Pellet Grill vs. Smoker: Which One Is Right for You?

The right outdoor cooking appliance is essential whether you're a seasoned barbecue expert trying to decide on an upgrade or a newbie to the world of smoking/grilling food. For smoking food, you have the option of a pellet grill or a smoker. But what method is best for you? In this guide, we compare the benefits of a pellet grill vs. smoker and help you decide which one is the right option for your cooking, smoking, and grilling needs.

In this guide:
What Is a Pellet Grill?
What Is a Smoker?
Pellet Grill vs. Smoker: How Do They Differ?

What Is a Pellet Grill?

A pellet grill, also called a wood pellet grill or a pellet smoker, is an outdoor cooking appliance that can function as a grill, smoker, or even an oven! Pellet grills cook food via smoking wood pellets. Most pellet grills ignite wood pellets, activate internal mechanisms, and control temperature by the use of electricity, so you will need access to an outdoor outlet. Pellet grills feature a hopper (a funnel-shaped mechanism that stores wood pellets and releases them through the bottom when needed), typically located to one side. To fuel the pellet grill, you fill the hopper with wood pellets. The pellets will electronically feed into an auger (a large screw-like mechanism that helps rotate/move wood pellets from the hopper into the fire pot), which distributes the pellets into a fire pot.

Powered by electricity, the fire pot heats and ignites the pellets producing smoke, which wafts up into the cooking chamber and slowly cooks the food. Pellet grills also have electronic temperature controls to help keep the wood pellets burning at an even temperature. Check out How Do Pellet Grills Work? to learn more about the inner-workings of this outdoor cooking appliance.

Tip!

Want more information for comparing a pellet grill vs. smoker and other cooker options? Review Pellet Grill vs. Charcoal Grill: How They Compare.

What Is a Smoker?

A smoker or smoker grill is an outdoor cooking appliance that is designed to slow-cook and smoke food to perfection. Smokers come in a variety of design configurations, but they typically consist of a firebox attached to a cooking chamber. You ignite charcoal, wood chips/blocks, or a combination of charcoal and wood in the firebox to get the process started. Smoke in the firebox passes through a small opening and into the cooking chamber to smoke/cook food. There usually isn't a knob or button to control the temperature, but there is a temperature gauge so you can monitor the interior temperature and decide whether or not to add more fuel. Smokers also have dampers and a smoke chimney you can open/close to manipulate the fire and regulate the interior temperature.

When it comes to choosing a smoker appliance, you can choose a traditional wood pellet design (fueled by wood pellets or wood chips and an open flame), or an electric model (plugged into an outlet with wood chips and a flameless heating mechanism). There are also models available with other heating methods, including natural gas or {"type":"filteredBrowse","id":"215951","urlFilterString":"a8015~393912","anchorText":"propane","openInNewWindow":true}}, and even charcoal.

Tip!

Learn how to further distinguish a smoker vs. pellet grill by reading up on this outdoor cooking method:
A Beginner's Guide to Using a Smoker
Types of Smokers You Need to Know
Smoker vs. Grill: Which One's Better for You?

Pellet Grill vs. Smoker: How Do They Differ?

With a better understanding of how pellet grills and smokers work, now it's time to compare them to discover which one fulfills your criteria. Do you need a smoker? A pellet grill? Both? This section holds the answers.

Ease of Use

If you're a beginner when it comes to outdoor grilling and smoking activities, a pellet grill is the way to go. Pellet grill cooking is much more beginner-friendly compared to cooking on a smoker. This is because it uses electricity to heat the fire pot and to continuously release wood pellets from the hopper, through the auger, and into the fire pot when it detects changes in temperature. Essentially, pellet grills allow you to set the cooking temperature and step back and let it do the work. With a smoker, you constantly have to monitor the temperature and vent or add fuel to the fire to maintain the right cooking temperature.

Overall Cost

Pellet grills tend to cost more when compared to smokers because they have electric components and temperature control settings. Traditional smokers have a much simpler design that doesn't require electricity, so this is the more budget-friendly option. Electric smokers are mid-price because they don't have temperature control settings like pellet grills but they do have an electric heating component, which makes it easier to heat and maintain temperatures compared to traditional smokers.

Cooking Functions

If you want versatility in your outdoor cooking appliance, a pellet grill is the way to go. Its temperature control settings and design make it easy to cook, grill, smoke, or bake a range of meals. Pellet grills are also designed to be able to cook at higher temperatures compared to smokers (100°F up to 600°F), whereas smokers are designed to achieve tender, smoky meat and vegetables, which is why it's designed to cook food at around 200°F for a longer period of time. Pellet grills can be used to grill hamburgers and hot dogs, bake pizza, or smoke meat, while smokers have the perfect design to smoke cuts of meat.

Design

When it comes to design in the pellet grill vs. smoker debate, smokers are simpler but trickier to operate, while pellet grills are more complex but easy to operate. Smokers come in a variety of configurations, but most have a firebox either beside or beneath the cooking chamber. There is also an opening between the firebox and cooking chamber to allow the smoke to pass through and fill the cooking space. Smokers have dampers (vents) and chimneys to help feed or starve the fire of oxygen or release excess smoke from the cooking chamber. In contrast, pellet grills have a hopper and auger mechanism that store/feed wood pellets into a fire pot. The fire pot is usually located beneath the cooking chamber. Smoke from the fire rises into the cooking chamber. Then the grill relies on temperature-gauging technology to determine when to stop or add wood pellets.

Smoky Flavoring

In terms of achieving smoky flavor and rich cuts of meat, smokers are the way to go. This is because smokers are designed to cook meat and other food slowly at a low temperature that allows the smoke to fully infuse the food with smoky flavor. Cooking on a pellet grill takes less time and operates at higher temperatures, so there aren't as many smoke-infused flavors to enjoy.

Cook Time

As we touched on above, pellet grills take less time to cook food because they have higher temperature settings and special controls that keep food cooking at a consistent temperature. In contrast, smokers can take hours to days to cook food thoroughly due to their low average cooking temperature and temperature fluctuations. However, the result is usually worth the wait! Electric smokers may help reduce the amount of cook time because they provide a steadier heat source. Overall, the use of a pellet grill over a smoker can reduce the cook time for meat by half. A good example of this is brisket. Traditional smokers can take up to 12 hours to cook brisket, while a pellet grill takes only up to six hours. Just remember, the flavor infusion from a pellet grill might not be as strong as a smoker!

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