The best air purifiers can keep your indoor air clean and allergen-free — here are the top appliances we’ve tested.
The best air purifiers are great pieces of home tech that can help to keep your home free of pollutants and irritants. If you suffer from respiratory conditions like asthma or are prone to allergies, a good air purifier can make all the difference to your comfort levels at home. With the Black Friday sales now up and running, you can find one of the best air purifiers for less, with great deals available across a huge range of retailers.
Whether you live in the city or countryside, breathing contaminated air can be a source of discomfort and irritation, especially if you’re reacting to pollen, dust or mold within your home. Concentrations of some pollutants, like mold spores and dust, can be much higher inside than outside, so keeping your indoor air quality high can help to keep you and your family healthy.
You’ll find that the best air purifiers contain a piece of kit called a high efficiency particulate absorbing (HEPA) filter. These top of the range filters work to filter out at least 99.97% of allergens down to 0.3 microns in size, making them the industry standard for the best appliances.
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BLACK FRIDAY DEAL
Coway Airmega AP-1512HH | Was $229.99 Now $181.67 (opens in new tab)
One of our favorite air purifiers is currently reduced by 21% in the Black Friday sale. Save almost $50 on the Coway Airmega AP-1512HH in white, featuring a four-stage filtration system and boasting a space-saving design.
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While a HEPA filter is a must, a lot of air purifiers also contain several other layers of filters and layers in order to extend the life of the HEPA filter and neutralize other indoor air pollutants like bad odors and volatile organic compounds.
So which air purifier is best for your home? At Live Science, we’ve put the best air purifiers to the test to come up with our recommendations. Read on for our round-up of the best appliances you can buy — or skip to our FAQ section, to read through advice from doctors and the EPA on the benefits of air purifiers and how they can help keep your indoor air clean .
If you’re looking specifically for an air purifier for allergies, we’ve put together another handy guide to help you choose.
Experts
Why you can trust Live Science Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
Environmental Protection AgencyIndependent executive agency
We spoke with members of the Environmental Protection Agency to confirm the latest research and findings on air purifiers.
Dr. Ross PerryMedical Doctor
Dr Ross Perry qualified at Guy’s & St Thomas’ Hospital Medical School in 1994. He is now the medical director of Cosmedics Skin Clinics. For this piece, he offers advice on potential pollutants in the home and the efficacy of air purifiers.Best air purifiers in our tests
(Image credit: Joanne Lewsley)
1. Levoit Core 400S
This is the best air purifier we’ve tested
Specifications
Energy star certified: No
Height: 20.5 inches
Diameter: 10.8 inches
Weight: 11lbs
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Reasons to buy
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Affordably priced+
PM2.5/timer display +
Easy to set up and use
Reasons to avoid
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The app can be unreliable
The Levoit 400S performed best to remove airborne particles in our at-home testing, capturing at least 99.5% and up to 100% or particles during testing.
Its sleek and stylish cylinder shape with a neutral colorway makes it an easy addition to any room, whatever the décor, while a color-coded display gives users a great visual on air quality at any given moment.
What the users say
The Levoit 400S scores an impressive 5 stars out of 5 on Amazon, with 85% of reviews giving it the full 5 stars. Negative reviews cite problems with the VeSync app and a lack of sturdiness in design. Positive reviews praise the purifier’s accuracy in tracking 2.5 microns and its ability to manage and remove unpleasant odors, dust and pet dander. Customers particularly like the look of the Levoit 400S, although some say it feels a little big. They also appreciate how quietly the purifier runs on its lower settings.
The air purifier is light and features indented handles at either side, making it easy to move from room-to-room.
A companion app that users can download gives useful data on air quality and allows users to schedule and time the air purifier to fit round a busy family schedule. Unfortunately, for all its great functionality, the VeSync app wasn’t always reliable. During the course of our testing, we had to uninstall and reinstall the app twice when it crashed. The quietest setting on the Levoit 400S is barely discernible, while the most powerful setting still clocks in at just 52 decibels.
Stylish, quietly powerful, and with an intuitive, easy-to-use Smart interface, the Levoit 400S is our top pick of air purifiers. It could be the ideal appliance for you if you’re looking for an effective air purifier that’s big on performance but doesn’t blow the budget.
Read our full Levoit 400S review (opens in new tab)
(Image credit: Joanne Lewsley)
2. Coway AP 1512 HH
Our favorite budget air purifier
Specifications
Energy star certified: Yes
Height: 18 inches
Diameter: 10 inches
Weight: 12.5lbs
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Reasons to buy
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Space saving design for bedrooms+
Energy-saving eco mode+
Four-stage filtration system
Reasons to avoid
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Small design unsuitable for entire home-
Replacement filters aren’t cheap-
Noisy at highest setting
The Coway AP 1512 is known as a standout air purifier due to its excellent value and high-quality performance. It may not be as stylish as other air purifiers in our round-up, but our testing found it to do a remarkable job of removing particles in just 30 minutes.
What the users say
The Coway AP 1512 HH Air Purifier has an impressive 4.7 star rating out of five on Amazon, and with reviewers praising its quiet running, affordable replacement filters and its economical performance, it’s fair to say that this is a total winner with users. Negative reviews said that the included instructions did not quite go far enough in instructing users how to set up and use their air purifier. Positive reviews were sold by how lightweight and easy to maneuver the air purifier was, as well as the design which was easy to integrate into their home.
For an initial cost of under $300, this air purifier can offer you a four-stage filtration system, a HEPA filter and coverage of up to 361 square feet. The air purifier itself is packaged in a neat, sleek design and available in two different colors, black and white.
This air purifier excels when it comes to dust and eradicating odors, with a pre-filter and odorization filter for reducing contaminants in the air. It’s also inconspicuous when it comes to noise, making it a suitable addition to any bedroom when paired when its smaller size.
The Coway-AP-1512HH air Purifier also benefits from a built-in particle sensor. That means that you can get an idea of the air quality in your home from the color coding system on the top of the device. It’ll show a blue light when the air is clean, purple to flag pollution and red for high pollution. Another clever feature of the Coway AP- 1512HH is the sensors that can adjust the fan speed to keep the air clean, so that you don’t have to mess with the settings.
We particularly liked the Eco mode on the Coway AP-512HH which worked well to power down the air purifier when air pollution was low, saving energy and money. Our tester also found the auto mode worked well to toggle between fan settings depending on indoor air quality.
The Coway AP-1512HH is an air purifier suited to small spaces of rooms up to 361 square feet, making it suitable for smaller spaces and bedrooms. If you need something for a larger room, then you might want to look elsewhere while bearing in mind that this is a fantastic choice for smaller spaces.
Read our full Coway AP-1512HH review
(Image credit: Future)
3. Dyson Purifier Cool
A stylish air purifier with excellent smart features and cooling capabilities
Specifications
Energy star certified: Yes
Height: 41 inches
Length: 4.72 inches
Width: 8.7 inches
Weight: 11lbs
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Reasons to buy
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Sleek, stylish design +
Powerful air purifying capability +
Connectivity and smart features
Reasons to avoid
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Expensive outlay –
Can get noisy at elevated levels
The Dyson Purifier Cool is one of the most stylish air purifiers on the market. Its unusual design marks it out as a talking point in any room, while simple but genius extras, such as a magnetic remote control, take it a step up from your average air purifier.
What the users say
The Dyson Purifier Cool scores an average of 4.2 out of five stars on Home Depot. Negative reviews cite problems with the sensors’ baseline readings, poor fan quality, and noisiness when in use. Positive reviews praise the purifier’s ability to improve the symptoms of allergy sufferers, as well as removing unpleasant odors. Customers particularly like the integration with smart devices, the auto setting and the purifier’s stylish design, with one user commenting, ‘It looks like a piece of art’.
The purifier also doubles up as a fan in hotter weather, although this isn’t as powerful as some users would like. Users can activate, schedule and monitor their purifier via the Dyson app, allowing them to set fan speed, timers and check air quality whether they’re home or away.
