Best Weber alternatives – unsung grills that might be better for your backyard

It's no secret that Weber makes the best grills in the world. Weber grills deservedly take up the top three spots in our guide to the best grills and best gas grills. Our tests have shown that they excel at cooking a huge range of different foods.

However, it's smart to be skeptical. The company has a big advertising budget and armies of influencers telling you that nothing beats a Weber, which can be pretty disconcerting if you're just trying to find a good grill.

Whether you've had a Weber and disliked it, think their grills are too expensive, or just want to see what else is out there, these are the best alternatives to Weber grills.

The Quick List

Best electric grill

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I was hugely skeptical when I was arranging the test for this grill. It's a little tabletop smoker, and I wasn't expecting very much. In fact, I thought it would be pretty poor. Thankfully, I was totally wrong. This little smoker has seven different cooking functions, but the standout is easily the smoker.

It can smoke meat just like a full-sized pellet smoker, and faster, too. Sure, you can't run a restaurant off this, but a family of four can have delicious short ribs in just a couple of hours. We smoked a lot of different meals with this, and they all stood up to larger smokers, including Weber smokers. When we tried a smoked pork tenderloin with this smoker and tested it out on a neighbor, they said it was the best smoked pork they'd ever had: and it only took 45 minutes.

It has a host of different functions, with the option to grill, smoke, air fry, roast, bake, dehydrate, and broil. My big criticism is that the roasting, air frying, and baking functions are basically identical - it's really just an air fryer - but it's still more versatile than most grills. It's fast, too, making delicious salmon in under 7 minutes.

Most significantly, Weber doesn't have a model that can match this. Their tabletop grill, the Smokey Joe Charcoal is great, but it's not a pellet smoker, so you'll have to learn how to smoke off charcoal rather than easy, simple wood pellets. They have an electric grill, the Pulse 2000, but it can't smoke and it's $850, which is far too much money to spend on an electric grill. For a tabletop grill, Ninja beats Weber.

Alex's full Ninja Woodfire Outdoor Grill review has all the details.

Best pellet smoker

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Traeger beat Weber to the punch, as they were the first manufacturer to make wood pellet grills. Like other pellet grills, the Traeger Ironwood has an offset pellet chamber that infuses your food with delicious, flavorful smoke. Best of all, it's incredibly easy to use. It has an app and built-in meat probe, so you can monitor your food to the precise degree from your phone. It maintains temperature for you, so if you need to cook something low and slow for hours you can set it and forget it.

The 650 square-inch capacity is on the small side for a smoker but still cooks a huge amount of food. On test, we found that means you can fit eight whole chickens, six pork butts, or five racks of ribs at a time. Best of all, the food it makes is delicious .

However, we've also tested the Weber Smokefire EX6, and loved it. It has similar features to the Ironwood 650, but a much larger total cooking area of 1008 square inches. However, it lost out to the Ironwood 650 in our guide to the best grills. It does a very similar job, and there's negligible difference between the quality of the food of both grills. While it has a handy app, we found it pretty temperamental. The clincher is that it's $300 more expensive than the Ironwood 650, so you're better off with the Traeger.

Best Kamado grill

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For the uninitiated, a Kamado grill is a charcoal barbecue that uses ceramic plates. These plates are incredibly heat efficient, so they can reach incredibly high temperatures and maintain them for hours, unlike the 30-minute sear window on a charcoal grill made from steel or aluminum.

The Joe II is a particularly good example of the benefits of Kamado grills. It reaches 750°F, so it's amazing at searing burgers and steaks, and it's great for feeding a crowd because it can cook so quickly. You could easily turn out dozens of burgers in a few minutes. Best of all, it's not a one-trick pony, because it also did a great job at roasting a whole chicken. The food it made tasted incredible. The high heat ensures a great sear, but the heavy lid seals in moisture so the meat doesn't dry out. On top of that, this grill looks incredible as part of an outdoor kitchen. The glossy red shell elevates the usual boring black steel of a grill into a part of your garden design.

However, this grill isn't without its issues. It's so heat-efficient that it takes a lot of getting used to, and while it has wheels, it's barely portable, because the wheels are tiny and it weighs 231 lbs. On top of that, it's incredibly expensive for a charcoal grill, costing $1299.

That said, the Joe II is a lot better than the Kamado grill on offer at Weber. Weber's Summit Kamado Charcoal Grill has rave reviews but isn't actually a true Kamado grill. The Weber Summit doesn't use ceramic plates, so it's really a glorified charcoal barbecue.

Best charcoal grill

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The Napoleon Pro22K is great because of all the extra features. It has a built-in cart with a table, which makes it a lot easier to use than other kettle grills, and it has a wok attachment, which makes for fantastic grilled prawns. It made delicious burgers and hot dogs and did a great job on chicken skewers and vegetables.

However, it doesn't stand up to my favorite charcoal gas grill, the Weber Original Kettle. The Napoleon grill has a noticeable cool spot, and the grates are too big for lump wood charcoal, so you have to use briquettes. Unlike the Weber, it takes almost an hour to reach cooking temperature. What's more, we aren't sure that the extra $200 for the cart is worth it - you'd likely get better value buying the PRO22KLEG2 - it's identical but doesn't have the cart attached.

You're much better off with a Weber Original Kettle. It's cheap, reaches temperature quickly, and maintains that temperature for longer than this grill. Put simply, it makes better food for less.

There's more detail in our full Napoleon Pro22K review.

Best-looking grill

I love this grill because it looks so good. Most grills - even my favorite Webers - are frankly pretty ugly. They're boring hunks of black and gray metal that can look completely out of place in a thoughtfully designed garden. This mid-century modern-inspired grill was a revelation when we had it assembled. It looks so much better than the competition, so if want a good-looking grill that doesn't derail your garden aesthetics, this is the grill for you.

It also does a great job of grilling. We made delicious burgers and hot dogs on this grill, and I especially appreciate the ingenious diagonal pattern on the grate, which stops food from falling through the gaps. With a little planning, you could grill small food like prawns on this grill right on the grate.

However, this grill is very hard to clean, and while the design looks great, it traps a lot of grease, which doesn't make it to the grease tray. It's a pretty gross job to clean up.

On top of that, while It's a good grill, it can't compare to the Weber Spirit II E-310, my favorite ever gas grill. I tested both grills on the same day and the Weber was simply better. It was easier to use and made better food without any sticking. It's also much cheaper, so while it doesn't look as good, it's a much better choice.

Best side burner

Napoleon's Phantom Rogue is packed with bonus features. Unlike most other grills, the warming rack has its own side burner, so you can make incredibly good corn on the cob as you grill. The infrared side burner is genuinely exceptional, reaching astonishing temperatures that are great for searing. In fact, it cooks so fast that it takes some getting used to, but it's great for flash-cooking vegetables and searing steaks.

However, it doesn't make as good food as equivalent Weber products, with more sticking on the grill grates. It takes longer to reach temperature and takes a little longer to cook. While the light-up control knobs aren't available on Weber grills, I also found that they are a gimmick that doesn't offer much illumination.

Unlike most Weber grills, every Napoleon grill I've ever tested has been very difficult to assemble. The best direct equivalent is the Weber Genesis II E-335, which currently tops our rankings. That grill has all the same features, makes better food, and also has

How we test grills

All of these grills have been tried and reviewed by us first-hand.

The first step is market research. We thoroughly research the market to find the best candidates for inclusion, and arrange samples with our sources at the major grill manufacturers.

Once we have the samples, our first test starts as soon as we open the box. We always assess the assembly process, because it can be tricky, especially if you aren't tech-savvy or have mobility issues.

After assembly, we time how long it takes each grill to reach temperature for searing, before testing how long it takes to sear burgers and sausages, as well as give them a taste test. We also try vegetables and halloumi to see how well the grill handles more delicate food. After that, we roast a whole chicken low and slow to see how the grill stands up to longer cooking.

Once the staples have been tested, we test out bonus features like side burners by cooking steaks and test warming racks with corn on the cob. We also have specific tests for different types of grills, so we also test smokers with ribs and brisket, as well as the usual staples.

Our team of experts has several years of experience testing grills. I have personally tested most of the grills in this guide, either for Homes & Gardens or other publications; others were tested by the team before I joined this magazine.

For further information about how we conduct our reviews and for our product-testing process explained, explore how we test, and there's even more information specific to our grill testing process in how we test grills.

Grill FAQs

Why is Weber so popular?

Weber grills are popular because they're often the best. Weber grills tend to make better-tasting food than other models, and they're also faster to heat up and cook. Most Weber grills are made or assembled in the USA, too.

It can be tricky to pick out a grill. For more advice, take a look at our guide to how much you should spend on a grill, or how to buy a grill.