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Bubbles are on tap from now on

If you like a glass of sparkling water with your dinner or fancy making your own soda water for cocktail night, then a soda maker deserves a spot in your kitchen.

Fizzing your water (and in some instances other liquids like wine or juice) at the press of a button, these snazzy gadgets mean you can dramatically cut your plastic bottle consumption without having to sacrifice your favourite drink.

But should you invest in one from market heavyweight SodaStream, or is there another brand worth your money? The GHI decided to find out, so after extensive testing, here are our best buys:

If you enjoy fizzy drinks, then we certainly think so. Firstly, soda makers use no electricity, so they won’t add anything to your energy bill. Instead, these stand-alone machines are fitted with a canister of CO2 that releases gas into your water when you press a button or pull a lever.

Generally, you’ll only need a few presses to make your drink suitably sparkling, but the exact number varies between models, so check the manufacturer instructions. It’s easy to personalise the flavour to your tastes, though; simply increase or decrease the number of presses.

Every sparkling water maker on our list comes with a specially designed reusable bottle that slots seamlessly into the machine. Most models are only designed to fizz water, but our runner-up – the Drinkmate Omnifizz – has a unique lid design that lets out pressure, meaning you can fizz any liquid including those that would otherwise foam up, like wine and juice. Drinkmate even suggests reinvigorating flat drinks that have been sat in the fridge for a few days (leftover tonic for mixing with one of our best gins, anyone?).

Fancy making your own Pepsi? You can also buy syrups that replicate your favourite pop – think cola and lemonade. These can be added into any fizzy water, meaning you can enjoy them whichever soda maker you choose.

Overall, sparkling water makers are simple gadgets that boast serious sustainability creds, but there are a few things to consider before you buy.

Soda makers have small footprints, so should slot away neatly, even in compact kitchens. But they can be quite tall, so if you’re planning on storing yours underneath a cupboard, it’s worth checking the measurements before you buy.

Once you know it’ll fit into your kitchen, consider what you’ll get in the box. Most models can be bought either separately or as a bundle with at least one reusable bottle and gas canister. The latter is a good option if you’re buying your first soda maker (as opposed to replacing an old one), while opting for multiple plastic bottles may be helpful if you’re in a bigger household or want to have multiple drinks on the go at once.

In terms of the gas canisters, most sparkling water makers take the same size, which makes 60L of sparkling water. Check which lid design your chosen model needs though, as some require a screw top and SodaStream’s ‘Quick Connect’ canisters aren’t suitable for all.

Canister installation proved a bit fiddly for most machines on test, but one should last you a while, so don’t let this be a dealbreaker. Plus, they needn’t go to waste once empty; SodaStream has a gas cylinder exchange program that lets you swap your empty canister for a new one, either online or in store, and they will clean and refill the old one.

To find the best sparkling water makers with the bubbliest results, our GHI experts start by measuring how much CO2 a single press injects into your drink. Then they repeat this test to check the consistency of its presses, looking for the same volume of CO2 every time.

Next, testers measure how loud each machine is and judge their overall design and ease of use.

Finally, they carry out a blind taste test with a thirsty panel. Every machine’s sparkling water is tasted and compared with shop-bought sparkling water. The made results are assessed according to flavour, and how the fizz feels inside your mouth.

These soda makers put in the most sparkling performance:

Scoring full marks for its design and ease of use, this minimalist soda maker is our star pick. It injects a consistently high volume of CO2 in one go, fizzing your water fast, and makes a noise once you’ve held down the carbonating button for long enough. Simple to use, clean and store, it helps you enjoy your water just the way you like it, every time.

Thanks to its innovative lid design that allows you to release bottle pressure, our runner-up fizzer was the only machine on test that carbonates not only water but also other liquids, from wine to tea. It added the most carbon per press of any on test – helpful if you’re in a hurry – and produced the tastiest sparkling water.

If you’re fizzing something new, go slowly to avoid over carbonating; when making sparkling wine, we found only a couple of presses were needed, and releasing pressure through the lid as you go helps too. Overall, it’s responsive and relatively quiet in use, with a wipe-down finish that comes in four colours.

This attractive, affordable soda maker is made from a wood-based material that uses by-products of the forestry industry, making it a top eco as well as budget buy. Its design is sturdy and simple to use, but it’s bigger than some we tested. It consistently injected the same volume of carbon into our drinks, giving excellent control over your water’s bubbliness – any variation comes down to the number of button presses.

Our panel reported that the fizziness of their results seemed to fade as they swallowed it, meaning it had its biggest impact on first sip. Ultimately, this is a matter of personal preference, so if that sounds good, add this slick gadget to your basket.

This is one of the best-known soda makers on the market, and it showed us exactly why it’s so popular. Its compact design is intuitive to use, from inserting the CO2 canister (the easiest process on test) to connecting your bottle for fizzing. It was also the quietest machine that we tried – great if you get early morning sparkling water cravings.

The plastic body doesn't feel as premium as others, and we’d suggest injecting a few extra bursts of gas if you like your water particularly bubbly, as their recommended number of three one-second presses fell short for our panel. Small niggles aside, this classic soda maker is a reliable pick.

This SodaStream is like the Terra’s chicer sibling; they share many traits, but it has a more premium design and finish thanks to its steel detailing and lever mechanism instead of a button. As with the brand’s more affordable model, this one is easy to use, boasting the same straightforward CO2 canister connection, clear instructions and quiet fizzing.

Again, we found that more lever pulls resulted in a tastier, fizzier drink. If you're set on a SodaStream but the Terra isn’t sleek enough for you, then the Art should tick all your boxes.

Made with stainless steel, this metallic soda maker exuded luxury on our test kitchen countertop. Our experts found the instructions clear and liked the inclusion of diagrams and troubleshooting advice. To get fizzing you must screw in the bottle rather than slot it in, making the process that bit lengthier. It also injects the least carbon per press, so you’ll need to do more if you like your water very bubbly.

More positively, it was consistent with its performance and it has a handy audio alert to let you know when your water is adequately fizzed. Ultimately, we think its timeless look is worth any extra seconds you’ll need to devote to your drink.