The Best Grills and Smokers of 2026: Smart Tech Meets Classic Design

The Grill has changed. The smoker has changed, too. Once governed mostly by feel and experience, the best grills and the best smokers now offer a fair amount of tech to measure and control temperature (think: temperature probes and fans to modulate airflow). After all, mankind's formative invention wasn't the “discovery” of fire; it was the power to control it.

The WIRED Reviews team has been testing grills for more than a decade—searing, smoking, grilling, and even baking on them in all kinds of weather—to find the best choice for everyone. These days, I've been most excited about the next-gen smart technology that allows for tight monitoring and temperature control. For instance, I tricked out my top-pick for smart upgrades, an old-fashioned Weber kettle, with the excellent Spider Venom ($280) digital temperature controller that allows me to turn my charcoal grill temps up and down like an oven. Summer is good. Also, charcoal makes all meat taste more like bacon. Mmmmm, bacon.

After you're set with the best grills and smokers, check out other backyard buying guides for all your outdoor needs, like the Best Flat Top Grills and Griddles, Best Wireless Meat Thermometers, and Best Smokeless Firepits.

Best Grills of 2026

Best Charcoal Grill for Smart Upgrades

Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

Photograph: Matthew Korfhage

Video: Matthew Korfhage

Weber

Original Kettle Charcoal

$139 $129 (7% off)

Amazon (18-inch)

$149

Amazon (22-inch)

$99

Weber (All, Starting Price)

WIRED/TIRED

WIRED

Simple, durable, reliable, and affordable

Near-infinite smart-tech upgrades available

Lightweight and portable

TIRED

It could do with better wheel nuts

Upgrades often cost more than the grill

I'd argue that the best way to take advantage of top smart-grill technology is to add the newest and best tech to a sturdy, old-fashioned, classic grill that'll outlast the tech. A grill like the classic 22-inch Weber Kettle.

The Weber Kettle is the infinitely hackable Honda Civic of backyard grills. Its combination of simplicity, reliability, durability, affordability, and outright ubiquity has spawned an innovative secondary market devoted to tricking out the humble cooker with smart temperature controls and more features than a multiplex.

The best Weber add-on I've tried so far is a fan-modulated temperature controller from Spider Grills called the Venom ($280) that tracks the temperature on each cook, allowing you to heat it up or turn it down, like a stove. According to my testing, it holds your charcoal grill to temperature within about 30 degrees Fahrenheit of the target, which is great for both low-and-slow cooking and for creating repeatable sear temps for a steak. This is especially true when using the attached meat probes. The only downside is that the Venom needs to be plugged in. Might I suggest a nice power bank?

WIRED product reviewer Scott Gilbertson has favored the excellent Weber Connect Smart Hub ($70) for years, which features probes to monitor meat temps and flipping times and can alert your phone (or just your ears) when your grill hits the ideal temperature zone. However, he admits that the Hub's USB-A charger is starting to feel a bit old-fashioned.

This year, Weber is also coming out with a Performer Smart Ring ($280) that seems to operate a lot like the Venom. If it works anywhere near as well as the Venom, I'm eager to try it out.

But not every kettle upgrade worth trying is “smart.” I am in the process of testing a number of add-ons to the 22-inch Weber Kettle, including a Webcraft cooking ring ($249) from Spider that serves as a base for side shelves, a rotisserie, and a pizza oven conversion kit. A Weber rotisserie ($180) is also available from the Illinois mothership.

Note also that there are two versions of the Weber Kettle: Original and Premium. The Premium is around $80 more and features a built-in thermometer in the lid, a hinged cooking grate, and a fancier ash-removal system. They're the same size and feature the same cooking space. Unless you really like the easier ash-removal system, save that cash and stick with the Original Kettle. Then put that money into cool upgrades.

For all of its strengths, my one wish for the Weber Kettle is better wheel nuts holding the big wheels in place. Unless you really hammer them on, they do have a tendency to slip off at inopportune moments.

A Sturdy Charcoal Alternative: The PK 300 ($700) is a fantastic old-school grill. It's made of cast aluminum, so it's a little heavier than the Weber, but you can also use for ovenlike cooking, much like a Big Green Egg (see below). The main reason Weber wins here is price, comparable durability, and the ability to add features as needed. But if you want a simple grill that's heavy-duty, dependable, and comes with a 20-year warranty, the PK 300 is it.

Best Pellet Smoker

Photograph: Brad Bourque

Photograph: Brad Bourque

Photograph: Brad Bourque

Courtesy of Recteq

Recteq

Flagship 1600 Pellet Smoker and Grill

$1,600

BBQGuys

$1,600 $1,350 (16% off)

Recteq

WIRED/TIRED

WIRED

Consistent heat across a very large cooking surface

Generously sized pellet hopper

Super low maintenance

TIRED

App is well-featured but a little buggy

Georgia-based Recteq is the hold-my-beer of grill companies, the one with wild ideas and a yen for experimentation. It's currently a big source for innovation in pellet grills and pellet griddles. The Flagship 1600 pellet smoker and grill from Georgia-based Recteq is a Wi-Fi–enabled smart device with a connected app that lets you monitor and adjust temperature from wherever you are. The app stores up to 30 days of cook history in a graph you can review, allowing you to dial in cooks over time. The app is a little buggy, mind you: But it's useful.

Where the Recteq shines most is in the generous 40-pound hopper that allows for long cooks and even heat across the entire surface of its spacious grill. (The “1600” in its name refers to the total square inches of cook space, including racks). The Flagship achieves evenness of heat through innovative design. The fire pot, located smack in the center of the barrel, has a symmetrical heat spreader and drip catcher that tilts toward the trays on either end. WIRED product reviewer Brad Bourque measured no more than a 7-degree Fahrenheit difference from the center to the outer edges of the smoker, an astonishing result.

The downside is you'll have to clean out two separate drip buckets. But that's a small price to pay for evenly cooked brisket and pork belly. The Flagship also masterfully produced smoke on low-heat cooks—often a difficulty for pellet grills, leading to a generous smoke ring on pork belly and ribs.

The Flagship burns low and slow down to 170 degrees Fahrenheit or as hot as 700 degrees for those who want to burn pellets to get a good sear. The benefits add up, even as we're stuck wishing that Recteq would iron out the steep learning curve and occasional buggy push notifications on its app.

A Budget Smart Pellet Smoker: Not looking to spend four figures on a smart pellet smoker? The Zelos-450 pellet grill from Brisk It ($370) is a good option at a great price. This Wi-Fi–enabled pellet grill has a great design and features you won't find on grills for a price that's double or even more. It arrived with fanfare for a gimmicky AI recipe guidance feature that WIRED commerce director Martin Cizmar found a bit ineffective. But the other smart features are, indeed, smart. In a world of glitchy grill-control apps, the Brisk It app is simple, intuitive, and works flawlessly when lighting your grill or monitoring temps, according to Cizmar. Temp control via the included fan is a little fuzzy, about 30 degrees Fahrenheit off target, and it's a bit small at 450 square inches. But assembly is easy. And at this price, it's a steal.

Best Smart Charcoal Grill

Courtesy of Masterbuilt

Photograph: Martin Cizmar

Photograph: Martin Cizmar

Masterbuilt

Gravity Series 1150 Digital Charcoal Grill

$1,100

Home Depot

WIRED/TIRED

WIRED

1,000-plus square inches of grate space

Large range from 225 to 700 degrees Fahrenheit

Accurate temp control via integrated fan and sensors

TIRED

A bear to assemble

No electric fire starter

App can be tetchy

The Masterbuilt 1150 is a big grill with a large capacity for meat, charcoal, and various cooking styles. This big Wi-Fi-enabled charcoal cooker has 1,000-plus-square inches of grate space, which is enough for a full brisket, a pork butt, and a few racks of ribs. It will slow smoke at 225 degrees Fahrenheit, but also heat up to a searing 700 degrees. With enough room for a full 17.6-pound bag of charcoal briquettes and an electric fan that controls the temp by blowing more or less air onto the charcoal, you can set it and forget it while you sleep or work.

It's going to take some work to get there, though. This grill is a beast, weighing nearly 300 pounds in its packaging. Putting it together is a major project: A Taskrabbit Tasker that WIRED commerce director Martin Cizmar hired gave up after two hours, after losing numerous pieces. Then, a buddy who later attempted the project from scratch spent three hours trying to get it right. After you do get set up—however long that takes you—you'll need to reserve two hours of seasoning time to burn off the factory chemicals. There is no electric starter, so you'll be fiddling with fire starters. Oh, and the app can be a bit touchy and will beep incessantly if the fire is slow to start. The whole process is high-friction and fairly laborious compared to a higher-end product like a Yoder smart pellet grill, though that grill is nearly triple the price.

In the end, once the grill was all set up, Cizmar smoked some of the best ribs he's ever made, and the $200 pizza attachment also worked like a charm. If you're looking for a smart grill that has some champagne features on a beer budget and don't mind a few rough edges, this is a great choice.

A Smart-Adjusted Ceramic Grill: We didn't have great luck with the Konnected Joe (see below). But if you're using a classic ceramic Kamado Joe, there's a hack to getting temperature-controlled, probe-assisted cooks. Yoink out the built-in thermometer, replace it with a Chefstemp Protemp S1 digital controller ($85), and pair that with a ChefsTemp probe ($96) to offer app-supported monitoring of both meat and ambient temperatures.

Best Gas Grill

Courtesy of Weber

Weber

Spirit E-210 Gas Grill

$449

The Home Depot

$399

Amazon

$449

Weber

WIRED/TIRED

WIRED

Has Even cooking temps

Propane gas burners are easy to adjust

Many accessory options are available to build out the setup

TIRED

May be small for grilling large meals

WIRED has been recommending the Weber Spirit 200 series for years. The reasons are straightforward: simplicity, build quality, even-cooking temps, and easy-to-adjust propane gas burners. It's a compact and affordable line of two-burner grills that still offers spacious side trays and—like a lot of Webers—hooks for accessories and snap-on options to build out your workspace. Weber's porcelain-coated cast-iron grill grates are solid, and clean-up is easy with a little soap and water. It also cooks your food well. But note that we're also in the process of testing Weber's new generation of smart gas grills like the Genesis 325W ($949) that offer digital control and monitoring.

A Bigger Option: If you're cooking for a crowd and want something larger, try Charbroil's massive 6-Burner Performance Series ($600). It's a great grill for crowds. It also has a 10,000-BTU side burner to heat up your beans while the hot dogs are cooking.

Best Hybrid Grill

Courtesy of Charbroil

Gas2Coal 4-Burner Hybrid Grill

$710

Wayfair

WIRED/TIRED

WIRED

Can switch between gas and charcoal modes

Side burner for heating up, well, sides

Excellent at both gas and charcoal modes

TIRED

Single-layer charcoal won't work for smoking

The charcoal versus gas grill debate will never be settled to either side's satisfaction. (Those of us in the charcoal camp usually have to live with being right in silence.) But what if you could avoid the debate altogether by having both in the same grill? This is where the head-exploding emoji goes: Charbroil's hybrid grill can switch between gas and charcoal modes. There's also a side burner for heating up your mac and cheese or other sides, making it more of an outdoor kitchen than some of the other options here. Under the hood, this hybrid looks like every gas grill you've seen: Bars cover gas pipes to distribute flames, with a cast-iron grate on top of that. The results from the gas grilling are as good as any I've tried.

But if you remove the bars and add a tray to cover the gas burners, you've got a charcoal grill. There's room for only a single layer of charcoal, which isn't going to work for smoking, but for flavorful sears, it's perfect. To get it going, all you have to do is light the gas burners and close the lid, and your charcoal will be ready in about 15 minutes. It really is the best of both worlds. Note that I only tested the three-burner model, which Charbroil has since swapped for a bigger four-burner. —Scott Gilbertson

Best Portable Grill

Courtesy of Nomad

Photograph: Scott Gilbertson

Photograph: Nomad

Nomad

Portable Grill

$695

Orvis

WIRED/TIRED

WIRED

Solid, well-built, ingeniously designed, and easy to carry

Exterior stays cool, with best-in-class heat retention

Bespoke charcoal is fantastic, if pricey

TIRED

Second burner costs extra

The suitcase-style Nomad Portable Grill is the Yeti of portable grills, notes WIRED reviewer Scott Gilbertson. It's better in every way than competitors and is priced accordingly. This Nomad, in particular, is quite simply the best portable grill money can buy. Between its perforated, anodized-aluminum shell and its cast-aluminum grill boxes, it's the rare portable grill that announces sturdy solidity, with a grilling surface held in place by high-temperature-resistant magnets. Even the handles and latches feel strong.

It's likewise smartly designed, packing up into—as you likely already gleaned—the shape of a suitcase. The heavy-duty handles and latches are strong. Though the Nomad is 28 pounds, which is a bit on the heavy side for a single-hand carry, the shape and large handle actually make it easier to carry than smaller and cheaper models.

The Nomad uses a dual-venting system to achieve good airflow, even when the lid is closed. The vents, combined with the raised fins on the bottom of the grill (which elevate your charcoal, allowing air to flow underneath), allow for very precise control of both high and low temperatures. If you live and die by overlanding, this grill could be your new constant companion.

A Great Budget Portable Grill: WIRED reviewer Scott Gilbertson also loves the simple Weber Jumbo Joe ($90), a smaller version of the classic Original Kettle. It's an easy choice for tailgates, especially. And