The Best Mops of 2023

The Rubbermaid Reveal is a lightweight but rugged mop that frees you from hauling around a mop bucket. The Cleaning Kit comes with 3 machine washable microfiber pads and two bottles for cleaning solutions, making this a cheap and flexible floor cleaning option.

The design means the Rubbermaid Reveal is easy on your pocket and the environment. You don’t need to buy batteries, disposable pads, or brand-specific cleaning solutions. The washable pads can be reused for years, and you can choose whatever cleaning solution you prefer, including biodegradable options. We recommend pairing it with our best floor cleaner, Better Life Natural.

The microfiber pads can be used dry for dust and dirt pickup or with a cleaning solution for light mopping. The mop head includes a scrubbing pad to deal with tougher messes.

We don’t usually get a chance for a long-term product test, but Dave Ellerby, our Chief Scientist, has owned one for over a decade, and it’s still going strong. The latest version is even better than the original, with a more rugged build and a larger scrubbing pad for tough stains.

If you’re most comfortable with the traditional model, meaning a long handle with a head that consists of woven strands of cotton fibers, go with the O-Cedar Twist Mop. It has a number of features that make it one of our Best picks, including a removable mop head, so you can throw it in the washing machine after each use; a bucket, so you can easily wet and then rinse it off while cleaning up; and a spinning mechanism to help wring out extra water while in use.

The mop and bucket are very easy to assemble. The spinner on the O-Cedar Twist Mop was the simplest and most effective of all we tested, requiring only a single spin to get the bulk of the water out of the head; other mops required multiple spins or were left sopping wet.

The main disadvantage of this particular product, which was common to other mop-and-bucket packages we tested, was the amount of storage space required and prep time needed to be ready to clean. If you live in a smaller apartment, finding where to keep your mop when it’s not in use may be a challenge—you can’t just lean it in the back of a corner. The bucket is handy but large.

The O-Cedar mop worked well both on everyday dirt and on spills, though the amount of back-and-forth pushing was greater simply due to its design—it’s a manual mop, after all, meaning you do all the work. But it does get the floor clean, whether you have hardwoods, tile, or linoleum.

With the Norwex Microfiber Superior Mop Package, which includes a microfiber pad for sweeping and dusting the dry floor first, as well as a mop pad you wet, you don’t have to research which cleaning solutions are non-toxic or environmentally friendly—the Norwex mop doesn’t need anything but water. Thanks to the patented microfiber technology in the mop head, the Norwex mop picks up dirt and germs without having to kill them using an antibacterial cleanser.

Putting the handle and base together is simple, and the only work than required to use it is removing the dry duster head and replacing it with the wet mop head after you’ve run it under hot water. You get the best results with the Norwex by pushing the product in a figure-8 pattern on the floor. If the mop head gets extra dirty during use, remove it, run it under the faucet, and continue mopping. When done, remove the mop head and throw it in the washer— don’t use fabric softener, however, because that damages the microfibers and makes them less effective.

The only downside of the Norwex mop is that you have to wring the mop head out by hand before attaching it there’s no built-in wringing mechanism or device, like a spinner, that does that for you.

That said, we were curious about whether the lack of cleanser would mean dirtier floors. After spilling sticky orange juice, we went over it with the Norwex mop and found no residue (unlike some of the other mops). We also went over areas that had previously been cleaned by other mops using a cleanser and found the Norwex picked up dirt that had been missed or left behind by others.

Despite the fact that the Norwex mop system was among the most expensive we tested, the results and the fact that you don’t have to buy cleaning chemicals to use with it made it the best mop for families concerned about the environment.

The Swiffer PowerMop is a new Swiffer with many of the same features as the Swiffer WetJet, but adds an expanded mop head and a redesigned cleaning solution system.

The system retains the familiar cleaning solution jets that fire with the press of a trigger, disposable mop pads, and a lightweight easy-to-get-going build.

The PowerMop's larger 16-inch mop head has thicker tufted pads than the WetJet's. This head picks up more and covers more ground. In our tests, the pad sopped up a whole glass of milk.

The system also includes a redesigned attachment mechanism for installing solution bottles. Our testers were enthusiastic about this feature, finding that the redesigned bottles click into place satisfyingly with very minimal leakage.

The system does have a few downsides. We like the convenience that this mop offers, but beware it will require you to continuously reinvest in Swiffer mop pads and cleaning solution bottles. This new system uses smaller bottles of solution than the WetJet. These bottles currently cost about as much as the other system's larger bottles.

Still, we think the PowerMop is a great addition to the Swiffer family that improves many features found in the WetJet. Those who are already fans of Swiffer products will find an expanded toolset here.

Read our review of the Swiffer PowerMop.