The 3 Best Automatic Cat Litter Boxes of 2025
Top pick
No automatic litter box is perfect, but the Litter-Robot 4 gets a lot right. It’s spacious, reliable, and repairable. And it’s easy to clean and customize for your cat.
While no device we tested was perfect, it’s perhaps not surprising that the Litter-Robot 4 performed the best across most categories. It had the largest opening for cats to enter and exit, it reliably cleaned out waste, it was the easiest to clean and maintain, and it stopped cycling every time a cat approached. Litter-Robot’s box is the only one we found that’s made in the US. Its parent company, Whisker, has been making self-cleaning litter boxes since the year 2000, and it’s the only manufacturer to offer an extended warranty and replacement parts for DIY repairs.
It has one of the largest spaces for cats to do their business. Even though the interior space is smaller than what’s recommended for a litter box (1.5 times a cat’s length), it was the biggest among models we tested, tied only with the FurryTail’s. Wirecutter’s accessibility editor, Claire Perlman, has been using a Litter-Robot 4 since 2023, and she said it’s large enough for her “big-boned” 13-pound cat, Doobie, to use comfortably. But larger cats may have a harder time, Claire added. The Litter-Robot 4 also has the largest entryway, measuring just under 16 inches in diameter, and the white version we tested looked like a Minion crossed with a Stormtrooper.
It minimizes odors and is the easiest to deep-clean. Our testers set the clean cycle to run so it starts running seven minutes after a cat used the box (this timing allows the litter to form decent clumps); they found this time frame was effective for clearing out the used litter and keeping the interior walls mostly free of crud. “It smelled much better than a normal litterbox. I was actually shocked at the no smell,” said Mackenzie Chapek, whose two cats, Squeakers and Nova, put the machine through its paces. And of all the models we tested, this one was the easiest to deep-clean. The instructions are straightforward and easy to follow, and there weren’t any extra pieces that could get lost in the process.
The safety features are reliable. The safety features never failed in pausing the machine when a cat got close to it, thus eliminating the chance of a kitty getting tumbled like a load of laundry. “It stopped every time a cat went past the barrier. Nova would sit outside and watch and it would still go, but once her head went into the main sensor area or her paws were on the box, it stopped,” Mackenzie said. The machine’s anti-pinch sensors also worked properly: When we stuck various objects—and even a human hand—in between the lip of the globe and the waste chute, the machine stopped moving and reversed direction.
The app is streamlined and uncluttered. The Litter-Robot 4’s app doesn’t have as many features and alerts as the Petkit’s app, but its interface was one of the easiest to navigate. It tells you when a clean cycle has been completed (or interrupted), when the waste bin is full, and when the litter level is low. It also reports on your cat’s weight, but it isn’t great at distinguishing between animals with similar weights. And the accuracy of the scale can depend on the type of flooring the machine sits on.
Optional accessories allow you to tailor the box to your cat. The Litter-Robot 4 comes equipped with a small removable fence, to prevent litter from escaping. But if your cat likes to aim their pee outside the box, or they’re just a big litter-kicker, you could add a more heavy-duty shield. Whisker also offers a ramp, to help cats enter and exit more easily; a camera-mount kit that attaches to the top of the bonnet (which hides a USB port to power a camera); and the Litter Hopper, which automatically adds fresh litter to the machine when it gets low. Claire, who is a wheelchair user and is currently testing the Litter Hopper, said that it solves one more problem for her, since she used to need someone to help her add litter to the machine.
Whisker is the only company that offers an extended warranty and replacement parts for DIY repair. Like our other picks, the Litter-Robot 4 comes with a one-year warranty. But its manufacturer, Whisker, is the only one that offers the option to extend the warranty to three years (for a fee). There are also parts you can buy separately, in case something breaks and you want to try to fix it yourself, rather than having to ship a massive machine back to the company. For Philip Bloom, an extended warranty is essential. Without it, “after that one year, if it goes wrong, that’s it. It’s junk,” he said. Likewise, Bloom said he appreciates being able to fix the machine himself. “The Litter-Robot 4 is really easy to repair. It may look daunting, but it’s not,” he told us.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
The so-called SmartScale isn’t always so smart. It takes the Litter-Robot 4’s “SmartScale” about a week to get to know your cat. But in order for it to be relatively accurate, the machine needs to sit on a hard surface, which limits where you can put it (or you could buy Whisker’s Carpet Tray accessory). Wirecutter staffer Mariana J. Guterman, who’s had two Litter-Robot 4’s for over a year, reported that it doesn’t accurately measure her cats’ weights. She suspects the problem might be due to the thin jute rug that’s under the machines. For Squeakers and Nova, whose test model sat on a hardwood floor, Mackenzie said that “it took about seven to 10 days to get their weights correct, but it did.”
The sensors can be oversensitive. One of the most common complaints we heard about the Litter-Robot 4 was that its sensors were finicky and overactive. After Claire and Mariana had owned their machines a while, both said they started to get frequent notifications that the sensors were dirty. “Recently that has meant that it pauses a lot because it thinks there’s a cat in there, and there’s no cat there,” Claire said. The problem is likely caused by dusty cat litter. “Just like any sensor anywhere, the more dust you’re exposing it to, the more that it’s going to essentially get dirty,” said Jacob Zuppke, CEO and president of Whisker. Zuppke said the company is starting to learn which litter brands are dustier and therefore more prone to cause sensor issues. But in the meantime, “I would rather annoy you for safety reasons than not annoy you and take any chances,” he said.
The brand-name accessories, waste-bin bags, and filters are expensive. Whisker’s accessories page gives the impression that the company thought of everything (or is trying to), but these aftermarket add-ons aren’t cheap. There are plenty of off-brand and 3D-printed alternatives out there, though these may invalidate your warranty, so be careful. You can also find cheaper generic versions of the consumables, like waste-bin bags and filters, online.
Like most tech-enabled products, it has a variety of issues. During testing, we encountered a few other glitches, including a flashing pink-and-blue light on the physical control panel. I couldn’t find any explanation for it in Whisker’s support literature, but a Reddit thread helped me resolve it. On the subreddit devoted to the Litter-Robot, users complain liberally about a myriad of issues, but they also rave about the devices. Whisker’s customer-support reps are active in the community, and if you have a problem, chances are good that someone there (or the company’s actual customer support chat) will have an answer for you.
