A bottomless portafilter is not necessarily better or worse. Bottomless portafilters allow you to see your espresso shot being pulled directly into your cup. Many baristas prefer this kind of portafilter for quality control reasons, as it allows them to easily see and detect problems, such as channeling. Spouted portafilters allow you to pull a single shot into 2 separate cups without any mess. As for what’s better, that’s entirely up to you. If you want single shots with ease, go with the spouted portafilter. If you’re really into troubleshooting and dialing in your shots, go bottomless