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We’ve added information clarifying how detergent pods that combine powder and liquid cleansers work. Tablet Counting Machine
A great dishwasher detergent can punch up the cleaning power of even the most mediocre dishwasher, pulverizing peanut butter, eliminating eggs, and tackling tomato sauce. We tested 24 detergents—pods, powders, tablets, and liquids—on the grimiest loads and found that Cascade Free & Clear ActionPacs came the closest to cleaning nearly every dish.
This convenient pod does the best job of annihilating tough messes, and it neutralizes odors with a mild lemon scent. But it doesn’t leave glassware as shiny as some other detergents.
This pod cleaned nearly as well as our top pick. But its dyes and stronger scent may be less appealing to some people.
With clipped on-page coupon (62-count)
This old-school powder performed well in our testing and left stemware streak-free. It costs half as much as our pod picks but is less convenient to dispense.
May be out of stock
This convenient pod does the best job of annihilating tough messes, and it neutralizes odors with a mild lemon scent. But it doesn’t leave glassware as shiny as some other detergents.
Of all the detergents we tried, Cascade Free & Clear ActionPacs came the closest to cleaning every dish in our test loads. It wiped away baked-on egg and peanut butter—two stains that challenge dishwashers and detergents. It also cleaned glassware and stemware well, though it didn’t leave our pieces as shiny as some other detergents did.
Cascade Free & Clear ActionPacs combine powder detergent with a top layer of liquid detergent boosters that release as their coating dissolves. This gives them an edge in cleaning power over powder- or liquid-only formulas. They’re also convenient because you don’t need to measure or pour out detergent.
The extra detergent boosters in Cascade Free & Clear ActionPacs help cut grease and enhance shine better than the other detergents we tried. They forgo dyes and chlorine bleach, which some people prefer to avoid.
Cascade Free & Clear’s mild lemon scent, which is made with essential oils, isn’t overpowering, and it did the best job of neutralizing dishwasher odors.
This pod cleaned nearly as well as our top pick. But its dyes and stronger scent may be less appealing to some people.
With clipped on-page coupon (62-count)
In our testing, Cascade Platinum Plus ActionPacs cleaned some of our toughest stains with ease, including peanut butter and baked-on egg and cheese. Though it worked great on greasy dishes, it didn’t quite match the power of our top pick, missing pieces of egg yolk here and there and leaving tomato juice residue at times.
The liquid detergent boosters encapsulated in the top of each pod are designed to cut grease and enhance shine. But they contain dyes (whereas our top pick does not), which may make these pods less appealing if you generally avoid dyes due to sensitivities or preference.
Cascade Platinum Plus ActionPacs have a strong “fresh” scent, which is more intense and noticeable than the lemon fragrance of our pick.
This old-school powder performed well in our testing and left stemware streak-free. It costs half as much as our pod picks but is less convenient to dispense.
May be out of stock
Powder detergents weren’t as effective as pods with detergent boosters in our testing. But if you prefer a powder, Finish Powder Advanced offered the best combination of cleaning performance and value among the powder detergents we tested. It easily wiped away messes in our testing, though not as handily as our detergent-pod picks did.
Its ability to leave glassware and stemware smooth, shiny, and spot-free—the best of the powder detergents we tested—impressed us the most.
Finish Powder Advanced is economical, too, at about half the cost per load as our pod picks. But unlike our single-dose picks, Finish Powder Advanced can be unwieldy to dispense precisely. Its lemon scent, which is less acrid than that of some other powder detergents we tested, neutralized general dishwasher odors well.
I’m a staff writer on Wirecutter’s appliance team, where I cover large cleaning appliances, including dishwashers. I conducted our most recent round of dishwasher testing, during which I observed and assessed a dozen dishwashers and more than a hundred dishwasher cycles. I’ve paid close attention to dishwasher detergent since my mother started buying Electrasol tabs in bulk in 1997.
If you typically open your dishwasher to find spattered plates, cloudy glasses, and dull cutlery, first consider a new detergent. A good detergent can significantly improve the cleaning performance of an average dishwasher and even boost the power of an excellent machine.
If you prerinse your dishes, it might be time to stop (really!) so that a good detergent can do its job properly. Dishwasher detergents contain a combination of enzymes, buffers (to maintain pH balance), surfactants (to remove grease and other soils), and bleach or some other high-sodium base (to remove stains). The enzymes are designed to attack soils: If you rinse your dishes clean, you leave nothing for the enzymes to devour. The enzymes may even slowly eat away at the dishes themselves, causing frosting or etching.
You may need to experiment with a few different detergents to find the one that works best with your dishwasher and water supply. If you have hard water, note that many pods—particularly those with chambers that separate detergent boosters from the main detergent—now contain water softeners, too. (If you’re unsure, check your detergent’s label.)
Also check the expiration date of the detergent you have. Some detergents exhibit discoloration after a few months and can lose their cleaning power over time. Based on our research, we recommend using your dishwasher detergent within a year.
Dishwasher detergents come as pods, powders, tablets, or liquids. In addition to differing in how convenient they are to use, these assorted types of detergents vary in their cleaning features and strengths. Here’s an overview:
Dishwasher pods (also called packs) are single-dose detergents typically made of powder detergent encased in a water-soluble polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) film. Some pods, such as our top pick and runner-up pick, contain additional liquid cleaning agents in separate chambers that release when the PVA film dissolves. This design keeps liquid and powder separate until they are dispensed, allowing detergent boosters that best operate in liquid form to combine with powder detergent during a dishwasher’s cycle, enhancing their effectiveness.
Pods are also neat, convenient, and easy to use. Their PVA film prevents direct contact with their detergents, a plus for those with sensitivities. But they’re typically more expensive than other detergent types.
Though powder detergents lack some advantages of pods with liquid detergent boosters, the granulated enzymes in powder detergent still provide plenty of cleaning power. Detergent in powder form also allows you to easily adjust how much detergent you use. This can be helpful if you have an older dishwasher that’s equipped with a prerinse drawer (where you could add more detergent) or a less-effective machine that is not quite powerful enough to handle a stronger detergent (which might leave detergent residue on your dishes). Powders are typically the most economical option. But they often come in larger boxes, which can be heavy and hard to pour from precisely.
Compared with powders, layered, single-dose tablets of powder detergent dissolve more slowly, which extends how long they can clean. We found that most tablets cleaned better than powders (but not as well as pods with liquid detergent boosters). Some tablets, such as the Finish tablets we like, are individually wrapped, which keeps them dry but isn’t ideal if you’re attempting to reduce waste. Others, like the Miele UltraTabs All in 1 (designed to be used with Miele dishwashers such as our upgrade pick in that guide), have a water-soluble wrapping.
Often called gels, liquid detergents performed worst in our tests and are generally not the best cleaners. Unlike with pods, powders, and tablets, a large portion of liquid detergent washes away early on in a cycle. In addition, the cleaning agents are diluted during the process of manufacturing gel detergents, and key stain-removal components such as bleach often can’t be used with other ingredients in a liquid solution. If you prefer a gel detergent, we found little difference between brands, so we advise going with the best price you can find, whatever works best in your machine, or the scent you prefer.
For the latest update of this guide, we tested 24 detergents commonly found in grocery and big-box stores, as well as those from generic brands and newer boutique companies. I also mixed up a batch of DIY detergent (yes, it’s a thing) using washing soda, citric acid, boric acid, and kosher salt. (Spoiler: It didn’t work.)
Here’s how we evaluated the detergents:
To assess detergents, we used the most challenging soils we encountered during our dishwasher testing, including baked-on egg, peanut butter, oatmeal, chocolate syrup, rice, and tomato sauce.
For each test load, we coated four dinner plates, four salad plates, and two bowls with a variety of foods and then microwaved them for five minutes to set the stains. We also replicated a burned-on pasta-and-cheese casserole, and we included lipstick-stained stemware, drinking glasses coated with tomato juice, coffee-stained mugs, and dirty utensils.
Using the same dishwasher (the Miele G5006SCUSS) for consistency, we ran the dishes through a one-hour cycle with each detergent. Shorter dishwasher cycles are designed for fresher stains, not baked-on foods; using such a cycle helped us gauge how much work the detergent did versus the dishwasher.
We then tested the high performers in multiple cycles in three other dishwashers: the Maytag MDB8959SKZ (our also-great pick), the Bosch 100 Series (a Bosch variant we like), and the inexpensive IKEA Essentiell (a weaker performer in our dishwasher testing, which allowed us to really see each detergent’s cleaning abilities).
We assessed how each detergent smelled, noting if its scent was too strong, odd, or outright unpleasant. Some of the stronger-scented detergents left our test dishes smelling like the detergent.
This convenient pod does the best job of annihilating tough messes, and it neutralizes odors with a mild lemon scent. But it doesn’t leave glassware as shiny as some other detergents.
Cascade Free & Clear ActionPacs dishwasher detergent was the most well-rounded detergent we tested, delivering excellent cleaning on a variety of stains and substances, with a subtle scent and a dye-free formulation.
It’s an excellent cleaner. Cascade Free & Clear ActionPacs came the closest to cleaning every dish in our test loads.
Each pod contains liquid detergent boosters designed to cut through grease, which they did effectively during our testing. In load after load, this detergent was the only one in our test group that fully eliminated tricky stains and smears such as avocado, tomato sauce, and peanut butter. With Cascade Free & Clear, most dishes emerged spotless, while other detergents left behind bits and blobs.
Notably, this detergent easily wiped out baked-on egg yolk—a stain that most dishwashers in our dishwasher testing struggled with. (Morgan Eberhard, a senior scientist at Procter & Gamble, the company that makes Cascade detergents, told us that Cascade contains a specific enzyme to combat egg protein.) It cleaned glassware and stemware well, too, though it didn’t leave those pieces as shiny as some other detergents we like.
The pods are encased in a water-soluble film made of polyvinyl alcohol. Pods with a PVA film occasionally stick to the inside of dispenser drawers, where they don’t fully dissolve. (If this happens frequently, keeping the pod dry typically helps. We recommend placing a pod in the machine just before loading your dishes.)
The liquid detergent boosters in the top of each pod don’t contain dyes or chlorine bleach. If you’re concerned about dyes due to sensitivities or preference, this detergent is a good option.
The pods have a pleasant, odor-neutralizing scent. The appealing lemon scent—which is made of essential oils—is milder than that of many other detergents we tested. It did the best job of neutralizing dishwasher odors without being overpowering.
Price per load: 32¢ (for a 62-count package)
This pod cleaned nearly as well as our top pick. But its dyes and stronger scent may be less appealing to some people.
With clipped on-page coupon (62-count)
If you can’t find our top pick and want a pod, Cascade Platinum Plus ActionPacs detergent is a good second choice.
The pods clean well. Like our pick, each pod contains liquid detergent boosters that help to cut grease. In our tests, it even handled peanut butter and baked-on egg well—though not quite as thoroughly as our pick did. Pyrex casserole dishes, glassware, and stemware dried spot-free.
But the liquid detergent boosters on top of each pod contain dyes. The dyes don’t affect performance, but if you prefer to avoid dyes, our top pick is a better choice.
The scent can be intense. Cascade Platinum Plus ActionPacs have a strong “fresh” scent that’s harsher than the lemon fragrance of our pick and not quite as pleasant. But it neutralized odors well in our tests.
Price per load: 37¢ (for a 62-count package)
This old-school powder performed well in our testing and left stemware streak-free. It costs half as much as our pod picks but is less convenient to dispense.
May be out of stock
Powder detergents typically aren’t as strong at cleaning or as convenient to use as pods are. But they are economical. Of the eight powder detergents we tested, Finish Powder Advanced was the clear standout, delivering the best combination of cleaning power and value.
It’s a good cleaner—and it’s particularly effective on glassware. This detergent was one of the best cleaners among the powders. It wiped away baked-on cheese from casseroles and easily cleaned yogurt-coated spoons but fell short of entirely cleaning away baked-on egg yolk and peanut butter. (Only a much more expensive powder cleaned better.)
This detergent did a particularly impressive job on glassware and stemware, surpassing other powder detergents by leaving our pieces shiny and spot-free in our testing. This result is especially notable because Finish Powder Advanced lacks the glass-cleaning liquid detergent boosters found in our top pick and runner-up.
It has a mild scent. The lemon scent is not as harsh as that of some other powder detergents we tested. Also, while other powders struggled to neutralize odors, this detergent counteracted dishwasher smells pretty well overall, though it did not quite reach the level of our top pick and runner-up pick.
Its packaging can be cumbersome, making it tricky to dispense. The full box of detergent weighs about 5 pounds, and its aluminum spout can make dispensing detergent without spilling a challenge. If you have hand or wrist issues, pods may be easier to handle. Alternatively, you could pour some of this powder into a mason jar or other container and use a tablespoon for easier measuring.
It’s the cheapest of our picks. Using Finish Powder Advanced costs about half as much per load as using our pod picks.
Price per load: 19¢ (for a 75-ounce package)
If you want a single-dose detergent without a PVA film: You might like Finish Powerball Classic Tabs, the highest-performing PVA-free tablet in our testing. This detergent cleaned tough baked-on egg stains pretty well—though not completely. It left glassware consistently shiny and spotless, as many Finish detergents do. Because these tabs don’t have a PVA film like our pod picks do, you don’t have to worry about them sticking in the dispenser. But they are individually wrapped in plastic, which adds an extra step and produces waste.
If you want a pod that is especially effective on glassware: Finish Quantum Powerball detergent might fit your needs. Despite not quite reaching the cleaning power of our picks, these pods are still good cleaners overall, and similar to other Finish detergents we like, they clean glass very well. These pods are a good choice if you find them on sale—especially if you clean a lot of glassware and stemware.
If you prefer an effective powder with a sophisticated scent: Dirty Labs Dish Bio Enzyme Dishwasher Detergent cleaned very well in our testing, particularly for a powder detergent, and it smells the best of all the detergents we tried. (The pleasing yuzu, geranium, and lemon balm scent smells like it was designed by Le Labo.) There is a scent-free formula available, as well. Its recyclable cardboard packaging is appealing, and it comes with a wooden spoon that makes neatly dispensing the powder a breeze. But at 38¢ per load, it’s twice the price of our powder pick (yet isn’t twice as effective), and it’s available only through the company’s website, Whole Foods, or Amazon.
Cascade Original ActionPacs and Cascade Platinum ActionPacs cleaned very well, but neither reached the level of our pick and runner-up.
Dropps Dishwasher Detergent Pods did well in our testing but are more expensive than other pods and lack the detergent boosters that give our picks an edge.
We tested Costco’s Kirkland Signature Platinum Performance UltraShine Dishwasher Detergent Pacs. The price (12¢ per load) is the lowest of the detergents we tried, but it wasn’t a top performer in our testing.
Although Seventh Generation’s Dishwasher Detergent Packs were good cleaners, they had a hard time neutralizing odors.
Of all the pods we tested, Smartly Dishwasher Packs and Method Dishwasher Packs were the weakest cleaners, struggling with burned-on cheese and oatmeal in particular.
Though Ecover Dishwasher Powder would be fine for lightly soiled dishes, it struggled on more challenging messes.
The bargain-priced Great Value Automatic Dishwasher Powder failed to clean well and left a gritty film on glasses.
Nellie’s Dishwasher Powder has an enthusiastic following, but it was only an average cleaner in our testing.
Seventh Generation Dishwasher Detergent Powder was a middle-of-the-road cleaner compared with the other powders we tested.
Cascade Complete Powder did well in testing, but we ultimately chose Finish powder detergent because it performed better on glass and left fewer water marks.
The DIY powder detergent that I mixed up for this guide wasn’t worth the time. After sourcing the ingredients (washing soda, citric acid, boric acid, kosher salt) and concocting the finished product, I ended up with a mediocre detergent that made me sneeze while I mixed it. Ultimately, it’s also more expensive than our powder detergent pick.
Blueland Dishwasher Detergent Tablets come with a stylish reusable metal tin. But the tabs are softer than competitors, and pieces broke off when we handled them. These tabs were also worse cleaners than others we tested.
Miele UltraTabs All in 1 detergent is a fantastic cleaner but is hard to find and costs more than 50¢ per load.
Cascade Complete Gel, Finish Advanced Gel, and Smartly Lemon Scent Dishwasher Gel all performed similarly in our testing, leaving behind large streaks and globs of food—including at the bottom of the dishwasher.
Rinse aid helps dishwashers dry better, and we added it to each machine at the beginning of our dishwasher testing. Dishwashers are designed to be used with rinse aid. (That’s why most machines arrive with a sample bottle of the stuff, and why dishwasher manuals emphasize its use.) Adding rinse aid to your dishwashing routine yields drier, sparklier glassware and dishes.
Any rinse aid is likely to be adequate for the job. During our dishwasher testing, we used rinse aid from Cascade, Finish, Miele, and Seventh Generation, and we did not see a significant difference in performance.
Most dishwasher pods are covered in a film made of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), a dissolvable synthetic polymer. While the Environmental Protection Agency includes PVA on its Safer Chemical Ingredients List, some people are wary of its environmental impact. (And when wet, the film can cause detergent pods to stick to the inside of a dishwasher and not dissolve properly.)
PVA is technically biodegradable, but it takes time to fully break down, and there hasn’t been extensive research done on its long-term biodegradation.
We have our eyes on two detergents: Truly Free Dishwasher Soap (a powder detergent that promises a nontoxic, environmentally friendly formula) and Clorox Triple Action Dishwasher Detergent Pacs. We plan to test both soon.
This article was edited by Ingrid Skjong and Courtney Schley.
Tre Wright, chemical engineer, phone interview, May 4, 2023
Morgan Eberhard, senior scientist at Cascade Detergents, Zoom interview, May 12, 2023
Philip Voglewede, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Marquette University, Zoom interview, December 6, 2022, and January 23, 2023
Andrea Barnes is a staff writer reporting on large cleaning appliances for Wirecutter. She previously worked as a research analyst. A number of avoidable appliance mishaps have led her to a passion for proper appliance care.
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