The Best Automatic Pet Feeders of 2024

Encased in BPA-free camo-colored plastic, this certainly isn’t the sexiest model on the market. But it gets the job done, being seamless to set up, effortless to wash and totally intuitive to use. It accommodates five pre-portioned meals at up to 1 cup each, which is a generous amount of food for a smart feeder intended for cats and small dogs. A built-in digital clock with LCD display is simple to operate and always dispenses food for us at the exact time requested.

The model runs on batteries, which means you don’t have to worry about electric malfunctions, and a carousel tray can be quickly removed and popped in the dishwasher for seriously easy cleaning. The only downside is that it doesn’t come with ice packs or any other options for keeping wet food cool. So if you plan to actually run it for five days straight, it’s best to stick to kibble.

With its sleek black and white build, the Arf is surprisingly attractive for a machine not generally known for its looks. Holding 1.14 gallons of food at a time, you can set their feeding schedule for up to four meals a day with customized portion sizes (each amounts to 24ml and you can request up to 10 portions at a time). You can record 10-second personal messages on the Arf to play during mealtimes, so pets are not only notified when food is dispensed, they get the hear the sound of your voice.

The feeder runs on electricity or batteries, which provides an important backup system. It also has a magnetic lock lid, making it tricky for pets to break in. Like all hopper models, it works with kibble only, so this isn't ideal for animals on a wet food diet. And some of the features were a bit of a struggle to figure out, as it took time for us to determine how to dispense food manually or trigger a reset.

Another versatile option for any sized pet, the Simply Feed holds up to 24 cups of dry kibble at a time and can be dispensed in a ⅛ cup to 4 cup increments. Special features include a “slow feed” option, which releases portions of your pet’s meal a little bit at a time over a 15 minute period—a benefit for quick-gobble animals that are prone to vomiting and bloat. A conveyor belt design accommodates kibble of all shape and sizes and helps prevent jams while a locking lid prevents pets from breaking into it. Downsides are that set-up isn’t all that intuitive and even after playing around with portion settings, it regularly dispensed less food than we asked.

The Qpet boasts a 6 compartment capacity, which means you can offer your pet multiple small meals throughout the day or assure they’re fed over many days time. And it’s suitable for both wet and dry food. That said, there’s no cooling mechanism to ensure that wet food stays fresh. There’s also an option to record a 6-second message to your pet, which, besides being sweet, is a helpful way to let them know it’s dinner time.

Looking sort of like a teal blue UFO (in the best way possible), the feeder is light and portable, although the round design prevents it from sitting flush in a corner. A locking top prevents pet break-ins, although it’s equally forboding to humans—we often struggled hard to remove it, as we were afraid we’d snap the latches.

This feature-rich model is easy to program. And not only does the app let you determine the day, time, and amount of each feeding—and change it remotely at will—it offers portion size suggestions and dietary info based on FAQ’s you plug in about your pet (such as breed, age, activity level, and their preferred brand of food). It also lets you know if the hopper is running low, so if you intend to stock your machine to run over long periods of time, you’ll know when to refill. That said, the Petnet didn’t always dispense the accurate amount asked.

It also doesn’t let you record a message or provide an audible cue when it’s mealtime, which is surprising for an otherwise smart machine. And there’s no question the Petnet is heavy and bulky, so while you can bring it with you on a trip if need be, it’s a bit of a pain to have to lug around and store.