable grind settings, and accessories to match a good espresso machine. In contrast, the Baratza Encore is ill-equipped for espresso, with excellent performance for most home brewing methods, from Moka pot to pour-over, drip, and French press coffee.
The price difference between both seems to favor the Breville Smart Grinder Pro, which offers more bang for the buck for a slightly higher price. Still, we prefer the Baratza Encore because it’s more durable and reliable.
Keep reading to find out why.
Brand Overview: Breville vs. Baratza
Many coffee enthusiasts have welcomed their high-quality machines and grinders for years now. When it comes to coffee grinders for home use, Baratza is one of the most reputable brands in the market. On the other hand, Breville has a substantial home appliances product range.
Both companies are well-known for their quality products, and they both have a loyal following of customers.
Breville is a global company founded in Sydney, Australia, in 1945. The brand has become famous worldwide due to its dedication to innovation and quality. Breville’s most famous products include food processors, kitchen appliances, and espresso machines.
Baratza was founded in 1999 and is based in Seattle, Washington. The company specializes in high-quality coffee grinders, with a good range of products for home baristas and a few top-notch grinders for commercial use.
Both companies produce high-quality products that customers love all over the world. In 2020, Breville acquired Baratza, but this has not made any difference in the latter’s product or service quality.
Looks
The Breville Smart Grinder Pro is more appealing than the Baratza Encore when it comes to looks. The sleek stainless steel body and elegant design of the buttons and dials make it stand out from other grinders. Plus, the screen display looks good and is easy to use.
The Baratza Encore doesn’t look bad by any means. Still, it doesn’t have the same level of appeal as the Breville Smart Grinder Pro. The switch, container, and hopper are all made from plastic and don’t have a very high-quality look or feel.
Overall, the Breville Smart Grinder Pro looks better than the Baratza Encore.
Winner: Breville Smart Grinder Pro
Build quality and durability
When determining the best grinder, build quality is an essential factor. Appearances may be tricky here.
The Breville Smart Grinder Pro is made of stainless steel and plastic, while the Baratza Encore is hard plastic. Usually, plastic suggests a weaker construction, but the Baratza Encore is one of the most durable home coffee grinders. In contrast, the Breville Smart Grinder Pro isn’t as durable as it looks, and its short lifespan is its major weakness.
It’s hard to learn which grinder is heavier by simply lifting them. However, according to public information, the Baratza Encore is slightly heavier.
Winner: Baratza Encore
Performance: Burrs and motor
When it comes to the performance of their grinders, both Breville and Baratza make some pretty big claims. Namely, their burrs are made of high-quality steel, and their motors are more than capable of handling home use. However, they do differ in a few key ways.
Baratza is very open about where they source their burrs from -Etzinger, a premium manufacturer from Liechtenstein. In contrast, Breville doesn’t publish explicitly what company manufactures their burrs.
Both grinders show good performance in this price range. Still, the Breville Smart Grinder Pro is slightly faster, less noisy, and offers a more even grind size distribution. The motor on the Baratza Encore is potent enough for home use. Conversely, the Breville Smart Grinder Pro has a more powerful engine. In both cases, motors handle home loads without burning out or overheating.
Winner: Breville Smart Grinder Pro
Size
The Baratza Encore is shorter and less deep than the Breville Smart Grinder Pro when it comes to size. If you’re looking for a grinder that will take up less counter space, the Baratza Encore is your best bet.
Winner: Baratza Encore
Dosing
We recommend single-dosing whenever possible. It’s more accurate than any advanced feature in this price range, and it doesn’t overcomplicate the workflow, in our opinion.
For those who prefer filling the hopper in advance, the Breville Smart Grinder Pro is the better option here. With the Breville Smart Grinder Pro, you can set the grind time within 0.01 seconds on three programmable buttons, making it easier to get the perfect cup of coffee. Additionally, the timer for dosing ensures that your coffee will be consistent every time. The Baratza Encore doesn’t have any feature to adjust dosing.
Another advantage of the Breville Smart Grinder Pro for dosing includes portafilter holders. In contrast, the Baratza Encore has a catching bin. Moreover, the chute isn’t visible, so it requires some guesswork to put the portafilter below if you want to grind directly on it.
As a solution, Baratza sells a single-dose hopper for the Encore, which fits other models like the Virtuoso+, Vario, and Forte. The single-dose hopper facilitates measuring the right amount of coffee for your needs, smoothing the workflow.
Winner: Breville Smart Grinder Pro
Grind Settings
The Breville Smart Grinder Pro has a superior grind settings range than the Baratza Encore.
Additionally, the Breville Smart Grinder Pro performs better in the finer adjustments, offering better results for espresso. The Baratza Encore provides good performance for pour-over and French press coffee. In other words, the Breville Smart Grinder Pro and the Baratza Encore perform at a similar level for medium and coarse grounds. Still, the Breville works better in finer grind settings.
It’s worth noting that for better performance within this price range, the best hand grinders are definitely superior to both the Baratza Encore and the Breville Smart Grinder Pro.
Winner: Breville Smart Grinder Pro
Warranty, technical and customer service
When it comes to warranty, technical and customer service, Baratza is the clear winner. They offer a 1-year warranty on their products and have an extensive spare parts inventory should something go wrong with your machine. In addition, they have a stellar reputation for their customer service and technical support.
Breville falls somewhat below Baratza in terms of customer service and technical support. However, they do offer a one-year warranty on their products. Breville does provide excellent technical support to help you with any problems you may experience with your machine. However, they may not have as much of an extensive spare parts inventory as Baratza.
Winner: Baratza Encore
Price
The Breville Smart Grinder Pro is more expensive than the Baratza Encore. Considering the differences in features, the price gap between the two machines isn’t surprising.
However, the Baratza grinder has better quality parts and a longer lifespan.
On balance, the Breville Smart Grinder Pro offers more advanced features than the Baratza Encore. Still, the Breville Smart Grinder Pro doesn’t look like the better option to us as a less durable product.
Winner: Baratza Encore
Our pick: Breville Smart Grinder Pro vs Baratza Encore
When it comes to coffee grinders below $ 200, there are a lot of choices out there. But if you’re looking for the best quality for your money, we recommend the Baratza Encore.
Both grinders are affordable entry-level grinders, and they’re both of very high quality in this price range. However, there are some critical differences between them.
The Breville Smart Grinder Pro is better suited as an entry-level espresso grinder. It has more features, looks better, and offers a superior range of grind size adjustments. Nonetheless, we prefer a workhorse like the Baratza Encore. The Encore is famous for its long lifespan and superb reliability.
For more details about these grinders you can read our dedicated blog posts for each of them:
If you’re looking for a good espresso grinder for home use, don’t fret. In that case, you can read our Eureka Mignon Specialita review to learn more about a great grinder for espresso enthusiasts without breaking the bank.
For more information about entry-level espresso machines, you can check our comparison of the Breville Bambino vs. Bambino Plus.
Prior to your article dated May 2022, Baratza was acquired by Breville quite a while ago. While it appears Baratza website still offers parts and repair services, we wonder if Breville will discontinue the excellent service, parts and repair that has always been offered by Baratza before the acquisition.
Hi Donna, thank you very much for your comment. Yes, Breville acquired Baratza in 2020. So far, we still see Baratza as a better brand, as far as it goes for grinders. That’s the advantage of specialization in this niche. Furthermore, I have been checking feedback and still Baratza has great comments for their products’ durability, spare parts inventories, and technical service.
Possibly market/country specific but Breville now use Etzinger burrs in some of their Espresso machines with built-in grinders eg. my Barista Pro came with a set.
That’s very interesting Migs. Some coffee fans feel wary about the Breville-Baratza business, but it makes a lot of sense that Breville is learning from Baratza, to improve their products.
Can someone please tell me what is comparable between these grinders? Like a 16 on the baratza would be like a 45 on the breville?
Hi Brandon. The best guess you can get is a range, not a exact number. The best resource I found with a decent answer to your question is this crowdsourced grind size chart: https://coffeechronicler.com/grind-size-chart. It’s very hard to predict equivalent grind sizes for different coffee beans, with different roasts, and different grinders. Hopefully, that chart can help you get a good range to work around.