Best Dishwasher Detergents From Consumer Reports’ Tests

You don’t need a pricey dishwasher detergent to get clean dishes. The best formulas from popular brands like Finish and Cascade do a fantastic job removing food and resisting residue in Consumer Reports’ tough lab tests. But so do plenty of store-brand detergents, which cost much less per dose.

We tested 23 dishwasher detergents from eight brands, including premeasured packs as well as gels. (Sales of powder detergents have been dropping, so we haven’t included them in our latest tests.) The performance ranges widely between the best and worst of the bunch, and there’s a huge span of prices, too—anywhere from 5 to 43 cents per load.

Overall, the best-performing detergent packs clean better than the best gels. That’s because they contain a wider mixture of ingredients that can boost cleaning, including enzymes, degreasers, bleach, and rinse aids. Different combinations of those substances can make a big difference. “Generally enzymes do help,” says Richard Handel, the engineer who oversees Consumer Reports’ dishwasher detergent testing. “But it’s too complicated to pin it on one ingredient.” These single-dose units—also known as pacs, packets, pods, tabs, and tablets—are also easy to load into the detergent tray, with no squirting or scooping required. But gels (and even powders) still have their place, depending on your dishwasher’s performance and personal preference. If you don’t need to wash away much stuck-on food, for example, a good gel might be all you really need.

How Consumer Reports Tests Dishwasher DetergentsCR’s test engineers smear eight dinner plates with a carefully measured portion of starchy goop (it’s a secret recipe), then bake each plate until the goop gets crusty. “It’s really tough to get off,” Handel says. After running the plates through a normal wash cycle, we use imaging analysis to determine precisely how clean each dish is, and whether any water spots are present.

Then we run a set of clear drinking glasses and aluminum plates through 10 consecutive wash cycles, all with very hard water—that is, we use well water to make the test extra-challenging. After that, we use a spectrophotometer to assess whether any haze or film forms on the glasses, and note whether the aluminum plates have begun to discolor.

The best dishwasher detergents we test are able to get the dirtiest dishes spotless, and do so while resisting water spots and white film. The worst dishwasher detergents, mainly gels, are barely better than water for removing baked-on messes.

Below, you’ll find a selection of the best dishwasher detergents we test, listed alphabetically. They’re from several brands, in both single-dose packs and gels. But know that if your dishwasher does a decent job and you’re not dealing with baked-on messes, there are plenty more options that may work for you. You’ll find those, along with detailed results from our tests, in our dishwasher detergent ratings.

See CR’s review of the best dishwashers of the year, our overall dishwasher ratings and buying guide, and tips for loading a dishwasher.