I will give you a different answer than what I see others saying:

Good noodles are good. You can buy good noodles. If you can tell the difference between De Cecco and Barilla spaghetti noodles then you could easily discern homemade pasta.

If "they all taste the same" then the texture difference is likely not enough to make it appreciable.

I dont even make sauce anymore I just buy a jar of Raos.

Its funny how we compliment a commercial endeavor as "this tastes homemade" and a home cook as "better than what you can buy".

IMO it does not, but maybe I’m just making it wrong.. It’s notable that places like French Laundry explicitly dry their home made pasta before cooking with it, IMO the al-dente texture is way better in dried pasta than freshly made.

I guess it’s subjective ofc, but making pasta is a whole thing, hours of work, massive mess to clean up, for an end result that has worse texture than a high end dried pasta

It's simply not the same thing. The dried pasta you buy is extruded under high pressure. Typically you use a good quality semolina and water for this instead of type 0 flour and eggs.

Hand kneading and rolling your pasta produces a very different texture from extruded pasta. Even if you use semolina and water and hand roll it, the result just isn't the same. It's actually very hard to reproduce some of the pre-packaged pastas in terms of texture without the right equipment. Forget about doing that at home; you need some industrial equipment to do that well.

I follow a channel on Youtube that did a whole series on dried pasta a while ago. Worth watching if you are interested in the virtues of dried pasta vs. home made pasta. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptnXLYYIQ9Y&list=PLURsDaOr8h...

Homemade spatzle and gnocchi have noticeably different textures. Store boughten spatzle is harder and drier while homemade is softer and more moist. Store boughten gnocchi is grainier and can't be as soft as homemade without making it soggy. That's my experience. I can't speak to homemade egg noodles.

Dry and fresh have a different texture to the mouth to begin with and fresh ones are cooked in 2-3 minutes instead of 6 to 15 minutes for dried ones.

Now between homemade fresh pasta and industrial fresh pasta yes I find a difference but mostly in texture. Between my homemade pasta and homemade pasta from the local italian grocery it is mostly a matter of taste (amount of salt, using eggs or only water, etc).

I rarely do homemade dry pasta because it involves a lot of space.

It depends a lot on how you make it. First thing, as others have already mentioned, it is fresh pasta, not dry pasta, these two are different things. Different ingredients, different preparation and of course, different taste.

You effectively can't make dry pasta at home, it requires specialized and rather expensive equipment. Stay with a good store-bought brand, DeSecco is fine and Barilla has a huge lineup of varying levels of quality. I like the "trafilata al bronzo" kind, they have a rougher texture which is better for making sauces. Artisan pasta may not be worth the price.

For fresh pasta, you can also buy in stores, but these are worth making yourself. When making them yourself, you can select your flour, your recipe, you can also put other ingredients than the basics if you want, say, green pasta. Depending on your machine, you can make the shape or thickness you want. You can even also make ramen-style (alkaline) pasta, with kansui. It may not taste objectively better, if there is such a thing, but it may very much taste better to you.

Also, I like to cook my homemade pasta immediately after making them. The dough can sit for a while, but after that, it goes straight from the machine to the pot, one portion at a time. I use a strainer like they have in ramen shops, so I can reuse the water between portions. Usually, when one portion have finished cooking (it only takes about 3 minutes), the other is ready. This way, they are less likely to stick, even without flour or corn starch. Obviously, it doesn't scale, and you can't do that with store bought pasta.

BTW, I use rollers, not an extruder. The rollers are a bit more labor intensive, but I prefer it over an extruder, it also tends to be cheaper. But this is a personal preference, the end product is simply different.

There is a big difference in texture. Homemade pasta is a lot chewier, which I really like.

Edit: I see other commenters say it is a lot of work and really messy. In my experience, it doesn't have to be. The first few times I tried I made a big mess, but after just a few times I got both faster and less messy.

Homemade pasta tastes better than the 99 cents per pound stuff you see at the super market. I don't know what "artisan" brands are, but as a baseline, check out pasta di gragnano (IGP). With minimal effort, ingredients (flour + water and/or eggs) and no special equipment, you can match the quality of this at home, for sure. Although, it's worth noting that fresh and dried pasta taste different. I think most people would prefer fresh pasta, but it is way more expensive to buy, if you can even find it at your super market.

After that, you can get into special flours, paying super close attention to hydration, simple or complex tools that make shapes easier, dehydrators to dry and store your pasta, and really hone the craft.

It depends on the recipe. When I make homemade pasta, I use high-protein flour and a recipe that will use more eggs than usual - so the texture is noticeably more "al dente" than store bought pasta.

Fresh versus dry is the biggest distinction to me.

I do notice some improvement in the $5 vs $2 dry pasta brands and usually make that indulgence. Anything priced higher I’ve not noticed enough difference to make it worth it. Also, not sure if this is super wide spread but, my grocer carries frozen fresh pasta which is a bit pricy IMO but makes sense in some occasions.

Even though I think fresh is top notch, I most likely won’t go through the time investment to DIY it. For me, when I’m in that type of mood it’s time to visit an Italian restaurant that makes fresh pasta

Freshly made pasta is different to dried pasta, not necessarily better. It depends what you want. It works much better for lasagne, IMO.

it depends on your taste, usually home made pasta is not dry pasta and it's made with eggs, so actually not the same thing. I wouldn't recommend Barilla anyway, it's just average, there are much tastier brands.

I've read someone here lamenting the cost of the machines to make fresh pasta, you don't need any, just your hands, elbow grease a rolling pin and a good knife to cut it.

If you wanna skip the rolling pin phase, which is the most difficult one, and don't make huge amount of pasta, you can buy one of these.

https://www.amazon.it/Imperia-Macchina-Manuale-Manovella-Sfo...

As an Italian I've learned from my grandma to make it, with a little practice you can make it in minutes.

p.s. it's De Cecco

Fresh pasta is an entirely different beast from dried pasta, so the two are hard to compare. I never made dried pasta at home, but I find it impossible (even in Italy) to buy fresh gnocchi that are as good as the ones that you can make at home.

It tastes different if only because homemade pasta includes eggs. Industrial pasta can get away with not using eggs because machines can exert a lot more pressure than your hand and extrude it cleanly.

Industrial egg-pasta is available, though.

Just make it a few times and see for yourself. It's very very easy to do and doesn't require any special ingredients or tools. Flour (any type!), eggs (optional), water, rolling pin, knife.

The difference is approximately equivalent to a grocery store bought cake and a homemade cake.

Imperfections, more fats, salt, sugar, spices to your precise taste.

And most importantly freshness.

its not really about taste, its about texture. imho lasagna with homemade pasta lets you make lots of thinner layers instead of using the thick noodles from the store. it makes the end product much different.

Wouldn't do it without a pasta machine attachment to my mixer, though. I'm lazy.

No, it doesn‘t, it‘s a huge mess and a lot of effort.

We are gonna sell our very expensive machine again.