6 Best Dish Soaps, Tested by Our Experts

The top-rated dish soaps efficiently cleaned dishes without leaving our hands feeling dry

Consumer Reports Home & Trends Writer, Jodhaira Rodriguez.

By Jodhaira Rodriguez
Home & Trends Writer

Updated by Kala Herh

Updated February 26, 2026

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Dawn, Mrs. Meyer's Palmolive, Gain dish soaps with plate and sponges — All of the dish soaps we evaluated cleaned dishes really well.

Dish soap is a kitchen cleaning essential, important for tackling those items that shouldn’t go in a dishwasher, such as pots and pans, chef’s knives, and wooden utensils. I have a dishwasher, but because I live alone, running it to clean a single plate, fork, and pan after each meal just doesn’t make sense.

In this article

Dish Soaps: Amazon Basics Dawn Platinum Dawn Platinum Plus PowerSuds Dawn Ultra Ecos Gain Grove Collaborative Mrs. Meyer's Method Nellie's Palmolive Seventh Generation
Things to Consider: Ingredient Concerns How Much Dish Soap Do You Need? Hot or Cold Water? Phthalates in Soap
How CR Tests Dish Soap

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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.