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Humidifiers can be a great addition to your living space or bedroom. By pumping moisture into the air, they can help keep your skin and nasal passages from drying out, particularly in the winter months. (Your houseplants will benefit, too.) Still, humidifiers can be loud, messy, and a nightmare to clean. But cleaning is critical. A humidifier that is not properly maintained can end up contaminated with pathogens that can exacerbate allergies and cause serious illnesses. That’s why you should be cleaning your humidifier at least once a week with soap and water, according to Dr. David Hill, M.D., a spokesperson for the American Lung Association and a pulmonary and critical-care physician in Connecticut.
With all that in mind, I sifted through our extensive archive of humidifier coverage and called experts and allergists for their recommendations to find find the best humidifiers for every size room that would also be easy to maintain.
What we’re looking for
Type
“All humidifiers put water vapor into the air, but they do that in different ways,” says Sarah Drake, brand manager of seasonal humidifiers at Helen of Troy, the parent company behind Vicks and Honeywell humidifiers. The three main types of humidifier are warm mist, evaporative, and ultrasonic, a.k.a. cool mist. The warm-mist kind boils the water and releases the steam into the air to increase humidity. The heat can destroy germs, but it can also be a danger to kids and pets. Evaporative models wick water through a filter, then use a fan to blow air across the filter, and the air absorbs moisture as it passes. The fans can be noisy and the filters need to be replaced often, but the filter will catch any minerals in your water and keep them from getting deposited elsewhere in your home. Lastly, cool-mist humidifiers work by using high-frequency sound vibrations to break water droplets into a fine mist that gets pushed out into the air. They are inexpensive, but because they don’t have a filter, you need to use them with distilled water, and the same goes for warm-mist humidifiers, too.
Room size
Just like with air purifiers or window AC units, your humidifier needs to be large enough for your space. To get your humidity levels right (you’re aiming for between 35 and 50 percent humidity, usually), you need to know the dimensions of the space you want to humidify to find the model that covers your square footage. The size of the room, alongside how well insulated your home is, will dictate the size of your humidifier.
Reservoir type
Humidifiers generally come with either a top-fill or bottom-fill reservoir. The former stays upright while you fill it from the top, while the latter needs to be inverted, usually into a tray, after being filled. There are no easy-to-clean humidifiers per se, but top-fill reservoirs usually have larger openings for easier cleaning. A top-fill reservoir should also have less potential for leaking than tanks with caps on the bottom. That said, we’ve included some bottom-fill reservoir models in this list since they are fairly common and highly rated.
Best humidifier overall
Type: Evaporative | Room size: Up to 500 square feet | Reservoir type: Bottom fill
Canopy has made its claim as the beauty world’s humidifier. It’s endorsed by dermatologists, and the brand heavily advertises its skin-care benefits. It also has been recommended to us numerous times. Strategist senior editor Crystal Martin has tried a lot of different brands and types and says the Canopy is one of the best: “I want humidifiers to have a humidifying ability commensurate with their size,” she says. “A lot of ultrasonic humidifiers kick out just a little bit of humidity even though they’re about the same size as a humidifier that uses a filter. I don’t like that.” There’s also the issue of maintenance. “Ultrasonics, the way they’re made, sometimes it’s hard to access all the parts with a sponge or brush,” she says, “but the Canopy wins on both those measures. It pushes out the right amount of humidity to keep my nose and eyes moisturized at night, and I can easily keep it clean.” She uses distilled water with hers, which she says helps with maintenance, as does the machine’s built-in UV light. The tray and the reservoir are both dishwasher safe.
The Canopy’s easy-to-clean design and its benefits were also a selling point for politician Andrew Yang, whose wife bought one for their family. “We started to experience fewer sinus and throat issues,” he says. Akili King, a former beauty assistant at Vogue, told us in 2020 that it was one of the best things she bought that year, praising it for being one of the more attractive humidifiers on the market, as well as having multiple functions, such as diffusing aromatherapy oils. Strategist associate editor Jenna Milliner-Waddell reports that despite the bottom-fill tank, she had zero spills carrying the tank across the room and fitting it into the humidifier. Strategist senior editor Chelsea Peng describes it as “extremely low hassle and very easy to use,” and especially appreciates the model’s large water tank, which means less-frequent refills.
Best small-space humidifier
Type: Ultrasonic cool mist | Room size: Up to 250 square feet | Reservoir type: Bottom fill
This ultrasonic humidifier has long been a Strategist best seller and a favorite among Amazon reviewers. Over 80,000 reviewers give this humidifier five stars, and many love how easy it is to use. “Just fill with water and push the button,” one says, adding, “No assembly required.” Some find the blue light from the power button can make it hard to sleep, but you can cover it up or turn that side away from you. One customer notes that the two levels of mist output allow you to adjust for different-sized rooms. This humidifier is half the size of the Canopy and is appropriate for rooms up to 250 square feet, which many reviewers say works well in their bedroom. When refilling, do so with caution, as this humidifier has a bottom-fill reservoir. One reviewer advises using “a small towel to catch any dripping water when lifting the tank off the unit.” And even though most bottom-fill reservoirs make the unit harder to clean, reviewers say a bottle brush and the included soft-bristle brush make the process fairly simple.
Best easy-to-clean humidifier
Type: Ultrasonic cool mist | Room size: Up to 500 square feet | Reservoir type: Top fill
Strategist senior editor Jen Trolio is a big fan of Carepod’s ultrasonic humidifier. “I would definitely put the Carepod in a similar class as the Canopy,” she says. She likes its design — it’s “shaped like a big white Rolo” — but the real selling point is an easy-to-clean stainless-steel reservoir. “It’s basically like a mini-stockpot that lifts out to fill, so it’s naturally less prone to germs because it’s stainless steel, and it’s dishwasher safe,” she says. (The only part that has to be hand washed is a small plastic oscillator; the rest of the reservoir can go in the dishwasher.) Since the humidifier is ultrasonic, there’s also no need to buy or replace filters. Got a bigger room? The boxier-looking Carepod Cube X50 is more expensive at $350, but it covers up to 700 square feet.
Best humidifier for medium-size rooms
Type: Ultrasonic cool mist | Room size: Up to 376 square feet | Reservoir type: Bottom fill
Trolio also has this bottom-fill ultrasonic humidifier in her daughter’s room and reports that it does a good job at combating dryness or keeping air moist when someone’s sick. “It has a small footprint, so it can work on bedside tables,” she says, and though it isn’t as easy to clean as the Carepod, it’s “not a total pain, so that’s good enough” by humidifier standards. The machine can run for 40 hours without needing to refill the four-liter tank, which comes with a useful handle to transport to a sink to fill.
Best less-expensive humidifier for medium-size rooms
Type: Ultrasonic cool mist | Room size: Up to 376 square feet | Reservoir type: Bottom fill
Levoit has two entries in our Best in Class list, but a third model is also recommended by Myles Robinson, owner of Boiler Central. He’s a fan of the Levoit Oasis Mist 450S Smart Humidifier, which costs $89. “The best thing about this humidifier is the ability to control the device remotely by connecting it to your phone through the free app,” says Robinson. He also likes the built-in plant-care setting, which controls the level of humidity they’re exposed to.
Best humidifier for a baby’s room
Type: Ultrasonic cool mist | Room size: Up to 600 square feet | Reservoir type: Top fill
Strategist senior editor Simone Kitchens discovered the Miro humidifier while “doing some exhaustive baby-gear research.” She likes that the body is washable (other than the plug, which comes with a silicone cover), and it has a few essential qualities for a baby-room appliance. “It’s very quiet and has zero lights, which is rare for some reason, but so crucial with a baby,” she says. There is one small “dot of light” on a corded dial, but since it’s not on the machine itself, “you can kind of tuck it away” to eliminate distracting brightness. Water for the Miro needs changing every 24 hours if it’s run on its lowest level, and every eight hours if it’s on max.
Best humidifier for a large room
Type: Ultrasonic cool mist | Room size: Up to 505 square feet | Reservoir type: Top fill
Kitchens also uses this six-liter humidifier, which she likes for being “more lo-fi” than other models with an easy-to-change filter that eliminates mineralization. This machine allows you to set it to your desired humidity and gives a humidity reading on its screen, but you might want to rely on a separate hygrometer instead. Experts say built-in hygrometers can sometimes be inaccurate due to their proximity to the humidifier. Dr. Chet Tharpe, allergist and Medical Director at Curex, says the ideal humidity level should be about 50 percent. “Any humidity greater than 50 percent encourages dust-mite growth,” he says. “You really want to get the humidity level between 35 and 50 and then it’s a balancing act of not being overly dry and irritated.”
Best hybrid air purifier and humidifier
Type: Ultrasonic cool mist | Room size: Not listed | Reservoir type: Bottom fill
“You can tell when it’s doing its job just by walking into a room and being like, Oh this room feels fresh,” says actor Ashley Greene Khoury of Dyson’s combined air purifier and humidifier. It contains a HEPA filter and can be programmed to automatically maintain your desired humidity. “We had someone come over recently who tested all of our machines to see what worked and what didn’t, and the Dyson was the most effective,” Greene Khoury said.
Best (less expensive) hybrid air purifier and humidifier
Type: Evaporative| Room size: Up to 505 square feet | Reservoir type: Top fill
Like the idea of a two-for-one humidifier and air-purifier combo, but put off the $800 price tag of the Dyson? The Lamon offers similar functions — albeit as an evaporative humidifier, rather than an ultrasonic cool-mist one — at a fraction of the price. Seventy-eight percent of Amazon reviewers give this unit five stars, praising its ease of use, its compact size (it takes up 0.23 square feet), and its surprisingly large range — up to 505 square feet. The air purifier is UV-powered, and the whole unit comes with a 12-month warranty.
Our experts
• Sarah Drake, brand manager of seasonal humidifiers at Helen of Troy
• Ashley Greene Khoury, actor
• Dr. David Hill, spokesperson for the American Lung Association and a pulmonary and critical-care physician
• Akili King, former beauty assistant at Vogue
• Simone Kitchens, Strategist senior editor
• Crystal Martin, Strategist senior editor
• Chelsea Peng, Strategist senior editor
• Myles Robinson, owner of Boiler Central
• Dr. Chet Tharpe, allergist and Medical Director at Curex
• Jen Trolio, Strategist senior editor
• Sarah Z. Wexler, writer
• Andrew Yang, politician
Some more air-freshening products we’ve written about
Additional reporting by Jenna Milliner-Waddell and Erin Schwartz
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