6 Best Dehumidifiers of 2026, Tested by Our Experts

Dehumidifiers in this category can remove 40 pints of water or more per day and are best suited for large spaces or midsized areas that are damp or wet.

Dehumidifiers in this category can remove around 30 to 40 pints of water from the air per day and are meant for midsized areas that are somewhat damp.

Dehumidifiers in the small-capacity group remove less than 30 pints of moisture per day and help dry out small, damp spaces.

“A dehumidifier can only remove so much moisture,” says Misha Kollontai, who oversees CR’s testing in this product category. “If you’ve got an area that is constantly letting water in, look into solutions that address the leak directly.”

Check for leaks, clean out your gutters (and direct the flow from downspouts away from your foundation), and even clear your dryer duct. If those don’t work, consider solutions like installing a French drain or a sump pump.

If the problem comes from heavy rain or flooding, start by removing any wet items and discarding them or letting them dry outside. If there’s standing water, get a pump, wet-dry vac, or mop to remove it. Open doors and windows to increase airflow, and use large fans to circulate the air further. Consider wearing a mask while you’re working to reduce your exposure to mold and mildew.

Once you address those things, 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.

CR’s test engineers and survey teams evaluate every dehumidifier that enters our labs on several criteria.

Water removal: We measure a dehumidifier’s ability to remove moisture from the air against the manufacturer’s claim regarding the number of pints of water the model can remove per day. The closer it aligns with the claim, the higher the water removal score. Our testing is done in a chamber set at 65° F and 60 percent relative humidity. 

Humidistat accuracy: We also determine how accurately each dehumidifier can achieve and maintain a set humidity level in our test chamber. This is a crucial assessment because a dehumidifier should be able to bring indoor humidity to below 50 percent to prevent dust mites, mildew, and mold from growing. 

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 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 owner satisfaction, we asked CR members who purchased a new dehumidifier between 2014 and 2025 about their experiences, and 11,944 offered feedback about 13,632 models.

Over the years, CR has tested hundreds of dehumidifiers. We currently have nearly 70 models from a variety of manufacturers, including Danby, Frigidaire, GE, hOmeLabs, Honeywell, LG, 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 (it’s 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 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 labs 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 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.