Top pick
This scentless, streak-free cleaner sprays evenly and lets you easily wipe up a variety of sticky, crumby, crusty messes.
Arguably the most important item in your cleaning kit is a hard-working all-purpose cleaner. Along with a microfiber cloth or paper towel, an all-purpose cleaner can get pretty much anything in your house clean: grease splatters on the stove, crumbs on tables and counters, fingerprints on stainless steel, and much more.
Our top pick, Clorox Free & Clear Multi-Surface Spray Cleaner, lets you easily wipe away messes, evenly distributes mist across surfaces, leaves no residue behind, and is fragrance-free. It also has Safer Choice certification from the EPA, which means it contains no carcinogens or toxins that affect the nervous and reproductive systems, among other qualifications.
Best for…
A water-and-vinegar solution outperformed dedicated glass and mirror cleaners during testing. It’s more affordable, too.
You can use a glass cleaner like Windex for wiping toothpaste-speckled mirrors or crusty glass cooktops clean. However, during our window-cleaning testing, we found that a solution of one part vinegar to one part water is the most effective and affordable way to achieve streak-free glass. Keep the solution in a labeled, reusable spray bottle and give it a good shake before each use.
Best for…
The bleach in this formula effectively kills viruses and bacteria in your home.
Cleaning with an all-purpose spray or soap and water is almost always your best bet, but to address bacteria or illness in your home, you should have a disinfectant spray like our pick, Clorox Clean-Up Cleaner + Bleach, or a bleach solution on hand. In our testing, this Clorox cleaner was just as streak-free as the formula without bleach. Plus, you need to let it sit for only 30 seconds to kill pathogens before you wipe it up (versus up to 10 minutes with some competitors).
According to the EPA, cleaning removes dirt and organic matter from surfaces using soap or detergents, while sanitizing kills bacteria on surfaces, and disinfecting kills both bacteria and viruses on surfaces. Sanitizing is helpful in kitchens after you’ve handled raw meat or in the bathroom for killing bacteria, but it isn’t necessary for day-to-day cleaning. Disinfecting can successfully kill viruses (such as norovirus or the virus that causes COVID-19) on surfaces such as doorknobs or countertops, which can prevent the spread of illness in your household.
The easiest way to tackle sanitizing and disinfecting is with a ready-made spray like Clorox Clean-Up Cleaner + Bleach. You don’t have to measure any chemicals or worry about rapid degradation as with a DIY bleach solution, and the instructions for use are right on the package. Just be sure to follow those instructions and let the cleaner sit on surfaces for the recommended contact time to properly sanitize or disinfect.
Budget pick
Bleach is great to keep on hand; just be sure to properly dilute it for effective disinfection.
If you prefer to make your own bleach solution, we recommend Clorox Disinfecting Bleach as the budget pick in our surface cleaners guide.
To make a DIY disinfecting solution, follow the instructions on the packaging for diluting bleach with water. If the label doesn’t have any, the CDC recommends mixing 4 teaspoons of bleach per quart of room-temperature water. You can dunk items such as toys in this solution or mix it in a spray bottle for easy misting. Follow the bleach manufacturer’s instructions for disinfecting, or leave the solution on surfaces for at least a minute before rinsing with water.
This solution degrades quickly and isn’t as effective after 24 hours, so the CDC recommends making a new bleach solution each time you need it.
Multiple Wirecutter staffers swear by BKF for a host of cleaning tasks, such as cleaning cookware and getting bathroom fixtures looking like new.
We recommend Bar Keepers Friend All-Purpose Cleaner and Polish in our guide to cleaning stainless steel cookware. It’s also a staff favorite for restoring grout and tiles to their former glory and shining up kitchen and bathroom fixtures. I swear by the liquid version for removing stubborn mineral deposits from porcelain toilets.
Just be sure to avoid using it on delicate surfaces such as marble, wood, cast iron, nonstick pans, painted surfaces, and other surfaces that scratch easily.
Top pick
This dish soap is an effective cleaner for lots of tasks, and it’s EPA Safer Choice–certified.
Our top-pick dish soap, Seventh Generation Dish Soap, is dye- and fragrance-free, as well as EPA Safer Choice–certified, and it offered excellent performance during testing, removing up to 95% of surface oil on dishes through soaking alone (no scrubbing!). In contrast, some of the weaker dish soaps we tested removed only 65% of surface oil.
Dish soap, as the name suggests, is obviously helpful for cleaning plates after dinner, but it’s also one of the most useful cleaners you can have on hand for an array of household chores. A little dish soap and water can loosen dirt and debris from windows, a dab on a grease stain is an excellent spot treatment, and it can cut through oil- and water-based product buildup on makeup brushes—just to name a few.
All those nasty, gunky accumulations in the shower or bathtub are best handled with a foaming cleaner.
When it’s time to clean the tub or shower, a foaming cleaner that’s specifically formulated to target grime and soap scum is your best bet. In our article on how to clean bathroom tile and grout, we recommend two foam formulas—Scrubbing Bubbles Bathroom Grime Fighter and Tilex Mold & Mildew—for fiberglass, porcelain, and ceramic tubs and showers because they can sit on the surface long enough to penetrate accumulated gunk.
Of the natural-stone cleaner options, StoneTech Mold & Mildew is our favorite for getting granite, marble, and the like clean.
If you have a shower or tub made from natural stone—marble, granite, soapstone, or the like—you should use a cleaner that’s specifically designed not to damage the porous material. In our article on how to clean bathroom tile and grout, we recommend StoneTech Mold & Mildew Stain Remover, which is strong enough to break down the nastiest grime in your shower but gentle enough to avoid damaging the natural surfaces.
Top pick
For households that are tough on their clothes and linens, this laundry detergent is an exceedingly powerful tool for removing stains and smells.
Going through life using laundry detergent that doesn’t work and leaves your clothes still sort of stinky after a cycle is so not worth it. During testing, Tide Ultra Oxi Powder Laundry Detergent, one of several top picks in our guide to the best laundry detergent, easily removed blood, grass, dirt, and sebum (body oil) and fully removed the odor of bacon grease.
It comes in a cardboard box, which you might prefer if you’re looking to cut down on plastic in your home, but it is scented, so if you’re sensitive to fragrances, consider the following detergent instead.
Top pick
If you’re sensitive to fragrances and dyes, this liquid detergent is still tough on stains including blood, blackberry, mayonnaise, butter, chocolate, and wine.
Tide Free & Gentle Liquid Laundry Detergent, another top pick in our guide to the best laundry detergent, is dye- and fragrance-free and EPA Safer Choice–certified. Plus, it carries seals from the National Psoriasis Foundation and the National Eczema Association.
In my experience, it’s exceptional at removing grease- and oil-based stains and gets even the stinkiest towels smelling fresh.
Top pick
No other stain remover we tested even got close to Amodex in removing ink and makeup, and it did an admirable job on red wine, turmeric, and tea.
Although pretreating with a hard-working detergent should get most stains out, it’s helpful to have a stain remover in the laundry room. Amodex Ink & Stain Remover, one of several top picks in our stain remover guide, is great for eliminating particularly stubborn stains such as foundation makeup and permanent ink.
During testing, we were able to remove Sharpie ink from both cotton T-shirts and white silk pillowcases using Amodex. The formula is nontoxic—it can safely come in contact with skin and is not poisonous if accidentally ingested—and it’s safe for wool and even some silks.
Top pick
Crusted-, caked-, and burnt-on foods were no match for these dishwasher pods during our testing.
Dishwasher detergents are specially formulated to remove even the most stubborn food particles from dishes, and our top pick, Cascade Free & Clear Action Pacs, can make even the most mediocre dishwasher seem high-performing.
During our testing, these pods eradicated baked-on egg and peanut butter, two substances that are notoriously difficult to remove in the dishwasher.
