Buy the Timemore Basic 2.0. It reads to 0.1 grams, publishes the figure almost nobody else does — a 0.5 gram minimum detection weight, which decides whether the scale notices your first drips — and shows the pour rate in grams per second while you pour. If you want a screen readable across a kitchen and a countdown to your target, the Fellow Tally Pro is the one, at 2,500 grams and 13 hours of runtime.
A pour-over scale has two jobs. It weighs coffee and water to a tenth of a gram — the SCA ratio is 55 grams per kilogram, and a 20-gram dose that is really 22 is a 10% error. And it runs a timer in the same glance, because how long the water takes is the other half of what you control.
Everything past those two jobs is comfort, and comfort is where these five separate. The ranking is built on the figures each manufacturer publishes, and where a brand publishes neither a capacity nor a dimension the table says so by name.
How to shop for a coffee scale
Readability, and the minimum weight it will notice
Every scale here reads to 0.1 g, so readability alone separates nothing. Minimum detection does: Timemore publishes 0.5 g for the Basic 2.0, the smallest amount it will register at all. A scale that ignores the first gram of water starts your brew late.
Maximum capacity, against a full brewer
A Chemex weighs about 600 grams empty and takes 30 ounces of water, so a 2,000-gram scale is comfortable and a 1,000-gram one is not. Fellow publishes 2,500 g, Timemore 2 kg, Hario names 2000 in the model designation. Greater Goods publishes no maximum at all.
The timer, and whether it starts itself
A separate stopwatch is one more thing to press with a full kettle in your hand. Every scale here has an integrated timer; what differs is whether it counts down as well as up (Greater Goods and Fellow do) and whether it starts itself when water hits the pan — Timemore's wake-up timer on the Basic Mini.
What happens when you spill on it
You will pour hot water onto this object. Timemore publishes a waterproof dial surface and silicone pad for the Basic 2.0 and IPX3 for the Mini; Greater Goods ships a removable dishwasher-safe cover; Fellow says plainly that the Tally Pro is water resistant and not waterproof — worth more than a marketing claim.
Power, and how often you have to think about it
The runtimes are published: Timemore 1600 mAh and up to 10 hours on the Basic 2.0, 760 mAh on the Mini, Fellow 13 hours continuous from a one-to-two-hour USB-C charge. Continuous hours matter less than they sound — a brew is four minutes — but a scale that auto-sleeps after three, as the Basic 2.0 does, lasts weeks per charge.
Best overall
Image: Timemore
Timemore Basic 2.0 Coffee Scale
0.5 g minimum, flow rate on screen
Model
Basic 2.0
Weighing
2 kg capacity · 0.1 g readability (0.5 g minimum detection)
Dimensions
Not published by Timemore
Battery and timer
1600 mAh rechargeable, up to 10 h · automatic timer with flow-rate readout
Reasons to buy
A published 0.5 gram minimum detection weight, the figure every other brand here leaves out, and the one that says whether the scale sees the start of your pour
A flow-rate readout alongside the weight, so you see that you are pouring 4 grams a second rather than guessing
A waterproof dial surface, a sealed charging port and a silicone pad in the box — a scale designed by someone who has spilled on one
1600 mAh with a published 10 hours of continuous runtime and a 3-minute auto-sleep, which in practice is weeks of brewing per charge
It is in the cheapest price band on this site and it still does everything the dear scales do
Reasons to avoid
Timemore publishes no dimensions and no weight for it anywhere, so how much counter it takes is a surprise
Acrylic rather than the glass or coated metal of the pricier picks, and the backlit LCD is legible rather than lovely
This is the scale to buy and it is not close on value. The 0.5-gram minimum detection is the number that matters most and almost nobody publishes it; the flow-rate display is genuinely useful the first fifty times you brew, because pouring too fast is the most common pour-over mistake.
What you do not get is a beautiful screen or a published footprint. Both are real, and neither changes a cup of coffee. If you are buying your first scale, buy this one, and spend the difference on beans.
Not the right fit if you want a screen legible from across the kitchen — see the Fellow Tally Pro.
2000 g capacity (per model designation, not the spec block) · 0.1 g readability
Dimensions
120 × 190 × 29 mm (W × D × H)
Battery and timer
Power source not published by Hario · integrated timer
Reasons to buy
Hario publishes all three dimensions — 120 by 190 by 29 mm — so this is the only scale here you can check against the space beside your sink before buying
190 mm from front to back is deliberately deep, which is the right shape for a V60 sitting on a server rather than a square pad that a carafe overhangs
29 mm tall, so the brewer does not sit awkwardly high above the counter while you pour into it
Hario states that this revision made the screen easier to read and removed regional discrepancies in measurement, which is a manufacturer admitting the previous version had a problem
Reasons to avoid
Hario's specification block gives dimensions and material and does not state the maximum weight, the power source or the battery life
It is bought largely for matching the dripper, and it is the one scale here whose price sits above the winner's for no extra capability
The scale designed for the brewer most people use. The 190 mm depth is not an accident — a V60 on a 400 ml server needs a landing pad longer than it is wide, and a square scale leaves it overhanging.
It is also the one pick here whose shape you can verify in advance, which on this site counts for a lot. What Hario will not tell you is what it runs on or how much it will hold, and above the winner's price both absences are noticeable.
Not the right fit if you want the pour rate shown while you pour — see the Timemore Basic 2.0.
USB-C rechargeable, 13 h continuous · Brew Assist with timer and weight modes
Reasons to buy
2,500 grams of capacity, the highest here, which is the difference between weighing a full Chemex on the scale and weighing it on the counter
Brew Assist mode takes a coffee-to-water ratio and counts you toward the target weight, so the arithmetic of the SCA's 55 g/kg ratio happens on the scale rather than in your head
A luminous OLED screen rather than a backlit LCD, which is the one upgrade on this page you can see from two meters away
Published down to the detail — 177 by 150 by 33 mm, 553.5 grams, 5 V 1 A USB-C, 13 hours of continuous use, one to two hours to charge, two-year warranty
Reasons to avoid
The highest price band here by a wide margin, for the same 0.1 gram readability the least costly pick delivers
Fellow publishes no minimum detection weight, which is the one precision figure that separates the winner on this page
Fellow states plainly that the Tally Pro is water resistant but not waterproof, which is a real limitation on an object you pour boiling water next to
The nicest scale on the page and the one most likely to be used rather than tolerated. The OLED display is the reason: weight on one side, timer on the other, both legible without leaning over the counter with a kettle in your hand.
Brew Assist justifies the price if you are still learning ratios, because it removes the arithmetic at the moment your hands are full. If you already know that 20 grams wants 340 of water, you are paying for a screen — a good one, but a screen.
Not the right fit if the scale will live somewhere it gets splashed — see the Timemore Basic 2.0, which publishes a waterproof dial surface.
Capacity not published by Greater Goods · 0.1 g readability
Dimensions
Not published by Greater Goods
Battery and timer
Power source not published · timer counts up and down
Reasons to buy
A removable silicone cover that is dishwasher safe, which is a better answer to spills than a water-resistance rating — you take the mess off and wash it
A timer that counts down as well as up, so you can set a 2-minute 30-second target rather than watching for it
Six units of measurement and a tare that clears the weight of a dripper and server in one press
Greater Goods registers a limited warranty on the product and keeps a support page per model number, which is more than most scales at this price get
Reasons to avoid
Greater Goods publishes no maximum capacity, no dimensions and no battery or power specification on its own product page — three of the five figures this guide ranks on
The whole precision claim is that it measures down to the tenth of a gram; there is no minimum detection weight stated anywhere
The cheap scale that is actually pleasant to use, and the dishwasher-safe cover is the reason — every other scale here asks you to wipe it, and this one lets you put the dirty part in the machine.
The catch is that Greater Goods tells you almost nothing — no capacity, no size, no battery figure. It reads to a tenth of a gram and counts in both directions, and beyond that you are buying on trust. At this price band that is a defensible purchase and it is still one rank below a scale that publishes its numbers.
Not the right fit if you need to know it will hold a full Chemex — see the Fellow Tally Pro at 2,500 g.
Capacity not published by Timemore · 0.1 g readability
Dimensions
Not published by Timemore
Battery and timer
760 mAh rechargeable · wake-up timer with espresso and pour-over modes
Reasons to buy
Three published modes — regular, espresso and pour-over — with an automatic wake-up timer that starts when the first drops land, so espresso shots time themselves
An IPX3 waterproof rating, published, which covers splashes and cleaning water rather than leaving you to guess
Small and light enough to travel with or to sit permanently under an espresso machine's drip tray, which is where a full-size scale will not fit
A 760 mAh rechargeable battery rather than coin cells you replace at the worst moment
Reasons to avoid
Timemore publishes neither a maximum capacity nor dimensions for it, which on a scale sold on being small is a strange omission
A small pan means a big brewer overhangs it, so this is a dose-and-espresso scale rather than a full pour-over scale
The one to buy as a second scale, or as the only scale if you pull espresso. The automatic wake-up timer is the feature — it starts counting when coffee arrives in the cup, which is when a shot timer should start and when your hands are busy.
It is not the scale for a Chemex, and Timemore does not publish the capacity that would tell you the limit. For an 18-gram dose and a 36-gram shot under a portafilter, it is the right object.
Not the right fit if you brew a full carafe — see the Timemore Basic 2.0 at 2 kg, which also costs less.
We have not weighed anything on these five scales. Here is what the ranking is built on.
Every figure in every spec block came from the manufacturer's own product page, linked in Sources. Where a brand publishes no figure the table names the brand and says so — Greater Goods publishes neither a maximum capacity nor a dimension for this scale.
Ranking went on published precision first — readability, then minimum detection weight where a brand states one — then capacity against a loaded brewer, then spill protection and battery.
Ratios here come from SCA Standard 310-2021: 55 grams of coffee per kilogram of water. Every Amazon page linked above was opened, its title matched to the product named here and its buy box checked.
The verdict
Best overall: the Timemore Basic 2.0 — 0.1 gram readability, a published 0.5 gram minimum detection weight, a flow-rate readout while you pour, and the cheapest price band on this site. Nothing else here earns its extra money in the cup.
Best screen and guidance: the Fellow Tally Pro, 2,500 grams and an OLED you can read across the room. Best shape for a V60: the Hario VSTN-2000B at 120 by 190 mm, the only scale here that publishes its size. Best budget: the Greater Goods Premium Coffee Scale, whose dishwasher-safe cover beats every water-resistance rating on the page. Smallest: the Timemore Basic Mini, IPX3, with a timer that starts itself.
A scale is half of a repeatable brew; the other half is a grinder that holds a setting. Our grinder guide ranks those and our dialling-in guide shows what to do with the numbers.
Yes, more than you need a better dripper. The SCA ratio is 55 grams of coffee per kilogram of water — about 19 grams for a 350-gram brew — and a scoop is routinely out by two or three grams, a 10 to 15% error before the water moves.
What resolution does a coffee scale need?
0.1 gram, which every scale here provides. What separates them is the minimum weight the scale registers at all: Timemore publishes 0.5 g for the Basic 2.0 and no one else here publishes the figure at all.
Can I use a kitchen scale instead?
A 1-gram kitchen scale is not enough resolution for a 19-gram dose, and most have no timer and a slow refresh. A 0.1-gram jewellery-type scale weighs coffee fine; you will just run a separate stopwatch.
How big should the scale be for a Chemex?
Capacity first: a Chemex Six Cup is about 600 grams empty and takes 30 ounces, so aim for 2,000 grams or more — Fellow publishes 2,500 g, Timemore 2 kg. Shape second: the Hario at 120 by 190 mm is deep enough that brewer and server sit fully on it.
Are waterproof coffee scales worth paying for?
Worth reading rather than paying extra for. Timemore publishes IPX3 on the Mini and a waterproof dial plus silicone pad on the Basic 2.0; Fellow states the Tally Pro is water resistant and not waterproof; Greater Goods ships a removable dishwasher-safe cover — arguably the best answer, on the least costly scale.
Also considered
Acaia Pearl — The scale the specialty industry actually uses, with a refresh rate nothing here matches. Acaia sells direct and through café suppliers rather than the retailer this site links to, so there is no verified page to send you to.
Brewista Smart Scale III — Five brewing modes, 0.1 gram, and widely recommended. Brewista's own store lists 14 products and this scale is not among them, so there is no manufacturer page, specification or warranty path to verify.
Timemore Basic 3.0 — Timemore's newer version of our winner, already on sale on its own site. We rank what has a verified retail page matching the manufacturer's product; the 3.0 does not have one yet.
Hario V60 Drip Scale (older VST-2000B) — The previous revision of our second pick, still sold widely. Hario states the current VSTN version made the screen easier to read and removed regional measurement discrepancies, which means the older one had both problems.
Any scale with a 1-gram readout — A whole category. At 1-gram resolution a 19-gram dose is anything from 18.5 to 19.5 — a 5% swing in strength — and most have no timer. Resolution is the entire reason to own a coffee scale.
