The best smart scales we’ve tested 

Some smart scales also offer body composition analysis, giving you estimates of other metrics, which include:  

• Body mass index (BMI) – a measure that uses your height and weight to calculate if you are a healthy weight or not.  
• Body fat percentage – how much of your body mass is fat.  
• Muscle mass – the amount of muscle in your body.  
• Bone mass – what percentage of your weight is the bones in your body.  
• Water mass – shows how hydrated the body is.  
• Basal metabolic rate (BMR) – this tells you how many calories your body needs to function. 

Smart scales have the potential to offer greater insights into your health and can help you identify potential health risks so you can try to address them.

For example, if your smart scales are telling you that your body fat percentage is on the high side, it can encourage you to make the lifestyle changes that will help to reduce this. And if you start seeing those numbers moving in the right direction, it can be very motivating. 

Smart scales are suitable for almost anyone, so long as you have a smartphone which is compatible with the app your scales use. Body composition scales, however, are generally not suitable for anyone with a pacemaker or ICD (implantable cardioverter defibrillator). This is because they use bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) to measure your body composition, and this sends a small electrical current to pass through your body. 

The Withings Body Comp smart scales take our top prize as the best smart scales overall, offering comprehensive health monitoring, a superb support app, and a high-quality design with premium materials.  

In our tests, we were impressed by how responsive the scales were and how easy everything was to set up and use. The metrics they monitor are also useful, focusing on body fat percentage and visceral fat readings, heart health, and a new nerve health score, which can detect signs of peripheral neuropathy (when nerves in the body’s extremities, such as hands, feets and arms, are damaged). The Health Mate app presents the information very clearly, and offers advice and support to help with reaching your goals, as well as explaining what the different measurements mean. 

The biggest drawback is the price. At £199.95, this is a premium device and more expensive than all the smart scales we’ve tested bar the Withings Body Scan. But in terms of design, performance, features and price, we’d say that pound for pound these are the best smart scales overall.  

If you are just looking to dip your toe in the water, then our top pick for a budget set of smart scales is the Xiaomi Mi Body Composition scale 2. With an RRP of £29.99, these are considerably cheaper than the Withings scales we names as our best overall. They offer a lot of health metrics (admittedly, not all measures that we’d consider especially helpful) but there is plenty of bang for your buck. It includes metrics such as visceral fat, muscle mass, and you can even do a balance test on them.  

The app is simple to use and presents your data clearly, although there were some limitations in terms of the extra insights and support the app offers. Some of the advice also seemed to be a little contradictory. 

In our testing, we found the scales to be consistent, although the readings were consistently higher than most of the other brands we tested. They may not be the most accurate scales available, but their consistency means you can probably be confident that any trends will be accurate. And with such a low price, they are a much smaller investment if you are trying smart scales for the first time. 

If you’re looking for the absolute best of everything, then the Withings Body Scan smart scales are the ones to go for. In our review, we found that these offered an incredibly comprehensive set of health measurements and were the most accurate out of all the scales we tested. They also monitor heart health via pulse wave velocity and vascular age measurements, as well as nerve health. The handle means that they offer some features that many other smart scales do not, including segmental body composition, and a six-lead ECG (which measures your heart’s rhythm and electrical activity). The Health Mate app is also excellent. 

All these features do come at a cost and, at £399.95, these scales are much more expensive than any of the others that we tested. As a result, it means that they probably won’t be suitable for everyone, and stops these from being our number one pick. 

Overall, though, they offer more health monitoring metrics than other scales and are the best of the best. If money is no object, or you want the most detailed health insights you can get, these are the scales to go for. 

The Withings Body Cardio smart scales are another solid offering from Withings. Slightly cheaper than the Body Comp that we recommended above, these offer many of the same measurements, such as body composition and heart health. They also use the excellent Health Mate app that other Withings smart scales use. In our testing, we found them to be consistent in their readings, but potentially a little less accurate than some newer devices.  

They are a few years old now, so don’t offer as many advanced features as newer Withings devices. Most notable is the absence of a visceral fat reading, which is common in many more recent smart scales, and is a potentially valuable health metric, as it offers an insight into the fat that is most associated with health risks. 

For anyone with a particular interest in their heart health, the Body Cardio smart scales are a good choice. But they are still a premium device, so you can expect to pay over £100 for a set of these scales. 

If you’re looking for a well-designed set of smart scales that are a little bit cheaper than the Withings devices we’ve tested, then the QardioBase X smart scales may be worth considering. These scales offer a comprehensive set of 12 different health metrics, including visceral fat and body fat percentage readings. They’re also a very stylish set of scales to put in your bathroom. 

While our tests showed these to be fairly accurate (albeit with slightly greater variability than other devices we’ve tested), we did sometimes find them unresponsive when we were trying to get a reading. It meant we had to step off and back onto them to get them to work. We also felt the app was a little bit thin, especially at this price point. It lacked insight and we felt it could have done better at explaining what the measurements are and how you can improve any metrics you aren’t happy with. 

Overall, though, these are a well-made set of scales that are more accurate than a lot of cheaper devices. We just felt there are alternatives that offer a better all-round experience. 

The Eufy P2 Pro smart scales are an alternative to the Xiaomi Mi 2 scales that we listed as our best budget option. They are similar in terms of what they offer, but they are also almost double the price. As a relatively inexpensive set of body composition scales, the P2 Pro scales offer all the key metrics you would be looking for, including weight, muscle mass, and visceral fat readings. There are also a few metrics that we don’t consider quite so valuable, such as protein levels. 

We didn’t feel the app was especially good, with limited insights that we felt were contradictory at times. And in testing, we didn’t find them to be as accurate as many of the more expensive options. They are also small, so may be uncomfortable to stand on for users with larger feet – particularly anyone with a UK show size of 9.5 or above.  

These scales don’t compete with the absolute best options that are on the market. But much like the Xiaomi Mi 2 scales, they are considerably cheaper and would potentially be of interest to someone who wants to try smart scales for the first time without spending a huge amount of money. 

The Index S2 smart scales from Garmin are most likely to appeal to people who already use a Garmin watch or fitness tracker. These sit in a comparable price range to the QardioBase X and Withings Body Cardio smart scales and offer all the essential body composition metrics someone might look for: weight, body fat percentage, muscle mass, bone mass and body water percentage are all available.  

They don’t really go any further than that though, and other scales do offer a wider variety of health metrics to monitor. In our testing, while we found the scales to be reasonably consistent, they did seem to be consistently higher than other devices in terms of body fat readings. We also found them fiddly to activate. And given how good the Garmin Connect app is in general, we were a little disappointed these scales do little more than record your measurements. There was no added insight or support to help make sense of the numbers. 

If you really want a set of smart scales to work with the Garmin Connect app, these scales will do that and give you some essential body composition metrics as well. But for most people, there are probably better alternatives out there.