If you’re looking to buy the best air purifier for your home or business, you’ve come to the right place.
Knowing which new air purifiers are the best-selling products month after month can help you narrow down your search for which device you should get to clean the air inside your home.
Whether you’re looking for the best deals or want to make sure you invest in a high-quality product, we’ve done the research to put together a list of the top air purifiers of 2022.
Let’s dive in.
Table of Contents
Air Purifiers: Terms to Know
Before we get started, there are a few key terms you should know to fully understand how each product compares. To that end, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with these short definitions:
- HEPA Filter: This type of filter is very dense and traps 99.97% of the smallest sized particles (o.3 microns), such as dust, allergens, smoke, and fine particulate matter (PM2.5). It’s considered the best type of filter for improving air quality.
- Activated Carbon Filter: This filter absorbs odors caused by pets, cooking, mold, chemicals, smoke, and other things that produce smells inside the home.
- Ionizer: This technology emits ions into the air that attack pollutants. Instead of collecting particles into a filter like a HEPA device does it causes the particles to fall onto the ground. Some ionizers do include an electrostatic collection plate that will attract the particles onto it.
- PlasmaWave Technology: This is a safer form of ionization. It uses water vapor to remove airborne pollutants air as opposed to ions like an ionizer.
- Ultra Violet (UV-C) Light: This safe spectrum of light kills airborne particles such as bacteria and viruses, creating a sterile germ-free home environment. It’s an good feature to look for to protect your health.
Air Purifier Reviews and Buying Guide
The Top Air Purifiers for 2020 List
1. Rabbit Air MinusA2 (Best Home Air Purifier)
The Rabbit Air air purifier is one of the best on the market. It offers an unbeatable 6-stage filtration system that created the cleanest air quality possible.
In fact, no other product has air cleaning power this advanced.
With this device, you’ll get:
- Pre-filter: For capturing the largest particles.
- Medium Filter: For trapping smaller particles like allergens and dust.
- BioGS HEPA Filter: An extra-long life version of a True HEPA filter that captures the smallest size particles possible (0.3 microns). It will last you up to three years.
- Activated Carbon Filter: For eliminating odors, gases and chemical vapors.
- Customized Filter: Choose between enhanced germ defense, toxin absorption, pet allergies, or odor elimination to suit your specific needs.
- Ion Generator: For knocking airborne particles out the air so they don’t end up in your lungs.
Additionally, Rabbit Air allows you to customize the front panel with various two colors and numerous designs, which is pretty unparalleled customization in this space. You can choose between white or black, or pick an artistic design that makes it blend into your room like a piece of art.
It can also stand alone on the floor or hang on a wall using a mounting bracket, and a brightly lit air quality indicator light strip shines on the front of the unit. It covers some of the largest areas with up to 700 square feet, as well.
And finally, you can upgrade to the smart air purifier version to get advanced Wi-Fi control.
There’s no doubt it’s on the more costly side, but if it fits within your budget, you’ll have the freshest air possible to breathe inside your home.
2. Levoit LV-PUR131 (Best Portable Air Purifier)
This Levoit air purifier is a top seller month after month and is perfect for anyone who wants to purify medium to large size rooms.
This is a great device for use at home or in an office setting, especially due to the 3-stage filtration system.
While it’s not as advanced as the Rabbit Air home air purifier, it does include the most essential filters and is more easily portable. This includes:
- Pre-filter
- True HEPA Filter
- Activated Carbon Filter
This product also offers three modes of operation:
- Automatic
- Manual
- Sleep
Automatic mode will adjust the fan speed cleaning power up or down depending on the number of airborne pollutants detected.
Manual mode allows you to override this setting and keep it on one speed.
And sleep mode ensures that the air purifier doesn’t kick into high gear so it won’t disturb you while you’re sleeping.
As for area coverage, it can clean the air in medium to large rooms up to 322 square feet (sq. ft.). A smaller portable model is also available that covers 86 sq. ft.
Finally, you can upgrade to the smart air purifier version if Wi-Fi control is important to you.
3. Coway Mighty Air Purifier (Most Energy Efficient)
Another product that continues to top our best air purifiers list is this Coway Mighty air purifier.
It’s so highly-rated due to the 4-stage filtration system, which includes:
- True HEPA Filter
- Activated Carbon Filter
- Ionizer
- Pre-filter
It also has an Eco mode, which is a standout feature that no other product on the market uses. This feature senses when the air quality is clean and turns the air purifier complete off to maximize energy savings.
Other products will drop to their lowest fan setting. When air pollution is detected it turns the unit back on again.
You can also choose between two color options: black or white.
And finally, it’s an excellent air purifier for particles like dust, pollen, allergens, smoke, mold, bacteria, and household odors and can handle a room up to 360 square feet.
For the price, we consider it the best value air purifier you can buy for clean air.
4. Honeywell HPA300 Allergen Remover (Top Air Purifier for Allergies)
Do you suffer from allergies and want long-term relief? The Honeywell HPA300 Allergen Remover might come in handy for that.
In fact, it’s the top-recommended brand by allergists, and we think it’s one of the best home air purifiers for allergy purposes.
Similar to other good air purifiers on this page, the HPA300 uses two powerful filters to clean the air:
- True HEPA Filter
- Activated Carbon Filter
What makes this product so attractive is its compact size yet powerful ability to clean the air up to five times per hour in large rooms up to 465 square feet. That’s more than enough for most people’s living rooms and bedrooms.
However, if you want something more budget-friendly or don’t have a large space to clean, the HPA200 model, which overs 310 square feet, or theHPA100 model, which covers 155 square feet, might be a better fit.
5. VEVA 8000 Elite Pro Series Black Air Purifier
We’re big fans of the VEVA 800 Elite Pro Series air purifier — it’s the ideal air purifier for any home or office space.
The VEVA covers up to 325 square feet and boasts an innovative and sleek design is great for any room. We especially like it for its automatic shutoff safety feature, which makes it safe for home with kids and pets.
It uses these features to clean the air:
- Premium HEPA Filter: For removing allergens, pollen, mold and germs. Filters particles as small as 0.3 microns.
- 4 Premium Activated Carbon Filters: For year-round air purification.
- 3-Stage Air Speed: Fan speed ranges from ultra quiet to turbo
5. Winix PlasmaWave 5500-2 (Total Air Cleaner)
Winix is known for producing some of the best air purifiers available, and this model is no exception.
What makes it stand out is the patented PlasmaWave technology it uses to clean the air.
No other air purifiers on the market have this capability.
PlasmaWave safely breaks apart odors, allergens, chemical vapors, and other pollutants at the molecular level.
It does this without producing harmful ozone which is what some ionizers create as a by-product.
This air purifier also gives you a True HEPA Filter for removing particles like dust, mold spores, and allergens, and a long-lasting washable Activated Carbon Filter to reduce odors from pets, cooking, smoke, etc.
As for room size coverage, it can clean the air in a large room up to 360 square feet which is ideal for most home applications.
For less than $200, we consider this to be the best air purifier in its price range with the most air cleaning power.
6. Medify MA-40 (Medical Grade Air Purifier)
If you suffer from allergies, asthma, or any other respiratory condition and want a new air purifier with the highest grade HEPA filter, this is the product to get.
This air purifier includes a Medical Grade H13 HEPA filter which is much more efficient than standard True HEPA filters.
This model, in particular, removes 99.95% of air pollution particles down to 0.1 microns in size—stripping the air of allergens, dust, pollen, mold spores, and bacteria.
And with more than 600 customer reviews and ratings it continues to be one of the best air purifiers you can buy for your health.
It features a Pre-filter to trap larger contaminants and an Activated Carbon Filter to reduce household odors and eliminate airborne gases and toxins.
Another reason it’s one of the top rated air purifiers you can buy today is because it can clean the air in very large rooms up to 800 square feet.
You won’t find any other air purifier with as high a grade of HEPA filter than can do that.
8. Alen BreatheSmart Flex (Designer Home Air Purifier)
Are you looking for a good air purifier that touts both style and versatility?
And can purify a really large space in your home?
If so, then this is the perfect product for you.
The Alen BreatheSmart Flex air purifier offers you several perks that are unmatched by its competitors:
- Front Panel Colors and Designs – Allows you to change the look of the air purifier to match your existing home décor and style. Examples include white, black, oak, rosewood, graphite, brushed stainless, and more.
- 2 True HEPA Filter Choices – Allergies/Dust or Allergies/Dust + Mold/Bacteria
- WhisperMax Technology – Creates a soothing environment while producing a pink noise that promotes better deeper sleep.
This Alen BreatheSmart air purifier also is one of the most powerful products on our best air purifiers list.
It can clean the air in a very large room up to 700 square feet, making it the best HEPA air purifier for open floor plans and basements.
9. Pure Enrichment PureZone (Sanitizing Air Purifier)
This is another best selling air purifier that uses a 3-stage purification system, however, one of the stages includes a powerful sanitizing UV-C light that really makes it stand out from the pack.
This product attacks airborne particles of all types, making the room you use it in as sterile as possible.
With this unit you’ll get:
- True HEPA Filter: For capturing microscopic particles like allergens, mold spores, dust, and pollen.
- Activated Carbon Filter: For reducing household odors caused by chemicals, smoke, cooking, and pets.
- UV-C Light: For destroying airborne particles such as bacteria and viruses so your home environment stays germ-free and healthy.
This air purifier is ideal for anyone who is susceptible to getting sick or just wants to stay as healthy as possible.
The cleaning power is good for small to medium-size rooms and can purify a space up to 200 square feet.
Plus, this air purifier also has a compact size, which allows you to move it from room to room with ease, and it can fit practically anywhere you want to place it.
10. AIRMEGA 300S (Smart Air Purifier)
Our final pick or the best air purifiers is another top seller that has the most modern appeal.
It’s considered one of the best rated air purifiers because it offers Smart Enabled features so you can control it wirelesses in your home.
It works with all iOS and Android devices, and the app delivers real-time air quality monitoring.
With this smart air purifier, you can track the air pollution in your home minute by minute, and see how well it’s working to clean the air around you.
You can also set up cleaning schedules and monitor the outdoor air too, all from the comfort of your smartphone or tablet.
An air quality indicator light is also featured on the front of the unit so you can quickly see how good or bad the air is in your home.
With this machine you’re getting two high power filters:
- True HEPA Filter
- Activated Carbon Filter
It comes in two color options, white and graphite, and can purify the largest rooms out of any other air purifier on this list—up to 1,256 square feet.
If you like the design and power of this unit, but don’t necessarily care about the wireless capabilities, there is a cheaper AIRMEGA 300 version that’s not smart enabled for about $100 less.
Either way, this is the best HEPA air purifier for very large spaces.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Home Air Purifiers
What is a true HEPA filter?
Each of the top 10 air purifiers on this list includes a True HEPA filter.
HEPA stands for “high efficiency particulate air” and it’s one of the most powerful technologies for cleaning the air around you.
Adding the word “True” on an air purifier claims it to have the highest class of HEPA filtration. A True HEPA filter can capture 99.97% of particles down to 0.3 microns.
Inside a HEPA filter, you’ll find a very dense and seamless sheet of fibers that are pleated like an accordion.
Under a microscope, you would see that these fibers are various sizes and woven into a felt-like net. This design is what allows HEPA filters to capture airborne particles.
When a this filter is classified as a True HEPA filter, it means that the air purifier is able to trap the finest particles possible, down to 0.3 microns in size, and at a 99.97% success rate.
Inside of an air purifier, you’ll find a fan which pulls air through it from one side and expels it out the other.
As air passes through the HEPA filter, microscopic particles such as pollen, mold, bacteria, pet dander, fungi, smoke, etc. get trapped in the fiber mesh. The result of that process pushes clean, fresh air out the other side of the filter and back into the air for you to breathe.
The only downside to these filters is that they can’t eliminate odors — which is where activated carbon filters come into play.
What is an activated carbon filter?
Another filter that’s included in each of the top air purifiers listed above is an activated carbon filter, also known as a charcoal filter. These pick up where HEPA filters leave off by absorbing odors from smoke, pets, cooking, mold, and other common sources inside the home.
The charcoal inside these filters is activated which means that it has been treated with oxygen in order to expand the surface area of the carbon atoms. This process causes the charcoal to become extremely porous and absorbs particles that cause odors.
Similar to how a HEPA filter works, a fan inside the air purifier must draw air through the charcoal filter in order for it to trap odor particles as they pass through.
The toxins become attached to the surface of the charcoal and are unable to return back into the air. This removes odors from the room and neutralizes them inside the air purification machine.
EPA on Air Quality and Air Purifiers
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that indoor air — where we spend more than 90% of our days — is often two to five times more polluted than outdoor air.
The EPA suggests that the most effective way to improve indoor air quality and health is to reduce or remove the source of contaminants.
However, that’s not always possible, nor do we always know where the pollutants are coming from.
As an alternative, the EPA suggests using a portable air purifier and/or upgrading the air filters in your HVAC system.
The benefits of using an air purifier is that they can focus on a single room or area of your home to keep airborne pollutants out at a much more affordable price than upgrading an entire HVAC system.
Top Air Purifier Brand Considerations
When choosing between the best air purifiers on this list, keep in mind that every person’s experience will be different.
Although an air purifier claims that it’s better than other brands, you have to really do your research to confirm these claims.
According to Rachel Rothman, chief technologist at the Good Housekeeping Institute, ”The effectiveness of air purifiers in real-world situations likely won’t mimic those of controlled conditions in a lab.”
That means it can be difficult to measure how effective an air purifier actually is in your home environment, so keep this in mind as you do your research.
The Top Air Purifiers for Specific Purposes
In our list of the top air purifiers above, we did our best to point out what powerful features each product includes.While most of the best home air purifier models on this page are good for general household use, you may be looking for an air purifier that meets a specific purification need.
If so, we want you to know that we’ve got you covered there as well.
Take a look at our specially tailored guides on the best portable air purifier options below to see if one of these types of machines is what you’re after.
Each link includes a comprehensive buying guide along with air purifier reviews and ratings on the top picks in each category.
Best Home Air Purifier for Certain Needs
- Best air purifiers for allergies
- Best air purifiers for asthma
- Best air purifiers for dust
- Best air purifiers for mold
- Best air purifiers for pets
- Best air purifiers for smoke
- Best air purifiers for large spaces
- Best air purifiers for living rooms
- Best air purifiers for apartments
- Best air purifiers for baby room
- Best air purifiers for bacteria and viruses
- Best air purifiers with washable and permanent filters
- Best filterless air purifiers
- Best cheap air purifiers
- Best desktop air purifiers
- Best small air purifiers
- Best basement air purifiers