Our Top Water Filter Pitcher Picks

• Best Overall: Brita Everyday 10-Cup Water Filter Pitcher
• Best Design: Soma 6-Cup Water Filter Pitcher
• Best for Big Households: Brita UltraMax 18-Cup Water Filter Dispenser
• Best for Small Kitchens: LifeStraw Home 7-Cup BPA-Free Water Filter Pitcher

Clean, good-tasting drinking water is essential for keeping your family hydrated and healthy, and a water filter pitcher is one of the easiest, most cost-effective ways to make sure your home always has filtered water without the need to continually buy wasteful single-use plastic water bottles.

What to Consider When Buying a Water Filter Pitcher

• Capacity: The capacity will determine how often you need to refill the pitcher and also how easily it will fit in your fridge or on your countertop. A 6- to 7-cup pitcher is a good size for mini fridges in a dorm or home office. A 10- to 11-cup pitcher is a good average size for most couples and families. An 18-cup dispenser will make life easier for large families who go through a lot of water or just anyone who wants to go longer periods between needing to refill a pitcher or dispenser.
• ANSI/NSF Standards + Certifications for Filters: Whether you want your filter to improve the taste and smell of tap water or are more concerned with potential downstream contamination, which the EPA says is a higher concern for older homes with old piping built before 1986, the best and most reliable way to know what a pitcher filters out is to look at the industry-standard certifications they meet. The American National Standards Institute and NSF International (ANSI/NSF) are private, non-profit organizations and the two main certifying labs are NSF International and the Water Quality Association (WQA), both accredited by ANSI. As a general rule of thumb, the more certifications from these organizations, the more contaminants the product filters out. As an example, the Brita Standard Filter removes chlorine taste and odor, mercury, cadmium, copper and zinc, and the Brita Longlast Filter removes those materials plus lead, asbestos, benzene and other particulates.
• Replacement Filters: Replacing the filters is part of regular maintenance for the pitchers and an ongoing cost to consider. Most standard filters included in our picks need to be replaced after 40 gallons of use or about every two months, with the exception of the Brita Longlast Filter. Since the Brita Longlast Filter removes more contaminants, it takes a little longer to filter and is more expensive, but it lasts about six months instead of two.
• Filtering Time: Probably the most inconvenient aspect of water filter pitchers is the time it takes for the water to filter. The standard filters with which all of our recommendations include usually take just a few minutes to filter, with the exception of about 10 minutes total for the 18-cup dispenser. If you upgrade to a lead-reducing filter like the Brita Longlast, expect the total filter time to almost double. While you probably won't want to sit and wait for the pitcher or dispenser to completely filter every time you refill, it's not a big deal unless you let the pitcher get completely empty and need water right away. A perk of our pick for a large dispenser is you can dispense water at the same time more water is being filtered.
• Filter Replacement Indicators: Most pitchers come with a sticker indicator where you can note when you need to replace the filter next, and for slightly more money, you can opt for a pitcher with an electronic indicator. Since most filters have the same two-month timeframe recommendation, we didn't prioritize an electronic indicator as a feature. You may not even find the sticker reminder necessary — you could simply enter a reminder in your phone, set up reoccurring Amazon orders every two months for a new filter or just leave yourself a note in the kitchen with the date by which you need to replace the filter.
• Pour Functionality + Ease of Use: For a water pitcher, you'll presumably use every day, a comfortable, easy-to-hold handle and a spout that's precise are important features. If you plan to fill narrow-mouth water bottles frequently, the accuracy of the spout is especially important.
• BPA-Free Plastic: All of our top recommendations are made from BPA-free plastic. The pitchers we recommend for small spaces and best design are also available in glass.

How We Tested

To prepare for this test, we researched top-rated water filter brands like Brita and LifeStraw available at popular retailers like Amazon and Target to test a handful of pitchers and dispensers in multiple sizes and designs. We read customer ratings and reviews and considered the specifications like capacity, filters, certifications and more to narrow down the products we tested. In total, we tested eight pitchers and dispensers for this review before landing on our favorites. Each tester used the water filter for several weeks before providing detailed feedback. In testing, we evaluated how long the water took to fully pass through the filters and how easy the pitcher or dispenser was to refill. We also observed how the water tasted and how easy it was to pour or dispense water into glasses and bottles of different sizes. We noted which certifications the products had from third-party labs, how comfortable they were to use and hold and how well they fit into our refrigerators.

Editor's Note: Our recommendations for filtered water pitchers are for home use; these products are not certified or intended to purify water containing viruses or bacteria.