Best electric toothbrush 2024

There’s no escaping the fact that this is an expensive brush, but if you can afford it, the iO7 is our top pick. We think that Oral-B’s iO line deliver the best brushing around, and have some of the top feature sets, and the iO7 has the best of the high-end features for its price. Yes, the 8, 9 and 10 have more – but correspondingly higher price tags.

What you’ll miss out on is the full colour screen that the iO8, 9 and 10 have. Instead, its screen is black and white – but it displays all the same information. Crucially, it’s the cheapest brush in the iO series to offer magnetic fast charging. This means your brush will charge in around 3 hours, as opposed to the 12-16 hours that the less expensive models take.

Its battery life is the only area in which the iO falls short. Oral-B claims up to two weeks of use from the battery but in practice, we found that 10 days is usual. This is about par for the course with iO brushes but not as good as some rivals, so if long battery life is very important to you, you may need to look elsewhere. And, like all iO brushes, there’s no USB charging option. Instead, you’ll get a shaver plug if you buy in the UK and a standard two-pin plug in the US.

However, in every other respect, this brush is pretty much flawless.

The iO7 has five brushing modes: Daily Clean, Sensitive, Intense, Whiten & Gum Care. It has an excellent pressure sensor, two-minute brushing timer and a brushing countdown that displays on the screen. There are also excellent smart features, including interactive real-time brushing feedback – although, bear in mind you’ll need the app for this.

It’s not ideal for sharing, unless you don’t mind some of the smart features being inaccurate, but some retailers offer a two-pack deal that makes a pair of iO7s more affordable. And if you’re in the UK, don’t buy it at full RRP. Wait until one of its regular sales times and snap it up then.

For a relatively wallet-friendly price, this will provide everything you need in an electric toothbrush. That being said, it’s better value in the UK than in the US, where it’s called the Smart 1500 and has a slightly higher price point.

Most importantly, its cleaning performance is very good. It also has all the features that are really important. Its timer will alert you to move on to a new section of your mouth every 30 seconds and let you know when your two-minute brushing time has expired.

It also has a bright red pressure sensor that illuminates when you press too hard.

The only real design flaw is that its shiny on/off button can get a bit slippery when wet and you’ll have to press it hard to switch it off without scrolling through its other brushing modes.

There’s no USB charging option but the two-week battery life means that it should last you through a holiday, although by the time the battery warning light comes on, the brush’s operation will start to slow down.

The DiamondClean 9000 is extremely well made, with a minimalist look. It’s also one of the best brushes around for cleaning performance. It’s powerful and provides a number of different brushing options and intensities: it’s one of the few brushes that lets you choose a cleaning mode and then allows you to make the vibrations stronger or softer.

In terms of features, it has a pressure sensor on the handle, as well as a timer to let you know when to move between sections of your mouth and when you’ve reached the end of the recommended brushing period.

Accessories-wise, it comes with a charging puck for a two-pin bathroom plug and a sleek travel case with a concealed USB lead.

It’s app-connected and, while the app can help you to keep your brushing schedule organised (keeping track of your brushing routine, scheduling dental appointments and re-ordering brush heads), it won’t offer advice on improving your technique. 

If you worry about waste and plastic but still want a high-quality electric toothbrush, Suri is an excellent option. Its brush heads and bristles are made from caster oil and corn starch and you can return them to the manufacturer for recycling. Its handle is aluminium and is made to be repairable.

It’s a sonic brush that delivers 33,000 vibrations per minute and has an IPX7 waterproof rating, so you can take it into the shower if you want. It’s not noisy and it’s very pleasant to use and feels effective. It comes with a handy wall mount and USB charging stand with four-hour fast charging – both features we liked a lot. But it’s the 40 day battery life that is its most impressive feature.

There are a couple of compromises to be made: it doesn’t have a pressure sensor, so it’s not a good choice if you need a reminder not to brush too hard, and it has just two brushing modes – everyday clean and polish.

There’s one other thing to consider. Replacement brush heads aren’t the most budget friendly at $17.50/ £14.40, but it’s understandable, given that they’re not plastic.

Prism is a gentle sonic and oscillating toothbrush, made by independent Swedish brand Be Lucent. It’s designed with minimalist flair and features a subtle white LED display that shows brushing mode, timer and battery life.

In the box you’ll get a wireless USB charger and two brush heads sealed in travel cases. There’s a lock on the brush handle as well, so it won’t switch itself on in your luggage. Prism has three brushing modes (daily, sensitive and whitening) and a two-minute brushing timer, with vibration alerts every thirty seconds. It features a pressure sensor as well, although it’s not as responsive as we’d like. But the best feature by far is its two-month battery life, which makes it one of the longest-lasting we’ve tested.

It takes eight hours to charge and we didn’t love the charging dock, but these are small complaints about an excellent brush that offers a lot for its price point.

A combination of Japanese technology and German design, the ION-Sei certainly looks good. There are two colour options but we reckon that Lake Blue is the more striking. Still, either will make a stylish addition to your bathroom.

Fashion is, of course, secondary to actual teeth cleaning and it’s here that the innovation lies. Unlike other sonic toothbrushes, this one generates a stream of ions and a weak electric charge which aims to stop bacteria growing in your mouth. 

You pay a steep price for the tech: not only is the ION-Sei expensive but it doesn’t come with a travel case. It also lacks features you’d expect to see on a high-end brush, such as pressure detection and a head-replacement indication.

It is rechargeable via USB though, which is handy.

The X Pro Elite is slim, quiet and nicely designed and has a number of features you’d expect to see on a brush that costs twice as much.

On the front is a colour display that shows a brushing timer, as well as letting you choose a brushing duration, from 2, 2.5 or 3 minutes, set a brushing intensity levels and choose from four brushing modes: clean, sensitive, massage and white.

In all, there are 32 brushing settings, so you can tailor its performance in detail, or take a quiz in-app to find out the ideal settings for you. The app also delivers real-time brushing feedback, although we found this to be a bit hit and miss in terms of determining exactly which section of your teeth you’re brushing at any time.

The X Pro Elite has an excellent, month-long battery life and it comes with a wall-mounted magnetic dock, which is great for minimising clutter on your sink. It has an IPX7 waterproof rating as well.

The iO8 is one of the best luxury buys around as has just about every feature you could want but at a slightly more reasonable price point than the iO9 or the iO10.

It has a full-colour screen that greets you, times your brushing session and lets you choose from one of six brushing modes. It has a pressure sensor that glows green when you get it right and red when you press too hard. Opening the app lets you change the brush’s settings, access your brushing stats and get real-time brushing feedback.

It’s not flawless though. You’ll be lucky to get two weeks from the battery life (we never managed this in our test) and there’s no USB charging option. However, it’s three hour fast charging time does somewhat mitigate this.

Smart toothbrushes tend to over-promise and under-deliver, and to some extent the same is true with the Genius X. To bill this as AI-driven is really pushing it, especially since it doesn’t learn as it goes.

Still, tracking is pretty accurate, with feedback at the end that really is useful – all in the sort of premium package you’d expect from a brush at this level. We just wish that syncing the brush to the app was easier, and that there was better support for couples or families sharing the same brush handle.

The average user may well stop using the smart features eventually anyway – but even if you do, you’re still getting a top quality electric brush with a range of options and modes.

If you have problems getting your children to brush their teeth for long enough, Gum’s Playbrush can help. It uses gamification and rewards in a specially designed app to keep them entertained. Every time your child uses the brush, they can play an interactive game.

There’s an interactive brushing coach, which uses a position sensor to show, in real-time, little cartoon bacteria disappear from onscreen teeth. Brushing games include colouring and an ongoing, Tamagotchi-style game, in which your child hatches and cares for a baby dragon, using coins earned while brushing.

The brush head is available in two sizes: Kids 3+ and Junior 6+. We tested the Junior model. The brush itself is chunky, with a grippy, raised bubble design that makes it easy to hold. It has a power and a sensitive setting.

Its battery life is excellent: it will last up to 8 weeks from a single charge