Best Flushable Wipes From Our Tests

Even though we do not recommend flushing these wipes, our curiosity got the best of us, because, let’s face it, people flush them: Amézquita also ran each wipe through our lab’s toilets and pipes to see which passed through with the most ease. He then repeated that same test with toilet paper and wipes labeled “do not flush.” All wipes were tested right after opening them. 

If you’re thinking: Soiled wipes are gross—how can I hygienically dispose of them if flushing isn’t an option? Investing in a bathroom trash bin with a lid that seals tight or even a diaper can with liners and pods that absorb odors can help. Here are our top picks in flushable wipes.

Amazon Basics Flushable Wipes achieved an above-average Overall Score in our tests and were the second strongest wipe (Kirkland Signature, below, was our strongest). But, unlike the Kirkland wipes, Amazon Basics’ cleaned really well, removing sticky honey from my skin with just two passes from one wipe. They also dried easily (without leaving a lingering wet residue behind like some wipes). They come in plastic packaging with a resealable sticker, which Amézquita says can help the wipes retain their moisture better than a wipes package with a clickable lid (which may allow more air in to dry out wipes faster). 

These wipes could be pulled out of their packaging fairly well, though four other wipes, including a Cottonelle product, did this better. For the most part, one wipe came out after the next and none ripped when I pulled them out, but they would occasionally bundle up in the package. Even though they were easy enough to unravel, this means anyone using the wipes after you could be touching the same wipes that you touched prior to cleaning their body with them. Along with the Equate and Kirkland Signature wipes, these were the second most cost-conscious in our tests (Up&Up are the least expensive). These are fragrance-free—with one caveat. Amazon Basics and Kirkland Signature share the exact same list of ingredients, but we detected a very light scent on the Amazon Basics wipe. I would describe it as pleasant and it’s nowhere near as overpowering a scent as we experienced from the Up&Up Flushable Wipes, but it may be noticeable if you are sensitive to smells. 

As far as its flushability is concerned (remember: don’t flush any of these wipes), Amézquita found this wipe flushed fairly well. All of the wipes passed through the line, but some took more flushing than others. Amazon Basics could be considered average in this category.

Few things are more frustrating when using wipes than trying to pull out one wipe and getting three or four instead, or one wipe that’s torn to bits. Cottonelle Flushable Wipes earned the highest score for dispensing, with one wipe emerging effortlessly after the other and no tears to be found. Their tensile strength was only slightly less than Amazon Basics’ wipes and they come in a plastic package with a clickable lid, which may let in more air than a resealable sticker lid. They removed honey from my skin with two passes with one wipe, but they had a lingering wetness that you may find uncomfortable or want to dry with toilet paper (it eventually dries on its own, but takes longer than some of the other wipes). 

These are not fragrance-free wipes. Their scent is called “fresh feel” and I would describe it as a fresh laundry scent, but one that lingered slightly on my skin. In our drain line passage test, this was one of the worst three wipes that didn’t travel effortlessly down the drain line, though the brand claims on the label that it is “Plumber Approved” and “breaks down like toilet paper” in its test vs Cottonelle Ultra Clean, which was our top pick for single-ply TP in our tests.

Caboo Flushable Bamboo Wipes were our sole pick made from renewable bamboo and pulp-based viscose. They are also the largest wipe we tested, fragrance-free, and one of the two most expensive wipes (Nice ’N Clean Flushable Wipes also cost 11 cents per wipe, which is 9 cents more per wipe than our cheapest pick, Up&Up Flushable Wipes). Caboo cleaned well, requiring two passes with one wipe to completely remove honey from my skin, and it dried fairly quickly from the skin. 

However, its Overall Score was the lowest of all of the wipes, for a few reasons. It’s tied with Kirkland Signature and The Honest Company as the second most difficult to dispense (one wipe ripped as I was pulling it out of its package). Its tensile strength was above average (but Amazon Basics, Cottonelle, and Kirkland Signature scored higher), and it was one of the three worst when testing how they travel down the drain line. It comes in a plastic package with a resealable sticker lid.

Kirkland Signature Flushable Wipes from Costco are similar to Amazon Basics, with the exact same ingredients list and cost per wipe, but a few key differences will help you decide which wipe is best for you. If strength is your priority, Kirkland scored the highest in tensile strength and was average in how well it travels down the drain line. Kirkland provides more guidance than all other brands about when to flush and when not to flush on its label. It comes in a plastic package with a clickable lid seal, but dispensing wipes was difficult, and I attribute this to not being able to always locate the best place to pull on the wipe (one ripped during my evaluation). These are truly fragrance-free, which differs from Amazon Basics, in which we detected a light scent. But they don’t clean as well as Amazon Basics: it took me four passes from two wipes to remove honey from my skin and I had to re-wipe over the same area.

In 2024, a settlement was reached in a class-action lawsuit involving Costco flushable wipes sold under the Kirkland Signature Moist Flushable Wipes brand. The lawsuit claimed that the wipes were not flushable. Costco denies the allegation and maintains that the product performs as advertised. We reached out to Costco to ask if the Kirkland Signature Flushable Wipes that we purchased from Costco and tested are the same wipe formulation as the wipes that were involved in the class-action lawsuit. We did not hear back by our publication date.

Flushable wipes enthusiasts may look for a brand that can help mask unpleasant smells with a fresh fragrance. Scent is subjective, but in our opinion, Good Wipes Flushable Wipes have the most pleasant light coconut fragrance, and the brand claims on its package that all of their fragrances are hydrosols, which the brand also claims are naturally derived by soaking materials in water. Since hydrosols are water-based they are considered milder in scent and more sustainable than chemical fragrances.

These wipes cleaned honey on my skin with two passes of one wipe, leaving my skin wet for longer than most of the other wipes. They’re average in tensile strength and drainpipe passage, and above average in how well they dispensed from their plastic packaging with a clickable lid. In my experience, I was able to remove several wipes, one after another, and none of them ripped or became clogged in the package.

Charmin Flushable Wipes ranked below average in our strength and dispense tests—and was actually our lowest performer when it came to dispensing its wipes. Even though its plastic packaging with a clickable lid is on the smaller side (similar to Cottonelle and Amazon Basics), I found it disastrously difficult to remove one wipe at a time from its package. More than once, two or three wipes would be dispensed at the same time and several ripped in the process. I needed two wipes and three passes with them to remove honey from my skin, but the formula dried quickly.

These wipes have a fragrance that I found pleasant, but make sure you’re not sensitive to scent: though the fragrance wasn’t as overpowering as Up&Up, it wasn’t as subtle as Good Wipes, either. In our drain line passage test, Charmin Flushable Wipes performed above average.

Dude Wipes were fine. But they didn’t blow us away in testing and evaluations. They scored slightly below average in strength and drain line passage, but were slightly above average in dispensing wipes. When I was removing wipes from their plastic package with a clickable lid, most of the time, one wipe came out after another, but a few times, they didn’t, and one wipe ripped in the process. 

They clean well, though. It took two passes for one wipe to fully remove honey from my skin, and they dried very fast, with zero fragrances. These are the second-largest wipes after Caboo Flushable Wipes if size is a consideration.

Equate Flushable Wipes is a Walmart-owned brand that markets itself as comparable to Cottonelle Flushable Wipes and costs 1 cent less per wipe. Its tensile strength was far below average, though, and lower than Cottonelle. Yet, it had an above-average drain line passage and cleared our lab’s toilet better than Cottonelle. It was also fairly easy to dispense these wipes from their plastic packaging, which features a sticker lid.

The wipes didn’t clean as well, though: I needed to use two wipes and pass over honey on my skin four times to clean it (it dries quickly, though).

Like Cottonelle, it has a fragrance that it calls “fresh scent” that is more powerful than Good Wipe or Charmin and smells like a cleaning wipe to me.

Honest Flushable Wipes were exceptionally superior to the other wipes at passing through our lab toilet. I also found them to be efficient at cleaning honey off my skin—they removed it with just one pass from one wipe. The wetness they left on my skin lingered a little while longer than Amazon Basics and Dude Wipes, but this wasn’t a dealbreaker for me. 

The bigger issue was that these wipes were our lowest performers in tensile strength tests—by a lot. They were also below average when it came to dispensing them from their plastic package with clickable lid, though in my evaluation I was able to remove them without one ripping. They’re the same cost per wipe as Charmin (which did better in strength tests), but these were easier to dispense and lacked fragrance, which is important for anyone who is sensitive to scent.

Nice ’N Clean Flushable Wipes were the most expensive wipes we tested (along with Caboo Flushable Wipes, which are the same cost per wipe), and the brand claims that it is “plastic-free.” For that price, you are getting a wipe that scored below average in three tests: tensile strength, dispensing, and the ability to pass through our lab toilet efficiently.

To remove honey from my skin, I needed to use two different wipes and pass over the area five times. I still smelled honey on my skin after this and used a third wipe to remove the scent.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your feelings about fragrance), this pick has a fresh scent that’s only slightly less powerful than Up&Up’s. Make sure you are comfortable with fragrance if you purchase this brand. When I pulled wipes from its plastic packaging with clickable lid, sometimes two or three wipes would come out at one time.

With the second lowest overall average score after Caboo Flushable Wipes, Up&Up Flushable Cleansing Wipes from Target was a mixed bag as far as how well it did in our tests. Let’s start with the positives: this wipe was above average when we tested its ability to pass through the lab toilet and its tensile strength was also slightly above average. At 2 cents per wipe, this is also the most budget-conscious wipe on our list. 

Getting the wipes out of their plastic packaging with a clickable lid was another story, though. As I pulled them out, several ripped. I needed three passes from one wipe to completely remove honey from my skin and its wetness lingered longer than most of the other wipes. If you’re sensitive to fragrance like me, you may not be a fan of this wipe’s (in my estimation) strong “fresh” fragrance. These can be a good choice if you’re on a strict budget, but make sure you’re on board with fragrance and don’t mind a wipe that’s more of a challenge to dispense.

Amazon Basics Bath Tissue 2-ply toilet paper disintegrated 100 percent, and virtually none remained on the strainer. About half of the Kirkland Flushable Wipes sieved through the strainer and disintegrated better than the Dude Flushable Wipes and Cottonelle Ultra Clean toilet paper. Dude Flushable Wipes broke into large pieces, and most of the product remained on the strainer.