Is a Bread Maker Worth It? (2026): We do the sums

Last Updated on 4 February 2026 by Dan Wilderness

Hello everyone! In my collection of kitchen gadgets, one I have a particular love for is my bread maker. The smell of freshly baked bread floating through my flat in the morning really is a pleasure! Beyond this – I thought I’d take a closer look on most peoples two key questions: if a bread maker is worth it and if a bread maker can save you money!

(Please note: The Financial Wilderness may also receive a small payout if you make a purchase through a link on this site. It won’t affect the service you receive and we recommend only what we honestly believe to be the best available, not what gives us commission. You can read more about our affiliate policy on our disclaimers page.)

Quick Verdict on if a Bread Maker is worth it

We argue so – there’s a small but notable cost saving which adds up over time. The taste and health benefits are very pronounced, and you can get some really delicious bread with some.

How does a bread maker work?

Modern bread makers are incredibly easy. You simply put in the ingredients for bread (flour, water, yeast, a little butter and salt and some water for a basic loaf) and the bread maker will mix them up into a dough and then bake it into a perfectly shaped loaf for you.

If you have some measuring scales you simply weigh out the ingredient and put them in the basket to be made up. With most bread makers there’s some customisation options regarding the size of the loaf (which affects how many ingredients you put in) and crust style.

Do bread makers make a variety of bread?

Yes, with a bit of variation in the ingredients you can add flavour to breads for some variation (I love to add herbs to mine) or alternative styles of bread such as brioche or ciabatta.

Most bread makers also have a hopper for seeds/nuts which (if you like your bread with them) will get added at the appropriate time in baking process.

How long does a bread maker take to make bread?

It’ll vary by model – my Panasonic takes 4 hours on a full cycle, but also has a rapid option which makes it in 2 hours and 15 minutes.

I’m sure there’s a technical difference, but I can’t honestly say I taste a difference between the two approaches.

(Note: At the end of the cycle, the bread and the metal basket it’s baked in are pretty molten – you’d definitely want to leave some cooling time as well).

I tend to put the ingredients in just before I go to bed at night and set it up for a delayed start, so the bread is fresh and ready for the morning – plus it sets up that beautiful freshly baked smell!

Can a bread maker do other things beyond a loaf?

Yes, absolutely, most modern bread makers will have a variety of options.

Dough

You don’t have to go to the full extent of making bread – all modern bread makers as well have an option to simply mixing up the ingredients to create a dough instead

Pizza Base and Rolls

Once you have a dough (after leaving it to prove) you can make up a pizza base or rolls and finish them off in the oven.

Cake

Using different ingredients, you can also make a variety of easy cakes in your bread maker as well.

How much money does a bread maker save?

Let’s take a look into the relative costs of making a loaf of bread versus buying one in store

I’m using the basic recipe for my bread maker to make this comparison to make a medium 800g loaf, and I’m going to compare that with a number of different supermarket loaves available to show how it compared to different quality.

In an older version of this article the size of the bread I made and the supermarket one were inconsistent which our readers rightly called out in comments, so I’ve rewritten this to be like for like and create a fairer comparison.

The store bought bread option

We’re going to use three different bought breads as our comparison point. (Prices are correct at the time of updating the article, based on my local supermarket).

• The Basic Bread: Tesco Wholemeal Medium Sliced Bread (80p for 800g)
• The Higher End Supermarket Bread: Tesco Finest Super Seeder Farmhouse Loaf (£1.60 for 800g)
• The Sourdough Option: Tesco Brown Sourdough (£2.10 for 400g, so we’ll say get two for £4.20.)

Obviously bakeries and other supermarket may vary slightly in price – we went with Tesco because it’s an easily compatible national option.

The bread maker version

For the bread maker option we’ve put in the following ingredients and how we’ve noted the costing:

Strong Wholemeal Bread Flour – at £1.60 for 1.5kg. We use 400g, so the cost is 43p

Allinson’s Dried Active Baking Yeast – at £1.20 for 125g. We use one teaspoon and estimate this is about 3-4g and 8p.

Tesco Salted Butter, at £2 for 250g. We use 20g which works out as 20p.

The other ingredients are a spot of sugar (we say 2p) salt and water (we used filtered tap). We’re going to say the cost for the last two is negligible.

Finally there’s the running cost of the breadmaker – Which has estimated most modern breadmakers use about 0.35-0.4 kWh during a standard breadmaking cycle. At the time of writing this, my energy costs are 28 p/kWH, making the running cost of making a loaf on a four hour cycle about 11p.

Adding up those costs, this gives us a total cost for a home made loaf of 84p after rounding.

Summary Table of Bread Maker vs. Bought Loafs Costs and Savings

Bread Type	Supermarket Price (Tesco)	Home Made Cost (Ingredients + Energy)	Verdict
The Basic Wholemeal Medium (800g)	£0.80	£0.84	Buying is 4p cheaper (but doesn’t match bread quality.
The Premium Finest Super Seeder (800g)	£1.60	£1.14* (Includes 30p for seeds)	Save 46p / loaf Saves £24/year.
The Sourdough Brown Sourdough (2x 400g)	£4.20	£0.84 (Using starter**)	Save £3.36 / loaf Pays for machine in 3 months.

*Home Made Seeder cost adds ~30p for 100g of mixed seeds. Basic/Sourdough home costs based on standard flour/energy calculation.

** We’ve used simple commercial yeast for cost purposes out of practicality – if you have a sourdough starter it can actually be even cheaper though.

So do I save money with a bread maker versus buying a loaf?

So that gives us a pretty clear answer on a financial standpoint – if you’re happy with a budget supermarket loaf, it’s cheaper to buy. However, if you go with a more premium loaf (particularly the sourdough) you’ll make your money back more quickly.

Interestingly the answer to this question changed since I originally wrote the article. Supermarket bread prices increased, whilst the price of buying the flour (easily the most expensive bit) to make your own has stayed stable.

Originally we said we it was pretty negligible financially, but now with regular usage a machine can pay for itself.

Is using a bread maker healthier?

Yes, and this is a really good reason to use one.

Whilst Supermarket bread is relatively cheap and convenient, it generally contains quite a few preservatives, particularly Palcium Propionate and other tricks to maintain freshness through the sales process. Supermarket bread will in many cases be classified as a UPF (Ultra Processed Food) which is a term that’s come into focus recently.

If you make your own you know exactly what’s gone into it, and can keep it very simple and fresh indeed.

Are there any disadvantages to a bread maker?

I can only really think of two flaws with the bread maker option.

Bread Makers can be bulky

Very few, but some models can be quite bulky and take up valuable counter space. It’s probably going to be a machine you’ll generally keep in the cupboard when not using.

If space is really at a premium, a compact model (we recommend one below) can be helpful.

Bread Makers are not instant

Even a Bread Maker that does a quick cycle is likely to look at a baking cycle of two hours, not including cooling – and you have to remember to put it on!

As a result, not quite as convenient as the supermarket option.

So is buying a Bread Maker worth it?

Yes, there’s now a clear answer that whilst it takes up counter space, a bread maker make sense on all of financial, health and taste benefits.

The taste side really stands out here – homemade bread has a really delicious flavour that only a more expensive “artisan” bread can realistically compete with, especially when you learn to customise it effectively to your own tastes.

Many supermarket breads also contain a few preservatives and extra ingredients out of the practicality of being in the food chain – when you make your own, you know exactly what’s gone into it.

Finally, you can modify your bread to exactly how you like it, mixing in your favourite herbs and seeds to create interesting combinations! There is a certain pleasure in having something made yourself as well.

So do I recommend a breadmaker? Yes – but it’s not with the money hat on!

What are the best breadmakers available?

We’ve included below three well received bread makers at a range of price points:

The Personal Recommendation: Panasonic Automatic Bread Maker

This is the most up to date version of the bread maker I still use myself and gets excellent reviews. I’ve had my Panasonic running for years without issue and always very pleased with it.

My model is a little older, but consistently turns out a pretty perfect loaf.

I like that it also contains a seed dispenser to make seeded and malted loaves, and has a number of settings to make different types of bread.

You can buy it here at Amazon. here at John Lewis, here at Lakeland, or here at Argos

The Budget Option: Morphy Richards Bread Maker

A friend has this great breadmaker from Morphy Richards – at under £100 is a cheaper option that many others. Whilst it doesn’t have the multi-purpose functionality of some of the others, it’s still a nice looking piece of kit that will throw out a great loaf!

You can buy it here here at Dunelm, here at Argos, or here at Amazon

The Elite Option: Sage The Custom Loaf Breadmaker

A really smart but expensive looking bit of kit, this Sage Breadmaker does it all when it comes to your bread options. Not the cheapest option but all the functionality you’ll ever need.

You can buy it here at Amazon, here at John Lewis or here at Harts of Stur.

Any questions?

If you have any questions about our usage of our bread maker or would like to share your own experiences of if you think a bread maker is worth it we’d love to hear from you! Just let us know in the comments below.

And if you’re looking to save money when cooking, why not check out our review of if batch cooking is worth it?

Recipes for use in a bread maker

Your bread maker will usually come with a book of recipes which makes a great starting point, but I thought I’d include the basic bread recipe I use and some and some of my favourite modifications for you to try.

It’s important to start with your dry ingredients at the bottom, so I recommend putting these in your bread maker in the order listed here. This will give you a medium to large size loaf of bread.

Basic Breadmaker Loaf Recipe

• One teaspoonful of yeast – ideally fast acting.
• 500g of flour – white, wholemeal or a combination of the two. Ideally, you want strong bread flour as this will bind the bread better, but plain flour will also work.
• 25g of butter – I use salted just because it brings out the flavour a little more.
• 1 and a half teaspoonfuls of sugar (add or remove to taste, I find any isn’t necessary, but without it you may find it bland relative to store-bought bread)
• 1 and a half tea teaspoons of salt (I tend to reduce this slightly if using salted butter).
• 340ml of water.

Easy Herb Bread Recipe Modification

Personally I really like the taste of Oregano, and so I will generally throw in at least a teaspoon full of this after I put in the butter. Dried Rosemary also works particularly well with this. I suggest not going over two teaspoonfuls as it can overpower the bread.

Curried Mango Bread Loaf Recipe

One of my favourite modifications is to make a curry and mango bread loaf, which really adds to any sandwich!

Follow the basic bread loaf recipe above, but before the water throw in 3 teaspoons of mild curry power, and 2 tablespoons of mango chutney.

Whilst it will work with both, I’d really suggest using wholemeal flour as the base for this one as it brings out the bread to it’s very best. It also smells absolutely delicious when baking.

Any suggested breadmaker recipes?

We’d love to hear your own breadmaker recipe suggestions so please do drop them in the comments below!

And that’s it!

Thank you for reading! You can sign up below to get our new articles delivered to you on a range of financial topics, or remember you can follow our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.