Ninja Foodi vs Tower Air fryer vs Tefal Actifry: which one should you buy?

Since the first air fryer was unveiled in 2010, many brands have entered the fray, thanks to high demand from buyers looking for low-oil, countertop cooking. 

Every year, we test air fryers from all the major brands, including Ninja, Tower and Tefal. We also test products from brands such as Philips, DeLonghi, Morphy Richards and Russell Hobbs. We rigorously test each fryer, looking for the ones that are easy to use and which make tasty air-fried food.

Head to our shortlist of the best air fryers to see which ones came top in our tests.

Ninja vs Tower vs Tefal – features compared

Tefal was the first brand to launch a low-fat fryer– the ActiFry – around 10 years ago, closely followed by Philips with its Airfryer. More recently, Ninja and Tower both tried to get a slice of the pie, too.

Ninja Foodi

• Ninja sells the Ninja AF100UK at just under £100 as its basic offering, but have since released the Ninja Foodi Dual Zone (£199) and Ninja Foodi MAX (£199).
• Premium Ninja air fryers come with extra bells and whistles. The Foodi Dual Zone has two chambers that can cook independently of one another, and the Foodi MAX functions like a grill, with a probe that monitors food temperature for optimal timings.
• The Ninja Foodi Multi-Cooker can grill, slow cook, bake, roast, steam, sauté and air-fry your food – it even works as an electric pressure cooker. 
• Ninja air fryers don't have viewing windows. If you're a keen watcher, you'll be pausing it often to check on your food. 
• Ninja products come with a 12-month warranty, which is less than Tower and Tefal air fryers.

Our Ninja Foodi air fryer reviews will let you know how they performed in our test lab.

Tefal ActiFry

• Tefal ActiFry models cost from around £80 to just under £280. The Easy Fry range is cheaper than the ActiFry range. 
• A higher price gets you a larger cooking capacity – up to 1.7kg with the Tefal ActiFry Genius XL – and advanced features, such as the extra cooking layer of the Tefal ActiFry Genius XL 2in1.
• Easy Fry models are opaque, but ActiFry models have a viewing window at the top so you can see your food browning.
• Tefal offers a two-year guarantee on new air fryer purchases. 

Read our Tefal air fryer reviews to find a great model from the original brand.

Tower Air fryers

• Prices for Tower air fryers start at around £60 for the Tower T17021 Air Fryer and go up to £100 for models such as Tower T17039 Vortx 5-in-1 11L Digital Air Fryer Oven-in-1 SmartLid Multi-Cooker.
• Some Tower models such as Tower T17061 BLK have a more traditional design, however models such as Tower T17076 Express Pro Combo 10 in 1 come with a multi-tier cooking system (which allows you to cook up to three different foods at once), a digital display and plenty of other features.
• Tower offers a three-year warranty, which is superior to Ninja and Tefal. 

See our Tower air fryer reviews to find out how they fared in our tough lab tests.

Which brand is best?

In the table below, we've brought together all our expert knowledge to give you the verdict on which brand is best, including:

• How well each brand's air fryers performed on average in our tough tests
• What each brand's highest and lowest-scoring air fryers earned in our test lab
• How much each brand's highest-capacity air fryer is capable of cooking in kilograms
• Our overall verdict

Only logged-in Which? members can see our verdicts in the table below. If you’re not yet a member, join Which? to get instant access.

Air fryer brands rated

Table notes: data collected from models online in September 2022. The number of products tested is displayed in brackets.

Brand verdicts

1. Ninja

• Our top pick Although it's a latecomer to the market, Ninja's air fryers are typically high performers and fantastic at making a batch of chips. 
• Its average test score is boosted by the Ninja Foodi MAX, one of the best air fryers on test, but the smaller and cheaper Ninja AF100UK, another Best Buy, bolsters it, too. 
• Ninja's only disappointing product so far is the Ninja Foodi Multi-Cooker OP300UK, which is an air fryer-pressure cooker hybrid. Overall, Ninja is the brand to beat.
• But be careful. As of July 2021, Ninja is the only brand of the three to offer only a one-year warranty rather than two or three years. 

2. Tefal

• Our top alternative Tefal air fryers are among the best on test, but the brand's average test score is lower than Ninja's because Tefal has saturated the market with some air fryers that aren't worth buying. 
• The Tefal ActiFry Genius XL 2in1 was the first air fryer to have two cooking chambers, and it's still one of the best air fryers you can buy. The Tefal ActiFry Genius + and Tefal Genius XL are brilliant air fryers that don't dominate the countertop. 
• Tefal's cheaper models can disappoint, such as the Tefal Easy Fry Precision.
• Tefal offers a two-year guarantee on its air fryers. 

3. Tower

• Tower has struggled to keep up with its competitors more recently, and none of its air fryers is a Best Buy.
• From digital displays and multi-tier cooking system to rotisserie oven and dehydrator functions, Tower offers plenty, but struggles when it comes to the basics.
• But it's not all negative – Tower air fryers are less prone to faults than most, with only 7% developing a fault in the first seven years, according to our air fryer owner survey conducted in May 2022, making it a low-risk choice for brand loyalists.
• Tower offers a three-year guarantee which is more generous than Ninja's one-year guarantee or Tefal's two-year guarantee.