Best Humidifiers of 2024 – CNET

Our humidifier test candidates are a mix of 12 established performers, best-sellers and promising new products from 10 companies. Adding moisture to indoor air is the sole responsibility of a humidifier — every other feature is secondary — so the bulk of our tests focus on how well each product does this task. I rounded out our testing by measuring power consumption and evaluating the controls.

Humidification

To measure humidification, I placed each product in an enclosed 54-square-foot room with humidity sensors– SwitchBot Hub 2 and Ecowitt GW1200 — about 4 feet from the nozzle on either side. I turned off our central heating system during each test to keep it from affecting the results, activating only the fan for a few minutes to remove high humidity between tests. Although I couldn’t reliably return the room to the same relative humidity each time, I targeted a starting range between 45% and 50%.

I noted humidity levels upon starting and finishing each 10-minute test to track the overall humidification effects of a product. There were two rounds of testing for each device to evaluate the lowest and highest cool mist humidifier (or evaporative) settings. A third testing session followed for the Dreo and Levoit units with warm mist capabilities on the high setting.

Leviot’s warm mist mode increased the humidity fastest in our testing location, from 46% to 60% in just 10 minutes, an increase of 14 percentage points. The Dreo HM713S (warm and cool mist) and HM524S tied for second place by bumping the up humidity by 10 points. Blueair is another notable standout, adding nine percentage points during the test while consuming a fraction of the energy of other top performers.

The output of the Vornado UH100, Dreo HM311S, GoveeLife H7140 and Everlasting Comfort was lower, but these models are adequate for most people. Every product under $38 yielded subpar humidification in our relatively small testing space: Rosekm, Raydrop, Movtip and Saunana. This suggests they would be more appropriate for use as close-range personal humidifiers — ideal for local humidification in a shared office or enclosed vehicle — instead of an entire room.

How airflow and mist output affect humidification

I held an anemometer 4 inches away from each humidifier’s nozzle and noted the airspeed to measure airflow. I couldn’t find a satisfactory way to form an airtight seal with the anemometer due to the larger nozzles on some units, so the overall accuracy is lower than I’d prefer. I gleaned enough information to reach some useful conclusions.

When I compared mist output to the total increase in humidity, I found that every humidifier used roughly the same volume of water to increase the ambient humidity by one percentage point — the air next to a humidifier can absorb only so much moisture at a time before it becomes saturated. This means improving airflow is the best way to increase both mist output and humidification.

After testing, I found that airspeeds equal to or above 1.0 meters per second yielded the best performance and mist output. Blueair (2.3 m/s) and Vornado (1.8m/s) use larger fans than the competition. Unsurprisingly, they had the highest airflow in our tests, followed by all three Dreo units at 1.2 m/s. All of these products improve humidity by at least eight percentage points.

Although Everlasting Comfort matched Dreo’s airflow, its humidification was weaker overall. Levoit’s airspeed was a little lower at 1.0 m/s, but it still outperformed the budget products in cool mist mode — the lower air movement didn’t keep the warm mist result from providing the best humidification in our lineup. GoveeLife’s 0.7 m/s met the bare minimum for noticeably improving the humidity quickly and was the high point among the budget models under $50.

Movtip, Saunana, Rosekm and Raydrop produced the lowest airflow, which makes them much slower at humidification than pricier rivals. They should perform better when used alongside a fan, but this also makes them more susceptible to losing their potency whenever dry air enters the room as the furnace or air conditioner runs. (You can offset low-humidity air with humidifiers in other rooms or a whole-house humidifier, but that’s beyond the scope of our review.)

Power consumption

The Blueair H35i was the most energy-efficient humidifier I tested — pulling just 6 watts on the high setting. You can expect similar performance from other evaporative-wicking humidifiers. Movtip and Saunana used less energy than Blueair, but they were also the least effective options for humidifying a large area.

Ultrasonic cool mist humidifiers consumed less than 30 watts of electricity when running, with the products in our review averaging 11 watts on low and 17 watts on high. This is more than a typical LED light bulb, it’s still very efficient, and eight hours of daily runtime won’t add more than $0.75 to your monthly power bill.

I based this estimate on the national average electricity price of $0.18 per kilowatt-hour from an October 2024 report from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. I recommend using an online calculator for a figure that more accurately reflects your local electric rates.

Warm mist humidifiers, like Dreo HM713S and Levoit OasisMist, consume over 10 times as much energy with a maximum power draw of 280 watts. They use about half as much energy after the initial heating cycle based on our testing. This would increase your monthly electricity bill by roughly $6 to $12. Fortunately, both models have cool mist modes, so you can reserve warm mist for times when you need it.

Controls

The manual controls on all of the humidifiers are straightforward to use. I like that the control panels on Dreo, Levoit and Blueair offer the same functionality as their respective mobile apps. Still, the apps were easier for customizing settings like the timer and humidistat. (A humidistat allows a unit to reach and maintain the optimal humidity level.) Although Vornado doesn’t use an app or timer, the clear labels on its automatic humidity controls help you know what settings are active.

Rosekm also features a built-in humidistat, but you can’t choose a target humidity. Instead, the unit reduces its output as humidity levels go up before shutting off entirely at 80% humidity — this seems awfully high unless you’re using the unit in a grow chamber for houseplants. Fortunately, the display shows the current humidity, so you can track the moisture levels over time. Rosekm’s timer, which tops out at 12 hours, might be better for controlling humidity levels as you sleep.

On-device controls on Raydrop, Everlasting Comfort, Movtip, Saunana and GoveeLife were simplistic. These devices offer multiple mist settings, but they lack humidistats and timers, so the units operate until you turn them off or the water runs out. GoveeLife offers timer settings in the Govee app but needs an add-on humidity sensor to enable its automatic functionality.

Ultimately, I preferred units with timers and humidistats — which are less likely to over-humidify a room. Still, choosing a lower mist setting on simple devices can achieve a similar result, even if you don’t know the exact humidity levels.