As an occasional caregiver for family members, I’ve doled out plenty of medications and relied on pill boxes to track what I’m doing. For this guide, I spoke with experts on caregiving, consulted with community centers for older adults, and pored over hundreds of online pill box reviews, as well as academic research on pill boxes and medication management.

Beyond offering convenience and keeping pills organized, a pill box can help anyone who takes medications, in a few crucial ways:

• Remembering medication: A good pill box can literally be life-saving. Not taking medications as they’re prescribed causes around 125,000 deaths a year in the US alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• Staying independent for longer: Pill boxes can forestall the need for more intensive care such as an adult-care facility, said Amy Goyer, AARP’s family and caregiving expert. “A pill box can be really key in helping someone be independent for as long as possible,” she said.

When you’re choosing a pill box for yourself or a loved one, think through the following questions to help you select the right model:

Do you need flexibility?

Your needs will most likely change over time, so if you want to purchase only one pill box, it may be prudent to buy a model that’s larger than you think you need.

Who will use the organizer?

If someone doles out your medication, it might be a good idea to involve them in the decision of which pill box to get.

Do kids live in the home?

Although most pharmacy pill bottles are child resistant, most pill boxes aren’t. If you are concerned about kids or anyone else getting into a pill box, invest in a model that either locks or allows you to monitor its contents (the only monitoring model we tried was the Med-E-Lert, which, unfortunately, we didn’t like).

Do you need automated reminders?

In theory, a smart pill dispenser connected to your phone via an app can remind you or a loved one to take medication on schedule and monitor adherence. Unfortunately, the smart models we tried don’t live up to the hype. If you need a reminder to take pills, we suggest setting up a scheduled reminder on a phone or a smart speaker for use in combination with a regular pill box.

You can find hundreds of pill boxes out there, and new ones are surfacing all the time. To narrow the field, we started with advice from AARP’s Amy Goyer: “Can you get it open easily? Will it stay shut? Are you gonna spill your pills when you pick it up? These may seem like little things, but in the middle of a caregiving day, it can really throw things off.”

In looking for pill boxes to test, we wanted to find models that met the following criteria:

• Big enough for lots of pills: We looked for boxes that had compartments roomy enough to hold large pills—or a good quantity of medication and vitamins—and would be appropriate to set on a counter.
• Good for travel: We also considered smaller cases suitable for fitting inside a bag.
• Priced right: A good pill box shouldn’t cost more than $25, and many decent ones are less than $10.
• Easy to open: A pill box is helpful only if the person can open it. For anyone who has limited wrist or finger strength, a model with spring-open compartments is a better choice. But even models without springs should open relatively easily.
• Well made: The hinges shouldn’t break, the markings shouldn’t rub or wash off, and the day-of-the-week labels should be clear.
• Stays closed during transit: Digging around a bag for spilled pills is no one’s idea of fun, so we looked for pill boxes that stayed shut even when jostled around.
• Made with removable compartments: Although removable compartments are not essential for a box you’ll use mostly at home, if you travel a lot or need to access your pills during the day, the option to carry a smaller container can be key.
• Designed attractively: A good-looking and well-organized pill box can do a lot to make the daily process of taking pills less onerous.

Though pill box choice is highly subjective, when we were deciding on which models to test, we noticed that a few elicited rave reviews on Amazon, Facebook groups, and Reddit.

We tested 14 pill boxes, including two smart pill dispensers and an automatic model. I put most of them through an array of stress tests, bending back the hinges to see if they flexed without snapping and dropping them from counter height to see if they would break or pop open.

I also noted how easy each box was to open, taking into consideration the needs of folks who may have limited strength or dexterity in their hands. I scraped the markings on each box to see if they would come off. I tested whether each box was readily portable and if it accidentally opened while in transit. And I used the top four contenders for a week each during my own pill routine.

I tested pill boxes with members of the Park Slope Center for Successful Aging in Brooklyn, New York. I also asked my mom’s caregiver and my dad to test some of the pill boxes.

Finally, three Wirecutter staffers who take daily pills and have a diversity of pill box needs—including taking a lot of pills, taking pills at specific times throughout the day, needing something portable, and needing to be reminded to take pills—tested our top picks.

Wirecutter’s smart-home expert, senior staff writer Rachel Cericola, tested the smart and automatic pill dispensers. She evaluated the setup process, gauged the quality of the accompanying apps, and used each dispenser during her own routine.

Who it’s for: People who want a pill box that can hold a week’s worth of pills yet is flexible enough for daily transport.

Why it’s great

It’s large enough to fit all your pills for the week. The Auvon iMedassist Moisture-Proof Weekly Pill Organizer consists of a section for each day of the week that can hold four daily doses. Some people we spoke with liked this design because they could use it for two weeks (by using half the compartments) or even a month (by using only one compartment per day). Other organizers we tried that had fewer daily compartments were too small to hold a week’s worth of pills, especially for people who take a lot of medications. The individual compartments in the Auvon iMedassist model are also big enough to hold larger pills and supplements.

It’s easy to travel with. The smaller daily cases are removable, so if you’re going somewhere for a day, you can just take that day’s pills rather than taking the whole case. And if you’re traveling with the larger case, its sturdy latch makes spills unlikely. Most of the other organizers we tried aren’t quite as flexible. One of our panelists said, “I balked at how unwieldy the Auvon seemed at first since the full case is enormous, but removing an individual day each morning makes it much less obtrusive.”

It’s well made. Some pill boxes we tested had markings that rubbed off right away, but the Auvon iMedassist organizer’s markings are embedded in the plastic and withstood our efforts to scratch or remove them. Five separate hinges hold together the case, which seems designed to withstand many hours of opening and closing.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

• You won’t fool anyone into thinking this is anything but a pill box. It may be “too much” pill box for some people. This was pretty much the only thing our testers took issue with.
• One tester thought the markings were confusing, as this organizer indicates the time of day with a rising sun, a full sun, a moon, and a star. If you prefer word labels, you might consider the Sukuos Weekly Pill Organizer 7 Day (4 Times a Day) Case, an extremely similar model that simply states “Morn,” “Noon,” “Eve,” and “Bed” on its compartments.

Who it’s for: People with limited hand dexterity or strength who might have a hard time with a traditional pill box latch.

Why it’s great

It’s easy to open. If dealing with a traditional clasp is an issue for you, the Auvon Weekly Pill Organizer with Spring Open Design might be the right choice. It’s designed to pop open when you push down on a lever. (We were even able to open the compartments using only our elbows.) One tester said the spring-open design made this box “a pleasure” to use.

It has spacious compartments. Its individual compartments were among the biggest in our tests and are roomy enough for large pills and supplements.

It has clear labels. The letters denoting the day of the week are large and did not rub off when we scraped them.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

• This Auvon organizer has only one compartment per day, so if you need to take pills more than once a day, at a specific time, this model might not be for you. If you want a similar design with two compartments, we recommend the Ezy Dose AM/PM Weekly Pill Organizer, though the markings on that model started coming off within a day of use in our tests.
• It’s quite lightweight, and it had a tendency to slide along the counter when we tried to open it with one hand, so you may have to hold it down with one hand while depressing the lever with the other.
• Some testers noted that the hinges felt flimsier than those on our other picks.

Who it’s for: Anyone who wants a nicer-looking (and still functional) pill box and doesn’t mind paying a little more for it.

Why it’s great

It’s good-looking, and it comes in multiple colors. Most pill organizers look like they belong in a hospital—and with them, there’s no hiding the fact that you’re using a pill box. In contrast, the Mimi Medcessories Pretty Pillbox could pass as a cosmetic case. The plastic body is coated with a soft metallic material that gives it an elegant glow. It comes in three colors: rose, champagne, and “steele.”

It has daily compartments, plus an extra. In addition to the usual one compartment per day, this model includes a small compartment for pills taken on an as-needed basis, unlike our other picks. It also slides open easily in either direction, revealing compartments for Saturday and Sunday on one side and Monday through Friday on the other.

It’s portable. Though this pill box is large enough to hold a week’s worth of pills, it’s still small enough to slide into a bag or purse.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

• Although everyone who saw this pill box loved the idea, some testers were put off by its plastic sliding mechanism, which felt like it could easily break. Another tester found the mechanism to be sticky in the beginning, though its movement became smoother after a few uses.
• It’s far too easy to open this box upside down and accidentally dump all your pills out on the floor (confirmed one late night by yours truly), as the top side looks identical to the bottom, save a small logo.
• The compartments are narrower than those of our other picks, so if you have thicker fingers, plucking the pills out may be more difficult. This pill box also may not work for someone who has to take more than a few pills a day.
• Some online reviewers don’t like that the Saturday and Sunday compartment labels are switched (an intentional design choice so that they appear in the correct order if you slide open the pill box to the right), but this didn’t bother us.

If you’re looking for an easy-to-open pill box with two compartments per day: We really liked how simple the Ezy Dose AM/PM Weekly Pill Organizer was to open. It has two compartments per day that spring open in a similar fashion to those of the Auvon Weekly Pill Organizer with Spring Open Design, and it also has little grippy feet that prevent it from sliding along the counter as you put pressure on the latch—a downside of the Auvon version. But its day-of-the-week markings started to rub off almost immediately in our tests.

If you want a prettier pill box: With more than 10,500 followers on Instagram and raves on Reddit, Port and Polish definitely has a fanbase. The pill box is cute and discreet and comes in an array of colors. But we thought the day-of-the-week tabs were a bit flimsy, and we didn’t understand why a pill box needed a mirror.

If you need a pill box with Braille labels: Curiously, the only pill box we encountered with Braille was this Ezy Dose Weekly Pill Organizer—and with a price around $4.50, it was one of the cheapest models we saw at the time of our research. It comes in a variety of colors, and it seems fine as a basic option with only one compartment per day.

If you want a pill box with four compartments per day but find the labels on our top pick somewhat cryptic: The Sukuos Weekly Pill Organizer 7 Day (4 Times a Day) Case is similar to the Auvon iMedassist Moisture-Proof Weekly Pill Organizer in every way but uses “Morn,” “Noon,” “Eve,” and “Bed” for the time of day as opposed to symbols.

Classic pill boxes

Although the Holii Daily Pill Organizer and the Kemaier Daily Pill Organizer are good-looking, neither is organized by the day of the week or labeled on its compartments, and the Kemaier box is often out of stock.

The Se7en-Day Weekly Pill Organizer is much like our top pick, the Auvon iMedassist organizer, but the case is a bit flimsier, and it has only three compartments per day (which could be a selling point for some people).

The Sukuos Weekly Pill Organizer 7 Day (2 Times a Day) has round containers that hold the morning and evening pills for each day, and we like that those containers are removable. But we found the cartridge shape bulky and the latch for the case quite flimsy.

Smart and automatic pill dispensers

The Ellie Smart Pill Box was the best smart pill dispenser we tested, and it has the potential to be a time-saver for people with complex pill-taking regimens. However, for most people, we don’t think this model is helpful enough to warrant its high price. The box doesn’t track how many pills you take from the pill reservoir, or even if you’ve removed a pill at all—only that you’ve opened the box. On top of that, in our tests the spring-loaded latch had a tendency to pop open a bit too abruptly and eject all of its contents. We also had a difficult time connecting a smartphone to the device, though customer service was quick to help us. Some useful-sounding features, such as the box’s ability to notify a caregiver that you’ve taken your pills, are available only for an additional weekly fee.

The battery-operated Med-E-Lert Automatic Pill Dispenser is quite large, and in our tests it was confusing to set up. The individual compartments are too small to fit larger vitamins or supplements, and it doesn’t offer a remote way of shutting it off, so if you are out of the house, the alarm will sound until you attend to it (though you can program it to flash a light instead of making a sound). That said, one caregiver we spoke with noted that this model was great for her particular situation, and some online reviews say that it works well for people living with dementia. It’s the only dispenser we tested that has a lock and key, which you must use to fully open it.

The Loba Smart Supplement Organizer is a smart pill dispenser that’s geared toward the “wellness market” rather than older adults or others who take medications, and it lacks certain features that are crucial for many people, such as an audible alarm and customization of the schedule for different days of the week. It does have small removable compartments, though, as well as customizable LED colors that make the box glow in any hue you choose.

The Hero is a subscription-based smart pill dispenser that has some rave reviews online for its ability to integrate remote care into the pill-dispensing process, but we decided against testing it because of its very high price tag, which includes a one-time initiation fee of about $100, a monthly fee ranging from $30 to $45 depending on the plan you choose, and a one-year minimum commitment.

This article was edited by Claire Perlman and Christine Cyr Clisset.