5 of the Best Artificial Christmas Trees
Updated: Mar. 05, 2024
Searching for the best artificial Christmas trees to put up in your home? We researched and tested the top picks for flocked, slim and full options.
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‘Tis the season to deck the halls—and if you’re as fanatical as us, the bedrooms, front yard, living room and kitchen, too! Our favorite way to pack a Christmas punch is with an over-the-top festive, tastefully imposing tree.
Faux trees make decorating your space especially easy (and mess-free), but selecting which one to buy among the hundreds, if not thousands, online is dizzying. Some are too sparse, others too fake-looking and others yet too difficult to store. And you’d never be able to tell any of this from the online listing, so we took on the task for you.
We researched and tested the best artificial Christmas trees out there, then sorted them by category so you can choose which one works best for your space and your squad. Based on our thorough and honest assessments, you can be certain that when the Christmas centerpiece arrives at your doorstep, it’ll be just as stunning as you’d hoped.
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Best Overall Christmas Tree
Grandin Road Woodside Tree
Our team was blown away by this winner from Grandin Road. In addition to standing precisely nine feet tall as advertised, the tree measured up in every other way imaginable. (A 7.5-foot version is also available.) After assembling the admittedly hefty tree, which is four pieces plus a base, in under seven minutes, the testers just had to plug in the Christmas lights to make the rest of the magic happen. The glowy yellow bulbs were evenly distributed on the tree, and the needles were nice to the touch and ultra-realistic, which made for easy fluffing.
The fluffing process took about 15 minutes, but we all agreed we could’ve gotten away with fluffing for half the time. (Note: A few small 3-inch branches snapped off during fluffing.) The branches were pliable, somewhat of a rarity in realistic-looking trees, so the user can primp the tree until it looks exactly how they please. This also comes in handy when hanging ornaments. If a heavier ornament causes a branch to droop, you can simply bend the branch upward to mitigate that effect. That being said, this tree could readily handle heavy ornaments up to 5 ounces.
In sum, this tree is as high-performing as it is pretty. The setup, including the lighting and fluffing, was straightforward and fast, and the finished product is stunning enough to sway even real-tree faithfuls. One of our colleagues who falls into this category admitted, “The brown branches and realistic greens make me seriously consider switching to artificial.” It’s a substantial investment that we feel is well worth it.
Pros
- Easy-connect lights with plentiful, evenly dispersed bulbs
- Quick and easy to fluff with non-scratchy branches
- Incredibly realistic
- Suitable to hold heavy ornaments
- Pliable branches
- Full, dense classic “Christmas tree” look
Cons
- Heavy box requiring two-person transport and setup
- Only two heights available
- A handful of branches snapped off during fluffing
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Best Pre-Lit Christmas Tree
Balsam Hill Fraser Fir with Twinkly Light Show
If you’re Team Lights more so than Team Ornaments, this showy Balsam Hill Fraser Fir is the tree for you. When it comes to Christmas trees, Balsam Hill has been the brand to beat for more than a decade, and this customizable tree that comes in six sizes makes it clear why. Fitted out with more than 500 Twinkly lights, it works in conjunction with a phone app to display dozens (yes, dozens) of lights effects that pan, flash, shift and all-around dazzle. The testers had tons of fun toying around with the handful of presets and could’ve kept exploring this smart tree’s capabilities for hours if time allowed.
Although these bulbs can’t be replaced, they’re LED lights, so they should last a long time, and if they don’t, they’re backed by a best-in-class three-year warranty that covers the tree as well as the lights. You shouldn’t need to employ the warranty for either, though. This tree doesn’t shed, assembles easily, boasts one of the highest-quality bases we saw and stores inside a conveniently included bag. It was a little tricky to fluff—the hyper-realistic branches aren’t very bendy, but the tree looked great after about 10 minutes of finessing.
Our main drawback is that the Balsam Hill Christmas tree didn’t hold our heavy 5-ounce ornament very well. That being said, if you put heavy decor toward the trunk and/or toward the bottom of the tree, you should be OK. But who’s looking at the ornaments amid those mesmerizing lights anyway?
Two of the holiday season’s superstars, Balsam Hill and Twinkly, teamed up to create a smart Christmas tree that left us wonderstruck. We are sure you will be impressed too!
Pros
- Storage bag included
- Fun, flashy customizable LED lights
- Quick to fluff
- No shedding
- Three heights available
- 3-year warranty
Cons
- Fairly wobbly
- Drooped significantly with heaviest ornaments
- Pricey
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Best Bare Christmas Tree
Holiday Living Snowy Berkshire Flocked Tree
When we rallied the on-site staff to choose their favorite Christmas tree from those we assembled, a whopping nine people voted for this snowy Holiday Living stunner (the second-best tree had five votes). Never would we have guessed a flocked tree would generate so much fanfare. But, golly, isn’t it gorgeous? Although it’s not quite as all-purpose as our overall winner, this tree, with its wispy, natural-looking needles, cute pinecones and tasteful flocking, charmed all of us. And the modest $278 price tag is just the angel on top.
This dazzling underdog took us just over two minutes to build and light, and only 5 minutes to fluff. The branches are fairly immovable, so it’s an “it is what it is” situation in terms of placement and positioning, but we were so pleased with the appearance of the tree right out of the box that this didn’t matter. The top third of the tree is the only portion that needed any real fluffing. Perhaps the most remarkable feat is that this tree didn’t shed at all—not even the flocking.
This would be the perfect tree for a rustic farmhouse or cozy cabin. And because it’s not the best candidate for ornaments due to its long needles, we even think it could be a worthy year-round addition to a space.
TMB STUDIOPros
- Fast one-person assembly
- Easy-connect lights
- Distinct look with subdued flocking, pinecones and long needles
- Hardly any fluffing required
- No shedding of flocking or needles
- Affordable
- Exceptionally realistic for a flocked tree
- Four heights available
Cons
- Slightly taller than advertised
- Not the best at holding ornaments
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Best Realistic Christmas Tree
Balsam Hill Classic Blue Spruce Tree
If you looked up “Christmas tree” in the dictionary, there’s a chance you’d find an image of the Balsam Hill Classic Blue Spruce. Available from 4.5 feet to 12 feet, it’s the quintessential tree, with its full shape, real-looking needles and candlelight-inspired, easy-connect lights. Because of how lush the branches are, each tree section is fairly heavy, so setup works best as a two-person endeavor. With a little help, this tree should only talk about four minutes to assemble.
The fluffing, on the other hand, is a bit more of a time commitment. This 7.5-foot tree took the longest to fluff of all the trees (even longer than the nine-footers), but spending 20 minutes perfecting the placement of the branches was well worth it. The end result was a dense, head-turning tree. (S0 dense, in fact, you might not ever recover your pickle ornament!) And we weren’t worried about over-fluffing this tree because we knew that, when the time came to tear it down, we’d be able to stow it easily in the provided storage bag. If anything should go awry during the setup or tear-down process, the tree is backed by a three-year warranty.
When decorating this Christmasy majesty, we recommend hanging the heavier ornaments toward the bottom or center of the tree, as the branches best supported light-to-medium ornaments.
TMB STUDIOPros
- Included storage bag
- Dense, natural-looking branches
- Plentiful warm white lightbulbs with easy-connect feature
- Seven heights available
- Easily maneuverable
- Long-lasting, durable materials and parts
- 3-year warranty
Cons
- Fairly wobbly, likely due to the small base
- Took the longest to fluff of all the trees
- Doesn’t support heavy ornaments very well
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Best Christmas Tree on Amazon
Fraser Hill Farm Foxtail Pine Tree
During our multi-day testing, this Fraser Hill Farm Foxtail Pine was the first tree we unboxed and built—and we unknowingly picked a good one to start us off. The needles are incredibly natural-looking, and though this took us nearly 20 minutes to fluff, with a bit of TLC, this can look like a truly real tree. During our first pass, we felt there were still some gaps between the three separate tree segments that left the hardware around the trunk visible, but with some more aggressive bending of the branches, we were able to get it looking beautiful. And in the midst of all this futzing and adjusting, barely any needles fell off.
The easy-connect lights only add to this tree’s beauty. There are 900 warm lightbulbs to accentuate your ornaments, tinsel and eventually our prettily wrapped Christmas presents. Speaking of, this tree passed our ornament test with flying colors, holding the various weights without issue. And if you do run into an issue with the tree, Fraser Hill Farm offers a limited one-year warranty.
Oh, and that’s not to mention the speedy (and potentially free!) shipping with Amazon. Christmas-loving procrastinators, rejoice!
TMB STUDIOPros
- Easy-connect lights—and lots of ’em!
- Very realistic needles
- Maneuverable branches
- Quick assembly
- No shedding
- One-year limited warranty
- Suitable for ornaments of all weights
- Fast shipping
Cons
- Lights are wrapped around branches and trunk somewhat poorly
- Unrealistic trunk with somewhat visible hardware
- Took nearly 20 minutes to fluff due to gaps between branches and tree sections
What to Look for When Buying an Artificial Christmas Tree
It can be tricky to search for an artificial Christmas tree online. If you’re having it shipped to your home, chances are, you won’t see it until it’s unboxed. In choosing the perfect tree for your needs, first consider the size and shape for your space. You might also want to consider the type of tree, and think about how realistic it looks, as well. Ease of setup and storage are also important, especially if you’re after a large tree.
You’ll also want to consider the price point. Now is the best time to buy an artificial Christmas tree because you’ll have your pick of the best selection. Keep an eye on Black Friday deals, too. We know you’re scoping out kitchen sales, but Black November is a great time to pick up a tree. Many major retailers are running sales.
Why You Should Trust Us
We’re called Taste of Home, and we consider the holidays one of the most cherished things to happen within the home. So, we’ve made it one of our missions to ensure your holidays are special year after year, whether it’s with our Christmas cookie recipes, seasonal gift guides or decoration recommendations. The most iconic decoration of all is the artificial Christmas tree, which is why we sought to find the best one on the market. Our Test Kitchen team has been testing recipes and gadgets for more than two decades and our shopping team recently joined them in their testing endeavors. Needless to say, we’re experts at evaluating popular products, running tests on them and rating them honestly and fairly, which is exactly what we did with more than 10 of the best artificial Christmas trees.
How We Found the Best Artificial Christmas Trees
First, we researched and identified popular Christmas trees in a number of styles and at various price points. The trees in this test ranged from $128 to $2,500 and included sparse, slim, flocked and full selections from various vendors. We gathered the top contenders in our office, where we tested them for three days. We set out with a handful of criteria we wanted to assess and tests we wanted to run. The steps for testing a Christmas tree might not be as obvious as, say, those for a kitchen appliance, but we knew we could still put these trees through the paces.
With one notetaker and two hands-on testers, we evaluated and rated the unboxing experience, setup, lights, fluffing process, realism, ornament-friendliness, takedown and price of each tree. For all of these categories, the trees received a numerical rating from one to five (five being the best), which we added together for a total tree score that helped guide our categorization and ranking of each tree. We sought to answer questions like: Does the tree end up looking like the online picture? Do we anticipate this tree lasting for many seasons? Can one person set it up, or is it a two-person job? And would it fit a standard tree skirt or collar?
Some of the aforementioned categories entailed specific tests. For example, we recorded how long it took to set up each tree, which spanned from the time the box was open to the time the last section of the tree was secured in place. Similarly, we timed ourselves fluffing each tree—a process that entails adjusting the branches and needles to add to the realism of an artificial tree. We also measured various components of the tree, including the base, as well as the height of the assembled tree to see whether it matched the online listing.
Perhaps the most tedious yet important test of all was our ornament test. To gauge the branch strength of each tree, we placed ornaments that weighed 1 ounce, 2.5 ounces and 5 ounces on a branch. On each tree, we chose a branch that was roughly 40% from the top and hung the ornaments, one at a time, about 3 inches inward. If the ornaments hung securely and without significant drooping, the tree would pass.
This series of tests gives a wholistic portrait of the performance of each of these trees so that you can purchase your Christmas tree—the focal point of so many special memories and what should be a long-lasting seasonal staple—with confidence.
FAQs
What type of artificial Christmas tree is the most realistic?
The type of artificial Christmas tree you choose is entirely up to you. However, if you want something that looks as close to the real thing as possible, consider a noble fir or blue spruce. Those options tend to have a more realistic, full look with a classic Christmas tree shape.
Are expensive artificial Christmas trees worth it?
Generally, when it comes to artificial Christmas trees, a more expensive option will mean it’s more realistic. An artificial Christmas tree is an investment that should last for 5-10 years. Some trees even come with a warranty to cover quality issues with the tree or the lights if it’s a pre-lit option.
Originally Published: November 17, 2022
