Best Pellet Stoves, Tested and Reviewed

With pellet stoves, there’s no need to split logs or continuously fuss over the fire. Instead, you pour ready-to-use pellets into the stove’s hopper, which automatically feeds them into the stove to maintain a steady temperature throughout the day. 

Pellet stoves offer many homeowners an opportunity to save on their heating bills. But burning any kind of wood in your home, even in a modern and efficient stove, poses some health risks from airborne particulate matter. 

If you decide a pellet stove is right for you and want some help navigating your purchase, check out our in-depth pellet stove buying guide. 

Below, we’ve highlighted the highest-performing pellet stoves in testing we conducted at Consumer Reports. They heat up quickly when first turned on, can run for at least 24 hours without needing to be refilled, are easy to clean and reload with pellets, and have useful and versatile controls.

CR didn’t measure energy efficiency or emissions, and those important factors are not weighted in our scoring. But we include both data points, as reported by the manufacturers, on pages devoted to individual models.

Keep in mind that a pellet stove must have an energy-efficiency rating of 75 percent or higher to qualify for the 30 percent (or $2,000 max) federal tax credit, which includes installation costs. As a result of the tax-and-spending bill signed into law in July, projects must now be completed by the end of 2025 for the credits to apply.

All of the models featured below qualify, and you can double-check through an Environmental Protection Agency database as well.