Top 5 Air Purifiers for Large Rooms: How Many Do You Need?

Maintaining good air quality in your home is very important. However, dealing with annoying dust particles in large rooms can be tricky and often seem impossible. 

The key is to get an air purifier! I’ve created this buying guide to help you choose the perfect one for your large room. It’s based on my analysis of all the air purifiers I’ve tested and includes the five best options you can currently get.

On average, “large” rooms are defined as those between 300-500 sq. ft., So you would need an air purifier with an ACH (Air Changes per Hour) of 4.8 for at least a 300 sq. ft. room. Fortunately, the smallest air purifier on the list has a CADR rating of approximately 250 CFM and a room coverage of 360 sq. ft., which is pretty enough for an average large room. 

However, it’s not only about the room coverage; there are also many other important factors to consider when looking for an air purifier, such as performance, filtration technology, power usage, noise level, etc. Guess what? I considered them all!

5 Best Air Purifiers for Large Rooms

Every air purifier recommended on this list has been tested, used for some time, and reviewed here on Air Purifier First using our comprehensive testing methodology.

These air purifiers feature high-quality filtration technology, are ideal for large rooms, and offer a good price-to-efficiency ratio. However, I warn you to keep in mind that these devices are much larger in person than in images.

Levoit Core 600S – Best for Large Rooms

The Levoit Core 600S, with a CADR rating of 410 CFM, stands out as the best air purifier for large rooms. With such a large CADR rating, it’s perfectly suited for rooms up to 635 sq. ft. (59 m²). In such a room, it efficiently purifies the air 4.8 times within an hour.

For the best performance, I strongly recommend using it in rooms of 635 sq. ft. (59 m²) or smaller ones. However, I must point out that it will clean the air two times in a 1588 sq. ft. (147.5 m²) room in just one hour and once in one hour in a 2665 sq. ft. (247.5 m²) room.

In the performance tests, the Levoit Core 600S improved the air quality by incredibly 96% in a 560 sq. ft. (52 m²) room for just one hour working at the max speed. I have also tested how it performs in a slightly larger room than the recommended dimensions. It didn’t disappoint and improved the air quality by about 93%, also in just 60 minutes. The room was 730 sq. ft. (68 m²) large.

As seen on the chart, the Levoit Core 600S performed better in a 560 sq. ft. room by about 4% than its main competitor, the Blueair 211+. 

Like many Levoit air purifiers, the Core 600S also has a well-optimized motor of just 49W, making its power-to-CADR ratio one of the best on the market.

The three-stage filtration technology is the main weapon for neutralizing particles and bad odors. What I like is a pellet-based carbon filter, but the pre-filter is something that can be improved.

It also has plenty of advanced features, such as an air quality sensor, air quality indicator, auto mode, and VeSync smart app.

Blueair 211+ – Best Minimalistic

The Blueair 211+ is a minimalistic air purifier without any advanced features and with just one button for complete control. It has a CADR rating of 350 CFM, making it ideal for rooms of 540 sq. ft. (50 m²). 

It covers a bit smaller rooms than the previously mentioned Levoit Core 600S, but it is still a great pick for large rooms. This Blueair is the best option for people seeking minimalism, simple controls, but also high-quality filtration.

What may move people away from this air purifier is its HEPASilent technology, which is, in essence, an ionizer that can’t be turned on. However, the Blueair 211+ is a CARB-certified air purifier, which means it doesn’t produce the unallowed amounts of ozone and is safe to use.

Its first stage of filtration is a washable pre-filter, the second stage is a particle filter, and the last stage of filtration is a carbon filter. The biggest con of this air purifier is the use of a fibrous carbon filter, which is an underperformer compared to all the other air purifiers on the list, except the Coway.  

The Blueair 211+ improved the air quality by about 92% in a room of 560 sq. ft. (52 m²), working at the max speed for just 60 minutes. This test confirmed its outstanding performance and also confirmed why the Levoit Core 600S is my best choice for large rooms (it improved the air quality by about 96% in the same-sized room).

I also want to point out that Blueair releases newer and more modern versions of the 211+ model (211+ Auto). I haven’t tested it, but some users may like its air quality sensor, auto mode, and air quality indicator features. The performance, I believe, is the same.

Levoit Vital 200S – Best Pre-Filter

Levoit made a boom by improving its Vital series. I haven’t waited a bit; I bought and tested the Vital 200S air purifier just after it was released.

The Levoit Vital 200S is a rectangular air purifier characterized by a shape untypical for Levoit. With a CADR rating of 245 CFM, it’s ideal for rooms of 380 sq. ft. (35 m²). It will clean the air 4.8 times in one hour in the recommended room size.

This air purifier comes with a three-stage filtration technology consisting of a pre-filter, True HEPA filter, and an activated carbon filter. What I like here the most is a washable/permanent pre-filter, which is a completely unusual feature for Levoit air purifiers. It’s great for people with pets, as the large pet hair may easily attach to this pre-filter, which is then easy to clean/wash.

The Levoit Vital 200S has a pellet-based carbon filter, which has an outstanding performance in neutralizing bad odors. It also performed amazingly in other tests. In a 320 sq. ft. (30 m²) room, the Vital 200S improved the air quality by about 96% in just 60 minutes, working at the maximum speed. It also performed outstandingly in a 560 sq. ft. (52 m²) room test, improving the air quality by about 92% in just one hour.

Overall, I strongly recommend this air purifier, and it’s one of my best choices for almost every situation. However, the Levoit Core 600S has a much larger CADR (room coverage), which is why it’s a bit more suitable for large rooms.

Winix 5500-2 – Best Carbon Filter

The Winix 5500-2 is on our list of the best air purifiers for various situations since 2016. Since I started the Air Purifier First project, this air purifier remains one of the best choices and very often my best recommendation.

It has a CADR rating of 240 CFM and looks a bit old and bulky, but it offers great filtration efficiency and some advanced features. The Winix 5500-2 covers rooms of 360 sq. ft. (33 m²), which is alongside the Coway AP-1512HH, the smallest coverage on the list.

The Winix 5500-2 uses a four-stage filtration technology consisting of a washable pre-filter, activated carbon filter, True HEPA filter, and PlasmaWave technology. The last stage of filtration is simply an ionizer, which luckily can be turned on/off. It’s CARB-certified, so you don’t have to worry about unallowed amounts of ozone.

What I like the most about this air purifier is its washable pre-filter, the same as on the Vital 200S. However, what I like even more is its pellet-based activated carbon filter, which easily adsorbs bad odors and makes this air purifier one of the best choices for neutralizing bad odors.

I tested this air purifier performance in a 320 sq. ft. (30 m²) room, in which it improved the air quality by incredibly 96% in just 60 minutes working in Turbo Mode.

The Winix 5500-2 is a great air purifier with excellent performance and a very good price, and it is my suggestion for larger rooms. Its advanced features, such as an air quality sensor, auto mode, and light sensor, will ease its everyday use.

Coway AP-1512HH – Also Great

Like the Winix 5500-2, the Coway AP-1512HH is one of the most recommended air purifiers on the Air Purifier First, and there are many reasons for this.

The Coway AP-1512HH has a CADR rating of 240 CFM. It covers rooms of about 361 sq. ft. (33 m²) with an Air Change Per Hour of 4.8.

It uses a four-stage filtration technology, including a washable pre-filter, fibrous carbon filter, high-quality True HEPA filter, and an Ionizer. It’s CARB-certified.

This Coway has almost identical features, performance, and all other specifications as the previously mentioned Winix 5500-2. This is why these two air purifiers stood out in many buying guides I wrote.

I tested the Coway AP-1512HH performance in a 320 sq. ft. (30 m²) room and must say that I was impressed with the outcome. It improved the air quality by about 96% in just 60 minutes, working at the maximum speed all the time. What’s interesting is that the Coway performed almost identically to its main competitors: the Levoit Vital 200S and Winix 5500-2.

The Coway AP-1512HH is an incredibly good air purifier that will for sure improve your place’s air quality.

Side-by-side Comparison of the Best Air Purifiers for Large Rooms

What Makes an Air Purifier Good Choice for Large Rooms

From my point of view, many factors make an air purifier an exceptional choice for a large room. All the factors need to be summarized to determine whether one air purifier is the right choice to buy. To help forthcoming air purifier owners make the best choice for a large room, I have used the factors listed below to make my selection.

Size and coverage: The first thing to look for is whether the air purifier room coverage matches the size of the room you plan to use it in. Fortunately, the air purifiers I have chosen are the best in class. You will be very hard-pressed to find an air purifier that covers larger rooms of 635 sq. ft. (59 m²), the room coverage of the Levoit Core 600S air purifier.

Filtration technology: Thus, you will find many air purifiers on the market that do not use conventional filtration but some other variations, such as washable filters or filter technologies, such as ionizer or UV filtration. However, as HEPA filters are known to be the most reliable, I have only listed the devices that have a HEPA filter in this article.

To be a little more precise, all devices except the Blueair have a True HEPA filter, which can capture 99.97% of particles down to 0.3 microns in size. In addition to HEPA, many of the devices on the list also use a pre-filter and an activated carbon filter. Some, such as Winix, Coway, and Blueair, have a built-in ionizer as an additional level of filtration.

Efficiency: When you combine high-quality filters with high airflow, you get an air purifier combination that is highly efficient. This means that the True HEPA filter and the high room coverage also influence the choice of machine, especially as they all combine to give extremely high efficiency and outstanding performance.

Maintenance: This fact includes energy consumption, the cost of replacement filters, and the filters’ duration. Although it may not look like it at first glance, air purifiers can be very demanding and expensive to maintain, so I recommend everyone to check these facts thoroughly. In addition, I try to detail in each review how you can maintain your air purifier filters to extend their life.

Portability: As most air purifiers designed for large spaces use huge motors, making the devices huge, it is important to take the device’s size as a parameter when choosing the best one. I have noticed that the size of a device does not necessarily mean that it has the largest airflow. Many brands are coming up with new innovations that make air purifiers dimensionally smaller but not less efficient.

How Did We Determine the Best Ones?

In determining the best large-room air purifiers to buy, I researched efficiency, filtration technologies, price, brand reliability, maintenance costs, and other factors. Apart from the price and filtration technology, room coverage is one of the most important parameters when choosing the best air purifiers. The first air purifier on the list is designed for rooms of 635 sq. ft. (59 m²), while the device with the lowest room coverage on the list covers rooms up to 360 sq. ft. (33 m²)

Basically, all the air purifiers on the list are of high quality. They use high-quality filters, and only a few little things set them apart. I am very surprised at how much technology has advanced. Now motors with not-so-powerful outputs are powering large air purifiers and making such high airflow. All this has made it possible to have medium-sized air purifiers on the market now, but they are designed for very large rooms.

Personally, I like to use advanced options, and I like a device to have a lot of smart features, so I took that into account when choosing a device. However, I am also aware that some users are looking for minimalism, so you will find some minimalist air purifiers on the list without a lot of advanced options. If you are interested in the best smart air purifiers you can buy, I suggest you read the article I wrote on that subject.

Almost all air purifiers on the list use a True HEPA filter. In addition, they are all CARB-certified, which means they do not produce illegal amounts of ozone and are safe to use.

What is the Coverage Area of Large Air Purifiers?

Essentially, the point of large room air purifiers is to maximize the coverage of the room. This unit of measurement is defined by sq. ft.

Each air purifier has an airflow that is measured for each fan speed. The reference value is the Max Airflow, which is essentially the amount of air that the air purifier can process at its maximum speed. The airflow is specified in CFM values. Below, I will describe the two most essential air purifier space coverage characteristics.

CADR rating

The CADR (Clean Air Delivery Rate) rating is an AHAM-affirmed metric that informs us how well a certain air purifier catches air pollutants such as dust, smoke, and pollen. If you look at the list of air purifiers I’ve chosen as the best for large rooms, you’ll see that almost all have a CADR above 250.

I am always guided by the AHAM-verified values when I test air purifiers. I always take the AHAM recommended value as a reference for room coverage. Why? Well, because these are reliable tests and because AHAM is backed by tests for more than 400 different air purifiers. The recommended room coverage recommended by AHAM means that an air purifier in a room of the recommended dimensions will clean the air 4.8x, which means that the air purifier in that room has 4.8 ACH (Air Changes Per Hour). To better explain the metrics I have used to describe each air purifier, I first need to describe the ACH value.

4.8 ACH: The air purifier will clean the entire air in the room every 13 minutes, or translated, clean the air 4.8 times in one hour.

2 ACH: this means that the air purifier will clean the entire air in the room every 30 minutes, or translated, it will clean the air completely 2 times per hour.

1 ACH: this value means that the air purifier cleans all the air in the room once per hour.

FAQ on Large Room Air Purifiers

Final Thoughts

Making the right decision when buying an air purifier can be challenging and extremely annoying, especially when you need one for specific places such as a large room. You have to consider many parameters, such as coverage, filtration technology, features, efficiency, power usage, noise level, and more.

In order to not do all these by yourself, we made a list of the best air purifiers you can buy for a large room and considered all the most important parameters and specifications when choosing the best ones.

The best air purifier you can get for large rooms is the Levoit Core 600S. It’s a large air purifier, highly efficient, with plenty of advanced options, and is undoubtedly the best option for large rooms.

If you have any questions about the article or devices I have recommended, please leave a comment in the comment section below.