Best Humidifiers Under $50

The competitively priced, ultrasonic Aqua Oasis AO-101 handles humidifying small rooms with ease. It passes almost every performance test with flying colors: moisture output, convenience, noise, and energy efficiency. This humidifier has an empty-tank indicator and automatic shutoff, both pluses. You can adjust the knob dial to get your preferred mist level.

The CVS Health GUL540D1V1 cool-mist humidifier is intended for rooms up to 150 square feet, and it earns an excellent rating in our noise tests, making it a good choice for a small bedroom. If you live in an area with hard water, note that our lab tests show this model is just as effective at humidifying rooms when filled with hard water. Like many small humidifiers, it’s light on features—but it’s equipped with an automatic shutoff and a night-light. This model is sold exclusively at CVS and cvs.com.

If you’re looking for a humidifier with a more unusual design, consider the cat-shaped CVS Health Ultrasonic Cool Mist Humidifier. It earns top marks in overall performance and impresses in our moisture output, noise, and energy efficiency tests. It’s intended to humidify areas up to 200 square feet and even comes with a glow-in-the-dark element. This model is available only at CVS and cvs.com.

This mini Honeywell humidifier earns an excellent rating in overall performance and is intended to humidify areas up to 162.5 square feet. It boasts a 76-inch power cord and a tray for use with essential oils. This model impressed us in our noise, efficiency, and convenience tests and is relatively compact to boot.

The ultrasonic Vicks VUL525 Humidifier offers great value. This model, which is designed to humidify up to 250 feet, excels in every test we throw at it: overall moisture output, convenience, noise, energy efficiency, and output using hard water. (It has no humidistat, though, so we didn’t test that feature’s efficacy.) It’s spartan, with no programmable options, empty-tank alert, automatic shutoff, or night-light or glow-in-the-dark feature. But it has a long 76-inch cord, a plus.

The Air Innovations humidifier impresses in our tests, with top marks in moisture output, low noise level, and energy efficiency. It earns an excellent rating in overall performance and comes with an automatic shutoff feature and an empty-tank indicator. The tank and base are made of antimicrobial plastic that the manufacturer claims will help prevent bacteria, mold, and mildew growth, though we haven’t tested this claim. It can be used to humidify areas up to 400 square feet. 

The CVS Health # 268550 Humidifier, which is designed to humidify rooms up to 400 square feet, earned a respectable score in our moisture output test. The teardrop-shaped model ticks all the boxes for being quiet, easy to use, and energy-efficient. It has an aroma tray where you can put essential oils and comes with features such as automatic shut-off, an empty-tank indicator, and night-light settings. This model is available only at CVS and cvs.com.

The Lasko UH200 is intended for spaces up to 320 square feet and nets excellent ratings in each of our performance tests. It only misses out on humidistat accuracy because it doesn’t have one. It has an indicator (and auto-shutoff) for when the tank runs dry, a night-light, and the option to diffuse aromas through the room.

The Vicks VUL545 Humidifier is designed to humidify a midsized room of around 400 feet. It notched a solid score for its moisture output and aced our tests for noise, energy efficiency, and ease of use. It comes with a 74-inch power cord, and you can use it with VapoPads and essential oils.

The Black+Decker BUH005 is designed to humidify areas up to 550 square feet. It earned a solid rating in our moisture output test and performed even better in our noise level and energy efficiency evaluations. However, the model scored only middling for how easy it is to maintain and use. You can adjust the mist speed using its touch panel, and there’s a filter included that the manufacturer claims can soften water and reduce the calcium buildup inside your humidifier.

While the other models we’ve recommended above have been cool-mist only, the Lasko UH300 comes with both cool-mist and warm-mist options. Its moisture output is higher in warm-mist mode, but our testers have noted that it also uses more energy. The humidifier comes with a humidistat, which measures the relative humidity in a space, though its accuracy is subpar. One of the pluses is that it has a top-fill design, which makes refilling the humidifier easier.

The compact Lasko UH150, designed for areas up to 25 square feet, is the only travel/personal humidifier to ace all our lab tests, making it the ideal companion for a trip. It’s light on features, but the machine does shut off automatically when the tank is empty, and it’s equipped with a multicolor night light.

The very inexpensive Comfort Zone CZHD20 Tabletop is geared toward smaller areas up to 25 square feet. It’s effective at producing moisture convenient to use, and quiet, though, based on our lab tests, it doesn’t do as well with hard water. Its design is more bare-bones than others: you use a water bottle (not included) as the humidifier’s water tank. Its only feature is an automatic shut-off.