How we ranked “cheap but renter-safe”
Price is only half the test. A lock that costs little but leaves a hole in the door or can’t be put back is not cheap — it’s expensive the day you move out. So we weighed three things together. First, reversibility: can you return the door to exactly how you found it, ideally in minutes? Second, no forced fee: none of these should hold your entry codes or basic function hostage behind a subscription, and none here do. Third, safety: an electric lock is a piece of electrical hardware, so we favor products that carry a recognized safety Mark rather than an unbranded no-name bolt — UL Solutions explains why that Mark is worth looking for before you buy. Rank the picks on those, and the cheapest option isn’t automatically the best one.
Read this before the Wyze Bolt: it replaces your deadbolt
The single most important distinction on this page is how each lock attaches to your door. The Wyze Lock Bolt is the cheapest way here to get fingerprint entry, but it is not a retrofit — it replaces your entire deadbolt. It drops into the standard pre-drilled bore your existing deadbolt already uses, so it doesn’t require any newholes, and in that sense it’s reversible. The catch, and the honest con, is that reversing it is more involved: you have to unscrew and remove your landlord’s deadbolt, store it somewhere safe, and reinstall that original bolt when your lease ends. It’s also Bluetooth-only, so there’s no remote lock/unlock from outside the apartment. Do that carefully — keep the original deadbolt and both keys in a drawer — and it stays deposit-safe; forget the original in a move and you’ve got a problem.
The other two picks sidestep that entirely because they’re retrofits: they mount on the inside of the deadbolt you already have and turn it for you, so the original bolt, the exterior hardware and your key never leave the door. Nothing to remove, nothing to store, nothing to reinstall. If the deadbolt-swap makes you nervous, that’s exactly why a retrofit is the safer renter choice — our guide on whether you can add a lock to your apartment walks through where each approach stands with a landlord.
The value retrofit that keeps your key
The August Wi-Fi Smart Lockis our best-value pick, and for a lot of renters it’s the sweet spot on this whole list. It costs more than the Wyze Bolt but it’s a true keep-your-key retrofit: it mounts over the interior of your existing deadbolt, so the outside of the door and your physical key are untouched, and it comes off in about ten minutes. Wi-Fi is built in, which means remote lock/unlock and auto-lock with no extra hub, and there’s no subscription. Its honest con is compatibility — it needs a standard single-cylinder deadbolt (most, but not all, apartments), so check yours against the list first — and a keypad for door codes is a separate accessory rather than included. For pure reversibility per dollar, it’s hard to beat.
The feature step-up
The SwitchBot Lockis the priciest of the three and clearly the step-up, not the bargain — but it earns a spot here because its adhesive install is arguably the most renter-friendly of all, with no screws into the door whatsoever. It keeps your key too, and plugs into a wide ecosystem of keypads, sensors and automations if you want to build things out. The con is twofold: it’s the most expensive lock in this class by a wide margin, and remote control and voice want the separate SwitchBot Hub — so the cheapest it looks on the shelf isn’t the all-in cost. Buy it if features and a screw-free install matter more than saving money; skip it if you just want keyless entry for the least outlay.
Batteries, keys & no monthly fee
One thing all three picks get right is that none of them nickel-and-dimes you after the sale. There’s no subscription on any of them — your fingerprints, codes and the basic job of locking the door are stored on the hardware, not rented from a server — which matters even more on a budget buy, because a “cheap” lock with a monthly fee isn’t cheap by the end of a lease. They all run on batteries, too: the Wyze Bolt and the August take AAs, and the SwitchBot uses a rechargeable pack or AAs depending on the model. You’ll get a low-battery warning in the app long before anything dies, and on the two retrofits your physical key is always there as a backup, so a flat battery is an inconvenience, never a lockout.
Fingerprint or keypad: how you actually get in
The three picks answer “how do I open the door without a key?” in different ways, and it’s worth matching that to how you live. The Wyze Lock Bolt is the only one here with a fingerprint reader and keypad built into the lock itself, so you press a finger or tap a code right at the door with nothing else to buy — that’s a genuine reason it punches above its price, and part of why we call it the cheapest fingerprint option. The August and SwitchBot retrofits instead default to your phone (or your existing key), and add code or fingerprint entry only through a separatekeypad accessory. So if handing a guest a code without your phone is a priority, factor that add-on into the retrofits’ cost — or lean toward the Bolt, keeping in mind its deadbolt-swap trade-off. Our keypad smart locks page digs into that choice.
What each really costs you over a lease
Sticker price is where you start, not where you finish. The Wyze Bolt is the lowest up-front and includes fingerprint entry, so its all-in cost stays low — the “cost” it adds is effort, since you’re swapping and storing a deadbolt. The Augustsits in the middle but includes built-in Wi-Fi, so remote control doesn’t require a second purchase; if you want a keypad you add one, which nudges the total up. The SwitchBotstarts highest and climbs from there once you add the Hub it needs for remote access, so it’s only the right “cheap” pick if the adhesive install and the ecosystem are worth real money to you. Reversibility is the cost nobody prices in until move-out: all three come back off, but the two retrofits do it in minutes with nothing to reinstall, while the Bolt asks you to have kept that original deadbolt safe.
A quick safety note
Because a smart lock guards your front door, it’s the wrong place to chase the rock-bottom off-brand price. Look for a recognized safety Mark on any electrical lock, and once it’s installed, secure the app account with a unique password and two-factor login — the lock is only as safe as the login controlling it. If keypad entry is your priority, our keypad smart locks roundup goes deeper, and if drilling is your worry, the no-drill locks page focuses on the reversible retrofits.
Which cheap lock should you get?
If your only goal is fingerprint entry for the lowest price and you’re comfortable swapping a deadbolt (and storing the original), the Wyze Lock Boltis the cheapest route. If you want the safest renter path — keep your key, no drilling, reversible in minutes, remote access built in — the Augustis the best value and the one we’d point most renters to. And if you want the most flexible, screw-free install and a full ecosystem and don’t mind paying for it, the SwitchBot is the step-up. Want the wider view first? See the best smart locks overall and the best locks for renters.
