Find out the best pellet smoker under 500 to increase your versatility of smoking in your grill. There are a lot of excellent designs made by top brands in the market that offers you the best pellet smoker for under 500 dollars. But if you are new or an expert on grilling or smoking, and don’t know what is the best pellet grill under $500?
If you like traveling and spending most of your time outdoors and want the best pellet smokers under $500 that can easily turn into a portable size. And if you are a lazy guy then the best option for you is the one that gives you complete freedom to room in your balcony or garden.
Here if you have experience with Pitmaster then it is easy to find the best pellet grills but if you are new then you have a question in your mind what is the best smoker for the money? Check here a comparison between Pit-boss vs Traeger
We have selected a few best pellet grill 2021 that can give you excellent cooking versatility and taste, which will make your campaign even happier. These are all designed for excellent and high performance, and the best part of these is under your budget.
Before starting the list, you should know what to keep in mind when deciding to buy the best smoker for under 500. Basics of the best pellet grill smoker under $500 now you will need to encourage the right and top pellet grill product.
Before buying the best pellet smoker for under $500 you should consider building materials, cheap pellet grills, size, portability, and more.
Best Pellet Smoker Under 500 (Review & Guide)
If you are in a hurry, you can pick any one from the top 3 picks and head over to Amazon to see customer reviews and ratings.
Traeger Pellet Grills TFB30KLF Tailgater – Best Overall
Z GRILLS ZPG-450A Upgrade – 1st Runner Up
PIT BOSS Wood Pellet Grill – 2nd Runner Up
We just start the best pellet grill smoker under 500 reviews from here, join us!
1. Traeger Pellet Grills TFB30KLF Tailgater 20 Grill
When I think the best pellet smoker manufacturer at the top of my mind is Traeger. They built world-class pellet smokers and best with little effort and Traeger TFB30KLF Tailgater 20 has a great performance, is made of high quality, and gives high versatility. My recommendation buys the Traeger TFB30KLF Tailgater pellet smoker for under 500. If want Traeger grill accessories.
Traeger pellet smoker under 500 has made of heavy-duty steel body structure and maintains it longer finished with high-temperature porcelain black powder-coated paint.
This is the best pellet grill 2021 from Traeger Pellet smoker can consider a portable grill because of its compact size. Foldable legs allow easy load back into your truck. It is much easier for your favorite tailgates with an 8-pound of hopper capacity.
This is the best pellet grill under 500 and has 300 square inches of total cooking surface that are not enough for a big party but perfect for your family. This Traeger TFB30KLF Tailgater 20 feed for 4-6 persons and it has 6-in-1 cooking versatility for best-flavored taste.
These are the top pellet grills from Traeger Tailgater 20 and feature a digital arc controller that gives you excellent control over the temperature. You can set the temperature to 5-degree increments and excellent for consistent heat for perfect cooking. You can do one thing set and wait until the meat is not ready to eat. You can read the comparison between Traeger, Pit-Boss, and Camp-Chef.
The best part of this TFB30KLF Tailgater has an automatic feeder system for superior smoky flavored meat, smoker has included a meat probe that allows you to monitor the internal temperature of cooking meat. This Traeger grill increases the temperature up to 450F degrees in a minute and the ignition system gives you reliability and a quick and hassle-free start.
The Meat probe allows checking internal temperature and you will get accurate temperature information without opening the lid.
This best pellet smoker under $ 500 has a drip tray for easy cleaning that connects with a hanging bucket outside to collect excess oil or drip. Features of the cooking area that prevent sticky.
This best pellet grill under $500 has portable and compact designed for easy mobility and bring with you anywhere. This Traeger TFB30KLF Tailgater 20 is ideally for backyard grilling, patio, tailgating, and more.
This best pellet grill under 500 gets positive feedback from verified users, and 84% of verified customers give 5-star and Traeger smoker has a 3-year limited warranty.
2. Z GRILLS ZPG-450A 2020 Upgrade Wood Pellet Grill Smoker
This ZPG-450A modal from Z-Grills is one of the best smokers for the money with excellent performance features. This Z GRILLS ZPG-450A is a body made of heavy-duty steel with gray color high-quality powder-coated paint. Cooking grates are made of porcelain-coated cast iron which is excellent for heating, and it works in harsh weather, the steel body protects from corrosion.
The ZPG-450A has the best pellet grill under $500 and a total cooking surface of 452 square inches. The main cooking area is 324 square inches and the warming rack has 128 square inches. This smoker is best for home, has cheap pellet grills, and an excellent choice for smoking or family use, and is best for 4-6 people. It will enhance the beauty of your patio or backyard as well it has great versatile cooking features.
If you talk about control of this Z-Grills pellet smoker under 500, these smokers have digital auto-temperature controllers that automatically connect to the pellets to control heat. The Z-grill maintains about 10 degrees of heat at all times. It has a heat distribution system that ensures that the food is fully cooked. The hopper size is excellent for cooking for 10-12 hours with less effort.
The ZPG-450A 2020 Upgrade Smoker features advanced PID technology that surprisingly maintains heat while cooking your best-tasting food. PID technology works on “sets and forages” until your food is ready. This will provide high stability that you can rely on.
This pellet grill smoker does a meat probe to monitor the internal temperature of the meat, determines the required temperature of the food, and waits to eat. Meat Probe gives you real-time status and you will get notifications when the food is fully perfectly cooked. The meat probe range from 100 meters inside and outside the range of 160 meters.
The smoker has 28″ foldable front shelves and foldable side shelves that can use for placing equipment and preparing food, or sauces. Two heavy-duty wheels and two legs can allow you easy portability. A grease tray under the cook box with an attached grease bucket.
It has some additional equipment such as a thermal blanket, cleaning brush, grilling tools, foil bucket liner, smoke tube, and grill scraper.
This ZPG-450A 2020 Upgrade comes with a 3-year limited warranty and 74% of verified customers give 5-star.
3. PIT BOSS PB550G Wood Pellet Grill
This is my third choice from the Pit Boss PB550G Navigator series is made of durable construction, offering to use for many years. This Pit Boss pellet smoker under 500 has an extreme heat capacity cooking grates and is made from heavy-duty cast iron.
This best small pellet grill actually the best smoker from Pit-Boss. It has an excellent versatility feature of 8-in-1 cooking. And you can grill, smoker, bake, sear, roast, braise, BBQ, and char-grill.
This Pit Boss pellet smoker comes with plenty of room for cooking, it has a total cooking surface of 542 square inches and is an excellent option for medium size of families. Pit-Boss PB550G is best for tailgate and outdoor cooking.
This Pit-Boss PB550G wood pellet grill features a Dial-in Digital Control Board that gives excellent control over the temperature and an LED screen clear to read out the real-time status. 180° F To 500° F is the temperature range of this grill.
The Pit-Boss grill has a simple slide-plate broiler that offers direct and indirect cooking. And you can sear your meat at 1,000° F temperature. A meat probe that gives you to monitor the internal temperature of the meat. Here you no need to open the lid for fuel track and heat.
It has an auger feeding system that automatically applies hardwood pellets as per the meat requirement. Smoker has an electric ignition system for an easy and reliable start all time.
This best small pellet grill innovative slide flame broiler with an easy-access handle. It has foldable side shelves that can use for food preparation and hold tools, spices, and sauces.
This pit-boss smoker has a stainless steel removable oil pan attached to the outer bucket for easy cleaning. The Pit Boss Smoker has two strong legs and a two-wheel that provides easy mobility.
This best smoker under 500 comes with a 3-year limited warranty and 85% of verified customers give 5-star.
4. Green Mountain Davy Crockett Sense Mate
This best pellet smoker under 500 has a really great performer and excellent budget pellet grill with great quality from the Green Mountain Davy Crockett based in the USA. Pellet grill and gas grill which is the best?
This best pellet grill under $500 is a great design and built of high-quality stainless steel which is excellent for longer runs and the best corrosion-resistant. This Green Mountain Davy Crockett pellet smoker is at an excellent price with great options. It is perfect for home and camping both, and more.
This best pellet grill for $500 has great features but DCWF has one of the biggest drawbacks of this model, it has only 219 square inches of the cooking area but is excellent for a small family. This is one of the smallest pellet smoker categories that come out of there. But It is a great performer and cooks decent 6 steaks, 2 racks of ribs, or 2 small sizes of chicken at a time.
Davy Crockett is one of the best pellet smokers under 500 with ultimate features with portable size. Green Mountain Davy Crockett featured a digital WiFi controller that supported both types of phones Android and iOS that connect with your Smartphone. A digital controller allows you to monitor the temperature and smoke as well as the cooking process. This is called the “Price Pack” option.
DCWF pellet smoker grill includes a meat check, a convenience tray with tools hook, a pointed lid for stand-up chicken, rack ribs, or more. Smoker feature a sense-mate thermal sensor that can consistently monitor the cooking temperature.
This Green Mountain smoker under 500 great option for you if the cooking area is enough for you. This Green Mountain Davy Crockett will be performing great even in cold weather with excellent and reliable temperature control. It will heat up to 550° F. It is more than other pellet grills.
Davy Crockett is an excellent portable pellet grill smoker that keeps it in your mind with foldable legs that can handle use easily, this bonus part of this smoker. This Green Mountain grill under 500 has actually strong that can give you the freedom to smoke or grill on the go. You can easily adjust it high with its legs easily.
This best portable pellet smoker comes with a waterproof cover that is a bonus for you. This is seriously a great value for the money. 77% of verified customers give 5-star and a 2-year limited warranty for you.
5. Camp Chef PG24DLX Deluxe Pellet Grill Smoker
Camp-Chef is one of the most popular brands that has created high-quality smoker grills. Camp Chef PG24DLX Deluxe Pellet Grill will prove to you why they are the best. The PG24DLX Deluxe Pellet is made of high-quality stainless steel which is capable of all harsh weather and prevents corrosion.
The total cooking rack area of the Camp Chef PG24DLX smoker is 573 square inches which is best for medium-sized families. It has a side shelf that can be easily changed in cooking given that you have another 184-square-inch cooking area.
The Camp Chef PG24DLX has a slider that allows you to roast your meat, grill, smoke, or braise with a premium wood-smoke taste. You can use it for direct and indirect flame cooking.
This smart and cool grill has a digital controller that provides you with real-time cooking status and 2 stainless steel meat probes also offer you to check internal meat temperature. Just set the desired temperature and wait until the meat is ready.
This best grill has a special feature with 2 PID digital control that allows smoke between one to ten levels. And the digital temperature that gives you complete control over foods.
This Camp Chef pellet smoker under 500 has an automatic feeder control system which means that the system uses automatically when a pellet is needed. This continuously optimizes the desired smoke and temperature range between 160º F – 500ºF.
This pellet smoker grill comes on a side shelf that gives extra cooking preparation space. And a special feature called sidekick for flat top grilling. 18-pound hopper capacity and it has the best cleaning system for quick and easy cleaning, simply pull the bottom ash using the lever and collect it in the cup.
The Camp Chef pellet grill smoker under 500 needs assembling which is very easy by following the video instruction. The grill has two sturdy wheels and two stands giving you excellent portability.
This Camp Chef PG24DLX Deluxe Pellet Grill comes with a 3-year limited warranty and 80% of verified customers give the 5-star and 4-star from the 10% of verified users.
6. Z GRILLS ZPG-450APRO Wood Pellet Grill Smoker
The ZPG-450A PRO is made from Z-grills and it is value for a money pellet smoker the structure is made with heavy-duty steel and finishes with high-quality gray paint powder coated and porcelain cast-iron grates. it is designed for harsh weather working and grills that prevent rust.
This budget grill smoker has a total cooking surface of 452 square inches, 324 square inches in the main cooking room, and 128 square inches in a warming rack that is excellent for sauces, buns, and more. The place is adequate for a small family and is best for tailgates, backyard grilling, patio grilling, and more.
If talking about the control it has a Digital auto-temperature controller that automatically connects with your pellet grill and controls the temperature as required. This ZPA-450APRO maintains a temperature of about 10 degrees Fahrenheit. The convection heat distribution system ensures that the food is evenly cooked to perfection.
This best pellet grill under $500 has advanced PID technology that surprisingly maintains temperature during cooking. The smoker proposes a “set and forgets” experience with the highest stability you can count on. The 15-pound hopper lets you smoke for about 10–15 hours without any hassle.
This best pellet smoker under 500 offers to plug the probe into the meat and set the required temperature. It provides real-time status every time when needs to be investigated, and now you have a job, enjoy a party with friends and family after cooking you get notified.
Here is a piece of important information if you are cooking inside the house you can grill it 100 feet away, and 160 feet from outside.
Talking about portability, it has 2 heavy-duty wheels and 2 legs for easy mobility and stability. The grill has an additional cooking preparation area with 28 “foldable side shelves that can be used to hold appliances, sauces, and more. The bottom of the cook box has a grease tray in the collection of grease attached to the bucket Is meant to be.
You will get some additional accessories and tools such as thermal blankets, grill tools, a grill cleaning brush, a smoke tube, foil bucket liners, and a grill scraper.
The Z-grills come with a 3-year limited warranty and over 75% of verified users give 5-star.
7. Z GRILLS ZPG-7002E 2020 Upgrade Wood Pellet Grill Smoker
The Z GRILLS ZPG-7002E 2020 upgrade is built of stainless steel that has high resistance to corrosion means a longer-lasting life grill with a sleek and high-quality polished finish. This smoker has the ultimate 8-in-1 BBQ wood fire that offers you can grill, bake, smoke, braise, roast, and BBQ.
ZPG-7002E 2020 upgrade best wood pellet grill smoker under 500 has a huge total cooking area of 694 square inches. The main cooking surface has 504 square inches and a 190 square inch warming rack. This ZPG-7002E is perfect for a medium-large family. And you can enjoy smoking in your backyard, and excellent for the tailgate, outdoor grilling, patio, and more.
The grill featured a Digital temperature control that automatically adds pellets as required to regulate the heat and maintain the consistent & precise temperature. The controller offered to stay within 10 degrees all the time. Another feature is convection heat distribution technology that ensures your meat gets cooked evenly to perfection.
Z Grills has advanced wood fire technology that provides you with wood fire flavor in a propane or gas facility. The 20-pound size of the hopper is more than enough but you can cook about 10-pounds pellet per 10 hours. And the grill is a super versatile and wide range of temperatures from 180 to 450 degrees. Happens till
This best wood pellet grill under $500 is super easy to cooking even if you are a beginner. The grill has an electric auto-start ignition system, a Digital auto temperature controller, a meat probe, and an LED display that provide the real-time temperature.
A side shelf is ideal for preparing food or placing equipment or sauces in Z-grills. Upgraded cart with locking caster wheels for easy portability and stability. A grill specially designed for waste oil collectors to help you in safe and easy cleaning.
You will get some additional accessories and tools such as a thermal blanket, grill tool, grill cleaning brush, smoke tube, foil bucket liners, and grill scraper.
This US-based grill comes with a 3-year limited warranty and a 30-days money-back warranty. Over 71% of verified users give it 5-star.
Frequently Asking Questions
What is the best pellet smoker for the money?
I will give to three if you ask me what is the best pellet smoker for the money? so I will suggest three pellet smokers.
1. Traeger Pellet Grills TFB30KLF Tailgater 20 Grill
2. Z GRILLS ZPG-450A 2020 Upgrade Wood Pellet Grill Smoker
3. Green Mountain Davy Crockett Sense Mate
IS pit boss as good as Traeger?
The answers here are a bit tricky to answer, but both Treasure and Pit-Boss are well served by a great smoker with their generous warranty. But the treasure you get with good features that are in your budget provides better quality than some extra cost.
Traeger gas 9.8 out of 10
Pit-boss gets 9.7 out of 10
Which is better pit boss or Z Grill?
Usually, it is true that Jade Grill is a great smoker producer, but if it comes out that the pit-boss is better than the pit-boss, then the pit-boss is seen here. Typically the pit boss will provide better grilling/searing performance on the Z grill.
Is a pellet smoker worth it?
Yes, the pellet grill is worth it. Now, pellet grills are an excellent choice these days, they offer you versatile smoke “set and forget” great features. Today people are becoming increasingly interested in pellet grills because they provide you with the best monitoring and best taste and flavor with minimal effort.
Final Verdict
Although pellet grill smokers are quite expensive, we have found some of the best pellet smokers that are affordable for you.
Pellet smokers are becoming so popular today because they make your job easier. I am recommending you choose Traeger Pellet Smoker. Though there are all the best performers and brands that are market leaders.
Why would anyone buy a traeger with the problems they’ve had with their Chinese quality control