When the weather gets ugly, a good dehumidifier can be a godsend.
The top models in our ratings are champs at removing excess moisture from a room, whether the source is a jump in humidity or a storm that has caused flooding. They protect your home and your health by making spaces less susceptible to mold and mildew.
Even better, today’s best dehumidifiers are reasonably quiet and fairly energy-efficient, meaning they won’t disrupt conversations or jack up your electric bill.
In this article
- Large-Capacity Models Medium-Capacity Model Small-Capacity Models
- Understanding a Dehumidifier's Limitations
- How CR Tests Dehumidifiers
- How We Pick the Best Dehumidifiers
More on Dehumidifiers
Most and Least Reliable Dehumidifier Brands
Best Dehumidifiers Under $250
Quietest Dehumidifiers
What Size Dehumidifier Do You Need?
So which dehumidifier is best for you? Below are eight models with capacities ranging from about 20 pints to 50 pints per day. All score high enough to make our recommended list.
As you shop, be sure to consult our buying guide to learn more about the various options and how we evaluate them. CR members with digital access can view our dehumidifier ratings as well.
Consider buying a dehumidifier with a somewhat larger capacity than you might need too. It will dry your room faster, and you won’t have to empty the tank as often. Read our sizing guide for detailed information about selecting the right dehumidifier for your space.
Best Large-Capacity Dehumidifiers
Dehumidifiers in this category can remove at least 40 pints of water per day and are best suited for large spaces or midsized areas that are damp or wet.
Dehumidifiers in this category can remove 30 to 35 pints of water from the air per day and are meant for midsized or large rooms that are somewhat damp. Of the medium-capacity dehumidifiers currently in our ratings, we recommend only one model.
Best Small-Capacity Dehumidifiers
Dehumidifiers in the small-capacity group can remove 20 to 25 pints of moisture per day and can help dry out small, damp spaces.
Even Great Dehumidifiers Have Limitations
Even the best dehumidifier can only do so much to keep your space dry. To help your unit, you first need to address the source of the moisture in your home.
“A dehumidifier will remove water from the air, but if your problem is driven by a continuous source of water, a dehumidifier won’t be enough,” says Misha Kollontai, the Consumer Reports engineer who oversees our dehumidifier tests. First be sure to tackle any underlying problems, like checking for leaks, cleaning your gutters and directing the flow downspouts away from your foundation, and even clearing your dryer duct. And once you have those factors under control, run a good dehumidifier to help keep the humidity level in the ideal range, between 30 and 50 percent. Any higher and mold and dust mites start to thrive.
How CR Tests Dehumidifiers
CR’s test engineers and survey teams assess every dehumidifier that enters our labs for several objective criteria that together define the quality of the unit.
- Water removal: We measure a dehumidifier’s ability to remove moisture from the air (the number of pints of water per day, as claimed by the manufacturer) in our test chamber set at 65° F and 60 percent relative humidity.
- Humidistat accuracy: While in our test chamber, we also determine how closely each dehumidifier can reach and maintain a set humidity level. This is a crucial assessment because a dehumidifier should be able to bring indoor humidity to below 50 percent, the point at which dust mites, mildew, and mold can grow.
- Energy efficiency: To gauge a dehumidifier’s energy efficiency, our engineers calculate the amount of energy it takes to remove 1 pint of water from the air. The best dehumidifiers use less energy, keeping electric costs to a minimum.
- Convenience: Our engineers evaluate how often you’ll have to empty the tank. Generally, the larger the tank, the less often you need to empty it.
- Noise: It can be a concern in living spaces. The decibel measurements in our dehumidifier tests, which are taken from 3 feet away, range from the low 50s on the decibel scale to the upper 60s.For comparison, normal conversation is around 60 decibels, while the noise from a clothes washer registers around 70 decibels.
- Reliability and owner satisfaction: To gauge a brand’s reliability and satisfaction, we asked CR members who purchased a new dehumidifier between 2013 and 2023 about their experiences, and 15,639 offered feedback about 18,364 models.
How We Pick the Best Dehumidifiers
Over the years, CR has tested hundreds of dehumidifiers. We have more than 50 models from a variety of manufacturers, including Danby, Frigidaire, GE, Hisense, hOmeLabs, Honeywell, Midea, and TCL, in our dehumidifier ratings. A little more than half of the tested models earn a top rating of excellent in our water-removal tests. That means they remove the amount of water from the air that the manufacturer claims. But not all models are equally quiet while they’re running, so we take that into account.
All dehumidifiers have a humidistat (like a thermostat for humidity that turns the unit off when it reaches a desired level), but our tests have found that some are more accurate than others. The humidistat detects the humidity level in an area and cycles the dehumidifier on or off as needed to maintain the desired humidity level, similar to how your air conditioner uses a thermostat to keep the room at a set temperature.
Only a handful of the dehumidifiers in our tests earn a top-notch rating in our humidistat-accuracy tests by coming very close to meeting the humidity level selected. For under $10, you can buy a low-priced digital hygrometer, a device that measures humidity, to keep track of humidity levels.
We also factor in how each dehumidifier performs in our noise, convenience, and energy-efficiency tests. The ones in our ratings deliver a range of results. Finally, we examine our extensive survey data to weigh each brand’s reliability and owner satisfaction scores.
Allen St. John
Allen St. John is a senior tech editor at Consumer Reports. He has been with CR since 2016, focusing on digital privacy and covering smartwatches, wireless speakers, and headphones. Previously, Allen was a senior editor at Condé Nast and a contributing editor at publications ranging from Road & Track to the Village Voice, and his work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, and other national outlets. He is a New York Times bestselling author, and lives in Montclair, N.J., with his wife and his dog, Rugby.
