Best and Worst Door Locks of 2025
These top-rated locks from Eufy, Kwikset, and Yale are excellent at resisting picking, drilling, and kick-ins. Plus, 4 locks to avoid.
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Many crimes involve intruders coming through a home’s front door. That’s why you need a good deadbolt.
Consumer Reports’ door lock ratings have test results on dozens of models, and we’ve seen that quality varies widely. Below, you’ll find some of the best locks on the market, including highly rated models from Eufy, Kwikset, and Yale. We’ve also included four door locks to avoid. CR members can click on each model name for detailed ratings and reviews. They can also check out our ratings on other home security systems.
Not ready to buy? You can probably make your current door lock more secure with a simple tweak. In one of our standard tests, Consumer Reports technicians use a custom-built jig that swings a 100-pound steel battering ram against a locked door. They repeat the test eight times, with the ram raised to increasing heights or until the lock fails. And many locks do fall short.
In these brute-force kick tests, “the cause of failure is more often than not the short screws used to attach the strike plate to the doorframe,” says Paolo Fu, CR’s test engineer for door locks. “When this is the cause, replacing the included strike plate with a reinforced strike, which costs as little as $10, improves the lock’s resistance to kicking by magnitudes.”
Every lock that CR tests gets kicked in, picked, and drilled to test how easy they are to get past. All models, including smart locks, receive a score in each of the four break-in tests, allowing you to easily compare a lock’s strengths and weaknesses against a breaking and entering scenario. The only exception is retrofit smart locks, whose security is entirely dependent on the deadbolts they are paired with.
Both types of smart locks also get additional testing. We investigate features such as smartphone alerts, remote locking and unlocking, geofencing (the ability to automatically lock or unlock the door based on your phone’s location), third-party app and voice control, shareable electronic keys, access logs of who comes and goes, and even tamper alarms. We also run through the wireless setup process to see how difficult it is to connect the locks to a smartphone and other smart home devices.
To learn more about our testing, see our door lock buying guide. For more door lock options, check our complete door lock ratings.
Best Door Locks
If you’re looking for a strong door lock with a deadbolt, consider these top-rated models below. They are stellar at resisting kick-ins and picking, according to our tests.
The Kwikset Juno 991J15SMTCP is the strongest conventional deadbolt you can buy. It stands up well to kick-ins as sold, and receives a high score for its ability to resist lock picking. The lock’s only weakness is that it’s susceptible to attacks from a cordless drill, but this is common with standard deadbolts.
If you want a door lock with a keypad but don’t want it to connect to the internet or your smartphone, consider the Kwikset SmartCode 915 TRL. It receives top marks for its resistance to picking and is difficult to kick in. However, the lock is vulnerable to attacks from a cordless drill.
Best Smart Locks
More and more smart locks are coming to market that connect directly to WiFi without the need for adapters and hubs, making setup easier and less complicated for consumers. Like the locks above, these smart iterations are good at surviving kick-ins and lock picking—and unlike the ones above, they can also thwart drilling attacks.
In our tests, the Kwikset Obsidian 954OBNZW500 receives a stellar rating for drilling, thanks to its keyless design, as well as impressive marks for kick-ins. The only thing about this lock that might make you consider other options? It uses a special wireless network called Z-Wave. That means you’ll need to connect the lock to a smart home hub that supports Z-Wave devices, such as a Samsung SmartThings smart home hub, Hubitat smart home hub, or Ring Alarm system. Still, the lock offers a number of useful features, including a touchscreen keypad for PINs, an access log to track who comes and goes, and voice control via Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
The Yale Assure YRD256-CBA-619 receives superb scores for convenience and for remote operation. It also earns excellent scores for both of our kick-in tests. Additionally, the lock stands up very well to drilling attacks.
This smart lock comes with a WiFi bridge from August that allows you to wirelessly communicate with your lock from anywhere. It also comes with a door sensor that can tell you not only that the door is locked, but also that it is shut firmly. The app allows you to keep track of when, by whom, and how your lock was operated (both locks and unlocks).
The Eufy Smart Lock Touch & WiFi S230 receives strong scores in our brute-force tests for kick-ins and picking, and manages a satisfactory rating for drilling despite not being a keyless model. The affordable lock also performs well in our tests for ease of remote access and connectivity. Its features include a fingerprint scanner for one-touch unlocking, a touchscreen keypad for PINs, auto-locking, an access log, and voice control via Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
If you’d prefer a smart lock that doesn’t connect to the internet, consider the Bluetooth-only version of this lock, the Eufy Smart Lock E130. It’s one of the best Bluetooth smart locks in our tests.
Worst Door Locks
These locks rank at the bottom of our ratings, earning poor marks for pickings, drillings, and kick-ins.
Delaney 345001
The Delaney 345001 is a weak deadbolt that can’t stand up to CR’s tests for drilling, picking, and kick-ins. There are better options for the money.
MiLocks BLEF-02SN
The MiLocks BLEF-02SN is a Bluetooth-only smart lock that can’t withstand drilling, picking, and kick-ins as sold. Its performance was also mediocre in our tests for ease of remote access and convenience. All of that means this lock is neither very strong nor smart.
MiLocks ZWF-02BN
The MiLocks ZWF-02BN smart lock is very easy to drill, pick, and kick in (even when reinforced). There are stronger, more feature-rich smart locks worth considering.
Sure-Loc DK201-MD-15
The Sure-Loc DK201-MD-15 electronic lock is highly susceptible to drilling, picking, and kick-ins as sold. This lock simply won’t do much to protect your front door.
