Are Smart Locks Worth It?

The short answer

A smart lock is worth it in proportion to how many people need to get through your door. That is the whole test, and it is nothing to do with how much you like technology.

If you have a cleaner, a dog walker, kids who lose keys, parents who visit, a plumber coming on Thursday, or a spare key you have given to three people over the years and never got back — yes. A code that works Tuesdays, or expires when the job is done, or gets revoked after an argument, solves a problem a metal key genuinely cannot. Schlage publishes up to 100 scheduled access codes on the Encode Plus; Yale advertises unlimited shared codes on the Assure Lock 2. That capability is the single best reason to buy one.

If you live alone, never lend access, always know you locked up, and have no interest in automation — probably not. You would be buying a battery-powered version of a thing that already works. We would rather tell you that than sell you a lock.

What it actually costs, over five years

Smart locks are the rare smart-home category with no subscription attached. Every lock we cover — Yale, Schlage, August, Wyze, Level — is a one-time purchase, and each maker states that app control, codes and voice control are included. That is worth stating plainly because it is not true next door: a camera or doorbell from Ring or Arlo needs a plan to keep recordings, which is why our running-cost guide exists at all.

So the honest sum is: the purchase, plus a handful of AA batteries a year. Against that, weigh what a locksmith charges to re-key a door after a key goes missing, and how many times you would rather not have driven home to check.

The three benefits that actually stick

Most smart-lock marketing leads with unlocking the door with your voice. In practice three quieter things are what owners keep.

Access you can give and take back. A code with an expiry is a different object from a key. It does not get copied, it does not need collecting, and revoking it takes five seconds from wherever you are. For anyone hosting guests this is transformative rather than convenient — our smart locks for Airbnb and rentals page covers the version of this that runs itself.

Knowing, rather than hoping. Checking from your phone whether the front door is locked removes a specific, recurring, low-grade worry. Auto-lock goes further by making the question moot: Schlage publishes auto-lock with a choice of time delays, and Yale pairs auto-lock with DoorSense so the lock knows whether the door is actually shut rather than just bolted.

A log. Every lock here keeps a history of who unlocked the door and when — Wyze publishes an activity log showing who locked or unlocked the Lock Bolt, when, and by which method. It is mundane until the week you need it, and then it is the only record that exists.

Four reasons to skip one

You would never use the remote half. Then buy a keypad lock. You get the no-keys benefit without the Wi-Fi, the app or the account, and it costs less. Our keypad and fingerprint picks are the right page for that.

Your door is the problem, not your lock. A smart deadbolt in a soft frame with a two-screw strike plate is a better lock on the same weak door. Fix the frame first; it costs very little and no electronics compensate for it.

You do not want another account to look after. A smart lock means a login with a strong, unique password, two-factor authentication where it is offered, and firmware updates — the same baseline CISA publishes for any connected device in a home. If that is a chore you know you will not do, this is a reason to pass, and a fair one.

You rent and cannot change the hardware. Which is usually solvable rather than final: a retrofit lock mounts over the deadbolt you already have, leaves the exterior and the landlord’s key untouched, and comes off in ten minutes. August states that its lock attaches over your existing deadbolt “so you can still use your keys.” See smart home for renters and can you still use a key with a smart lock?

If the answer is yes, these three are where to start

Three locks, three different answers to the question, all drawn from our best smart locks ranking and all with no subscription of any kind.

Two pages to read before you order. If the household runs on Echo speakers, check the best Alexa smart locks — the wrong version of the right lock will not reach Alexa at all. And if you are torn between the two approaches, August vs Yale is retrofit against replacement in one page.