4 Best Soil pH Testing Kits of 2025

It turns out that checking soil pH doesn’t need to involve either battery-powered machines or any kind of litmus test. With the Sonkir MS02 3-in-1 Soil Testing Kit, you can find out the pH of your soil just by inserting this gadget’s two metal probes into the ground.

Displaying the information on a mechanical dial display, the pH reading is indicated by the needle pointing to the corresponding position on the scale.

You can also flip between three different modes, so it can give you readings for moisture and light levels as well as pH. The switch to change between options is clearly placed, and intuitive to read, much like the rest of the machine.

Considering that you’ll never need to buy any batteries for this device, it’s one of the best soil testing kits in terms of value – especially as it offers three functions in one.

It’s really small and lightweight, measuring just under 30 cm long and 5 cm wide, so it can be stuck both in soil outside, and in flowerpots indoors. To get a reading you need to wait around 10 minutes, during which time the probes should be left in the soil. After use, the meter needs to be cleaned and stored somewhere dry – it should not be left outside indefinitely.

A couple of things to note with this tester: firstly, the pH probe may need cleaning, perhaps even with a wire brush, before it can accurately detect the alkali/acidity levels in the soil. Secondly, if the soil is very dry, the meter won’t pick up any readings, so you may struggle to get results in the summer (although, knowing our UK summers… there will probably still be enough rain for this not to cause a problem!).

One of the nicest things about gardening tools is that a lot of them have the potential to be multi-functional. This Sonkir 4-in-1 Tool Kit not only checks the pH of soil, it also gives information on soil temperature, soil moisture, and light availability.

Displaying this information on a backlit LCD screen, the data provided by this soil test kit is easy to read and provides useful insight into how better care for your plants. Overwatering can be just as much of a plant-killer as having the incorrect pH, so this device could be a bit of a life saver for combatting both factors.

As gardening tools go, this soil test kit is fairly compact, with the probe measuring just 20 cm long – it’s therefore small enough to be useful in both indoor and outdoor plant pots, as well as in flowerbeds themselves.

Due to its price and how easy the data is to read and interpret, it’s also one of the best soil test kits for beginner gardeners; it clearly displays a lot of information that will be invaluable when first starting out in the complicated world of plant care.

Whilst some pH readers are solar-powered, this particular soil test kit requires a 9V battery. One comes included, so you don’t have to supply your own straight away. To save power, the screen switches itself off automatically after a certain amount of time. Of course, this ends up being both good and bad. On the one hand, saving battery life is great, of course, but on the other, it can sometimes switch off a bit abruptly when you’re still trying to take a reading from the soil.

The information about light and soil moisture is displayed on screen regardless of which mode is selected, but you need to use the switch on the back to change between reading pH levels or the temperature.

This is one of the best soil pH testing kits if you prefer to use a litmus test. These give accurate readings alongside value for money (arguably, a winning combination of factors!).

The Luster Leaf pH Soil Tester comes with 10 tests, so you can check the soil samples 10 times/in 10 different locations. This soil test kit is therefore a really great option if you’re trying to work out where to plant a specific flower or shrub, or are working to change the pH of your soil.

It doesn’t give any other readings, so you can’t find out about soil moisture levels or any other statistics, but within 2 – 3 minutes it’s possible to see whether the soil is alkali or acidic.

These tests seem pretty accurate, given that they use a chemical process to show the pH, so you’re not relying on any machines to give readings. And, although buying this kit, with a finite number of tests, might not seem as logical as buying a long-lasting digital reader, it is worthwhile in its simplicity.

A handy colour chart comes included to measure your readings, and it also has the added fun of feeling like you’re back in school chemistry lessons – mixing components together and seeing how the colours change.

Whilst this doesn’t substitute getting soil testing by a professional, it does give enough information for beginner gardeners. If you’re just trying to work out what to plant where, and how to organise your new beds, it should provide all the information you need, quickly, easily, and sufficiently accurately.

With these Soil Test Strips by Not Application, you have, to be honest, probably more opportunities to test your soil than you’ll even need; 100 soil tester strips come in the small bottle, and they’re suitable for testing soil samples from both indoors and out.

If you’re trying to get an idea of the pH levels of several different flowerbeds, especially if you’re planning what you need to plant where, this is one of the best soil test kits in terms of value – they’re very inexpensive consider how many you get, and you can keep them for a long time too.

Unlike some other litmus-paper based tests, this soil test kit measures the full range of acid to alkaline: 0 – 14 pH (whereas many kits start partway up the scale). Taking a reading is easily done; you only need to add a teaspoon of soil to water (preferably distilled or rain water), and introduce the paper.

Getting results happens quickly, and after one minute the colours on the paper are ready to compare with the pH chart. The only thing that can take a bit longer, and occasionally be a little frustrating, is trying to accurately interpret the data.

The colour chart is attached to the bottle, which is handy, but you need to match the four colours shown on the test paper to the corresponding four colours for the pH reading. It can, therefore, be a little difficult to get a fully accurate result, because there is not that much variation between the colours. For example, pH 4 and pH 5 look very similar.

That said, the difference between pH numbers that are further apart is more obvious, so getting a more general reading of the soil is easily done.