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If you want to improve the air quality in your home, you'll want a reliable air purifier you can plug in and leave to work in the background. Buy from a less reliable brand, however, and you could end up with a purifier that develops an annoying fault. Noisy purifiers and frustrating smartphone apps are two of the most common problems. 

That's why knowing which air purifier brands develop more faults is vital when you're buying a new machine. 

This year, in our unique longevity and customer satisfaction survey, we've asked 6,997 Which? members and 3,003 members of the public to tell us whether they're happy with their air purifier and whether they've experienced problems.

Our survey data takes into account which air purifiers had faults and whether they needed to be repaired or replaced as a result.

We've crunched the numbers for the biggest air purifier manufacturers – including Dyson, Meaco and Blueair – and have calculated a customer score for each, so you know which brands owners would recommend.

Decided on a brand? Discover the best air purifiers for you.

The table below summarises this year’s results, based on air purifiers bought in the past seven years. 

Brands are ranked by their customer score, which reflects customers' level of satisfaction and whether they would recommend each brand. The proportion faulty is the percentage of air purifiers that developed a fault. The proportion repaired or replaced is the percentage of air purifiers that were fixed or thrown away due to the fault.

Which? members can log in to view which air purifier brands last the longest before they need to be replaced. If you're not yet a member, join Which? to get instant access.

Our table highlights the differences between the best and worst air purifier brands in terms of the customer satisfaction score and the proportion of appliances that developed faults.

Visit our air purifier reviews to see all the models we've tested.

As you can see in the table below, there’s a big difference between how reliable the best and the worst brands are.

Which? members can log in to view which air purifier brands last the longest before they need to be replaced. If you're not yet a member, join Which? to get instant access.

We've pulled together our fault data, customer insight and purifiers' average performance in our independent tests to give you an in-depth look at each brand.

Only Which? members can log in to view our verdicts on the brands listed below and whether they are worth buying.

If you're not yet a member, join Which? to get instant access to the following air purifier brand verdicts: Blueair, Dimplex, Dyson, Electriq, Homedics, Levoit, Philips and Vax.

Already know which air purifier brand you want? We've tested models from the following brands - visit our reviews to narrow down your choice: 

Air purifiers are getting increasingly technical, offering not just purification, but the option to control the machine with a smartphone app and wi-fi. However, this could also prove to be the first thing that causes issues.

While this doesn't necessarily stop you from using an air purifier, it can be frustrating if you've paid extra for smartphone app functionality, only for it to not work. 

If you're having issues with the smart functionality, make sure you've downloaded the latest version of the app to your smartphone. If that doesn't work, try carrying out a factory reset on the air purifier and uninstalling and reinstalling the app to see if that makes a difference.

Our reviews check how easy it is to connect the smart app to the air purifier and set the machine from the app. We check how easy it is to operate the air purifier in a basic way from the app, including turning the air purifier on and off and changing the fan speed. We also check how secure each smart air purifier is.

Check out our air purifier reviews for more information.

A noisy air purifier can be a real pain, especially if you're trying to use it while working or sleeping. While some air purifiers are just noisy because of their general design, others may get noisier if the filter becomes clogged with dust or dust builds up on the ioniser pins.

It might be worth checking if you can vacuum some of the dust out of the filter to prevent this happening. Some air purifiers have a 'change filter' beep that will warn you when the filter needs cleaning or replacing.

Air purifiers can be large and heavy, so if you drop one or it gets kicked or knocked off a table, it's possible the body of the device could become cracked or damaged.

You may also find this happens if you're struggling to switch around the filters on the purifier and need to use a bit of force. Our reviews will guide you on which models are easy to replace the filters on.

Which? has a wealth of information on Britain's favourite brands. 

Every year we ask Which? members to tell us about the home appliances they own – from how likely they would be to recommend a brand, to how reliable the products are once they get them home.

This year 6,997 Which? Connect panel members and 3,003 members of the public told us about more than 20,000 individual products. 

We calculate a brand's customer score, fault rate and proportion replaced or repaired based on the results of our annual survey.

Our surveys, combined with our extensive lab tests, mean we can recommend the best air purifier to buy.

How we test air purifiers