The Best Electric Toothbrushes

Dentists are remarkably consistent about this: an electric toothbrush beats a manual one, and the two features that produce that benefit are a two-minute timer and a pressure sensor. Everything past that — seven modes, app coaching, AI position tracking, an OLED screen on a toothbrush — has never been shown to meaningfully improve outcomes for a typical adult.

Which is why the $36 Sonicare 4100 tops this list and the $380 Prestige sits at the bottom. Both clean your teeth. Only one of them is a sensible purchase.

How we pick

Consumer Reports runs plaque-removal panels with real volunteers, which is the closest thing to clinical evidence in consumer testing, and we weight that heavily. Forbes tested 13 models with input from practising dentists; Electric Teeth runs the most detailed long-term durability coverage in the category. We synthesize those and then check against owner data at scale.

We also weight brush head cost more heavily than most reviewers do, because it dominates total cost of ownership. Oral-B heads run roughly $5 each; iO and Sonicare Prestige heads run $10–14. Over five years at four heads a year, that difference exceeds the price of the brush.

Prices and ratings come from live Amazon listings on July 16, 2026.

The honest advice

Buy the Sonicare 4100 at $36 or the Oral-B Pro 1000 at $50. Which one comes down to whether you prefer sonic vibration or an oscillating round head, and that is genuinely personal preference — both are clinically effective.

Step up to the iO Series 2 if you want the nicer brushing feel; it is a real improvement in experience. Do not buy the Series 9 or the Prestige unless you specifically want the coaching features and have money you don’t mind spending.