Best Water Filters for Your Home

When it comes to filtering water in your home, there are a lot of choices. Water filters run the gamut from expensive under-the-sink water purifiers to straightforward water filter pitchers. Our top picks span every approach you might take to filtering water in your home, including countertop water filters and faucet water filters.

Safe drinking water is important, so all the filters on our list reduce contaminants to meet or exceed EPA thresholds. We also focused on factors like flow rate per gallons of water and a filter’s ability to address water taste by removing things like chlorine. Our picks for both faucet and under-the-sink water filtration also provide superior water treatment at affordable prices.

We liked PUR Plus Water Pitcher Filtration System for its high user ratings, a commitment to addressing emerging contaminants, and a greater number of certifications from industry watchdogs like the NSF.¹

It’s worthwhile to check in on a few of the picks that didn’t make our top three. These water filtration systems and water purifiers have advantages that may make them uniquely suited for your household.

If your home has well water, you likely have concerns about sediment, bacteria, pesticides, and heavy minerals in your drinking water. The Home Master Hydro Perfection under-sink system filters with a reverse osmosis water filtration that tackles these concerns and adds minerals like calcium and magnesium for better-tasting water.

While its 2,000-gallon capacity filter means you’ll have to change cartridges only once a year, it’s still the most expensive system on our list.

New Wave’s highly rated Enviro 10 Stage Plus water filtration system has the advantage of being versatile, with options to mount on the countertop or under the sink with a conversion kit. The 10 stage filter tackles water contaminants like lead and arsenic, as well as bacteria and chlorine for up to 1,500 gallons of water.

While the filter itself does not boast NSF certification, it does specify that only NSF-certified materials are used.

When you’re managing your home on a tight budget, Brita LongLast Water Filter is the sidekick you want in your fridge. You’ll get double the filter life for half the price of a standard Brita filter out of Brita’s LongLast charcoal filter.

Lead and asbestos are the two main contaminants Brita filters target, but you’ll also get better tasting water due to the activated charcoal filter, which can reduce that chlorine taste.

Before you dive into water filtration, consider the following features and specifications to make sure the filter or system you’re considering is the right fit for your household.

Before you decide which water filter to purchase, you need to know which contaminants are at unsafe levels in your drinking water. Cities of more than 100,000 must disclose their water quality tests to the public, and you can find them published online at the EPA’s website.

If your city or municipality doesn’t do water quality testing, conduct some yourself. You can use a kit or a professional service to conduct water quality testing and get a baseline on which contaminants in your water are the most dangerous.

There are two different filter types, and the kind you’ll need largely depends on which pollutants you’re trying to filter from your water and how often you’re willing to replace the filter.

• Activated Charcoal Filters: These filters have a large surface area due to the porous structure of charcoal, so they trap lots of particulates. They don’t do as well handling heavy minerals and tend to have a shorter filter life. Because charcoal filters are inexpensive, you’ll often find them in pitchers or portable water filters.
• Reverse Osmosis Filters: These fancy-sounding filtration systems use pressure and a membrane to trap particulates. Reverse osmosis filters are bulkier and more expensive but require fewer filter changes. On average, you’ll have to change a reverse osmosis filter once a year.

Your water filtering choices will be dictated by where you plan to dispense water. Generally, you have four options for home water filtration.

• Water Pitcher Filters: These inexpensive solutions are carafes you keep in the fridge. But be warned that bigger isn’t always better. Even if you have a large household that drinks lots of water, you’ll still need to figure out how to refill and lift that heavy container back onto the shelf.
• Refrigerator Water Filters: Most modern refrigerators already have water filters built in, but they can be expensive to replace. And chances are you didn’t buy your refrigerator based on the water filter, so it may not be up to the standards you’d prefer.
• Water Filter Faucets: These filtration systems can come off as clunky, but they don’t have to. Mounted onto your faucet, most models have modern designs to complement your kitchen. Just look for ones that allow you to switch back and forth between filter and tap water to maximize filter life.
• Under-Sink Water Purifiers: Bulkier units meant to tuck under the sink are stacked with extras that other filtration systems don’t offer. And they often come with the bonus of longer filter life.

There is a certification process water filter run by the NSF and the Public Health and Safety Organization that manufacturers can opt into.² Using standards determined by the ANSF (American National Standards Institute), water filters can be tested in NSF certified labs to ensure they meet or exceed EPA thresholds for safe drinking water.³

Look for a water filter that has met these strict standards and, optimally, one that also filters emerging contaminants like pesticides.⁴

To find the best water filters, we did a deep dive on EPA standards, water quality testing, and relevant certifications from the NSF. We also considered user reviews online and expert opinions to inform which water filters and water filtration systems made our list. Want to get in over your head in our methodology? You can find it on our "How We Rank and Review" page.

• How to Test Water Quality At Home

1. NSF, The Public Health and Safety Organization, "Certified Product Listings for Lead Reduction”
2. NSF, The Public Health and Safety Organization, “NSF Certification”
3. ANSI, NSF, “Drinking Water Treatment Devices and Filtration”
4. EPA, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Contaminant Candidate List (CCL) and Regulatory Determination, “Contaminant Candidate List 3—CCL 3”
5. EPA, United States Environmental Protection Agency, “Drinking Water Contaminants—Standards and Regulations”