The best BBQs in Australia in 2026

Every guide on this site is written for Australian conditions and Australian shops. Prices are what we found at Bunnings, BCF and Amazon Australia on the date above, in Australian dollars.

Start with how you cook, not with the fuel

Most BBQ regret comes from buying for the crowd you host twice a year instead of the dinners you cook twice a week. A hooded two-burner or a Weber Q cooks a weeknight for four in ten minutes and roasts a chicken on the weekend. A six-burner does the same job with more gas, more cleaning and more patio. Buy for the ordinary week and borrow a second cooker for the party.

The five kinds of BBQ, honestly

Gas is the Australian default: fast, controllable, cheap to run, and the only type most people will light on a Tuesday. Look for a hood (roasting), cast-iron or heavy enamelled plates (heat retention), and a warranty split that names the burners.

Charcoal is flavour and ritual. Kettles and drums are cheap and versatile; a good one with a lid does low-and-slow as well as searing. Twenty minutes to light, and you manage the fire.

Kamado grills are thick-walled ceramic or insulated steel eggs. They hold heat like an oven, go from 110 degrees for a twelve-hour brisket to 400 for pizza, and use surprisingly little charcoal. They are heavy and the ceramic ones are dear.

Pellet grills feed compressed wood pellets into a fire pot with an auger and fan under digital control. Real wood smoke, set-and-forget temperature, but they need power and pellets, and they do not sear like gas or charcoal.

Electric BBQs are for balconies and strata rules. Most are weak. The Weber Lumin and the Ninja Woodfire are the two that reach useful heat.

Australian specifics that change the choice

• Gas certification. Every gas BBQ sold here must carry a certification mark from an accredited body (the old AGA badge or its successors). Uncertified imports are illegal to sell and unsafe to use.
• LPG versus natural gas. Portable cylinders are for the owner to connect. A natural gas bayonet or conversion is a licensed gasfitter’s job.
• Coastal rust. Within a few kilometres of salt water, enamelled steel bodies rust at the seams within a couple of years unless covered. Stainless costs more, and 304 stainless resists salt far better than the 430 grade used on cheaper “stainless” BBQs.
• Covers are not optional. A fifty-dollar cover doubles the life of a three-hundred-dollar BBQ.
• Warranty split. Read it. Ten years on the body and one year on the burners means the part that fails is the part that is not covered.

What to spend

Under $250 buys a hooded four-burner from Bunnings’ Jumbuck range that will do three to five seasons if covered. $350 to $900 is where value peaks: the Jumbuck Horizon, Matador Spark and Weber Family Q live here. Above $1,000 you are paying for stainless, warranty, brand and outdoor-kitchen looks, all of which are real but none of which cooks a better sausage.

Our category guides

Gas · Charcoal · Kamado · Pellet smokers · Smokers · Portable · 4-burner · Built-in · Electric · Which Weber Q