The Best Bathroom Scales (2024)

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

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, such as a 2014 review including data from The National Weight Control Registry, 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 5 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 Rachel L. Pires, weight-loss counselor.

Many bathroom scales can now do much more than simply weigh people. Some record biometric readings in an accompanying app, allowing you to automatically track your weight over time. Though many ‎smart scales can be much more expensive than the regular digital scales we cover in this review, our pick costs about the same as the traditional bathroom scales we recommend in this review. 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, which is an estimate of body-fat percentage based on weight and height.

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 looked for:

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 a ridiculous number of 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, one tester—after weighing herself, then weighing herself while holding a 10-pound dumbbell, then weighing herself yet again without the dumbbell—found that one of the scales said she weighed 10 pounds more than she did. Other scales would at first correctly show the additional weight difference when another tester was holding one book, but would then revert to her previous weight measurement without the book, 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 between 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.

The EatSmart Precision+ Ultra-Wide Bathroom Scale performed exceptionally well in our testing, providing dozens of accurate and precise weights over the course of multiple weeks, always within a 0.2-pound margin of error. 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.

It’s dependably reliable. Whenever we weighed ourselves in succession, the EatSmart scale gave readings that were always the same. It was also very 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 higher weight capacity than most and is easy to read. This scale’s large backlit display (about 3.5 inches by 2 inches) is one of the largest we’ve tested, and weights are easy to read and remain on display for an ample 20 seconds after people weigh themselves, which is plenty long enough to jot down the numbers if you’re tracking weights manually. The EatSmart scale is 15 inches wide by 12 inches long, much wider than most bathroom scales, which makes it a solid choice for people with mobility or balance issues who could benefit from a larger platform and for people with a larger-than-average shoe size (men’s 10½ and above). This scale can accommodate weights of up to 440 pounds, while most scales stop at 400 pounds. It also measures in either kilograms or pounds.

We consider the lack of sound on this scale to be a benefit. But since the scale doesn’t beep to let you know when it has finished weighing, you have to continue looking down at the display to see when it flashes three times (or count to six in your head).

As with all bathroom scales, to get accurate readings on the EatSmart 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 of it). If the scale is placed on an uneven or carpeted floor (bathroom mats included), it (or any other scale) might not be able to display fresh weights, as we found out in our testing—no scale was able to overcome a poor flooring environment.

This scale is only available in one color (silver) and comes with a two-year warranty, which is an average length of time for bathroom scales (our runner-up pick from Greater Goods has an impressive five-year warranty).

Flaws but not dealbreakers

Like most modern electronic scales, our pick is made of tempered glass, which can be slippery when wet, and, according to some customer reviews, can shatter. An EatSmart representative said that the company receives “one or two complaints of this happening” annually. “Tempered safety glass is specifically designed to cause minimal or no injuries to the users,” the representative added. If your scale breaks, call EatSmart for a free replacement scale.

It’s extremely consistent. The Greater Goods AccuCheck Scale also 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 even more precise than our pick. It has the capacity to detect weight fluctuations of just 0.1 pounds (compared with our pick’s 0.2 pounds). But it is smaller than our pick, being the traditional square 11.8-by-11.8-inch footprint of most bathroom scales. Its 3-inch-wide display is smaller and slightly less clear than the EatSmart scale’s display but still plenty legible.

Weigh-in numbers remain on display for 15 seconds, which is 5 seconds shorter than our pick but still plenty of time for recording. It has a 400-pound maximum weight measurement (40 pounds less than our pick), measures in either kilograms or pounds, and is completely silent (no beeps).

The Greater Goods scale is available in five colors (white, black, blue, clear, and gray) and comes with a substantial warranty of five years—more than double that of our pick’s standard warranty period.

Like our pick, the Greater Goods scale requires weigh-ins to take place on a hard, flat surface, and you should calibrate it every time you move the scale (by quickly stepping on and off of it).

The AccuCheck Scale’s name comes from its unusual feature of a multistep, color-coded, patent-pending process to verify the accuracy of a person’s weight after they have stepped off the scale. In our testing, we found that the extra steps required were questionably useful and not especially intuitive. After weighing a person for a few seconds, a blinking orange light comes on, and doesn’t turn green until a second or two after the person has stepped off the scale, confirming that the scale has verified the accuracy of the weigh-in. Unlike our pick, your weight isn’t confirmed until you step off the scale, which could prove problematic for people who can’t bend down to see the weigh-in status, as you don’t get any other sign besides the small orange light that the weight has been measured (like a beep). If you can’t (or don’t want to) see the scale, counting to six before stepping off should give it enough time to weigh and for you to record.

In the case of incorrect weigh-ins (ostensibly due to uneven flooring, as all scales tested on that flooring proved imprecise), the orange light still turned green, and the scale doesn’t have an option to display a different color if the weigh-in is unverified.

Like our pick’s platform, the Greater Good scale’s platform is made from tempered glass, which can shatter or be slippery when wet. A Greater Goods representative said that “it is very rare for any of our scales to shatter,” and that aside from the two negative reviews on Amazon, its customer service team had received no additional reports of shattering over the following 18 months. If your scale shatters, call Greater Goods for a free replacement scale.

If you require a higher weight capacity or just want a bigger platform: The EatSmart 550 Lb. Digital Bathroom Scale is a beautiful, extra-large scale that is as accurate as our picks on level flooring, but beeps loudly three times after each weigh-in with no way to turn the sound off. This scale is covered by a two-year warranty.

If you need extreme precision and accuracy (and are willing to pay for it), or if you are hesitant to buy a scale with a glass platform: We like the Tanita HD-351, which stores weight data for up to five users. Its display is not the brightest and readings take a bit longer than the competition, but this (often out-of-stock) scale performed among the best across all our tests. It is warrantied for three years

The Etekcity EB9380H scale we previously recommended was not as accurate in this round of testing as it previously was. None of the other Etekcity scales we considered performed as well as our picks, either. These were the EB4887S, the EB4410B, the EB4074C, and the EB9388H.

The Inevifit Bathroom Scale is as accurate as our picks on level flooring but has a less-legible display and usually costs a lot more.

The Tanita HD-662 is a compact, accurate scale with a backlit display and a plastic platform. But in the last two testing rounds, we found that it slides around on the floor easily, presenting a potential safety hazard.

We found the Taylor Precision Products 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 Taylor Digital Glass Bathroom Scale proved almost as accurate as our picks during our testing. It has a 440-pound capacity, has a five-year warranty, and, in addition to clear glass, comes in two attractive wood grain-like finishes: brown and gray.

This article was edited by Tracy Vence and Kalee Thompson.