To find the best electric toothbrushes, we consulted oral-health experts including dentists, dental hygienists, and faculty at leading dental schools and research universities, as well as consumer advisers appointed by the American Dental Association, which confers a Seal of Acceptance on dental-care products made by companies that seek the certification, demonstrating the products’ safety and efficacy. We also consulted caregivers who help others with oral hygiene.

Altogether, over the past nine years, we’ve invested more than 120 hours in researching and evaluating electric toothbrushes, reading studies, and testing more than five dozen powered toothbrushes.

Nancy Redd is Wirecutter’s senior staff writer for health and grooming. Her family has personally tested more than 100 electric toothbrushes over the past five years, including dozens of electric toothbrushes for kids.

Per ADA recommendations, the only thing you need to brush your teeth effectively is a toothbrush—manual or electric—that you use properly along with the fluoride-containing toothpaste of your choice.

For over a decade, various studies have shown that powered toothbrushes remove more plaque and do more to reduce gingivitis than manual toothbrushes, as they help people brush for a full two minutes, improve uneven brushing across the mouth, and do most of the physical labor.

If you already have an electric toothbrush you’re happy with, no need to consider upgrading. If you use a manual brush and don’t struggle to maintain good brushing habits, you also have little reason to consider upgrading.

Electric toothbrushes are more expensive than manual ones, and not just at the outset. Powered brushes typically cost upwards of 10 times as much as manual toothbrushes, and you have to replace the brush heads at the same frequency, every three months, each for about the same cost as a manual brush. What you get for the higher cost is less friction in achieving good brushing habits.

On average, without a countdown clock, “folks brush 46 seconds,” said Joan Gluch, PhD, RDH, PHDHP, the division chief of community oral health at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Dental Medicine. “With timers, people will go for at least the two minutes. Clinically, we see patients do better with powered toothbrushes.”

Mark Wolff, DDS, PhD, dean of the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Dental Medicine, agreed. Powered toothbrushing “helps people that don’t brush well,” he said. “If you need the guidance, invest in the guidance.”

Over nearly a decade, we’ve tested (and in many cases retested) more than five dozen different electric toothbrushes. We’ve assessed what it’s like to use each brush twice daily over several months and—for our picks—years.

That process has involved timing brushing sessions and battery life, replacing brush heads every three months or more frequently as needed, and cleaning handles and charging stands. To stress-test the toothbrushes, we fully submerge in water every model we consider, and we drop them onto tiled floors from a height of around 6 feet. To assess the approximate noise that each brush produces when powered on, we use the NIOSH Sound Level Meter app.

After talking with experts, sorting through the dental-care research, and, most important, using myriad electric toothbrushes with all sorts of features and claimed capabilities, we’ve learned that all you really need from an electric toothbrush is a powerful motor and a two-minute timer to make sure you brush your teeth for the right amount of time.

Nice-to-haves include quadrant pacing (when a brush either produces an additional buzz or stops buzzing every 30 seconds, letting you know it’s time to move on to brush another quarter of your teeth) and a pressure sensor (when a brush either produces an additional buzz, stops buzzing, or flashes a light to tell you that you’re applying too much pressure when brushing).

There are no independent studies comparing the performance of sonic or vibrating toothbrushes with oscillating models; most studies that do exist are industry-funded and include the brands’ own products. Experts told us that the choice mostly boils down to personal preference. Our testers found this to be true within their own households, as partners or kids often strongly preferred an oscillating brush over a vibrating one or vice versa.

In deciding which rechargeable electric toothbrushes to recommend, we prioritized two features:

• Automated two-minute timer: Just about all electric toothbrushes have this feature. The best models have a two-minute timer with quadrant pacing that aids you in spending an even 30 seconds brushing the teeth in each quadrant of your mouth.
• Affordable, widely available replacement heads: Brush-head preferences are personal. “Everyone reacts differently” to brush head shapes and sizes, said Bruce Schechner, DDS, a New York–based general and cosmetic dentist. Whether a brush head includes elements such as rubber-like flaps between the nylon bristles doesn’t matter for oral health, he added, but bristles should be “soft to medium, at hardest.”

We also considered the following:

• Pressure sensors: Some people have the tendency to brush too hard, which can cause gum damage, among other issues. A brush that buzzes, beeps, or lights up can let you know when to let up while you’re brushing. Some people find such a feature especially useful. Others don’t.
• Warranty coverage: Ideally, an electric toothbrush should be covered by a warranty for at least a year.

As part of the American Dental Association’s Seal of Acceptance program, the makers of oral-care products, such as electric toothbrushes and water flossers, can choose to submit data for an ADA-associated panel to review according to a set of criteria. Not all companies seek this certification for their products. Because the only factors that the ADA has found critical to maintaining oral health are brushing for two minutes with a reasonably soft brush and using proper technique, we consider an ADA Seal of Acceptance nice but not necessary.

For this guide, we focus on electric toothbrushes with rechargeable batteries. Those with replaceable batteries tend to have less-powerful motors and produce more battery waste over their usable lives.

The Oral-B Pro 1000 comes with all the features experts recommend, for a reasonable price. It has a two-minute timer with quadrant alerts at 30-second intervals, and it’s compatible with a wide selection of relatively affordable brush heads. We’ve recommended this brush since 2015, and it continues to perform well in long-term testing.

Its motor is plenty powerful. Oral-B powered toothbrushes have brush heads that rotate and pulse—at a rate, the company claims, of up to 48,800 movements per minute. As a quality electric toothbrush should, the Pro 1000 does most of the “brushing” for you. Despite its high-power motor, the brush handle doesn't vibrate along with the brush head, so you feel the buzz at your teeth, not in your hand.

It’s easy to operate. The Pro 1000 has a simple one-button interface, which you use to turn the brush on and off as well as to cycle through its three cleaning modes, “daily clean,” “sensitive,” and “whitening.” To charge it, simply place the brush handle on its stand.

Quadrant pacing brings order to brushing chaos. This brush’s pacing timer goes off every 30 seconds, alerting you to move the brush to another quadrant of your mouth. After two minutes, the brush pulses three times to signal that a full cycle is up. It remains powered on in case you want to keep brushing; you must always manually turn it off.

It’s reliable and durable. The Pro 1000’s battery is rated to last for seven days of brushing sessions on one charge; in our testing, it lasted for over 10 days on average. This brush has also survived several floor-drop and water-dunk tests—and, in the case of a test unit we bought in 2017, seven years of twice-daily use. Oral-B covers the Pro 1000 with a limited two-year warranty, and all Oral-B brush purchases come with a 60-day money-back guarantee.

You have lots of brush-head options to choose from. At around $5 each when bought in bulk, Oral-B replacement brush heads cost less than those from Philips Sonicare and many other competitors. Dentists recommend getting a new toothbrush every three months, so these cost savings can add up over time. You can choose from eight varieties to find the one you like best.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

Oral-B brushes like the Pro 1000 are louder, and more sonically grating, than comparable Philips Sonicare models. Without a point of comparison, you may not detect this difference in the sound. It’s also something our testers quickly got used to. Our sound-meter test registered 35 decibels in the toothbrush’s standard, “daily clean” mode.

The battery-life indicator is vague. It only lets you know when the battery is full (a continuous green light for five seconds after you remove the brush from the charging base) and when it is “low” (a red flashing light after you turn the brush off). Oral-B does not specify how long it takes to get the Pro 1000 to a full charge, but according to the company, you can charge the brush every day without significantly affecting the battery’s capacity as long as you fully deplete it once every six months.

The pressure sensor isn’t especially effective. Although this sensor stops the brush’s rotation when you bear down too hard, our testers have needed to press harder than expected to activate it. We’ve found the light-up pressure sensor on the Oral-B iO Series 6 brush to be much more effective.

The Pro 1000 does not come with a storage case or brush-head caps. But you can find plenty of options for covering the brush head for travel or whenever you aren’t using the brush.

The Philips Sonicare 4100 produces powerful vibrations and runs quieter than our top pick—around 30 decibels at the higher-intensity setting, per our sound-meter testing. It also has the same key features, namely a two-minute timer with quadrant pacing and compatibility with a variety of brush heads, though they cost a bit more than those that work with the Oral-B Pro 1000.

Unlike the Pro 1000, which has three cleaning modes with varying intensities, the 4100 gives you just two vibration intensities, strong or stronger. Our testers have found that the higher-intensity setting on the 4100 roughly matches the feel of the Pro 1000’s “daily clean” mode.

It has great battery life. The 4100’s battery lasts longer on a full charge than the Pro 1000’s. Philips officially rates it to last two weeks on a single charge, versus one week for our Oral-B top pick. In our testing, the 4100 lasted for an average of 16 days of twice-daily use.

It’s as easy to operate as our top pick. With the brush’s one-button operation, you tap once to power it on and double-tap to up the intensity. The 4100 automatically powers down at the end of a two-minute brushing cycle, or you can switch it off sooner than that with a single button push.

The brush heads are narrower than our top pick’s. The brush heads that fit the 4100 likely make this model a better choice for people with smaller mouths. (For an even smaller brush head, consider one of our electric toothbrush for kids recommendations, the smaller but plenty powerful Philips Sonicare for Kids.)

The brush heads each come with a cover. Unlike Oral-B replacement brush heads, Philips Sonicare refills come with brush caps—tiny plastic hoods you can pop off and on to help guard against the coliform sprays flying around the bathroom. These caps are a touch too loose to stay put if you toss the brush in a bag for travel, however. And some people may find these bits of extra plastic undesirable.

This brush is backed by a strong warranty. Like our top pick, the 4100 has a limited two-year warranty (PDF). All Philips Sonicare toothbrushes come with a 90-day money-back guarantee (30 additional days beyond Oral-B’s policy).

Flaws but not dealbreakers

Its vibrations can feel uncomfortable. Even on its lower intensity setting, the 4100’s vibrations can be felt throughout the entire brush during use. This sensation can be especially irritating when the back of the brush head—made entirely of rigid plastic—knocks against opposing teeth.

Its replacement brush heads are generally more expensive. Philips Sonicare replacement brush heads can cost more than double the price of Oral-B’s, making ownership of the 4100 costlier over the long run. Most of the 10 options in Philips Sonicare’s brush-head line are oblong with soft bristles. The line lacks options with additional structural elements, such as rubber flaps or “polishing cups,” which are available from Oral-B and other competitors.

Its charger lacks a standard two-prong plug. Since October 2021, the charging pedestal that accompanies any new 4100 (or 1100, 2100, or 3100) brush from Philips Sonicare has had only a USB plug, not a standard, two-prong plug. A spokesperson for Philips Sonicare said that this change stemmed from the company’s effort to reduce waste and the amount of plastic used in its products. Customers who need a wall adapter can contact customer service to request one for free.

If you want an oscillating electric toothbrush that's less expensive than the Oral-B Pro 1000: The Oral-B Pro 500 is the model to get. It represents a slight downgrade in comparison with our top pick, but it’s a worthwhile upgrade over Oral-B’s lowest-priced rechargeable brush, the Vitality. And the Pro 500 is far and away better than other lower-cost oscillating brushes we’ve considered. Choosing the Pro 500 over the Pro 1000 means sacrificing a pressure sensor and a small amount of stated battery capacity in exchange for a grippier handle. In our experience, the brushing experience has been very similar to that of the Pro 1000. Like our top pick, the Pro 500 has a two-minute timer with quadrant pacing. It offers two modes (one fewer than our top pick) and is compatible with all standard Oral-B replacement brush heads and covered by a two-year warranty.

If you want a vibrating electric toothbrush that’s less expensive than the Philips Sonicare 4100: We recommend the Philips Sonicare 1100. Like our runner-up, it has a two-week battery life on a full charge and a two-minute timer that buzzes at 30-second intervals. The 1100 lacks the pressure sensor and the brush-head replacement reminder light that the 4100 has, though. And it has only one intensity, which feels like the lower intensity setting on the 4100. Like the 4100, the 1100 is compatible with all Philips Sonicare replacement brush heads. It is also warrantied for two years.

If you really want to upgrade from the Oral-B Pro 1000: Consider the Oral-B iO Series 6. This brush’s standout features serve to make brushing interactive—fun, even—without requiring you to pair the brush with the Oral-B app (which we found marginally useful). It has a lighted pressure sensor, plus a digital timer and battery-indicator display, visual aids that for some people may justify the extra investment. We found that the iO Series 6 ran more quietly than the Pro 1000 across each of its five settings, about as loud as the Philips Sonicare 4100 on its highest setting; our sound-meter testing put the iO Series 6’s “daily clean” mode, for example, at 31 decibels. However, the iO Series 6 regularly costs three times as much as the Pro 1000, and its replacement brush heads cost more than double. (Standard Oral-B replacement heads are not compatible with iO Series models.) The size and shape of the iO Series brush heads led some testers to have a more drooly experience in comparison with brushing with the Pro 1000. Some owner reviews also note the need to clean the junction between the brush head and the handle daily. Like the Pro 1000, the iO Series 6 is covered by a two-year warranty.

It’s been a decade since the first app-connected, or “smart,” electric toothbrushes became available, but most such models are still at least double the price of a standard electric toothbrush. As we’ve found over the years, the “smarter” the toothbrush, the more disappointing the experience, because the brushes’ apps tend to be buggy.

Smart-toothbrush capabilities vary widely, but mainly these devices automate the process of tracking your brushing habits, typically by connecting to an app via Bluetooth. Some smart models, such as the Quip Smart and models in Oral-B’s iO Series, attempt to track where the brush head is in your mouth, with varying specificity and results.

After years of testing, we’d recommend smart toothbrushes only for people who can benefit from added guidance and feedback through the brushing process and may find a smart toothbrush a useful tool for maintaining oral health. For example, people with physical or neurological issues that can complicate oral hygiene might find smart toothbrushes’ habit-tracking and coaching support priceless. “If you brush really well with an [unconnected] toothbrush, you don’t need any of these devices,” said Mark Wolff, DDS, PhD, who has provided dental care for people with various disabilities for more than 40 years. However, he added, “the feedback offered by connected toothbrushes is a game-changer” for some people or their caregivers, especially in cases where, for whatever reason, a person has difficulty brushing all of their teeth well enough, for long enough, and often enough.

People with ADHD, for example, might benefit from a digital display or an app focusing their attention on the task at hand for the amount of time it takes to properly brush each quadrant of the mouth. People with Parkinson’s disease or other conditions that may cause dexterity issues may appreciate toothbrushes that can adjust the intensity of the vibrations and possibly track missed areas. Some people with autism may benefit from the gamification that some smart toothbrushes’ apps provide. “I have a nonverbal 14-year-old autistic son who loves his connected toothbrush because the app makes brushing enticing and visually stimulating,” said Barbara Vartanian, the director of oral health advocacy and policy initiatives at New York University’s College of Dentistry. “It gives push reminders and has a timer, and also the app puts a funny hat on his face and prompts him to attack the bugs, which he loves.”

Caregivers of people who are unable to brush their own teeth can find support with connected toothbrushes as well. “It is very difficult to clean someone else’s teeth,” said Ann Spolarich, professor and assistant dean at A.T. Still University’s Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health. When it comes to smart toothbrushes that purport to track the brush head’s location, “the beauty of an app connected to a toothbrush is that you can use it as a guide to make sure you’re reaching all the areas of the mouth.”

Nearly all electric toothbrushes that pair to apps collect varying amounts of personal information. In most cases, the only way to opt out of having your data—anonymized or not—disclosed to affiliates and third parties for a variety of purposes is to avoid downloading and using the app entirely.

You can find plenty of free apps—including Oral-B’s app for Android and iOS—that you can use with non-smart brushes, powered or manual, to time and track your toothbrushing, remind you to clean your tongue and to floss, and so on. María López Howell, DDS, of the Garden Ridge Center for Dentistry in Texas, pointed to the Children’s Oral Health campaign’s 2min2x website, produced in collaboration with the Ad Council, which offers a series of two-minute videos that kids (or adults) can watch while brushing.

“You don’t need all of these more costly brushes,” López Howell said. No matter the toothbrush, manual or powered, smart or not, “brush twice a day for two minutes with a fluoride toothpaste, floss once daily, and visit your dentist to make sure that you’re doing the right thing.”

Oscillating toothbrushes

The Oral-B Vitality is the brand’s least-expensive electric toothbrush with a rechargeable battery. Oral-B declined to disclose the number of oscillations, vibrations, brushstrokes, or bristle movements for any of its toothbrushes, but we noticed that the Oral-B Vitality’s movements felt weaker than those of the Oral-B Pro 1000 and Pro 500. It is equipped with one mode and buzzes after two minutes of brushing but does not offer quadrant pacing. It has the same grippy body as the Pro 500, and like that model and our top pick, it’s compatible with standard Oral-B replacement brush heads and warrantied for two years.

Brushes in the Oral-B iO Series start at about $60 for the iO Series 2 and go up to about $400 for the iO Series 10. The iO Series 6, which has a lighted pressure sensor and a digital display with a countdown clock, currently represents the best value in the line. (We’re testing the newly announced iO Series 2 and will update this review with our findings.) Unlike other electric toothbrushes in Oral-B’s line, the iO Series models are compatible only with iO-specific replacement brush heads; the most economical offer at this writing is about $8 each in a package of four, but they can cost as much as $15 each. Each iO Series brush has an onboard two-minute timer with quadrant pacing and a varying number of cleaning modes. All iO Series models can connect to the Oral-B app, which tracks your brushing duration; depending on the iO Series model, the app may also track where you’re brushing on an interactive color display of the mouth. The idea behind this feature—and the brush-head position detection on several other smart toothbrushes—is to provide you with an overview of which teeth you’re cleaning well and which teeth you may want to pay more attention to. Brushing with an iO Series brush feels high tech, and the position detection was accurate in our limited test runs.

An Oral-B representative informed us that the company’s Smart and Genius series brushes will eventually be phased out in favor of iO Series models. Brushes in the Oral-B Smart series include the Smart 1500, which does not connect to an app but offers a lighted pressure sensor. The Smart 5000 connects to Oral-B’s app to track how often and how long you brush, as well as whether you tend to press too hard. Oral-B’s Genius series includes the Genius 7000, which has six cleaning modes programmed to a separate power button. The Genius 8000 can track the brush’s position in your mouth, thanks to onboard location sensors and access to your phone’s front-facing camera. The Genius X, like the Genius 8000, can connect to your phone. Rather than using your phone’s front-facing camera, however, the Genius X uses onboard sensors and “artificial intelligence” to track the brush head’s location as you move it around your mouth. We found the tracking spotty, as the app counted some unbrushed teeth as clean.

Few competitors regularly cost less than the Oral-B Vitality. Among them are the Amazon Basics Rechargeable Toothbrush and the Bitvae R2. The Amazon Basics brush represents a minimal cost savings over time, and its replacement brush heads are harder to find than Oral-B’s. The Bitvae brush, on the other hand, is especially competitive on price—the brush, plus a two-year supply of replacement brush heads, generally costs around $25—and has a visible pressure sensor. In our testing we found that the R2, which also has a two-minute timer with quadrant pacing, emitted an irritating, extremely loud noise while in operation, making it hardly usable.

Vibrating toothbrushes

The Philips Sonicare 2100, 3100, 5100, 5300, 6100, 6500, and 7500 all feature the same technology as the 4100 and 1100 models we recommend, with a manufacturer-stated 31,000 bristle movements per minute. They differ in available levels of intensity (for instance, the 2100 offers two levels while the 6100 offers three) and the number of cleaning modes (the 1100 and 2100 have only one, while the 6100 has three). The pricier models in this line come with a travel case and other accessories.

Philips Sonicare DiamondClean series brushes have sensors designed to offer brush-head position detection when the brush is synced to the Philips Sonicare app. The Philips Sonicare DiamondClean Smart 9300 has a lighted pressure sensor and a lovely charging cup. In our experience, it has provided nearly the same experience as brushing with the top-of-the-line Philips Sonicare 9900 Prestige—a $400 brush.

Philips Sonicare ExpertClean series brushes pair with the app to collect brushing data in a more perfunctory way, logging each time you brush and for how long, as well as how much pressure you use while brushing. We tested the Philips Sonicare ExpertClean 7500, which is around the same price as the DiamondClean Smart 9300 but performed worse in our tests.

The Philips One by Sonicare is a beautiful, slim toothbrush with a rubber-like material on the back of the brush head, but its “microvibrations” felt much weaker than the vibrations of the Philips Sonicare 4100.

The AquaSonic Vibe is the closest to a lower-priced Philips Sonicare dupe we’ve found. It has so far survived our dunk, drop, and battery tests, plus more than nine months of twice-daily use. Although its replacement heads are less expensive, we found that they require more-frequent replacement in comparison with Philips Sonicare refills. Plus, you need to register the brush to receive one year of warranty coverage.

As wth the Philips One by Sonicare, the vibrations of the AquaSonic Icon were weaker than what our pick produced.

The Bitvae D2 has a slightly slimmer body and a slightly thicker brush head than the Philips Sonicare 4100. It’s often on sale for around $20, including two years’ worth of replacement brush heads. But many buyer reviews cite recharging problems after just a few months.

The Burst Original and Burst Pro toothbrushes and replacement brush heads cost more than the Philips Sonicare 4100 and its refills. The Pro version has a pressure sensor, whereas the Original model does not.

The Burst Curve, positioned as a travel-friendly model, vibrates as much in its neck and handle as in its brush head, making for an uncomfortable brushing experience.

Greater Goods’s Sonic Electric Toothbrush is inexpensive compared with the Philips Sonicare 4100, and the backs of its brush heads are covered in a rubber-like material, which minimizes the potential for jarring mouth rattling as some testers experienced with our runner-up pick. However, the replacement heads come in only one style and are smaller than average, plus they required more frequent replacement in our testing.

Testers found that the GuruNanda Cruiser’s neck and body vibrated just as much as the brush head, making brushing uncomfortable.

The Laifen Wave’s brush heads felt flimsy and could be difficult to attach firmly. To change the brush’s three settings, within which there are 10 levels each of intensity, speed, and oscillation, you have to use the Laifen app.

We haven’t tested the Mode Electric Toothbrush, which—for roughly three times the cost of our picks—offers wireless charging and an optional night-light.

The Moon Electric Toothbrush is more expensive than our picks. Several owner reviews have alleged charger failure. We found the charger case exceptionally difficult to open.

The rechargeable Quip and Quip Smart toothbrushes are less powerful than our picks. In effect, the Quip brush is a manual toothbrush that vibrates—weakly. With it, you still need to perform brush strokes over the surface of every tooth in order to get a complete clean. In fact, manual “strokes per minute” is one of the Quip app’s performance readouts when paired with a Quip Smart brush. “Sonic bristles help clean,” Quip says, “but you need to put them in the right places by stroking them back and forth in short, tooth-sized strokes on all surfaces of every tooth, one by one.”

The Suri Sustainable Electric Toothbrush is a gorgeous brush with a mostly metal body, each component of which the company claims is repairable. (By contrast, cracking open an Oral-B or Philips Sonicare toothbrush handle often voids its warranty.) Like our top pick and runner-up, the Suri brush has a two-minute timer with quadrant pacing and a simple, one-button interface. Although the included magnetic wall mount is a nice touch, giving you a place to store a charged-up brush somewhere other than your countertop, in our testing we found that this model’s motor produced weaker vibrations in comparison with the Philips Sonicare 4100, with significant buzzing in the handle. There’s only one type of replacement brush head, available only through the company’s website; Suri accepts spent brush heads for free recycling. The Suri brush is warrantied for one year (a year less than the coverage on our picks), and the company offers a 100-day money-back guarantee. Claims related to device repair and replacement that you make after the warranty expires may involve varying fees.

The Waterpik Sensonic is double the price of the 4100, and its refills cost nearly $10 each. One tester found its bristles and vibration intensity to be especially abrasive.

If you typically use an electric toothbrush and a water flosser, replacing two separate tools with a combination electric toothbrush and water flosser like the Waterpik Sonic-Fusion 2.0 might seem appealing. In practice, however, we’ve found that it’s better to use separate devices. Replacement heads for this Waterpik brush cost over $12 each, making them some of the most expensive we’ve considered.

In general, U-shaped (or mouth-guard-style) brushes like the Y-Brush NylonStart and Autobrush Sonic Pro are much more costly and may be less effective than traditional electric toothbrushes.

Kit Dillon, Casey Johnston, Ellen Lee, Shannon Palus, and Tracy Vence contributed reporting. This article was edited by Tracy Vence and Kalee Thompson.