At a glance, HexClad and Cooksy pans look identical. They both have a hybrid cooking surface, rounded handles, flared rims, and multi-clad construction.
So, what’s the difference between these brands? Which pans are better?
In this comparison of HexClad vs. Cooksy, I explain how they stack up in design, materials, performance, price, and more.
Use the links below to navigate the comparison:
- Key Takeaways
- Difference 1: Handle Design
- Difference 2: Helper Handle
- Difference 3: Rivets
- Difference 4: Cooking Surface
- Difference 5: Non-Stick Material
- Difference 6: Exterior
- Difference 7: Heat Conduction and Retention
- Difference 8: Price
- Difference 9: Number of Pieces
- Bottom Line: Should You Buy HexClad or Cooksy?
Key Takeaways
Here’s a quick summary of the key differences between HexClad and Cooksy pans. Read the full comparison for detailed analysis and insights from my experience using both brands.
Handle Design: Cooksy handles are angled higher (2.7 inches above the counter) than HexClad handles (2.5 inches). They are also thicker and feature an engraved logo.
Helper Handle: Cooksy frying pans have a helper handle, while HexClad frying pans do not.
Rivets: HexClad handles are riveted to the body of the pan. Cooksy handles are screwed onto the outside of the pan, resulting in a smoother cooking surface that’s easier to clean.
Cooking Surface: Both have a hybrid cooking surface with steel peaks and non-stick valleys, but Cooksy has a higher ratio of steel to non-stick coating. And because of that, eggs are more likely to stick to Cooksy pans.
Non-Stick Material: Cooksy discloses they use “Eterna by Whitford” non-stick coating. HexClad uses a proprietary ceramic non-stick coating called TerraBond.
Exterior: HexClad’s hybrid surface extends to the pan’s bottom. Cooksy has a polished stainless steel bottom. Since HexClad pans have non-stick coating on the bottom, they’re easier to clean. However, one PrudentReviews.com reader told me the hexagon pattern on the bottom of her HexClad pan scratched her glass cooktop. This issue isn’t common, but it’s a risk.
Heat Conduction and Retention: Based on my tests, HexClad conducts heat faster on electric cooktops, while Cooksy heats faster on induction. Both demonstrate excellent heat retention, but HexClad retains heat slightly better.
Price: HexClad pans are about 22% more expensive than Cooksy.
Number of Pieces: Cooksy has a limited selection of fry pans, stock pots, and sauce pans. HexClad offers a wider range of pans, sets, and specialty items.
Should You Buy HexClad or Cooksy?
Cooksy is a better value because it costs less while offering nearly the same construction, design, and performance. You also get rivetless handles and a smooth bottom.
However, HexClad is a more established brand with a longer track record and thousands of happy customers. We don’t know how well Cooksy will hold up after years of use. HexClad also conducts heat slightly faster on electric cooktops and retains heat better.
Go with Cooksy if you’re on a tighter budget and value rivetless handles. Go with HexClad if you value reputation and proven performance and durability.
Learn more about both brands and compare their current prices at the links below:
- HexClad on HexClad.com and Amazon
- Cooksy on Amazon
Difference 1: Handle Design
When I first picked up HexClad and Cooksy pans, one of the first differences I noticed was the handle design. Both brands feature rounded, polished stainless steel handles that are 8 inches long.
The rounded design makes both handles comfortable, but if your hand is wet or greasy, the handle can rotate when you tilt the pan. You need to be careful and tighten your grip when transferring food to a plate or pouring liquids.
One key difference between the two brands is the angle of the handle relative to the pan. Cooksy handles are angled higher, with the end of the handle sitting 2.7 inches above the counter.
HexClad handles are more even with the rim of the pan, with the end of the handle only 2.5 inches above the counter.
The higher angle of the Cooksy handle allows you to keep your hand slightly further from the heat source, which can be beneficial when cooking at high temperatures.
Another distinction is the handle’s thickness. Cooksy handles are slightly larger in circumference, providing a more substantial grip that fills up your palm.
The Cooksy logo is engraved into the handle, while HexClad handles are smooth with no engravings.
Difference 2: Helper Handle
Cooksy frying pans have a helper handle on the opposite side of the main handle. This extra handle helps when you’ve got a pan full of heavy or hot food. It makes lifting and moving the pan with two handles easier. Like the main handle, the helper handle has Cooksy’s logo engraved.
HexClad frying pans don’t have a helper handle. This isn’t a problem if you’re cooking something light or using a smaller pan, but it can be when cooking lots of food and transferring the pan from the stovetop to the oven.
HexClad does put helper handles on some of its other pots and pans, like its saute pans and 5-quart saucepan, but not on its frying pans.
Difference 3: Rivets
HexClad sticks with the classic design, using rivets to secure the handles directly to the pan’s body. While rivets provide a strong, reliable connection, they can be a magnet for oil and food particles. And cleaning around them is annoying.
Cooksy takes a different approach. Instead of rivets, the handles are screwed onto the outside of the pan. Without rivets, the cooking surface is completely smooth, and there’s no place for food to get stuck.
Difference 4: Cooking Surface
Both HexClad and Cooksy feature a hybrid cooking surface that combines raised stainless steel peaks with non-stick valleys, but there are some notable differences between the two.
With HexClad, the hexagon steel pattern on the cooking surface is primarily composed of steel dots, with the borders of the hexagons becoming fully steel as you approach the sides of the pan.
Cooksy takes a slightly different approach. The borders of the hexagons are fully steel throughout the cooking surface, and there are also steel dots in the center of each hexagon.
Cooksy’s cooking surface also features a series of steel flames around the top of the sides. While this design may be a nod to cooking on a gas stove, it looks cheap and gimmicky.
Both cooking surfaces do an excellent job of searing meat and keeping oil in the center of the pan. However, during my testing, I noticed that HexClad’s surface is slightly more non-stick than Cooksy’s.
Even when I greased the Cooksy pan with butter, eggs still didn’t release from the cooking surface on their own. I had to scrape the spatula under the egg to pry it off the pan.
This sticking is likely due to the higher ratio of steel to non-stick coating on Cooksy’s cooking surface. If non-stick performance is your top priority, HexClad is the better choice.
Difference 5: Non-Stick Material
Cooksy is transparent about the non-stick coating it uses. On its website, it discloses that its pans feature an Eterna coating. Eterna is a well-regarded non-stick material that has been extensively tested and is used by several other cookware brands, including Cuisinart and Dalstrong.
HexClad originally used PTFE in its non-stick coating but switched to TerraBond in 2023, a PTFE-free ceramic coating with excellent durability.
Difference 6: Exterior
HexClad’s non-stick and stainless steel hybrid surface extends from the interior cooking surface to the bottom of the pan. Because of this, the bottom of the pan is easier to clean, and food and grease are less likely to adhere to the non-stick surface.
One potential downside to HexClad’s hybrid bottom is that it could scratch your cooktop. I’ve been cooking with HexClad for years and never encountered issues, but a PrudentReviews.com reader emailed me and said the bottom of her HexClad pan left noticeable scratches on her glass cooktop.
She believes the raised hexagon pattern was responsible for the scratches since there were no other burrs on the bottom of the pan. I searched thousands of HexClad reviews and only found a few other customers complaining about a similar issue. It’s not a common issue, but still something to consider.
Cooksy pans feature the hybrid hexagon pattern only on the cooking surface. The bottom of the pan is polished stainless steel. The steel bottom looks sleek and will never scratch your cooktop, but without non-stick coating, it’s more susceptible to staining and discoloration over time. You may need to use a cleaner like Bar Keepers Friend to restore the shine occasionally.
Difference 7: Heat Conduction and Retention
HexClad and Cooksy pans are both made of 3-ply stainless steel with an aluminum core. The walls of both pans are approximately 3mm thick, and both brands’ 12-inch frying pans weigh around 3.1 pounds.
Given their nearly identical build and materials, you’d expect them to handle heat similarly. And from what I’ve seen in the kitchen, cooking meal after meal, they do. Any differences in how they cook are barely noticeable.
However, to dive deeper into any potential differences in heating properties, I conducted three tests:
Heat Conduction Test (Electric Cooktop): I poured two cups of cold (55°F) water into each pan and heated them on the highest setting using the same electric burner. The water in the Cooksy pan started boiling at the 2-minute and 35-second mark. The HexClad pan heated slightly faster, with water boiling at the 2-minute and 30-second mark. I conduct this test with every cookware brand I review, and as you can see in the results below, both pans performed above the industry average.
| Pan | Time to First Bubbles | Time to Boil |
|---|---|---|
| Farberware | 1 minute and 2 seconds | 1 minute and 29 seconds |
| All-Clad G5 fry pan | 1 minute and 17 seconds | 2 minutes and 4 seconds |
| All-Clad Copper Core fry pan | 1 minute and 21 seconds | 2 minutes and 18 seconds |
| Henckels HXagon fry pan | 1 minute and 36 seconds | 2 minutes and 19 seconds |
| Made In stainless steel fry pan | 1 minute and 40 seconds | 2 minutes and 21 seconds |
| Anolon X pan | 1 minute and 35 seconds | 2 minutes and 22 seconds |
| Misen fry pan | 1 minute and 50 seconds | 2 minutes and 25 seconds |
| Caraway | 1 minute and 53 seconds | 2 minutes and 26 seconds |
| Anolon Advanced fry pan | 1 minute and 55 seconds | 2 minutes and 27 seconds |
| HexClad fry pan | 1 minute and 40 seconds | 2 minutes and 30 seconds |
| Made In non-stick fry pan | 1 minute and 53 seconds | 2 minutes and 31 seconds |
| Zwilling fry pan | 1 minute and 45 seconds | 2 minutes and 31 seconds |
| T-fal fry pan | 1 minute and 50 seconds | 2 minutes and 32 seconds |
| Gotham Steel fry pan | 1 minute and 58 seconds | 2 minutes and 32 seconds |
| Cooksy fry pan | 1 minute and 47 seconds | 2 minutes and 35 seconds |
| Rachael Ray fry pan | 1 minute and 47 seconds | 2 minutes and 36 seconds |
| Viking fry pan | 1 minute and 42 seconds | 2 minutes and 39 seconds |
| Calphalon fry pan | 1 minute and 45 seconds | 2 minutes and 40 seconds |
| Sardel fry pan | 1 minute and 41 seconds | 2 minutes and 46 seconds |
| Pioneer Woman fry pan | 2 minutes and 2 seconds | 2 minutes and 46 seconds |
| Hestan fry pan | 1 minute and 52 seconds | 2 minutes and 47 seconds |
| GreenLife pan | 2 minutes and 11 seconds | 2 minutes and 47 seconds |
| Our Place Always Pan | 2 minutes and 2 seconds | 2 minutes and 48 seconds |
| Ninja NeverStick Pan | 2 minutes and 7 seconds | 2 minutes and 49 seconds |
| Tramontina fry pan | 1 minute and 53 seconds | 2 minutes and 52 seconds |
| Circulon fry pan | 2 minutes and 7 seconds | 2 minutes and 55 seconds |
| All-Clad D3 fry pan | 1 minute and 55 seconds | 2 minutes and 55 seconds |
| All-Clad HA1 fry pan | 2 minutes and 12 seconds | 2 minutes and 58 seconds |
| All-Clad NS Pro fry pan | 2 minutes and 9 seconds | 3 minutes and 3 seconds |
| All-Clad D5 fry pan | 1 minutes and 58 seconds | 3 minutes and 4 seconds |
| Goldilocks fry pan | 2 minutes and 17 seconds | 3 minutes and 5 seconds |
| Demeyere Industry fry pan | 2 minutes and 3 seconds | 3 minutes and 10 seconds |
| Ballarini fry pan | 2 minutes and 15 seconds | 3 minutes and 12 seconds |
| Heritage Steel fry pan | 1 minute and 59 seconds | 3 minutes and 15 seconds |
| Demeyere Atlantis fry pan | 2 minutes and 11 seconds | 3 minutes and 25 seconds |
| Xtrema fry pan | 3 minutes and 41 seconds | 6 minutes and 7 seconds |
Heat Conduction Test (Induction Cooktop): I repeated the test using an induction burner. Induction cooktops require a magnetic bottom, and while both pans have a steel base, HexClad’s is covered with a non-stick hybrid pattern. With its smooth steel bottom, I thought the Cooksy pan might heat faster. My assumption was correct: the Cooksy pan boiled 2 cups of water in just 2 minutes and 10 seconds, while the HexClad pan took 2 minutes and 21 seconds.
Heat Retention Test: After bringing the water to a boil in both pans, I removed them from the heat and let them cool. After five minutes, the water in the Cooksy pan was 117°F, while the HexClad pan was 120°F.
After ten minutes, the water in the Cooksy pan was 101°F, and the HexClad pan was 102°F.
Although the HexClad pan retained heat slightly better, the difference was minimal, not enough to notice during cooking.
Here’s how HexClad and Cooksy stack up against other popular cookware brands in terms of heat retention:
| Pan | Temperature After 5 Minutes | Temperature After 10 Minutes |
|---|---|---|
| Xtrema fry pan | 142°F | 113°F |
| Made In stainless steel fry pan | 121.1°F | 106.6°F |
| Demeyere Atlantis fry pan | 122.0°F | 106.3°F |
| Made In non-stick fry pan | 120.2°F | 105.8°F |
| Ninja NeverStick Pan | 130.5°F | 104.8°F |
| Misen fry pan | 118.6°F | 103.4°F |
| Zwilling fry pan | 121.1°F | 103.0°F |
| Rachael Ray fry pan | 126.3°F | 102.7°F |
| Goldilocks fry pan | 122.0°F | 102.5°F |
| HexClad fry pan | 120.7°F | 102.4°F |
| Circulon fry pan | 133.3°F | 102.0°F |
| Tramontina fry pan | 118.5°F | 101.3°F |
| Cooksy fry pan | 117.9°F | 101.2°F |
| Calphalon fry pan | 112.8°F | 101.1°F |
| All-Clad D3 skillet | 111.6°F | 100.9°F |
| Ballarini fry pan | 120°F | 99.9°F |
| Heritage Steel | 120.1°F | 98.2°F |
| All-Clad HA1 fry pan | 117.9°F | 98.1°F |
| Hestan fry pan | 114.4°F | 98.0°F |
| Sardel fry pan | 114.0°F | 97.8°F |
| All-Clad NS Pro fry pan | 116.0°F | 97.3°F |
| All-Clad D5 fry pan | 112.7°F | 97.3°F |
| Henckels HXagon fry pan | 113.5°F | 96.7°F |
| Our Place Always Pan | 118.0°F | 96.7°F |
| Demeyere Industry fry pan | 115.2°F | 96.6°F |
| All-Clad G5 fry pan | 115.3°F | 96.6°F |
| Caraway fry pan | 116.6°F | 96.4°F |
| Anolon X pan | 114.1°F | 96.0°F |
| Viking fry pan | 106.6°F | 95.9°F |
| All-Clad Copper Core fry pan | 117.7°F | 95.5°F |
| Farberware fry pan | 112.0°F | 95.4°F |
| GreenLife fry pan | 119.0°F | 95.0°F |
| Gotham Steel fry pan | 113.0°F | 95.0°F |
| Anolon Advanced fry pan | 112.7°F | 90.9°F |
| Pioneer Woman fry pan | 104.3°F | 90.9°F |
| T-fal fry pan | 108.7°F | 88.0°F |
The key takeaway from these tests is that both brands conduct and retain heat well compared to the industry, but HexClad conducts heat slightly faster on electric cooktops, while Cooksy has a slight edge on induction cooktops. Both pans demonstrate excellent heat retention, although HexClad retains heat marginally better than Cooksy.
Difference 8: Price
HexClad pans are significantly more expensive than Cooksy pans. For example, the 12-inch HexClad frying pan costs about 22% more than the Cooksy 12-inch pan.
Difference 9: Number of Pieces
Cooksy has a limited cookware selection. They only offer fry pans, stock pots, and sauce pans in a few sizes. They also have a couple of cookware sets available.
HexClad is a more established brand offering a wider range of individual pans and sets. In addition to the essentials, HexClad offers specialty items such as griddles, pizza steels, deep saute pans, and roasting pans.
Bottom Line: Should You Buy HexClad or Cooksy?
On paper, Cooksy is a better value than HexClad. You get nearly the same materials, construction, and design for a much lower price. Plus, Cooksy pans have some clear advantages, like rivetless handles, helper handles, and a smooth steel bottom.
However, HexClad is a much more established brand. They’ve been around since 2017 and have earned the trust of thousands of home cooks. Cooksy launched in 2022 and is still trying to build a name for itself. HexClad also has a much more extensive selection of pots, pans, and sets.
Ultimately, you can’t go wrong with either. I’ve cooked dozens of meals in both, and the differences in performance are minimal.
So, here’s my advice: if you’re on a tight budget or prefer the convenience of rivetless handles and helper handles, go with Cooksy. You’ll get excellent performance at a more affordable price point.
But if you value brand reputation, a proven track record, and a wider variety of cookware options, HexClad is the way to go. Their pans are a bit pricier, but you can trust that you’re getting a high-quality product that will last years. Read my full HexClad review to learn more.
Ready to buy? Compare the current prices of both brands at the links below:
- HexClad on HexClad.com and Amazon
- Cooksy on Amazon
Related Topics
- 4 Best HexClad Cookware Alternatives
- Henckels HXagon Review: Pros and Cons to Know Before Buying
- HexClad vs. Stainless Steel Cookware: 7 Key Differences
- HexClad vs. Cast Iron Cookware: 11 Differences & How to Choose
- HexClad vs. All-Clad: Which Cookware Is Better?
- HexClad vs. Anolon X: Which Hybrid Pans Are Better?
- HexClad vs. Our Place (Always Pan): Which Is Better?
