Best Biometric Gun Safes: Fingerprint Locks, and What Backs Them Up

Why this rule: a fingerprint lock, then how many prints and how much steel

This list starts from every gun safe and handgun safe we track and keeps the ones with a fingerprint lock, stated by the maker or the Amazon listing. Long gun safes and pistol safes share the list, because the lock question is the same for both.

Then it sorts by two numbers:

1. Stored fingerprints, most first. This is the number every biometric listing states, so it's the one we can compare across brands.
2. Steel thickness, thickest first, for safes with the same print count.

Here's the catch. Fingerprint capacity is a convenience figure. It tells you how many prints the reader can remember. It says nothing about how well the reader tells your print from someone else's, how fast it reads, or how it copes with a wet or cold finger. We don't have lab data on any of that, for any safe on this list, so we don't sort by it or guess at it.

Steel is the second sort because it has a federal definition. Gauge numbers run backwards: under the U.S. Standard Gauge, 14 gauge is 0.0781 in and 12 gauge is 0.1094 in. A 16- or 18-gauge box is thinner than either.

The sort is a reading order. The first row stores the most prints. That's all it means.

How to read the best biometric gun safe list

• Fingerprint column. Stored prints, per the maker or listing. Enroll several fingers per person, from both hands. That uses capacity quickly and makes the reader easier to live with.
• Lock column. Fingerprint plus whatever else is there: keypad, app, RFID, key. Every method you add is another way in for you, and another thing to keep working.
• Backup. Look for a key or a keypad as a second way in. Check where the battery compartment is. If it's inside the safe, the backup is the only way in when the battery dies.
• Gauge column. Lower is thicker. Where the maker and the listing disagree, the verdict says so.
• Interior dimensions. For pistol boxes, check height against your pistol with any light or optic. For rifle safes, check depth against your scopes.
• A dash ("—"). Nobody we found put that value in writing.

Biometric listings tend to be loud about speed. "0.1 second" appears on more than one box. Speed claims like that have no standard test behind them that we've found. Read them as marketing and test the safe yourself when it arrives.

Best biometric pistol safe or biometric rifle safe: two different products

Many fingerprint safes are pistol boxes: a lid, a drawer or a sliding door, sized for one to eight handguns. A smaller number are long gun safes with a fingerprint reader on the door.

Pistol boxes. Built for a nightstand, a drawer, a desk or a vehicle. What matters is the interior height, the mounting method and the power source. Several have a security cable, pre-drilled holes, or both. Some add an app over WiFi. If you'd rather keep a gun safe off the network, check the listing for a non-WiFi version.

Long gun safes. Several fingerprint long gun safes we track use 15-gauge steel or thinner, and some don't state a gauge at all. A narrow rifle safe can be very shallow inside. One rifle safe on this list has 6.3 in of interior depth, per its maker. That's tight for a scoped rifle.

The best biometric gun safe for the bedside is a pistol box with a backup key, secured to the furniture or the floor. The best biometric rifle safe is the one whose interior you've measured against your longest scoped rifle.

Setting up a biometric gun safe: the first hour matters

A fingerprint safe is only as good as its setup. Most of the setup happens on day one, and nearly all of it is in the manual.

Read the enrollment steps first. Some readers want a finger pressed flat, some want it swiped. Liberty's HDV-150X, for example, uses a finger-swipe sensor, per Liberty. Enroll the way the manual says, not the way your phone taught you.

Enroll more than one finger. Use at least two fingers per person, from different hands. If one finger is cut, bandaged or cold, another one works.

Set the backup code, if there is one, before you put anything inside. Change it from the factory default. Write it down somewhere that isn't the safe, the box it came in, or a sticky note on the nightstand.

Find the battery. Check where the battery compartment is and how the low-battery warning works. Some safes in this list have an external battery box or a charging port. Others run on mains power with batteries as the backup. The manual says which.

Secure it. A pistol box that isn't attached to anything can be carried off. Use the security cable, the pre-drilled holes, or both. Bolts into the structure are the stronger choice where you can use them. Our bolting guide covers the basics.

Test the backup key. Open the safe with the key at least once before you store anything. Then put the key somewhere away from the safe.

None of this is complicated. All of it is easier on the first day than in the middle of the night.

What this list leaves out, and why

• Home safes with fingerprint locks. They're not built for firearms. See biometric safes.
• Safes whose lock type isn't confirmed. Some listings and maker pages describe different locks for the same model. If we can't confirm a fingerprint reader on the unit sold on Amazon, the safe stays off.
• Other scanners. Palm-vein and other readers don't count as fingerprint locks here unless the maker says fingerprint.
• Safes not available on Amazon US this week. We check availability weekly.
• Amazon's own brands. Not listed anywhere on the site.

No star rating, review count or editor's score plays any part. A safe is here because its lock is a fingerprint reader in writing.

Fingerprint locks and children: the plain part

A fingerprint lock opens for enrolled prints only, which is part of its appeal in a home with children. Enroll adults only. Keep the backup key and any code where a child cannot find or reach them.

The safe reduces access only when it is closed and locked. The Department of Justice Safe Storage Fact Sheet says keeping firearms locked, unloaded and stored away from ammunition can significantly reduce the risk that children and teens use them to hurt themselves or others. Storage requirements differ by state; check your state's official government site.

Who should look elsewhere

• Every biometric gun safe we track. The biometric gun safes table has no sort beyond the rule, and shows "—" where values are missing.
• Pistol boxes only. See biometric handgun safes, or our best handgun safes list, which requires a backup key and sorts by steel.
• No electronics. A keypad gun safe still needs batteries. A mechanical dial safe doesn't.

Enroll more than one finger. Test the backup key the day the safe arrives. Then check the price, and bolt it down.