The 18 Best Wirecutter-Approved Cleaning Products & Supplies | Reviews by Wirecutter

By Caroline Mullen

Caroline Mullen is a writer focused on cleaning and organizing. Every rug in her apartment is machine-washable, but you can blame her dog for that.

Thanks to the barrage of cleaning advice on the internet, you might be wondering what you actually need to have in your home to keep it glistening, or at least not dirty.

No, you don’t need a viral spin brush to scrub bathroom tile, and you don’t need an automatic dustpan (a regular vacuum will do the trick). But you do need a laundry detergent that gets smells and stains out of clothes, and you should have a few scrub brushes on hand for tackling stains and spots.

To find the very best of the best, Wirecutter has put all the cleaning products below through their paces: We’ve stained T-shirts with pig blood to test laundry detergents, scoured burnt cheese off stainless steel pans to find the best sponge, and spilled New York City gutter water on our office floor to test wet mops.

Whether you live in a sprawling home or a 750-square-foot apartment like me, these cleaning solutions and tools can help you tackle almost any mess.

Warning: Never mix bleach or products containing bleach with other cleaners, especially if they’re acidic or include ammonia, as this can create a toxic gas.

This scentless, streak-free cleaner sprays evenly and lets you easily wipe up a variety of sticky, greasy, crusty messes.

Arguably the most important item in your cleaning kit is a hard-working all-purpose cleaner. Along with a microfiber cloth or paper towel, an all-purpose cleaner can get pretty much anything in your house clean: grease splatters on the stove, crumbs on tables and counters, fingerprints on stainless steel, and much more.

Our top pick, Clorox Free & Clear Multi-Surface Spray Cleaner, lets you easily wipe away messes, evenly distributes mist across surfaces, leaves no residue behind, and is fragrance-free. It also has Safer Choice certification from the EPA, which means it contains no carcinogens or toxins that affect the nervous and reproductive systems, among other qualifications.

A water-and-vinegar solution outperformed dedicated glass and mirror cleaners during testing. It’s more affordable, too.

You can use a glass cleaner like Windex for wiping toothpaste-speckled mirrors or crusty glass cooktops clean. However, during our window-cleaning tests, we found that a solution of one part vinegar to one part water is the most effective and affordable way to achieve streak-free glass. Keep the solution in a labeled, reusable spray bottle and give it a good shake before each use.

The bleach in this formula effectively kills viruses and bacteria in your home.

Cleaning with an all-purpose spray or soap and water is almost always your best bet, but to address bacteria or illness in your home, you should have a disinfectant spray like our pick, Clorox Clean-Up Cleaner + Bleach, or a bleach solution on hand. In our testing, this Clorox cleaner was just as streak-free as the formula without bleach. Plus, you need to let it sit for only 30 seconds to kill pathogens before you wipe it up (versus up to 10 minutes with some competitors).

According to the EPA, cleaning removes dirt and organic matter from surfaces using soap or detergents, while sanitizing kills bacteria on surfaces, and disinfecting kills both bacteria and viruses on surfaces. Sanitizing is helpful in kitchens after you’ve handled raw meat or in the bathroom for killing bacteria, but it isn’t necessary for day-to-day cleaning. Disinfecting can successfully kill viruses (such as norovirus or the virus that causes COVID-19) on surfaces such as doorknobs or countertops, which can prevent the spread of illness in your household.

The easiest way to tackle sanitizing and disinfecting is with a ready-made spray like Clorox Clean-Up Cleaner + Bleach. You don’t have to measure any chemicals or worry about rapid degradation as with a DIY bleach solution, and the instructions for use are right on the package. Just be sure to follow those instructions and let the cleaner sit on surfaces for the recommended contact time to properly sanitize or disinfect.

Bleach is great to keep on hand; just be sure to properly dilute it for effective disinfection.

If you prefer to make your own bleach solution, we recommend Clorox Disinfecting Bleach as the budget pick in our surface cleaners guide.

To make a DIY disinfecting solution, follow the instructions on the packaging for diluting bleach with water. If the label doesn’t have any, the CDC recommends mixing 4 teaspoons of bleach per quart of room-temperature water. You can dunk items such as toys in this solution or mix it in a spray bottle for easy misting. Follow the bleach manufacturer’s instructions for disinfecting, or leave the solution on surfaces for at least a minute before rinsing with water.

This solution degrades quickly and isn’t as effective after 24 hours, so the CDC recommends making a new bleach solution each time you need it.

Multiple Wirecutter staffers swear by BKF for a host of cleaning tasks, such as cleaning cookware and getting bathroom fixtures looking like new.

We recommend Bar Keepers Friend All-Purpose Cleaner and Polish in our guide to cleaning stainless steel cookware. It’s also a staff favorite for restoring grout and tiles to their former glory and shining up kitchen and bathroom fixtures. I swear by the liquid version for removing stubborn mineral deposits from porcelain toilets.

Just be sure to avoid using it on delicate surfaces such as marble, wood, cast iron, nonstick pans, painted surfaces, and other surfaces that scratch easily.

This dish soap is an effective cleaner for lots of tasks, and it’s EPA Safer Choice–certified.

Our top-pick dish soap, Seventh Generation Dish Soap, is dye- and fragrance-free, as well as EPA Safer Choice–certified, and it offered excellent performance during testing, removing up to 95% of surface oil on dishes through soaking alone (no scrubbing!). In contrast, some of the weaker dish soaps we tested removed only 65% of surface oil.

Dish soap, as the name suggests, is obviously helpful for cleaning plates after dinner, but it’s also one of the most useful cleaners you can have on hand for an array of household chores. A little dish soap and water can loosen dirt and debris from windows, a dab on a grease stain is an excellent spot treatment, and it can cut through oil- and water-based product buildup on makeup brushes—just to name a few.

All those nasty, gunky accumulations in the shower or bathtub are best handled with a foaming cleaner.

When it’s time to clean the tub or shower, a foaming cleaner that’s specifically formulated to target grime and soap scum is your best bet. In our article on how to clean bathroom tile and grout, we recommend two foam formulas—Scrubbing Bubbles Bathroom Grime Fighter and Tilex Mold & Mildew—for fiberglass, porcelain, and ceramic tubs and showers because they can sit on the surface long enough to penetrate accumulated gunk.

Of the natural-stone cleaner options, Stonetech Mold & Mildew is our favorite for getting granite, marble, and the like clean.

If you have a shower or tub made from natural stone—marble, granite, soapstone, or the like—you should use a cleaner that’s specifically designed not to damage the porous material. In our article on how to clean bathroom tile and grout, we recommend Stonetech Mold & Mildew Stain Remover, which is strong enough to break down the nastiest grime in your shower but gentle enough to avoid damaging the natural surfaces.

For households that are tough on their clothes and linens, this laundry detergent is an exceedingly powerful tool for removing stains and smells.

Going through life using laundry detergent that doesn’t work and leaves your clothes still sort of stinky after a cycle is so not worth it. During testing, Tide Ultra Oxi Powder Laundry Detergent, one of several top picks in our guide to the best laundry detergent, easily removed blood, grass, dirt, and sebum (body oil) and fully removed the odor of bacon grease.

It comes in a cardboard box, which you might prefer if you’re looking to cut down on plastic in your home, but it is scented, so if you’re sensitive to fragrances, consider the following detergent instead.

If you’re sensitive to fragrances and dyes, this liquid detergent is still tough on stains including blood, blackberry, mayonnaise, butter, chocolate, and wine.

Tide Free & Gentle Liquid Laundry Detergent, another top pick in our guide to the best laundry detergent, is dye- and fragrance-free and EPA Safer Choice–certified. Plus, it carries seals from the National Psoriasis Foundation and the National Eczema Association.

In my experience, it’s exceptional at removing grease- and oil-based stains and gets even the stinkiest towels smelling fresh.

No other stain remover we tested even got close to Amodex in removing ink and makeup, and it did an admirable job on red wine, turmeric, and tea.

Although pretreating with a hard-working detergent should get most stains out, it’s helpful to have a stain remover in the laundry room. Amodex Ink & Stain Remover, one of several top picks in our stain remover guide, is great for eliminating particularly stubborn stains such as foundation makeup and permanent ink.

During testing, we were able to remove Sharpie ink from both cotton T-shirts and white silk pillowcases using Amodex. The formula is nontoxic—it can safely come in contact with skin and is not poisonous if accidentally ingested—and it’s safe for wool and even some silks.

Crusted-, caked-, and burnt-on foods were no match for these dishwasher pods during our testing.

Dishwasher detergents are specially formulated to remove even the most stubborn food particles from dishes, and our top pick, Cascade Free & Clear Action Pacs, can make even the most mediocre dishwasher seem high-performing.

During our testing, these pods eradicated baked-on egg and peanut butter, two substances that are notoriously difficult to remove in the dishwasher.

These cheeky polka-dotted gloves are a favorite of Wirecutter senior staff writer Lesley Stockton.

Whenever you can, it’s best to throw on a pair of gloves before cleaning anything in your home, but especially when you’re working with substances that can be harsh on your skin, such as bleach, Bar Keepers Friend, or shower cleaner.

In our article on how to hand-wash dishes, senior staff writer Lesley Stockton recommends Glam-Gloves Dishwashing Gloves, and we suggest Clorox Ultra Comfort Gloves as a latex-free option.

Microfiber cloths are all pretty similar, but these cloths edged out the competition just enough in our testing to earn the top spot.

Microfiber cloths are the workhorse of your cleaning kit. They’re a fantastic substitute for single-use paper towels, and you can use them dry, wet, or in conjunction with your favorite cleaning solution.

Most of the microfiber cloths we tested for our guide performed similarly, but we recommend Fixsmith Microfiber Cleaning Cloths for their durability and affordability.

After using it to scour stainless cookware, scuffed-up doors, and grooved surfaces, we still love this sponge.

A favorite sponge can be a personal choice, but whichever one you prefer, be sure to have some backups on hand for when you need to clean things other than the dishes (see: the trash can).

Scotch-Brite Heavy Duty Scrub Sponges are a Wirecutter go-to for their versatility and affordability. But we also like Scrub Daddy sponges, because they tend to last longer and stink less, even though the Scotch-Brite sponge won out in our short-term sponge testing.

This scrub brush is comfortable to hold, and its stiff bristles get nooks and crannies satisfyingly clean.

For tasks that you can’t easily tackle with a sponge or microfiber cloth, a scrub brush is a valuable tool to have on hand. Grout, baseboards, shower tracks, and stove crevices are just some of the spots best suited to a smaller scrub brush.

In our article on how to clean bathroom tile and grout, we recommend the OXO Good Grips Grout Brush, and we used the OXO Good Grips Deep Clean Set when we tested The Pink Stuff.

After cleaning lots of toilets, Wirecutter staffers (and the people in their lives) agree that this toilet brush ticks all the boxes.

A dedicated toilet brush keeps bacteria contained, and our top pick, the OXO Good Grips Compact Toilet Brush and Canister, conceals the brush head while letting air circulate to prevent mold and mildew buildup. Plus, the tough-scrubbing heads are replaceable, unlike on some other toilet-bowl brushes.

This cordless vacuum comes with a variety of attachments for plenty of cleaning needs, and it doubles as a handheld vacuum.

Investing in a long-lasting vacuum that’s tailored to your needs is essential for keeping a clean house. A versatile vacuum cleaner can clean floors, of course, but it can also make quick work of ridding upholstery of pet hair, sucking dust bunnies off baseboards, and even cleaning blinds.

Our top cordless stick pick, the Dyson V12 Detect Slim, is a pricey but worthwhile addition to your home, as it’s impressively powerful, light, and nimble. And if you need a longer run time, are on a tighter budget, or just prefer a canister vacuum, we also have a variety of vacuum picks, including upright, handheld, and robot models, to fit your needs.

The dense, flagged bristles on this broom picked up the most fine particles in our testing compared with the competition.

Whether you have an expansive home with lots of hard flooring or a small apartment that just needs targeted cleanups, a broom and a dustpan are essential for sweeping up dust, crumbs, and dirt quickly and efficiently.

We recommend the Casabella Wayclean Wide Angle Broom because it outswept the competition and was the most comfortable broom to use. While other brooms had wider heads or sharper angles, we found that this broom was still the most adept at getting into corners and sweeping up large amounts of debris.

Thanks to the footholds on this dustpan, you needn’t bend over nearly as many times while sweeping.

We recommend the Libman 2125 Step-On Dust Pan in our guide to the best broom, dustpan, and dust mop. We love it because its ingenious design limits a lot of the dreaded squatting, kneeling, and straightening back up associated with sweeping the floor. It also sits flush with the floor, and in our flour-sweep testing, the black rubber lip created a flawless seam between the dustpan and the floor.

If you need to handle only concentrated messes (such as matcha powder or granola crumbs) in a small space, though, a mini dustpan and broom set will do just fine.

You can run this mop through the washing machine and dryer up to 100 times.

A wet mop is a key part of any cleaning arsenal, especially if you live in a home with kids and pets who tend to track in lots of dirt and debris. The O-Cedar Microfiber Cloth Mop and corresponding O-Cedar Quick Wring Bucket, the top picks in our wet mop guide, might not be flashy, but they are sturdy, lightweight, and easy to maneuver around a room. The mop has a collapsible handle and hanging hook, and it dries in less than 24 hours.

If your once-white tub is verging on gray, a melamine sponge might just get it back to its original color.

We recommend Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Extra Durable sponges in our articles about cleaning kitchen cabinets and cleaning white sneakers. I always have a few on hand for quick cleanups of the baseboards, the shower floor, and doors dirty from dog paws. It’s amazing how well a little water and elbow grease work with these sponges.

This article was edited by Megan Beauchamp and Maxine Builder.

Clorox Free & Clear Multi-Surface Spray Cleaner rids surfaces of grime and comes with the EPA’s Safer Choice certification.

Bar Keepers Friend is my go-to tool for deep-cleaning the stainless steel surfaces and pans in my kitchen.

Turns out this beloved kitchen cleaning product also works wonders on pesky mineral deposits in toilets.

Caroline Mullen

Caroline Mullen is a staff writer reporting on cleaning and organizing at Wirecutter. Though she’s waging a constant battle against the dog hair and dust bunnies in her apartment, she’s not willing to scale back on tchotchkes to make it easier. It also takes her two to three business days to complete a load of laundry—but she’s made peace with that.

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