Wood-fired and multi-fuel
Ooni Karu 12: the previous generation, still on sale, and the one thing it lacks
Ooni has not quietly killed this oven — it sells it as first generation at a discount. It is the lightest Karu, on the same stone as the current one, and it has no glass door.
The short answer
Buy the Karu 12 if you want wood capability at the lowest price Ooni charges for it, and you are willing to open the oven to manage the fire. It publishes 950 F, a 0.6 in cordierite stone — the same thickness as the current Karu 2 — and 26.5 lb, which makes it the lightest oven in the family. What it does not have is a glass door or a built-in thermometer, and on a wood oven those are not styling.
First, a correction worth making plainly, because this site had it wrong. Ooni's product page for the Karu 12 is live: it lists the oven as "Karu 12 - 1st Generation" at a reduced price, with a full specification block and an add-to-cart, checked on 27 September 2026. An earlier version of this site said the URL redirected. That was true earlier in the month and it is not true now.
That distinction matters for the buying decision. A product the maker has 404'd — as it has with the Koda 12 — is a different proposition from one the maker is still selling and labelling as a previous generation.
What Ooni publishes
| Specification | Published figure |
|---|---|
| Max temperature | 950 F (500 C) |
| Preheat | 850 F in as little as 15 minutes |
| Bake time | 12 in pizza in as little as 60 seconds |
| Stone | 0.6 in (15 mm) cordierite |
| Weight | 26.5 lb (12 kg) unboxed |
| External size | 31.5" L x 15.8" W x 30.3" H |
| Fuel | Wood or charcoal; gas with the separate Karu burner |
| Door | None with a window — solid door |
| Thermometer | Not built in |
From Ooni's own Karu 12 (1st Generation) product page, checked 2026-09-27.
The stone is the surprise
The usual assumption about a superseded model is that the current one improved the fundamentals. Here it did not. The Karu 12 and the Karu 2 both use a 0.6 in cordierite floor, and floor thickness is one of the four specifications this site ranks on because stored heat in the stone is what cooks the second and third pizza rather than only the first.
So on the specification that most affects how the oven behaves across a session, the discounted previous generation and the current one are identical. That is unusual, and it is the strongest argument for buying the older one.
26.5 pounds is the lightest oven in the family
| Oven | Weight | Max pizza | Stone |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ooni Karu 12 | 26.5 lb | 12 in | 0.6 in |
| Ooni Karu 2 | 33.6 lb | 12 in | 0.6 in |
| Ooni Karu 2 Pro | 62.6 lb | 16 in | 0.6 in |
Published unboxed weights across Ooni's multi-fuel range.
Seven pounds under the Karu 2 and thirty-six under the Karu 2 Pro. For anyone carrying an oven to a table or into storage between cooks, that is a real difference — though note it is not smaller. At 31.5 in long it is within an inch of the Karu 2's footprint, so it saves weight rather than bench space. The portable roundup explains why those two are different things.
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 |  Ooni Karu 12The previous-generation Karu, and Ooni is still selling it: the product page lists it as Karu 12 - 1st Generation at... | The previous-generation multi-fuel, at a discount | 12" | 26.5 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 previous-generation multi-fuel, at a discount
Ooni Karu 12 Multi-Fuel Outdoor Pizza Oven
Ooni · Multi-fuel
The previous-generation Karu, and Ooni is still selling it: the product page lists it as Karu 12 - 1st Generation at a reduced price. It is the lightest oven in the Karu family at 26.5 lb, on the same 0.6 in stone as the Karu 2, and what you give up is the glass door.
Published specification
- Max temperature
- 950 F, 12 in pizzas in about 60 seconds
- Preheat
- 850 F in as little as 15 minutes, per Ooni
- Stone
- 0.6 in (15 mm) cordierite — the same thickness as the Karu 2
- Weight
- 26.5 lb (12 kg) unboxed
- External size
- 31.5" L x 15.8" W x 30.3" H
- Fuel
- Wood or charcoal; propane with the separate Karu burner
- Status
- Still sold by Ooni, listed as Karu 12 - 1st Generation at a reduced price, checked 2026-09-27
What it does well
- Multi-fuel at the lowest price in the Karu family, and Ooni is discounting it as a previous generation rather than clearing it out quietly
- 26.5 lb is the lightest oven in the Karu family — 7.1 lb under the Karu 2 and 36.1 lb under the Karu 2 Pro
- Same 0.6 in cordierite floor as the Karu 2, so the specification that governs consecutive bakes is unchanged
- Well-supported after several years of volume — stones, covers and burners are easy to find
What you give up
- No glass door, so fire management means opening the oven and losing heat — the single clearest difference from the Karu 2
- No built-in thermometer, where the Karu 2 has one in the door
- Superseded, and Ooni's own page labels it first generation. Accessories and support will thin out over time
- At 31.5 in long it is not shorter than the Karu 2, only lighter — it does not save bench space
Buy it if
A clearance buyer who wants wood capability and knows what they are giving up.
Skip it if
Anyone paying current-generation money.
The missing door is the actual trade
This is what you are giving up, and it is worth more than the spec sheet suggests.
A wood fire needs managing. You are judging when to add fuel, when the flame has died back too far, and whether the crown is hot enough to launch. The Karu 2 has a borosilicate glass door and a thermometer built into it, so you make those judgements by looking. The Karu 12 has neither, so you make them by opening the oven — which dumps heat out of the chamber at the moment you are trying to build it.
If you plan to run it mostly on the separate gas burner, the door matters much less — a gas flame is steady and there is nothing to feed. If wood is the point, the door is most of why the Karu 2 costs more.
Where it sits against the rest of the site
Against the current Karu 2, this is a straight trade: the same peak, the same stone, seven pounds less, no door, no thermometer, less money. The two set against each other is the page for that decision.
Against gas ovens at similar money, it is the usual multi-fuel argument. A Gozney Arc Lite or an Ooni Koda 2 lights instantly and asks nothing of you; the Karu 12 needs a fire built and fed, and gives you a flavor gas cannot. Wood, charcoal or gas works through what each fuel actually does.
And it is a 12 in oven, which this site treats as a real constraint rather than a number. Twelve inches of stone with a 12 in pizza on it leaves no room to get a turning peel underneath, which is why the gas roundup argues for buying two inches larger than your intended pizza.
What we cannot tell you
We have not cooked on this oven and no page here claims otherwise. Unresolved by anything Ooni publishes: how long the 0.6 in floor holds temperature across consecutive wood bakes, how much heat is actually lost each time the solid door comes off, how long Ooni will keep first-generation parts and stones available, and how deep the discount goes over time. Those are the questions that decide whether the saving is worth the door, and a specification sheet cannot answer them.
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.
Questions people actually ask
+Is the Ooni Karu 12 discontinued?
+What is the difference between the Ooni Karu 12 and the Karu 2?
+Does the Ooni Karu 12 run on gas?
+How hot does the Ooni Karu 12 get?
+Is a discounted Karu 12 better value than a full-price Karu 2?
Sources for this page
