Litter & Litter Tech
Neakasa M1 vs Leo's Loo Too
Both are automatic, both undercut the Litter-Robot, and they disagree about the one thing published guidance has an opinion on: whether a litter box should have a roof.
Affiliate disclosure: we earn a commission if you buy through our links, at no extra cost to you. It never changes which product we rank first — here is how we're funded.
Everyone in this category says they tested twenty litter boxes. We have not tested any, and we say so. What we do instead: compile the published specs, read the manuals, and do the arithmetic on what this gear costs to run and how it behaves once there is more than one cat using it. Every spec is linked to the document it came from. Prices are checked daily — last verified October 5, 2026. Here is exactly how we pick.
Every head-to-head in this hub so far has had a Litter-Robot on one side of it. This is the comparison for people who have already decided not to spend that much, and it turns on something more interesting than price.
The shape is the decision
The Ohio State Indoor Pet Initiative reports that cats generally prefer large, uncovered boxes, and that covered boxes concentrate odor and may be refused if they are not kept extremely clean. Almost every automatic litter box ever built ignores that, because a rotating globe or a raking hood is the easy way to automate the job.
The Neakasa M1 is the exception: an open-topped tray with the mechanism underneath. Leo’s Loo Too is the orthodox design, an enclosed globe that rotates to sift. If your cat has ever walked away from a covered box, that single difference outranks every spec below.
What the two publish
| Specification | Neakasa M1 | Casa Leo Leo's Loo Too |
|---|---|---|
| Design | Open top, mechanism below the tray | Enclosed rotating globe |
| Litter capacity | 7.17 L | 1.5 gal (about 5.7 L) |
| Waste capacity | 11.23 L | 1.5 gal (about 5.7 L) |
| Footprint / height | 23.26" x 20.67", 20.2" H | 22" x 24", 27.6" H |
| Entry height | 13.86" | Not published |
| Cat weight | 2.2-33 lb | Up to 20 lb (Casa Leo); 55 lb maximum load (retailer) |
| Weight, empty | 22.81 lb | 27.5 lb |
| Noise | Not more than 50 dB | About 30 dB |
| Odor control | Open air; sealed waste bag system | UV-C light, bamboo carbon filter, sealed drawer |
| Sensors | Infrared pairs plus weight sensors | Four weight sensors, plus or minus 1 lb |
Manufacturers' published figures. On Amazon the M1 is sold as the M1 Plus Lite; Neakasa publishes the same core figures across the M1 Plus line.
The waste bin is the daily difference
Neakasa publishes an 11.23 L waste bin. Casa Leo publishes 1.5 gallons, which is about 5.7 L.
That makes the Neakasa bin close to twice the volume — 1.98 times, on the published figures. For the same number of cats producing the same waste, that is roughly half as many emptying trips.
Litter capacity runs the same way, if less dramatically: 7.17 L against about 5.7 L is 26 percent more litter in the machine before you top it up.
Neakasa quotes up to 14 days for one cat on that bin. As always, that is a single-cat figure: two cats halve it, three cats cut it to a third, and our cleaning guide makes that correction the heart of its schedule.
Where the cat rules one out
Neakasa publishes a supported range of 2.2 to 33 lb. Casa Leo publishes cats up to 20 lb on its own product page, with the retail listing adding a 55 lb maximum load figure for the sensors — a structural number, not a recommendation about which cat should use it.
So a Maine Coon, a large domestic shorthair, or any cat hovering around twenty pounds is not a close call: one maker has placed that cat outside its stated range and the other has thirteen pounds of headroom left. Our large-cat page ranks the whole category on exactly this figure.
At the other end, the M1’s 2.2 lb floor and published 13.86 inch entry height are the numbers to check for a kitten or an arthritic senior. Casa Leo publishes no entry dimension at all, which for an older cat is the specification you most want and cannot get.
Footprint, height and where it has to live
Neakasa M1: 23.26 x 20.67 inches = about 481 square inches, standing 20.2 inches tall.
Leo’s Loo Too: 22 x 24 inches = 528 square inches, standing 27.6 inches tall.
The M1 takes about 9 percent less floor and is 7.4 inches shorter — which is the difference between fitting under a vanity or a shelf and not. The globe is the taller object by a clear margin, because the mechanism sits around the chamber rather than beneath it.
Noise and odor, which pull in opposite directions
This is where the enclosed design earns its keep. Casa Leo publishes about 30 dB and a UV-C light in a sealed waste drawer alongside a bamboo carbon filter. Neakasa publishes not more than 50 dB and, being open-topped, has no sealed chamber at all between cycles — the waste bag system seals the waste, not the box.
Two honest cautions. Decibels are logarithmic, so a 30 dB figure against a 50 dB ceiling is a wider gap than the numbers suggest — but neither maker publishes how or where it measured, so these are not strictly like-for-like. And an enclosed box trades that odor containment for air quality inside the chamber, which is the trade our covered against uncovered page works through in full.
The gear discussed here
The Neakasa M1 is the one to buy for a big cat, a cat that refuses covered boxes, or a household tired of emptying a drawer. It publishes the deepest specification sheet of any automatic box on this site — capacity, entry height, noise ceiling and a 2.2 to 33 lb range — and it is the shorter, smaller-footprint machine. The honest cons: an open top means no sealed chamber between cycles, the published noise ceiling is the higher of the two, and on Amazon it arrives under the M1 Plus Lite name, which makes model identification more annoying than it should be.
Leo’s Loo Too is the one to buy when the box has to live near where people sleep or sit. About 30 dB, UV-C in a sealed drawer, a bamboo carbon filter and four weight sensors accurate to a pound make it the better neighbor, and it publishes both of its capacity figures when Whisker publishes neither of its own. The honest cons: half the waste capacity, a 20 lb ceiling that rules out a lot of large cats, no published entry dimension, and it is both the taller and the heavier unit.
How to decide in one minute
- Weigh the cat. Near or over 20 lb, buy the M1 — Casa Leo has published its own limit.
- Ask whether your cat uses covered boxes now. If it does not, the M1 is the only one of the two with a real chance.
- Measure the height above the spot. 20.2 inches against 27.6 is the difference between fitting under a counter and not.
- Count the cats. Two or more makes the 11.23 L bin worth real money in trips saved.
- Check what is on the other side of the wall. A bedroom makes the 30 dB figure the one that matters most.
Compare the two
There is no overall winner, and the two sets of strengths barely overlap. The M1 is the more capable machine on capacity, cat size and placement; Leo’s Loo Too is the better-behaved one on noise and sealed odor. If your cat is small, the room is quiet and the box sits in a corner nobody uses, Leo’s is a comfortable choice. In almost every other situation the published numbers point at the M1.
- Big cat, open-top preference, or fewer emptying trips: Neakasa M1.
- Quiet room, sealed odor, small-to-average cat: Leo’s Loo Too.
- Still not sure an automatic box is worth it: our worth-it page argues the case against both.
The gear discussed here
Specs are the manufacturer's own, linked to the page they came from. Prices come from a live daily check; where we have no verified price we say so rather than print a stale one.
Neakasa M1 Open-Top Self-Cleaning Litter Box
Neakasa · Automatic litter box · Our score 8.6/10
#ad Price as of October 5, 2026. Prices move; we check daily. How we're funded.
The only automatic box here that publishes both its litter capacity and its noise figure, and the only open-top design -- which matters because cats prefer uncovered boxes.
Published specs
| Litter capacity | 7.17 L |
|---|---|
| Waste bin capacity | 11.23 L |
| Footprint / height | 23.26" x 20.67", 20.2" H |
| Entry height | 13.86" |
| Weight, empty | 22.81 lb |
| Cat weight range | 2.2-33 lb |
| Operating noise | Not more than 50 dB (published) |
Source: Neakasa -- M1 product page
11.23 L bin. Whisker's own guidance for its comparable drawer is emptying twice a week for two cats, i.e. roughly 3.5 days per two cats. Scale that to three and the bin needs emptying about every 4 days on published volumes -- an extrapolation from a competitor's published interval, not a measurement of this unit.
What the specs favor
- Publishes litter capacity (7.17 L) and waste bin capacity (11.23 L) -- almost nobody else does
- Publishes an operating noise figure of 50 dB or less
- Open top, which is the design cats are documented to prefer
- Takes ordinary clumping litter and ordinary bin bags -- no proprietary tray or liner
- Widest published cat weight range here at 2.2-33 lb
What they don't
- Open top means odor is not contained the way an enclosed drawer contains it
- 20.2 inches tall with a 13.86-inch entry -- a big step for an arthritic cat
- Bigger footprint than the enclosed units at 23.26 x 20.67 inches
Odor is your main problem. An open top vents into the room by design; if the smell is what you are trying to fix, an enclosed drawer with a carbon filter is the shape you want.
How it scores
Scores are our editorial weighting of the published specs above, not a test result. They are deliberately kept out of this page's structured data.
Casa Leo Leo's Loo Too
Casa Leo · Automatic litter box · Our score 7.9/10
#ad Price as of October 5, 2026. Prices move; we check daily. How we're funded.
Publishes both litter and waste capacity at 1.5 gallons each, which is more than Whisker will tell you about either of its units.
Published specs
| Litter capacity | 1.5 gal (6 L) |
|---|---|
| Waste drawer capacity | 1.5 gal (6 L) |
| Dimensions | 22" x 24" x 27.6" |
| Weight | 27.5 lb |
| Weight sensors | Four, accurate to plus or minus 1 lb |
| Cat weight | 1-20 lb typical; 55 lb maximum load |
| Odor control | Bamboo carbon filter plus UV |
Source: Chewy -- Casa Leo Leo's Loo Too listing and specification block
Published 6 L litter capacity. At the 2-inch depth the Ohio State Indoor Pet Initiative recommends, that is a full charge of litter every time you strip it -- roughly a 12 lb bag of clumping clay every two changes on package volumes.
What the specs favor
- Publishes litter AND waste capacity, both 1.5 gallons
- Four weight sensors with a published accuracy of plus or minus 1 lb
- Bamboo carbon filter is a standard consumable, not a proprietary tray
- Takes ordinary clumping litter
What they don't
- 27.6 inches tall and 27.5 lb -- awkward in a small bathroom
- Published cat range tops out around 20 lb for comfortable use
- 6 L waste drawer is smaller than the Neakasa M1's 11.23 L
You have a Maine Coon or a Ragdoll over 20 lb. The published comfortable range stops around 20 lb and a large cat in a rotating drum is not a place to find out where the limit is.
How it scores
Scores are our editorial weighting of the published specs above, not a test result. They are deliberately kept out of this page's structured data.
Common questions
Which is better, the Neakasa M1 or Leo's Loo Too?
Which one suits a big cat?
Which needs emptying less often?
Which is quieter?
Is an open-top automatic box better for a cat that hates covered boxes?
Sources
- Neakasa -- M1 product page
- Chewy -- Casa Leo Leo's Loo Too listing and specification block
- Casa Leo -- Leo's Loo Too product page (cats up to 20 lb / 9 kg, about 30 dB, UV-C light and sealed waste drawer, 1-year warranty with a 3-year extension available)
- Ohio State University Indoor Pet Initiative -- Litter Boxes
Read next
- Best Automatic Litter Boxes (2026)
The head-term roundup, ranked on published capacity and consumable model rather than app features.
- Litter-Robot 4 vs Neakasa M1
The enclosed globe against the open top, on published footprint, weight range, waste capacity and noise -- with a verdict by household.
- Litter-Robot 4 vs Leo's Loo Too
The two enclosed self-cleaners compared on what each maker actually publishes -- entryway and wattage against capacity, noise and footprint.
- Best Automatic Litter Boxes for Multiple Cats (2026)
Five automatic boxes ranked on published litter and waste capacity, and on what a year of consumables actually costs with three cats.
- Covered vs Uncovered Litter Boxes
The lid decision settled on published floor area and feline guidance: what a cover buys you, what it costs the cat, and when it is still right.