The 5 Best Cat Litter Boxes of 2025

We used to recommend the Litter Genie Cat Litter Box because its smooth interior and easy-grip handles made cleanup easier and virtually mess-free, compared with regular litter boxes. But over the long term, many reviewers have complained of this box cracking after a few months of normal use.

The iPrimio Enclosed Sides Stainless Steel XL Cat Litter Box looked promising at first, but the low-quality stainless steel showed scratching from claws and a metal scoop almost immediately. The plastic enclosure adds 6 inches to the walls, bringing the total height to 12 inches, but it doesn’t form a tight seal to the lower pan, and it gets knocked loose easily. Even worse, it allows liquid to escape through to the other side.

Tuft & Paw recently released a simplified version of the Cove, the Cubby. It’s lighter than the Cove and has a lip that makes it easier to carry for cleaning. But it lacks the scoop and dustpan holders that make the Cove special. If you like the look of it and don’t mind the price, it’s a great option.

The good-looking Modkat XL Litter Box is available in white, gray, or black, but it’s expensive and one of the heaviest plastic boxes we tested, second only to the Tuft & Paw Cove. It uses Modkat’s novel liner system to make cleaning easier. But the internal frame that holds up the liners got in our way when we were scooping and often got knocked loose. Ultimately, we preferred the less expensive Modkat Flip—it was easier to scoop, and the flip-top cover was less finicky than the XL’s.

The Catit Cat Litter Large Pan is a decent-size open box, but it comes with an overhanging detachable rim that is meant to help minimize tracking. In our testing, the rim was tricky to remove and to reattach properly. And when we tried to take it off for deep cleaning, a small piece of the plastic broke off at one of the attachment points.

The Frisco Multi-Function Covered Cat Litter Box, Jumbo is a decked-out storage tub with a door cut-out, handles, and a hinged cover that can be removed if needed. But it’s heavy, the plastic is flimsy, and the cover fell out of its hinges every time we opened it.

The pan of the IRIS Large Shielded Cat Litter Pan With Scoop is sturdy, but the removable shield falls off easily. This was the smallest box we tested, and while it might work for kittens or very small cats, the inner dimensions are just too cramped for most adult cats.

The Petmate Open Litter Pan is slightly bigger than our Frisco pick, but the entryway is a little taller, so it’s harder for cats to get into, and it has a few grooves in the pan, so it’s harder to clean.

The Petmate Top Entry is basically a big storage container with a hole cut in the top, but the lid doesn’t stay secure, and its tiny air holes and grooves are troublesome to clean. The high sides along all four walls don’t offer easy access for scooping and cleaning, so the process is messier than with our picks.

The AmazonBasics No-Mess Hooded Cat Litter Box is also a curved rectangle—so it takes up almost as much space as the Catit Airsift Cat Pan Jumbo. But this box has less usable internal space, and it has several recent complaints related to faulty latches.

The Modkat Top-Entry Litter Box is well designed and well made, but at 16 inches square, it’s one of the smallest boxes we tried. And it leaves just one position—head up near the hole—for cats to comfortably stink up the room.

We tried two different sifting boxes, the Luuup and another model that has since been discontinued. Sifting litter boxes have a built-in plastic mesh tray to catch clumps and waste, which ideally means you don’t need a separate litter scoop at all. Both boxes were just okay to use, and ultimately the designs didn’t make litter duty any more convenient.

This article was edited by Joshua Lyon and Harry Sawyers.