HexClad vs. Henckels Paradigm: Which Hybrid Pans Are Better?

What’s the difference between HexClad and Henckels Paradigm (formerly HXagaon) pans? Why are HexClad pans more than double the price?

Is it because they spend more on advertising and pay celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay to promote them, or are HexClad pans actually better?

In this comparison of HexClad vs. Henckels Paradigm, you’ll see how these brands perform side-by-side.

You’ll learn how they differ in food release, searing, heat conduction, heat retention, and efficiency on induction cooktops. I also reveal the key differences in their design and construction.

So, if you’re thinking about buying hybrid cookware but aren’t sure if you should splurge on HexClad or save money and buy Henckels Paradigm, keep reading.

Note: When Henckels first released this collection, it was called Henckels HXagon. It has since been renamed to Henckels Paradigm.

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Use the links below to navigate the comparison:

• HexClad vs. Henckels Paradigm: Key Takeaways
• Cooking Tests
• Heat Conduction Test
• Heat Retention Test
• Induction Cooktop Test
• Handle Design
• Cooking Surface
• Bottom
• Price
• Bottom Line: Should You Buy HexClad or Henckels Paradigm Pans?

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Cooking Tests

Let’s get straight to the point — HexClad costs more than Henckels Paradigm, but does it perform better?

First, I conducted an egg test. I preheated 12-inch HexClad and Henckels Paradigm pans on low for a couple of minutes, then added an egg to each pan without greasing the cooking surfaces.

You can cook eggs in most traditional non-stick pans with little to no oil or butter, but unfortunately, that’s not the case with HexClad or Henckels Paradigm. The eggs stuck to both pans and fell apart when I tried to move them.

Because both pans integrate raised stainless steel hexagons into the cooking surface to protect the non-stick coating, they’re not as slick as a traditional non-stick pan. As a result, delicate foods like eggs are more likely to stick if the surface isn’t greased.

I repeated the test, but instead of leaving the cooking surface dry, I greased each pan with oil and butter before adding the eggs. This time, the eggs released from the cooking surface with no issue.

The one noticeable difference between HexClad and Henckels is that the Henckels pan heated much faster than the HexClad pan. Although both burners were set at the same heat level and I cooked the eggs for the same amount of time, the egg in the Henckels pan cooked faster and got crispier.

I also cooked pancakes in both pans. Again, the Henckels Paradigm pan heated faster than the HexClad pan.

Both pans heated evenly, and the pancakes released from the surface without sticking. But when I flipped the pancakes, you could clearly see that the one in the Henckels pan cooked faster with more browning.

For my next test, I cooked chicken thighs in both pans to see which browned the meat better. After preheating both pans on medium, I greased the surfaces with oil and added the chicken.

After a few minutes, I flipped the chicken and was not surprised that the piece cooking in the Henckels pan was significantly browner. However, the piece in the HexClad pan also had good color and was cooking more evenly.

After a couple more minutes, I flipped the chicken again. On this side, the browning was much more similar between both pieces — both were seared evenly. 

I brushed the chicken with barbeque sauce and finished it in the oven. Despite the Henckels pan heating faster initially, both pans browned the meat evenly, and there was no noticeable difference in the end result.

To further test the searing ability of HexClad and Henckels Paradigm, I also cooked a hamburger in both pans. I preheated the pans, added the burgers, and let them cook for a few minutes. When I flipped both burgers, the sear on the first side was almost the same. Both pans did a great job forming a crust on the burgers.

However, I noticed a difference after flipping the burgers a second time. The burger in the HexClad pan had a nicely seared crust, while the one in the Henckels pan had a lighter sear.

This suggests that when I flipped the burger in the Henckels pan, either the pan lost heat when the cooler meat made contact with it or the burger was not making full contact with the cooking surface to form an equivalent crust.

Heat Conduction Test

Based on these cooking tests, HexClad and Henckels Paradigm pans both heat evenly, but Henckels heats faster while HexClad maintains a steadier temperature when searing cold meat.

To test these observations further, I conducted two simple experiments.

First, I poured exactly two cups of cold (55°F) water in each pan. Using the same electric burner, I heated each pan on the highest setting.

The water in the Henckels pan started boiling at the two-minute and 19-second mark. And, as expected, the HexClad pan heated slightly slower — the water started boiling at the two-minute and 30-second mark.

I conduct this test with every pan I review, and as the results show, both the Henckels and HexClad pans conduct heat efficiently, performing above the industry average. Only three other brands I’ve tested boiled the water faster than Henckels.

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 Paradigm 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
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 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 Retention Test

My second test measured the heat retention of HexClad and Henckels Paradigm pans.

While fast and even heat distribution is important in cookware, heat retention is also a key factor. Pans with good heat retention maintain a steady temperature when you add cold ingredients like steak, burgers, or chicken.

Without good heat retention, the pan’s temperature can drop significantly when cold food makes contact. This temperature fluctuation prevents proper searing and can lead to uneven cooking or burning.

After the water started boiling in both pans, I took them off the heat and set them aside to cool.

After five minutes, the water in the Henckels pan was 113°F.

The water in the HexClad pan was 120°F.

After ten minutes, the water in the Henckels pan was 96°F.

The water in the HexClad pan was 102°F.

I wasn’t surprised by these results for two reasons. For one, it’s what I observed during my earlier hamburger cooking test. When I flipped the cold burger patties in the pans, the HexClad maintained its sear better than the Henckels.

And secondly, HexClad pans are 3 mm thick and Henckels pans are 2.4 mm thicker. Unless the materials differ significantly, which they do not in this case, thicker pans tend to heat slower but retain heat longer.

Here’s how HexClad and Henckels Paradigm 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
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 D5 fry pan	112.7°F	97.3°F
Henckels Paradigm 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

Induction Cooktop Test

I conducted one more test to see which pan heats faster on induction. Induction cooktops are different from electric and gas cooktops. Instead of hot coils or flames heating the pan, which heats the food, induction cooktops use magnetic fields to generate electric currents directly in the pan, making the pan itself the heat source.

For this test, I poured two cups of cold (55°F) water into both brand’s 8-inch frying pans. I used that size because they fit nicely on my induction burner.

Then, I turned both burners on at the same time to 248°F, the highest temperature possible when using them together.

Water in the HexClad pan started to bubble first, around the two-minute and 10-second mark. Around the 5-minute and 30-second mark, the water in the HexClad pan came to a full boil while the Henckels pan was still simmering.

The overall takeaway from these tests is that HexClad and Henckels Paradigm do a great job cooking delicate foods like eggs and pancakes as long as you grease the cooking surface. And they both heat evenly and sear meat well.

The key difference is that because Henckels pans are thinner, they heat faster and cool down faster. You need to pay closer attention when cooking because you can quickly burn or overcook food if the heat is too high.

HexClad pans heat slower on gas and electric cooktops but are easier to control since they maintain a steadier temperature.

Besides cooking performance, there are a few other differences to consider.

Handle Design

Both have rounded handles that fork at the end to disperse heat, but Henckels handles are angled higher, while HexClad handles are more even with the rim of the pan. The end of the Henckels handle is 3.5 inches above the counter, while HexClad’s is only 2.5 inches.

Henckels handles are also longer at 8.5 inches versus HexClad’s 8 inches.

Additionally, Henckels engraves its logo on the handle along with a slight indentation for your thumb. HexClad handles are smooth with no engravings or grooves.

The better handle design is subjective, but I like Henckels because it’s longer, and the higher angle keeps your hand further from the heat. However, the angle of HexClad’s handle allows you to fit the pan between oven racks with less space.

Cooking Surface

Both pans have raised stainless steel peaks and non-stick valleys on the cooking surface. But Henckels pans have a higher ratio of steel to non-stick coating.

With more exposed steel, I thought Henckels pans would be more sticky when cooking eggs, but I didn’t notice a difference during my tests.

Also, HexClad rivets are flatter. Since Henckels rivets stick out more, they are more likely to trap oil and food and are slightly more difficult to clean.

Henckels uses a traditional PTFE-based non-stick coating in their valleys, while HexClad transitioned from PTFE to their proprietary TerraBond ceramic coating in 2023.

Bottom

The bottom of these pans is also different. With HexClad, the non-stick and stainless steel hexagon patterned surface is not only on the interior but on the bottom, too. Henckels pans only have the hybrid pattern on the cooking surface; the bottoms are polished steel.

The non-stick coating on the bottom of HexClad pans makes them easier to clean. With Henckels, the bottom is more prone to staining and discoloration. You’ll need to occasionally use Bar Keepers Friend to restore the shine.

Although I have not experienced this problem, a PrudentReivews.com reader reached out and told me the bottom of her HexClad pan left noticeable scratches on her glass cooktop. There were no visible burrs on the bottom of the pan, so she believes the raised hexagon pattern caused the scratches.

I searched through thousands of HexClad reviews on various retail sites and only found a few similar complaints, so it doesn’t appear to be a common issue. But it’s a potential risk to consider if you have a glass cooktop.

Price

Price is one of the most significant differences between HexClad and Henckels Paradigm cookware.

HexClad pans are significantly more expensive. For example, the 12-inch HexClad frying pan is listed on HexClad.com for more than double the price of the Henckels Paradigm 3-piece set, which includes 8-, 10-, and 12-inch frying pans.

Bottom Line: Should You Buy HexClad or Henckels Paradigm Pans?

So, is HexClad worth the higher price? Or should you go with less expensive Henckels pans?

Based on my testing, the differences between these two brands are not significant enough to justify paying more than twice as much for HexClad.

Both heat evenly, release food without sticking, and sear meat well. Although HexClad pans retain heat better and heat faster on induction cooktops, the differences are minor. Plus, Henckels handles are longer, and the bottom is smooth, so you don’t have to worry about scratching your cooktop.

That said, HexClad does have some advantages. Most notably, it’s been in the market for years and has become one of the most popular cookware brands.

Part of its success is due to great marketing, but the product has also been thoroughly tested and has proven to perform well.

Although some people dislike HexClad and call it a gimmick, thousands of happy customers say otherwise. I’ve used HexClad for years, and although it has flaws, it’s one of the more versatile pans I’ve tested.

Henckels has been around a long time, but the Paradigm collection is brand new. Because of its HexClad-like hybrid design, I assume it will last longer than traditional non-stick cookware, but only time will tell. The construction is significantly thinner than HexClad, so it may be more prone to warping.

Compare the current prices and read more reviews on HexClad.com and Amazon (Henckels).