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Best air purifiers: I'm a home tech editor with asthma and allergies, and these ones tested best for cleaner, healthier air at home

To remove harmful pollutants and allergens from your air, like dust, pollen, smoke and pet dander, you'll need one of the best air purifiers

A hand switching on an air purifier.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

By capturing gases, allergens and pollutants from our indoor spaces, air purifiers create a healthier environment at home. As H&G's home tech editor and an asthma and allergy sufferer, breathing cleaner air vital to my health – and I wouldn't live without an air purifier now.

Aside from easier breathing and fewer allergy symptoms, you can really feel the difference when an air purifier's present. The air feels fresh and crisp, and you wake up feeling more replenished than usual. It's the most effective way to improve your indoor air quality.

We've tested 16 of the best air purifiers available and narrowed them down to the only six you need to consider, assessing each on coverage, efficiency, speed, volume, filtration and price.

Our best-on-test is the Shark NeverChange Air Purifier MAX thanks to its strong performance and huge coverage, but the others are worth your time too, for different reasons.

The quick list

We'll get into the specifics in a minute. For now, these are the best air purifiers at a glance.

The best air purifiers

You can trust Homes & Gardens. Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing the latest products, helping you choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

The best air purifier

Best air purifier overall

Specifications

Coverage: Up to 1,400 sq. ft.
Filter: HEPA & Debris Defence pre-filters
Dimensions: 13.2L x 13.2W x 22.5H inches
Weight: 12.27093 lbs

Reasons to buy

+
Large coverage
+
Air quality detection
+
Long-lasting, washable filters
+
Anti-odor tech
+
Dimmable lights

Reasons to avoid

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Quite big
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Plastic design might not appeal to everybody

Outside of its excellent performance on tests, the Shark NeverChange Air Purifier MAX boasts something new in the world of air purifiers. It has pre-filters, that Shark refers to as Debris Defence filters, that are wipeable and washable, protecting the HEPA filter within. Because of this, the NeverChange MAX's filter doesn't need to be replaced for up to five years, avoiding those recurring replacement costs that most air purifiers demand. It also makes things easier when it comes to cleaning your air purifier.

Not only is the NeverChange MAX the best air purifier overall, it's also the best for large spaces. At 1,400 square feet, it has the biggest coverage of any air purifier we've tested and I found that it covers large spaces exceptionally well. After a long cooking session, the air purifier had cleaned an entire upstairs' air quality from 33% to 100% in under 30 minutes.

The air purifier's front display shows your room's air quality as a percentage. This is thanks to Shark's Clean Sense IQ detection tech, which also detects the number of PM1, PM2.5, and PM10-sized particles in the air. This data might not be as detailed as the Molekule Air Pro's, but it's enough to see how at-home activities like vacuuming, cooking, or opening the windows can affect your air quality, particularly in a city.

For any product to be the best, it has to be accessible as well as offering helpful features. The NeverChange MAX currently retails for just over $300, which is hundreds of dollars cheaper than some of the other premium air purifiers in this list (like the Dyson Purifier and the Molekule Air Pro). Its plastic aesthetic might not be attractive for everybody, but this is the kind of air purifier that'll genuinely make a big difference at home while being affordable in both initial and recurring costs.

Read our full verdict in our Shark NeverChange Air Purifier MAX review.

Best air purifier for the purest air quality

Best air purifier for the purest air quality, at a price

Specifications

Coverage: Up to 1,000 sq.ft.
Filter: PECO, HEPA, Carbon
Dimensions: 23.1 x 10.9 x 10.9"
Weight: 22.9lb

Reasons to buy

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Attractive look
+
Easy set-up
+
View air score on app or on device
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Identifies your space's top offenders in your air and reacts automatically
+
Patented PECO tech not only traps but destroys pollutants
+
Works in spaces up to 1,000 Sq ft.
+
Quiet

Reasons to avoid

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Filters are expensive to replace, and seem to go through life span quickly
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Blue UV light could disrupt light-sensitive sleepers if placed in a bedroom
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Expensive

Two feet tall and one foot wide, this little machine can impressively purify large areas. The Molekule Air Pro can cover and clean spaces up to 1,000 sq. ft. That's twice the size of a standard studio apartment, and makes it easier to find the best place to place your air purifier.

Most air purifiers incorporate HEPA filtration technology to capture all sorts of small particles and pathogens. The Air Pro has a HEPA filter, and a PECO filter, too, which actually destroys pollutants at a molecular level. This machine breaks down dust mites and mold spores, bacteria, and viruses and turns them into harmless gases like carbon dioxide and water vapor. For this reason, it's one of the only consumer air purifiers in the world that's FDA-approved as a Class II medical device.

These filters won't last forever, and you'll need to replace them every six months. This machine is only compatible with Molekule-certified filters, which come at a premium price.

The Air Pro keeps track of each impurity it encounters and logs them all in the Molekule app, under 'Air History'. Here, you can view the changes to particle levels in the last five minutes or over the past four weeks.

The Air Pro works hard and keeps noise to a minimum, with a noise range of around 30-65 dB depending on the speed setting. That's somewhere between a whisper and a normal conversation. At its lowest speed setting, the Air Pro should be suitable for sleep. That is, if you aren't sensitive to light. On top of this machine is a pulsing blue UV light. It's just a little dot, but it can be irritating if you need pitch blackness to sleep well.

The Air Pro isn't perfect. It's a little high-maintenance and it's less suitable for bedroom use. But if you're looking for a purifier to clean large spaces, you won't find a more powerful machine.

It's also incredibly expensive – more expensive than what most people can afford. I use the Molekule Air Mini+, the smaller version of the Air Pro with the same tech but only covers a 250 square feet area, and it costs a third of the price.

Read more in our full Molekule Air Pro review.

Best multi-function air purifier

Best multi-function air purifier

Specifications

Coverage: 500 sq. ft.
Filter: HEPA
Dimensions: 10.43 x 10.43 x 23.62''
Weight: 12.8 lbs

Reasons to buy

+
3-in-1 modes: Purified air, purified heat, or purified fan
+
500 square feet of coverage
+
Lightweight

Reasons to avoid

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High price point
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No handles for easy carry

The Shark Air Purifier 3-in-1 combines three separate appliances: an air purifier, a fan, and a heater. Moreover, rather than just blowing warm or cold air, it produces purified heat and purified cooling, taking it a step further than traditional fans and heaters.

Considering this is three appliances in one, a retail price of $399.99 is more than reasonable. Our tester Aleenah found that, aside from being able to cool you, the fan mode was excellent at airing out rooms, particularly the kitchen after a long cooking session.

The heater works quickly; it was able to raise the temperature of an 80 square foot room by 4 degrees in 9 minutes. The temperature change was more noticeable than typical space heaters she's used in the past.

The purifier itself is powerful and 'virtually silent,' and was not at all distracting when on calls, cooking or reading. After the air quality had once lowered down to 60%, it was able to reach 100% in 30 minutes.

The Shark Air Purifier 3-in-1 oscillates across all three of its modes (fan, heat and air). Air purification happens in all modes, but in eco mode it'll automatically adjust based on the room's air quality, and return to the lowest setting once it's reached 100%.

This is everything you'd need from an air purifier, and more. It is however limited to room sizes of 500 square feet, and lacks handles for easier carrying room to room.

You can find more detail in our Shark Air Purifier 3-in-1 review.