10 Best Indoor Fly Traps 2024 in the US

As the weather gets warmer, we tend to leave the windows open for some cross-ventilation. But, that can let in some unwanted visitors. Houseflies, fruit flies, gnats, and other flying insects may capitalize on the opportunity to get into your home. And, if left unchecked, they can proliferate at an astronomical rate: it’s estimated that a fruit fly can lay as many as 2,000 eggs, if they manage to find a proper host, like some rotting fruit! Fortunately, there are indoor fly traps that can help you eliminate these pests without having to resort to insecticide sprays that are also harmful to humans and pets.

But, as we look at the MSN list of the best indoor fly traps, there are a number of different designs that they utilize. Some traps are good for all types of flying pests, while some are particular for house flies or fruit flies. There are disposable traps, as well as traps that you can reuse time after time, as long as you replenish the bait inside the trap. After getting familiar with the various models, you can choose the type of trap that’s optimal for your needs.

(You can also check out other products to eliminate pests among the MSN buying guides.)

What Types of Indoor Fly Traps Are There?

There are a variety of fly traps on the market, which are all convenient alternatives to fumigating your house.

• Glue cards and strips: These will try to lure flies onto a card or tape with adhesive. They’ll differ in the type of lure. For example, the DynaTrap Dot White Indoor Fly Trap uses UV LEDs to draw insects towards the adhesive. The trap will capture insects without any need for insecticide. You change the glue card every 3-4 weeks. The lamp itself is good for 20,000 hours of operation, for an area as large as 400 square feet!

DynaTrap Dot White Indoor Fly Trap

Another product is Dr. Killigan’s Fly Inn. You attach it to a window with the device’s suction cups. The warmth and light of the sunlight entering the window attract the flies, who crawl inside the trap. The flies are caught inside by the Fly Inn’s adhesive, out of sight of the rest of the people in the house. You have to replace the sticky trap in the Fly Inn every month or so.

Dr. Killigan’s Fly Inn

• Funnel traps: There are fly traps with bait that have a covered opening. Once the fly goes in, they can’t manage to find their way out. An example of such a trap is the Victor M380 Fly Magnet. (Some say that the bait has a very strong smell, so perhaps it may not be suitable for indoor use.)

Victor M380 Fly Magnet

• Bug zappers: The popular bug zappers are another variety of fly trap. They use a bluish, UV light to draw insects into an electrified grid, where they get fried. This is actually quite successful against houseflies. (But, they may not work very well during daytime hours. Due to the bright sunlight, the flies tend not to notice the UV lamp as much.) An example is the Brison Bug Zapper.

Brison Bug Zapper

What Are Some Features of the Best Indoor Fly Traps?

All of the traps in the MSN list are free of insecticides and other harmful substances. But, there are some features that might help you hone in on a particular model:

• Drawbacks and advantages of bug zappers: Bug zappers are popular because they don’t employ any insecticide or smelly attractant. But, studies have shown that a bug zapper placed outdoors actually isn’t very effective against biting insects. In fact, they kill far more beneficial insects than pests! However, inside your house, any flying insect is a nuisance. So, the bug zappers with a UV lamp should prove effective against house flies and fruit flies.

• The number of flies the trap can hold: Some indoor fly traps specify how many insects the trap can catch before you have to dispose of it. One of the most impressive is the Rescue Disposable Fly Trap, which can contain as many as 20,000 houseflies! You just add water to the bait and hang it in a place where flies frequent.

Rescue Disposable Fly Trap

• Traps that are special for fruit flies: There are also fly traps that specifically target fruit flies. One particularly attractive item is the FlyFix Fruit Fly Trap. It’s a funnel-type trap, in which you place a piece of fruit, like an apple or banana. Other options include dry wine or apple cider vinegar. Fruit flies are attracted to the odor, as well as the bright color of the trap. You can then rinse out the device and replace the bait.

FlyFix Fruit Fly Trap

• Reusable and disposable traps: The FlyFix Fruit Fly Trap is reusable. You have a choice of reusable and disposable traps. Glue traps will be disposable traps. You either throw out the entire fly trap, or at least the sticky adhesive tape or board. The Trappify Hanging Fly Stick Trap requires that you dispose of the entire trap after 90 days, while the Terro White Discreet Indoor Fly Trap uses replaceable glue boards that you insert into the trap. When one glue board is no longer sticky, or if it is already full of flies, you replace it.

Trappify Hanging Fly Stick Trap

Terro White Discreet Indoor Fly Trap

What are Some Tips for Selecting an Indoor Fly Trap?

There are some tips for making sure that your indoor fly trap does its job the best that it can:

• Placement: Where you place the indoor fly trap is crucial in determining how effective it’ll be. At the same time, you’d prefer to keep it as inconspicuous as possible. (You don’t want your family or guests seeing a glue strip or jar full of dead flies!)

• Bait: Take note when you purchase a fly trap that has bait. In some instances, the bait is already inside the trap, and you just add water. But, in some instances, the bait-water mixture has a smell of spoiled meat, and the smell gets only worse when dead flies accumulate inside! That’s the case with the Victor Fly Magnet. If so, you may want to hang the Fly Magnet just outside your window.

• Be careful not to attract flies: Some customers warn that the bait that you use may lure flies into the trap. But, if the attractant is too successful, it can also draw in unwanted flies as well! Make sure that you place the trap in a location where you’ll eliminate existing flies, without drawing in some new competition!

Wrap Up

We’ve looked through the MSN list of the top 10 indoor fly traps. We saw some of the advantages and disadvantages of each type. There are bug zappers, traps that work on sticky tape or some other type of adhesive, and funnel-shaped traps, where the bugs can’t fly out, either because of the trap’s construction or because they fall into the water. Setting up these traps is usually quite simple, as well as disposing of the dead flies. Go to the MSN list, select an indoor fly trap, and rest assured that you’ll be able to rid yourself of flies without any harmful insecticides!