
- Top three
- 1. Best overall
- 2. Best premium smoker
- 3. Best all-in-one smoker
- 4. Best budget smoker
- 5. Best gas smoker
- 6. Best wood pellet smoker
- 7. Best electric smoker
- 8. Best portable smoker
- 9. Best smoker for build quality
- 10. Best mid-priced smoker
- 11. Best charcoal BBQ
- 12. Best charcoal BBQ for professionals
- 13. Best premium charcoal BBQ
- 14. Best budget charcoal BBQ and smoker
- 15. Best basic charcoal BBQ
- 16. Best large charcoal BBQ
- 17. Best hybrid charcoal BBQ
- How we test
If you want to start smoking food outside, look no further than T3's guide to the best smokers and charcoal barbecues.
Before we get into the list, there's a big difference between a smoker and a barbecue. Granted, both cook food infused with smoke created by fats dropping on hot coals or a heat-radiating sheet of metal. But a smoker does it much more efficiently and over a period of five to 12 hours until the meat generates a thick 'bark' or crust and the pink flesh beneath it literally falls off the bone.
But the reason we've put smokers and charcoal barbecues together is that charcoal is typically the most popular way to smoke and cook outside. So, we've compiled a list of our favourite smokers that use gas, wood pellets and electricity, and have included a separate section further down for smokers and barbecues that just use charcoal.
That's enough rambling from us, so keep reading to find the best smokers and charcoal barbecues you can buy today.
In addition to selecting your smoker, we'd also recommend T3's guides to the best barbecues, the best meat thermometers and the best pizza ovens.
Beth is Home Editor for T3, covering style, living and wellness. As an avid barbecue-r, Beth tries out all the latest smokers, grills and pizza ovens to find the best outdoor cooking appliances on the market.
The top three
Best smoker overall
The Masterbuilt Gravity Series 560 is powerful, makes delicious food but, despite its size, is insanely easy to use.
Best premium smoker
The Weber SmokeFire EPX 6 Stealth Edition might be expensive but it's so worth it if you're a grill master.
Best all-in-one smoker
The Broil King Regal 500 Pellet Grill is the best for smoking, grilling, roasting and searing steaks.
Best smokers ranking 2025
Why you can trust T3
The best smoker overall
The best charcoal smoker you can buy
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
If charcoal is your favourite smoking fuel then this is the smoker for you. The Masterbuilt Gravity Series 560 is incredibly easy to use, computer controlled like a pellet grill and it produces brilliant results no matter what you put in it.
The app-enabled Masterbuilt Gravity Series 560 uses lump wood charcoal or briquettes, the simple power of gravity, a large fan and computer-controlled heat management to provide consistent low-and-slow smoking with very little input by the user. It can also grill and sear exceptionally well.
The Gravity Series 560 comes with 560 square inches of meal estate comprising a pair of reversible cast iron grill grates, two wire shelves that can be positioned at two different heights and a 10lb charcoal hopper that is refilled from the top without affecting the cook.
Simply load in the charcoal, light it from beneath, set your preferred smoking temperature using the intuitive computer interface and load on your favourite ingredients. This barbie heats up to 221˚F in about seven minutes and will go on smoking till the cows come home – or at least until you run out of charcoal.
In the pantheon on charcoal smokers, the Masterbuilt Gravity Series 560 is a stalwart smoker that can also grill and sear steaks to succulent splendour. Highly recommended.
Read our full review of the Masterbuilt Gravity Series 560
The best premium smoker
If money is no object, the best pellet smoker you can buy is the Weber SmokeFire EPX 6 Stealth Edition
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
As we detail in our full Weber SmokeFire EPX 6 Stealth Edition review, this is one of the best money-no-object smokers on the market today. It's also absolutely massive, meaning you can cook for an entire army on it all at once.
The SmokeFire EPX 6 is expensive, mind, but for the substantial investment you get premium build quality and craftsmanship, buckets of style, and a system that not only heats up fast but also grills, roasts and smokes food superbly.
It's not without flaws, though. The setup is a tad awkward due to its massive size and weight, and while the Weber Connect app is good, it isn't the best in class.
There are smaller, cheaper smokers on the market, though, so unless you can stretch financially to one of the very best and – more importantly – need the capacity delivered by the SmokeFire EPX 7, we'd advise looking at less beastly models made by Traeger, Broil King and Pit Boss.
The Weber SmokeFire EPX 6 Stealth Edition won the Best Smoker award at the T3 Awards 2022 and again in 2023.
The best all-in-one smoker
The Broil King Regal 500 is a king of smokers
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
This no-nonsense do-it-all leviathan is one of the best pellet smokers money can buy – and also one of the most expensive. But you do get an awful lot of great features for your hard-earned.
Firstly, the broil King Regal 500 is built like a locomotive and made almost entirely from 2mm thick 14 gauge steel. And yet despite the weight (135kgs), it was one of the easiest barbecue smokers to build.
The Regal 500 comes with 865 square inches of grilling estate, including the porcelain-coated warming rack. The main 625 square-inch cast iron cooking grate is divided into five separate sections for easy removal when cleaning. Mind, cleaning is something you may not have to do that much because the Regal 500 has a fire pot cleaning agitator that empties the burnt ashes into a container. This is an extremely handy feature because with most other pellet smokers you have to remove the grill plate and baffle and reach for a cordless vac to suck up all the pellet dust. The Regal also ships with a full rotisserie set, including the motor. The large pellet hopper, meanwhile, will accommodate a whole 9kg bag of pellets.
All pellet smokers are equipped with an onboard computer that regulates the temperature so that they retain constant heat throughout the entire grilling process. It’s this electronic wizardly coupled with an electrically-powered pellet auger that makes these types of smokers by far the easiest type to use.
This model’s control panel is one of the biggest on the market and the lettering on the LED display is large enough to check the running temperature from the other side of the patio. The controller also produces consistent temperatures that rarely fluctuate, even during long, methodical smoking sessions of several hours.
The Regal 500 also has one of the widest temperature bands on the market and is one of only a handful of pellet grills capable of reaching a temperature of 600˚F (315˚C). This makes it an ideal grill for searing steaks, something many pellet grills are incapable of. Like quite a few pellet grills on the market, this model can also be used with an app so it can be controlled remotely.
If you’re hunting for a pellet smoker that performs admirably well whether it’s low-and-slow-smoking or fast-and-loose grilling, this model ticks all the right boxes and then some.
Get more information about this top smoker in T3's Broil King Regal 500 review
The best budget smoker
A great budget option with unique searing system
4. Pit Boss FB 500
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
The Pit Boss FB 500 is simplicity personified. Aside from a few digital menus, its interface is mostly comprised of a single knob with temperatures that go up in increments of 25˚F (4˚C) – simply turn the knob to the illustrated number and that’s it. The FB 500 has smallish 2.5kg pellet hopper and comes packaged with two ports for the included meat probes.
Pit Boss has nailed steak-searing with an excellent deflector design that is unbelievably simple in structure. Like most pellet grills it has a full-width heat deflector shield mounted at an angle for the excess fats to run safely into a bucket on the side and this system is proven to work very efficiently. Nevertheless, this isn’t just any old deflector plate because it can be slid across to expose the open fire beneath.
Needless to say this model produces amazing steaks and tear-apart brisket replete with deep pink smoke rings. It will also produce some of the best ribs you’ve ever tasted and the most succulent roast chicken that even your indoor oven may have trouble beating. And yet it will also perform mundane tasks like grilling chicken legs, burgers and sausages.
If you just want a great value pellet smoker-cum-grill that’s cheap to buy and grills and smokes impeccably well, go grab yourself one of these.
The best gas smoker
Char-Broil's unique gas smoker cuts the mustard
5. Char-Broil The Big Easy
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
This R2-D2-shaped gas smoker is available in the UK and USA and comes with a removable basket large enough for a big bird, a leg of lamb or a brisket, four rib hooks to hang on the basket, a smoker box for the obligatory handful of wood chips, an easy-clean drip tray and a removable porcelain-coated cooking grate for conventional grilling.
The Big Easy runs off propane gas and uses Char-Broil’s famed TRU-Infrared tech to evenly roast, smoke or grill whatever you throw in it. Despite its weight and height, its footprint is actually small enough for a balcony or small yard.
A top gas-powered smoker-cum-grill for fuss-free al fresco feasting, although grilling purists may bristle at the minimum temperature of 250ºF.
To see how this smoker compares to a large wood pellet-powered version be sure to check out T3's Traeger Ironwood 650 vs Char-Broil The Big Easy comparison feature.
The best wood pellet smoker
A superb grill, BBQ and smoker, the Traeger Ironwood 650 does it all
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Traeger is arguably the most popular pellet grill manufacturer which isn’t surprising given that its founder Joe Traeger is credited with having invented the pellet grill system we know and love today. We’ve already reviewed the Traeger Pro 575 and the amazing Traeger Ranger portable so here’s the next level.
The Ironwood 650 differs in a number of ways to the cheaper Pro 575 we review below. Its grill grate is bigger for a start and it has a rear exhaust instead of a chimney. It also comes with double insulated sidewalls which help it hold its pre-set temperatures more consistently in cold weather.
Heading over to the heart of the system – the D2 computer interface that keeps everything ticking over – you’ll find two extra buttons. The ’Super Smoke’ button functions at lower temperatures and produces oodles of extra smoke to help infuse meats with that delicious woody flavour that pellet barbecues are so good for, while the dedicated Keep Warm function is handy for those occasions when someone turns up late or you simply fancy a second helping of smoked ribs that haven’t already gone cold and congealed. Aside from an interior light and a handy place to store the provided meat sensor, the hopper is also equipped with a sensor that lets you know when it’s due for a top up.
Traeger’s WireFi system works a treat with the Traeger app and if you don’t know about this app then you should immediately download it even if you don’t own a Traeger because it contains some of the best grilling and smoking recipes on the planet.
As is the case with all Traeger pellet grills, build quality is excellent while the lockable casters and big soft rubber wheels make it easy to move around. Oh, and final high praise for the assembly process which was an absolute breeze even if it did take two to lift the main carcass onto its legs.
If you’re after an exceptional smoker that also grills, bakes, sears and roasts then this one’s a shoo-in. Just be sure to buy a cover for it, especially if you plan to leave it outside.
Check out T3's Weber Smokefire EX4 vs Traeger Ironwood 650 comparison feature.
The best electric smoker
Smoking with the power of electricity
7. Masterbuilt MES 130
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
Yes, it's against the LAWS of The Barbecue to grill electric but there are very good reasons to try an e-smoker. Despite the fact this looks like the ugly lovechild of a safe and a drinks cooler, the Masterbuilt is another hugely popular smoker Stateside. At 20 inches square, it has a relatively small footprint so you could easily use it on a balcony, neighbours permitting. It’s also cheap to buy.
Because it's an electric smoker, you’re going to need a secure outdoor power outlet or a high-quality extension lead. The Masterbuilt MES 130 comes with four chrome-plated smoke racks with a combined surface area of 730 square inches – enough smoking space to feed the neighbourhood.
Given that it’s electric – it uses an 800-watt heating element – this thing will go on smoking till the next blue moon and remain at a constant preset temperature throughout the process. It’s certainly a doddle to use: slap some seasoned meat on one or all of the cooking grates, fill the wood chip tube with your favourite chips, top up the small water reservoir and set the temperature on the digital interface – or the supplied remote controller – to your preferred temperature. Now go watch a Netflix series for about eight hours while the Masterbuilt does its low and slow cooking thang.
This very reasonably-priced smoker has garnered a very decent rating from Walmart buyers so it appears that the majority of users are very contented with their purchase. The others are presumably still stuffing their faces with smoked brisket.
The best portable smoker
Need to smoke on the go? You need the Traeger Ranger
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
This is far and away our favourite small smoker-cum-barbecue. The wood pellet-powered Ranger is extraordinarily heavy so don’t contemplate carrying it too far unless you have an extra pair of hands to hand. However, it is the perfect sized smoker, griller and slow cooker for balcony, verandah and patio use, and a great option for caravan, RV and campsite use. Just be sure there’s a suitable 120/240v electricity supply to hand or buy yourself an Anker Solix C1000 power station which will stand you in good stead both at the campsite and at home during a power cut.
The Ranger’s interior is divided into two sections: an 8lb pellet hopper on the left and a 184 square inch porcelain grill on the right, with a short auger to deliver the pellets in between. It’s all controlled by a Digital Arc controller that allows you to set the cooking temperature in five degree increments. Also featured is a handy timer, a ‘keep warm’ function that works brilliantly well and a single port for the supplied meat probe. It also comes with a heavy duty flat cast iron griddle plate for whipping up camp-side breakfasts.
If you’re a family of four, the new Traeger Ranger might just be the only barbecue you’ll ever need.
Now read our full Traeger Ranger review
The best smoker for build quality
Weber's SmokeFire EX4 delivers the goods
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
The smaller Weber SmokeFire EX4 can properly smoke as well as sear and grill. As with any pellet grill, this model uses a computer processor – and an app – to monitor the speed of the electrically-powered auger that continually delivers pellets from the huge rear-mounted hopper to the fire pot. This means that when you set the temperature for a slow cook to 120˚C, it’ll stay at that temperature for a full seven to 12 hour duration – just like your indoor oven.
For smoking and slow roasting of large cuts of meat like brisket, Weber suggests placing an aluminium tray of water on the main grill and the meat above it on the warming rack. Insert the provide met probe, select ‘brisket’ on the Bluetooth-enabled app, set the temperature to about 120˚C (248˚F) and tap ‘start cooking’. Leave the cut on the grill for up to 12 hours, checking the hopper contents from time to time and generally nurturing the meat until it’s fully cooked. The finished cut should literally fall off the bone and, when sliced, display the classic pink smoke ring just below the deep and delicious outer crust or ‘bark’.
Of course, the Weber Smokefire EX4 isn’t cheap but then grilling, smoking and searing doesn’t come much easier.
Read our full Weber SmokeFire EX4 review and to see how this pellet smoker squares up against a quality rival, then check out T3's Weber Smokefire EX4 vs Pit Boss Classic comparison feature.
The best mid-priced smoker
A sterling mid-priced smoker from the house of Traeger