Breathe Easy With These Expert-Approved Air Purifiers

"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."

If you ask us, the best air purifier is like a great dehumidifier. It doesn’t seem entirely necessary until you spring for one, and then you can’t imagine life without it. Air purifiers are ideal for people with bothersome allergies or asthma, but anyone can reap the benefits, especially because you can’t always tell if the air in your home could be cleaner. They're like the little heroes you didn’t know you needed, removing impurities you can’t even see including invisible dust, pollen, pet dander, mold spores, and even odors.

Consider air purifiers an essential cleaning tool that takes on a big job, so you don’t have to. In fact, all you have to do is turn it on and change the filter regularly. And if you’re wondering whether or not you need an air purifier if you clean regularly, the answer is yes. After all, if you’re busy vacuuming, sweeping, and dusting, you’re actually stirring tiny particles into the air you breathe.

Will Vizuete, PhD, an air pollution expert from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, cautions that unclean air can be harmful in the atmosphere of your home. They’re known to contribute to negative health problems as short term as shortness of breath and watery eyes, or as long term as asthma and some cancers.

Air purifiers are a way to consistently remove harmful pollutants from your home’s atmosphere. Of course, removing smoke, pollen and other outdoor pollutants is helpful, but it’s not just ambient air quality that should concern you. Vizuete says that burning things in your home, whether it’s candles, incense or smoking, can all produce the same kind of pollution as a car’s combustion. Cleaning products that produce volatile organic compounds (VOCs), vinyl planks, and certain paints can also off-gas into your home.

“Keeping outdoor air pollution outside by keeping your house tight helps with air efficiency, but what you're also doing is keeping any emissions that are occurring in your home, in your home," Vizuete says. "An air purifier allows you to remove that material from the air, and thus removing it from inside your home. So you both get rid of the outside air and you're taking care of your indoor air.”

When choosing certified air purifiers, Vizuete recommends the California Air Resources Board, an organization that’s been certifying and evaluating indoor cleaning devices since 2010. To save you some searching, all of House Beautiful’s air purifier picks are CARB-certified. Check out our picks below, including one you can disguise as a planter and one that a House Beautiful editor called the "Mercedes-Benz of air purifiers."

Big + Quiet Formaldehyde Purifier BP04

House Beautiful shopping editor Janae McKenzie tested this air purifier for weeks in her home and was totally impressed. The unit was quiet even on its highest setting, and it comes with an app that explains every change in air quality in real time. “The only reason I know it’s on is I can see the leaves on my roommate’s monstera plant blowing,” McKenzie says. “It eradicates smoke instantly, whether it’s the palo santo sticks in the living room or the cooking from the kitchen down the hall. This thing is the Mercedes-Benz of air purifiers.”

You’ll have to be careful about positioning, however. The angle of airflow is adjustable, but the purifier doesn’t oscillate, so where you point the head of it matters. It’s massive, so it’s great for big spaces like the living room.

HPA200 HEPA Air Purifier

A filter system with several steps like this purifier from Honeywell is great for its ability to remove multiple sizes of particles from the air. “It passes [the air] through so it's not a straight shot,” Vizuete says. “It comes in, snakes through its way through, so it gives [the filter] some time to pick it up.”

Pure Cool™ TP01 Air Purifier and Fan

This Dyson air purifier is just over 40 inches high and nearly 8 inches wide, and unlike some other purifiers, it's easily portable considering it only weighs around 8 pounds. It covers large rooms and doubles as a fan to help cool down your space. And to top it all off, it has a 4.5-star rating.

Air Purifier for Home Bedroom

McKenzie uses this purifier in her bedroom to take care of the smaller space. She says odors evaporate easily rather than linger within the thick walls of the room. “I’ve had biryani in my bedroom and smoke from a candle I left burning too long at the same time, and the purifier took care of it in minutes,” McKenzie says. Plus, its smaller size means it sits easily in the corner of a desk or on the top of a bookshelf.

Bloom™ Air Purifier

We gave this air purifier a Live Better Award for its powerful removal of air toxins, but we have to mention its unique design. If you’re worried about an air purifier being an eyesore in your home, this is the right pick. It doubles as a side table or a planter, blending into your environment seamlessly while reading the room for toxins.

Germ Guardian Air Purifier

Vizuete warns that air purifiers that utilize UV technology are at risk for creating harmful byproducts like ozone, the main component of smog. Luckily, this purifier from GermGuardian uses both an electrostatic approach to take care of tiny harmful particles and charcoal and HEPA filters to catch any gas byproducts. You can reap the benefits of UV technology without the worry.

Airmega 150

Associate Shopping Editor Jessica Cherner reviewed this stylish, 4.5-rated air purifier that has an auto mode to keep the air clear in her home even while she's running errands or preparing for bed. The easy-to-pull filters are beginner-friendly, and there's an indicator to remind her when to clean the unit.

True Air Compact Pet Air Purifier

The most affordable large option on the list, this Hamilton Beach air purifier is also compact—it works for rooms up to 140 square feet, and it measures just 10.88 inches by 8.13 inches by 16.5 inches. Plus, it weighs only 6.8 pounds. It has a 4.5-star rating, too—and that's with over 6,000 reviews.

Smart WiFi Air Purifier

Another Amazon favorite (with more than 34,000 reviews!), this 4.6- star-rated air purifier is another sleek, modern option. It comes in at just $90 and covers rooms up to 183 square feet. It has a super quiet noise level and doesn't take up a ton of space. (It measures just 14.75 inches tall and 9.5 inches wide and deep!) The best part? It can be controlled via your phone thanks to WiFi, and you can even voice activate it with your Alexa device.

Console Air Purifier

This simple black air purifier has a 4.5-star rating, covers rooms up to 310 square feet, and measures 22.84 inches by 23.7 inches by 20.87 inches. It comes with three filters, features three speed settings, and is designed for quiet operation to ensure it doesn't keep you up at night.

5-in-1 Tower Air Purifier

While all air purifiers are great for pet owners, this 4.6-star option is specifically designed with pet owners in mind, capturing pet odors like urine and even wet dog smell. It covers 189 square feet and measures 28 inches high, just over 10 inches wide, and 7 inches deep.

HEPA Air Purifier

Rated 4.5 stars, this circular air purifier from Honeywell covers 390 square feet of space and measures 18 inches by 18 inches by 17.5 inches. It has three cleaning settings and a long-lasting filter that can easily be vacuumed, as well as a carbon filter.

PureZone 3-in-1 True HEPA Air Purifier

With more than 13,000 reviews and a 4.7-star rating, you know this pick gets the job done. It's small, measuring in at 10.8 inches wide by 12.1 inches tall and 6.9 inches deep, but it's mighty, covering up to 200 square feet. It goes through three stages of air purification, including a pre-filter, an activated carbon filter, and a True HEPA filter.

5500-2 PlasmaWave Air Purifier

This air purifier from Winix covers rooms of up to 360 square feet and measures 23.6 inches tall, 14.9 inches wide, and 7.8 inches deep. It features a three-stage filtration system, including a washable AOC carbon filter that helps rid the air of odors like smoke. Plus, it has a 4.7-star rating with more than 18,000 reviews.

Mighty Air Purifier

This sleek, modern purifier works in larger rooms (up to 361 square feet) and measures 18.3 inches tall, 16.8 inches wide, and 9.6 inches deep. It features a four-stage filtration system and a washable pre-filter and has a 4.7-star rating.

3-in-1 Air Purifier

Perfect for a nursery, this small air purifier doubles as a sound machine and night light. While it doesn't have thousands of reviews, it has rave ratings averaging 4.4 stars from parents who bought it for their kid's room and swear by it.

How Do You Know If An Air Purifier Is Working?

It can be tricky to tell, especially for the invisible gasses that are more difficult to measure. If there’s a bothersome odor that goes away quickly after turning on your purifier, you can trust that the unit is working to clean your air. Vizuete says you can also check your filter, and if you’re seeing material collect on your filter, it can give you a sense of how well it’s working.

“If it's clean and empty, then hopefully it's a brand new filter, because if it's clean and empty and you've been running it for a week, then maybe there's an issue,” Vizuete says. “Or you may just have a really clean home.”

What Should You Check Before You Buy?

First and foremost, make sure it covers the proper square footage. If you’re planning on sticking your new compact air purifier in the corner of your sprawling bedroom, it won’t work well because you’re giving it too much ground (or, rather, air) to cover.

Second, remember that you’ll eventually have to replace the filter of your air purifier to keep it in working condition, especially for carbon filters. “Eventually those filters are going to fill up because you're removing stuff from the air and they stop becoming effective, so they need to be replaced regularly,” Vizuete says. Before clicking “purchase,” look at how much it costs to replace filters, and how often you’ll need to do it.

What Type Of Filter Do You Need?

The best type of purifier filter for your home depends on what air particles you want to target for removal. For gasses, you’ll want a filter that can absorb them onto another medium, so an organic carbon material like charcoal is a great pick. Aerosols (liquids or solids suspended in the air) like smoke or pollen come in so many different sizes, ranging from the size of a hair to nano-sized particles.

Vizuete says larger particles can typically be taken care of by the filter on your air conditioning. The smaller ones are more difficult to get rid of, and tend to be more harmful. HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Air) filters are your best bet to target those, or electrostatic purifiers for some of the tiniest pollutants. There are also plenty of picks on the market that combine a carbon filter with a HEPA filter to target as many pollutants as possible.

Are Air Purifiers Worth It?

Even if you live in a place with minimal pollution, an air purifier is a worthy purchase because it eliminates toxins you can't even see.

Do You Leave Air Purifiers On When You Sleep?

Yes, you should leave your air purifier on while you sleep. The only reason to turn it off would be if it's loud or if the filter needs to be changed.

Why Trust Us?

We consulted Will Vizuete, PhD, an air pollution and air quality expert, to best understand how air purifiers work and the right features to look for. Plus, our editors live in New York City, where pollution is everywhere, so they did their research when picking out the best gadgets to keep their spaces clean.

You Might Also Like

• 15 Home Bar Gifts Every Cocktail Enthusiast Will Appreciate

• 32 Low Light Indoor Plants That Can Survive in the Darkest Corners of Your Home

• These Are the 50 Best Paint Colors for Your Living Room