I am a restaurant chef with over 10 years of experience at my restaurant, Dequte Restaurant LironBoylston. In this comparison, I’ll share my perspective on the Ooni Fyra 12 and the Stoke pizza oven, since I’ve used both extensively in my kitchen. I compared these ovens side by side, focusing on their quality and materials, temperature control, shape, first-time usage impressions, power source, size, ease of cleaning, and conducted a real pizza cooking test to see how long each takes to deliver a great pie. If you’d like to learn more about my detailed testing process, feel free to check out my separate article explaining exactly how I evaluate pizza ovens.
The Ooni Fyra 12 is a compact, wood pellet-fired oven designed for fast Neapolitan-style pizzas with authentic wood-fired flavor. The Stoke is a gas-powered pizza oven aiming to balance ease of use and consistent heat with the ability to bake restaurant-quality pizzas at home.
I tested both the Ooni Fyra 12 and the Stoke and shared a detailed comparison in this article.
At the end of this article, please note that I will include referral links to each model. If you decide to buy one, I’d be grateful if you use those links—I’ll make a small commission at no cost to you, which helps keep my blog alive.
Ooni Fyra 12 VS Stoke: Quality and Materials
| The Ooni Fyra 12 is made from insulated 430-grade powder-coated carbon steel, which feels solid and durable. The materials are clearly engineered for long-term outdoor use, resisting rust and corrosion effectively. |
The Stoke is built with serviceable materials that look good initially but don’t quite match the premium feel of higher-end brands. Some users noted issues like paint discoloration and faster wear with repeated high-heat use.
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Ooni Fyra 12 VS Stoke: Temperature Control
| The Ooni Fyra 12 excels in consistent temperature control, heating up to 950°F in around 15 minutes and maintaining steady heat throughout cooking. Its vent and chimney system allow you to adjust the flame with precision. |
The Stoke promises up to 900°F, but in testing it peaked around 700°F and required longer preheating (about 45 minutes). Controlling the heat takes more practice, especially when relying only on wood.
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Ooni Fyra 12 VS Stoke: Shape
| The Ooni Fyra 12’s compact, tall chamber and chimney create excellent airflow, helping pizzas cook evenly from edge to center. |
The Stoke has a more conventional dome shape but features a thick wall between the flame and the stone. This design can slow heating and prevent achieving higher temperatures easily.
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Ooni Fyra 12 VS Stoke: First-Time Usage Impressions
| Out of the box, the Ooni Fyra 12 felt premium. Assembly was intuitive and took about 20 minutes. Once I learned pellet handling, it was smooth sailing and enjoyable to use. |
The Stoke assembled quickly (10 minutes), but first impressions were mixed. While setup was simple, the oven didn’t feel as robust, and it required more trial and error to dial in temperature and bake time.
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Ooni Fyra 12 VS Stoke: Power Source
| The Ooni Fyra 12 uses wood pellets, which deliver a distinctive, smoky flavor and reliable, fast heat. Refueling is simple, and the pellets burn efficiently. |
The Stoke can use wood or gas, offering flexibility. I used the wood version, which gives good flavor but demands more tending and patience to maintain consistent heat.
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Ooni Fyra 12 VS Stoke: Size
| The Ooni Fyra 12 is compact (29.1 x 15.4 x 28.5 inches) and lightweight (22 lbs), perfect for small patios or portable setups. |
The Stoke is also compact (13 x 18.2 x 11.1 inches) and reasonably portable at 40 lbs. While easy to carry, its smaller chamber limits the size of pizzas you can bake compared to some competitors.
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Ooni Fyra 12 VS Stoke: Ease of Cleaning
| Cleaning the Ooni Fyra 12 requires brushing out ash and wiping soot after cooling. The surfaces are well-coated and easy to maintain if cleaned regularly. |
The Stoke is straightforward to clean thanks to its removable components, but the interior is prone to soot buildup that requires more thorough scrubbing to keep it looking new.
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Pizza Cooking Test
When testing both ovens side by side, I focused on preheat time, bake speed, and the final taste of a classic Margherita pizza.
The Ooni Fyra 12 heated up impressively fast, reaching around 950°F in about 15 minutes. Once preheated, it cooked the Margherita in just under 2 minutes. The crust came out beautifully blistered and crisp without burning, the base was evenly golden, and the cheese had that perfect bubbling texture. The taste was excellent—lightly smoky, with a tender center and a satisfying crunch around the edge.
By comparison, the Stoke Wood-Fired Pizza Oven took noticeably longer to preheat. It reached a maximum of about 700°F in 45 minutes. The pizza itself cooked in approximately 2.5 minutes, but the results were mixed. The top browned nicely, and the cheese melted evenly, but the bottom crust lacked the same level of char and crispness as the Ooni’s. The flavor still had that classic wood-fired character, though it didn’t develop quite the same depth or snap in the crust.
Overall, both ovens produced good pizzas, but the Ooni Fyra 12 was faster to get up to temperature and delivered a more balanced bake with less effort.
How We Tested
To evaluate the Ooni Fyra 12 and the Stoke Wood-Fired Pizza Oven fairly, I used the same workflow for each. I set both ovens up outdoors on a calm day to avoid wind interference and used them in back-to-back sessions with identical dough batches and toppings.
Each oven was preheated fully to the maximum temperature it could reach before the first pizza went in. I measured preheat times with an infrared thermometer and confirmed the stone surface temperatures before baking. For consistency, I prepared classic Margherita pizzas using the same weight of dough, tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, and basil.
I timed each bake precisely from the moment the pizza hit the stone until it was cooked to my preferred doneness—golden crust, bubbling cheese, and a slightly charred edge. Between bakes, I allowed each oven to recover to peak temperature to see how well it handled back-to-back cooking.
Finally, I assessed the taste, texture, and appearance of each pizza, taking detailed notes on any uneven cooking, soggy spots, or exceptional results. This method let me compare both ovens side by side under the same conditions so you can get a clear picture of how they really perform.
Conclusion
Ultimately, it’s your choice whether you prefer the Ooni Fyra 12 or the Stoke Wood-Fired Pizza Oven. Both have their strengths and can help you create great pizza at home. If you decide to buy one, I’d highly appreciate it if you use my referral links when purchasing. I’ll make a small commission at no cost to you, which helps keep this blog going. Here is the Ooni Fyra 12 referral link and this is the Stoke referral link. Thank you for your support!