6 Best Air Purifiers for Your Home 2023

From dirt and dust, to mold, smoke, or pet dander, there are a myriad of allergens, toxins, and impurities that can be found in the air inside your home.

For those who live in highly-populated areas especially, it can be important to reduce the impact of pollution in your space.

Investing in an air purifier is one way to be proactive about keeping the air in your home clean and safe, and protect yourself from potentially harmful irritants that may cause health concerns.

Air purifiers are designed to neutralize the air and cleanse it of allergens, toxins, and impurities, leaving you with much easier breathing.

But which ones are really worth the hype? Read on to learn which air purifiers PropertyNest picked as the best buys in every category.

Germ Guardian AC4300 Elite 5-in-1 Air Purifier with Pet Pure™: Best Air Purifier for Pet Dander

If you’re a pet owner, you know just how much of an impact your furry friend can have on the air in your space.

Between pet dander, pet hair or fur on every surface, and lingering odors, it can be tricky to keep indoor air fresh without the help of an air purifier.

Germ Guardian’s Pet Pure™ technology makes their AC4300 Elite 5-in-1 air purifier stand out as one of the best in the category, and gets our stamp of approval as the best air purifier for pet dander.

A true HEPA filter captures dust mites, pet dander, and pollen, while the pre-filter and charcoal filter work to capture large dust particles and pet hair.

The brand’s signature PetPure™ treatment works to inhibit the growth of mold, mildew, and odor-causing bacteria on the surface of the filter.

Other highlights of this air purifier include its odor-reducing qualities and ultra-quiet low setting that will help keep your space feeling and smelling clean and fresh without distracting noise.

Coming in at just under $100, it’s also one of the more affordable air purifiers on the market.

LG PuriCare™ 360 Single Filter Air Purifier with Clean Booster: Best Quiet Air Purifier

A good air purifier can work wonders in your space, but if it’s too noisy, it can be more of a distraction than anything else.

This air purifier from LG, however, prioritizes peace and quiet, and earns our stamp of approval as the best quiet air purifier.

Operating at a “whisper-quiet” 25 decibels (AKA the approximate loudness of a whisper), you’ll hardly notice it’s there, even as it’s working hard to purify your air.

Other key features include 360-degree purification and a rotating Clean Booster head to evenly distribute clean air with farther reach.

An intelligent LED indicator system informs you of your indoor air quality and automatically adjusts the settings as needed, and mobile app connectivity allows you to change your settings or check your air quality right from your phone.

Thanks to its plethora of high-tech features and whisper-quiet technology, the LG PuriCare™ Air Purifier with Clean Booster will set you back around $650.

Honeywell HPA300 True HEPA Whole Room Air Purifier with Allergy Remover: Best Air Purifier for Allergies

For those with allergies and asthma, breathing can be difficult enough without the added layer of indoor allergens and pollutants clogging up your air.

That’s why it’s so important to choose an air purifier that is designed especially to tackle airborne allergens, something the Honeywell HPA300 does exceptionally well, making it our pick for the best air purifier for allergies.

This air purifier captures up to 99.97% of both larger and microscopic airborne particles ranging from dust and smoke to pollen, pet dander, and mold spores.

Its effectiveness has landed Honeywell at the top of allergens’ recommendation lists, and coming in at just under $250, it’s more modestly priced than many of its competitors.

Coway Airmega 400 Smart Air Purifier: Best Air Purifier for Large Rooms

If you have a bigger space, it’s imperative to make sure you equip it with an air purifier that’s built to handle all of the air in that room.

Otherwise, it won’t be effective enough to make a difference in air quality.

The Coway Airmega 400 Smart Air Purifier ensures you’ll get the most bang for your buck in a large space, as it’s designed to accommodate room sizes up to 1,560 square feet.

The pollution sensor allows you to monitor air quality in real-time, and the Max2 filter - a combined activated carbon and True HEPA filter - captures and reduces pollen, pollutants, allergens, and even volatile compounds and harmful fumes.

Smart settings include a timer ranging from 1 to 8 hours, and fan speeds adjust automatically based on the current air quality in the room.

The Coway Airmega 400 is priced at just under $500.

Molekule Air Mini+: Best Air Purifier for Apartments and Small Spaces

Just because you are living in a smaller space doesn’t mean you should skimp on quality when it comes to choosing an air purifier.

In fact, choosing one that’s designed specifically for small rooms or apartments can help you to maximize its effectiveness and land some great design features, for an air purifier that will look perfect in your space without taking up too much room.

The Molekule Air Mini+ is our top pick for the best air purifier for apartments and small rooms thanks to its aesthetically-pleasing design and small footprint that look better than many of its competitors, without having to compromise on air quality.

This air purifier is priced just under $500, but comes with a number of great features to justify the price point, and works best in small spaces up to 250 square feet.

Backed by an impressive amount of science and testing led by air quality and virology experts, the Air Mini+ proved to be up to 99.99% effective in eliminating viruses.

Apple HomeKit connectivity enables you to check the status of your filter and change the fan settings right from your iPhone or iPad.

RabbitAir MinusA2 Ultra Quiet Air Purifier: Best Air Purifier for Eliminating Odors

If your indoor air isn’t clean and fresh, stale and unpleasant odors are much more noticeable.

Whether it’s due to pet dander, smoke, trapped moisture, or even just cooking strong foods, bothersome odors can be tough to get rid of unless you actively work to eliminate these odor sources in the air.

That’s where an air purifier with top-quality filtration features comes in - and our pick for the best air purifier for odor elimination is the RabbitAir MinusA2 Ultra Quiet Air Purifier.

With six stages of deodorization and purification, you can effectively eliminate odors and odor-causing pollutants in your air thanks to five individual filters and negative ions.

One of the unique features of this air purifier is the ability to customize the filtration to target your concerns.

With multiple filter options to choose from, you can use the odor-remover filter to trap and reduce odors associated with pets, cigarettes or cigars, cooking, and mildew.

Other customized filters include a germ defense filter, toxin absorber filter, and pet allergy filter.

Due to its advanced customization options and additional tech features like wireless internet capabilities, the RabbitAir MinusA2 will set you back around $550.

How We Decided

With hundreds of air purifier brands and models to choose from, it can be hard to differentiate which is best. In making our selection, we took many factors into account, from customer reviews and features offered, to pricing and more.

We also considered how widely available each model was at easily-accessible retailers when putting together our picks.

The following criteria had the biggest impact on our decision.

Customer Reviews

The best way to gauge the effectiveness of a product outside of rigorous testing is to look at the opinions of those who know best - customers and users of the product.

We took customer reviews into consideration when pulling together our list of the best air purifiers, and chose those with the best and most relevant customer feedback.

We also looked at which came highly-recommended by experts in the home and tech spaces.

Pricing

While air purifiers are, for the most part, a pretty sizable investment, a large purchase can be better justified if the features and effectiveness set it apart from more affordable competitors.

We chose air purifiers that we felt were a fair balance between price and highly-coveted features.

Features Offered

With offerings varying greatly from one air purifier to the next, we chose the ones that had the best features specific to their category, from the best to tackle pet dander to the best for those with allergies.

How Do Air Purifiers Work?

Air purifiers are designed to both remove and sanitize particles from the air. This typically works by moving air through a filter - or layers of filters - that capture damaging particles like dust, pollen, or pet dander. The clean air is then sent back into the living space.

However, some air purifiers work differently and it's important know how they each works before you decided which one is right for your needs.

What Are the Different Types of Air Purifiers?

There are a few different ways the air in a room can be purified, particularly when it comes to what kind of contaminants are actually being removed from the air.

HEPA Filter Air Purifiers

HEPA filters are the gold standard when it comes to air purification. Air is pushed through the filter, removing pathogens, allergens, dust, and other micro-particles, trapping them in the filter.

Finally, the air is pushed back into the room while new air is drawn into the purifier.

This is the usual go-to for people who want a relative particle-free and pollution-free space.

HEPA filters can also be used in central and other HVAC systems.

Is a True HEPA Filter Important?

HEPA stands for High-Efficiency Particulate Arresting, and it is the highest standard for physical air filtration.

In order to be considered a True HEPA filter, it must be able to block 99.97% of all microscopic particles as small as 0.3 microns in size - the size at which a particle can be to get into your lungs.

Can You Wash HEPA Filters for Air Purifiers?

No. Unless indicated by the manufacturer that you can wash the filter, in most cases you will not be able to wash them and reuse them.

This is because most HEPA filters have nuanced and functional ridges and contours that may be flattened or distorted in the cleaning process.

If this happens, the efficacy of the filter is greatly reduced and defeats the purpose of even having an air purifier.

Instead, always make sure you have a few refills on hand or subscribe to a filter delivery service so you're always prepared.

Carbon Filter Air Purifiers

These air purifiers work similarly to HEPA filter air purifiers except they use filters filled with activated charcoal. Carbon filters are ideal for removing odors, smells, toxic fumes, or gases but don't work to remove allergens or small harmful particles in the air.

For further purification, an additional HEPA filter is needed in conjunction with carbon filters.

Carbon filters are great for use in spaces with might leach chemical fumes such as from carpeting, high VOC paints or finishes, or a room near the garage (where you might smell gas)

If you do a lot of cooking carbon filter air purifiers could be a good addition to your kitchen.

It's important to note that carbon filters can remove gases and fumes but other types of filters and purifiers cannot.

UV Light Air Purifiers

UV Light air purifies, like carbon air purifiers, use the same mechanism as the HEPA purifiers of drawing air and pushing it back out to clean the air.

Instead of pushing the air through a filter, the air is instead exposed to UV light which kill harmful microorganisms in the air.

This type of purifier is used to disinfect and clear the room of any potential pathogens and germs.

It is possible to find air purifiers that offer both HEPA filtration along with UV light disinfection.

However,it is important that you select a UV air purifier that uses a "safe" wavelength. If not, you are at risk of creating ozone with UV light because at certain wavelengths, oxygen molecules can split and, in turn, reform as ozone.

Ozone is a harmful gas in your home.

Ionic Air Purifiers

There are two different types of ionic air purifiers--ionizers and electrostatic precipitators (also referred to as ESPs).

Ionizers dispense charged particles (usually negatively charged) into a room. When these charged particles come in contact with other airborne particles, they attach themselves and they basically get "pinned" to surfaces in that room, making them easy to wipe away.

ESPs work similarly but with positively charged particles. Another big difference is that instead of attaching airborne pollutants to the room's surfaces, they instead are caught on a plate within the purifier, making clean up much easier.

Generally, ionic air purifiers aren't recommended as they don't do as good of a job of removing pollutants as HEPA filter air purifiers, and furthermore, they create ozone when particles are discharged into the air.