2021 test13 productsHome Appliances
Which Water Filter Brand Wins?
A head-to-head test of 13 water filter options with the measured results for each. See how they ranked and watch the full test video.
Some figures on this page were transcribed from the test video and have not been independently re-verified. Treat the numbers as a close guide and watch the full video for the exact readings.
Ranked first
AquaTru reverse osmosis water system
Price shown in test: $427
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The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Scroll sideways to see all measurements. Products are listed in the order they finished.
| Product | Tap water TDS reduction | Well water appearance/color cleanup | Iron removal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1AquaTru reverse osmosis water system$427 | the AquaTru reverse osmosis did very well at only 36 parts per million | the AquaTru did by far the best job yet at improving the appearance of the water. 35 parts per million, which is just about as good as the ZeroWater... the AquaTru definitely seems to have come out on top | AquaTru and ZeroWater came out on top at 0 mg per liter |
| 2ZeroWater five-stage advanced filtration system$29 | the ZeroWater filter lives up to its reputation, zero parts per million | the ZeroWater did by far the best job yet at improving the appearance of the water, zero parts per million | the ZeroWater has done by far the best job yet at improving the appearance of the water. Zero parts per million, very impressive. The test strip is showing less than 5 mg per liter, which is by far the best yet |
| 3Aquaphor A5 filter$19 | Aquafor did slightly better than homemade filter at 233 parts per million | Aquafor actually did better than the homemade filter at 221 parts per million | the Aquaphor actually did a pretty good job at removing the iron. It appears to be around 5 to 10 mg per liter |
| 4Berkey six-gallon water filter$300 | 284 parts per million, which is actually higher than the unfiltered water. After doing some research, this is pretty common in the Berkey filters when the filters are new | the Berkey did by far the best job yet at improving the appearance of the water. It pretty much left all the dissolved solids in the water though at 359 parts per million | the Berkey water appears to have around 50 mg per liter of iron content |
| 5Brita$28 | the Brita performed nearly the same as the Aquafor at 234 parts per million | the Brita did a little bit better at removing dissolved solids at 265 parts per million | the test strip for the Brita is showing that it did a better job removing the iron than some of the other brands at around 50 mg per liter |
| 6Survivor Filter Pro$65 | the Survivor Filter Pro performed fairly well at 231 parts per million | the Survivor makes pretty quick work at filtering the water, but the water looks about the same as the LifeStraw. 355 parts per million | the Survivor didn't do much to change the color of the water, it did a pretty good job at improving the transparency. 616 parts per million |
| 7PUR$28 | 260 parts per million for the PUR brand | the water still looks pretty bright red even after it's been filtered by the PUR brand. 302 parts per million | the Pur definitely seems to perform better than the RV filter at around 100 parts per million for iron |
| 8Filtrete$32 | 253 parts per million for the Filtrete | the appearance of the water improved slightly with the Filtrete, but it didn't perform nearly as well as the ZeroWater. 335 parts per million | not tested |
| 9LifeStraw Flex multi-use water filter with gravity bag$41 | 259 parts per million for the LifeStraw | the appearance of the LifeStraw water looks to be about the same as the Filtrete. 343 parts per million | the LifeStraw performed about as well as the Sawyer at 600 parts per million. It appears to be around 100 mg per liter of iron content |
| 10Sawyer mini water filtration system$20 | the Sawyer didn't perform as well as the Aquafor at 256 parts per million | the water filtered by the Sawyer is about the same color as the unfiltered water. 343 parts per million | the test strip is showing that the Sawyer didn't do nearly as well as the Aquaphor at removing the iron |
| 11RV Filter Brondell Pure RV filter$28 | 267 parts per million, so pretty close to the unfiltered tap water | the RV filter did quite a bit better job than some of the other brands at improving the appearance of the water. However, there's still quite a bit of dissolved solids in the water at 348 parts per million | the RV filter didn't perform as well as the Aquaphor or Sawyer at 617 parts per million. Unfortunately, the water that passed through the RV filter still has quite a bit of iron left in it |
| 12Frizzlife | not tested | the appearance of the Frieling water just doesn't seem to be as clear as some of the other brands. 665 parts per million | the test strip showed that the Frieling water actually did a pretty good job at removing the iron at 50 mg per liter |
| 13Homemade filter sand and activated carbon DIY filteraround $5 in supplies | 237 parts per million, so there's definitely a little bit of improvement | the homemade filter actually cleaned up the water a little and it's now at 248 parts per million compared to 364 for the untreated water | 419 parts per million... the test strip is showing that the homemade water filter left quite a bit of iron in the water |
How it was tested
- total dissolved solids (TDS) reduction on municipal tap water
- appearance/color and TDS cleanup of well water dosed with red food coloring
- iron (ferrous sulfate) removal from distilled water
- filter media teardown inspection