13 Best Air Purifiers (2022): HEPA, Portable, and Quiet

Welcome to the future, where clean air is a luxury. From pandemics to wildfires, air purifiers have become the gotta-have-it home appliance. Buildings let in a lot of particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, and vaporous chemicals. Indoor plastics, furniture, paint, and flooring off-gas noxious fumes too. There’s also evidence that air filters can help clean Covid-causing virus particles from the air. 

Since your home might be your workplace, playground, meditation studio, dine-in restaurant, neighborhood bar, refuge, or movie theater, you want to ensure that the air you’re breathing for most of the day is clean. These are our top air purifiers. We ran them in apartments and homes all across the US. We tested them during the wildfire season and in living rooms, kitchens, and bedrooms. All of these purifiers provided significant anecdotal benefits, from stopping persistent coughs and allergy symptoms, to helping us wake up with clearer sinuses and less raspy throats.

Not sure if you need an air purifier or something else? We have a guide to all the different devices that can help improve your indoor air quality. For more home tips, take a peek at our other guides, including the Best Robot Vacuums and the Best Mesh Wi-Fi Routers. 

Updated December 2022: We’ve added the Coway Airmega IconS, Clorox Tabletop True HEPA Air Purifier, and Smartmi purifiers.

Special offer for Gear readers: Get a 1-year Subscription to WIRED for $5 ($25 off). This includes unlimited access to WIRED.com and our print magazine (if you’d like). Subscriptions help fund the work we do every day.