The Best Filtered Water Bottles of 2025

Top pick

Certified to remove chlorine from tap water, this model improves its taste, and it comes in a variety of leakproof designs. But, like all filtered bottles, it needs upkeep and is difficult to drink through.

The BPA-free plastic Brita Premium Filtering Water Bottle is our pick among the filter bottles we tested. It’s sturdy, comes in a variety of colors and sizes, and is NSF/ANSI certified to reduce chlorine (PDF), which is the main culprit in bad-tasting tap water. (Note that the plastic versions we recommend are not insulated, although some listings online label them as such. The insulated stainless steel versions keep water cold longer.) Here’s what we liked about the Brita bottle:

It’s relatively easy to drink from. The effort required to suck water through the straw-like filter is lower than with some competitors—though it’s still like drinking a thick milkshake through a straw—and the soft, rubbery mouthpiece is a comfortable size and shape.

It can make tap water taste better. The bottle uses a simple activated-carbon filter. It efficiently captures the chlorine compounds that are commonly used to disinfect water supplies, which, to many people, make the water taste bad.

The flip-top cap allows for one-handed drinking. The cap protects the mouthpiece and keeps it clean when you’re not using it. You just press a button, and the cap pops open to let you take a drink. We preferred its convenience to bottles with twist-off caps, which require two hands and can be dropped or lost. And we preferred both of these designs to bottles with flip-up spouts, which aren’t protected by a cap and can pick up dirt inside a bag or purse.

We didn’t experience any leaks. To test for leaks, we filled all of our contenders then placed them upside down for several hours, giving them a vigorous shake every half hour. The Brita bottle didn’t leak a drop (and neither did any of the other bottles).

The plastic parts are dishwasher safe. Like any reusable bottle, the Brita bottle should be cleaned regularly. To clean yours in the dishwasher, remove the filter from its housing and then place the housing and all other parts on the top rack. (Brita said the stainless versions should be hand-washed.)

Replacement filters are inexpensive. The replacement filters (model BB06) cost less than $3 apiece. They’re rated to last for 40 gallons or two months.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

This is a flaw of the category, not the Brita bottle specifically, but it bears emphasizing: Filter bottles are harder to drink from and fussier to refill than plain reusable bottles. It takes real effort to suck water through the filter. The straws drip when you pull them out to refill the bottle. And you have to replace the filter regularly.

If you have a convenient source of filtered water available — from an office water cooler, say, or a pitcher or under-sink filter at home—you’ll probably be happier with a versatile reusable bottle such as the ones we recommend.

The carry handle on the Brita bottle is attached to the flip-up cap. That puts the weight of the entire bottle on the small plastic latch that keeps the cap closed. Using the handle to pick up the bottle shouldn’t stress the latch too much, but we would not recommend carrying the bottle by the handle, hanging it from a carabiner while walking around, or pulling the bottle out of an overstuffed bag by yanking on it.