The best air purifiers of 2023

The air inside your home can get stale — or worse, it can become permeated with dust, pollen, pet dander and various pollutants. That's why you should consider adding an air purifier to your healthy-home arsenal to remove those allergens for clean air.

You don't need to suffer from allergies or asthma to benefit. Besides removing indoor pollutants, air purifiers capture many airborne viral pathogens, meaning you're less likely to get sick. Air purifiers are also useful for those who live near smoky environments or wildfires — anywhere air pollution and airborne particles are a concern.

Experts often recommend that you have one in your bedroom. You should also consider another in a common area like the living room or kitchen (an air purifier is great for eliminating cooking smells and contaminants). Here are the best air purifiers of 2023! Psst, these make great gifts too!

Lest you have any doubt as to the 1512HH's popularity: 16,000 Amazon reviewers have bestowed five-star raves. “This is incredible,” one of them said. “How did I ever live without it before? The auto mode really works! We have an open-floor-plan 1,600-square-foot home. This sucker had apparently cleaned all the air in my house from the far corner of my room. My husband will go to the other end of the house to vape, and the purifier will detect him and speed up right away. We no longer come home to a house smelling like what we've been cooking.”

If your aesthetic runs more retro than contemporary, you'll want to consider the Coway Airmega 200M. It has all of the same performance features as the AP-1512HH (above), but the design isn't as sleek or modern. One happy customer reports, "The ability to turn off the bright LED light is a great feature for use in the bedroom." Now you can sleep tight and breathe easy.

The 400(G)'s Max2 filter system, which combines both an activated carbon filter plus a True HEPA filter, is able to capture and reduce 99.97% of the minuscule particles in the air (think dust, pollen and harmful volatile compounds). This model features five fan modes and an LED ring that changes color depending on the air quality.

“I purchased this for the sole purpose of allergies. Starting the day after I turned it on, I have not sneezed one time, and the allergies have basically gone away. I cannot believe how much better I feel,” wrote one shopper. “If it weren’t for the indicator lights, you wouldn’t even know it was running.... On medium fan speed you can barely hear it, and on high speed you can hear it but it’s much quieter than a standard fan running in the house.”

This Winix winner captures not just dust and pollen, but also pet dander, smoke, mold spores, household odors and more. Perfect for medium to large spaces, it works especially well in kitchens and living rooms. It has a washable carbon filter and a 99.97% True HEPA filter, plus it utilizes Winix's Plasma Wave technology.

"This purifier definitely packs some power!" raved a five-star review. "On full blast it is pretty loud, can be heard from across the house, but not so bad that you can't sleep in the same room with it. Night mode and lower modes are great, really limit sound. There are two big gaps at the sides of the cover which allows it to pull in dust balls, carpet fibers, stray scraps of toilet paper from a shoe, or any other random larger thing that might get dragged into the room."

The Pure 311 is recommended for medium-sized spaces, which makes it a great choice for bedrooms, kitchens and studio apartments. It eliminates odors and 99.97% of airborne pollutants, including viruses and fine particles from wildfires. In addition, the fabric pre-filter cover is washable and is available in five colors (colors other than dark gray are sold separately).

“I bought this air purifier before taking on a home remodel/addition project in anticipation of increased dust,” said one reviewer. “In addition, I have cats and dogs in the house, so figured it would be useful in general. After some thorough research on purifiers, I went with Blueair and am happy I did!”

Just like with its smaller sibling above, the 211+'s washable fabric pre-filter is available in five colors (only dark gray is included). “This thing is easy on the eyes. Very straightforward setup: You plug it in, click a button and go on with your day,” raved an Amazon reviewer. “We have this in our bedroom, and within four hours there was a very noticeable difference in air quality.... As you walk from the living room into the bedroom, the odors disappear, it smells clean, almost sterile, and it feels like you’re breathing pure O2 out of an oxygen tank. We no longer wake up with stuffy noses.”

We like to think that the S in 400S stands for "smart." The Levoit app acts as a remote control for this model, whether you’re home or away. You can also create schedules for it to run at certain times. Most importantly, its three-stage True HEPA filtration system can capture larger particles and smaller particles alike.

“This is a healing machine!” raved one Amazon shopper. “This thing has eliminated our allergies and asthma symptoms. We keep the unit in the center of the house in the kitchen/dinette area. And this is able to clean our entire home of pet and cigarette smells within an hour on Speed 4.... It’s rated for a space of 403 square feet, but it has no problem covering much larger spaces.”

Mila's Basic Breather filter is for those with straightforward air-purification needs. If you're a pet owner, you can opt for a model with the Critter Cuddler filter, which zeroes in on pet odor and fuzz. Suffer from allergies? Go for the Big Sneeze, which is outfitted with medical-grade filters designed to fight common allergens like pollen and dander. It's smart, too, with an app that lets you control the machine remotely. There are settings to make it whisper quiet as well!

“Connecting to the app is very simple,” said a reviewer who gave it five-stars. “The app and the filter itself give you updates on how your air is looking, and it definitely responds quickly to any changes in the environment. Last night, I fried some chicken for dinner, and the air quality index rating shot up on the filter. It immediately started working overtime to get the air cleared of any of the pollutants put off by frying.”

For a more in-depth review of the Mila, you can check out Engadget’s take on it here.

The reviews quoted above reflect the most recent versions at the time of publication.

If you have Amazon Prime, you’ll get free shipping, of course. Not yet a member? No problem. You can sign up for your free 30-day trial here. (And by the way, those without Prime still get free shipping on orders of $25 or more.