Best Firepit for 2025

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Winter is no longer coming, it’s been here for a while and the nights are as cold as they’ve ever been. If you’re not a fan of hiding from the cold indoors but prefer spending time outside, a firepit is a good addition to your space. A firepit also has a great social element to it, which is especially valuable if you have people over often. It’s a fantastic gathering spot — there’s nothing quite like cozying up by the fire with friends and family on a cool evening. You could pair that up with some games or even an outdoor projector to watch a movie in the backyard.

In addition to keeping your patio cozy, an outdoor firepit can double as a spot for cooking. There are plenty of options to choose from, including permanent fixtures, compact models you can store away when not in use and portable firepits perfect for camping trips.

Below is our list of top-rated firepits, which cater to a range of needs and preferences.

What is the best fire pit overall?Fire pits are more than just campfires to gawk at. Many of these models come with cooking grates, meaning you can grab your cast-iron cookware and make your dinner in your backyard fire pit instead of in the kitchen. Some throw in fire pokers for the price. Our testers at CNET have had a great time finding and testing the best fire pits, so we can pass the best recommendations on to you.

You can find compact $50 models for warming a couple of pairs of hands or fiery, high-performance pits worth hundreds of dollars. Fire pits can run on a variety of different fuel types too, whether you’re after a fire pit that runs on wood pellets, propane or a smoke-free gel that can even be burned indoors without any noxious fumes.

After testing fire pits from the most reputable brands out there, we can tell you that the sleek, efficient Pit Boss Pellet Fire Pit is the best overall fire pit of 2025. Its pellet fuel burns more evenly than wood and has the advantage of being smokeless, making it more palatable for partygoers who don’t have to worry about standing downwind of the flames. Every model in this list is worth your consideration, each catering to a different budget and coming with its own benefits, whether you need a fire pit you can bring indoors or something portable for when you’re far from home.

Best fire pits of 2025Using a pellet fire pit instead of wood is a different experience. The smell can be different, especially if you throw in some pellets designed for smoking meats, and the fire feels more intense. The Pit Boss pellet fire pit kept me warm from 6 feet away on a brisk November morning, and the pellets lasted a long while before they needed a refill. Like a lot of modern fire pits, the Pit Boss uses a design to catch the smoke and recirculate it so you mainly get fire rather than smoke. Lighting it was easy, although pellet pits can take an external accelerant to get going. I used a small spray of barbecue lighter fluid on mine, and it worked perfectly. It releases more smoke as you start it, but it goes away as the fire heats up.

It also comes with a quality-feeling cover to keep the rain off and a removable ashtray to make dumping out the pellet ash pain-free. Pellets burn more evenly than wood chunks, so the ash never has unburned lumps. I like pellet pits more than wood now, and the Pit Boss has helped me in that decision.

Most of our selections are wood-burning fire pits, but there is something to be said for propane pits. This 19-inch fire pit from Outland Living fits neatly on a table or the ground and is perfect for people who already use propane for their grills or patio heaters.
The Firebowl has a nice long hose to keep your gas tank away from the open flame, so it is safe to use. It gives off a significant amount of heat; because it is gas, heat can be adjusted as needed. A fire pit that can start the evening on a low setting for the ambiance and finish it with a roaring fire to keep the chill away is a luxury that wood burners don’t offer. 

The Firebowl also comes with lava rocks, perfect for creating the illusion of a bonfire, as they add carbon to the flame, making it yellow instead of blue. They also help keep the heat going, even if you turn the gas off to conserve it. One big advantage of a gas fire pit is instant heat. There’s no waiting for the fire to get going; it’s just the heat you want when you want it.

Some could argue that this is not, strictly speaking, a “fire pit” but it is a chiminea, and that’s close enough. The Solo Stove Lloyd is a beautiful-looking fireplace that has several key features that are nearly unique. It uses a smokeless gell fuel that comes in a can and burns for around three hours. It can also be used indoors as the gel fuel doesn’t produce any noxious fumes. The indoor/outdoor use comes in handy when the night gets so cold even a fire pit isn’t enough. In the warmer months, you can reduce the amount of cans you light down through one, two or three, so you get the fire without the heat.

I was concerned at first that the Lloyd wouldn’t produce enough heat from the gell cans, but it was sufficient to keep us warm from seven feet away on a 40-degree night. That’s good enough for me. The only downside I can see is the fuel can be a little pricey. The cheapest way to buy it is in bulk, but it still costs around $7.50 a session, which is more than wood or even pellets.

If you do a lot of camping or any amount of travel, you know how important it is to pack your car properly. Tetris-like skill is needed to fit everything you need. The Flat Packer from Burch Barrel makes the packing hell a little easier by being under an inch thick when folded away. It can fit easily down the side of your luggage or even flat with bags on top. When you get to where you are going, slide the four pieces together and boom, an instant fire pit with a grill top for burgers.

To say the Breeo X Series 24 is built to take a beating is an understatement. Manufactured in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the X Series is constructed from a mix of corten (weathering) steel and 304 stainless steel. As a result, the X Series doesn’t require a rain cover or weather shelter. After six months of exposure to the elements, the outer wall of the fire pit develops a natural patina that protects it from corrosion. 

The X Series also has an advanced airflow system designed to facilitate secondary fuel burn, similar to the smokeless fire pits from Solo Stove. Not as easy to ignite as the Solo Stove pits, the X Series definitely stays lit once you get the fire going, and when it’s done properly, the process takes 5 minutes and only requires smaller logs and kindling at first. It puts out plenty of heat as it burns away at full temperature, but the pit’s secondary burn releases hardly any smoke.

In addition to being built extremely tough, the Breeo X Series also works with the excellent Outpost Grill, SearPlate Griddle, Flat Top Griddle, and Live Fire Pizza Oven. As you might expect, these accessories are built just as durably as the fire pit. This type of fire pit versatility makes for a big win for your patio.

One last note: Be sure to think strategically about where you want to deploy this pit. Weighing in at 78 pounds, the X Series 24 is 33 pounds heavier than the second-heftiest pit in this group, the Tiki Fire Pit. I recommend asking a friend or two to help move it where it needs to go in your yard or patio.

The FirePit Plus, made by Brooklyn-based BioLite, weighs under 20 pounds and is built for portability. Measuring 27 by 13 by 15.8 inches, it’s relatively long and narrow, making it really good for patio use. It holds a little more wood than you’d think, with room for up to four cordwood logs. You can either use it as a standard fire pit or as a backyard grill and it was upgraded in 2021 with an enamel coating for easier cleaning and a higher-capacity battery for its built-in fan. It can also work as a patio heater. In fire pit mode, you lower the fuel rack to the bottom of the pit. To use it as a free-standing grill, so you can cook over hot wood coals or charcoal briquettes if you prefer, raise the rack to its highest position. BioLite offers a bundle with a grill grate that sits over everything. The grill lit up fast, in less than 5 minutes, and was fully burning in less than 10.

The FirePit Plus has a couple of signature features, one being patented airflow technology. A motorized fan powered by the flames’ heat output drives air to the firebox. You can also control it using an iOS or Android app on a phone using Bluetooth. A mesh body lets you see flames through the FirePit from any angle. 

The Breeo Luxeve may look fancy (and it is), but it’s also very durable. This is because it’s just what Breeo does, and the other reason is that it is essentially the Breeo X Series 24 fire pit but leveled up a few notches.

Breeo modified the base X Series 24 to allow for some nice upgrades that elevate the aesthetics of the typical fire pit. When ordering from Breeo directly, you can customize your fire pits in a couple of ways. One is by choosing the color. You can pick between White River, Bronze Vein, Silver Vein and Earth Rust, which is what you can see in the photos.

Secondly, you can customize the glass around the top ring. For this option, you can choose between black, dark blue, gray, clear and Amber Brown. Black was chosen in the photos.

The Luxeve isn’t just a good-looking and durable fire pit; it has the same fantastic smokeless fire capabilities as the rest of Breeo’s lineup. In addition to all of this, the Luxeve is also compatible with the Flat Top Griddle and Live Fire Pizza Oven. It won’t work with the Outpost Grill or SearPlate Griddle.

Solo Stove fire pits are among the best smokeless fire pits out there, and while they work great and their stainless steel construction gives them a sleek appearance, the original models had one flaw: They weren’t so easy to clean up. That changed with the arrival of the new Solo Stove 2.0 fire pits, which are available in the same three sizes — Ranger 2.0 (small), Bonfire 2.0 (medium) and Yukon 2.0 (large) — and have a removable ash pan, a feature missing from the 1.0 models.

We tested the midsize Bonfire 2.0 model, and it was a breeze to get fires started — the 2.0 fire pits have the same 360-degree Airflow Technology that allows for smokeless fire — and on the outside, the 2.0 fire pit looks the same as the 1.0 version. The difference is on the inside: once your fire has gone out and fully cooled down, you simply remove the screen over the pan, which collects the majority of the cinders, then remove the pan itself and dump the remaining ash (you no longer have to turn over the fire pit to remove the ash). A bit of the finer ash can end up at the bottom of the fire pit basin after you remove the pan but that’s easy to remove with a wet rag or paper towel. Solo Stove fire pits are efficient. They consistently consumed our test logs and produced a lot less smoke than other fire pits we’ve tested. As with other high-performance fire pits, kids (and adults) need to be careful around the Bonfire 2.0. In addition to the intense heat from the fire itself, the Bonfire’s steel surface heats to burning temperatures fast.

Solo Stove, which makes some of the best smokeless fire pits, released its second-generation Ranger 2.0 (small), Bonfire 2.0 (medium) and Yukon 2.0 (large) fire pits in August 2022. Now it’s gone extra small for its new Mesa fire pit. 

As its name implies, the Mesa is designed to sit on a tabletop and is small enough to slip into a backpack for mobility. Naturally, you could also set it on the ground, but when you put it on a table, it’s at a good height for comfortably roasting marshmallows. It has the same 360-degree Signature Airflow system as Solo Stove’s larger fire pits and is the spiritual successor to the Solo Stove Lite, a mini camp stove (whether we’ll see some camping accessories for the Mesa is unclear at this point). It’s an excellent mini fire pit.