It can seem like there’s an endless number of multipurpose cleaners out there; it isn’t easy to choose just one. We evaluated 11 popular products to find out which ones clean the best on a variety of surfaces. All of them fulfilled our cleaning tasks, but four stood out because of their fast performance and the clarity of their labels, including safety warnings.
Three of our favorites also meet the Environmental Protection Agency’s Safer Product Standards, which means they were evaluated by the EPA and found to contain ingredients that are safer for human health and the environment.
We consulted with Amy Ziff, founder of our partner Made Safe, an independent organization that screens household products for potentially dangerous ingredients and certifies those that may be less harmful.
Ziff used Made Safe’s ingredient analysis to review seven cleaners we evaluated (we tested the four store-brand cleaners later). None of the cleaners passed the ingredients test with flying colors based on those guidelines, although some, like the Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner, fared better than others.
