Best Dog Crate Under $100 (October 2026)

The sizing rule, before anything else

A crate is the one pet purchase where getting the number wrong makes the product actively counterproductive, so this comes first.

Measure your dog nose to tail base, and floor to the top of the head while standing. Add two to four inches to each. That is your crate size. A crate should let the dog stand without ducking, turn around comfortably, and lie fully stretched out - and not much more.

Too large is a real problem, not a kindness. House-training relies on a dog's reluctance to soil the space it sleeps in. Give a puppy a crate with room for a bed at one end and a bathroom at the other and you have removed the mechanism the whole method depends on.

This is why a divider panel matters so much. Buy the crate for the adult dog, fit the divider to the puppy, and move it outward as they grow. One crate, correctly sized at every stage, for one price. A crate sold without a divider is a crate you will buy twice.

If you are not sure what size your dog will reach, our what size dog crate do I need guide has the breed and weight ranges and the measuring method in detail.

Four types, and what each is actually for

Wire crates fold flat, have a divider, offer the best airflow and visibility, and are the cheapest per cubic inch. They are the default and the right answer for most households. They are also noisy, and a determined chewer can bend the wire on the cheapest ones.

Plastic kennels are enclosed, which some anxious dogs strongly prefer, and they are the only type airlines accept for cargo travel. They do not fold, they have poor visibility, and they are harder to clean than they look.

Soft-sided crates are light, quiet and easy to carry, and they are for a dog that is already crate-trained and calm. A dog that chews, scratches or panics will be out of one in minutes, and they cannot be cleaned properly after an accident.

Furniture crates are wooden end-table-style crates for a dog that is fully settled and a living room you care about. They are more expensive per square inch, offer less ventilation, and are not for a puppy or a chewer.

For a puppy, buy wire. The divider, the cleanability and the airflow all matter more at that stage than anything the other types offer.

• A divider panel is the single most useful feature on a crate.
• Double doors - front and side - make placement far more flexible in a real room.
• A removable plastic pan floor, so accidents are a wipe rather than a disaster.
• Rounded corner clips on wire crates. Sharp clips catch paws and bedding.

Crate training, in the order that works

A crate is a tool and the method matters more than the hardware. The condensed version of what trainers broadly agree on:

Never use it as punishment. This is the one rule that breaks everything if you break it. The crate has to be a good place.

Feed in the crate, door open. For several days. The dog walks in voluntarily, eats, walks out. No door, no fuss.

Close the door for seconds, then open it before any complaint. Build from five seconds to a minute to ten minutes across days, not hours.

Leave the room only once the door is a non-event. Then build duration again from nothing.

A tired dog crates easily and a fresh dog does not. Exercise first, every time, in the early stages.

Puppies cannot hold it long. A rough guide is one hour per month of age during the day, up to a maximum - a four-month-old puppy should not be crated for four hours and then blamed for an accident.

If crating is going badly after a few weeks of consistent work, that is a behavior question for a trainer or a vet rather than a product question.

Where the crate goes

Placement affects whether it works more than most people expect.

In a room people use, not in isolation. A crate in a utility room at the back of the house teaches a dog that going in means being left behind. A corner of the living room teaches the opposite.

Against a wall or in a corner. Two enclosed sides do most of what a cover does, and this is the reason double-door crates are worth having - you can put the crate where the room allows and still open it toward the room.

Not next to a radiator, not in direct sun, not in a draught. A dog cannot move away from any of those inside a crate.

For the first few weeks of a puppy, next to your bed at night. It is the single most effective way to get through the first nights, and the crate can migrate to its permanent home afterwards.

For the rest of the set-up, the best budget dog beds covers what goes inside, and indestructible dog toys covers what to leave in there with a chewer.

How we picked

We limited the list to crates currently sold in the US under $100, then sorted by type rather than ranking on one scale - a soft crate and a wire crate are not competing for the same buyer.

Within the wire category we ranked on whether a divider is included, door configuration, wire gauge and pan design, because those are the features that determine whether one crate serves a dog from eight weeks to adulthood.

The fifth entry is deliberately not a crate. The most common complaint about crates is that the dog will not settle, and a cover plus a proper mat addresses that more cheaply and more effectively than buying a different crate.

We have not tested these crates against a determined escape artist and make no such claim. Sizing guidance follows the standard measuring method published by crate manufacturers and retailers, cited in sources. Our method is at how we pick.