The best smokers help you achieve the sweet and savory flavor combinations that make smoked meat so tasty. Whether pulled pork, brisket, ribs, or chicken is on the menu, this type of specialized home grill brings a new dimension to your backyard barbecues all year long.

There isn’t just one type of smoker. Purists prefer the iconic offset or “barrel” smoker, which reflects an array of regional barbecue traditions found in Texas, Memphis, Kansas City, and the Carolinas. In the last decade or so, increased interest in the art of barbecue has led to an expanded range of more beginner-friendly alternatives, including hardwood charcoal smokers and low-maintenance wood pellet smokers.

Some models have made the cooking process even easier with WiFi-enabled smart features for monitoring and adjusting internal temperature via an app on your phone. That way, you don’t have to stand by for hours as you cook.

If you’re in the market for a new smoker, we have one for every setup and skill level. Continue reading for our choices of the best smokers and tips on what to consider before you buy.

• Best Overall: Pit Boss Navigator 1600M Pellet Grill and Smoker
• Best Value: Royal Gourmet 28-Inch Barrel Charcoal Grill and Offset Smoker
• Best Pellet Smoker: Traeger Ironwood 885 Pellet Grill and Smoker
• Best Charcoal: Masterbuilt Gravity Series 800 Digital Charcoal Griddle, Grill, and Smoker
• Best Smart Smoker: Traeger Woodridge Pro Pellet Grill and Smoker

We’ve tested dozens of grills and smokers of all different shapes and sizes over the years. Tony Carrick, coauthor of this article, currently uses a Masterbuilt charcoal-fed gravity smoker and a Weber Smokey Joe at home. David Dritsas is a reviews editor at Popular Mechanics and is an amateur cook who has tested a variety of grills. Both drew on their combined experience with smokers, along with external research, to inform our recommendations.

We supplemented our own experience and criteria for smokers with extensive research into the various types that are available. We compared specifications of dozens of smokers and consulted user reviews to find trends or qualities that stand out (both positively and negatively) and might impact your ultimate choice. Our final recommendations span a range of designs and price points, and each offers solid performance, durable build quality, and great value.

Editor’s Note: This is currently sold out at reputable retailers, but we found a comparable alternative from Pit Boss, the Pro Series 1300 Smart Grill, which is sold exclusively at Lowe’s.

One of the first things you notice about the Pit Boss Navigator 1600M is how well-constructed it is. The metal frame is sturdy, the hardware is strong, and the main section is well-insulated, including a heavy hood that is lined all the way around the edges by a fireproof, padded seal that keeps the heat in. (The Navigator performed very well in that regard.)

It has a large hopper that holds up to 30 pounds of pellets, and the controls are easy to understand. There’s WiFi on board, and we experienced a one-time issue where the app disconnected and would not reconnect, but it otherwise worked well, and navigation was intuitive. The Navigator also has two wired thermometer probes, for which you can set temperature alerts, so you know when your meats are ready.

For our main cooking test, we smoked a flat iron steak, as well as a mix of garlic-marinated zucchini, onions, and red peppers (that was enclosed in aluminum foil, open at the top). We were impressed with how quickly the grill heated up and how efficiently it maintained the temperature (even as we grilled in cold weather).

The only feature we did not find exceptional was the flame broil setting, which allows you to expose food to the flames of the burner cup directly. While it technically works, the cooking area of this feature is only roughly 3 inches in diameter, so it’s not very effective for large pieces of meat or more than one burger. But that complaint is a minor one.

Full Pit Boss Navigator 1600M Review

Adding a smoker to your outdoor kitchen doesn’t have to set you back thousands of dollars. You can get into the game on the cheap with this Royal Gourmet offset smoker. It offers similar capacity to more expensive smokers with its 840 square inches of total cooking surface, giving you plenty of space to experiment with different meats. It’s also equipped with cool-touch handles and vent controls on the firebox for regulating temperature.

The front table provides prep space and a lower shelf for storage. While it lacks the sturdy construction of our other picks, this is a solid entry-level option if you want to try cooking traditional barbecue but don’t want a big investment.

Traeger’s top-of-the-line smoker has a huge 885-square-inch cooking surface—enough to fit 10 whole chickens, 9 pork butts, or 7 racks of ribs. With its digital thermostat and 20-pound pellet hopper, the Ironwood 885 can smoke for nearly a full day without the need for a refill. Add in the ability to monitor both the grill’s internal temperature and food temperatures using your phone, and you have a smoker that won’t tie you down for hours.

Other notable features include a “super smoke” mode that cranks up smoke output for extra flavor, a sensor that alerts you when the hopper is low on fuel, and double-walled insulation that helps the smoker maintain consistent temperatures. The Traeger Ironwood 885 is expensive, but it’s a serious smoker for those looking to feed a crowd. If you want the best of the best and are willing to splurge for it, we’d say it’s worth it.

Masterbuilt’s Gravity Series 800 gives you unique flavor from hardwood charcoal smoke in your barbecue without dealing with all the fuss of micromanaging your smoker. It pairs a large gravity-fed hopper for hardwood charcoal with a digital thermostat that controls the internal temperature. The hopper keeps your cooking fire fed, while an internal fan system regulates temperature to maintain consistency. Just load it up, light it, and let it cook for hours with minimal maintenance.

As with our top pick, the Gravity Series 800 features wireless-enabled smart controls, which allow you to monitor the temperature from your phone. It also includes a digital meat probe.

With 800 square inches of cooking surface, you’re getting a lot of space here. There’s plenty of room for ribs, whole chickens, and pork butts. But at nearly five feet wide, the Masterbuilt 800 is a big boy—possibly too big for some decks and patios. That said, it also functions as a standard charcoal grill and a flat-top griddle, so you could ditch your standard grill to make space for it.

This Woodridge Pro is a mid-range model in Traeger’s line of pellet smokers, featuring some of the technology found in its higher-end models but at a lower price. When we unboxed the grill, we were impressed by how easy it was to put together, despite the large number of loose parts. Traeger’s assembly guide was one of the best we’ve seen, with clear directions and marked boxes with icons that corresponded to the instructions.

Some construction elements, such as light plastic wheels and thin grill grates, seemed lacking, and there’s no seal around the interior of the hood (which helps with heat retention). Once together, however, this grill is sturdy and not at all difficult to move around. We really appreciate that the top of the pellet hopper serves as an extra shelf, which is handy and something you don’t always get with other grills. There’s also a special pellet sensor that lets you know if pellets are running low.

The Woodridge Pro is extremely straightforward to operate. The rather retro display with large block numbers is readable from a distance, and basic temperature control is quick to adjust and set with a large push-button dial. You can also set a timer, check probe temperature, and with the press of a button, add extra smoky flavor for slow cooks under 225 degrees Fahrenheit. One thing we really liked was a motion graphic that shows whether the grill is heating up or lowering the temperature. During our tests, it was helpful to have that feature as a reminder as we multitasked. Wireless control is available with WiFi and Bluetooth, and the app, named WiFire, is easy to use.

The food we made turned out delicious, whether slow-cooked for a deeper smoky flavor or grilled at a higher temperature for just a hint. We used both the included wired probe to monitor temperature, as well as a Meater thermometer, and found some slight discrepancies between the grill’s temperature setting and the ambient temperature on the Meater. We found ourselves pushing the temperature up a few degrees to get it where we wanted it to be. This didn’t mar the experience too greatly, however. The Woodridge Pro is a reliable pellet grill that’s fun to use and a worthy addition to any back patio.

Full Traeger Woodridge Pro Review

In many ways, the 18-Inch Smokey Mountain from Weber is a standard water smoker. Like similar models, it has a bottom rack and retaining ring for the charcoal, a large bowl for water, and two racks for smoking food. But it stands out because it’s made from heavier porcelain-enameled steel, which helps retain heat and maintain a consistent temperature, as well as a heat shield on the bottom to protect your deck or lawn. It also comes with a cover.

When we first fired it up to season the smoker, we took the opportunity to get familiar with how to use the three air vents around the bottom, as well as the top vent, to help hold a desired temperature. To help you gauge this, there’s a thermometer in the lid that shows a highlighted smoking zone from 200 to 275 degrees Fahrenheit, and we found it was relatively easy to keep it in that range.

We put this to the real-world test when smoking some beef jerky. To do this, we wanted to keep the temperature on the lower side at around 200 degrees F. This proved a little challenging; the temperature kept creeping up, so we watched it closely and adjusted the vents as needed. In the end, the jerky smoked a bit faster than we intended. In hindsight, we used a little too much charcoal, which generated more heat than we needed. While this was our mistake, it shows just how well this smoker can retain heat.

When smoking a smaller-sized brisket, we more successfully managed the temperature and were able to hold close to 225 degrees F for the 5 hours it took to smoke it. One thing we really appreciated during longer smoking sessions was the large door, which made it easy to add fuel and wood chips. The Smokey Mountain is a basic smoker that will require a little experience to use effectively, but will ultimately be worth the time and produce great results. — tested by Bradley Ford

This small electric smoker from GE lets you take your smoking indoors. It uses two heat sources—one to cook food and the other to burn pellets—along with a filtration device to prevent the smoke from filling your kitchen. Its modest 293 square inches of cooking surface is enough to smoke three half racks of ribs or a small pork butt.

There’s a bevy of controls for setting smoke levels and adjusting temperatures. There are also preset food settings, including brisket, ribs, pork butt, and chicken wings. Built-in probes and WiFi connectivity let you monitor meat temperatures remotely, and this smoker is compatible with voice controls via Amazon Alexa and Google Home.

Full GE Indoor Electric Smoker Review

Though they are frowned upon by traditionalists, electric smokers like this one from East Oak are the quickest way for new barbecuers to enter the world of smoking. Its digital controls make it easy to maintain specific temperatures, and the combination of a side wood chip loader and glass door means you can check on your cook without opening the door, which could impact your cooking temperature.

The 725-square-inch cooking surface gives you plenty of room to experiment with various types of food in a single session, but the smoker itself is quite slim, measuring nearly 19 inches wide and 18 inches deep, so it won’t take up a lot of space on your deck or patio. Bottom line: This is a straightforward and, above all, convenient way to try smoking barbecue at home.

If a grill could be a pop-culture icon, the Big Green Egg is it. The brand has a whole group of fans—known as Eggheads—who gather at grilling events called EGGfests held all across the country. And it’s not just home enthusiasts. According to the company, nearly 1,800 restaurants use this extremely popular kamado grill. Their excellent heat retention and temperature range, enabled by their shape and porcelain-coated ceramic enclosures, make them an instant upgrade over your average gas or charcoal grill.

That thick ceramic body is also very effective at retaining heat, making it very effective for cooking low and slow. Just add some smoking wood, and you can smoke a brisket overnight. This grill can get as hot as 750 degrees Fahrenheit when you’re grilling, but smokers will want to maintain a stable 225 to 300 degrees using the air vents at the top and the bottom of the egg. And it’s large enough to feed a crowd—we’re talking about smoking a 20-pound turkey for Thanksgiving.