Coffee machine subscriptions will let you buy a coffee machine from £1 - but are they worth it?

If you’re a coffee lover and have been dreaming of enjoying barista-quality drinks in the comfort of your own home, you need to know about coffee machine subscriptions. Many coffee brands now offer these, where in exchange for subscribing to a regular delivery of coffee pods or beans you will get one of the best coffee machines at a heavily discounted price.

Some discounts mean you can pick up a coffee machine for as little as £1, which sounds like music to our ears - but what’s the catch? Coffee machine subscriptions might sound a little too good to be true, which is why we wanted to dig around and find out everything we could about them.

We've done some research and spoke to some experts to find out how coffee machine subscriptions work, and whether they're actually good value for money. Here's everything you should know before you go sign up.

How does a coffee machine subscription work?

Coffee machine subscriptions mean that a machine can be included as part of a coffee subscription. A subscription is a regular delivery of coffee to your home, which you essentially set up a direct debit payment for. The coffee can be beans, grounds, or pods, if you'll be using one of the best coffee pod machines.

With some subscriptions, there is the option to add a machine, which will be paid for either in a one-off payment, or in monthly installments, along with the cost of the coffee. In both scenarios, the machine is heavily discounted from its usual price.

Is a coffee machine subscription good value for money?

Coffee machine subscriptions vary from company to company, so some are better value than others. But on the whole, it is much cheaper to get a coffee machine via a subscription than to buy one outright. Some coffee subscriptions offer you the machine for as little as £1 when you sign up to a monthly coffee order - that's some serious savings!

Even without adding a machine on, coffee subscriptions are usually much better value for money than one-time purchases. Plus, your coffee is delivered straight to your door every month, which is super convenient.

'While every coffee company loves to sell coffee, what we value even more is building relationships with loyal customers who genuinely love our brand and our products,' says Howard Gill, Head of Coffee, Grind. 'Coffee subscriptions are designed to offer great value, especially if you’re a regular coffee drinker who appreciates quality and convenience.'

Is it easy to cancel a coffee subscription?

Different coffee machine subscriptions have different cancellation policies. Some of them will work like a contract, such as the illy subscription, where you pay off the coffee machine in 12 monthly instalments. Once you sign up to this and receive the machine with your first order of coffee, you are tied into the repayments for the next 12 months.

Other coffee machine subscriptions - such as Nespresso - offer the machine as a one-off payment, which makes it a lot easier to cancel. 'There's no commitment to the Nespresso Plus machine subscription,' says Guilhem Auffret, Head of Subscription for Nespresso UK. 'It is entirely flexible so customers can pause or cancel at any time.'

The best value coffee machine subscriptions

We've scoured the internet to find the best coffee machine subscriptions available right now - here are our top three picks.

Lavazza

The Lavazza machine and capsule subscription is probably the best value for money, because all the machines included are priced at £1. That's some serious savings when you consider the cost of the machines when they're purchased as a stand-alone.

The Lavazza A Modo Mio SMEG would cost £249 to buy outright for example, meaning you'll save £248 if you buy it as part of the subscription. Our tried and tested favourite, the Lavazza A Modo Mio Jolie, can also be bought for £1 instead of the typical price of £95.

The total price of the subscription will depend on how many coffee pods you choose to get delivered per month, but one pack of 16 Lavazza pods costs £5.69.

illy

The illy subscription is a 12-month commitment that can be customised to suit a range of needs and budgets. You can select from four different coffee machines and receive this at a heavily discounted price - for example, the X1 Iperespresso Anniversary Machine can be included in the subscription for £31 per month, so the machine will cost £372 over the course of 12 months. The upfront cost of the machine is £416, so it's a saving of £44.

The cheapest machine available as part of the coffee subscription is the E.S.E illy easy pod machine, which costs £8.50 a month. To buy outright, the machine is £115, so getting the machine as part of the subscription saves £13 in total.

Nespresso

The Nespresso coffee machine subscription works a little differently. The machine is paid for in a single payment but at a discounted price, when a subscription for coffee pods is taken out.

For example, the Vertuo Pop Coffee Machine is priced at £49, down from £99, when bought with a subscription. And the Vertuo Creatista Coffee Machine can be bought at £499 instead of £649. So there are significant savings to be made when buying a Nespresso machine as part of a coffee machine subscription, instead of a stand alone purchase.

With the Nespresso Plus subscription, you can get up to 60 cups of coffee per month for £25. A £30 subscription will get you 75 cups per month, and so on. It is one of the more expensive coffee machine subscriptions, but for some people, Nespresso coffee is a firm favourite worth the extra cost.

FAQs

What are coffee subscriptions?

Coffee subscriptions are regular deliveries of coffee, straight to your door. They are usually monthly, although some subscriptions can be weekly, bi-weekly, or bi-monthly. Most subscriptions are completely customisable, so you can pay more or less depending on how much coffee you opt to get delivered.

'With the Grind coffee subscription, we start by asking you to choose your Grind coffee products and then offer different frequencies of delivery (weekly, once every 2 weeks, or once every 3 weeks),' says Grind's Head of Coffee, Howey. 'I always think it's best to start with what flavours or coffee origins you love most, then deal with the logistics later! We also offer the option to mix and match with different coffees for some variety.'

Most coffee subscriptions can be paused or cancelled at any time. Some subscriptions offer a machine as part of the subscription, at a significantly reduced price.

Does Nespresso have a coffee subscription?

Yes, Nespresso does have a coffee subscription. The Nespresso Plus subscription delivers a sleeve of Nespresso capsule pods to your door every month, and you can customise how many you receive based on your coffee drinking habits. 60 capsules costs £25 per month, 75 capsules costs £30 per month, and so on.

'Customers can also receive a coffee machine at a reduced price when subscribing to Nespresso Plus,' says Nespresso's Head of Subscription Guilhem. 'Paired with a credit plan that is paid monthly, customers can then use their monthly credit on coffee, food bites and accessories. Nespresso Plus also rewards customers with benefits including complimentary coffee, private sales and exclusive discounts on a wide range of Nespresso products.'

Now you know all about coffee machine subscriptions, will you be upgrading your home's coffee game? We recommend doing a bit of research yourself next, to see which subscription is most suitable for you.