The 5 Best Z Grills of 2026
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Z Grills burst onto the scene in 2017, offering pellet grills of similar quality to Traegers at severely reduced prices.
That turned out to be a great strategy, as they quickly became one of the best-selling pellet grill brands.
Our team has cooked on and reviewed 7 different Z Grills smokers over the last few years, so we have a good understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, and which models you should buy.
Best Z Grills Pellet Smokers
These Z grills reviews are summaries of longer reviews we’ve done on each model, so be sure to check those out once you’ve narrowed down which model you are interested in.
1. Our Top Pick – Z Grills 700D4E WiFi Wood Pellet Grill & Smoker
Read our full Z Grills 700D4E review.
The best Z Grills pellet smoker we’ve tested is the 700D4E. It’s got more square inches of cooking space and better storage than the more expensive Traeger Pro.
The big knock against this grill for years was the lack of WiFi, but the latest 2024 version comes with connectivity and an app.
The main grill boasts 697 square inches of cooking space split between the main rack (504) and the upper rack (193). The body of the 700D4E is made entirely of either rolled or stainless steel and comes fitted with double-wall insulation.
The study body and increased insulation make it far easier to maintain a steady, consistent temperature, but it’s a bit of a shame there’s no gasket on the lid.
The temperature is managed by a new PID temperature controller and adjusted from a large LED screen.
The closed storage cabinet under the grill, larger hopper, and more grill space give the 700D4E a real boost over other models in its price range.
- Holds nice stable temperature
- Good mobility
- Pellet hopper cleanout
- Need to be careful when closing the lid
- Minimal shelf area
2. Best Value – Z GRILLS Backyard Warrior 7002C2E
Read our full Z Grills 7002C2E review.
The 7002C2E shares many features with our top pick, the 700D4E, but it removes the closed cabinet for a sharper price.
Price Update
At the time of writing this article, the 7002C2E is part of a Buy 1 Get 10 Offer Z Grills are running, and the base price has gone up.
It’s a tempting promotion, and they have run a few promotions like this in the past, but I would still recommend doing your own due diligence.
This model was our favorite budget option in our pellet grill buying guide. The base includes a cover, making it an especially good deal.
Otherwise, everything is very similar to the more expensive model. You get the same improved WiFi PID temperature controller for nice stable temperatures and two probes included.
In our tests, temperatures barely moved by more than 5°F. When we smoked a rack of baby back ribs, they came out with a beautiful color and were tender and juicy.
The 24lb hopper on this grill is one of the largest we’ve seen on a grill this size, making it great for overnight cooks. If you want to change pellet flavors or remove unused pellets after cooking, there is a handy door at the back of the hopper that makes cleaning out a breeze.
- Great value
- Stable temperatures
- Pellet clean out
- Awkward handle position
3. Best For Small Families – Z Grills Pioneer 450B
Read our full Z Grills 450B review.
If you don’t need the size of the 700D4E, the 450B is an excellent alternative. We would go so far as to say this is one of the best pellet grills you can buy for under $500.
You get a grill with a PID controller for improved temperature control. In our testing, the grill stayed within 5°F of the set temperature.
The 459 square inches of grilling area is split between a main grill rack and a warming rack.
The hopper capacity is a generous 18 pounds, and you can easily empty the hopper to remove unused pellets by twisting a latch to release them into a bucket. This is much easier than vacuuming out unused pellets, which is the only option on some grills.
You also get two temperature probes included.
What we didn’t like:
- Only one shelf area – Sure you can use the hopper lid as a shelf, but that’s the only place you have to set things down. Iike to have an additional side table or front table to set things down on while I’m cooking.
- Small Footprint
- Easy pellet hopper clean-out system
- Stable Temperature Control
- Only one shelf area
4. Best Large Capacity – Z Grills Multitasker 11002B
Read our full Z Grills Multitasker 11002B review.
With the 1000 Series you get larger grills built with more heavy duty materials and offering a few extra features.
The 11002B we tested comes with WiFi, a smoke boost option, and lid gasket to keep more smoke in the chamber and improve fuel efficiency.
These are features that you’ll find on popular mid-range smokers like the Camp Chef Woodwind Pro.
The extra size, build quality and features will cost you though. You’re getting pretty close to the Woodwind Pro in price, although the Z Grills offers more cooking real estate.
In terms of cooking performance, we smoked up some ribs and brisket and were impressed by the amount of smoke flavor. We tested the temperature variance across the grill grates and found neglible difference from left to right and front to back.
- WiFi capabilities for easy temperature control
- Lid gasket that locks heat and smoke flavor
- Smart PID controller
- Basic Z Grills mobile app functionality
- Searing meat can be challenging
5. Best Portable – Z Grills Cruiser 200A Portable Pellet Grill
Read our full Cruiser 200A review.
If you like the idea of taking a smoker with you on tailgates or camping trips but don’t want to lug a big heavy smoker, then the 200A is a perfect choice. With its suitcase design, you get a compact grill with 202 square inches of cooking area.
We gave the Crusier the nod for the best truly portable option in our guide to the best portable pellet smokers.
You won’t be feeding a crowd, but it’s large enough to fit a rack of ribs. Maxing out at 450°F, you won’t have any problem grilling burgers or hot dogs.
Where this grill shines is in its portability. One person can easily handle it, and rather than a cart with collapsible legs, you just place it on a table.
Our tests showed good thermal efficiency with minimal temperature swings.
The 8-lb hopper is small, but it’s enough to power this grill for 10 hours of cooking time.
- Compact, portable and on-the-go ready
- Efficient heat management system
- Large hopper capacity
- Smaller cooking surface
How Z Grills Work
If you know how pellet grills work, feel free to skip ahead.
The Z Grill’s design is similar to competitors like Pit Boss and Traeger. Their grills work by burning wood pellets (Z grills sell their brand, but any brand of pellets will do) to create heat and smoke to flavor your food.
The pellets are stored in a hopper on the grill’s side.
A mechanical auger feeds the pellets into a firebox, where a rod ignites them.
A sensor keeps track of the temperature and works with the digital controls to maintain the temperature you set by controlling the flow of pellets and airflow.
This design allows you to load up your hopper, set the temperature, and effectively ‘set it and forget it’.
While they are often called “pellet grills”, I really think of them as smokers or ovens since they specialize in maintaining steady temperatures over long hours.
Pellet Grills are great for people who don’t want the hassle or mess of cooking with charcoal.
How does Z Grills compare to other top brands?
Z Grills VS Traeger
Before Z Grills started selling to the public, their factory manufactured grill for Traeger.
So the question is, can you buy a Traeger quality grill for less?
The annoying answer, as usual, is it depends. Excluding their portable options, Traeger’s start at around $800 for the smallest Pro model, and go all the way up to $3,800 for the largest Timberline.
Compare this with Z Grills, which range from around $400 to $1200, and you see this is an apples-to-oranges comparison unless you’re looking at the Traeger Pro, which is exactly what we did for our Z Grills VS Traeger comparison.
Z Grills have much more variety at the budget end of the spectrum and offer a little more value for money. Traeger has higher build quality and vastly superior app performance.
Z Grills VS Pit Boss
People always want to compare Traeger and Z Grills, but
Both brands offer a large ranges of grills catering towards the more price conscious buyer. We have a full head-to-head comparison looking at the flagship Z Grills 700D4E vs the
Check out that article or watch the video below for all the details, at the time of writing, we think
Z Grills linep and availability
Shopping for a new Z Grill can be very confusing. Sometimes, it feels like the person in charge of coming up with product names used a random letter and number generator.
Z Grills currently sells four different categories of grills in a few different configurations.
- 450-600 Series – Smaller, more basic pellet grills without WiFi
- 700 Series – The sweet spot for most people includes the highly popular 700D4E and the even cheaper 7002B, which has no storage cabinet.
- 1000 Series – The largest grills, like the 11002B.
- Portable – Consists of just the Cruiser 200A, a suitcase-style grill.
Each series has plenty of choices with different sizes, colors and storage options.
If you need help choosing, Z Grills has a handy comparison tool that lets you plug in up to 3 different models and compare the specs.
In terms of availability, you won’t find Z Grills in the big box stores. They sell mostly through their official website, although they do have select models available on Amazon. Pricing can vary so it’s always worth checking both places.
All Z Grills Reviews
Z Grills FAQs
What is the warranty on Z Grills?
All Z Grills come with a 3 years warranty.
Are Z Grills a Chinese company?
If you look on the Z Grills website, you’ll see that they say, “Z Grills are created by American local designers and manufactured by a professional factory in China.”
Z Grills has established US operations in Burlingame, California, and has a US-based customer support team.
The grills are manufactured in China by the parent company Jiangsu Zgrills Technology Co, Ltd, which has been making grills for brands like Traeger, Home Depot, and Amazon since 2003.
Is Z Grills the same as Traeger?
Z Grills and Traeger are two different companies. The confusion comes from the fact that the company that now manufactures Z Grills in China, used to manufacture grills for Traeger during the 2010s.
This relationship has since ended, and the grills have quite different designs.
About Your Pitmaster
Joe Clements is the founder and editor-in-chief of Smoked BBQ Source, a leading barbecue resource that has helped tens of millions master grilling and smoking. Growing up in a vegetarian household, his love for barbecue was unexpected. Determined to master the craft, he launched Smoked BBQ Source in 2016 to document his journey from amateur to pitmaster.
Joe leads a team of expert barbecue creators and oversees the largest collection of in-depth grill reviews and a library of tested, foolproof recipes. Whether he’s firing up a pellet grill or charcoal kettle, he’s passionate about making barbecue approachable and enjoyable for all.
I purchased a z grill when I got it no box of parts to assemble sent e mail to co still no parts to put it together looks like I’ll try send it back finished with this brand
Does it come assebled? if not, how difficult is it to asseble?
No grill comes assembled from my experience. This video shows the process for assembling a 700D. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=635Po5KoW9U
Terrible product – terrible support. Fair warning – if you purchase from them direct – you will overpay and unable to return if not working/manufacturer defected. Ask me how I know )
Have had my 7002E (very similar) since 2017 with no problems whatsoever. Bought an aftermarket shelf and new covers (they last about 11/2 to 2 years). Love it and especially like the fact that it was considerably cheaper that comparable grills.
I would not purchase from Z Grills. They may have been good before (and the body is) but they do not back their product at all. When I got mine, the auger mechanism did not work. I did the troubleshooting in their guide and it said to contact them for warranty service. It happens.
I emailed them, called them, left voice messages, reached out on their Facebook page. They will not respond. Several other reviewers on Facebook have said the same. If any electronic component is broken, even out-of-the-box, they will not respond. They do not even answer their customer service line anymore because they’re having so many issues. One guy I talked to got his replaced 3x before they stopped answering altogether in April.
Not sure who they’re getting the electronics from, but when a company that was highly reviewed suddenly starts getting a bunch of bad reviews and not answering their own customer service line, they need to fix something.
As for their Facebook page and ads? They delete any negative comments they get unanswered.
I’ll be disputing the transaction with PayPal since they won’t answer me any other way.
Stay away from Z Grill! One sorry company! Customer service Sucks! Sold me a 700d4e supposedly with WiFi that won’t connect at all, gave me the runaround over a month FALSE ADVERTISING at best!
As having just purchased one and “thought” l was buying a Traeger (long story) I would say it was simple to assemble, the quality seems to be there. I will know more in time as I use it. Mine came damaged as it seems it was dropped somewhere in shipment but received a pretty quick response from their customer support. My barrel and one grate was damaged and they did not have a problem replacing both. They said the cooking grate was in stock and will be sent right away but the barrel is out of stock but will be sent once stock is replenished. We’ll see! I had an option to receive a discount and repair myself but I bought a new grille and want it to look new. They were very understanding and sent an email to confirm the resolve. I will definitely post a review on Amazon as well as here once I receive the replacement parts.
Thanks Robert, that’s annoying, although not uncommon with shipping big heavy grills. Glad to hear customer support have been good so far. Would be great if you can share your thoughts here once you’ve used the grill a few times.
Cheers.
Where is it manufactured.
China.
I got two z grills both came damaged. They replaced both grills right away. But on one of them didnt come with temperature wire for it and already threw out old one. I called to get one coming its been 2 years and still have not seen it. Any way the one grill works excellent dont know on the other stil waiting on parts.
Have had a z grill for a year still learning on it do you shut the tamper all the way when smoking and open it to sear
I’m not sure I understand the question. With the Z Grills you just set the temp you want, so you would go around 225-250 for smoking and then max it out for grilling.
Arrived today. Just 2 hours to assemble. 2 people. It took at least 20 minutes to unpack. Assembly was a breeze. Hope it performs as well as it went together.
Great article guys. Good info to know as I will be purchasing a pellet grill at some point this season. You may want to check for some typos though. I am leaning towards the Traeger based on your comparison sheet. I think it would be awesome to sear at 5000 degrees. lol
You do mean 500° right I didn’t see anything about 5,000°. That would be awesome though
For routine weekend grilling I would stick with gas or charcoal. I have yet to try smoking at low temp over many hours but I am sure it would be just fine for that. Even in low-wind and hot-day scenarios it struggles to retain the heat. At max temp of 450 it takes much longer to cook typical cuts of meat compared to gas/charcoal grills.
Bought mine a month ago – every heat setting runs 100+ degrees too high. The “smoke setting”, which is supposedly ~160, runs at over 300. It runs way to hot so it doesn’t generate smoke, nor can you run a “low-slow” session. AND … customer service is not interested in assisting in any way. I would not buy again, nor will I recommend.
Home Depot has them assembled if you spend over $200. I believe that’s what you need to spend. They are having a z grill shipped to store and assembled free.
Not impressed with my Zgrill or their customer service. I sent them a email about temperature settings being way out of whack with absolutely no response back. I set 180 and running two different grill probes they both run between 225-235 depending on the location of the grill. Should of spent the money like my friend and bought a Rectec
I have had nothing but problems with mine. Three fires in the feed tube after shutting it down. Auger quit working and they sent me a replacement auger/hopper. Customer service was great. New one didn’t work at all. Temperature jumped up and down from 225 to 480 in seconds. Then it shuts off. Not happy at all and trying to get my money back. I would not recommend buying one.
I wish I had purchased a different brand! The zgrill customer support totally sucks! The grill arrived and upon the initial break-in process, the control board went out and displayed error codes. I had to contact their customer service department 6 times. It’s a great (not) experience calling them, you get to leave a voicemail and then pray that someone will call you back! After following instructions to confirm which part was not working, I was told the replacement would be shipped and arrive by Wednesday.. it’s now Friday and no part. BTW, the customer service agent stated, “yea, the temperature probes get broken easily in shipping…” I’ve had the grill for three weeks and have not been able to use it. Not a fan of the grill or company. Wish I’d gone a different route! Z, last letter of the English Alphabet and the last company you should purchase a grill from.
The heating is sporadic on it can’t maintain the right Heat
Second cook on my new Z Grill. 1st was a standing Pork Rib Roast. Additionally, I placed 5 tin foil wrapped Baked Potatoes in with the roast. The roast and potatoes turned out perfect. The family loved it. I just finished smoking two slabs of fresh Alaska Salmon that my wife and I caught. Again, Baked Potatoes were included. As expected, the potatoes need to cook longer. I love this grill. The only thing I miss on my model is a timer to turn itself off. A cover was supposed to be included but was not. I’ll request it on their website.
They say they will sear meat. Yeah it will if you take off the grease tray remove the heat shield and put a cast iron pan on fire. If I wanted a steak cooked in a pan I would do it inside. They could have put a baffle in heat shield over the fire box and that would be a little better. Basically it doesn’t get hot enough to sear meat, like a steak. So I call it falsely advertised. Other wise it does butt and ribs great. This is all I have cooked so far. It would also be better if it had a access point to unload pellets
Which model do you have Ron? I believe all the newer ones have an access door for unloading pellets so might have the previous generation. Agree with your point on steak, but you can say the same with Traeger and most other pellet grills that don’t have searing system built in.
One option is to use some third party grillgrates and that can get you a little better results.
My traeger sears fine and gets up to 500. I have the timberline 850. My only complaint is that my probe’s port is broken.
Th z grill is significantly cheaper. So I’m considering buying one. Most of my cooks are low and slow. My concerns around it are the grease traps, and the heat range.
Otherwise they sure look pretty in the pictures lol
If you’re happy with your Timberline I would stick to that and potentially get a 3rd party probe like a Fireboard or Thermoworks Smoke. Or you may be able to get a replacement and get the Traeger one fixed.
My brother in law bought the zgrill last summer. He liked my little Traeger Tailgater but thought he was getting a deal. He got the medium sized one with wifi. I’m now inundated with why questions – why is it not holding temp, why did it shut off, why does it not taste the same as yours? You get what you pay. This whole article seems like a snowjob so people click and buy a crappy grill. Have these guys even cooked in any off these grills – Traeger or zgrill? Doesn’t sound like it
Hoping someone might have a good point of contact at Z Grill they might share. Problem with recently delivered grill damaged by the carrier. Problem contacting Z Grill customer service.TIA
Have you tried calling this number? 1-833-947-4557
Worst buying experience. Bought grill directly from Zgrills in June. Expected it to be shipped to receive before July 4th holiday. Received confirmation of the order and saw my credit card charged. . Never received confirmation of shipping. Tried vainly to contact a person in Customer support. Finally received email response from ZGrills after the 4th that the grill was on back order. I decided to cancel order based on the difficulty in getting ANY response or any customer service because if this is how they treat a problem before shipping the product then their after shipping response would not be much better. It took me over 8 WEEKS to receive a refund from ZGrills on my credit card. BTW Very happy with my Pit Boss grill.