The best bathroom scales are also the best smart scales nowadays. Mechanical scales still exist, of course, but most cheap smart scales can measure so much more than weight for not a lot of money; why would you not get one of those? Some are so intelligent, in fact, that they can estimate visceral fat levels, BMR, metabolic age and track pregnancy weight gain specifically.
Whether you're trying the keto diet, a new exercise regime, or are already in good shape and want to monitor or crow about that fact; bathroom scales are a useful ally. And if you don't need or want all that extra data, you can always just get a cheap mechanical scale. Looking for even more bathroom essentials? Aren't you lucky as we have guides on the best electric toothbrushes, best electric shavers and even the best aftershaves for men. Treat your body right.
Best bathroom scales to buy right now
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Best bathroom scale overall
+ 12-month Health+ subscription included in the price
+ Measures everything from nerve health to vascular age
- Watermarks are hard to clear from the platform
We love the Withings Body Scan because it's not just a bathroom scale; it's an all-in-one body analysis machine disguised as scales. Just like the best Fitbits, the Body Comp can measure sweat gland activity, which can indicate stress. It can also estimate vascular age and something called pulse wave velocity, the latter of which can help tell you how old your arteries are (compared to your actual age).
And while it all sounds mumbo-jumbo, the Withings Body Comp is medically certified in the EU, so one can rest assured it's at least somewhat accurate (in our experience, that's definitely the case). The weighing range is between 5-200kg (9-440lb) with 50g (0.1lb) graduation, and you can check all data collected by the scale in the Health Mate app. Better still, the price of the Body Comp includes a 12-month Health+ subscription!
What we liked the most about the Body Comp is how easy it is to use. It doesn't take any longer than weighing yourself on a non-smart bathroom scale for the Body Comp to collect health data, and we loved that the scale even tells you the weather for the day (even wishes you a happy new year on 1 January). Body composition measurements seemed on point, and we appreciated the chatbot style assistant in the Health Mate app, offering extra information about health, dieting and more.
Our rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Best cheap smart scale
+ Lots of detailed body composition breakdowns
+ Allows unlimited users, including babies and pets
- 3D body model isn’t very inclusive and could be triggering
- Black glass shows up pet hair
The Eufy Smart Scale P2 Pro is sleek, streamlined and seriously high-tech, with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity for seamless data transfer of your metrics to the companion app. A great addition to any family bathroom, this waterproof scale allows unlimited users, including pets and babies, and provides highly accurate readings across 16 body measurements such as weight, body fat, and muscle mass.
The EufyLife app is easy to navigate and clearly presents all your metrics and trends, but the 3D avatar needs a bit of work to make it more inclusive. If you can take the illustrated digital model with a pinch of salt, however, you’ll find these trusty scales to be a very worthy and reliable investment to help you track your vitals.
Read our full Eufy Smart Scale P2 Pro review
Our rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Best smart scale for people with small feet
+ Quick readings
+ 10 body metrics measured
+ Affordable price point
- Design is dated
- Small platform
For the price, the Tanita BC-401 Body Composition Monitor offers a heap-load of data in an acceptable-looking package. It might not be the most ergonomic scale in the world, but it won't stop the Tanita BC-401 from doing its jobs quickly and accurately.
All readings from the smart scale are fed into the My Tanita app, where you can follow the trend of every metric the Tanita BC-401 measures. There will be some types of data that won't change very often – like bone mass – but others will, and if they do, you will know by looking at the handy charts. Cheap and cheerful, the Tanita BC-401 is an excellent choice for most people. And if you have tiny feet, all the better.
Read our full Tanita BC-401 Body Composition Monitor review
Our rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Best smart scale for pregnant women
+ Slim and lightweight
+ Lots of detailed body composition breakdowns
+ Easy-to-use app
+ Dedicated pregnancy mode
- Battery operated
- Big feet hang off the ends
This is a great-looking set of smart scales that take measurements effortlessly and deliver what appear to be relatively accurate results (something home-use smart scales are usually lacking).
However, we just wish they weren’t operated by AAA batteries. It’s inconvenient, unsustainable, and an added expense we could do without. Apart from that, we’re pretty content with these smart scales’ performance.
We should also mention that there’s a dedicated mode for pregnant women (something we were unable to test), meaning the Beebo scales should suit just about anyone looking to accurately track their vitals in order to keep fit and healthy.
Read our full FitTrack Beebo review
Our rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Best smart scales for athletes
+ Compatible with Garmin Connect and wearables
- Iffy syncing and connectivity
As the market leader in more serious sport tracking devices, Garmin naturally produces a smart scale that is quite similar to Fitbits… but a touch more serious.
On top of measuring weight, BMI and body fat, the Index adds muscle mass percentage, then syncs (with something less than 100% reliability, it must be said) with Garmin Connect. As such, it can feed into all your other Garmin-tracked activities, appearing on your Connect dashboard and helping with calorie burn estimates and so on.
Our rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Affordable smart scale with eight-user memory
+ Affordably-priced
+ Tracks 7 body metrics
- Fat estimation is way off
- App looks rough around the edges
Salter, the UK's most popular scale brand, launched its Bluetooth Smart Scale in early 2022. As expected from a company famous for its affordably-priced, it's cheap as chips (sorry for the British expression, we thought it was appropriate on this occasion). It can be used independently from the Salter Health app, but you might want to hook up the scale with your smartphone to unlock its full potential and access trends.
Although we appreciate the low-priced smart scale as much as the next person, it's true that these come with some caveats. For instance, the Salter Bluetooth Smart Scale isn't the most accurate when it comes to fat measurements, at least based on our experience. The Salter Health app could be a bit more sophisticated, too, and while it isn't completely useless, it's not on par with Withing's and Fitbit's health-tracking apps. Although, that's to be expected from a scale that sells for £30 (~$37/AU$52) and comes with a free app. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, as they say.
Our rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Best cheap analogue bathroom scale
+ Budget buy
+ Easy to understand
- No smart functionality whatsoever
There's nothing smart about these scales apart from their appearance. Still, the Salter 145 Scales are hard to beat for quick, easy-to-read and accurate reading. If you want classic, analogue bathroom scales with zero insights provided beyond your weight, look no further.
Our rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Best smart scales for Fitbit users
+ Feeds data seamlessly into the Fitbit app
+ Up to 8 users catered for
- Not exactly awash with insights
This set of smart scales received high grades in our Fitbit Aria 2 review for its attractiveness and excellent connectivity. It's a much simpler version of the Tanita RD-953, and it only tells you your weight, BMI and body fat percentage – which is all a lot of people want.
Add MyFitnessPal or Fitbit's own dietary features, and you can then sync your meal plans, daily calories consumed and weight goals if you want. Fitbit's app is a decent motivator and will let you monitor your calories in vs calories out in an exactingly precise manner. Whether that's a healthy route to fitness and weight loss is up to you.
PLEASE NOTE: We moved these scales down to the bottom of the guide as they are scarcely available these days.
Read our full Fitbit Aria 2 review
Our rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Best cheap bathroom scales for Fitbit users
+ Sturdy design
+ Easy to use with a clear digital display
+ Fitbit app is great
- There are cheaper scales with more functionality
The Fitbit Aria Air is a decent digital scale that works best for people who already have a Fitbit watch or band – or are planning on getting one in the near future. The Fitbit Aria Air is simple if handsome, digital scale – and there are plenty of those on the market that cost even less than the Aria Air.
Even for Fitbit users, the Fitbit Aria Air only adds two additional metrics to the mix: body weight and BMI. The latter is based on your height, which you enter into the Fitbit app, along with your age. For price-conscious people who don't trust other smart scales feeding info into their Fitbit app and would much rather have a good quality Fitbit product to do this job, the Fitbit Aria Air is a good choice.
Read our full Fitbit Aria Air review
Our rating: 3 out of 5 stars
How to choose the best bathroom scales for you
What we're talking about here are body monitor scales or smart scales – you can still get plenty of bathroom scales that only tell you your weight, but that is not necessarily a useful metric on its own.
Smart scales range from accessories that you add to your fitness wearable's data feed – from the likes of Fitbit, Garmin and Withings – to something more like laboratory equipment, which is able to track things such as visceral fat and BMR.
As with most areas of tech, these scales are largely styled so as to fit seamlessly with your lifestyle and home decor, rather than looking like something you'd find in your GP's surgery – though there are exceptions to this.
Once you input your gender, height and age, scales can estimate muscle mass, bone mass and body water percentage. It can then add easy stuff like your BMI – a weight-to-height ratio that is fairly useful for calculating obesity, although it can be skewed if you have a lot of muscle, as rugby players never tire of telling us. It can also give insight into your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR – the number of calories you burn daily just by existing) and visceral fat rating (the more dangerous fats that surround the stomach and vital organs).
Although this data is usually shown on screen, these scales also work with apps via Wifi or Bluetooth connections, so you can track your progress over time on your phone and/or laptop.
It's worth bearing in mind that many of the statistics pulled up by scales are informed estimates rather than gospel truths. Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) can be easily estimated from your weight, height, gender and age, but a more accurate calculation would also take into consideration your daily and weekly activity level, which most scales don't.
Not everyone even agrees that BMR or BMI are useful – for athletes and those who exercise hard every day, arguably they are not. However for the majority of the population, they are.
So don't live your life based on what your scales tell you. But do take their advice on board when working on a diet, fitness regime or general medical programme.
What is the best smart bathroom scale?
At T3, we did a test a few years back to assess the accuracy of a range of bathroom scales, using a Loughborough University lab test (water displacement) to find out a T3 staffer's exact weight. On comparing it to the scales, we found that most were inaccurate to varying degrees, except Tanita's scales.
However, exact accuracy, as with fitness wearables, is not necessarily essential. If the statistics are going in the right direction and within safe limits, it doesn't matter if your scales are a few grammes out.
That said, the best scale in terms of reliability and usefulness is probably the Tanita RD 953, which strikes an excellent balance between looks, accuracy and the range of body metrics measured. If you want to track your weight and body fat percentage alongside your favourite fitness tracking wearables, you might be better off with the simpler scales.
Are digital bathroom scales more accurate?
Digital scales are generally more accurate than mechanical scales. The mechanism used in analogue scales is not only more rudimental than digital scales, but the springs etc., will also decline over time, showing you less and less accurate readings.
Digital bathroom scales are not perfect either, but even if weight measurements are off, at least they are consistent. We recommend finding a spot in your home that's covered flat and firm to ensure your readings are as consistent as possible. You can check the evenness of the spot by trying to press down the opposite corners of the bathroom scales: if it wobbles a bit, the area is probably uneven, and the reading will be skewed.
Once the correct spot is found, make sure to measure your weight at the same time of the day. The best time to measure your weight is in the morning before you have your breakfast.
