Our 8 Favorite Indoor Air Quality Monitors We’ve Tried (2025)

Until I wrote about My quest for good air In my Brooklyn apartment, I didn’t know air quality monitors even existed. Now I couldn’t live without them. To be aware of your indoor air quality index is to enter a realm where the invisible becomes something you can never see.

We humans have evolved to respond to changes in temperature, precipitation and wind. Bad air is silent and often odorless, but long-term exposure to certain vapors, particulates and high levels of CO₂ Can affect cognition and make us vulnerable to certain cancers as well as heart and respiratory diseases. Daily temperature readings and weather forecasts prepare us for what’s to come, but checking your air quality may be the biggest step you can take to improve your health.

These air quality monitors were tested at two locations: a 130-plus-year-old Brooklyn apartment with a gas stove in a building under construction and a cabin in the Maine woods that uses an electric stove. During the entire experiment there were two cats, one dog and two people. I had different air purifiers running all the time. Neither location had central air or HVAC with MERV filters, nor did they have over-stove exhaust fans that could remove outside smoke. In both places, it was cooked on the stovetop which produced the worst air. These monitors were used both on days with excellent outdoor air and on days when the air quality was in the moderate region, above 50. US Air Quality Index.

For more ways Keep your air quality in checkCheck out our guide The best air purifier And The best robot vacuum.

Updated January 2025: We’ve added PurpleAir’s Zen Air, Govee’s Smart Air Quality Monitor and Ikea Vindstyrka; Added Specs Table; And updated links and prices.

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