We Put 37 Laundry Stain Removers to the Test—These Are Our Absolute Favorites (original) (raw)

While you may have luck getting a stain or two out of your favorite blouse with one cycle in the wash and an effective laundry detergent, some stains are tougher than others and may require a pre-treatment with a laundry stain remover.

Most stain removers for clothes use enzymes or oxidation, which break down and remove tough stains from your favorite garments, upholstery, carpet, and more. But which are the best laundry stain removers? We’re glad you asked. We tested 37 stain-fighters in The Lab to help you find the best solution for your precious stained items.

We tested the removers on common, hard-to-lift stains, including red wine, chocolate, ink markings, and mustard. We then continued to evaluate their ease of use, cleaning effectiveness, and scent.

Whether you’re known for spilling your beverage while on the go or just want an effective cleaner on hand to lift your kiddo’s food spills and outdoor stains, we’ve included stain removers for every kind of lifestyle.

Editor's Note: This article was revised in October 2024 to include brand new testing insights for all eight picks.

What We Like

What We Don't Like

After rigorously testing 37 laundry stain removers, Shout Advanced Grease Busting Foam earned a spot as our best overall pick for its high stain-removing performance, ease of use, and practical price point of just $6.

This foaming spray is formulated to remove tricky oil and grease stains from food and auto care. We love how simple it is to use this spray. After we saturated our stains in the foam, we tossed it in the wash, and voila, you’re done. Just be sure not to leave this cleaning agent to dry on your stained garments before laundering, as it won’t be the most effective.

We also love that the spray is unscented. So if you’re someone who dislikes the strong, chemical fumes that most cleaning products have, you’ll love Shout’s Advanced Grease Busting Foam.

Type: Spray foam | Amount: 18 ounces | Scent: No noticeable scent | Application Method: Spray and launder before drying

Typical Ingredients in Stain Removers

Formulas vary from brand to brand. But here are a few standout ingredients: Oxygen-based cleaners share a similar bubbly reaction as hydrogen peroxide to lift out stains and dirt. Then, there’s enzymatic cleaners, such as protease (to target protein stains) and amylase (to treat starch-based stains). Enzyme cleaners use enzymes and microbes to break down organic stains. These bio-powered cleaners can be used to remove laundry stains, carpet stains, and pet messes.

What We Like

What We Don’t Like

If you’re looking for an effective stain remover with a spray application that’s easy to use, comfortable to grip, and has a smooth stream that evenly saturates the stains on your garments, consider checking out Lively’s Probiotic Laundry Stain Remover, our best spray pick.

Similar to a DIY laundry stain remover made with gentle yet effective ingredients and safe for households with kids and pets, this Lively cleaner spray is biodegradable, fragrance-free, and a natural laundry stain remover. If you’re tapping into the green cleaning lifestyle, we think this is the perfect laundry pre-treatment.

The Lively Laundry Remover has an on/off spray nozzle (which is great for preventing accidental squirts when not in use) and a trigger pull to saturate the stain solution onto the fabric evenly. We love how smooth the spray’s stream is and how the bottle fits comfortably in our grip. It takes about three to five sprays to cover each stain, so this solution may not be ideal for larger stains.

During testing, we found this spray works best on small, lighter cleanups, such as chocolate stains and velvety butter. While the spray did lift some of the tougher wine and mustard stains, they were only reduced by 60 to 70 percent. Instead, we recommend Carbona’s Laundry Stain Scrubber (our best tough stains pick), which works amazingly well for stubborn, set-in stains.

Type: Spray | Amount: 16 ounces | Scent: Fragrance free | Application Method: Spray and rinse or launder in warm water only

What We Like

What We Don’t Like

For those whose whites may need a little brightening and sparkle, the OxiClean Versatile Stain Remover Powder is the perfect laundry care solution. This oxygen-based bleach cleaner also removes hard-to-lift red wine stains and even the green grass streaks that seem almost impossible to remove from clothing effectively.

Similar to powder detergent, this stain remover comes in a container that’s filled with three pounds of loose powder and includes a plastic measuring cup to customize your pour. However, this cleaner can be used on various surfaces outside of laundry, such as the kitchen, bathroom, furniture, and more, but the application is a bit more tedious.

Using an empty spray bottle, you can mix the OxiClean powder with water to create a multi-surface cleaning solution. Mixing the concoction can be a little messy, though.

But the process is way simpler if you’re purchasing this stain remover powder strictly for clothing. You can add the powder straight to your load of laundry along with your desired detergent or even pre-soak your clothing before laundering (which we found to be most effective for especially tough stains).

Type: Powder | Amount: 48 ounces | Scent: No noticeable scent | Application Method: Mix with water and apply, or pre-soak

What We Like

What We Don’t Like

Whether you have a sensitive nose or hate the harsh smell that most cleaning products leave behind, opting for an unscented cleaner may be ideal. With no noticeable scent before or after the wash, the Amodex Liquid Ink & Stain Remover is our winner pick for the best unscented laundry stain remover.

During testing, this ink and stain remover erased the chocolate, butter, and ink pen markings the best, whereas the mustard and wine stains faded but were still clearly visible. However, we believe the results may have been different if we allowed the cleaner to do its work and saturate the stain longer instead of immediately putting the garments in the wash.

This stain remover comes in a small, four-ounce squeeze bottle. While we believe that the cleaner would be much easier to use in a spray bottle, we love being able to drop the solution directly onto the stain, which also prevents product waste.

Type: Liquid | Amount: 4 ounces | Scent: No scent detected | Application Method: Apply a few drops, rub in with fingers, and wash

What We Like

What We Don’t Like

There’s always that one person who has a Tide Stain Remover Pen on hand, and those who don’t are always super appreciative of prepared friends whenever an accidental spill happens while we’re out.

These compact, bleach-free pens effectively erase just about any stain on all fabric types. We found that Tide pens work best on grass, syrup, and ink marker stains. While the wine stain was significantly lightened, it still needed more treatment.

I’m personally notorious for spilling sauce on my top whenever I’m out dining, so I can also vouch for this stain remover. Two hours post-brunch, I noticed a blob of dried syrup on my black sweater, which I was able to immediately lift, thanks to a friend, who had a Tide To Go Instant Stain Remover in her purse. There was no need to change outfits or run home to a washing machine.

While this pen is great for emergency spills while on-the-go, it doesn’t replace a traditional wash, and because of its small size and slow application process, removing larger-sized stains is not suggested.

Type: Pen | Amount: 3 pens | Scent: Light chemical smell | Application Method: Blot stain, press pen tip, rub gently

What We Like

What We Don’t Like

While we can leave it to scented laundry detergent to make our clothes smell divine, having a pre-treated, smell-good stain remover to go never hurts. Formulated with a light lemon scent, the Hex Performance Stain & Stink Remover is the best smelling laundry stain remover on our list.

This is the second HEX product we’ve tested, and each time, we’ve been impressed with the brand's effective performance. One thing we love about both the HEX Stain Remover and the HEX Performance Laundry Detergent is how they eliminate odor entirely instead of masking it with a highly fragranced scent, like most smell-good laundry care products.

When testing the HEX Performance Stain & Stink Remover, it seemed to work better on the oil and grass stains. While it did lift some of the foundation and wine stains, only 60 percent was removed. We recommend using this stain remover on tightly woven fabrics (activewear) that need a bit of freshening from sweat stains and invisible odor.

Type: Spray, foam | Amount: 12 ounces | Scent: Light lemon | Application Method: Spray product on stains, let it sit for 15 minutes before washing

What We Like

What We Don't Like

If your favorite shirt has a dried, set-in stain, don’t worry, it can still be saved. The Carbona Laundry Stain Scrubber is a Spruce-approved, standout pick, thanks to its unique scrubbing brush head and stain-removing formula that lifts tough, set-in spills.

Unlike any cleaner on our list, this Carbona stain remover is constructed with a built-in brush applicator. The brush made us feel like we were actually working the treatment into our dried stains. That is, until it came time to test the fresh stains. During testing, the applicator picked up the fresh chocolate, but unfortunately smeared it onto the next stain. From our testing, we highly recommend sticking to old, set-in stains when using this stain fighter.

If you prefer your cleaning products to have a subtle and underwhelming scent, the Carbona Laundry Stain Scrubber will be right up your alley. We put our noses directly up to the applicator to detect the cleaner's scent and were delighted with its light yet pleasant smell.

Type: Gel | Amount: 8.4 ounces | Scent: Light | Application Method: Apply from bottle, use scrubber to work in stain

What We Like

What We Don't Like

For busy households filled with little ones whose clothes are always covered with fresh food spills, we highly recommend keeping a bottle of Seventh Generation’s Laundry Stain Remover on hand.

While the product didn’t effectively eliminate all the stains equally, we noted that the cleaner performed better on newer, fresh stains than dried, set-in ones. If you’re someone with a busy schedule and can’t get to the laundry room right away, you can quickly pre-treat your stain with a few spritzes of this remover and won’t have to worry about throwing it in the wash for up to 24 hours.

And if you’re someone who prides themselves on using eco-friendly products, you’ll love the Seventh Generation Laundry Stain Remover even more. This cleaner has a plant-based formula with no dyes or fragrances. Plus, you can’t beat the price point of $4.

Type: Spray | Amount: 16 ounces | Scent: Unscented | Application Method: Spray, wash within 24 hours

Final Verdict

For our best overall pick, we love Shout’s Advanced Grease Busting Foam, which is simple to use and formulated to remove tricky oil and grease stains. We were impressed that it can pretty much tackle just about any stain you throw at it. If you have a sensitive nose, our best unscented pick is the Amodex Liquid Ink & Stain Remover, which easily removes chocolate, butter, and ink pen markings.

The Spruce / Henry Wortock

How We Tested the Laundry Stain Removers

Testing Laundry Stain Remover for Effectiveness and Ease of Use

We tested 37 laundry stain removers in the last two years. Narrowing our list down to just eight standout picks came with a lot of analysis and comparisons, especially relating to its ease of use, stain-fighting performance, and scent.

We made sure to select stain removers that represent each household’s lifestyle, including green cleaners that prefer gentle ingredient products and those who are always on-the-go and need something portable. We also know there are those who are prone to spills and need a cleaner that’s powerful enough to lift tough set-in stains. To make sure we were thorough in our testing, we purposely dirtied up t-shirts with common household stains, such as mustard, wine, chocolate, greasy butter, and ink, to see which laundry stain removers were most effective.

The Spruce / Henry Wortock

What to Look for in a Laundry Stain Remover

Choose Your Application Method

There are several application categories to choose from; we found a favorite in each one. For example, if you prefer a simple spray like Shout Advanced Grease Busting Foam, our best spray pick, which can be applied straight on the stain, or a portable pen like Tide To Go Instant Stain Remover, our best on-the-go pick, that’s great for minor spills.

There’s also a soak option that won’t require you to use any elbow grease. This method is found in our best powdered pick, the OxiClean Versatile Stain Remover. We love that you can add the powder straight to your load in the wash or pre-treat it with a water mixture.

The Spruce / Henry Wortock

Consider Effectiveness on a Range of Stains

The good news is that most stain removers are going to lift the dirt and stains on your wardrobe. However, some are better at erasing certain types of stains than others, whether that's last night's wine or dried, set-in stains of turkey gravy, or fresh ones from today's chocolate bar you just munched on at lunch.

You can also find a stain remover like our best overall, the Shout Advanced Grease Busting Foam, specifically formulated for oil and grease stains, but we think it's really a jack of all trades, removing every stain type out there.

The Spruce / Henry Wortock

Opt for Suitability of Different Fabric Types

When shopping for the best laundry stain remover, you’ll want to pick one that's suitable for various fabrics, as you’ll most likely experience food and bio-based stains on a number of outfits, such as your pretty silk blouse, your wool sweater, or your favorite cotton t-shirt. This will boil down to the ingredient list. For example, the Tide To Go Instant Stain Remover (our best on-the-go pick) is made with a bleach-free formula, so you can use it on a variety of materials and colors.

Use Your Nose (Unscented vs. Scented)

The stain remover’s scent may be minor, but it’s often a worthwhile buying consideration that will help you make your final decision. If you’re a scent person, consider our best smelling option, the HEX Performance Stain & Stink Remover. It has a lemon smell that’s subtle and light, yet still noticeably refreshing.

If you’re not a scent person or you have sensitivities, we suggest considering an unscented laundry stain remover. Most of the picks in our guide are scentless, but our favorite has to be the Amodex Liquid Ink & Stain Remover. Plus, it's the best chocolate stain remover and also erases stubborn pen and marker streaks, so it's a win-win!

Why Trust The Spruce?

This article was written by Kenedee Fowler, a Spruce shopping writer who specializes in everything home related, including the best laundry care, cleaning products, and bath linens. Fowler has had her fair share trying to scrub out sauce spills from her favorite garments. She's also known for dropping her food and coffee spills on her shirts!

For this guide, Fowler referenced two years' worth of testing insights. She also compared each cleaner's product descriptions, unique features, ingredient lists, and application methods to narrow our list from 37 to eight.

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