Toaster ovens are too low power and don’t have enough convection still, at least for my use case. I roasted chicken just last night, and got a beautiful golden crust with a thoroughly cooked interior… you can’t do that with a typical toaster oven!
My air fryer has a toaster oven form factor[1]. The fan is much more powerful however and it has extra heating elements. Otherwise it literally is a toaster oven with convection, even says so in the name!
Conceptually all of these are very similar, it’s just the balance of heating power and fan speed that make the difference, though marginal it may be from an engineering design standpoint.
Typical air fryers have a basket design[2] that helps with splatter control, but they are otherwise again the same.
My air fryer has a toaster oven form factor[1]. The fan is much more powerful however and it has extra heating elements. Otherwise it literally is a toaster oven with convection, even says so in the name!
Conceptually all of these are very similar, it’s just the balance of heating power and fan speed that make the difference, though marginal it may be from an engineering design standpoint.
Typical air fryers have a basket design[2] that helps with splatter control, but they are otherwise again the same.
1 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CXM33MD/
2 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08R6KMBQT/