Best Air Purifiers In 2021

Air pollution is never far from the headlines these days, as our understanding of the effects pollution has on our bodies soars. With an estimated 4.2 million people dying annually from ailments potentially linked to it, according to the WHO, pollution has become one of the primary health concerns of the 21st century.

The best air purifiers come with a raft of jazzy features. There’ll be several strength settings for more efficient filtration or stronger currents of cold air blowing out. This will inevitably bump up the noise level, and some of the most powerful ones can sound like a plane flying overhead. Nighttime mode will keep the purifier quiet while you sleep and dim any light present on the device.

1. Dyson Pure hot + cool link air purifier

Aside from a little trouble connecting my app to the machine, this was the standout purifier. Partly, that's because it does more than just purify – there’s a fan and heater too, with the former working wonders on recent muggy nights.

It's a smart design, with a circular filter section at the base and an oblong ring on top, from which the hot or cold air blows. The fan is fairly loud on the highest setting, but nothing like some of the worst offenders (and on nighttime mode it was practically silent). There are plenty of strength settings, too, so you can set it to exactly what you need. For me, around half was enough to cool down a medium-sized bedroom.

It’s an unobtrusive machine which spins around almost 360 degrees – in fact it was the slenderest of the air purifiers I reviewed.

The app, once I’d managed to connect it, was really easy to use and highly informative and responsive. A graph showed the results of the constant monitoring of my bedroom’s environs, and I was thoroughly delighted to find that overall my room was ‘Good’.

2. Blueair Classic 405 air purifier

The Blueair Classic is a rather more hospital-grade purifier, something you might find tucked up by the corner of Meeting Room 1. The purification takes place via grills on either side, which, on the most powerful of three settings, is very loud; the lowest setting, conversely, is almost silent.

Ideal for medium-sized rooms, it supposedly filters out practically all allergens or asthma triggers. As someone who doesn't tend to suffer too much from respiratory issues, it was hard to notice a difference. Additionally, the filter purifies smoke.

The accompanying app was very well designed and user friendly, giving me all sorts of potentially worrying information about my local environs. Everything from air quality index (AQI), a government-approved measuring system, through to particulates and gases (carbon monoxide; nitrogen dioxide; ozone and sulfur dioxide) is charted.

It was perhaps the most detailed of the lot, although it's worth noting the machine isn't actually filtering many of these out – it merely functions as a warning. My house, though a little over the edge on VOCs (volatile organic compounds, including vapours and gases), was thankfully low in pollution.

3. Philips air purifier 2000i

Placed in the living room, not too far away from the TV, this purifier rumbled away without interrupting. It's relatively unassuming and not too loud – the way I like it. Setting up was a doddle, it was good to go in minutes, and the accompanying app, by Air Matters, one of the premium global air quality monitors, lends a sense of gravitas.

The blurb claims to filter out gases, "ultra-fine particles", and 99.97 per cent of allergens (as well as viruses and bacteria), which is impressive. Placed in my living room, not far from the open plan kitchen, it was interesting to see how significantly the machine would shoot up to a high purification setting whenever I fried food (or burnt toast). It was instantaneous; evidently it's a sensitive device.

The app itself was informative, with information on pollution levels in your area and around London (and across the world). It gave me a detailed history of the air quality, and was easy to use. For allergy sufferers, it provides comprehensive information on whatever allergen is floating about with particular prevalence that day.