Best air purifiers to help free your home from dust and allergens, tried and tested

This model ticks a lot of boxes, so it’s no surprise that I found it to be the best air purifier overall. It was quick at purifying the air in my home, even in large spaces. But it’s also unbelievably quiet – even on the highest speed setting, I could barely hear it at all.

It uses a three-stage filtration system, which includes a pre-filter for larger particles, a primary filter for dust and mould, and an activated carbon filter for odour reduction, which is excellent at reducing smells from cooking or from pets.

I found the automatic mode neat, cleaning the air without intervention. It’s a remarkably responsive machine, speeding up when it detects particulates and slowing down when the air is clean. It’s so responsive, in fact, that it even ramped up the power whenever my dog walked into the room.

I also loved the smart functionality – it was great being able to set up scenes in the VeSync app, turn on the air purifier before I even entered my home, and use Alexa to turn it on when I was too lazy to get to the unit. Best of all? It’s very affordable for the sheer value it delivers, although the replacement filters can be pricey.

If you're looking for a quiet, compact air purifier on a budget, the Coway airmega 50 air purifier is hard to beat. Designed with smaller spaces in mind, this unit is light enough to move from room to room, yet powerful enough to clean up to 31 square metres, making it just about right for every room in the average British home.

What I liked most during testing was the real-time air quality indicator, which uses a coloured light to show how clean the air is (blue indicates good, green for moderate, amber for bad and pink for very bad). It’s a small touch, but one that gives instant reassurance.

It’s also a great option for kids’ bedrooms thanks to the built-in nightlight, which gives off a gentle glow that’s ideal for relaxing bedtime routines or little ones scared of the dark.

The Coway airmega 50 air purifier has a smart sensor that automatically adjusts the fan speed depending on the air quality. It’s also incredibly quiet on its lowest setting, so it’s great for overnight use.

While it doesn’t come with app connectivity or wifi features, the filter lasts eight months, and the unit uses very little power, making it energy-efficient enough to leave running for extended periods. Just bear in mind it’s most effective on its higher settings – so if you live in a high-traffic area, you might want to run it at full speed before bedtime.

Overall, this is a brilliant choice for those on tighter budgets. There are still cheaper options – the Daewoo purifier below, for instance – but those models only work on fairly small rooms. For most homes, this is the best budget air purifier.

With its sleek white casing and high-performance filtration, the MeacoClean CA-Hepa 76x5 wifi air purifier is a solid pick for larger households or anyone battling indoor allergens. It uses a multi-layered HEPA H13 and charcoal filter, UV-C sterilisation, and an ioniser to tackle everything from pollen to cooking smells. With a 360 cubic metres per hour CADR, it’s powerful enough to clear the air in an open-plan space or large living room.

It’s not so heavy that you can’t move it from room to room, and it comes with a sturdy handle, making it easy to transport. You can control it via the Meaco app, which is easy to set up and shows real-time air quality readings, local weather and even energy usage. You can also switch between modes or fan speeds on your phone, or simply use the nicely designed touch-control pad at the top of the device.

It also comes with an ‘anion’ function, which releases negative ions into the air. These tiny charged particles stick to dust, pollen, and smoke in the air, causing them to clump together. This helps the air purifier catch them more easily in its filter, or they fall out of the air and onto the floor, making the air cleaner and easier to breathe.

So, if you’re looking for a high-performance purifier with app control and advanced filtration technology, the MeacoClean 76x5 ticks all the right boxes.

The Levoit Core 400S punches so far above its price point that it could well be a contender for the crown of best air purifier, if only it didn’t feature such a run-of-the-mill design.

Offering excellent filtration and smart features you’d usually only see on more expensive models and a three-stage HEPA H13 filter, it captures 99.97 per cent of airborne particles down to 0.3 microns, including smoke, pollen and pet dander. A carbon layer also tackles odours and VOCs, making it a great choice for allergy sufferers, pet owners or city dwellers.

Real-time air quality is shown through a coloured light ring on top of the purifier, while the app gives you scheduling, timers and remote control. There’s also support for Alexa and Google Assistant if you prefer voice control.

In my at-home tests, the core 600S cleared up to 99.9 per cent of PM2.5 particles within half an hour – even after match and smoke tests – with barely a whisper on its lower settings. The sleep mode is practically silent, while auto mode adjusts the fan speed to one of four, depending on air quality.

One downside is the app, which I had to reinstall twice when it froze during use. Plus, it only works on a 2.4Ghz network, so you might need to use your phone as a hotspot. But if you can forgive the odd hiccup and aren’t bothered about setting complex schedules (you can still set timers of up to 12 hours using the touchpad), the 400S is one of the best-value smart air purifiers around. Be warned, the filters aren’t cheap at £66.99 (Levoit.co.uk), although you may find them cheaper elsewhere.

This model is designed to double up as a side table, so it wins first prize for thinking outside the box and making an air purifier multi-functional and genuinely practical. It’s a brilliant solution for smaller spaces, and works well in living rooms, bedrooms, or home offices.

A favourite feature is the pull-out aroma pad drawer for essential oils, which adds a subtle scent to your room without needing a separate diffuser. The ambient light ring is another nice touch, glowing green, orange, or red to reflect current air quality. You can also customise it to any colour you want via the app, which also lets you easily check your air quality and tweak settings from your phone.

The air purifier includes a PM2.5 sensor for monitoring fine particles, and it’s compatible with Matter, Apple Home, Google Home, Alexa, and more. That means you can control it via voice commands, routines, or automation.

It also doubles as a wireless charging station, handy for keeping your phone or earbuds topped up overnight. That said, I found it a bit slow, and it didn’t work with an Amazon Fire tablet, so don’t expect lightning-fast charging speeds. Still, it’s a thoughtful bonus that adds extra value.

Coway is known for its premium air purifiers, and the airmega 100 lives up to the hype. Designed to sit discreetly in bedrooms, living rooms or even home offices, it includes a smart air quality sensor that constantly monitors your indoor air and adjusts the fan speed accordingly.

The LED ring on the front glows blue, orange or red depending on the current air quality, which is a handy way to get a visual on your data without fiddling with buttons or apps. I also liked that it powered up straight away when I burned some matches or sprayed deodorant during testing, returning my home’s air quality to ‘good’ in less than 20 seconds.

There’s no app or voice control, which feels like a missed opportunity in a premium device. But it does what it sets out to do — it cleans the air quietly and effectively. Plus, the filters last 12 months, which is twice as long as many other big brands, and they’re around half the price too, so it’s more cost-effective in the long term.

The popular Blueair blue mini max air purifier is simplicity done right. With a stripped-back one-button control and customisable fabric pre-filters in colours like grey and brown, it resembles a Scandi-style music speaker more than an air purifier.

Small enough to fit on a shelf or move from room to room, its compact footprint is ideal for smaller rooms and flats, where bulky purifiers can take up valuable space.

Despite its diminutive size, I was impressed by the mini max’s power. With 100 CADR and Blueair’s patented HEPA silent technology to capture particles and reduce noise, it reduced 0.3-micron particles by more than 50 per cent in half an hour in my kitchen after cooking, noticeably reducing the smell of fried onions and garlic.

This is a very popular air purifier, but it didn’t reach the top of my list because no app or smart home compatibility. There’s also no auto mode to cope with sudden decreases in air quality, which other cheaper models include as standard.

However, this could be a winner if you’re after something that’s plug-and-go. It’s also quiet enough for bedtime use, making it a good option for light sleepers or nursery rooms.

Ideal for smaller rooms, Daewoo’s air purifier is one of the most affordable HEPA air purifiers out there. While you don’t get smart features or app connectivity, it covers the basics at a decent price. You get three fan speeds and three timer settings, as well as an optional night light.

The air purifier’s compact design means it's light enough to move around the home with ease, and it won’t take up much space, so it’s ideal for dressing tables, shelves or bookcases. At its lowest fan speed, it registers just 30dB, making it a good option for a nursery, bedroom, student accommodation or home office. It’s also energy efficient, costing less than 1p an hour to run (at the time of writing).

Of course, it’s a pretty no-frills option. There’s no real-time air quality data, no timers or modes, and you’ll need to remember to manually turn it on and off, unless you use the timer. It also won’t be powerful enough for bigger rooms. However, if you just want something simple to freshen the air in a small space, this Daewoo model does the job without breaking the bank.

While it’s not the best-looking machine, Shark’s neverchange 5 air purifier worked wonders in my kitchen. It was one of the most effective models for zapping odours, and it left my kitchen smelling surprisingly fresh, even after cooking a chicken curry and chopping onions. It works so well because it features some sweet-smelling anti-odour cartridges. You can choose between different strength settings, and the cartridges last a couple of months. It’s a great touch, and it’s not particularly overpowering.

As for the purifier itself, it removes allergens, mould and bacteria, cleaning the air and circulating it through the room after multi-stage HEPA filtration, including a carbon layer, together capturing 99.97 per cent of pollutants and allergens down to 0.1 microns. The display even shows the size of each particle it removes.

The auto mode adjusts the fan speed to suit the air quality and turns off when the air quality is perfect, and the built-in sensors track changes in the air in real time. The digital display reports the percentage of clean air, the time left to clean and the particle amount, so you can be confident the air is as clean as it can be.

The biggest perk of the model is its filter. Shark says the filter will last a whopping five years before it needs replacing. That’s fantastic and blows the competition out of the water. Accurate? I’ll have to take Shark’s word for now. The only real downside is that it doesn’t have an app – everything has to be controlled using the buttons at the top of the machine.

This is a compact two-in-one dehumidifier and air purifier designed for small to medium-sized rooms.

It looks more like a next-gen games console than a dehumidifier or air purifier, making it a good choice for a teen’s bedroom. In terms of air purification, though, it boasts a filter capable of trapping up to 99.95 per cent of microscopic particles, including dust, pollen, pet dander, smoke, and other airborne allergens as small as 0.3 microns.

This makes it a solid choice if you struggle with hay fever, asthma, or other respiratory sensitivities. The night mode is handy for light sleepers, too. At just 35db, it runs at a gentle hum – ideal for uninterrupted sleep or study sessions. You can increase the fan speed during the day to tackle stuffy air, then tone it down at night for peace and quiet.

If you want a stylish, quiet purifier that doubles as a fan and keeps your air fresh year-round, Dyson’s purifier cool PC1 is a solid pick. A clever all-in-one appliance that cools you down while purifying the air around you, Dyson’s device is perfect if you want a fresher, healthier home environment without sacrificing style. It automatically senses, captures, and traps pollutants, including microscopic allergens as small as 0.1 microns.

The built-in sensors constantly monitor your air quality and adjust airflow as needed, so it’s energy efficient, plus you can control and check your home’s air quality from anywhere using the MyDyson app. Voice control compatibility is a nice touch if you want hands-free operation, and the 350-degree oscillation means you can stay cool wherever you are in a large room.

It’s not cheap, but the build quality and performance feel premium. The magnetised remote is handy, and the bladeless design means it looks good and stays safe around kids and pets.

A strong performer for purifying large rooms, this appliance has a sophisticated five-stage filtration system and an H11 HEPA filter that traps everything from dust and pollen to smoke and pet dander. It’s a great choice if you want something reliable and effective without paying for extra features you might not use, such as voice or app control.

It features three fan speeds, a sleep mode, and a filter change indicator. While some buyers might appreciate this simplicity, others might find the lack of innovative features more frustrating than freeing. For example, there’s no air quality sensor, meaning it won’t detect pollution spikes or automatically ramp up its settings to deal with them. You’ll have to adjust it manually, which means the onus is on you to sense when to dial up air purification and vice versa – often a tricky job.

It’s functional and minimalist in design, but a little on the bulky side. That said, it's a solid, affordable option if you’re looking for powerful, reliable filtration and don’t mind the basic controls or lack of smarts.

This small, sleek purifier is so whisper-quiet on its lowest setting that I had to check if it was even switched on. Suitable for rooms up to 7 sq m, it has a USB connection rather than a plug, so it would be handy next to a computer or even in a car. It’s extremely simple to set up, and it enters automatic mode as soon as it’s plugged in, adjusting fan speed automatically to suit the air quality. This can also be adjusted manually.

The filtering process includes four-stage air disinfection, with a silver ion coating to destroy microorganisms and activated carbon to tackle smells and gases. Depending on usage, it’s the filter lasts about every three to six months. I loved how portable and light it was, at just 400g. If you want to improve the air even when you’re driving, I still think it’s a good bet.

A premium multitasker, this model combines air purification, cooling and humidifying in one sleek tower with 10 speed settings. It doesn’t just capture pollutants, it also destroys formaldehyde continuously, thanks to a built-in catalytic filter.

In my at-home tests, it reduced 2.5-micron particles by 100 per cent and 0.3-micron particles by more than 50 per cent in just 30 minutes – an impressive result for an all-in-one machine. It’s also fully sealed to HEPA H13 standards, meaning no dirty air escapes back into your room.

The Dyson app was one of the easiest to set up during testing. It connected instantly and gave me access to live and historical air quality data, humidity levels, temperature and even localised outdoor air conditions. You can also control the unit remotely, set schedules, or link it with Alexa and Google Assistant for hands-free operation.

As a humidifier, it uses ultraviolet light to kill bacteria in the water tank and projects cool, hydrated air across the room. This makes it a great option for dry homes or allergy-prone households, especially in winter when heating dries out the air.

It’s not the smallest unit, and you’ll need to refill the water tank regularly if using the humidifying function often. But if you’re looking for a hi-tech, multi-use purifier that looks great and performs even better, this Dyson model is well worth the investment.