Quick Answer: I recommend that most people get the Gaggia Accademia instead of the Jura Z10. Only get the Jura Z10 if you’re willing to pay a significant premium—roughly $1,500 more—for slightly better espresso and drip-style coffee.
The Jura Z10 and Gaggia Accademia are two super-automatic espresso machines at vastly different price points. The Z10 typically costs $1,500 more than the Accademia.
In this comparison of the Jura Z10 vs Gaggia Accademia, I’ll explain when I think it’s worth paying this premium for the Jura Z10 and when you should stick to the more affordable Gaggia Accademia.
Let’s get started.
Should I Get The Jura Z10 or The Gaggia Accademia?
I recommend that most people get the Gaggia Accademia instead of the Jura Z10.
While the Jura Z10 makes slightly better espresso than the Gaggia Accademia and can make cold milk foam, I don’t think that this is enough to justify spending an extra $1,500 for the majority of people.
The Gaggia Accademia is the better of the two machines for milk drinks because it can steam milk automatically to four textures and it has a manual steam wand. The Jura Z10 only has one automatic milk texture and no steam wand.
Taken together, there really isn’t much between these two machines, so I think that the vast majority of you will get better value from the Gaggia Accademia than the Jura Z10.
I only recommend paying a premium for the Jura Z10 instead of the Gaggia Accademia if any of these three apply to you:
- You’re willing to pay ~$1,500 to get slightly better quality espresso.
- You’re going to brew a lot of drip-style coffee with your machine.
- You want to make iced milk drinks like iced latte and iced cappuccino.
The Jura Z10 makes better black drinks than the Gaggia Accademia and can make cold brew coffee and cold milk foam. The Gaggia Accademia cannot make cold drinks.
Get Gaggia Accademia on Amazon
So, in short:
Get the Gaggia Accademia if:
- You’ll drink a mixture of black and milk drinks
- You’ll mainly drink milk drinks
- You want to be able to make latte art
- You want to get the best value for your money
Get the Jura Z10 if:
- You’ll mainly drink black drinks
- You want to make iced lattes
What Are the Differences Between the Jura Z10 and the Gaggia Accademia?
Here are the differences between the two espresso machines:
Price & Value For Money
The Gaggia Accademia is usually around $1,500 cheaper than the Jura Z10. You get better value for money with the Gaggia Accademia than with the Jura Z10.
Personally, I don’t think that the Jura Z10 does enough to justify costing $1,500 more than the Gaggia Accademia.
For an extra $1,500 you get:
- Slightly better espresso (however both machines fall well short of the espresso you can make with a $500 semi-automatic espresso machine).
- Better drip-style coffee (however both machines make worse drip-style coffee than what you can make with a $20 French press or V60).
- The ability to make cold milk foam for iced lattes.
- Worse milk steaming.
- Poorer durability.
So unless you’re going to drink a lot of drip-style coffee and iced lattes then I don’t see why you’d want to pay an extra $1,500 for the Jura Z10 instead of the Gaggia Accademia.
There’s not much between the two machines performance-wise so I just don’t see why the Jura Z10 should cost so much more than the Gaggia Accademia.
Price and Value for Money Winner: Gaggia Accademia
Drink Options
When it comes to drink variety, both the Jura Z10 and Gaggia Accademia bring a lot to the table, but in different ways.
Go for the Jura Z10 if you want a massive drink selection, cold brew capabilities, and fully automated convenience. Choose the Gaggia Accademia if you’re all about authentic Italian coffee, hands-on milk frothing, and a more budget-friendly option. Either way, you’re getting a top-tier machine that delivers incredible coffee at home.
The Jura Z10 is a powerhouse with 32 specialty drinks, including hot espresso-based beverages and cold brew options. Thanks to its Cold Extraction Process, it doesn’t just chill hot coffee—it actually brews cold coffee by slowly pulsing cold water through the grounds under high pressure. The result? True cold brew, smooth and refreshing.
Here’s what you get from Jura Z10:
✅ Hot Beverages – Espresso, cappuccino, latte macchiato, flat white, americano, cortado, macchiato, and more.
✅ Cold Brew Specialties – Cold brew espresso, cold brew cappuccino, cold brew flat white, and other iced favorites.
✅ Extras – Hot milk, frothed milk, and hot water for tea lovers.
If you love variety and want a machine that does both hot and cold brew at the touch of a button, the Jura Z10 is a solid pick.
The Gaggia Accademia is all about classic Italian coffee, offering 19 pre-programmed drinks with a strong focus on authentic espresso and milk-based drinks. Unlike the Z10, it doesn’t do cold brew, but it does give you more control over milk frothing with both an automatic frother and a manual steam wand—a rare feature in super-automatics.
Here’s what’s on the menu:
✅ Espresso & Variations – Espresso, ristretto, espresso lungo, and Americano.
✅ Milk-Based Drinks – Cappuccino, latte macchiato, flat white, café latte, macchiatone, melange, and more.
✅ Extras – Hot milk, frothed milk, and hot water for tea.
If you love traditional espresso-based drinks and want the flexibility of automatic and manual milk frothing, the Gaggia Accademia is a fantastic choice.
Milk Steaming
The Gaggia Accademia gives you more control over your milk’s texture than the Jura Z10. The Jura Z10 gives you more control over your milk’s temperature than the Gaggia Accademia.
The table below shows the two machine’s milk-steaming capabilities:
| Jura Z10 | Gaggia Accademia | |
|---|---|---|
| Milk System(s) | Automatic milk frother | Automatic milk frother and professional-grade steam wand |
| Number of Available Milk Textures | 1 | 4 |
| Number of Available Milk Temperatures | 10 | 1 |
| Can You Make Latte Art With It? | No | Yes |
| Can You Make Cold Milk Foam With It? | Yes | No |
The Gaggia Accademia is generally better at making milk drinks than the Jura Z10.
The Accademia can steam milk to more textures than the Z10 so you get far more variation between your milk drinks. Its cappuccinos are light and airy whereas its lattes are smooth and silky.
With the Jura Z10, these drinks only vary in their ratios of coffee and milk. They don’t vary in their texture.
The Accademia also allows you to steam milk manually with a steam wand which is necessary if you want to make latte art. You cannot do this with the Jura Z10.
The Jura Z10’s only advantage when it comes to milk steaming is that it can make cold milk foam for iced lattes. You cannot do this with the Gaggia Accademia.
Milk Steaming Winner: Gaggia Accademia
Ability to Make Cold Drinks
The Jura Z10 can make cold brew coffee and cold milk foam. The Gaggia Accademia cannot do this.
The Jura Z10’s cold brew coffee is brewed for around 60 seconds at just above room temperature.
The general consensus among the machine’s users on Reddit is that it’s a bit weak and watery when drunk on its own, but works well in iced milk drinks.
As one Redditor puts it in his Jura Z10 review on Reddit:
“The cold coffee seems to be cold espresso watered down. So for a true ice coffee I add an additional shot in there then pour over ice. This gives it that cold brew taste and is so good.”u/trickybucs
I wouldn’t recommend paying a premium for the Jura Z10 if the only cold drinks you’ll drink are black drinks like iced espresso and iced Americano.
Since espresso is a short drink you can brew a hot espresso over large ice cubes without melting much of your ice. So if you want to drink iced espresso I’d save my money and get the Gaggia Accademia as you can make this drink perfectly well with that machine.
The Jura Z10’s lowest milk temperature will create milk foam at just above room temperature. This means that you can serve it over ice to make an iced latte without all your ice melting.
This is something that you cannot do with the Gaggia Accademia. Pouring the Accademia’s steamed milk over ice cubes will immediately melt all your ice.
Ability to Make Cold Drinks Winner: Jura Z10
Espresso Quality
The Jura Z10 makes slightly better espresso and much better drip-style coffee than the Gaggia Accademia.
This is because the Jura Z10 uses a larger and better quality brew basket than the Gaggia Accademia.
The Jura Z10’s brew basket is metal, has hundreds of tiny holes in its bottom, and holds up to 16 grams of ground coffee.
The Gaggia Accademia’s brew basket is plastic, has fewer and larger holes in its bottom, and only holds up to 10.5 grams of coffee.
The Accademia’s larger holes mean that water passes through your coffee puck faster during brewing than the Jura Z10s. This means that the Gaggia Accademia makes a duller-tasting espresso than the Jura Z10 as your ground coffee has less time to extract into your brewing water.
Admittedly this difference in espresso quality is not huge.
You won’t notice this difference in espresso quality in a milk drink. So I think that it’s only worth paying more for the Jura Z10’s superior espresso brewing if you’ll mainly drink plain espresso.
The difference between the two machine’s drip-style coffee (called “coffee” on both machines) is more noticeable.
When making this type of coffee you benefit from the Jura Z10’s slower brewing and its larger brew basket (as you’re making a longer coffee so need more grounds to make a strong drink).
So if you’re going to drink a lot of drip-style coffee then you should definitely consider paying extra for the Jura Z10.
Espresso Quality Winner: Jura Z10
Long Term Maintenance
The Gaggia Accademia lets you open up the machine to clean and lubricate its brewing system. The Jura Z10 does not let you open it up in this way.
This means that you’ll have to send the Jura Z10 to technicians for servicing more often than the Gaggia Accademia.
This is annoying and expensive, adding to the lifetime cost of ownership of the Jura Z10 vs Gaggia Accademia.
Long Term Maintenance Winner: Gaggia Accademia
What do the Jura Z10 and Gaggia Accademia Have in Common?
Here’s what the two espresso machines have in common:
- Touch screen user interface: Both machines have a touch screen user interface with a dial to help you toggle between settings. Their workflows are nearly identical.
- Coffee customizability: Both machines let you adjust your coffee’s strength and size just as your drink is about to be brewed. They also let you create your own drinks from scratch and save them to your menu going forward.
The table below shows the Gaggia Accademia and Jura Z10’s key features and specifications:
Jura Z10 vs Gaggia Accademia: Final Verdict
I recommend that most people get the Gaggia Accademia instead of the Jura Z10. The Jura Z10 just doesn’t do enough to justify costing $1,500 more than the Gaggia Accademia.
I’d only recommend getting the Jura Z10 if you’ll drink iced lattes or drip-style coffee regularly, or if you’re willing to pay a significant premium to get slightly better espresso quality.
The Jura Z10 makes better black coffee (espresso and drip-style coffee) than the Gaggia Accademia and also makes cold milk foam, something that the Gaggia Accademia cannot do.
If you’d like to find out more about what these two manufacturers have to offer then you can check out my roundup of the best Jura coffee machines and the best Gaggia espresso machines.
