Gas pizza ovens
Solo Stove Pi Prime: the one maker that tells you what the burner does
A demi-dome over a stone floor, in 304 stainless, at about 30 pounds. It is a good oven — and it is on this site partly because it is the only one whose fuel numbers you can actually check.
The short answer
Buy the Pi Prime if you want an oven you can evaluate on paper before buying. Solo Stove publishes a 15,000 BTU burner rating and a runtime of up to 20 hours on high from a 20 lb cylinder; nobody else in this category publishes either. Its listing also states a 90-second bake rather than 60, which is slower than its rivals and a more honest number than most.
Most of this category asks you to buy on a peak temperature figure and a marketing photograph. The Pi Prime is the exception, and that alone earns it a place here.
The numbers other makers do not give you
15,000 BTU. That is the burner's input rating, and it is the number that determines both how fast the oven heats and how fast it consumes propane. Ooni does not publish one for the Koda line. Gozney does not publish one for the Arc family. Bertello does not publish one. Solo Stove does.
Up to 20 hours on high from a 20 lb cylinder. This is the runtime claim, and it is checkable: a 20 lb propane cylinder holds roughly 430,000 BTU of energy, and 430,000 divided by 15,000 is about 28.7 hours at continuous full output. A published claim of 20 hours therefore sits comfortably inside the physics with margin — which is exactly what an honest claim looks like. Our propane runtime guide works this through properly.
The reason this matters beyond trivia: it means you can plan. Twenty hours is a lot of pizza evenings, and knowing that removes the single most common source of anxiety about switching from a grill to a pizza oven.
The demi-dome
The Pi Prime's chamber is a half-dome rather than the flat-topped box most of its rivals use. A curved ceiling reflects radiant heat back down onto the pizza more evenly than a flat one, which is the same principle as a traditional brick oven and a genuine design difference rather than styling.
The 13 in opening that comes with it is wide relative to the oven, which makes turning easier and launching more forgiving. It also loses heat faster than a narrow mouth, which is part of why the listing claims 90 seconds rather than 60.
304 stainless is the other quiet advantage
Most ovens in this price range are powder-coated carbon steel. The Pi Prime is 304 stainless throughout. For an appliance that lives outdoors, sits under a cover through winter and gets rained on when someone forgets, that is a materially better material — powder coat chips and what is underneath rusts, whereas 304 does not have an underneath.
Where it falls short
12 in pizzas, from a 13 in opening. That is the constraint, and it puts the Pi Prime up against the Gozney Arc Lite and the Ooni Koda 2 rather than the 16 in ovens.
Solo Stove also does not publish a stone thickness, which is frustrating on an oven that is otherwise so forthcoming, and it is propane only. The 90-second bake is honest and it is still slower than the competition.
Quick picks
Ranked for fit, not for hype. Every figure below is the maker’s own published number, and “n/p” means they do not publish it — which is itself worth knowing. Tap a row for the full write-up, or go straight to the listing.
| # | Oven | Best for | Max pizza | Weight | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Solo StoveNo photo Solo Stove Pi PrimeA demi-dome over a cordierite stone, 304 stainless throughout, and — almost uniquely here — a published 15,000 BTU bu... | The one maker that publishes its burner rating | 12" | 30 lb | Check price on Amazon |
Max pizza and weight are the makers’ published figures, sourced on each write-up below. Neither is a measurement we took, and no column here is a score — we have not cooked on these ovens and will not pretend otherwise.
Top pick · The one maker that publishes its burner rating
Solo Stove Pi Prime Propane Pizza Oven
Solo Stove · Propane
A demi-dome over a cordierite stone, 304 stainless throughout, and — almost uniquely here — a published 15,000 BTU burner and a published 20-hour runtime on a 20 lb cylinder.
Published specification
- Max temperature
- 950 F; about 15 minutes to preheat
- Bake time
- Listing states 90 seconds, not 60
- Opening
- 13 in wide
- Body
- 20.5 in wide x 15.5 in tall, 304 stainless steel
- Weight
- About 30 lb
- Burner
- 15,000 BTU
- Fuel runtime
- Up to 20 hours on high from a 20 lb LPG cylinder
What it does well
- Solo Stove publishes both a BTU figure and a tank runtime. Almost nobody else in this category does, and it is the reason our propane runtime guide can use real arithmetic
- The demi-dome pushes heat back down onto the pizza rather than out the front — a genuinely different shape from the flat-top Kodas
- 304 stainless rather than powder-coated carbon steel: the better material for something that lives outdoors
- About 30 lb, so it stays in the carry-it-yourself class
What you give up
- The listing's own claim is a 90-second bake, not 60. That is an honest number and it is also a slower oven
- 13 in opening means 12 in pizzas, and the stone thickness is not published
- Propane only, and the wide mouth that makes turning easy also loses heat faster on a cold evening
Buy it if
The buyer who wants to compare burners on paper before buying, and who values a stainless body outdoors.
Skip it if
Anyone who has decided 16 in is the minimum.
Where these numbers came from
How these picks were made
We did not cook on these ovens. Every figure on this page is the maker’s or the listing’s published specification, cited on each write-up so you can check it in one click. The ranking comes from matching those published capabilities to a stated use case — space, pizza size, fuel, and how many pizzas you cook in a row. Where a maker does not publish a number, we say so instead of estimating one.
The full version of that argument, including what we deliberately do not claim, is on our methodology page.
