6 Best Toilets of 2026, Lab-Tested and Reviewed

The four toilets below perform impressively in our tests that assess how well they flush waste and clean the bowl. The first two are single-flush models, and the last two are dual-flush, meaning you can use minimal water for most flushes and dial up the pressure for heavier needs. All of the models below are WaterSense certified by the Environmental Protection Agency, so they’re 20 percent more water-efficient than the typical models in this category and meet certain performance standards.

The two best smart toilets in our tests do a top-notch job at removing solid waste. Based on our tests, the bidets also clean well. Both toilets are WaterSense certified and ADA-compliant in height.

It’s easy to overlook key considerations when buying a toilet, such as extra accessories or hardware needed for a complete assembly, or even regulations that may restrict which type of toilet you can buy, depending on where you live. Here are some things to consider:

State-level restrictions. A small number of the toilets tested by Consumer Reports aren’t available in a handful of states. California, Colorado, Georgia, New York, Texas, Washington, and others have banned the sale or installation of toilets that don’t meet the Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense standard of 1.28 gallons, on average, per flush. But don’t worry: Most toilets in our ratings (including all the top-rated toilets listed here) are WaterSense certified, refuting the myth that efficiency has to come at the cost of performance.

Variants. Double-check that you’re getting the specific model you want. Toilets with similar model names or numbers often come in multiple variants, such as different bowl shapes.

Seats and hardware. Some toilets recommended by CR don’t come with a seat, a wax ring, or mounting hardware, so you may need to buy those separately. Expect to pay at least $40 more for the necessary accessories.

Smart toilet installation and maintenance. A smart toilet has requirements for installation beyond those of a standard toilet. For one, you’ll need a 125-volt ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) outlet that the smart toilet can plug into. (A GFCI outlet protects from electric shocks and is required by code in bathrooms.) Some smart toilets are tankless and may require your water supply to be within a certain pressure range to flush properly.

Smart toilets also require some maintenance. The bidet’s water filter and the air deodorizer’s filter will need to be replaced regularly, as do the batteries in the toilet’s backup system (if the backup system is powered by batteries).

To develop our in-depth toilet ratings, Consumer Reports’ engineers put the fixtures through a battery of tests involving waste removal, bowl cleaning, and drain-line clogs. We also use a decibel meter to measure how loud a toilet’s flushes are. Based on performance in these tests, we give each toilet an Overall Score.

To test solid waste removal, we dump marble-sized plastic beads, weighted sponges, and water-filled condoms into the bowl and measure how well each flush handles the simulated waste. We also look at how well a toilet moves waste from bowl to sewer and whether there’s enough force to make sure the waste doesn’t get stuck, especially if waste needs to travel a long way to the sewer.

We use a combination of methods to assess how well a toilet cleans the entire bowl. First, we use water-based red paint to create a solid rectangular shape above the waterline in the front bottom of a clean bowl. We take a picture of the red rectangle, then the toilet is flushed two times. After the second flush, we take a second picture to record how much paint has been removed.

A second way we test how well a toilet cleans waste: We let the bowl fill up, then draw a line around the bowl with a water-soluble pen about an inch below the rim. Next, we flush. We then measure how much of the pen mark remains. The better a toilet cleans, the less marking and paint are left. We repeat the pen test three times and calculate the average to arrive at a score.

To gauge soil and odor potential, we measure the length and width of the bowl, as well as the depth of water inside. The deeper and wider the bowl, the better solid-waste odors will be trapped by the water.

For noise, we measure the decibel level of a toilet’s flushes in a silent chamber.

And for bidet cleaning, which we test only in smart toilets, not regular toilets, we smear Nutella on a clear piece of Plexiglass, then turn the bidet on its highest setting and see how much Nutella it washes off.