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Best Smart Toothbrush
Colgate Hum
Best Oscillating Brush
Oral-B Pro 1000
A Cheap Electric Toothbrush
Philips One by Sonicare
Another Oscillating Brush
Goby Electric Toothbrush
I hate brushing my teeth. I do it, yeah, because I have to, but it’s a time-consuming, uncomfortable process—two minutes standing in front of the mirror can feel like an eternity. My dentist says I brush too harshly as well. And don’t even get me started on flossing.
Electric toothbrushes make the whole experience easier. Their vibrations and oscillations can more effectively get rid of plaque on your teeth and gums, and most brushes have a timer that encourages you to brush for the full two minutes. We’ve tested several types, from basic models to fancy ones with oscillating brushes and everything in between. A good brush doesn’t need to cost you more than a few Hamiltons. Listed below are the best electric toothbrushes you can buy. We also have eco-friendly nonelectric options if you don’t want to own yet another device that needs charging.
Updated March 2023: We’ve added the Suri repairable toothbrush.
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Christopher Null’s reporting contributed to this guide.
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Photograph: Colgate
Best Smart Toothbrush
Colgate Hum
The Colgate Hum (9/10, WIRED Recommends) sonic brush is our favorite smart toothbrush. It’s slim and light, with a small brush head that can reach the back of your mouth without causing discomfort. It connects to a companion mobile app that offers insight into your habits too. The Hum costs significantly less than most app-connected brushes, and the mobile app’s features are superior to its competitors.
The system accurately tracks your brushing and shows you spots you’ve missed. You don’t have to open the app every time you brush your teeth as your brushing sessions are stored on the brush for 10 days (they get uploaded to your phone when you open the app). You can collect “smile points” every time you brush, which translates to a few dollars off things like replacement brush heads. The biggest downside is the Hum only has one type of brush head, so you can’t swap out different heads made for sensitive teeth or more powerful cleaning. It comes with a travel case and a charging base, or you can get the battery-powered version.
★ A cheaper alternative: The new Hum Smart Rhythm ($25) is a battery-powered brush with two cleaning modes. (The regular Hum has three.) It has less cleaning power overall, but it makes for a great first electric brush for a kid.
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Photograph: Amazon
Best Oscillating Brush
Oral-B Pro 1000
You don’t need a smart brush. You can spend a little bit less and get a more powerful cleaner with Oral-B’s Pro 1000. Oral-B’s electric toothbrushes all have oscillating brush heads, which are those circular bristles that get right in between all your teeth. The Pro 1000 has been around for a while and continues to outshine more expensive models with fancier features. Though we haven’t tried all of them, most of the Pro models are probably a good bet if the price is right for you.
It’s rechargeable, but the whole thing is chunky and can easily get grimy from toothpaste. You need to rinse it thoroughly after every brush. It’s so powerful that my first few brushes left me feeling dizzy, but it has a wide array of compatible brush heads. You can subscribe to get them mailed to you automatically every few months.
★ What about the Smart Oral-B iO?: I tried the iO Series 8 in 2020 and wasn’t a fan of the app or the price. In 2021, Oral-B released the slightly less expensive Series 6 ($150), which is the fourth of the iO lineup, with five cleaning modes. It’s a fantastic brush in terms of cleaning, but other brushes have better apps. I found the tracking to be much better while I brushed, but I would occasionally see my post-brushing coverage stat as 0 percent. It’s just clunky.
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Photograph: Philips
A Cheap Electric Toothbrush
Philips One by Sonicare
If you don’t need the most powerful vibrations, get the Philips One. It’s thin enough that it comes very close to feeling like a regular toothbrush. It offers a gentle vibration that cuts through plaque, and while it takes more effort to use than a bigger, more powerful brush head, I still prefer it to a manual brush. Plus, it’s good to stay in the habit of brushing thoroughly instead of feeling like an electric toothbrush will do all the work for you.
It comes with a small case for traveling. For $5 every three months, you can opt into a brush-head subscription with or without a battery. The Philips One used to be cheaper, so if you want to spend as little as possible, get the battery-powered brush for $25. If you’re willing to go up to $40 for the rechargeable one, consider a more powerful brush like the Oral-B above.
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Photograph: Goby
Another Oscillating Brush
Goby Electric Toothbrush
Goby and Oral-B’s brushes are quite similar in design and function, with chunky bodies and round brush heads. Goby feels a bit more modern, especially with its monochrome pink and black options, and I enjoyed brushing with it. It’s lightweight, relatively affordable, and has a nice stand with a charger that clips onto it when it needs some juice—you won’t have to do that often, because the battery lasts a while. It was one of the first to offer subscriptions for brush-head replacements, but nearly every brush on this list offers that now. You can get a new one for $6 every one, two, or three months.
