Best Budget-Friendly: Magic Mesh Deluxe

Magnetic screen doors work much the same way—you mount a mesh screen to the door frame. A series of magnets and weights keeps the screen closed, but lets a person/pet through.

One common complaint with magnetic screen doors focuses on the way the mesh is attached to a door frame. Most use sticky backed hook and loop tape. As you can imagine, this isn’t a good long-term solution as extremes of temperature and moisture cause the tape to fail. Most also include tacks to shore up the tape.

One smart tip: if the tacks are cheap, use a staple gun to attach the mesh to a door frame. This is much more permanent solution!

Perhaps the best known magnetic screen door is the Magic Mesh brand. Thanks to their TV commercials, this magnetic screen door is most famous. And surprisingly, it also is the most affordable option we tested. We’d recommend it. Here’s more:

What We Liked

• Magnetic closure works well. Magic Mesh has 18 magnets that keep the two panels closed.

• Thumbtacks and hook/loop strips hold mesh in place. We found the installation to be straightforward—not as easy as other brands, but simple enough.

• Affordable!

What Needs Work

• Doesn’t work well on metal door frames. Yep, those thumbtacks don’t work well in that case!

• Durability? We see reports that magnets fall out of their enclosures after a bit of usage. We didn’t see that in our tests, but haven’t been able to do long-term testing as of this writing.

• Other brands have stronger magnets. We thought Magic Mesh was good enough—especially at this price! But if you want an upgrade, consider the next recommendation.

Easiest to Install: Flux Phenom Reinforced Magnetic Screen Door

Flux Phenom’s Reinforced Magnetic Screen Door is our pick as the easiest to install. We also liked the stronger magnets and heavier duty meash, compared to others we tested. Here’s more:

What We Liked

• Easy install. Yes, this magnetic screen door has a similar installation as Magic Mesh (recommended above). But we thought this brand was a bit easier to install, thanks to more extensive hook/loop strips. It took us about 10 minutes to install it.

• Good overall quality. 

• Mesh is heavier than other brands we tested. That’s good if you have kids or pets who might test its strength!

• More magnets = quicker closing. Flux Phenom’s magnetic screen door also had stronger magnets than others we tested—that not only meant more durability, but better performance.

What Needs Work

• Pricey.

Best Pet-Friendly Door: AUGO Magnetic Screen Door

Magnetic screen doors are helpful for more than just kids and adults—pet owners are in love with these doors as well. And if you’ve let your dog out in the backyard for the sixth time this hour, you can understand why this solution make sense.

We tried out several magnetic screen doors and think this one is the most pet-friendly: AUGO’s Magnetic Screen Door. It seems to work with our dog, closing quickly and completely down at the bottom. For some reason, other doors just didn’t work as well.

What We Liked

• Quick, easy install. For use with pets, we recommend using a staple gun for a more secure installation.

• Affordable. 

What Needs Work

• Adhesive installation is sub-optimal. That’s why we recommend staples!

• Somewhat weaker magnets (compared to others we tested) make this door less helpful for adults or kids. But it works well for pets!

Why Trust Us

We’ve been rating and reviewing products for homes and families since 1994. We do hands-on testing—we buy the products with our own money and evaluate with an eye toward quality, ease of use and affordability.

Here’s another key point: we don’t take money from the brands we review. No free samples, no sponsors, no “partnerships.” Our work is 100% reader-supported!