Ninja AF161 vs Cosori Pro Gen 2

Both fryers top out at the same 450°F, and that shared ceiling is what actually matters here. Fryers capped at 400°F can't sear a steak surface or crisp chicken skin the same way. These two can. Capacity is close too, 5.5 Qt versus 5.8 Qt, and pricing lands in the same range.

Preset count sounds like a marketing number until you think about who's actually turning the dial. The AF161 offers four: Air Fry, Air Roast, Reheat, Dehydrate. That's plenty for a cook who already knows their target temperatures and doesn't want to hunt through a menu. Cosori's 12 presets go further: chicken, steak, seafood, shrimp, bacon, frozen foods, fries, vegetables, roots, bread, pizza, and dessert, each tuned to a recommended time and temperature. For a household with multiple cooks at different skill levels, or someone coming from a conventional oven who isn't confident guessing settings yet, having "shrimp" or "frozen foods" as an actual button removes a real source of overcooked or undercooked food early on. Nobody needs 12 presets forever, but in the first few months, that library does a lot of the guessing for you.

Basket coating rarely makes anyone's shortlist, but it matters over two or three years of ownership. The AF161's ceramic-coated basket resists scratching better than a standard PTFE coating and tolerates an occasional metal spatula more forgivingly. Ceramic also holds up better at high heat, and that matters at a 450°F ceiling run night after night. Cosori's BPA-free coating is safety-certified and fine out of the box, but ordinary coatings show wear sooner.

VeSync turns the Cosori into more than a countertop appliance. Remote preheat means it's already at temperature by the time you walk in the door. Scheduled cooking lets you time a side dish to finish exactly when the main course comes off the stove. The app's recipe library pushes time-and-temperature settings straight to the fryer, so you're not typing anything in manually. Households with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant already running can control the Cosori by voice through those platforms too. The AF161 offers none of this. It runs entirely off its physical dial and display, with zero network connectivity of any kind. That gap won't matter to everyone. But for a kitchen that already runs on smart plugs and voice assistants, the Cosori slots into that setup instead of sitting outside it.

Pick the AF161 if you want a basket built to outlast standard coatings and zero interest in apps, accounts, or Wi-Fi setup screens. Pick the Cosori Pro Gen 2 if a broader preset library, remote preheat, and a touch panel feel worth the extra step of connecting to Wi-Fi. The 0.3 Qt capacity gap is nothing in daily cooking. Both hit 450°F. Both include a shake reminder. What actually separates them is whether smart connectivity adds real value to how you cook, or just adds a setup screen you'll never open again.