How many rice cookers does one person need? Apparently five, if that person is me. I spent a month testing rice cookers from the $15 basic model to the $200 fancy one, cooking the same rice in all of them. The results surprised me, and they will save you money.

The lineup

• A $15 basic model with one switch. Cook or warm, nothing else.
• A $40 mid model with a few settings and a nonstick pot.
• A $80 model with a timer and multiple grain settings.
• A $130 induction model that heats the whole pot instead of just the bottom.
• A $200 pressure model with a hundred settings and an app.

What I found

The $15 model cooked rice that was perfectly fine. Not restaurant quality, but good enough that nobody at the table complained. The $40 model was a step better, especially the nonstick pot, which made cleanup a lot easier. The $80 model added a timer, which I loved, I could set it before work and have rice ready at dinner.

The $130 and $200 models cooked marginally better rice. The texture was a little more consistent, the crust at the bottom was nicer. But here is the thing: nobody could tell the difference in a blind taste test. I fed the same rice to my family and they could not rank it. The fancy models are for people who cook rice daily and care about the last ten percent.

Which one I kept

I kept the $40 model. It is the sweet spot: good rice, easy cleanup, simple controls that do not need a manual. The $15 one was fine, but the nonstick pot on the $40 is worth the extra money by itself. The $80 timer is nice, but I do not need to schedule rice that often.

What actually matters

After five cookers, here is the real advice: the pot matters more than the machine. A good nonstick pot and the right water ratio beat any feature list. Every cooker I tested made edible rice with the right ratio. The expensive ones made it slightly more consistent, and that is it.

If you cook rice once a week, buy the $40 one and keep the extra $160. If you cook rice daily and obsess over texture, buy the induction one. Either way, skip the app.