The Best Bathroom Scales (2025)

We interviewed health and fitness experts, including Dr. Linda Everett, a bariatrician (a physician who specializes in weight loss) and Rachel L. Pires, a weight-loss counselor and the author of Diet Enlightenment. We also spent hours poring over customer reviews of bathroom scales on Amazon and at other retailers.

• As Wirecutter’s senior staff writer for health and personal care, I’ve tested dozens of scales, both “smart” and regular.
• Like all Wirecutter journalists, I review and test products with complete editorial independence. I’m never made aware of any business implications of my editorial recommendations. Read more about our editorial standards.

Many people can benefit from owning a good bathroom scale. You’re weighed at every physical exam for a reason: Being over or under healthy weight recommendations is linked with having a greater risk for certain health problems. Significant weight fluctuations can tip you off to health or lifestyle changes that need your attention.

Even simply monitoring your weight could help achieve weight loss goals in the long run: Several studies have found that regular (at least weekly) weigh-ins are one of the most common characteristics of people who lose weight and keep it off for years afterward.

That said, weight is not a self-contained measure of overall health. Your weight fluctuates throughout the day (by on average five or six pounds) due to factors including your hydration, when you last ate, and even what you recently ate. “As long as you don’t become overly fixated with the number on the scale, the advantages to using one definitely outweigh the disadvantages,” said Pires.

Many bathroom scales (including our top pick, which can be used as a smart scale if desired) can now do much more than simply weigh people. Some record weight and other biometric readings in an accompanying app, allowing you to automatically track your weight and other health factors over time. Smart scales aren’t necessarily better than other digital scales—they just have more connectivity features and (possibly) offer more metrics, such as an estimate of body-fat percentage and body mass index (BMI), which is an estimate of body-fat percentage based on weight and height that experts have criticized.

The two most important factors in a scale’s ability to give a useful measurement are accuracy (the scale reads reasonably close to your true weight) and precision (the scale gives the same reading if you take two or more readings in a row).

Our survey of more than 600 Wirecutter readers helped us discover the other features people want most in a scale (including, importantly, digital readouts—which led us to eliminate analog or mechanical scales from consideration). Beyond reliable measurements, we considered:

• Weight limit: We preferred scales with weight limits of at least 400 pounds, which is typical for digital bathroom scales meant for home use.
• Platform size: Generally speaking, larger scales are easier and more comfortable to stand on.
• Display: Backlit displays are easier to read. We preferred scales with display times of 5 seconds or more, which is enough time to check the readings before the display goes blank.

For each round of testing, we set up all the scales according to their manuals and calibrated them as instructed. Then over the course of a few weeks, we weighed ourselves on each scale several times in a row, using books, jackets, water bottles, and dumbbells to add and subtract different weights and see if the scales could pick up on the differences.

We learned that some scales offer a seemingly manufactured sense of precision and accuracy: They may calculate your weight based on the memory of your previous readings rather than actually weighing you each time.

For example, after weighing myself, then weighing myself while holding a 10-pound dumbbell, then weighing myself yet again without the dumbbell, I found that one of the scales said I weighed 10 pounds more than I did. Other scales would at first correctly show the additional weight difference when another tester was holding a sandal that weighs 0.4 pound, but they would then revert to her previous weight measurement without the sandal, suggesting that the scale doesn’t pick up on subtle weight fluctuations.

We gave each scale a maximum 0.2-pound margin of error. So, for example, if a scale weighed one tester at 120.0 pounds and they then got back on the scale with a 0.4-pound book, we considered the scale to be accurate if it said she weighed anything from 120.2 to 120.6 pounds.

It’s understandable to desire perfection from your bathroom scale, but according to the experts we spoke to and our own testing experience, 100% accuracy and precision is generally not feasible with a household bathroom scale due to a variety of factors—floor evenness, scale movement, and a person’s balance, to name a few.

To get accurate readings on any bathroom scale, you need to place it on a hard, flat surface, and you should calibrate it every time you move the scale (by quickly stepping on and off it). If the scale is placed on an uneven or carpeted floor (bathroom mats included), it might not be able to display fresh weights, as we found out in our testing—no scale was able to overcome uneven flooring.

The Wyze Scale X performed exceptionally well in our bathroom trials, consistently providing accurate and precise weights over the course of two years in testing. (It’s been our top pick among smart scales for as long.)

It’s dependably reliable. Whenever we weighed ourselves in succession, the Scale X gave readings that were always the same. While many inexpensive bathroom scales respond reliably only to a weight change on the order of half a pound, or, as we found through our testing, even pull your weight readings from memory without trying to measure you, this wasn’t the case with the Scale X, which has always stayed within a 0.2-pound margin of error and was reliably responsive to our test weigh-ins involving various props. It was also consistent on different dates in giving the same measurements for test objects of known weights, and it detected incremental weight gains and losses of a few tenths of a pound.

It has a high weight capacity. People who weigh up to 400 pounds can safely use this scale, and if you choose to pair it with its app you can also enable measurement modes for weighing babies, pets, and luggage.

The backlit display is easy to read. This scale’s display is bright and large enough—making weights easy to read. The readout remains on display for 5 seconds after showing up.

It’s versatile and quiet. The Scale X can measure in either kilograms or pounds. We like that it doesn’t beep but recognize that not everyone will. Because it operates silently (no alerts to let you know when your weight has been measured), you have to continue looking down at the display to see when it flashes twice (or count to three in your head).

This scale comes with a one-year warranty.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

The backlit display on the white version of this scale is more difficult to read. The black version’s display offers more contrast.

The platform is made of tempered glass. Like most modern electronic scales, the Scale X’s platform can be slippery when wet and, according to some customer reviews, can shatter.

Other Wyze devices experienced security breaches. Wyze recently experienced a significant security breach that led Wirecutter to pause reviewing and recommending Wyze Smart Home devices. While the breach didn’t affect scales, this is a major concern to us nonetheless. We’ll continue monitoring for any security issues with the Wyze Scale X, which remains our top pick in both guides.

Our second-favorite bathroom scale overall, which was no less accurate or precise across our battery of tests, the Tanita HD-662 is a great choice for people who have no use for automated weight tracking, would prefer a plastic platform rather than glass, and are okay with a lower total capacity.

Like our top pick, it’s consistent. The HD-662 performed very well in our testing, proving just as accurate as our pick, with all measurements always within a 0.2-pound margin of error and no weights pulled from memory of previous weigh-ins.

It’s easy to read and quiet. While this scale is lighter and smaller than our top pick, which can make the scale feel slippery underfoot, its backlit display is bigger and brighter than the Wyze Scale X’s display. Weigh-in numbers remain on display for 10 seconds, which is double the time of our top pick. It measures in kilograms, pounds, or stones, and—like the Scale X—is completely silent (no beeps).

The platform is made of plastic. The HD-662 has a plastic platform that can feel less slippery and is much less likely to shatter than a glass-topped bathroom scale.

The HD-662 scale is available in black or white (each has the same, ultrabright backlit blue display) and comes with a substantial warranty of three years—triple that of our pick’s more-typical warranty period.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

It has a lower capacity than our top pick. The HD-662 has a 330-pound maximum weight measurement (70 pounds less than our top pick).

If you want a non-connected scale you will be sharing with others: We like the Tanita HD-351, which stores last-weight data for up to five users. This plastic-topped scale matched the performance of our top pick and runner-up. It has a larger footprint and a 440-pound weight capacity (most scales, including our top pick, stop at 400 pounds). But its smaller display is not backlit, it emits beeps that can’t be disabled, and its readings take a bit longer than the competition. People who like to weigh themselves twice in a row (or household members who like to weigh back-to-back) might get frustrated because the last measured weight stays up on the display for a whopping 30 seconds, and it’s not possible to reweigh yourself during this time. The HD-351 can measure in stones, kilograms, or pounds and is warrantied for three years.

This is not a comprehensive list of all the bathroom scales we’ve evaluated. Here we include those we tested that are still available.

The EatSmart 550 Pound Digital Bathroom Scale we previously recommended as the best higher capacity scale was not as accurate as our picks at picking up weight changes within half a pound. However, if you need an extra-large scale that can accommodate up to 550 pounds, this is a fine choice.

In retesting our previous top pick bathroom scale, the EatSmart Precision Ultra-Wide Bathroom Scale, we found it did not reliably detect weight differences of less than half a pound.

The did not pick up on incremental weight changes within half a pound as well as our picks.

None of the Etekcity scales we considered performed as well as our picks. These were the EB9380H, EB4887S, EB4410B, EB4074C, and EB9388H.

The Greater Goods AccuCheck Scale was not as precise at picking up weight changes under ½ a pound as our picks.

The Hopkins Medical Products EZ Carry 550 LB Digital Scale has a handle for easier transport, but it was not as accurate or precise as our picks in our testing.

The Inevifit Bathroom Scale was accurate and precise in our testing, but it has a less-legible display and usually costs a lot more than our picks.

While customer reviewers glow about the Renpho Travel Scale for Body Weight, it did not always pick up weight changes of less than half a pound, and its (purposefully) compact size made it difficult to use for testers with a foot size above around a women’s 7.

We found the Taylor Digital Bathroom Talking Scale to be generally accurate and precise. If you need a scale that speaks your weight out loud and are okay with a few errant measurements, this is an adequate choice.

The Seca 813 Digital Flat Scale was accurate, features an extra-wide nonslip rubberized platform, and—like the Tanita HD-351, which we think is worth considering—measures weights up to 440 pounds. But it’s much more expensive and doesn’t save past weights.

The Taylor Digital Glass Bathroom Scale wasn’t as accurate as our picks during our testing.

The EatSmart CalPal Digital Bathroom Scale, Escali Bamboo Bath Scale, Greater Goods Bathroom Scale 0390, Ozeri WeightMaster II, Taylor Digital Stainless Steel Bathroom Scale, and Taylor 7558 and 7506 scales performed poorly when compared with our picks in controlled weight-adjustment testing.

This article was edited by Tracy Vence and Kalee Thompson.

1. Svetlana Chentsova, FNP-BC, CBN, program manager at One Healthy Boston, phone interview, March 28, 2019

2. Linda G. Everett, MD, MHA, medical weight loss physician, Everett Medical Weight Loss and Management, phone interview, April 17, 2015

3. Rachel L. Pires, author of Diet Enlightenment, phone interview, April 15, 2014

4. Lisa Quintiliani, PhD, associate professor of medicine, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, video interview, September 23, 2022