When your little one is on the move, there are certain places and rooms you will need to keep them from entering. Baby gates are your best bet in these situations. But with so many types to choose from, how do you know what to pick — and are there any that aren’t completely hideous?
Best Overall: EvenFlo Farmhouse Collection Walk Thru Top-of-Stairs GateBest Angle Mount/Easiest to Install: KidCo Angle Mount Safeway GateBest No-Punch Retractable: BabyBond Retractable Baby Gates for DoorwayEditor Favorite: Best Multi-Mount: EvenFlo Barn Door Walk-Thru Gate Farmhouse Collection
Baby gates come in a few different styles, and each one has a purpose. The main styles are pressure-mounted, hardware-installed, and freestanding. How and where you are planning on using them will determine which one you will want to buy. It’s important to know that this is one of the products that you should not buy second-hand. Not only is it possible that the connections could be worn, but many gates have been subject to recalls in recent years. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has recently implemented more stringent guidelines regarding baby gates as well. This change forbids the sale of V-shaped accordion-style gates due to the risk of strangulation and entrapment. Despite the warnings, I have seen these gates continue to be sold second-hand.
Just like the rules regarding the slats of a crib or posts on new-build stairways, the bars should never be wider than the bottom of a standard soda can. There also shouldn’t be anything protruding or sharp, and all paints and finishes should be nontoxic. As for which you choose for your home, a lot of that is a personal choice, but some things, like the placement safety of some gates over others, need to be considered. As for the height of the gate, they need to be almost as tall as your toddler unless you want them vaulting themselves bodily over it like I did as a child and still bear the scar from doing.
Dan Kaiser, President of baby gate (and gear) manufacturer KidCo, tells Best Products that “above everything, baby gates need to be installed properly.” This isn’t always the easiest step, and in our testing, we found this to be the most difficult. Thankfully, KidCo makes their instructions extremely explicit (by far the best on our list), and he says that’s with good reason. “People often forget to read the instructions, or they think they can do it without them,” he says. This isn’t the move, friends. Read them once, read them again, and then start the installation.
He also tells Best Products that baby gates should be substantial — heavy, even. Because you don’t want the bars to bend too easily, rendering them unsafe. When bars bend, they can make the latches work incorrectly or cause the gate to pull away from the wall. He notes that “Our gates have glass-reinforced nylon for rigidity, and steel that won’t bend or give.” And I can attest that is absolutely true, even when a giant toddler does their best to try and break it.
I found that the retractable or solid-side gates were the hardest for tots to climb, so if you have a climber, this is a bit of critical insight.
Pressure-mounted gates are only suitable between rooms and at the bottom of the stairs. They are not strong enough to prevent your child from falling down the stairs, so they should never be placed at the top of the stairs. They are held in place only by the spring-loaded arms. They are stable and difficult to knock down, but a toddler going full speed could certainly do it. (As can a rottweiler puppy. Ask me how I know.)
While there are pressure-mounted gates up to 60 inches long or more, most are between 26 and 32 inches. Personally, I was not a huge fan of the pressure-mounted gates that were more than 40 inches. It becomes a really difficult install, in my opinion, and overall feels very unwieldy and unstable.
Hardware-installed gates are what you want at the top of the stairs instead of a closing door. They work much like a door, as they are permanently installed with screws into the studs. They are the most immovable of the bunch. I like to find hardware-installed gates that are hard to climb, as well. If they’re at the top of the stairs, make sure that the door swings onto the landing, not towards the stairs. The gate should be secured at all points provided and with the screws included in the purchase. Most of these come in pretty big boxes, but Kaiser says that the future of baby gates is a flat-packed gate that may require more assembly on the parents’ end but is better both price-wise and for the environment due to decreased packaging and shipping costs.
Freestanding gates are larger gates that are made for things such as closing off a dining room from a living room, blocking off a hearth area, or even for use on a closed-in porch. This type of gate is also wonderful for staircases with wider bottoms. These are more of a warning than a real preventative. Kids do have to strategize to get through, but they can get through these.
The good thing is that these give you some extra time to catch up with your wily child as they commit their first B&E. This is a barrier not unlike a line drawn in the sand or the invisible division lines of a dorm room. It’s a boundary that mostly exists in the maker’s head. However, I do find them really helpful because your kids can and do learn to stay away from them and out of certain areas for the most part.
An Important Note: Not all baby gates are made alike. Some of them are downright pains in the butt to open and close. I am trying to include only the easiest to open and close, but some of the best-built are the most vexing. I will give you a pro tip from someone who has had far too many of these bad boys: Set it up so that the way you open them is set to your dominant hand if you can.
I live in a three-story Victorian, and since that means a lot of stairs, baby gates are my BFF. I have installed several myself, and I spoke with other parents about their favorite baby gates in all the categories. These are the very best. I have seen and inspected every gate on this list, tested for durability and style, interrogated parents about the ease of installation, and compared materials, pricing, availability, and customer service.
I also had a few adorable toddlers around (the sneakiest ones in my family), and I watched as they tried their best to outsmart them. While you can’t 100% stop the climbers, the gates on this list were the most difficult for toddlers to operate. Check them out below!
1Best Overall
ProsCons
Opening has a learning curveThis is not only one of the best-looking top-of-the-stairs and hardware-mounted baby gates, but it’s also one of the easiest to install. Evenflo makes all manner of baby products, so it’s no wonder that their gates are wonderful. It is made of stained hardwood and fits doors from 30 to 48 inches wide. It takes all of 10 minutes to install, and while it is not the easiest to open model on this list, it’s not impossible.
The slats are premium wood, and the connections are brushed steel that doesn’t have sharp edges or a rough coating. The opening is impressive as well, in that I've never pinched myself while opening or closing it as I did with every other gate on this list. I have a partially paralyzed left hand, and if I'm holding something in my right hand, I need to be able to work the gate with my weaker hand. Having said that, it does have a bit of a learning curve on how it does open. Also, I'm a complete klutz, and many gates have tripped me up thanks to the bottom bar or rail, but thankfully, this model doesn't have one of those.
Everything is made to look seamless, and they really do pull it off. Baby gates have a tendency to be an eyesore, and the dark wood of this model helps it look more like a piece of furniture than a baby gate, and it does it for under $60.
| Type of Mount | Pros
|---|
| Hardware or pressure |
| 29 to 56 inches with extenders available |
| Steel, plastic |
3Best Angle Mount/Easiest to Install
Pros
Great instructions
Easy install
Great latchCons
Limited colorwaysAfter installing over two dozen baby gates of all sorts, I can tell you with my full chest that the included instructions are rarely excellent. That is not the case with the KidCo angle-mount baby gate.
When interviewed, Kaiser told me that when his father began the company, he wanted everything to be of the highest quality and the safest. That means not skimping on the instruction booklet regardless of how printing and shipping it may cut into profits.
This gate feels like it could hold back Godzilla, and with the children in my family, that’s necessary. It’s an angle-mount, so it’s good for those weird areas that may not be a regular doorway or stairway. Ours was installed at the top of a split-double stairway between two of the balustrades that sit at an angle.
It’s made of steel and glass-reinforced nylon. It’s just under 3 feet tall, weighs a little over 10 pounds, and the gate opening is easy for adult hands, but not for chubby baby hands or particularly smart rottweilers. (It doesn’t fool my cats, though; they just leap over it like they’re in the ballet.)
This gate comes with an unbelievable lifetime warranty. If something goes wrong, KidCo’s fantastic customer service will be there to help you out! This is the only baby gate I found with this level of coverage.
| Type of Mount | Angled hardware |
|---|---|
| Size of Opening | Up to 42.5 inches |
| Materials | Steel, glass-reinforced nylon |
4Best No-Punch Retractable
Pros
Expands to almost 6 feet
No wall damageCons
Not useful for top of stairsThis is technically a hardware mount, but because it can be mounted punch-free (without damage to walls) and is not suitable for the top of stairs, we’re calling it a pressure-mount. That said, it’s an appealing option because not only is it expandable to 71 inches, but it’s also made of strong mesh, making it one of the hardest gates for baby (or puppy) to yeet themselves over.
Parents told me that this is the gate that they love to use between the playroom or living room and the rest of the house because when it is retracted, it’s not that noticeable. It's a bit like the retractable screen you may have on a window or door.
| Type of Mount | Punch-free mount |
|---|---|
| Size of Opening | Up to 71 inches |
| Materials | Poly, steel, plastic |
5Editor Favorite
Pros
Super sturdy
Popular brand
Easy to installCons
Can scrape floorsA favorite of one of our own here at Best Products, they say that this Cardinal Gate is easy to install and quite sturdy. As it is one of the highest-rated baby gates on Amazon, it makes sense that this would be such a robust gate. Our reviewer did note that you need to add felt pads to the bottom of the gate so that it doesn’t damage floors, which is a really common issue with all gates.
This gate was put through the ringer by our tester's twin toddlers, who like to hang and jump on them, and they never came away from the wall or bent. The plastic piece has also stood the test of time.
| Type of Mount | Hardware-mounted |
|---|---|
| Size of Opening | 27.5 to 42 inches |
| Materials | Steel and plastic |
6Best Multi Mount
Pros
Two mounting styles
Great-lookingCons
Tricky installationThere are many reasons to like this gate, but my favorite is because you get to see your little one peeking through the window.
Seriously, though, it’s a wood gate that can be pressure-mounted or hardware-mounted, and the whole thing is so solid in either mount. Once again, Evenflo is knocking it out of the park with this one. I will say that this one can be a bit fiddly in pressure-mount mode, taking a bit of finagling to get at just the right pressure to hold up without taking out a chunk of plaster.
| Type of Mount | Either pressure or hardware |
|---|---|
| Size of Opening | 29 to 43 inches |
| Materials | Wood, steel, plastic |
7Removable Option
Pros
Whole gate slides off
Easy to openCons
Initial install is a bit of a painThis gate is the easiest to open on this list. It doesn’t look terrible, either. It’s not my favorite to assemble if we’re being honest, but it’s a really great gate.
What I love about this gate, apart from how easy it is to open, is that you can pull it off any time you want to. Most gates are either there or uninstalled. This has a third option and is likely more attractive to parents who have guests over more frequently.
| Type of Mount | Hardware-installed |
|---|---|
| Size of Opening | 25.5 to 40 inches |
| Materials | Steel, plastic |
8Best Smaller Freestanding Gate
Pros
Loud when tipped
Parent favoriteCons
Only 108 inches wideEvery third parent I talked to has this very gate. One reason for that is Amazon pushes this to the front of the list on the results page. Another reason is that it’s simple and gets the job done.
This freestanding baby gate is what you’d use in front of the fireplace or at the bottom of a wide staircase. It’s not the hardest to outwit for babies, but it does buy you time because when this falls over, it makes a mighty ruckus.
| Type of Mount | Freestanding |
|---|---|
| Size of Opening | 108 inches |
| Materials | Steel, plastic |
9Best Large Gate
Pros
Huge and mounted
Easy install for the sizeCons
Can scratch floorsDespite the sheer size of this beast, it is hardware-mounted. While it’s not ideal for the top of the stairs, it is great to block off open areas like kitchens, great rooms, and entryways.
It does sit directly on the floor, so make sure you affix all of the pads onto the bottom of the gate so that it doesn’t scratch your floors. The door to the gate is dead center and opens with one of the lift-style locks that many of us hate, but appreciate for how hard it is for babies to open.
| Type of Mount | Hardware mounted |
|---|---|
| Size of Opening | Up to 198 inches |
| Materials | Steel, plastic |
10Best Outdoor Gate
Pros
Sturdy
Easy installCons
Must be drilled into a porch or deckDecks and porches are wonderful things to have, but holy cow are they fraught with dangers for your kid — stairs being one of the biggest.
The outdoor version of the other Cardinal baby gate on this list is made to withstand the weather and your children’s antics. It’s a more solid version with weather-treated coating and brackets.
Do you have to drill into your deck to secure it? Absolutely you do, but it gives you so much peace of mind. And maybe get a second freestanding gate to go in front of the barbecue as well.
| Type of Mount | Hardware-mounted |
|---|---|
| Size of Opening | 27 to 42.5 inches |
| Materials | Steel |
11Best Clear Gate
Pros
Totally clear
Aesthetically pleasing
Hardware mountedCons
Limited sizingI get it. You want and need a baby gate, but you don’t want to see it. Whether it obstructs a killer view or just messes up your aesthetic, you want something less obvious.
Let me introduce you to Qdos. It’s so clear that I’ve seen babies and adults walk right into it. It’s impressively strong as well. Just ask my legs that were assaulted by this gate. (It’s me. I’m the adult who walked right into it.)
It’s not the easiest to install or to open, but you have to admit, if you can’t see something, it must look good, right?
| Type of Mount | Hardware-mounted |
|---|---|
| Size of Opening | 29.5 to 39.8 inches |
| Materials | Plexiglass, plastic, steel |
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