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I adore cats, but scooping their litter box is not the fun part of having them. At least now there’s modern solution: self-cleaning litter boxes. These high-tech devices sense a cat’s visit and then automatically whisk waste out of sight to dump later. That’s nice for cat owners, and it makes for a healthier, more hygienic environment for cats.

I’ve tested four of these automatic litter boxes in my own small city home (my cats are the black and white tuxedo cats), and the third was tested by a Good Housekeeping Institute colleague. Other Lab pros and consumer testers have also tested several of these and given feedback via surveys.

Setup advice from a vet: “Cats need to transition to an automatic litter box slowly,” says Whitney Miller, D.V.M., M.B.A., DACVPM, chief veterinarian at Petco. “Start by placing the new litter box near the old one while your cat is out of the room. Let them explore it before activating the automatic cleaning feature, and ensure they have access to their old box during the transition.”

Litter-Robot 4

This is my top pick, full stop. The Litter-Robot 4 has excellent odor control and is meant for households with multiple cats. I’ve tested it and it’s been tested in five other homes, with old and young cats and with multiple cats, and most felines seem to take to it with minimal suspicion.

You can control this with its app, or use manual controls on the top of the machine.

✔️ HOW IT WORKS: A cat triggers the sensor by jumping in, then triggers it again by jumping out. The machine waits seven minutes and then quietly rotates. Wet or poopy clumps separate and fall into a lined bin at the bottom. Then the globe moves back into place, covering the bin and its odors, clean and ready for the next customer.

You need to fill it with clumping litter for the mechanism to work. The brand recommends unscented clay litter. With previous models, kittens under five pounds didn’t always trigger the sensor, but that’s been fixed.

✔️ TESTING NOTES: “It’s huge—but after using it for a few months, I could never go back to any other litter box,” said a tester. (It’s nearly 30 inches tall.) “It fits in with my decor pretty well. It’s definitely not discreet, but I don’t mind, given all the hours it’s saved me from scooping. I have two cats, both 12, and they had no problem transitioning to it. Once I set it up, they didn’t want to use their old one.”

“I was initially put off because it’s expensive, but it’s a fantastic machine that works brilliantly,” said Lynn Redmile, a contributing product analyst for the Good Housekeeping Institute. “It records the weight of each cat that uses it, so you can tell which cat is going most often in a multi-cat environment.” That feature only works if the cats are of different weights. If they are within about a half pound of each other, the machine does not know which is which.

Based on the feedback, I expected my two cats to transition to the Litter-Robot 4 quickly. They did not. In fact, they ignored it. I moved their regular litter box to the patio to “force” them to use it while I went away for a weekend—a terrible idea that no one should ever do—and they staged a boycott. So I reached out to Whisker customer service, and as I was emailing, my younger cat, Azula, got in and used it, probably to make me look like a liar.

After two weeks, they were both using the Litter-Robot 4, but it was a journey. Azula saw it cleaning one day and freaked out. She also pees with her rear end almost out the door, so I have to use the included fence piece on the front to keep her mess inside. Whisker customer service and Reddit were both useful in addressing my Litter-Robot hurdles. And I’m thrilled to leave the scoop behind.

✔️ ALSO GOOD TO KNOW: Other Litter-Robot bells and whistles include a night light, sleep mode, and a customizable cycle timer (you can opt to have the box clean itself twice a day, say, instead of after every use). The app lets you know when you need to empty the bin.

There’s a new accessory, called the LitterHopper, which promises to refresh litter when needed, but I have not tried it. What I have tried and recommend are the waste drawer liners to make bagging and throwing away clumps fast and easy.

New for small spaces is the Litter-Robot Evo, for cats from 3 to 19 pounds. The opening is smaller at 14.85″ and you’ll save a hundred dollars with the Evo model.

READ OUR FULL REVIEW: Litter-Robot 4

$699.00 at litter-robot.com

The Litter-Robot 4 box when it arrived at my home (next to my office chair for scale).

My cat, Azula, watching a cleaning cycle. She got over her surprise and quickly went back to using it.

Azula pees toward the front of the globe so urine was getting on the step and making a mess. Once I snapped on the black fence piece (which comes with the Litter-Robot 4), everything stayed contained. The plastic bag tucked under the fence piece is a hack I learned on Reddit for additional pee protection, keeping it off the step. The Litter-Robot forum (r/litterrobot) is full of tips, and Whiskers’ customer service is excellent.

ScoopFree Crystal

For those keeping to a budget and open to using crystal cat litter, this pick has a lower starting cost. It’s an open-top version, so it can be good for large cats or any cats who don’t like to be underneath a dome or lid. This version is app-free but there is also an app-enabled version for just $10 more

✔️ HOW IT WORKS: It works with a pre-filled PetSafe ScoopFree Disposable Crystal Cat Litter Tray. You set the device on top of the cardboard tray of the litter crystals. Plug it in, and a sensor reads when your cat has entered and left. Then, 20 minutes after your cat’s departure, a rake automatically moves the solid waste to a covered area, while the crystals absorb your cat’s urine.

If you have a single cat, you’ll want to empty the bin weekly and swap out the entire tray once a month. Another option: You can buy a reusable Forever Litter Tray and add clean PetSafe crystal cat litter monthly.

✔️ TESTING NOTES: With crystal cat litter, there is almost no dust or tracking. That’s one of the things I liked best. I didn’t have to have to worry about stray litter, and it was easy to discard used litter, making it a tidier setup compared to a regular litter box. Crystal litter is incredibly lightweight, a nice change from having to pour from 14-pound containers of clay kitty litter.

The downside: I, and many online reviewers, have trouble with crystals not hiding urine odor. The rake is only able to scoop poop—anytime you use crystal litter, in any litter box, the urine sinks to the bottom of the container, then gets absorbed. Crystal litter is non-clumping. I have a friend who solves for this by placing a doggy pee pad in the bottom of her litter box filled with crystal cat litter.

There are many other online reviewers who say they never smell this litter box, so any lingering smell may depend on your cat’s urine. Because the crystals are good at absorbing moisture, the directions ask you not to place this in a humid bathroom or basement.

This system is popular with squeamish cat owners who want to see as little poop as possible. Also, because you pick up the cardboard container and toss the whole thing, then replace it with another, you never have to wash out a big litter box. But you will need to clean the metal rake, especially if your cat has soft poop.

✔️ ALSO GOOD TO KNOW: There’s no app, a plus for those of us tired of coming up with passwords and needing to pair appliances with apps. I can vouch that the setup is about as easy as plugging in the device. But there is an app-enabled version for just $10 more if you’d like to be able to keep track of cat visits. That version comes with a litter-box cover.

The ScoopFree arrives with one disposable litter tray, and buying a new one each month gets costly. “I have three cats, so the life of the pre-filled crystal litter doesn’t last long, and this is expensive to maintain,” one online reviewer wrote.

$199.99 at amazon.com

The replaceable box part of this litter box is cardboard. It’s lightweight, as is the crystal kitty litter, and easy to throw away. But it also can get soggy (one online reviewer called it “muddy”) if the crystals don’t quickly absorb cat urine. A cat-owning friend told me that her hack is to line the box with a disposable puppy pee pad.

Litter-Robot 5 Pro

The main feature of the new Litter-Robot 5 Pro upgrade is a dual camera that uses AI to identify your cat inside and outside of the box to provide greater detail about their visits, including recorded videos. I’ve tested it at home for four weeks, with one senior cat, and a consumer tester has tried it as well.

It also has a proprietary WasteID feature to identify solid or liquid waste. It can cycle sooner to get rid of solid waste faster, or pause to give liquid waste time to clump before cycling. This is the quietest self-cleaning litter box I have ever used.

✔️ HOW IT WORKS: In most every way it operates the same as the Litter-Robot 4, our best overall choice. The rubber-lined interior globe sifts out waste and hides it in a waste drawer after your cat has used the box. It requires clay clumping litter.

The camera records your cat in front of the box and inside the box. A livestream runs at all times on the app. Watch for up to 5 minutes a day. It captures and stores footage—short video clips, saved for 2 days—of a cat or cats passing, approaching, and going in and out of the Litter-Robot 5 Pro.

It does a good job of not recording people, but if people pass by along with a cat, they will be recorded, too. It also records audio in the clips. During testing, everyone in my family was recorded at some point. It acts more or less like a pet camera.

Invest in the Whisker+ service to get more, including unlimited livestream and a 30-day video history. Whisker+ also provides a daily summary of visits, similar to how some baby monitors will give you a daily wrap-up for a fee. There’s a free 7-day trial period but you have to enter your credit card to activate it, and after the free month you’ll be charged $8/month, or $80 for a year.

Also new on the 5: There’s a front display screen that broadcasts the duration of your cat’s last visit, the cat’s name and weight, when the machine is going through a cleaning cycle, and more. Inside, LED lights can be customized to any of hundreds of color combinations. In the app you can also turn the lights off completely.

✔️ TESTING NOTES: I am delighted with the camera when my husband and I travel and want to check in on Helen, our senior cat, who is now our only cat at home. (Azula moved with our adult child to a new apartment, along with the Litter-Robot 4.) I’m less delighted with it when we’re home and it’s catching us in videos along with the cat.

Like our consumer tester, I am super appreciative of the digital display, a feature I wish they would add to the Litter-Robot 4. “I feel like I always know what is going on,” she said. As far as the camera goes, her feeling was, “I am not that interested in watching my cat use the litter box when I am away.”

I have it sitting beside Helen’s analog litter box and so far, she’s sticking with her old one and resisting the Litter-Robot 5 Pro. But I’ve scooped some of her waste into the machine and run the cleaning cycle, to test it, and it works well. Our consumer tester has had nothing but success: Her cat loves the Litter-Robot 5. She reported a few caveats, like her cat tracking litter out of it, and the fact that the machine is so tall.

I feel the Litter-Robot 5 Pro is even quieter than the Litter-Robot 4, though that’s not a claim the company makes. The waste drawer is easy to open and close and five waste bags, which come with the device, make tossing out used litter fast and simple. You’ll want to buy more waste liners, sold in a box of 25.

There’s a button that makes it easy and quick to dump all the litter into the drawer, if you want to clean the globe and add new litter. I’ve twice hit that button thinking it was for the clean cycle, so there’s a learning curve, for me, memorizing which button does what!

✔️ ALSO GOOD TO KNOW: To connect the device to the app, I had to use my home guest wifi network, not our high-speed network. Once you get it going this machine is very low-maintenance, but it did take me about an hour and a half to unbox the Litter-Robot 5 Pro, get it upstairs into a position where it worked with its six-foot cord, and successfully pair it to my app. I got help from customer service, and so did our consumer tester. We agreed that the service is excellent.

$899.00 at whisker.com

I get a huge kick out of the cat videos provided by the Litter-Robot 5 Pro. It’s less great that it also can capture people walking behind the cat (and my younger kid’s pile of stuff while he’s home on break).

Luma

Pet-centric tech company Petlibro launched the new Luma. It includes a video camera pointed inside the box, and competes with the Litter-Robot 5 Pro at a lesser initial pricepoint. But if you choose to pay to get AI-generated details, you’ll pay about $120 to $200 annually compared to Litter-Robot’s $80.

The opening of the Luma is larger than the Litter-Robot and likely easier for a large cat, or for a cat who prefers an open-topped litter box.

✔️ HOW IT WORKS: Luma senses a cat’s visit, then after a few minutes the rubber-lined inner globe tilts to sift out the waste. Rather than spinning sideways, Luma’s inner mechanism tips up through the opening and discreetly dumps the waste down out of sight. You have the choice of two different-sized sifters, depending on whether you use fine-grained clumping litter or larger-grained clumping litter.

After each cleaning it runs an air-purifier fan for odor management. This is nice, but a little noisy, like running any fan. You can turn the air purifier off in the app.

There’s a camera with a livestream. The camera is positioned to only record what is going on in the box and not in front of it. This makes it virtually impossible for the Luma to catch video of people.

No videos are stored unless you pay for AI insights, unlike with the Litter-Robot 5 Pro, which saves videos for two days for free. The Luma will also analyze whether your cat has gone #1 or #2 with the paid subscription. There’s a free 7-day trial. You enter your credit card, and choose a plan: standard ($120/year), premium ($170/year), or premium family that connects both the Luma and the brand’s Scout pet camera ($200/year).

If you stick with the free version of the app insights, the Luma still records a cat’s weight (for up to 10 cats), time and length of visits, and provides a livestream look inside the box.

This Luma bundle from Amazon comes with 15 waste-drawer liners and a much larger step for the cat than the Litter-Robot has. The step is not attached and you’ll want to move it out of the way to empty the large waste-drawer bin.

✔️ TESTING NOTES: I really like that the camera only captures what’s going on inside. At most, I see people’s feet go past, but my family isn’t being inadvertently featured along with footage of the cat.

I don’t like that if I don’t pay for AI insights, I get zero recorded videos. The Luma may be best for tech-savvy pet parents who intend to use the app and the AI Insights service.

The app setup was easy using our house’s guest network. But I feel the controls, both on the machine and in the app, have a learning curve. The button on the machine to set off a cycle looks like a baby bottle to me, and the machine has no display to communicate what part of the cleaning phase it is in.

The cleaning cycle works well, but it’s a bit noisy. I wouldn’t want it on our bedroom floor, so I tested it in our downstairs. The giant, wide opening seems unintimidating for large cats who like an open top.

✔️ ALSO GOOD TO KNOW: Amazon offers various bundles that include different accessories, such as a litter mat instead of the step or no step but 40 waste-drawer liners. See all your options on the Petlibro page.

$539.99 at amazon.com

The Luma’s inner box tilts up through the opening to dump waste into the waste compartment, then returns and is ready for the next cat.

Leo’s Loo Too

The attractive-looking Leo’s Loo Too is similar to the Litter-Robot 4, but it is a couple of inches smaller, so it might more easily fit in your home or in an office environment. “Inches count in a tiny apartment!” wrote one Amazon reviewer. However, the entryway is much smaller, which may work for some cats who crave privacy but could be an issue if you have a very large cat.

This must connect to an app for tracking visits, seeing waste levels, customizing cleaning cycles, and viewing your cat’s weight. If you don’t use the app, however, it still cleans in default mode.

✔️ HOW IT WORKS: This product works virtually the same as the Litter-Robot 4. You fill it with clay clumping cat litter, it senses your cat’s entry and departure, and a rotating globe drops waste into a bin at the bottom. The brand recommends small-particle litter. (Tidy Cat Lightweight could be one to try.)

For safety, sensors keep the box from rotating if your cat is too close. It will wait for your cat to move away before the cleaning cycle runs, as opposed to the Litter-Robot, which waits a set amount of time.

✔️ TESTING NOTES: Casa Leo’s Loo uses filters and a UV-sanitizing light meant to reduce odors and bacteria. Many online reviewers said it blocks smells. “My only regret is that I didn’t get this sooner,” one wrote. “Literally a game changer. No scooping. No smell.” Casa Leo suggests you change the filter every 30 days, and replacement carbon filters are sold in a two-pack for $20.

Our home tester found the cleaning function to be very quiet. She liked that the waste bin had a built-in storage space for replacement bags, something the Litter-Robot lacks. She also liked that she could customize this box to cycle two times a day, instead of after every use.

✔️ ALSO GOOD TO KNOW: The app can be connected to Alexa or Google. For instance, you can ask Alexa to run a cleaning cycle before guests come over. You can buy lavender-scented drawer liners to further fight odors and to make the once-weekly emptying of the bin nice and easy.

The Loo is available with the standard gray drum or in a color such as green or blue. It’s only the entryway color that changes; the main device is always white.

$599.99 at petco.com

Our consumer tester’s cat liked the privacy of Leo’s Loo Too.

How we tested the best self-cleaning litter boxes

The Litter-Robot 4 and Leo’s Loo Too were used in the homes of Good Housekeeping Institute staffers over the course of more than two years. In addition, I tested the Litter-Robot 4 myself for months before it moved with my adult child to his house, where he still uses it with his cat. I tested the PetSafe at my house for a month.

I’ve been testing the newest self-cleaning litter boxes, the Litter-Robot 5 Pro and the Petlibro Luma, in my home for the past month with one senior cat. An additional consumer tester (who is a former Good Housekeeping Institute employee) has also been testing the Litter-Robot 5 Pro

Additional consumer families have tested Litter-Robot models and submitted feedback via surveys to our Cleaning Lab. I check in with the Cleaning Lab experts each time I update this story.

We get our best feedback after a model has been used in a tester’s home with multiple cats. One of my friend’s two cats, Bella, is shown here, and my friend was one of our consumer testers for the Litter-Robot 4.

Consumer testers fill out a survey to tell us how their cats respond to the litter box, and, of course, how well each automatic litter box cleans up real waste.

I also spark discussions of the machines in an online Hearst forum, where coworkers from around the company can share details about how their cats react to self-cleaning litter boxes, purchased independently. As a final check, I read online reviews to learn about how the litter boxes are working for thousands of people nationwide.

What to consider when shopping for the best self-cleaning litter box

If you’re ready to move from an old-fashioned litter box to one that employs automatic scooping technology, here’s what to think about:

✔️ Size: Take into account the size of the box (footprint, height, and entrance opening) and the size of your cat. Some self-cleaning litter boxes have weight restrictions with their sensors that make them not work with either too-big cats or too-small kittens. Also, measure your space to be sure that your chosen litter box will fit.

✔️ Litter: “Cat litter is a crucial element to ensuring your automatic or self-cleaning litter box is as effective as possible,” Dr. Miller says. Some need self-clumping litter while others need specially designed litter like silica gel crystals. “If your cat is particular about what type of litter they prefer but your automatic litter box only works with a specific type, this could be a reason your cat is not accepting the automatic litter box, or that the automatic litter box is not performing as well as possible,” she notes.

✔️ Maintenance: Self-cleaning boxes still need to be cleaned. You won’t have to scoop every day, but you will need to empty the bin about once a week and switch out the litter about once a month. If the box uses a mechanical rake to sweep through and clean away clumps of cat waste, you’ll need to regularly clean the rake, as it will get caked with crud.

✔️ Money-back guarantee: Self-cleaning litter boxes aren’t cheap, and if you miscalculated how well it would fit in your home or aren’t happy with how well it works, it’s reassuring to know you can usually return the item within a certain window, whether following manufacturer guidelines or retailer return rules. Keep packaging to make the return easier.

✔️ Electricity: Any self-cleaning litter box needs to be plugged in, so it must be placed near an outlet. One of our testers wrote, “Offering a battery backup would be nice…” but alas, that doesn’t exist yet.

What are the benefits of a self-cleaning litter box?

According to Dr. Miller, these are the main advantages of an automatic self-cleaning litter box:

• Promotes a hygienic environment: A self-cleaning litter box helps keep the box clean and pleasant for your cat to use. “By ensuring the box is always clean, self-cleaning models help prevent health issues related to dirty litter, such as urinary tract infections or respiratory problems caused by ammonia buildup,” Dr. Miller says.

• Supports multi-cat households: “Some cats will refuse to use a litter box that has waste from another cat,” Dr. Miller says. “Automatic litter boxes solve this problem by cleaning after each use.”

• Odor control: “Regular automatic cleaning and a sealed waste compartment reduces odor,” Dr. Miller says. If your box is connected to an app, you’ll be notified when to empty the receptacle and when to top off the litter.

• Health monitoring: “Many self-cleaning boxes use a weight sensor to identify when your cat uses the bathroom and determine when to clean,” Dr. Miller says. If the box connects to an app, the machine can monitor things like how often a cat is using the litter box, which can help identify health issues sooner.

How do self-cleaning litter boxes work?

They are electronic devices that must be plugged in. Many self-cleaning litter boxes require sandy, hard-clumping litter. Your cat does its business, buries its own waste, and then the solid or liquid waste mixes with the sandy litter to form hard clumps.

When your cat jumps out, sensors detect your cat leaving, and the cleaning cycle begins. Self-cleaning litter boxes have electric motors that activate the cleaning mechanism—they are quiet but not silent. Eventually, the waste bin fills with clumps, and you empty it into the garbage.

How often do you have to empty the bin? That varies depending on the number of cats you have, how often they visit the box, and the size of the bin. For one cat, you can often get away with emptying the bin once a week.

What’s the best way to introduce your cat to an automatic litter box?

Dr. Miller, as well as the manufacturers of self-cleaning litter boxes, recommend you leave your old litter box out while introducing the new one. Read the instructions carefully for tips on how to get a nervous cat used to the new machine.

For instance, you might keep the self-cleaning box turned off for a few days, and scoop it as you would a normal box, before you turn on the cleaning function. True confession: I ignored this advice, to my peril. (Don’t be like me!)

“Pay attention to your cat’s cues, as they may be tentative to try a new litter box if they are sensitive to litter type or depth, new sounds or smells, a tight enclosed space, or a change in routine,” Dr. Miller says. “Ensuring your cat’s litter box is clean, accessible, and located in a quiet, comfortable area can help with the adjustment.”

Why trust Good Housekeeping?

This guide was originally researched by cat owner Lynn Redmile, who has been testing and evaluating cleaning products since 2012 in collaboration with the Good Housekeeping Institute Cleaning Lab.

Contributing writer and cat owner Jessica Hartshorn most recently updated this article. Azula is pictured here “assisting” with her writing process. Prior to testing and writing about products for pets and kids for Good Housekeeping, she was a senior editor at Parents magazine.

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