Best Air Purifiers of 2024
We've tested scores of models suitable for every room. Here are the ones that blew us away.
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An air purifier can remove tiny particles that come from pollutants like dust, pollen, and smoke. It can also tackle viruses and volatile organic compounds when used with an activated carbon filter. But our current ratings of more than 150 models confirm that some models are better than others.
The best of them can remove particles at any speed setting, says Misha Kollontai, who oversees air-purifier testing at Consumer Reports. And the worst, he says, will struggle, even when running at the highest speed, and produce a fair amount of noise while doing so.
A high-quality air purifier can come in handy if you spend a lot of time cheffin’ it up in the kitchen, if you have pets that shed, if you use cleaning products throughout the house, or even if your surfaces seem to collect a considerable amount of dust. This is particularly true if you don’t or can’t open the windows to let fresh air circulate, or if the air outside isn’t the freshest to begin with, as may be the case during allergy or wildfire seasons.
Below, we provide a closer look at the top five air purifiers, listed according to the room size they’re designed to cover. We designate extra-large rooms as 650 square feet or more, large rooms as 350 to 650 square feet, medium rooms as 150 to 350 square feet, and small rooms as 150 square feet or less.
For more air purifier options, explore our comprehensive air purifier ratings, where you can read more about the 150-plus models we currently rate and filter them according to your needs (including by price, brand, room size, and weight). To learn more about how air purifiers work, check our air purifier buying guide.
Best Air Purifiers for Extra-Large Rooms
At 50 pounds, the Coway Airmega ProX is by far the heaviest air purifier in this roundup, but it also provides the best performance. On both higher and lower speeds, this model excels at clearing rooms of dust, pollen, and smoke. And it has the best noise scores on this list.
This air purifier accommodates indoor spaces of up to a whopping 2,126 square feet. However, the ProX’s top-tier performance comes at a hefty price of about $1,000 up front and $247 annually.
And unlike many of the air purifiers shown here, it doesn’t have a remote control or an app. The ProX features three speeds, a filter indicator, and a dirt sensor. As with Blueair purifiers (more on those below), CR members are highly satisfied with their Coway air purifiers, and they earn top marks for predicted reliability.
The Blueair Classic 605 removes particles impressively at both high- and low-speed settings. While it hums along pretty quietly on low, it’s downright noisy on high. Filter replacements and energy use will set you back around $260 per year.
The machine weighs a hefty 30 pounds but has casters that make it easy to move from room to room. Its claimed capacity is a room of 775 square feet. Blueair is highly rated for predicted reliability and owner satisfaction.
Best Air Purifier for a Large Room
The portable Blue Pure 211i Max features an indicator light to alert you when you need to change or clean the filter. It also has a dirt sensor and four speeds. On its higher setting, it’s terrific at removing dust, pollen, and smoke, but expect a bit of noise. Try it on low and you’ll have more quiet while still experiencing top-notch results.
This model is designed for use in a large space of 350 to 650 square feet and costs about $109 a year to maintain—just more than half that of the Pure 211+. It also weighs only 17 pounds, making it easy to move around. CR members found Blueair air purifiers highly reliable and were quite satisfied with their purchase.
Best Air Purifier for a Medium-Sized Room
The Samsung Bluesky AX26BG3100GG/AA is a strong performer overall, though there are less pricey competitors that perform as well or better, and can handle large room sizes.
Equipped to handle rooms of 260 square feet or less, it does a very good job of removing dust, pollen, and smoke at high speed—albeit making a fair amount of noise in the process. At low speed, it’s middling at the job (and so is its noise level). Its annual cost to run also is on the pricey side at $129.
The Bluesky has an auto mode, sleep mode, and a 3-stage filtration system made up of a washable pre-filter, activated carbon filter, and a dust collecting HEPA filter. Like most Samsung devices, it can be connected to the brand’s Smart Things app to conveniently turn it off and on. Its WiFi connectivity also helps to easily manage purification and monitor filter usage so you know when the filter needs to be changed.
Best Air Purifier for a Small Room
This WiFi-enabled smart air purifier from GermGuardian lets you control everything from your smartphone via the GermGuardian app, or by voice using Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant.
Best suited for tabletop or floor use in a small room measuring 150 square feet or less, it does a stellar job at removing dust, pollen, and smoke at both high and low speeds when used in rooms of this size. It is one of only two small room air purifiers recommended by CR that receives an excellent score for noise on low speeds.
The GermGuardian CDAP4500BCA is primarily filter-based and has a filter indicator. Other features include a programmable timer, dirt sensor, and 5 speeds. One of this model’s biggest drawbacks is its annual costs. Filter replacements and energy costs come in at roughly $142 per year, making it the most expensive small-room air purifier to operate. Additionally, CR members rated GermGuardian just so-so for predicted reliability and owner satisfaction.
How We Picked the Best Air Purifiers
Our engineers find that many of the models we run in our labs can ace our tests at high speed with no problem. It’s often how much debris these machines can capture when not on full blast that’s a challenge. The best air purifiers in our ratings are capable of clearing the air even on low settings—and they do it without making a racket. What’s more, they feature an intuitive design, so you don’t need a PhD in particle physics to operate them. And it’s a breeze to move them from room to room, maneuver the controls, and change filters.
Last year we also began folding a brand’s owner satisfaction and reliability ratings into a model’s Overall Score. Our current ratings are based on Consumer Reports’ 2022 and 2023 Summer Survey in which members reported on 15,785 air purifiers purchased between 2013 and 2023.
How We Test Air Purifiers
To test air purifiers, we inject smoke and dust particles into a sealed chamber to assess how well each model removes particles between 0.1 and 1 micron. (Human hair has a diameter of roughly 100 microns.) Using a particle counter, we measure the change in particle concentration as the air purifier runs for 15 minutes at the highest speed and then at a lower speed. And because these machines are designed to run day and night, we measure noise levels in decibels at every speed and calculate annual operating costs for filter replacements and energy use to run the machine 24 hours a day.
We recently tested 11 new models, including those from Dyson, HoMedics, and Winix. Four of the models scored so well on our tests that they landed on the CR Recommended list. This spring we also revamped our ratings to provide more service to CR members. You will now see room designations from extra-large to small. Models within each room category size are judged against each other so members can more readily evaluate air purifiers based on their individual room needs.
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