Water fountains have etched a space for themselves in everyone's hearts and minds. There's something magical about the sound of water trickling down the smooth sculpture of the fountain. Not only do outdoor water fountains diffuse tranquil vibes, but thanks to their charm and elegance, they can significantly improve the look and feel of a space.
With a wide variety of outdoor water fountains available both online and offline, picking the best of the best can be a daunting task. To save you trouble, here's our guide to help you pick the best outdoor water fountain so you can customize and finish your décor with the best available outdoor water fountains.
Backyard Boss Top 5 Outdoor Water Fountains in 2021
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Why You Can Trust Us
At Backyard Boss, we love water features, and we think everyone should have one, whether in the garden, on the porch, or even inside the house.
My first tabletop water fountain
Using both the knowledge gained from decades of personal experience with installing and operating various outdoor water fountains and hours of research, we came up with a list of the best outdoor water fountains for your backyard. We considered not just the style and size, but also the safety of people around it. To help streamline your options, we’ve linked all of our resources to help you make informed decisions on your own, in case you want to do more research.
Best for Tabletop
This tabletop water fountain operates efficiently while ticking off all of the other wishful thinking when it comes to style, attractiveness, product longevity, and uniqueness.
- Built-in LED light and rolling crystal ball
- Fiber-reinforced resin material
- Recirculating pump with the adjustable flow for speed
- Built-in light cannot be turned off
- Small splashes of water outside the designated layers
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Why We Like It: Perfect for your home, or as a gift, this stunning meditation tabletop water fountain expresses quality and value. Matching both indoor and outdoor, this 9.8-inch-tall table fountain, which also includes a crystal ball that spins and reflects built-it LED lights, is the perfect finish to any of your countertops for added finesse and serenity.
The pump isn't noisy, so you'll be able to hear the sound water makes as it trickles down its realistic rocky surface. The BBabe Rockery Water Fountain is easy to assemble and install, and if you stare at the crystal ball for too long, you'll likely go into a trance. This is from personal experience.
Who Should Buy It: This would be an ideal tabletop water fountain for anyone looking to add some Zen into their personal or business spaces.
Best Large Outdoor Water Fountain
Aside from its durable material and quality pump, this water fountain is a perfect centerpiece or focus near a wall or fence
- Weatherproof
- Made of durable polyresin material
- Built-in submersible pump
- UL Certified
- Lights can be a little too bright at night
- Two plugs needed to enjoy all features
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Why We Like It: The SunJet Outdoor Water Fountain is definitely a stunner that stands 40 inches tall. When you think of water fountains, nothing beats realistic rocky features and dim glowy lights. This water fountain can easily glow up a depressing space into an eye-catching Zen-inspired family niche.
With four LED lights, this weatherproof water fountain surely has more to offer besides the realistic stone designs and the gentle water sounds. It comes along with two cords separating those for the lights and the pump. What we like about it is that it's easy to assemble and install and you can turn off the lights by unplugging them or controlling them with a smart plug, while still keep the water running at night.
Who Should Buy It: Anyone who is keen to give their outdoor areas a fresh new attraction should consider getting this piece.
Best for Patio
This water fountain will adapt to any patio background given its built, size, and spectacular design.
- Easy to maintain given its horizontal leveling design
- Lightweight (23.2 pounds)
- Fiberglass construction
- Weather-resistant
- Top pot drains water completely
- Need two plugs to enjoy all features
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Why We Like It: Designed as a pouring pot fountain, this four-tier grey-finished water feature will give your patio a rustic effect that is perfect for an outdoor ambiance. It blends well with the environment and can truly calm nerves. This timeless beauty is weather-resistant and easy to manage, making it an ideal choice of patio decor.
Standing 40 inches tall, this beautiful realistic stone rock tower water fountain will bring a touch of natural beauty to your space while the built-in LED lights diffuse warmth and freshness into the air. We like it because you can turn off the lights in the daytime.
Pro Tip: If you're worried about the water fountain falling over due to its lightweight, and if you live in a place that experiences strong winds, you can drive some metal angle brackets or U-hook brackets through it and into the ground in an attempt to fix it securely.
Who Should Buy It: This is a great option for those wanting to enhance their patios by even just a single modification - one change that could elevate the entire look.
Best for Wall Mount
This stunning wall mount water fountain is a classic design that fits any landscape.
- Built-in pump that easily plugs into any grounded outlet
- Lightweight (21.3 pounds)
- Weather-resistant
- Prone to leakage
- Paint might peel off
- Available in only one-color option (gray)
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Why We Like It: I'm sure you'll agree that this attractive wall-mount water fountain with the lion’s head is great for gathering areas. With four LED lights, one pump, and a little over five-gallon capacity, this wall mount water fountain is a favorite among people and animals alike. It'll look great both indoors and outdoors, and when no one's looking, birds or cats would definitely want to check it out.
Pro Tip: If you want to hang this on a brick wall, use a 1/4 x 2 3/4 inch tapcon concrete screw, and if you want to hang it on interior or wood stud walls, use a hex head 5/8 inch x 2 3/4 inch screw.
Who Should Buy It: Anyone looking for great wall transformations and wanting to save floor space without bargaining the beauty and quality of an added water feature.
Best for Solar Power
This set comes with a weather-resistant garden bird bath and a solar powered water fountain pump.
- Polyresin material
- Lightweight (4.4 pounds)
- Pump can operate without water for 20 hours
- Functioning is highly dependent on the quality of solar cells
- Needs sturdy attachment to the ground to withstand stronger winds
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Why We Like It: This water fountain is a combo of two products - a garden birdbath and a solar-powered water fountain pump. Not only is it durable and weather-resistant, but it's also beautifully designed to give your space rustic charm. Thanks to its weight, moving the fountain doesn't require much effort and since it's solar-powered, it can be placed away from the power outlet to match the ambiance. Given the multiple fountain heads, you'll be able to select different water patterns by simply changing from one fountain head to another.
Pro Tip: Since the solar water pump isn't secured in place (in the center) it does tend to float. To avoid the solar water pump from venturing too close to the edge, you can add some rocks around it to maintain it in the center and preventing it from floating to the edges.
Who Should Buy It: Anyone looking for great finds at a reasonable budget could improve their outdoor yards with this combo set of a water fountain and garden birdbath.
How to Choose a Water Fountain
Now that we've seen the top five outdoor water fountains, it's time we discuss the various features we highlighted above so you can make an informed decision.
Size
From this guide you've learned that there are three basic styles of water fountains - tabletop, wall-mounted, or free-standing. While tabletop water fountains are portable thanks to their size, wall-mounts have to be fixed securely to a permanent wall. Free-standing water fountains are designed to stand tall on level ground and while the models in our guide are lightweight, others can be pretty heavy and extremely difficult to move.
In order to select the best water fountain, it's important that you consider your surrounding landscape, keeping the water fountain's size in mind, so you know where to place it. Large water fountains are meant for open areas whereas small ones can be kept both indoors or on patios. This is why it's important that you look at your surrounding landscape to see which water fountain merges well with the current vibe of your space. You'll need to decide whether you want your water fountain to be the main feature or more of a background piece, in terms of size and place.
Power Source
Except for solar-powered outdoor water fountains, other water fountains will need to be powered by electricity, so you'll need to keep this in mind too when selecting an ideal location for it. The power outlet should be accessible without you moving the fountain, but if you prefer to hard-wire your water fountain, you'll need to hire a professional electrician to accomplish that.
Water Source
Apart from the power source, you'll also need to place your water fountain close to a water supply to keep the water flowing. Although the pump recycles the same water, it must be filled manually, and hence, you'll need to be able to fill water effortlessly when required. Remember, a pump that runs without water can get damaged.
Image credits: Kieran Somerville via Unsplash
Material and Finishes
Since water is a natural eroding force, you'll need to pick a water fountain that's weather-resistant. While stone foundations are popular because they can withstand erosion and oxidization, water fountains come in a variety of different materials, including glass and polyresin that can also withstand hot, cold, and stormy climates. Depending on where it will be placed, you'll need to consider the material and finishes that flow smoothly with your current space decor.
Maintenance
Before you come to a conclusion, think about how you will maintain your water fountain. Since water will get contaminated with dust, depending on where it is placed, it can also attract algae, leaves, and dirt. Will you be able to drain the fountain without moving it? That's an important question since in order to clean the fountain, you'll need to drain it before dismantling and clearing it out. Also, if your water fountain is placed under a tree, it's likely to collect more dust and leaves, thereby needing more maintenance.
Cost
Lastly, let's not forget the cost. When buying a water fountain, you'll need to know how much money you're willing to spend on it, and if you're willing to budget the costs that come with the piece i.e. hiring a handyman, a plumber, or an electrician. Obviously, you should pick one that you can afford, but knowing that there are various models and styles available can make or break the deal.
How We Picked
This is just a list of five options from hundreds of outdoor water fountains found online and offline. With so much to choose from, how can we say that these are the top of the pack? Narrowing down the list wasn’t an easy task so, to do it, we focused on choosing highly-rated outdoor water fountains based on consumer reviews.
From those, we chose fountains with the most durable materials and considered what they had to offer in terms of usage and design. We also made the conscious decision to remove from the list any units that were extremely fragile and often arrived broken. In the end, we were able to trim the list down to five of what we believe are the best in the market.
Our Pick of the Best Outdoor Water Fountain
With careful consideration of all the recommended best water fountains, and while spreading through every domain of attention, our top pick among the five previously mentioned is the BBabe Rockery Water Fountain. Not only that this is easy to manage and maintain, but it can also be moved and placed in different locations effortlessly. The simple style, together with the value for money and design makes it a clear winner.
Of course, any water fountain can diffuse a sense of peace and serenity. It has the ability to blend and merge in a reserved space or stand out loud and proud to draw everyone's attention. All we know, from personal experience, is that a water fountain can transform the place it owns and the water trickling sounds will wipe away stress as you relax and unwind.