Best Medium (130–249 CADR) Air Purifiers

The 5500-2 without the remote and with a lighter carbon filter.

Adds a washable prefilter and a pet-hair mode to the Core 400S formula.

The best-selling compact purifier; no auto mode, thin carbon, but cheap and quiet on low.

5500-class performance with app control.

A pellet-carbon filter you can wash, strong CADR, and a low street price; PlasmaWave can be switched off.

Tiny bedroom unit with auto mode and app; fine for a small room, not a living room.

The long-running benchmark: strong CADR for the price, a real auto mode and cheap annual filters.

Winix's 360 sq ft platform in a taller cabinet with Wi-Fi.

Same internals as the Mighty in a square housing with a square filter.

Quiet for its CADR; the 930 sq ft claim is at 1 air change per hour, so treat it as a 370 sq ft unit for allergies.

Core 300 plus a PM2.5 sensor, auto mode and app.

Compact with a washable prefilter and auto mode.

Medium Alen with the same quiet motor; lifetime warranty with filter subscription.

45i without the sensor or app.

Medium CADR with auto mode at a low price; room-size claim is at 1 ACH.

Compact-plus unit with a particle sensor.

Budget medium-room unit; CADR is manufacturer-claimed.

Mid-size HPA; reliable but dated, with no sensor.

Six-stage filtration and very quiet, but low CADR for the price.

Claims five years without a filter change; CADR is manufacturer-claimed and the 1400 sq ft figure is at 1 ACH.

Furniture-styled unit; CADR is modest for the price.