There are many great reasons to love Fall. The cooler weather, changing colors, and Fall flowers are wonderful excuses to spend more time outside. One of my favorite parts of the season is getting to cook outdoors again, as there’s just something irreplaceable about cooking up some delicious food with friends and family while watching the kiddos play in the backyard.
When it comes to backyard cooking, most people default to one of the best grills for perfect backyard burgers and gameday BBQs. Yet, pizza ovens have recently become a great way to cook tasty meals outdoors. But which one is better?
While both cookers accomplish the same goal, some fundamental differences will give you different experiences. The main difference comes down to the use case. Grills are fantastic at quickly cooking a wide range of foods and can often cook several different things simultaneously. On the other hand, pizza ovens are designed specifically to cook great-tasting pizza, with anything else a bonus.
Andy Ellis, Managing Director of Posh UK, notes the difference: “Grills are more versatile than a pizza oven. You can cook more on a grill, making it perfect for various dishes and those big weekend BBQs. Pizza ovens are only good for pizza and maybe a few dough-based sides.”
Sean Martin, Chef, Cookbook Author, and Co-Founder of Vindulge, an outdoor cooking lifestyle blog, says, “Most pizza ovens are built for one thing: high-heat pizzas.”
Either way, you’ll still get a tasty meal, but grills and pizza ovens approach it differently. Keep reading for my grill vs. pizza oven comparison, which looks at each cooking method's price and availability, design features, and versatility.
Sean Martin is a co-founder of Vindulge and co-author of the cookbook Fire + Wine. A website dedicated to the art of barbecuing and creating delicious backyard cooking experiences. Alongside his wife, Mary Cressler, they share their passion for food and wine through recipes, wine pairings, and tips on Vindulge. Their expertise extends beyond the website, as they run a catering company, travel the world as featured chefs, and have authored a cookbook. Their new cookbook, Fire + Wine Backyard Pizza, drops in April 2025.
Grill vs pizza oven: Price and Value
Up until quite recently, most at-home pizza ovens were very expensive and were simply not practical for most people. However, pizza ovens like the Ooni Fyra and Solo Stove Pi Prime have made getting a great pizza oven in your backyard much more affordable. There are, of course, much more premium pizza ovens like the Gozney Arc and the Breeo Live-Fire Pizza Oven that offer more features and better cooking experiences, but it’s nice to know that it’s no longer out of reach to get a great pizza oven.
The same is true for backyard grills. For less than a hundred dollars, the Napoleon NK14 is a solid, lightweight, easy-to-use charcoal grill. Then there’s the Kamado Joe Konnected Joe that offers many features for all those master grillers. The grills have a lot more variety, so that’s another advantage they have. You can get ones with multiple burners, smartphone connectivity, and dozens of accessories. Plus, they’re typically easier to repair if parts break down.
- Verdict: Pizza ovens and grills can be found affordably, but a basic grill often costs less than $100.
Grill vs. pizza oven: Features and Functions
Pizza ovens generally have similar designs; they are round or oval. They’re also relatively compact, which makes them ideal for fitting into smaller spaces. One downside of this design is that they often miss common features on grills like wheels, shelves, or even stands to lift them off the ground. Sometimes, you can purchase these separately, but not always.
One of the biggest advantages of grills is that they come in various shapes and sizes. Depending on how much space you have in your backyard, patio, or even balcony, you can find a grill that fits your space. The Webber Q1200 is a small, propane-powered grill perfect for apartments or smaller homes, while the Webber Genesis EPX-335 is great for bigger backyards.
Grills also tend to have a few more features than pizza ovens. Many come with side trays for holding and prepping food and utensils; some even have smart features that connect to your smartphone. Plus, many have different cooking surfaces under one roof, which lets you cook multiple things simultaneously.
On the other hand, pizza ovens tend to be slightly more limited in what they offer. There’s only one cooking surface, often only a few features - some don’t even include a temperature gauge - and most don’t have any smart connectivity. The upside of this is that there’s much less maintenance and cleanup involved with pizza ovens. You don’t need to clean the pizza stone between every cook, and there’s no grease trap to mess with, either.
- Verdict: Grills often have more features than pizza ovens and offer a variety of sizes and designs.
Grill vs pizza oven: Performance
Pizza ovens use either wood or gas to cook, and some even allow you to use either on the same stove. Grills also use wood and gas, but some also allow for charcoal, which gives you even more options for adding flavors to your food. Unfortunately, most grills only allow for one fuel source.
Sean says, “Pizza ovens are commonly built to handle propane and wood, allowing you to create your own experience, whereas grills are not typically both. So, a weekday family pizza night is great after work if you fire up the propane. Or go big with wood during your favorite football game.”
Pizza ovens are also typically smaller than most grills, which means less cooking surface. There’s room for a pizza and possibly a skillet for cooking things like fish or a dessert, but that’s about it. Grills, however, can get quite large, allowing you to feed much larger groups of people quickly. Plus, the larger size and open flame design enables you to use more than one type of cooking surface.
For example, you could have a grate on one half and a skillet on the other. If you wanted the best of both worlds, you could throw a pizza stone in there and cook a pizza with your burgers. Just be careful because they will cook at different speeds, and you’ll want to avoid opening the lid as much as possible.
Ultimately, the most significant difference is the type of food you want to cook. Pizza ovens are perfect for pizza, but you can also cook a few other limited things, particularly dough-based items. For taco night, I cooked a steak, veggies, and tortilla in my Gozney Arc.
Grills are much more versatile and well-suited for flame-grilled meats, veggies, etc. While the skirt steak tasted fine for tacos, I would much rather put my sirloin or New York Strip on the grill. Plus, the larger cooking surface makes cooking dinner for the family much quicker.
- Verdict: Grills are more flexible and better for cooking for larger groups of people.
Grill vs pizza oven: which is best?
As with most things, the best option for you will depend on what you plan to use it for. If you want something that cooks a wide range of foods, including pizza, you need a grill. Most grills also heat up faster than most pizza ovens, so you can be done cooking much sooner. Plus, the bigger cooking surface makes it easier to cook for larger groups, whereas pizza ovens only churn out one at a time.
Ideally, you could use the grill to cook most backyard meals and BBQs, then switch to the pizza oven for pizza nights. I speak from experience that you won't want to return once you taste pizza from a pizza oven. And thankfully, they’re more affordable than ever.
