We’ve tested 23 automatic litter boxes over the years, both in our New York testing lab and in our homes, and a clear winner emerges each time: the Litter-Robot 4. It’s quiet, it’s easy to clean, the app is useful and simple, and our cats (and their owners) have loved it. Plus, the convenience of a self-cleaning litter box is an alluring promise. No more scooping litter! No more smell! 

While this top pick is normally available for $799, right now, you can save $80 when you get the Litter-Robot 4 core bundle, which includes the self-cleaning litter box plus the Litter-Robot LitterTrap Mat, 6 OdorTrap refills, 6 OdorTrap refills, 25 waste drawer liners, 30 cleaner wipes, and a fence—all for $719 (regularly $799). This item rarely goes on sale—so if you’ve had your eye on this, now is the time to buy it.

Our editors and testers love this litter box. To sum up: “It’s a really high-quality machine that gets the job done and is really convenient to use,” one tester said. And the cat families of Reddit seem to agree, with one Redditor calling it life-changing. 

Find the best deals right now on the Litter-Robot 4, and read our full review to determine if it’s a fit for your feline and family.

The Best Litter-Robot 4 Deals Right Now

While the brand has markdowns on several of its products (including several Litter-Robot 3 products and bundles), here are the best deals we spotted. As mentioned, these products are rarely on sale, so make sure to buy before they’re over!

Prices below already reflect the onsite deal prices.

Save up to $100 on these Litter-Robot bundles

If you’re in the market for two Litter-Robots, you can save $100 on the Litter-Robot 4 Double Bundle ($1,498 with discount).

Save up to $75 on these Litter-Robot 4 bundles

The Litter-Robot 4 Is Convenient and Odor-Free

Undoubtedly the most important benefits of this automatic litter box are reducing odor and eliminating the task of scooping litter.

When the drawer needs emptying, the app or a light on the control panel will alert you. Simply pull out the drawer, remove and dispose of the bag containing the waste, and—voila!—you’re done. The Litter-Robot 4 comes with three plastic liners, and our tester also noted that when she ran out of those liners, small garbage bags did the trick.

“I don’t have to clean it daily, which makes traveling easier,” said one tester. “We went on a week-long trip during testing and our cat sitter loved that she didn’t have to worry about the litter, which left more time to play with our cats.”

In some of our tests, we did notice a slight but present smell coming from the Litter-Robot 4. That’s because—like most automatic litter boxes we’ve tested—it works by separating your cat’s solid waste from the litter and depositing it into a separate compartment, no longer masked by the litter meant to contain or absorb the smell. 

According to our testers, however, that hasn’t been much of an issue, and it’s still better than any regular litter box odor. “I haven’t smelled any cat litter or waste since starting with this litter box,” said one tester. “I think a combination of a large interior and the closed off waste drawer does a great job of immediately whisking away anything that would cause odors.”

The Litter-Robot 4 is especially useful for those in multiple-cat households. On a more obvious note, waste simply builds up more quickly when you have multiple cats, and it can be hard to stay on top of. Each of our testers lived in two-cat households and felt that the Litter-Robot 4 made their lives noticeably easier—and less smelly. 

One more pro of this machine: it’s (fairly) quiet. In one Reddit thread, nearly every single commenter agreed on this, with multiple people chiming in that the Litter-Robot 4 is much quieter than its predecessor, the Litter-Robot 3, and that upgrade alone was worth it. “It’s nowhere near as loud as our dishwasher or washer and dryer, so it’s certainly an acceptable volume,” said our tester. “And the noise doesn’t deter the cats.”  

It’s Extremely Easy to Set Up and Use

The general consensus among our testers and Reddit users is how easy this is to set up—in fact, there’s practically no assembly or setup required.  Our tester loved that “out of the box, this really just needed to be plugged in and it was good to go.” Another tester appreciated how the product comes fully assembled with instructions on how best to unbox it. 

Five Steps for Setup:

• Place it: Make sure it’s near a power outlet and at least one inch away from the nearest walls, and set litter mats or rugs in front of it. Be sure to keep it on a firm, level surface.
• Download the App: This is how you’ll be able to control several functions remotely.
• Add litter: Clumping litter is required in the Litter-Robot 4—don’t use any that is non-clumping, loose-clumping, or made from newspaper or wood pellets. 
• Begin the initial cleaning cycle: Plug in your Litter-Robot 4, and press the power button to begin the two-minute-long initial cleaning cycle. 
• Introduce your cat: Some cats may adjust quickly, while others will need more time. Keep the old litter box next to the Litter-Robot 4 for at least two to three days. One Redditor outlined their ten-step method for successfully acclimating their cats to their new litter box, noting that “it takes some time to get them used to it but [it’s] so worth it in the end!”

How to Use It:

Put simply, there’s not much you need to do. The Litter-Robot 4 keeps a supply of litter ready to go inside a fabric hammock. When your cat is done using the litter box, the sphere rotates to dispose of the litter through a filter that collects the solid waste into a reservoir and recycles clean litter to use again. It has an app and control panel for you to initiate certain features yourself—such as cycle, reset, and empty—but for the most part, it lives up to its “robot” name.

Cats Also Benefit From (and Enjoy!) This Litter Box

While we could go on and on about the perks of this litter box for humans, we also want to acknowledge the ways in which it benefits our feline companions—after all, they’re ones using this day in and day out.

First, the opening of the Litter-Robot 4 has proven very comfortable for cats, more so than the Litter-Robot 3. The entryway, at 15.75 inches all around, is more than five inches wider than that of its predecessor. “My cats absolutely love the size of it,” said one tester. “I do have two cats, and it took some getting used to, but now they both use it far more than their original litter box.”  Redditors seem to agree that the larger entryway alone makes the Litter-Robot 4 worth purchasing. 

The Litter-Robot 4 also comes with some impressive smart features, such as being able to monitor the litter as well as your cat’s weight and usage of the litter box. In fact, one user on Reddit explained how the Litter-Robot 4 alerted them to their cat’s urinary tract infection before they would’ve noticed it. “We’ve only had our Litter-Robot 4 for a little over a month, and this week we used it to quickly detect a UTI in one of our four cats,” they said. “All four cats have distinct sizes, so when [it] logged seven weights for one cat within 15 minutes, I instantly realized something was wrong. Less than 24 hours later, we were able to submit a urine sample and both antibiotics and pain meds were on board. The ability to quickly detect the UTI and make our little old lady comfortable has sold me on LR4.” 

As illustrated from their experience, the weight-tracking feature of the Litter-Robot 4 (another upgrade from the Litter-Robot 3) comes in handy when you need to keep track of multiple cats because each weight is associated with a specific cat.

Many Reddit users have upgraded from the Litter-Robot 3 to the Litter-Robot 4 and their cats prefer the 4. One commenter said definitively, “my cats all prefer the Litter-Robot 4, as do I.”

Final Thoughts

The Litter-Robot 4 stood out among all other automatic litter boxes in every one of our tests for its design, ease of use and cleaning, the overall impact on cleanliness, and impressive customer service when it came to replacing parts. Our testers felt that the Litter-Robot 4 had substantial design improvements over the Litter-Robot 3, including a wider entryway, better overall technology, and a significantly quieter presence. Redditors agreed that the Litter-Robot 4 is noticeably quieter than the Litter-Robot 3. In addition, the Litter-Robot 4 boasts a weight-tracking feature that can be very helpful in tracking certain health conditions related to your cat’s bathroom habits.

One Reddit user commented that they “think of it as an appliance.” Another Reddit user said, “it was a very tough decision for me to spend that much money on the [Litter-Robot 4]. Ended up buying it after mulling it over for weeks. If anything [were] to happen to my [Litter-Robot 4] now, I wouldn’t think more than a second to buy a new one to replace it … that’s how big of a quality of life change it’s been for me.”

The Litter-Robot 4: The Basics

• It measures 29.5 x 22 x 27 inches—similar in size to a mini fridge—with an entryway of 15.75 inches, and it weighs 24 pounds. 
• It’s available in white and black. You can choose to add a slotted “handle” on the front or an optional step to make climbing in and out easier for your cats. 
• The Litter-Robot 4 comes with a one-year warranty, plus a 90-day risk-free trial period. Reddit users noted the company’s excellent customer service and the ease of replacing parts if needed. “They replaced [their unit’s motor] for free and the replacement worked great … no further issues,” said one Redditor.

We purchased the Litter-Robot 3 Connect so our writer could put it to the test. Keep reading for our full product review.

If you’ve ever done some research on self-cleaning litter boxes, chances are you’ve come across the Litter-Robot 3 Connect, a smart automatic litter box that looks more like a spaceship than a kitty bathroom. If you hate scooping litter, the Litter-Robot might be just the right device for you. The Litter-Robot is anything but cheap, and if you are going to spend hundreds of dollars on a high-end product, it should work well. So we decided to test the Litter-Robot 3 Connect for ourselves to see if it was really as life-changing as it seemed.

Setup: Straightforward and seamless

When the Litter-Robot 3 Connect first arrived, we were shocked at the sheer size of the box. It was a box large enough for a kitchen table. The box is so large because the unit comes pre-assembled. All you have to do is hoist the 24-pound unit out of its shipping container, plug it in, and you’re ready to go. 

With the Wi-Fi enabled model, there are also a few steps to get it synced with your phone. We downloaded the Litter-Robot app, and it walked us through the necessary steps. The whole process took about five minutes, and we didn’t run into any issues along the way. 

The hardest part of the “setup” process was convincing Nugget to climb inside the globe to do his business. Because the Litter-Robot looks nothing like a standard litter box, we weren’t surprised that he was skeptical of what we were asking him to do. The product comes with a short guide on how to acclimate your cat to its new bathroom, and with the coaxing of a few treats, Nugget used the machine for the first time on the first day we set it up. 

Size: Beyond big

An average litter box is fairly compact—personally, our old one was 15 inches by 19 inches with 8-inch walls. The Litter-Robot 3, on the other hand, is absolutely huge. This futuristic-looking gadget is almost 2.5 feet—and it measures just over 2 feet wide and a little over 2 feet deep. Needless to say, if you were hoping to store this litter box in an inconspicuous corner of your home, it would be noticeable. 

The unit’s main globe has a 10.25-inch opening for cats to hop in, and they’ll have to climb up to get there, as the globe sits just over 13 inches off the ground. There is a step to help them get in, but our cat never had any issues jumping into the unit. 

Design: High-tech and well-built

As we mentioned, the Litter-Robot 3 looks more like a futuristic spaceship than a litter box. The brand says cats need to be over 5 pounds to trigger the sensor, but that’s really the only limitation for use. It can be used in single- or multi-cat households, and there’s no maximum weight limit, so chunky kitties should have no problems using the box.

In terms of construction, the Litter-Robot comprises two main pieces: the rotating inner globe and the base. Both are made of heavy-duty plastic. The globe is lined with rubber, and there are sensors inside for your cat to trigger. Once the sensor is set off, the unit counts down a set amount of time. You can choose 3, 7, or 15 minutes via the app before running the cycle. We chose 7 minutes.  

When it’s time to cycle, the globe starts rotating slowly. Clean litter falls through a sieve into a compartment on one side of the globe, leaving any litter clumps and solid waste behind. The globe continues spinning to drop waste into the base of the unit. According to the manufacturer, this system reduces litter usage by up to 50 percent compared to scooping, making each box of litter last longer. 

Once the waste is deposited, the globe then rotates back to its original position—we noticed it actually rotates a bit further than necessary to make sure all the clean litter comes out of the sieve compartment, then returns to its starting position. The noise made during rotation is a quiet hum that’s easily drowned out by ambient noise. We stopped hearing it after a week. 

The unit’s base houses the waste drawer, which you can easily pull out and line with plastic bags. Three Litter-Robot bags are included with the unit. When we ran out, we used large shopping bags or trash bags instead. Sensors in the base sent us a push notification when the drawer was full. 

In case of malfunction or if you want to trigger the cycle manually, you can use the Cycle and Reset buttons, or you can trigger a cycle via the app. In our experience, the unit worked as expected the majority of the time. The only issue we experienced was when we overfilled the unit with litter. There’s a max-fill line on the rubber globe; if you put too much litter, it can make the globe too heavy to spin. 

Litter Options: Clumping is a must

For the Litter-Robot to work, you have to use clumping litter—otherwise, liquid waste won’t be deposited into the base. We tried out two different litter types with the Litter-Robot: Arm & Hammer Double Duty Clumping Litter and Arm and Hammer Clump & Seal Lightweight. 

Both types worked, but the regular weight Arm & Hammer seemed to be a bit more effective. With the lightweight litter, a few clumps stuck to the rubber base that we had to knock off. 

Ease of Cleaning: Easy to empty and clean

The Litter-Robot claims to make litter box maintenance a breeze, and we have to agree. When we got a push notification saying the waste drawer was full, all we had to do was pull open the drawer, tie up the bag of waste, and throw it away. From there, we just lined the drawer with a new bag, hit the button to reset the waste gauge level in the app, and that was it. The whole process takes a few minutes, requiring no scooping. The brand says the drawer will need to be emptied around once a week, but we often didn’t get a notification that the drawer was full for 10 days or more. 

To properly maintain the Litter-Robot, the brand recommends cleaning the inside of the globe every one to three months and giving the unit a deep clean twice a year. Thankfully, the unit breaks down into several easy-to-clean pieces. The “bonnet” is the top piece that holds the globe in place, and it popped off easily when we depressed the two buttons on the side. The globe and waste drawer also come out and can be rinsed with a garden hose or soaked in soapy water. 

You shouldn’t get any of the electrical components wet, so keep water away from the base and bonnet and make sure the pieces are dry before reassembling. 

Odor Prevention: Stinky after a week

The one area where the Litter-Robot 3 falls a bit flat is odor prevention. There’s a carbon filter on the inside of the waste drawer, but it doesn’t do a great job neutralizing odors. If we let the drawer accumulate waste for more than a week, it begins to smell, which was frustrating as the drawer wasn’t full yet. The brand doesn’t claim that it will eliminate odors. The manufacturer says, “The amount of odor control the Litter-Robot will provide depends on the amount of odor created—by how many cats use it, what type of litter you use, and your cats’ diets, among other things.” 

As a remedy for the odor, we ended up putting a box of baking soda in the front of the drawer, which helped increase the amount of time we could go between empties. The brand recommends replacing the carbon filter every few months. 

Additional Features: Sleep mode, night light, and more

The high-tech Litter-Robot has various additional features, some of which we found useful and others that we could have lived without. For instance, there’s a blue night light inside the globe that you can turn on or off, but since cats have excellent night vision, we really didn’t understand the purpose of it. 

One useful feature is the 8-hour sleep mode, which stops the unit from cycling at night. We can see this as helpful if the litter box is in your room, disturbing you as you sleep. However, we opted to leave it off since the Litter-Robot was in the office. You can also lock the buttons on the front of the unit if you have pets or children who like to press them. 

The Litter-Robot app tracks the number of times it cycles each day, and it creates graphs of weekly and monthly trends. This can help spot medical issues such as UTIs. 

Price: Prohibitive

The Litter-Robot 3 Connect costs a whopping $499, which is way above the average for self-cleaning litter boxes. If you don’t care about the Wi-Fi capabilities, you can get a non-connected unit for $449, but that’s still no bargain. Overall, we think this model is definitely overpriced, but the brand can price its products so high because there are no comparable alternatives available today. 

Litter-Robot 3 Connect vs. PetSafe ScoopFree Self-Cleaning Litter Box

Another popular self-cleaning litter box is the PetSafe ScoopFree, and this model takes a vastly different approach than the Litter-Robot. The ScoopFree resembles a traditional litter box, but it includes a metal rake that pushes solid waste into its waste trap. While this unit works well and is less expensive than the Litter-Robot, you have to use crystal litter in it, and the cost of its necessary supplies increases the bottom line. 

Specs

Product Name	3 Connect Cat Litter Box
Product Brand	Litter-Robot
Price	$499.00
Weight	24 lbs.
Product Dimensions	24.25 x 29.5 x 27 in.
Color	Beige, gray
Warranty	18 months included; 3 years for $49.99

Final Verdict

Love the product, hate the price.

Unfortunately, the Litter-Robot 3 Connect is so highly-priced, as it’s an awesome product that would benefit many cat owners. If you can afford this $500 litter box, we think you’ll definitely enjoy its hands-off cleaning and various smart features, and the quality construction will serve you and your cats well for years to come.

The 9 Best Automatic Litter Boxes, Tested and Reviewed