The Best Pet Playpens: 4 Compared (and One to Skip)

RBE top pick

MidWest Homes for Pets Foldable Metal Exercise Pen with Door

The MidWest wire pen wins on the thing that decides this category, which is buying enough height for the money, and it folds away and survives chewing. The Richell costs more but fixes the wire pen's one structural flaw with vertical slats, and it converts into a gate once the puppy phase ends.

See why it wins Compare all

A playpen only has one job: keep the dog where you left it while you are not watching. Most of the ones people buy fail at that job in the same three ways, which are too short, too easy to climb, or too light to stay put. We compared a folding wire pen, two rigid plastic pens, and a soft-sided pop-up to sort out which ones actually contain a dog and which one is a travel accessory wearing a playpen costume.

RBE top pick

MidWest Homes for Pets

MidWest Homes for Pets Foldable Metal Exercise Pen with Door

Buy it

The default pick: five heights, folds flat, chew-proof, and cheap enough to overbuy on height.

Best for: Most puppy owners, and anyone who wants maximum containment height for the least money.

$ · budget

Why we like it

• Sold in about 24, 30, 36, 42, and 48 inch heights, so you can match the pen to the dog
• Accordion setup takes seconds with no tools, and it folds flat for storage
• Steel construction shrugs off teething puppies
• Add-on panels expand the footprint or reshape it around furniture
• Ground stakes included on most sizes for outdoor use
• Latched step-through door saves you climbing in with a dog in your arms

Know before buying

• Horizontal cross wires act as a ladder, and agile dogs are widely reported climbing out
• Many owners end up buying the separate wire top to close that gap
• Slides on hardwood and tile unless anchored or set on a mat

Check current price on Amazon Read our detailed assessment ↓

Richell

Richell Convertible Indoor/Outdoor Pet Playpen 6 Panel

Buy it

Vertical slats give climbers nothing to grip, and the panels lock into a gate or divider when the puppy phase ends.

Best for: Owners of climbers, and anyone whose pen has to live permanently in a room they care about.

$$$ · premium

Why we like it

• Vertical-slat panels with no horizontal rails, which removes the usual climbing foothold
• Locking caps hold panels at 90, 120, and 180 degrees for pen, divider, or gate layouts
• Molded plastic is mold and mildew resistant and hoses clean
• Wide plastic base is gentle on hardwood
• Latching gate door and tool-free assembly
• Rated by the maker for dogs up to roughly 88 pounds

Know before buying

• Large or pushy dogs can shove the whole pen across a smooth floor, and there is no built-in way to anchor it
• Costs well above a comparable wire pen and stores far less compactly
• In room-divider mode an agitated big dog can knock a panel out of alignment

Check current price on Amazon Read our detailed assessment ↓

IRIS USA

IRIS USA 34" Exercise 8-Panel Pet Playpen with Door

It depends

Roomy plastic pen with vertical bars and rubber feet, capped at a fixed 34 inches that some dogs simply clear.

Best for: Small dogs, cats, rabbits, and puppy litters where 34 inches is comfortably enough.

$$ · mid-range

Why we like it

• Eight panels make a generous enclosure of roughly 63 by 63 inches out of the box
• Vertical bars are harder to climb than wire cross rails
• Non-skid rubber feet protect hardwood and laminate
• Twist-lock door latch, tool-free snap assembly, rust-free plastic that rinses clean
• Extra panels sold separately to enlarge the footprint

Know before buying

• Fixed 34 inch height with no taller version and no factory top cover, so athletic medium dogs go over it
• Panels are light enough that a leaning dog can walk the pen across the room
• Takes up meaningful storage space compared with a folding wire pen

Check current price on Amazon Read our detailed assessment ↓

We'd skip it

Petsfit

Petsfit Pet Pop Up Playpen Portable Small Dog Pen

Skip it

A genuinely good travel pen being sold as containment, which is the one thing soft-sided pens cannot do.

Best for: Camping, hotel rooms, and vet waiting areas with a calm, supervised adult dog.

$ · budget

Why we like it

• Pops open with no assembly and folds to about two inches thick for travel
• Waterproof PVC floor and removable mesh top are included, not extras
• Light enough to carry one-handed, with accessory and water bottle pockets

Know before buying

• Fabric walls have no rigidity, so a dog can fold a panel inward or drag the pen across the floor
• Mesh panels and zippers are chewable, and chewed mesh or swallowed hardware is a real hazard
• Tops out under 30 inches tall even at the largest size, with no way to add height or panels
• Not a pen to leave a puppy in unsupervised

Check current price on Amazon Read our detailed assessment ↓

How we judged the field

We do not run our own lab. We read across independent testing writeups, manufacturer specifications, and large pools of owner reports, then weight the failure modes that keep repeating instead of the features that sell well. Four things decided this comparison: whether the pen actually holds the dog it is marketed for, whether the wall design hands a climber a foothold, how the pen behaves on a hard floor when a bored dog leans into it, and how fast it goes up and comes back down.

Escape reports carried the most weight. A pen a determined puppy defeats in a week is not cheap at any price. We also tracked what owners buy after the pen. When a large share of reports end with “we had to order the wire top too” or “we had to weight it down with bricks”, that follow-up cost belongs in the verdict rather than in a footnote. Finally we separated two jobs people lump together: containment (keeping a puppy safe while you are out of the room) and corralling (giving a calm adult dog a defined space). Products that are fine at the second job and bad at the first are the ones that generate the angriest reviews.

MidWest Homes for Pets Foldable Metal Exercise Pen with Door - buy

This is the default answer for most people, and the reason is boring: it is a folding steel accordion that ships in five heights from about 24 inches up to about 48 inches, so you can buy containment that actually matches your dog instead of hoping 34 inches is enough. Owners consistently describe the same setup experience, which is that it unfolds flat out of the box, needs no tools, and reconfigures into a circle, an oval, a square, or a wall-anchored half pen in under a minute. Add-on panels let you grow the footprint later without replacing anything.

The step-through door is the feature that separates the version worth buying from the cheaper doorless version. Stepping over a 42 inch wire wall while holding a squirming puppy is how panels get bent, and owners who skipped the door say so.

The weakness is structural and well documented. The horizontal cross wires at the top and bottom of each panel function as a ladder, and reviewers who own agile small dogs report climb-outs at heights that should have been plenty. The fix is known: buy taller than you think you need, or add the matching wire top. Ground stakes are included on most sizes for outdoor use, and indoors the pen slides on hardwood unless you put a mat under it. None of that is a surprise once you know about it, which is why this still lands as the safest buy.

Richell Convertible Indoor/Outdoor Pet Playpen 6 Panel - buy

Richell solved the exact problem the wire pens have. The panels are molded plastic with vertical slats and no horizontal rails, so there is nothing for a climber to hook a paw on. Reviewers who bought this specifically after a dog escaped a wire pen tend to report the escapes stopping.

The other reason to pay up is that it converts. Locking caps hold the panels at 90, 120, or 180 degrees, so the same six panels become a hexagonal pen, a room divider, a hallway gate, or a doorway block, and they lock rather than just resting in position. The gate door latches. The plastic is mold and mildew resistant and hoses off, which matters more than it sounds like for a pen that catches accidents. Richell rates the 6 panel model for dogs up to roughly 88 pounds, and the panel walls are solid enough that a puppy cannot get a head or leg through the gaps.

The catch is weight and anchoring. Owners with big, pushy dogs report the whole assembly getting shoved across a smooth floor, and there is no clean way to fix it to the ground or a wall. In room-divider mode an agitated large dog can knock a panel out of line. Treat it as excellent containment for small and medium dogs and calm large ones, not as a barrier for a determined 80 pound escape artist. It also costs meaningfully more than a wire pen and stores less compactly.

IRIS USA 34” Exercise 8-Panel Pet Playpen with Door - it depends

The IRIS pen sits between the two picks and inherits some of the strengths of each. Eight molded plastic panels snap together into a roughly 63 by 63 inch enclosure about 34 inches tall, the bars run vertically so climbing is harder than on wire, the door has a twist lock, and non-skid rubber feet keep it from chewing up a hardwood floor. It rinses clean, it will not rust, and extra panels are sold separately if you want a bigger footprint.

The reason it is not a straight buy is that 34 inches is a fixed ceiling. Owner reports split neatly along that line: people with small dogs, cats, rabbits, or a litter of puppies are happy, and people with athletic medium dogs describe the dog going over the top. Unlike the wire pen, you cannot solve it by buying a taller version, and there is no factory top cover in the way there is for the metal pens. Stability is the second complaint. The panels are light, and a big dog that leans on one wall can walk the whole pen across the room.

So: a good pen if your dog is small, young, or unmotivated, and you want plastic rather than wire. A frustrating one if you are buying it as jump-proof containment for a medium sporting breed. Check your dog’s standing height and vertical before you commit.

Petsfit Pet Pop Up Playpen Portable Small Dog Pen - skip

Soft-sided pop-up pens are the most-bought and least-suitable option in this category, and this is a representative example: eight mesh panels on a sprung frame, two zippered doors, a removable mesh top, a waterproof PVC floor, and a fold-flat design that packs to about two inches thick. For travel, camping, a hotel room, or a vet waiting area with a calm adult dog, that portability is a real advantage, and the included floor is genuinely nice to have.

As everyday containment it fails in the ways fabric always fails. The walls have no rigidity, so a dog that leans, paws, or lunges can walk the pen across the floor or fold a panel inward and step out. Mesh and zippers are chewable, and owner reports of dogs going through a side panel are common enough across the whole soft-pen category that you should assume it will happen with a teething puppy. The largest size tops out under 30 inches tall, and there is no way to add height or panels.

There is also a safety angle. Chewed mesh and swallowed zipper hardware are a real risk, and a pen that a puppy can partially collapse while unsupervised is not doing the job you bought it for. Buy one as a travel accessory if you want. Do not buy one as your puppy’s daytime pen.

MidWest Exercise Pen vs Richell Convertible Playpen: which should you buy?

These two win for opposite reasons, and the choice comes down to one question: does your dog climb?

The MidWest wire pen is the better default. It is far cheaper, it comes in five heights so you can overbuy containment for the price of a coffee, it folds flat against a wall when you are done, it is chew-proof, and add-on panels make the footprint arbitrary. If your dog is a puppy, a senior, a small breed with no vertical, or anything you are corralling rather than truly containing, buy it in a height at least twice your dog’s standing height and stop shopping.

The Richell is the better pen. Vertical slats give a climber nothing to grip, the panels lock at fixed angles instead of flexing, it converts into a gate or divider when the puppy phase ends, and it looks like furniture rather than a kennel, which matters if it lives in your living room permanently. If you already own a wire pen your dog escaped, or you know you have an athletic small or medium dog, the upgrade is worth it.

Where the wire pen wins outright: budget, height options, outdoor staking, storage size, and chew resistance. Where the Richell wins outright: climb resistance, floor friendliness, indoor appearance, and second-life use as a gate. Where neither wins: a large, powerful dog that pushes. Both slide on hard floors, and both need to be anchored or backed against furniture.

What to look for

• Height, measured against your dog. A common owner rule of thumb is a pen roughly twice your dog’s standing shoulder height. Undershooting height is the single most reported cause of escapes.
• Vertical bars, not horizontal rails. Horizontal cross wires are a ladder. If you are buying wire and your dog is agile, plan on the matching wire top from day one.
• A real door. Climbing over a tall pen with a dog in your arms bends panels and strains hardware. A latched step-through gate is worth the small premium.
• Anchoring. Outdoors, look for included ground stakes. Indoors, plan to back the pen against a wall or furniture, or add a heavy mat, because almost every pen slides on hardwood and tile.
• Floor protection and cleanup. Rubber feet or a wide plastic base save your floors. Whatever the material, you want something you can wipe or hose down, because accidents are the point of a puppy pen.
• Expandability. Add-on panels are cheap insurance. A pen that only exists in one size is a pen you will replace.
• Chew exposure. Teething puppies test everything. Metal and rigid plastic survive it, mesh and zippers frequently do not.
• The job you are actually buying for. Travel, room division, and unsupervised daytime containment are three different products. Buying a travel pen for containment duty is the most common mistake in this category.

Our final take

Buy the MidWest Homes for Pets Foldable Metal Exercise Pen with Door unless you have a specific reason not to. It is inexpensive, it comes in the height you actually need, it folds away, it survives chewing, and it grows with add-on panels. Size up on height and put a mat underneath, and it will outlast the puppy phase.

Pay more for the Richell Convertible Indoor/Outdoor Pet Playpen 6 Panel if your dog climbs, if the pen is going to live permanently in a room you care about, or if you want the panels to become a gate later. It is the pen that fixes the wire pen’s one real flaw.

The IRIS USA 34” Exercise 8-Panel Pet Playpen with Door is a reasonable middle option for small dogs, cats, rabbits, and puppy litters, but its fixed 34 inch height is a hard limit with no upgrade path, so measure first. And treat soft-sided pop-up pens like the Petsfit as travel gear only. They pack beautifully and contain almost nothing.

Deciding between the top two? See our head-to-head: MidWest Homes for Pets Foldable Metal Exercise Pen with Door vs Richell Convertible Indoor/Outdoor Pet Playpen 6 Panel.

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