Quick Answer: I recommend the Delonghi Dinamica over the Dinamica Plus. If you will primarily drink black espresso drinks then get the Delonghi Dinamica with a steam wand. If you primarily drink milk-based drinks then get the Delonghi Dinamica with LatteCrema Automatic Milk Frother.
The Delonghi Dinamica Plus is just the Delonghi Dinamica with a touch screen.
In this comparison of the Delonghi Dinamica vs Dinamica Plus I’m going to explain why I do NOT think that the Dinamica Plus justifies its additional cost compared to the Dinamica.
Should I Buy the Delonghi Dinamica or Dinamica Plus?
You should buy the Delonghi Dinamica over the Dinamica Plus.
The Delonghi Dinamica Plus does not do enough to justify costing $300 more than the Dinamica.
If you are buying a super-automatic espresso machine to primarily make black drinks with (espresso, Americano, etc) then get the Delonghi Dinamica with a steam wand.
Delonghi Dinamica ECAM35020B
Best for Black Coffee Drinkers
The Delonghi Dinamica makes as good an espresso as the Dinamica Plus despite costing a fraction of the price.
If you are going to be primarily making milk-based drinks (latte, cappuccino, etc) with your machine then I’d recommend the Delonghi Dinamica with an automatic milk frother.
Best for Milk Based Drinks
The Delonghi Dinamica ECAM35075SI makes latte and cappuccino to the same quality, and with just as little effort, as the more expensive Dinamica Plus.
The main difference between the Delonghi Dinamica and Dinamica Plus is that the Dinamica Plus has a touch screen.
I’d therefore only recommend the Delonghi Dinamica Plus if you are willing to pay a premium for a super-automatic espresso machine with a touch screen.
Below are the key specifications of these three machines.
| Delonghi Dinamica with Steam Wand | Delonghi Dinamica with LatteCrema milk system | Delonghi Dinamica Plus | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
User interface |
Button with backlit symbols
|
Button with digital display screen |
Touchscreen |
|
Milk steaming system
|
Panarello steam wand
|
LatteCrema automatic milk system
|
LatteCrema automatic milk system |
|
Number of black coffee menu items
|
4 |
7 |
8 |
|
Number of milk based coffee menu items |
N/A (milk steamed separately)
|
8 |
8 |
|
Pump pressure |
15 bar
|
15 bar
|
19 bar
|
|
App compatibility |
No |
No |
Yes |
|
Used grounds container capacity |
14 |
14 |
14 |
|
Self cleaning |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Dimensions (width x depth x height) |
9.3” x 16.9” x 13.7” |
9.3” x 16.9” x 13.7” |
9.3” x 17.3” x 14.1” |
For the rest of this article, I am going to compare the version of the Delonghi Dinamica with a LatteCrema automatic milk system against the Delonghi Dinamica Plus.
For more information about the version of the Delonghi Dinamica with a steam wand, please see my Delonghi Dinamica review.
What are the Differences Between the Delonghi Dinamica and Delonghi Dinamica Plus?
Here are the differences between the Delonghi Dinamica vs Dinamica Plus, in order of their significance to the two machines’ performance and usability.
User Interface
Delonghi Dinamica Plus has a Touch Screen, Delonghi Dinamica Has a Button Operated LCD Screen.
While I accept that the Dinamica’s LCD screen does look a bit cheap (it reminds me of a cash register), bear in mind that this difference in UI is the biggest difference between the Delonghi Dinamica and the Dinamica Plus.
Does this touchscreen merit a $300 price jump?
I don’t think so.
App Compatibility
The Dinamica Plus integrates with a smartphone/tablet app via Bluetooth. The Dinamica does not have this feature.
The app’s main benefit is that it allows you to customize your drinks far more easily with the Dinamica Plus than with the Dinamica.
With the Dinamica, to change your drink’s size you’d have to put it into “MyMenu mode” and tell the machine to stop brewing exactly as it hits your desired size. This will then save as your default coffee size.
You can see a video of someone doing this below (watch from 5:13 – 6:10):
The Dinamica Plus app lets you customize each coffee just by specific increments as you’re making it. You can see someone doing this below (watch from 5:50 – 6:15):
Again, while this app is a nice addition, I really don’t think that it’s worth paying an extra $300 for (even in conjunction with a touch screen).
User Profiles
The Dinamica Plus has three user profiles plus a guest profile. The Dinamica does not have any user profiles.
Changing a user profile will change the machine’s default coffee strength, length, and brewing temperature settings.
You’re only going to benefit from this if several of you will use the machine and you each like the same base coffee type but brewed in a slightly different way (for example you both drink cappuccino but one of you likes it a bit stronger than the other).
These are very specific circumstances.
Again, you’ve got to be questioning whether this upgrade, along with the aforementioned two, is worth an extra $300.
The Ability to Make Large Pots of Coffee (No Real Benefit)
The Delonghi Dinamica Plus has the ability to make a large pot (up to 30 oz) of drip coffee. The Delonghi Dinamica cannot do this.
I wouldn’t recommend making a carafe of coffee from a super-automatic espresso machine.
Their brew units are too small to hold enough ground coffee to make a strong pot of coffee.
You’d get much better coffee with a $20 French Press than you’d get from the Delonghi Dinamica Plus.
Add to this that you don’t even get a carafe with the Dinamica Plus to brew your pot of coffee into, and I don’t think that this feature offers any benefit to the Dinamica Plus over the Dinamica.
Pump Pressure (No Real Benefit)
The Dinamica Plus has a 19 Bar pump pressure whereas Dinamica has a 15 bar pump pressure.
I’ve seen some people try to argue that this means that the Dinamica Plus makes better-tasting espresso than the Dinamica.
THIS. IS. NOT. TRUE.
Although the two models have different maximum pump pressure, they are both set to brew with the same pressure (actual pump pressure is determined by valves within the brew unit rather than the pump’s maximum pressure).
This equivalent brewing pressure is demonstrated by the fact that both models fail to pump water properly when their identical grinders are set to their lowest two settings.
If the Delonghi Dinamica Plus is brewed with a significantly higher pressure than the Dinamica, then it should be able to handle finer grinds.
Price
The Delonghi Dinamica Plus is typically around $300 cheaper than the Delonghi Dinamica.
Are a better user interface, app integration, and more user profiles worth an extra $300?
I think no, for most of us anyway.
However, if you’re buying the machine for an office where there are going to be lots of people using it and they all might like their coffee made in a slightly different way then the Delonghi Dinamica Plus’ easier drink customizability might be worth the extra money.
What do the Delonghi Dinamica and Delonghi Dinamica Plus Have in Common?
Here are the following similarities between the Delonghi Dinamica vs Delonghi Dinamica Plus.
Espresso Quality
Both machines have the same grinder and brewing system.
This means that the espresso quality they produce should be identical.
Milk Foam Quality and Available Milk Textures
Both machines use the exact same LatteCrema milk system.
This allows you to steam milk to three preset textures. You can adjust this texture by twisting a dial on the milk jug’s lid.
This means that both models make the exact same quality of milk foam.
This, combined with their identical coffee brewing systems, means that their milk-based drinks should come out the same.
Menu Items
Both machines offer the same drinks on their menu, save for the Dinamica Plus’s coffee pot option.
As I said earlier, I’d avoid the coffee pot menu item altogether, so these two models basically offer the same types of coffee.
Design and Build Quality
Both machines have the same basic design, save for their user interface.
They are both the same shape and roughly the same size (the Dinamica Plus is half an inch taller and half an inch wider than the Dinamica).
They both have the same grinder, which includes a bypass doser, use the same brewing system, and have the same front-loading water tank.
The cleaning process for both machines is the same, with it running automatic rinse cycles before and after every drink.
The only parts of both machines that you need to clean manually are:
- Their milk tanks
- Their drip tray
- Their used coffee grounds container (clean these at least every other day because mold grows in there very quickly)
They both come with a two-year warranty that can be extended by a year if you register the machine with Delonghi.
In short, the Delonghi Dinamica and Dinamica Plus can make the same types of coffee, and make these all drinks of the same quality. Their differences lie in their user interface, app compatibility, and cost.
The Delonghi Dinamica’s excellent value for money is why I named it among the best Delonghi espresso machines.
Delonghi Dinamica vs Delonghi Dinamica Plus: Conclusion
The differences between the Delonghi Dinamica and Dinamica Plus lie in their user interface.
Both models can make the same types of coffee, and make all these coffees to the same standard.
- Get the Delonghi Dinamica ECAM35020B (the version of the Dinamica with a steam wand) if you’ll primarily be making black espresso with your machine.
- Get the Delonghi Dinamica ECAM35075SI (the version of the Dinamica with an automatic milk frother) if you’ll primarily be making milk-based drinks with your machine.
I don’t think the Delonghi Dinamica Plus is worth the step up in price compared to the Dinamica.
I’d only recommend the Dinamica Plus if you are absolutely wedded to having a super-automatic espresso machine with a touch screen.
