Best Air Purifier of 2023
Air quality matters when it comes to protecting your lungs from pollen, smoke, dust and other toxins. We've tested top air purifier brands to find the best ones.
The best air purifier for 2023
If you're looking for relief from spring allergies, to protect yourself against airborne toxins or to improve the air quality of your home for any reason, you may consider adding an air purifier to the mix. We tested several air purifiers and landed on the $203 Honeywell Home Allergen Plus as the best air purifier for the money, and the best overall air purifier for most people.
Air purifiers help you filter out allergens and other pollutants from the air, and they can help make life easier for those with allergies or other respiratory conditions, especially if you put your air purifier in the right place. Even if you don't have any issues breathing easy, having an air purifier for your home can offer peace of mind that you're breathing the cleanest air possible within your specific living conditions.
Air purifiers for home use are small appliances that use one or more of a variety of technologies to filter particulate matter out of the air, including dust, allergens and viruses, recirculating cleaner air back into your living space. Air purifiers employing HEPA filters -- defined by the US Department of Energy as high-efficiency particulate air filters that are capable of removing at least 99.97% of airborne particles with a size of 0.3 microns -- are the most numerous and most highly rated type available. Most air purifiers are equipped to handle one or two rooms, with a few models that claim to purify the air in an entire home.
After considering the space you need to cover, choosing a HEPA air purifier from among many popular models is largely a matter of budget and space you're looking to purify. With that said, Honeywell's Home Allergen Plus 300 XL tops our list as the best air purifier for most people. But there are air purifiers better suited for particularly large and small spaces, and given that an air purifier will likely live in your living room or bedroom, aesthetics may be just as important as bottom-line value. With these matters in mind, we've rounded up the best air purifiers for home use in 2023.
All the best air purifiers we tested
As we mentioned, this formidable model tops our list as the best overall air purifier. Honeywell's workhorse air purifier has the largest number of favorable reviews at the lowest price -- nearly 30,000 positive ratings on Amazon -- for the amount of space it covers. An easy reference guide makes it simple to put to work right out of the box, and the model includes regressed handles for easy placement around the house, which is extremely useful if you're frequently moving your air purifier into whatever room you're in.
In our testing, we also found it to be the quietest air purifier of the bunch. Even at its top setting of Turbo mode, it was quieter than your average fan and noticeably quieter than the rest of the air purifier field. The simple user interface also offers timed settings, with auto-off after two, four or eight hours.
Blueair's line of Blue Pure air purifiers are small, sleek, powerful, and easy to use -- essentially a "plug and play" operation for those who want to get set up without diving into the instruction manual. We found this to be the most user-friendly of the models we tested. The Blueair Blue Pure 211 Plus Auto is an updated version from the already popular 211 Plus model, with the addition of auto mode, which uses an integrated particle sensor to adjust the speed based on actual air quality, and offers an LED air quality indicator.
Otherwise, the extremely simple interface has settings for low, medium and high, and that's it. It's one of the smallest models available for large room air purification, with a cylindrical design that allows for 360-degree air collection; a low bells-and-whistles option with high efficiency, low-to-moderate noise, and a customizable prefilter sleeve that's available in five different colors to match your vibe. A dual-part HEPA and activated carbon filter can also help with odors from pets, cooking and smoking.
Beyond being one of our favorite machines to operate, it has a soft, modern aesthetic that integrates into a space better than some other air purifiers in the bunch.
Coway's AP-1512HH is among the only air purifiers on the market that utilize both a HEPA filter and ionic technology to remove different kinds of particles in different ways. (See below under Buying advice for the details behind the different kinds of functionality.)
When testing the Coway Airmega, our favorite feature of the compact model is its energy-efficient eco mode. When the air quality in the room remains purified for more than 30 minutes in eco mode, the fan turns off to conserve energy, turning back on when particles are again detected. (The auto mode of most other models adjusts the fan setting according to actual air quality, but never off.)
Coway's Airmega AP1512HH model is one of the most striking designs available in air purification, with a retro, almost chrome look, available in both black and white models. Depending on your aesthetic, you could potentially disguise this as a speaker in your home entertainment setup. The newer AP-1512HHS model only comes in one color and loses the ionizer function, but for $70 more you can also get a wi-fi-enabled model with voice control.
Small but mighty, if you're looking to test out the efficacy of an air purifier in a small space in your home, Blueair's petite, Blue Pure 411 Auto is one of the highest-performing models you can buy for the lowest cost. (For even less money, the 411 model without auto mode is also highly rated.)
It has similar functionality to the Blueair 211+ Auto model above -- auto mode, customizable color, 360-degree filtration, and activated carbon for odor assistance -- just in a smaller package designed for smaller spaces, such as a kid's bedroom or home office. Blueair also makes a medium-range 311 series for spaces up to 340 square feet.
If you're committed to whole-home air purification, the Coway Airmega 400S is the device for the job. Capable of managing a space of up to 1560 square feet, this model can take on a small home unto itself or a full apartment or a single floor of a larger home. It's not cheap compared to other home air purifier models, but if you're seriously managing allergies, wildfires, or aggressively smoking neighbors in your living situation, it should earn its keep.
While it is a large and boxy device that you'll have to make space for, its power capability seems worth it, plus even as a large and sturdy device it manages to look almost mid-century in design. For your money you're also getting all the bells and whistles: Wi-Fi capability allowing for voice or app control; smart, sleep, and eco settings; plus real-time air quality monitoring.
While Levoit's EverestAir Smart True model hasn't been on the market long enough to factor in user ratings, it is worth considering, as Levoit's range of products consistently take a place on a variety of best air purifier lists, and the EverestAir model brings several new features to the table that may be interesting for those who are comparison shopping. Most notably, because of Levoit's new proprietary filtration technology, this model has the highest CADR (clean air delivery rate) score among the purifiers on this list. (See more about CADR under "How we tested'' below.)
It comes with a higher price tag, but can also tackle more space than other, similarly-sized air purifiers on this list. In terms of additional functionality, the EverestAir Smart True slides side to side on caster wheels, and includes an adjustable vent fan, allowing it to be tucked under certain spaces such as kitchen counters without disrupting its efficacy. The clean air monitor display also gives a satisfying percentage reading of the air quality.
Best air purifiers compared
| Model | Blueair Blue Pure 211 Plus Auto | Honeywell Home Allergen Plus 300 XL | Coway Airmega AP-1512HH | Blueair Blue Pure 411 Auto | Coway Airmega 400S | Coway Airmega 240 | Levoit EverestAir Smart True |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Size | 20.5 x 13 x 13 in | 22.3 x 20 x 10.8 in | 16.8 x 18.3 x 9.6 in | 6.7 x 7.9 x 7.9 in | 14.8 x 22.8 x 14.8 in | 16.7 x 22.8 x 8.3 in | 18.9 x 8.5 x 23.2 in |
| Room capacity | 550 square feet | 465 square feet | 361 square feet | 190 square feet | 1,560 square feet | 403 square feet | 558 square feet |
| Settings | Low, medium, high, auto | Low, medium, high, turbo | Low, medium, high, auto, eco, ionizer | Low, medium, high, auto | Low, medium, high, auto, eco, sleep | Low, medium, high, auto, eco, sleep | Low, medium, high, auto, turbo, sleep |
| Special features | None | Timer | Wi-Fi, voice control, timer | None | Wi-Fi, voice control, timer | Timer | Wi-Fi, adjustable vent |
| Replacement filter cost | $70 | $35 HEPA filter, $30 prefilter | $57.49 filter, $25 prefilter | $24 | $129 for 2 HEPA filters, $25 prefilter | $84 | $100 |
| Energy draw | 38W | Not available | 77W | 10W | 66W | 60W | 70W |
| MSRP | $300 | $175 | $165 | $140 | $651 | $299 | $500 |