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Automatic

8 Best Automatic Litter Boxes (2025), Tested and Reviewed

by admin June 16, 2025

Others We Tested

Photograph: Kat Merck

Els Pet Orbitie for $189: This is one of the least expensive lidded automatic litter boxes. It functions much like the more expensive models, with an internal 65-liter-capacity orb that rotates and catches clumps with a plastic grate, depositing them into a bag-lined box below. The opening is a generous 12 by 12 inches—plenty big enough for my two 7-year-old cats, who took to it almost immediately despite never having seen anything but a traditional litter box. The accompanying Orbitie app doesn’t offer an extensive amount of information; it tells the user the volume of litter and what step of the cleaning phase the box is currently in, as well as how many times the box has been used and at what times. The first test unit I received was faulty—it sent multiple phantom alerts to the app, letting me know it had cleaned itself as many as 36 times a day, which I knew for a fact was not true. The replacement unit, however, works just as intended, though the bin beneath fills up fast (two to three days with my two cats), and it occasionally needs to be disassembled and cleaned, as tiny pieces of cat litter have a tendency to get in the gears beneath the orb (and make a loud grinding noise). However, this isn’t an unusual occurrence even with pricier boxes. Online reviews panned an earlier version of this box, but Orbitie says this is an improved version. Thankfully, like the bigger brands, Orbitie also offers a 90-day money-back guarantee if you’re on the fence. —Kat Merck

FurryTail Automatic Litter Box Pro for $300: I was surprised at how quickly and easily my cats took to this litter box—even my larger cat, who hates change, quickly started using it. Setup was super easy, and the box comes with a year’s supply of waste bag liners, an additional grate attachment, and a mat to reduce litter tracking. Similar to many models, the circular orb rotates, sifting dirty litter into a waste bag, which on this model is on top of the machine rather than below. The box has both a manual display and buttons on the machine, as well as an app to adjust settings. I’d include this model in our top picks because of how easy it was to set up and use, as well as how much my cats liked it, but the app was basically useless. Through the app, you can adjust settings like timed cleanings and do-not-disturb modes, manually clean, and monitor waste levels. However, the app never tracked usage or weight, and for the majority of the time, didn’t clean when I manually instructed it to. The sensors would sense ghost cats and refuse to clean, with the litter box not automatically cycling for the majority of the day (which sort of defeats the purpose). This automatic litter box has tons of potential, but I can’t fully recommend it until the kinks (especially in the app) are ironed out.

Photograph: Molly Higgins

Not Recommended

PetSnowy Snow+ Self-Cleaning Litter Box for $560: This box looks like something from Kubrick’s visions of space travel, or if Eames started making plastic litter boxes. It takes up quite a bit of horizontal floor space, so it may not be ideal for those in cramped apartments looking to conserve space. Unlike all others on this list, this globe is closed during cleaning, which could cause injury if the machine malfunctioned and didn’t sense a cat. The box also doesn’t tell you when the litter’s low or needs to be refilled. My cats had a really hard time using it—they just couldn’t understand that it was a litter box. Older cats could have a tough time jumping into it, and the smaller opening could be a problem if you have bigger cats. It might be great for someone who wants to keep things tidy—it’s extremely clean, smells good, and hugely reduces litter tracking. However, we just can’t recommend the box since the opening closes during cleaning, which is not safe.

The Pet Zone Smart Scoop for $166: This is probably the least “smart” automatic litter box we’ve tested—it’s a typical rectangular plastic box with an automatic arm that acts as a rake and scoops the clumped (soiled) litter into a small bin on the other side. Once the cat leaves, it begins a 15-minute countdown and the rake slides over the length of the box, (ideally) scooping up the waste and lifting it into the receptacle. You’re only allowed to fill the litter box with about an inch and a half of litter, which my cats didn’t like (they prefer a few inches to really bury it). The rake doesn’t stop when it’s in the cleaning cycle—even if something jumps in, which is potentially dangerous. My cats tend to pee on the side of the litter box, which, because of the rake’s placement, means it misses an inch on either side—I still had to scrape the caked-on litter from the edges. The cycle timing can’t be adjusted, so that the litter didn’t have time to clump completely and the rake would immediately break it down into smaller clumps that would then be missed because they were too small. For me, the hassle’s not worth it, and I’d rather just scoop it myself.

How Do Automatic Litter Boxes Work?

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Automatic litter boxes vary depending on the brand and litter box type. Generally, they have sensors, either by motion or weight, to tell when a cat has entered or exited the litter box. Usually customizable and controlled via app on your phone, or on a more rudimentary timer system, the cleaning cycle will begin a short time after the cat has used the box. With the dome-shaped litter boxes, the cleaning will happen via a cycle where the litter spins and rotates around the spherical interior; the bigger soiled clumps will be deposited into the waste basket while the clean litter passes through the grates and gets recycled back into the litter box.

The Neakasa M1, for example, rotates backward and then forward (rather than a spin cycle) to sift the clumps from the clean litter, depositing the larger clumps into the waste basket. The Pet Zone Smart Scoop is the most rudimentary we tested, simply using a rake attachment to scoop the bigger clumps into a waste receptacle in the back.

Are Automatic Litter Boxes Safe?

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Pet owners should always do research and make an informed decision regarding which box is best for them and their cat. We only tested automatic litter boxes that remain open during cycling to ensure that if for some reason the weight sensors didn’t pick up on a cat being inside, the cat could jump out. We don’t recommend automatic litter boxes that close completely because of the potential that the machine could not sense the cat and kill it during its automatic cycle.

These automatic litter boxes use sensors—some only needing 1 pound of weight to detect your cat—where the cycle will automatically stop no matter where it is in the cleaning process. Many also have anti-pinch sensors. For added security, the automatic litter boxes on this list have customizable schedules, including “do not disturb” modes. If you’re a neurotic helicopter cat mom like me, you could only run the clean cycles when you choose, like when you’re in the room to observe the cycle (although if you did that, the litter box wouldn’t stay clean for as long).

Where Should I Put the Automatic Litter Box?

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All of these automatic litter boxes require electricity, so they will need to be near an outlet. Since cats will generally take a little while to get comfortable with their new potty, I recommend that you keep your old litter box until they use the automatic litter box regularly. It helps to put the new automatic litter box near the old litter box(es) to help your cat get familiar with it. Adding in litter attractant and using old litter from the previous box also encourages your cat to use the new model.

As a general rule, for old-school litter boxes, you should have a litter box for each cat, plus one. With automatic litter boxes cleaning constantly, there is less need for multiple options, but we recommend leaving your old litter box out for an extended period to ensure the cat has acclimated to the new automatic box.

History of the Automatic Litter Box

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Rudimentary automatic litter boxes have been around since the late ’80s. These early models featured an automatic rake attachment (much like the Pet Zone Smart Scoop box) but had problems with reliability and loudness. It wasn’t until the 2010s that litter boxes started incorporating advanced tech like Wi-Fi and app control. In the decade since, that technology has continuously grown and improved, with most automatic litter boxes providing insight into your cats’ habits and health—truly becoming an asset in understanding your feline friends even better.

What Are We Testing Next?

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I’m hoping to test the newest model from Petkit, the Purobot Max Pro, which has a similar design as our favorite PuraMax 2, with the camera abilities of the Purobot Ultra.

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June 16, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

The 6 Best Latte Machines for Automatic Espresso Drinks (2025)

by admin June 14, 2025

The drip coffee is meh, granted. But more than perhaps any semiautomatic machine in its price range, the Ninja Cafe Luxe Premier is geared to absolute ease and versatility—with an intuitive digital user interface that helps you along. Depending on your chosen drink, the Ninja Luxe will recommend the appropriate grind size on its display screen and help you dial it in. (This may take a couple tries.) Milk frothing is easy, and the automatic milk frothing is shockingly good. Plus, you can froth cold foam, for silly cold-foam drinks. See what I mean? Ninja is fun. We look forward to testing Ninja’s new Cafe Luxe Pro ($750), which costs a little more but adds a welcome auto-tamper and hot water spout.

Best Budget Latte Machine

Mr. Coffee

One-Touch CoffeeHouse

This Mr. Coffee machine was once our top pick. Why? Because it sits so nicely at a comfortable intersection where ease of use meets automation and affordability. This is about the lowest-priced machine you can ever expect to find with automatic milk frothing at the press of a single button, with options of late foam or cappuccino froth. Just load fine-ground coffee into the portafilter, tamp it down, and twist it on. The machine will mix up a cappuccino or a latte macchiato at the press of a button.

This machine has a forgiving (but not overly intense or nuanced) pressurized portafiter, which means it will work with almost any “espresso-grind” coffee from your local café or the grocery store. Just note you’ll still get a better shot of espresso if you buy a grinder and use fresh beans from a good specialty roaster. But all in all, this is about the easiest $200 latte machine we know. Like, the hardest thing about it is that the milk canister can be removed and stored in the fridge, and you have to clean it out once a week.

Best Budget Superautomatic Espresso Machine

Photograph: Café Appliances

Cafe Affetto Automatic Espresso Machine

The Cafe Affetto is one of the few fully automatic machines that we’ve enjoyed in this price range. The Affetto features a built-in steaming wand, produces 20 bars of pump pressure to ensure your espresso is fully extracted, and is a slick little machine. It’s very slim and fits comfortably on a small apartment countertop without having to rearrange everything. Because coffee production is automated, you just need to fill the water tank and put whole beans in the hopper, and you’re good to go. You can brew one or two shots with just the press of a button, and there’s a programmable button to create your favorite drinks (like an Americano with just the right amount of water).

The milk frother does a lot of the work on its own. Just pour some of your favorite milk into the frothing pitcher, submerge the wand, and hit the steam button. If you’re new to frothing milk, you don’t even need to move the pitcher to produce a creamy and consistent microfoam. We tested the frother with dairy milk, oat milk, and soy milk. It produced soft and creamy café-grade froth each time. Just make sure it’s topped up with water and beans and that you clean out the spent grounds container regularly, and it works like a dream. —Jaina Grey

Best Semiautomatic Espresso Machine

Courtesy of Breville
Courtesy of Breville
Courtesy of Breville
Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

The Breville Oracle Jet (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is my favorite of the seven new espresso machines I’ve tried so far this year. It’s the one I recommend as my top pick in WIRED’s guide to the Best Espresso Machines, over other estimable contenders from Breville that include the Barista Touch ($1,000) and the Barista Pro ($849). And it’s the one that best mixes full-flavored, nuanced espresso with the ease of machine-guided, touchscreen operation. It’s versatile, it’s powerful, its PID controller means the temperature is quite stable, and it makes absolutely lovely cups—espresso that’s denser and more intensely aromatic than the coffee made by any other machine on this list, whether in bringing out the fruity berry notes in an anaerobic light roast, or the dark chocolate of a roasty Italian.

In the finicky, often difficult world of classic home espresso machines, the Oracle Jet is a paragon of simplicity and machine-guided brewing: It’s a miracle that one can so easily pull such delicious and nuanced shots, that remain so sensitive to the character of each bean. But that sensitivity still makes the Oracle Jet a little more finicky than other machines on this list. And while the automatic milk frothing is quite good, it’s not as failsafe as our favorites here. (I still like steaming milk manually on the Breville, versus using the auto-froth.) But if you want espresso that will distill he beauteous character of fresh-roasted beans but still don’t want to try overly hard—on a machine whose intuitive touchscreen tutorial will guide you to lovely flat whites and capps? This is your huckleberry.

Best Pod Latte and Cappuccino Machine

Photograph: Keurig

Former WIRED reviewer Jaina Grey loved this machine. It’s the best Keurig that Grey ever used (8/10, WIRED Recommends), but it especially offers a terrific frother. (Though check out our updated pod coffee maker guide for more recommendations.) This K-Café doesn’t technically make espresso shots, because grounds aren’t pulled under pressure. But it does make a delicious 2-ounce “espresso style” shot that can taste almost as strong. So why is it in this guide? The frother. It has three settings—cold, latte, and cappuccino—and it’ll froth milk to perfection with the tap of a button, ready to be poured from the stainless steel carafe. It’s a latte maker that’s simple to use and easy to clean—and the milk is so beautifully foamed that it’s tempting to use this device to froth milk for espresso made on other machines.

Best Handheld Milk Frother

Sometimes making a whole latte or cappuccino using an automated machine can be a time suck. Not to mention, sometimes all you really want is frothy milk. That’s where milk frothers come in. These machines beat air into milk, or milk substitutes, to get that nice creamy froth. Former WIRED Reviewer Jaina Grey loved this handheld from Subminimal, a highly specialized immersion blender that makes properly textured creamy, light, airy, wonderful milk. One screen makes fine-textured milk. One makes “ultra-fine.” But note that Subminimal has also added a milk frothing pitcher called the Nanofoamer Pro ($159) that costs a bit more, but is currently sitting prettily atop our guide to the Best Milk Frothers.

Other Automated Latte and Cappuccino Machines We Liked

Courtesy of Casabrews
Photograph: Pete Cottell

The delta between home espresso machines and the commercial workhorses used by busy third-wave shops is still thousands of dollars, but that hasn’t stopped both beloved brands and scrappy upstarts from infiltrating the space with more approachable units. Skip the junk and level up to the Casabrews 5700PRO (7/10, WIRED Review), which offers an unfussy take on the art of homemade espresso drinks.

Instead of bewildering noobs with a million settings and onboard tutorials, this 12 x 11 x 16-inch tank of a machine keeps it simple with easily accessible controls for things like temperature and dose volume for extraction, and run time for the onboard grinder. It’s a single-boiler machine, not a dual boiler, which means you can’t froth your latte milk at the same time as pulling a shot, but the texture of the frothed milk is perfectly malleable and up to snuff for a basic leaf or rosetta pattern.

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June 14, 2025 0 comments