Best flameless candles
1. Best overall: Lights4fun LED Pillar Candles
2. Best luxury: Amagic Flameless Candle
3. Best decorative: TruGlow Shell Wax Pillar Set
4. Best budget: YIWER Flameless Candles
5. Best glass votive: Wayfair Glass LED Candle Set
6. Best realistic: Lights4fun 3-Wick Winter Candle
7. Best taper: Etsy Flameless Taper Candles
8. Best three-wick: Lamplust Store 3-Wick
9. Best outdoor: Luminara Outdoor LED Candle
How we tested
The best flameless candles are ideal if you want to display gorgeously lit candles in your home, outdoors, or for an event such as a wedding without the worry of an open flame.
An LED-operated flameless candle may not sound romantic, but the models available now are almost indistinguishable from real candles and can help you create the atmosphere you want in any space. While they can't do the job of the best scented candles, they can help make your home feel cosy.
Once dubious, we're now complete converts because flameless candles are much safer than regular candles. No open flame means you can place them around more freely, they don't let off smoke or toxins, nor do they drip hot wax, and there's no need to worry about kids or pets touching them.
Best of all, LED candles can be reused again and again for years so are more eco-friendly than their real counterparts. Good news on all fronts.
We've tried and tested the top flameless candles on the market at the moment to create a list of the best flameless candles you can purchase for just about any occasion, at a variety of price points.
The best flameless candles to buy in 2024
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RRP: £19.99 | Remote or switch: Switch | Battery life: 600 hours
These three flameless candles are our pick for the best flameless candles overall. Why? Because the simple set ticks all our boxes, both looking the part and playing the part – plus, they're thoroughly realistic thanks to the TruGlow innovative technology which uses hand-poured real wax to create a perfect finish.
With a flickering flame, they look realistic wherever they are placed, and whether they are styled indoors or out – these are the ideal flameless candles to use inside storm lanterns.
RRP: From £49.64 | Remote or switch: Remote | Battery life: 500+ hours
Choose the Amagic Flameless Candles if you are searching for realistic flameless candles with a quiet luxury look about them. With already-burned faux wicks, these look convincingly real. Not only do these flameless candles have a unique melting effect, but they're also made of non-toxic unscented real wax which only adds to the authentic feel they bring to your home.
The Amagic candle comes in a set of two, for dotting around your home or even your patio since these are also designed for outdoor use. (However, they're not waterproof so bring them inside if it rains.)
RRP: £26.99 | Remote or switch: Both | Battery life: 600 hours
It is easy to see why these decorative shell candles are best-sellers on all sides of the globe. With a nod to the leading coastal interior design trend the embedded shell decorations make these candles worthy of displaying in their own right.
The incredibly true-to-life design is made using a combination of real wax and sea shells, which results in a beautifully imperfect finish that adds to the realism - they really do look like artisan candles you'd pick up in a gift store.
RRP: £15.99 | Remote or switch: Remote | Battery life: 300+ hours
The YIWER flameless candles are great if you are on a smaller budget. They have a real wax outer, to make them look as realistic as possible, and have more than 18,000 reviews and an impressive 4.6-star rating. They are ivory in colour, as opposed to plain white, and each one has a dancing wick to make them seem very realistic while in action. They are perfect for placing atop a table during an intimate dinner—or inside a candle holder.
You can control these flameless candles using a remote control, to make them flicker or to adjust their brightness. And you can even set them on a timer from two hours to up to nine hours, which is handy for more lively parties, or day-long events.
RRP: £28.99 | Remote or switch: Both | Battery life: N/A
This set of reflective glass votives from Wayfair pleasantly surprised us in real life, the look was rather more striking than we anticipated. The set comes with a remote control that allows you to switch the candles on and off in sync, from the other side of the room even. Of course, you can control them individually with a switch, if you don't wish to light all three at once.
The remote enables you to set a timer up to eight hours – which automatically switches off after the selected time. There's also the option to dim the lights or turn them up brighter, opt for static light or choose flicker candlelight.
RRP: £29.99 | Remote or switch: Switch | Battery life: 200 hours
The generous three-wick 12cm diameter candle is thoroughly realistic, it looks like it may have been purchased from an artisan candle shop. This is largely thanks to the encapsulated real dried fruit in the real paraffin wax design – yes that's right the TruGlow flameless candles feature hand-poured real wax and innovative technology to perfectly mimic the appearance of an authentic candle with real flames. It even faintly smells like a winter fragrant candle.
This decorative winter candle is perfect for creating a cozy setting either on a living room coffee table or a dining table centerpiece.
RRP: £35.56 | Remote or switch: Remote | Battery life: N/A
These WeixiDesigns taper candles are the best flameless candles if you want something that's more of a candlestick shape or something to go in a candelabra. These tapered candles give off a warm glow making them perfect for bestowing on your dinner table, or even on a windowsill.
With a unique, handmade beeswax construction, they are also environmentally friendly and non-toxic, too. Ivory white in colour, these candles emit a warm white glow once lit, and we reckon they make for the ideal table centrepiece, whether for a special occasion dinner party, or a wedding.
RRP: £47.21 | Remote or switch: Remote | Battery life: N/A
The more wicks on a candle, the more luxurious it looks in a home. Not only is this large candle statement-worthy but it's also made of real ivory wax that's impressively thick. This is essentially a real candle without the real flame.
Three-wick candles normally cost a lot more than average-size candles, and without the need to replace this one every few months after it burns away, you'll be sure to get your money's worth. With a flickering flame on each wick, this candle looks like it has just been lit, with faux melted wax pools surrounding each burnt wick.
RRP: £44.99 | Remote or switch: Switch | Battery life: Up to 1,000 hours
Perfect if you're decorating for a garden party or looking for things to bring your outdoor living room ideas to life, this LED candle is designed especially to withstand the elements outdoors. More than merely waterproof, the candle is also windproof and sunproof, making it the best overall outdoor flameless candle that is built to withstand the elements and all unpredictable weather.
And because the candle is specially made to be left outside it is also safe to clean too. We tried wiping the candle with a soft, dry cloth to remove any watermarks and it worked well.
How we tested the best flameless candles
A selection of the best flameless candles in Tamara's home during testing
We selected the below flameless candles in order to share products within a range of different prices, from budget options to more expensive, luxe flameless candles.
To determine the best flameless candles we judged each product against the following criteria:
- Realism and overall look: how realistic do the candles look? Is their appearance subtle or striking?
- Price tag: Is there good value for money? Can you buy the candles in bulk?
- How they are operated: Is the candle operated by a switch or remote?
- Level of lighting: What sort of light do they give off and what is the ambiance that they create like?
- Special functions: Can each one be put on a timer, for example? Or dimmed to the user's preference depending on the time of day?
- Battery life: How long does the candle last?
What is a flameless candle?
A flameless candle is a battery-operated candle that has no real flame, also known as an LED candle. Most, if not all of the best flameless candles feature a life-like flickering light that emulates the look of a real flame to create exactly the same ambience of a traditional candle.
The main purpose of a flameless candle is to avoid a naked flame in any environment where it could be deemed dangerous. You can position a flameless candle next to items in a household, such as fabrics and foliage, that might otherwise pose a fire hazard were you to use a real candle with a flame. Flameless candles also offer a longer 'burn' time because they can be left on for hours, meaning they are also more practical for longer use.
"I love having a candlelit bath but am often nervous about where to place real candles to avoid them burning or scorching surrounding items, but with my flameless candles there is zero worry." – Tamara Kelly, lifestyle editor.
Are flameless candles toxic?
No, flameless candles are not toxic in any way and are safer to use than normal candles that require a firelight. They also don't let off any smoke, so offer a cleaner way to get the candle effect. Also, since they are unscented, flameless candles don't emit any artificial—and potentially toxic—chemicals that can be sometimes used to fragrance candles into the air. These factors make them ideal for use around babies, children and pets.
They're also a good option for those who suffer from migraines, which strong smells can often make worse, or people who suffer from fragrance sensitivities. If you want to fragrance your home but are wary of toxin risks associated with scented candles, you can also see our list of the best essential oils and the best essential oil diffusers.
What are the benefits of flameless candles?
We could write a long list of the benefits of flameless candles. Some of them include:
- Safe around children and pets: As opposed to real candles that require a firelight, flameless candles have no flame so don't run the risk of burning or injuring people, especially pets and children. They also don't give off any smoke so they're not harmful to ingest, nor do they contain artificial fragrances.
- Eco-friendly: Typically the best flameless candles have a long battery life, so you can reuse them again and again, unlike new candles. With flameless candles, you'll only need to buy one (or a set), every few years, cutting down on waste.
- No wax drip: Unlike even the best aromatherapy candles, flameless candles don't drip wax, so they won't ruin a surface, tablecloth—or even clothing.
- Good on a budget: Flameless candles won't ever need replacing unless they break. They will need their batteries changed, but other than that they should be good to use for years to come.
“LED candles are the ultimate accessory when it comes to decorating your home, especially throughout the winter months,” says Lights4Fun’s director of products, Amy Mason. “Safe for both children and pets, the hyper-realistic flameless candles cast a warm ambient glow throughout your home. Choose from an assortment of sizes, colours, and designs and simply style along the dining table, windowsills and side tables to achieve the perfect cosy display.”
Can you leave flameless candles on all night?
Yes, you can leave flameless candles on all night, though we suggest putting yours on a timer if you're likely to forget to switch them off. Leaving one of these candles on all night will run their battery low and waste energy, but popping them on a timer will help conserve their battery life.
"An optional timer function allows the candles to illuminate for 6 hours at the same time each evening, before automatically switching off," explains Amy, "and with a battery life of 200 hours, they’ll continue to provide a warm welcome home."
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