Elvie Double Electric Breast Pump

The defining feature is that this pump fits entirely inside your bra with no tubes, wires or external motor to manage, which genuinely changes what expressing looks like in practice - you can express during a work call, on the school run, or just moving around the house rather than being tethered to a chair for 20 minutes. Control happens through the companion app, which tracks volume and lets you adjust suction and mode without needing to look at the pump itself.

Against the Medela Swing Flex, the trade-off is fairly clean: Elvie wins decisively on portability and discretion, scoring a perfect 10 in our comparison versus Medela's 6, because there's simply no comparison between a wearable pump and a corded one you have to sit still with. Medela wins on raw expressing efficiency, since its stronger, more consistent suction tends to empty the breast faster for most users, which matters most if you're exclusively pumping and need to maximise output per session.

Best suited to working parents, or anyone who needs to express discreetly and on the move rather than at a dedicated pumping station. If your priority is squeezing pumping sessions into a busy day around other people, this is worth the premium. If you're expressing mainly at home and want maximum output in minimum time, Medela's stronger suction is the more efficient tool for that specific job.

At £379 for the pair, this is a genuinely serious investment - more than double the cost of the Medela Swing Flex - and the suction, while effective, is gentler than a traditional corded double pump, so some parents find sessions take a little longer to fully empty. Battery life covers a handful of sessions before it needs recharging, so it's not the tool for back-to-back, all-day exclusive pumping without planning charging breaks.