The Best Laundry Detergents of 2026

Americans spend billions of dollars every year on laundry detergent. Since we're here for you and don't want you to waste any of your hard-earned cash, we embarked on a testing adventure to find the best laundry detergent out there on the market. We pitted the top-selling liquid laundry detergents against each other to see which reigns supreme over heavily soiled laundry.

Ultimately, Persil ProClean (available at Amazon) proves to be the best laundry detergent of the bunch, thanks to its effective stain-removal power, where it especially excelled on the toughest messes we threw at it.

For even more of a deal, our Best Value winner is an old favorite: Tide.

If you prefer more environmentally-friendly laundry detergents, we tested and evaluated those, too, and found Tide Purclean is the best eco-friendly laundry detergent.

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Other Laundry Detergents We Tested

How We Tested Laundry Detergents

The Tester

Hi, I’m Jon Chan, the senior manager of lab operations at Reviewed. If you use a product to clean your home with, I've likely tested it. Over the years, I've tested dozens of laundry detergents, including eco-friendly detergents and detergent alternatives. When it comes to detergents, I'm most interested in stain removal and cost-effectiveness.

The Tests

To ensure testing is consistent, we use mechanically dyed swatches covered in sweat, oil, pig blood, red wine, and cocoa. We also produce our own stains in addition to the ones that are mechanically created. We use dirt, grass, tomato sauce, and fresh red wine in our testing and even dragged a colleague through dirt and grass!

Once our laundry has been sufficiently dirtied, it's time to clean! All of the detergents are tested using the Maytag MVWC565 top-loading washer on the normal cycle using warm water, using a standardized load of laundry: eight pounds total of pillowcases, towels, and bedsheets. This ensures we aren't just running a cycle with a few shirts and a stain strip in there, as underfilling your washer reduces the total scrubbing action present, which affects the results.

After running the wash cycles, we let the swatches and laundry dry overnight.

Finally, we use a photospectrometer—a device designed to detect changes in color—which allows us to determine exactly how much of the stain was removed by each detergent. This approach gives us insight into how each detergent is performing on any specific stain, and also how they're performing in the aggregate sense, which allows us to pick the best overall or the best for any given stain. For the purposes of our testing here, we're more interested in the all-around best cleaners rather than singling out the cocoa-stain-fighting champion.

How to Choose the Right Laundry Detergent for You

What is the Best Laundry Detergent for Sensitive Skin?

By law, manufacturers are not required to list the ingredients in their fragrances. So it can be difficult to know if you’re allergic to certain products. Even products labeled “unscented” can contain fragrances.

However, companies like P & G have vowed to be more transparent with what goes into making the scents of their products. If you’re concerned about fragrances, look for products that have the EPA’s Safe Choice seal.

There are many laundry detergents on the market that are marketed for people with sensitive skin. They have phrases like “free-and-clear'' and “hypoallergenic.” On the surface, hypoallergenic translates to products low in allergy-causing compounds.

How Much Laundry Detergent Should You Use?

It may sound counterintuitive, but using too much detergent will actually leave your laundry dirty. This happens because the base components of detergent work in specific concentrations. When those concentrations are too high, bad laundry mishaps can occur.

The more detergent you use, the more suds there will be. Newer washing machines have sensors that check for remaining dirt in the suds. Smart washers have programming that makes the assumption that you used the correct amount of detergent.

If you use too much detergent, then you'll get too many suds. These extra suds won't pick up any dirt and will obscure the fact there are more stains to be removed. When the sensors see only clean suds, then the machine will think that the wash is done, prematurely ending the cycle.

Using too much detergent can also cause damage to your washer. Detergent that doesn't get washed away dries up as residue inside your machine. Repeated overuse of detergent causes residue to build up, which eventually leads to blockages.

In a nutshell: Follow the instructions on the detergent bottles, as this will have the best guidance specific to whichever detergent you’re using. Beyond that, we recommend for a normal load of laundry, never fill the cap up more than a third of the way. On heavier loads, up to half way on the cap should do.

Does Laundry Detergent Expire?

Laundry detergent does not expire in the same sense that food expires. However, laundry detergents do have a “best use by date.” Liquid detergents contain water, which can evaporate over time, leaving behind a sticky and clumpy mess.

The opposite is true of powder detergent, if moisture gets in, it can turn the detergent into a difficult-to-use rock.

Is Laundry Detergent Toxic?

The short answer is no, but you should be careful. And you should never intentionally ingest laundry detergent.

OSHA has a detailed scheme to indicate chemical hazards. Laundry detergents are a mixture of many chemicals. Most help with cleaning; others provide color and scent. Some ingredients irritate the skin or eyes and are harmful if swallowed.

Toxic chemicals cause severe harm even in small amounts. By this definition, laundry detergents aren’t considered toxic.

Liquid detergent is irritating if splashed on the skin or eyes, but rinsing usually clears this up. Long-term damage is unlikely.

We’ve all gotten soap in our eyes; it’s basically the same deal, but laundry detergent is more concentrated than shampoo or body wash.

“Free-and-clear” typically refers to a lack of dyes and perfumes, which can cause irritation. It also usually means that the detergent lacks any optical brighteners. We frown on the addition of optical brighteners because they use an actual trick of the light to make clothes look cleaner without removing any stains.

If you want a non-toxic laundry detergent, then minimize your risks by looking for Safe Choice products and using them correctly.

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