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3 Best Carpet Stain Removers, Tested and Reviewed

We took 270 colorimeter readings in our test of eight products from Bissell, Folex, and other brands, plus, a DIY mix of vinegar and dish soap

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Coffee mug fallen over on beige carpet spilling black coffee
We tested nine solutions to find out how to remove coffee and other stains from carpets.
Photo: Getty Images

If you’ve ever spilled a glass of wine or coffee on your carpet, you know how difficult it can be to remove those stains once they set in. Even fresh stains can be difficult to clean completely. You could hire a professional or rent a carpet-cleaning machine from your local hardware store, but if the stain is small enough, a spot-treatment spray or a portable carpet cleaner may suffice. They’re easier to store and significantly less expensive than the bulky full-sized machines.

In this article
More to Tackle Your Home Stains
CR's Carpet Cleaner Ratings & Buying Guide
Best Carpet Cleaners
Best Portable Carpet Cleaners
Best Upholstery Cleaner Sprays
Stain-Stopping Toolkit for Household Messes

To find the best carpet stain removers, we applied common household stains to swatches of carpet, allowed them to set overnight, then treated each stain twice. We tested eight products, plus a DIY solution made from warm water, white vinegar, and Dawn dish soap. 

Because it can be difficult to tell with the naked eye whether stains have improved after treatment, we used a colorimeter—an instrument that measures the color intensity of a surface—to measure the color of the stains before and after treating each stain twice. This allowed us to determine more accurately how much of the stain was actually removed. We also assessed the stains using before-and-after photos.

Beige carpet sample with 10 food stain patches identified as grape juice, oil, coffee, mustard, sweet potato baby food, pig's blood, chipotle sauce, chocolate syrup, mud, and concealer
The 10 stains we applied to carpets to test carpet stain removing sprays.

Graphic: Consumer Reports Graphic: Consumer Reports

After 270 colorimeter readings, we found the best stain removers to restore the look of your carpets and rugs after light messes. Read on to find out which ones made the cut.

Sneak peek: OxiClean is a popular name in stain removal, but its carpet stain remover didn’t stand out in our tests. It did manage to erase oil, grape juice, and coffee, though these were the stains most other models excelled at lifting, too. We do not recommend it for heavy makeup stains, as it performed the worst at removing concealer from our test carpets.

Testing Carpet Stain Removers in the Lab

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Consumer Reports Home & Trends Writer, Jodhaira Rodriguez.

Jodhaira Rodriguez

Jodhaira Rodriguez is a senior multimedia content creator at Consumer Reports. Before joining CR, she tested and wrote about cleaning and organizing products and major appliances like washing machines and dishwashers at Good Housekeeping. In her free time, you’ll find her reading, listening to true crime podcasts, or working on her latest hobby of the month.

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