This model is an upgrade of one of my favorite models below, the Petkit YumShare Dual-Hopper Automatic Feeder With Camera, with added AI features. It offers a crystal-clear video feed, night vision, customizable meal calls, and a dual-hopper for two types of food. Through the connected app, you can set feeding schedules or feed on demand from both tanks, use two-way audio, and monitor the feeder from your phone. Unlike most other brands, the AI-enabled camera doesn’t require a subscription and can identify up to 20 pets and log when each has eaten. The camera also uses AI to analyze the remaining food in the bowl and will stop dispensing to prevent overfeeding.

This feeder performed very well throughout testing, and I appreciate that you don’t need to opt into the subscription plan for AI to recognize different pets. However, I still think the connected Petkit app isn’t as reliable or as easy to use as Petlibro’s app.

It can be used with cats or small dogs.

This updated Petlibro Polar Wet Food Feeder solves nearly every gripe I had with other automatic feeders for storing wet food—it’s essentially a mini-fridge that keeps food fresh, and it’s connected to an app where you can schedule and customize feedings and keep a feeding log. Food is dispensed into three wide, shallow stainless-steel bowls, which means less chance of whisker fatigue with wide bowls or feline acne from bacteria-harboring plastic. When it’s time to feed, the cover slides back from the hole, revealing the food beneath.

The refrigerator uses thermoelectric cooling and stays at 50 degrees Fahrenheit or below. Cooling is paused 30 minutes before scheduled feeding time to ensure it’s at the ideal temperature. The bowls are now numbered, so you can easily match feedings to specific bowls in the app. Through the app, you can adjust schedules, manually feed on demand, and control how long it’s open—there’s even a sensor to make sure it doesn’t close while your kitty is feeding. This is the best automatic wet feeder on the market, in my opinion—I even bought a second one for my other cat.

It can be used with cats or small dogs.

Note: For certain Amazon locations, this feeder is marked as a “Frequently Returned Item.” I haven’t experienced any issues with reliability or performance, and it’s worked well for the past six-plus months of testing.

This model is the new-and-improved version of one of my long-standing favorite models below, the Petlibro Granary Smart Camera Feeder. As before, it still has an excellent connected app for scheduling and monitoring feedings, two-way audio, and a 1080p camera with night vision. But this new version also has a built-in bowl scale to track levels and prevent overfeeding, an AI-powered camera that differentiates pets and tracks eating habits, and “smart refill mode” that keeps the bowl filled automatically.

These improvements make this feeder one of the best on the market. I love that it now has a built-in scale (that measures food within one gram) to prevent overfeeding, which is especially helpful when you’re out of town and may not be monitoring your pets’ eating habits as closely. The multi-pet recognition is also helpful because, through the app, you can look back at the log and see exactly who is eating and how much they are eating. However, some of the cooler features, like AI camera multi-pet recognition logged by each pet and enhanced eating insights, are only available with the paid subscription service ($96 to $160/year). During testing, the only issues I ran into were that the live camera footage was slow to load and sometimes gave me a “timed out” error message, a bright light automatically turned on when the cat approached at night, and there is no window to visually see how much kibble is left in the tank.

It can be used with cats or small dogs.

I’ve never tested an automatic feeder like this. If you’ve read my cat water fountains guide, you know how crucial it is to keep your cat hydrated to avoid potentially lethal UTIs and blockages (especially in males, like my cat Basil). The Riko has a brand-new design that turns freeze-dried food into wet, soup-like meals at feeding time. Through the connected app, Riko uses the information you provide about your cat(s) to personalize a feeding plan of up to 20 meals a day, with portions ranging from 0.04 to 0.7 ounces—this is also ideal, since experts generally agree that cats prefer smaller, frequent meals. You can also customize the water-to-food ratio, adjustable from 1:1 to 5:1, with a traditional “mix” that grinds freeze-dried and adds water; water-only mode; and food-only mode, which just grinds the freeze-dried pieces. The Riko is only compatible with freeze-dried food and treats measuring less than 0.6 x 1 inch in length/width (more info can be found in the product specifications section). I used Smalls freeze-dried food ($24) during testing.

During testing, I primarily followed Riko’s suggestions for how often and how much to feed, which ended up being about once an hour. I liked that if you didn’t want to plan it yourself, you could put it on autopilot like this, and that there are also options for whether you want it to be a wet mix or not. It’s a great concept in theory, and fresh, hydrating meals are preferable to kibble. However, my cats didn’t like the rehydrated food and refused to eat it, so I’d make sure your cats like this style before buying. (My cats had eaten the Smalls brand in its freeze-dried form previously and liked it.)The whole grinding and rehydrating process takes about five minutes and produces a noticeable grinding noise. Then, a little jingle, and the bowl automatically pops out with the chunky soup. I love this fully automated system and appreciate that Riko is attempting to address cats’ dehydration problems. It’s just a bummer my (very spoiled) cats didn’t take to it.

Designed especially for cats, but small dogs could use.

Although this isn’t the most expensive automatic feeder on this list, it’s reliable, tech-savvy, and highly customizable. It’s controlled via an app and dispenses food from its 5-liter capacity based on the feeding schedule you create. It has a 1080p HD camera with night vision so you can watch and hear your pet eat even when far away, and you can communicate with them via the speaker. Through the Petlibro app (for Android and iOS), you set up a feeding schedule (up to six meals a day) or feed snacks in your desired amount, from one-twelfth of a cup to four cups. The app is easy to use, with extremely customizable feeding plans and meals you can label individually. Our runner-up pick below, the Petkit YumShare Dual-Hopper Automatic Feeder with Camera, is similar in many ways, but the app is a little more intuitive, reliable, and user-friendly on this one (plus we love the built-in camera to spy while afar).

It can be used with cats or small dogs.

This model is being phased out in favor of the newer Petkit model above, but you can still find it on third-party sites, and it’s still one of my favorite models I’ve ever tested.

This automatic feeder is essentially the same model as above, but it doesn’t include an AI-enabled camera. It does have an HD camera with a 140-degree viewing angle, infrared night vision, two-way audio with customizable meal calls, and a dual hopper that lets you store and dispense two different types of food. Through the connected app, you can customize and set feeding schedules for the two separate tanks, give snacks, and monitor the feeder from your phone. Plus, the camera will analyze the remaining food in the bowl and stop dispensing (to prevent overfeeding).

I love that the dual hopper can store different types of dry kibble and freeze-dried food and dispense them separately. I recommend saving your moolah and just going with this model—unless you need AI to identify your cats, you can spot the difference between cats through the camera yourself for $70-ish less.

It can be used with cats or small dogs.

This is a sleek, more pared-down pet feeder from Petlibro. Although it has a simpler design and smaller capacity (2 liters) than others tested, this auto feeder features a hygienic stainless-steel bowl, a rotor design, a tight seal, and a button that opens the top to keep kibble fresh (and is kitty-tamper-proof). It connects to Petlibro’s easy-to-use app, where you can schedule up to 10 meals a day in one to 16 portions, or feed on demand. Plus, unlike the other Petlibro feeders I’ve tested, this goes down to a super small 1/24-cup dispense amount, which makes it easy if you just want to dispense a small snack.

It also has a rechargeable battery that lasts for up to 30 days, so you have freedom in movement or placement. Unlike many others on the list, it doesn’t offer two-way audio or monitoring of when each pet is fed, and it only works on 2.4-GHz Wi-Fi. But if you’re looking for a cheaper, more basic auto-feeder (and don’t need a camera or audio), I’d recommend this model.

It can be used with cats or very small dogs.

This automatic feeder doesn’t have all the bells and whistles, but it’s a solid, inexpensive dual feeder. There’s an app where you can customize feeding plans for up to six meals a day, each meal being 1/12 of a cup. It also has a front knob to plan meals if you don’t want to use the app. (I found the app could be very buggy, and I often relied on manually programming.) You can also record a 10-second meal message to play before mealtimes. It can be plugged in or run on four AA batteries in case of a power outage, for extra peace of mind. I love that the bowls are almost a foot apart to give more space for my greedy cats, and the hygienic stainless-steel inserts can be removed for easier cleaning. The app is very bare-bones and could use work, but this dual feeder worked reliably, and I consider it a great deal at this price point.

Can be used with cats or small dogs.

This automatic feeder features dual storage, a built-in camera, two-way audio, and a connected app for scheduling and on-demand feeding. It’s AI-enabled to differentiate between pets and identify their behavior. Setup is super easy and takes only a few minutes; then you’ll need to upload pictures of your cats for their profiles and set up customized feeding plans for up to three pets, in increments of ⅛ of a cup. In theory, you can create customizable feeding plans for each pet, but there’s no way to ensure each cat gets their own portions and doesn’t steal the others’. Plus, you can’t just set up a general daily plan; you have to set a schedule for each individual pet.

The AI didn’t distinguish or label my cats in the video feed, which I found odd, but it did identify and log behaviors it recorded, such as feeding, napping, and walking. Through the app, you can watch highlights and activity logs, communicate via the speaker, and feed on demand. It was cool to watch past video feeds and see the labels the AI creates based on observed behaviors, but the promised custom, individualized feeding plans underdeliver.

Can be used with cats or small dogs.

I was pleasantly surprised by this relatively affordable automatic feeder. It has a scale at the bottom of the stainless-steel bowl, which ensures your pet gets the exact right amount of food. It’ll even adjust how much it dispenses based on how much is left in the bowl, helping prevent overeating. The feeder includes anti-jam technology, low-food-detection sensors, and a backup battery in case of a power failure.

From the app, you can schedule and adjust feedings with an optional meal call recording, and it logs when and how much your pet has eaten. This is super helpful for tracking and understanding your cats’ eating habits. But because I have two cats, the tracking feature isn’t as reliable, as the feeder doesn’t know which cat was eating when it logs. For that reason, some of the cooler aspects of monitoring feedings with this feeder work best for single-pet homes.

It can be used with cats or small dogs.

For this feeder, the pet wears a collar with a tag that allows the feeder’s lid to open only when that tag is present. When the sensor in the pad in front is activated, the stainless-steel food bowl (which is removable for washing and dishwasher-safe) is uncovered, and the cover retracts over the kibble when the cat leaves, ensuring that only the chosen pet with the collar can access the food. Through the app, you can create up to 10 feeding schedules, and the amounts can be modified anytime, including on-demand feeding. The automatic lid is customizable too. In the app, you can leave the lid in “open mode” or adjust how long it stays open after your pet walks away from it.

Overall, I think this is a nearly perfect device for a particular kind of pet owner. It works best for a cat in a dog home where the owner doesn’t want the dog getting into the cat’s food; if each pet in the home has an RFID feeder; if one particular cat has special dietary needs; or if you have a multi-cat home with an aggressive eater. In these cases, I truly think this product would be a life-changer. (If you get a One RFID for each pet, it’s recommended that you space them at least 10 inches apart to avoid any interference.)

It can be used with cats or very small dogs.

This expensive, techy automatic feeder has buttons and an app that let you control feeding schedules and portion sizes, including monitoring levels to make sure there is enough (when the food level is low, it alerts you via the app and via a light on top of the feeder). I love how customizable meals are: You can set multiple schedules for different days of the week, and it dispenses anywhere from one-eighth of a cup to half a cup of food. It also has gravity mode, where the feeder checks levels every six hours and dispenses food automatically if the bowl is empty.

The app is intuitive and easy to use, with customizable settings, and it tracks every time a cat is fed. Although the plastic food bowl is food-safe and BPA-free, plastic is still prone to harboring bacteria, and I’d prefer stainless steel. (Whisker has a stainless-steel insert for $20 or a glass bowl insert for $30.) I can’t really find any other faults in this feeder—it has worked perfectly and just feels sleek and elevated.

It can be used with cats or small dogs.