The Best Dish Soaps of 2023

Palmolive is a surprise contender, a dark horse among dishwashing liquids. Just soaking in a dishpan of Palmolive suds lifts almost every stain off of dishes, even without scrubbing.

Palmolive won't do as well against burnt sugar stains, and bacon grease leaves dishes with a small amount of haze. Still, I'm convinced that Palmolive can clean your dishes to a high standard. The caveat: Its startling green color and intensely sweet fragrance might not please all users.

Joy has a bright, lemony scent that permeates the room when used, and might remind some of the smell of their grandmother’s kitchen.

Joy isn’t always easy to find on supermarket shelves these days, but as a heritage brand, it still has a following. We find it to be effective on many stains, though it may behind some food on our glassware after a scrub. Unfortunately light haze of bacon grease is be to expected on dishes after soaking in a solution of Joy.

An environmentally friendly brand, Puracy uses plant-based ingredients derived from coconut oil to clean dishes. It also contains natural ingredients that make it gentle for sensitive skin—Himalayan pink sea salt and aloe vera. The company claims that the salt restores balance and purity to your skin, and the aloe vera makes Puracy gentle on skin.

This product is more watery than most other dishwashing liquids, but is still able to clean dishes. In our opinion, it's the second-best eco-friendly brand. It has a hard time on sticky residue and doesn't do well with bacon grease.

One of the most pleasant to use in our opinion, Method comes in an attractive, recycled-plastic pump bottle that looks good on the side of the sink. It is also extremely convenient to use: A couple of pumps will dispense enough soap for a sinkful of dirty dishes. Its fresh citrus fragrance is delightful, and it comes in other scents if you don’t like clementine. Method aces all sensory criteria for us, but it has trouble removing things like milk stains from glasses, so it didn’t make it to the finals.

Available in many supermarkets and a top-seller on Amazon, Mrs. Meyer’s is one of the most popular environmentally friendly brands of dish soap. The company comes out with new scents every season, so if you’re not crazy about one scent, you can try another. Lemon verbena is available throughout the year, and its floral citrus smell is not too aggressive or overpowering. That said, the detergent’s performance isn't effective against crusty stains.

Ivory dish detergent is a heritage brand that you may know from their bars or hand soap. It cleans adequately and the hinged top makes it easy to squeeze out some of this viscous, heavily-scented product. Even with a hard scrub, though, some food stains may remain on your dishes.