Compare Our Picks
Others We Tested
Mila Air 3 Critter Cuddler for $399: Mila makes seven bespoke filters that are designed specifically for moms-to-be, allergies, pet owners, etc. Add Mila’s built-in sensor and easy-to-use app dashboard, along with its wooden-legged modern box design, and the Mila is an immediate favorite. The more I cover air purifiers, the more go big to go quiet comes to mind. Smaller models tend to run loud on their highest settings. The Mila was not as quiet as I hoped. At full blast, the Mila hit 70 decibels on my consumer decibel reader. And at 447 CADR m3/hr, the Mila would do nicely in the average American 200-square-foot bedroom. You could run the Mila at its highest setting for CDC’s recommended five air exchanges an hour in a 400-square-foot room, but that is quite noisy. I ran the Mila in my sons’ 200-square-foot bedroom, and its auto setting adjusted correctly to the room’s air quality. And while Mila gets its outdoor AQI (air quality index) from PurpleAir, it couldn’t seem to find my PurpleAir outdoor monitor.
Dreo Air Purifier Tower Fan for $330: Like its competitor the Dyson, above, this Dreo offers 99.97 percent HEPA filtration and an air quality sensor. It also has control capability through a remote, the Dreo app, Google Home, and Amazon Alexa. It’s the fan I use in my son's bedroom, as I like that the fan and purifier can operate independently of each other. The 12-month warranty isn’t as great as Dyson's, but at $130 less, the Dreo is definitely worth a look. —Kat Merck
Briiv 2 Pro Air Filter for £399: There are big claims in Briiv’s 2 Pro Air Filter’s small package. At 2.5 pounds, the Briiv 2 Pro Air Filter is the smallest air purifier I’ve tested, though it’s far from the cheapest. The company claims that one Briiv equals the oddly specific 3,043 houseplants, and that it uses AI-powered air quality sensors. I don’t usually review units that are not CARB-certified (California Air Resources Board), but I was intrigued by the Briiv. That said, the actual space the Briiv 2 Pro can clean is extremely small. I entered the dimensions of my dining room into the Briiv’s website room calculator, and at 20 feet long by 11 feet wide with 9-foot ceilings, the room calculator summed up that I would need two Briivs to effectively clean my dining room. The calculator seems to contradict Briiv’s claim that the Briiv 2 will effectively improve the air quality in a 794-square-foot living space in just 11 minutes. I currently have the Briiv 2 in my kitchen, and the first time its indicator light went red due to my cooking, I couldn’t get the fan to activate. I ended up turning it to full blast through Briiv’s somewhat clunky app. I played around with the app, and since then, my Briiv’s fan auto-adjusts to bad air without needing my help. It also looks very cool.
Photograph: Lisa Wood Shapiro
Puroair 240 HEPA Air Purifier for $159: At under 9 inches tall, the Puroair 240 is tiny. And like so many of the smaller tabletop models, it’s also loud. It might be effective in a small space, say a room about 100 to 150 square feet. And like most of the units we review at WIRED, it’s California Air Resources Board Certified or CARB-certified. I found its filter size too small to effectively clean an average-sized room. And while I still review smaller air purifiers, there are larger and quieter models on the market for relatively the same cost that have greater air exchanges in a larger-sized room. The Puroair’s indicator light is adjusted by the 240’s internal sensor and is green for acceptable, yellow for moderate, and red for poor air quality. At times I found the thin sliver of the indicator’s light difficult to see. The 240 has auto or manual mode, a timer, child lock, and filter replacement light. It also has a three-stage filter, including the tightly woven HEPA 14, activated carbon, and prefilter. Lastly, the 240’s black plastic attracted a noticeable amount of fingerprints.
Dyson Purifier Cool Gen 1 for $480: This is one of four Dyson purifiers I've tested over the years, and I continue to have a love/hate relationship with them. I admire the design and built-in air quality sensor, but there always seems to be something I don’t like with each model. Sometimes I’m not able to get a replacement remote, as Dyson moves on to new models at breakneck speed, and I’ve never really used the magnetic spot atop the filter to rest the remote. This time I was surprised that the Cool Gen1 wasn’t Dyson app compatible. I had to use the remote to adjust the fan speed. On the plus side, I do like the way the fan works, but this isn’t an oscillating fan in the traditional sense. Instead, the Cool Gen 1 TP10 has air blow out of the sides of the long upright oval, and it shifts direction, aiming the cool air back and forth in a room.
Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool Formaldehyde for $1,000: Dyson’s Humidify+Cool Formaldehyde reminds me of those 3-in-1 appliances that are an amalgam of a toaster, coffee maker, and egg cooker all in one. But if you’re going for an air purifier that removes gases, then I would opt for one that removes formaldehyde, a known carcinogen. My review unit was never able to oscillate, but it’s supposed to. (I tried troubleshooting through the manual, but the more features an item has, the more that can go wrong.) It has a two-year warranty, which seems short. This model also came with three packets of humidifier descaler, which is a plus, because buying citric acid powder isn’t always easy to find in the store.
Levoit Core 300s for $150: The Levoit 300S cycles the air five times per hour in spaces up to 219 square feet, so it's great for bedrooms, living rooms, and kitchens. It's marketed as a tabletop air purifier, but at almost 9 inches across, it's on the larger side, so I kept it on my living room floor. It's easy to carry around from room to room, though. It also packs a prefilter, an activated carbon filter, and a filter that captures 99.99 percent of bacteria and mold. On top are clearly labeled touch controls and an indicator light that changes color depending on the air quality. We do note here that due to a challenge by competitor Dyson, VeSync removed the HEPA claims from its advertising. However, the purifier still works in our testing.
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