The Best Packing Cubes of 2023

Eagle Creek’s super lightweight Pack-It Isolate Cube Set includes three packing cubes, sized as x-small (7.5 x 4.5 x 2.5 inches), small (10 x 7.25 x 3.25 inches), and medium (14.25 x 10 x 3.25 inches). The total capacity of the three is 22 liters (1,240 cubic inches) and their combined weight is a minuscule 2.9 ounces.

During testing, we found that the largest cube could hold 14 folded men’s t-shirts. What's more, it only took two of the three cubes in the set to fit all of Johanna's weekend clothes into. If you need to bring folded dress shirts or a sweater or two, they will fit—but this isn’t a good set if you regularly bring suit blazers or a lot of bulky clothes.

The Pack-It Isolate’s lightweight material (50-denier diamond ripstop polyester), is water-resistant, durable, and treated with Protx2 antimicrobial to prevent bacterial growth: something that should help your clothes stay dry and fresh even if your trip is to a humid rainforest. These cubes unzip wide, along one short side and almost all the way on both long sides. Thanks to the Pack-It Isolate’s self-healing zippers and high-quality zipper pulls, the cubes are easy to open and close, even when tightly packed.

The tags on these packing cubes say that they should be hand-washed, though Eagle Creek’s website says they’re machine washable. We'd rate these packing cubes as just about perfect, if their washing instructions were clear and if they unzipped just a little more so that the top flap was completely out of the way during packing.

IKEA’s Rensare clothes bags are similar in style and size to some of the others we tested for this guide. The set comes with one large bag (13.5 x 9.75 x 3.25 inches) and two small bags of the same size (9.75 x 6.75 x 3.25 inches each). The large cube held 14 t-shirts.

During testing, Johanna found that she could squeeze all of her weekend clothes into the large bag and one of the smaller ones, leaving an extra cube for miscellaneous items.

The Rensare’s polyester shell—a minimum of which is made from 90% recycled material—feels slightly thicker, heavier, and stiffer. The largest of the Rensnare’s cubes is dark gray in color and hard to see through. The two smaller cubes—one white and one light gray—are transparent enough that it's possible to make out what's inside of them.

Unfortunately, The Rensare cubes each come with a single plastic zipper with a fabric pull. While it stood up fine during testing, the zipper's questionable build quality could lead to them being a bad investment for frequent travelers.

While on the subject of its zippers, we were disappointed to see that the cubes don’t unzip on all three sides. That it only opens on the longer side of the cube and on one of the short sides makes them less convenient to pack than packing cubes that open up like a suitcase. Finally, the Rensare doesn’t come with grab handles.

If you travel infrequently and on a budget, these packing cubes should serve you well.

The Osprey Ultralight Packing Cube Set doesn’t unzip as wide as some other options. Their zippers aren’t as well set up, either. While they’re of good quality, we’d have liked to have seen two zipper heads instead of a single one. These cubes feature metal zippers with a fabric pull (using fabric instead of metal saves a couple of grams of weight.)

The bags zip open along one short side, about two inches on one long side, and between ¾ and ⅞ of the way down the other long side. That makes packing them a little more challenging as you might need to stuff rather than place clothes into the cubes.

The Osprey cubes are slightly smaller than some of our other favorites. During testing, Johanna found that she could only fit 11 t-shirts into the Osprey, versus 14 in some cubes. Her weekend clothes, however, fit fine into the three cubes, with room to spare.

The Osprey cubes have a higher denier count than some others—400-denier ripstop nylon—though they feel almost identical to the touch. All three of the Osprey cubes have a grab handle.

Away’s Insider Packing Cubes come with a set of four versatile sizes. If you’re using the AWAY Carry-On, the Insider set is designed to fit into one side of the suitcase.

The Insider cubes are made from opaque, lightweight nylon with a mesh panel that allows you to see what’s inside. While the Insider is billed as water-resistant, the holes in the mesh would allow liquids to seep through. There are no washing instructions for these cubes on Away’s website or on the cubes themselves.

The Insider cubes open wide—completely unzipping along three sides and a touch on the fourth side—making them easy to pack. Johanna could fit 15 t-shirts into the largest cube. With some effort, and with some resulting wrinkles, she was also able to stuff all of her weekend clothing into just that one cube, leaving three empty ones for other items.

All of the Insider cubes are equipped with double zippers. The metal zipper pulls are large and easy to grab. Unlike most of the other products in this guide, the Insider cubes don’t have handles.

Herschel Standard Issue Travel Organizer cubes include a large size that measures about the size of one side of a standard clamshell-style carry-on suitcase. Each cube comes with metal double zippers. There was a little resistance pulling the zipper around the corners of one of the cubes when they’ve been fully stuffed. However, having the double zipper makes this a minimal concern.

The Standard Issue Travel Organizers are made from opaque 700-denier ripstop polyester fabric. Because you can’t see the cube's contents through the opaque fabric, Herschel added a see-through mesh top. Except for the large mesh panel, the cubes have a double layer of ripstop fabric. They’re marked “exclusive of decoration do not wash”.

These are large and roomy packing cubes that open wide on three sides; the largest cube fits 21 folded t-shirts. All of Johanna’s weekend getaway clothes fit into the largest cube with room to spare. While this sounds great, in truth, it means that she wasn’t able to take advantage of the cube’s natural compression to keep items neatly in place and wrinkle-free. It’s worth noting that, while the small and medium Standard Issue Organizer cubes have grab handles, the large cube does not.

The Standard Issue Travel Organizer cubes are a good choice if you routinely pack for longer trips or with bulkier clothes.

With a cross of medium-weight nylon and four mesh panels built into their lids, Shacke Pak’s cubes look a little different than the other products in this guide. The company claims that their lid design will ensure that their packing cubes stay “sturdy even when you pack more” and “prevent the fabric from folding in the middle allowing for a more secure packing experience”. During testing, we found these cubes offered little difference in capability when compared to the other medium-weight packing cubes in this guide.

With four cubes in this set in four different sizes plus a laundry bag, the Shacke Pak Cubes offer a lot of versatility in how you pack for a trip.

Shacke Pak’s extra-large size cube was the largest packing cube of any we tested for this guide. Twenty-six folded t-shirts fit inside of it! That said, when packed to its max, the extra-large cube barely fit into one half of the clamshell-style carry-on suitcase we used for testing.

Even the set’s smallest cube is larger than you’d need for a few days of socks and underwear, even if you added a bathing suit into the mix. If you’re a light packer, you may find that you need to pack more clothing into them than you’d prefer, if you want to benefit from the wrinkle resistance and compression that comes with a tightly-packed cube.

We liked the Shacke Pak’s tough YKK zippers. Unfortunately, the fabric that the cubes are made from feels plasticky. And while these packing cubes are said to be water-resistant, their mesh panels ensure that any liquid will be able to soak your clothes.

As their name suggests, the Amazon Basics Four Piece Packing Cube Set comes in a set of four. Unfortunately, all four of the cubes are the same size: 13.75 x 9.75 x 3 inches. This lack of variety makes them far less versatile than the other products featured in this guide.

The medium-weight fabric is 100% polyester and feels tough, but the tags say “do not wash”. Because the Amazon Basics cubes’ shell material is opaque, mesh panels had to be sewn into them so that users can easily identify their contents—an important feature, considering that all four of the cubes are identical. Unfortunately, this leaves the contents of each cube open to odors or liquids that might be found inside of your suitcase.

Each cube features double zippers, with metal zipperheads and a fabric pull. You’ll also find that each cube has a grab handle on its long side. The cubes open fully on all three sides plus a little on the fourth side, making them very easy to pack.

Fully packed, one cube held 15 folded t-shirts. We were able to stuff all of Johanna’s weekend clothes into one cube. However, doing so wrinkled the clothing.

Like many of the other products in this guide, the Amazon Basics cubes come with no washing instructions.

When we ordered the eBags Classic Packing Cubes three-piece set for testing, we were mistakenly sent a set of five packing cubes, so we tested the three cubes that are included in both sets.

Made of medium-weight techlite diamond nylon with nylon mesh windows, the largest cube fit 23 folded t-shirts. When Johanna packed her weekend clothes, there was tons of extra space—meaning the cubes might be too big if you prefer to pack light and might cause clothes to slide around and wrinkle.

When packed full, the largest cube barely fit into one side of the clamshell carry-on suitcase we used for testing. Even the smallest cube in this set is too large to compress a weekend’s worth of socks and underwear.

The Classic Packing Cubes’ self-healing, double YKK zippers are of good quality, zipping open, fully, on three sides of each cube and a little on the fourth side, making for easy packing.