Best Refrigerator Water Filters of 2026
Inexpensive third-party replacements may work as long as filters from refrigerator brands like Bosch, GE, LG, Samsung, and Whirlpool, but many lack key water-safety certifications
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Changing my fridge’s water filter is one of those little chores I always put off, primarily because I hate buying the filters. Most name-brand replacements retail for about $50, which isn’t a small expense when you’re supposed to change the filters every six months.
I’d love to buy a cheaper replacement filter, and it’s easy to go online and find both name-brand and third-party filters at steep discounts. But two issues make that tricky: counterfeit filters that look like the real thing, and third-party filters that don’t have the same safety and quality certifications as the originals that came with the refrigerator.
That’s why Consumer Reports recently conducted our first-ever test of refrigerator water filters. We evaluated 29 products that fit refrigerators from more than a dozen brands, including Bosch, Frigidaire, GE, LG, Samsung, and Whirlpool. For each first-party filter, we evaluated at least one third-party model to help you find inexpensive alternatives.
Our tests focused on each filter’s flow rate over its claimed lifespan, which is given in gallons of water processed. While a certified filter should remove contaminants for its entire claimed lifespan, the filter is no longer useful once the water flow from your dispenser slows to a trickle. Below, we show the results of that testing, and also list what contaminants each filter is supposed to remove from your water, based on the certifications they’ve earned.
Let’s start with those certifications. (Or skip to the test results.)
Which Water Safety Certifications Should You Look For?
Filters can carry a number of different certifications that tell you what engineering standards they conform to. You may not need to pay for a filter with every imaginable certification. It depends on the quality of your water coming into your home.
If you use municipal water, your town or city should have published water quality reports (often available on its website) that show which contaminants may be present.
If you have your own well or another private water supply, you can conduct a water quality test. One option is to buy a do-it-yourself test kit, but it’s unclear how accurate they are. The Environmental Protection Agency recommends using a certified test lab instead. Warning: These tests can cost hundreds of dollars. (CR has tested mail-in kits from several certified labs.)
Once you have the results, you can consider filters that conform to the standards that matter to you. There are five sets of criteria that can apply to refrigerator water filters, set by NSF International (which is accredited by the American National Standards Institute, or ANSI): NSF/ANSI 42, 53, 372, 401, and P473.
- 42 covers the removal of chlorine, tastes, and odors. It also includes material safety, which ensures the filter’s physical components won’t leach contaminants such as arsenic into your water and ice.
- 53 covers a hodgepodge of health-related contaminants, including everything from lead to parasites to asbestos.
- 372 ensures that the filters themselves are essentially lead-free, containing a maximum weighted lead content of 0.25 percent.
- 401 covers trace pharmaceuticals and chemicals, from ibuprofen to BPA to deet, as well as microplastics.
- P473 covers two of the most prevalent per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), or “forever," chemicals: PFOS and PFOA. Notably, only GE filters are certified to remove PFOS and PFOA.
If your water is free from contaminants or you have a whole-home filtration system, you will be fine with a filter that carries only NSF/ANSI 42 certification for bad tastes. This is true of most third-party filters. Buying one of these will help you save some money because filters that meet only NSF/ANSI 42 tend to be cheaper.
Two of these certifications can take some work to interpret. Fridge water filters do not have to meet all of the criteria listed to carry an NSF/ANSI 53 or 401 certification. For example, some filters certified to NSF/ANSI 401 will remove trace chemicals but don’t claim to remove microplastics.
If you want to learn precisely which contaminants each filter removes, you’ll need to search for its certifications. They’re provided by three large testing organizations, the Water Quality Association (WQA), the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO), and NSF.
Picking a Filter That Fits Your Fridge
One confusing aspect of refrigerator water filters is that they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Each manufacturer makes multiple filter models that fit several—but not all—of its refrigerators. If you have a Bosch refrigerator, you can’t just buy any Bosch filter. And you definitely can’t use one brand’s filter in another brand’s refrigerator.
Or consider GE Appliances. The company makes six filter models (AFPWF, GSWF, MSWF, MWF, RPWFE, and XWFE) that each work with only certain refrigerators from its four fridge brands: GE, GE Profile, Café, and Monogram. None of those filters will work with fridges made by LG, Samsung, Whirlpool, etc.
Test Results by Refrigerator Filter Model
Below, you can click your current filter model to see results for all the products that will work in your refrigerator.
Each entry shows the manufacturer’s claimed lifespan in gallons and the useful lifespan we measured in the lab. Claimed lifespan refers to a filter’s ability to remove contaminants for a set number of gallons. The useful lifespan is the number of gallons the filter can dispense while maintaining a flow rate of at least 16 ounces (or 2 cups) per minute. Once the water slows beyond that point, we think the dispenser becomes inconvenient and annoying to use.
For each filter, we also provide: the filter’s price; the price per gallon of water filtered (which is the retail price divided by the useful lifespan we observed); a list of contaminants that should be removed, based on the filter’s certifications; and information on where you can purchase these filters.
Unfortunately, shoppers sometimes see counterfeit name-brand filters that display manufacturer logos and even fake certification badges. Every few years, U.S. Customs and Border Protection discloses that it has seized thousands of these fake filters, and in some cases they can actually contaminate the water that passes through them. We suggest buying filters directly from the manufacturers or from reputable retailers. (It’s fine to shop for filters at big retail sites such as Amazon or walmart.com, but it’s probably best to avoid those sites’ third-party sellers.)
Continue down below the results for more details on how we test refrigerator water filters.
