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Not everyone wants to spend £200 on a Ninja. And not everyone should. The Cosori air fryer range starts around £70, consistently gets 4.5+ star reviews, and has quietly become one of the best-selling air fryers in the UK. But does cheaper mean worse, or just less hyped?
We tested the Cosori Pro II alongside our Ninja Dual Zone for four weeks, cooking the same meals in both. Here’s what we found.
What Makes Cosori Different
Cosori focuses on doing one thing brilliantly: air frying. No multi-cooker attachments, no ice cream maker, no steam function. Just a reliable air fryer with excellent temperature control, a square basket that maximises cooking space, and a price that doesn’t require a financial recovery plan.
The square basket is a genuine advantage over round designs. It fits more food in a single layer, which means crispier results because food isn’t piled on top of itself. A square basket holds about 20% more than a round basket of the same quoted capacity.
Cosori vs Ninja: The Honest Comparison
For pure air frying — chips, nuggets, vegetables, fish — the Cosori matches the Ninja. Genuinely. The chips came out equally crispy in both. The temperature accuracy was comparable. The preheat time was similar (both under 3 minutes). In a blind taste test with the kids, nobody could tell which fryer cooked which batch.
Where Ninja wins: versatility. The Dual Zone gives you two independent cooking zones. The Speedi adds steaming, baking, and roasting. If you want a kitchen multi-tool, Ninja justifies the premium. But if you want an air fryer and only an air fryer, you’re paying £100-150 extra for functions you might never use.
Where Cosori wins: price, basket design, and the app. The Cosori app has hundreds of recipes with automatic temperature and time settings — select a recipe, press start, done. The basket is easier to clean than the Ninja’s cooking pot. And the overall footprint is smaller, which matters in tight UK kitchens.
Build Quality at a Lower Price
The concern with any budget appliance is durability. After four weeks of daily use, the Cosori shows zero signs of wear. The non-stick coating is intact, the buttons are responsive, and the drawer mechanism is smooth. The exterior is brushed stainless steel, not cheap plastic. It looks and feels more expensive than it is.
The power cable could be longer — it’s about 1 metre, which limits placement options. And like every air fryer ever made, it’s louder than you’d expect. Not hairdryer loud, but definitely noticeable if you’re in the same room.
Who Should Buy Cosori vs Ninja?
Buy Cosori if: you want a dedicated air fryer, budget matters, you have limited counter space, or you’re not sure if you’ll use an air fryer enough to justify £200. Buy Ninja if: you want to replace multiple kitchen gadgets with one unit, you cook complex meals that need different temperatures simultaneously, or you’ve already committed to the air fryer lifestyle and want the best. Neither is a bad choice. The Cosori is a brilliant entry point that most families will be perfectly happy with.
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