3 Absolute Best-Rated Air Purifiers You Can Get

By now, we are all aware of the benefits air purifiers bring. Breathing clean and fresh dust-free air makes a lot of sense.

Here’s the problem:

There are literally 1000+ air purifier models you can buy. Some of them are pretty useless, others are quite good, but if we’re serious about breathing fresh air, we obviously want to get the absolute best air purifier (why settle for mediocre ones, if we don’t have to).

To simplify things, we condensed the selection of air purifiers from 1000+ models to just 3 best air purifier models.

We focused on cutting-edge filtration systems (preferably with the all-important H14 medical-grade HEPA filters), 200+ CFM CADR rating, low noise levels, the inclusion of IAQ detectors, and smart auto-mode (adjust fan speed automatically), to name just the main factors.

Here are the 3 top-rated air purifiers you can get today (by the way, check out Black Friday deals, our #1 pick is currently -41% off):

Here are the main specifications you should check when buying any air purifier:

• CADR rating (Clean Air Delivery Rate). The higher the CADR rating, the more purification capability an air purifier has. An average CADR rating is about 180 CFM. That’s why you need 1 air purifier per room. The #1 Medify MA-112, for example, has a 594 CFM CADR rating – way above average. That’s why it can be used as a 3-4-room air purifier or even a whole-house unit.
• Coverage area at 2 ACH and 5 ACH (for allergy-prone people). For standard clean air, the unit should filter all the air in the room 2 times per hour (2 ACH or 2 Air Changes per Hour). For the cleanest air allergy-prone people need, you should look at 5 ACH coverage.
• HEPA filters. You have H10, H11, H12, H13, and H14 filters, with H10 being the worst and H14 being the best. Make sure your air purifier has at least H13 HEPA filters. You can read more about HEPA filter classes here.
• Activated carbon filter. Make sure your air purifier has this filter. It is designed to adsorb unwanted odors (kitchen smells, wet dog smell, smoke odor, etc.).
• Pre-filter. This filter captures bigger air particulates like pet hair (long-hair cats and dogs) and, very importantly, protects the HEPA filter from getting saturated too quickly.
• Noise levels. Most people have an air purifier in the bedroom; and you want to sleep while it is running, right? Make sure that the max. noise levels don’t cross the 60 dB noise levels.
• Running wattage. Air purifiers are quite inexpensive to run; smaller ones cost less than $1/week to run. However, if you have a 150W+ max. running wattage, you may be looking at an extra $100/year in electricity bills.
• Filter replacement cost. The main ongoing cost of all air purifiers is filters. Now, low-quality HEPA filters (H10-H12) may be cheaper but won’t produce air as pure as higher-cost H13 and H14 HEPA filters.

Let’s have a look at why we choose the 3 air purifiers above:

#1 Medify MA-112 Review: Absolute Best Air Purifier

Medify MA-112 is the most powerful, thoughtfully designed air purifier on the market. It combines a high CADR rating with H14 HEPA filter efficiency while keeping the noise levels very low even on the highest 500+ CFM fan speed setting.

Most air purifiers will have between 100 and 300 CFM CADR rating (this denotes the capacity to clean air). Medify MA-112 has a way above average (and best in class) 594 CFM CADR rating. That means it can change the air in 2,228 sq ft areas every 30 minutes (2 ACH). As such, it can serve as a whole-house purifier (no need to have 1 small unit in each room).

Now, the filtration system is best-in-class. Medify uses H14 HEPA filters (better than H10, H11, H12, and H13 HEPA filters) capable of capturing more than 99.995% air particulates with 0.3-micron diameter. Usually, such high-efficiency air purifiers will have a lower CADR rating (better filters are more restrictive to airflow). Thanks to the powerful fan motor, the Medify MA-112 can produce extremely high airflow even when using H14 HEPA filters.

These powerful units are usually noisy (think 60+ or even 70+ dB noise levels). MA-112 model has very moderate noise levels within the 35.8-56.5 dB range. Since it’s such a powerful unit, you run it at low or medium fan speed most of the time (Auto function will adjust the speed setting automatically; there is no need to click). At these non-max. settings, the noise levels fall below 50 dB; this is low enough that you can sleep next to it (useful for bedroom placement).

Buy Medify MA-112 Here

#2 PuroAir 400: Most Affordable Air Purifier With H14 HEPA Filters

For the cleanest air, you need H14 HEPA filters. Why do people still buy air purifiers with inferior H10-H12 HEPA filters? Because they are cheaper. The PuroAir 400 is the perfect balance of H14 HEPA filters and price; it costs only $300 (a big bargain for medical-grade HEPA filtration).

H14 HEPA filters in PuroAir 400 are capable of removing more than 99.995% of the very small 0.3-micron-in-diameter air particulates like dust, smoke particles, mold, and so on.

It has a fairly powerful fan motor, capable of achieving a 400 CFM CADR rating (hence the name PuroAir 400). This is enough purification power for up to 1073 sq ft areas (2 air changes per hour or 2 ACH).

Noise-wise, the PuroAir 400 can operate as quietly as 35 dB at the lowest fan speed setting. At the top speed, it will produce 59.6 dB noise levels. This is not exactly perfect for bedrooms (especially compared to the #2 Alen 45i unit).

The reason why PuroAir 400 is the best-selling H14 HEPA air purifier is the price tag. Most H14 HEPA units will cost north of $500; still worth it for the cleanest air. The PuroAir 400 price tag is only $300, making the cleanest and purest HEPA filtration systems available for everybody.

Buy PuroAir 400 Here

#3 Alen BreatheSmart 45i: Best Bedroom Air Purifier

Most people use air purifiers in the bedroom. That’s only natural; we spend (if we are lucky) 8 hours sleeping. It makes sense that we want to breathe clean air every sleeping moment.

Alen BreatheSmart line of air purifiers was specifically designed as “sleeping air purifiers”. Two vital parts to accomplish that are:

• Extremely low noise levels. The 45i model never touches 50 dB noise levels (it has an effective decibel range between 23 and 49 dB).
• Very good filtration system. That means H13 or H14 HEPA filters. Alen uses H13 HEPA filters that are cheaper yet less efficient than H14 HEPA filters Medify or PuroAir units use.

Alen also conducted a sleeping quality study with SleepScore Labs that show a significant improvement in sleep quality. It’s not just the 49 dB max. noise levels; the air purifier emits pink noise (optimized for lower octave frequencies) that has a lower impact on sleep disturbance as regular high octave noise most air purifiers emit.

Alen BreatheSmart 45i model, specifically, can generate 245 CFM CADR rating; this is enough for up to 800 sq ft bedrooms (2 air changes per hour or 2 ACH).

For better capturing of specific air pollutants, you have an option with all Alen air purifiers to pick a filtration system that best fits your needs. Offer 4 different filtration systems, namely:

1. Odor filter.
2. Dust, mold, and odor filter.
3. Dust, mold, odor, and smoke filter.
4. Dust, mold, odor, and heavy smoke filter (recommended for wildfire smoke).

Most people will opt for the 3rd filtration option (you get the whole dust, mold, odor, smoke package). If you don’t live near a main road, you can opt for 2nd option as well (without smoke removal). If you expect you will get wildfire fallout in the summer and fall, the 4th option is the best choice (with a heavy smoke filter).

Buy Alen BreatheSmarth 45i Here

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All in all, we can see that the absolute best air purifiers – those with the best HEPA filters (H13 or H14) and high CADR ratings – can still operate at low enough noise levels that you can place them in the bedroom.

Sure, the prices of these units are fairly above the H10-H12 HEPA and lower CADR rating air purifiers. However, the engineering and the built quality of these medical-grade air purifiers are a few classes above the $100 cheap air purifiers that break down all the time.

The whole point of having a top-rated air purifier is to get the cleanest air possible quickly and in the bedroom (low noise levels are a must), where we spend most of our time at home.