5 Best Laundry Detergent Sheets of 2023, According to Testing

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Sheets, strips or swatches? We've got the answers.

Since the introduction of laundry detergent pacs, there hasn't been much innovation in the detergent space — until now. Laundry detergent sheets are the newest cleaning innovation taking over the laundry room. These pre-measured sheets are packed with concentrated detergent and either dissolve in the wash cycle or transform into dryer sheets without the hassle of pouring detergent into a cup. They're convenient to store and come in a variety of scent options, plus there are no plastic jugs to throw away when you finish using them. But while they may not be as tempting as some brightly colored pods, it's still important to keep them away from children and pets.

Like many consumers, our experts wondered if these sheets worked as well as traditional laundry detergent liquids and pacs. Our experts have tested hundreds of the best laundry detergents, stain removers and other laundry day tools on the market. We've even tested a few laundry detergent sheets before in consideration for our Cleaning and Organizing Awards, but this is our first full category test of this kind of laundry detergent. We tested 24 detergent sheets, strips and swatches from 20 different brands. We washed 336 pounds of laundry, applied 480 stains and spent over 48 hours just running our Lab's washing machines.

Each detergent sheet was tested for its ability to remove 20 common stains, return the whiteness to a standard pre-stained swatch of fabric and how thoroughly and quickly they dissolved in water. We also took a careful look at the detergent sheets’ labels, making sure that they included the necessary safety precautions and easy-to-follow instructions, plus made note of any sweeping claims on labels like "eco-friendly" and "green" that the FTC has issued numerous guides about.

For more laundry detergent content, check out our easy-to-follow guides on how to do laundry, how to hand wash clothes and mistakes you could be making washing your sheets. You can find the best products to treat stubborn stains in our guide to the best stain removers.

These EC30 laundry detergent swatches wowed us with their stellar performance in our Cleaning Lab tests. It was the top overall scorer by a long shot and was the only one to earn a 'good' rating when it came to removing set-in spaghetti sauce stains. When we compared EC30's reflectance improvement score (how well the detergent restored the whiteness to a gray-stained fabric) to that of a leading detergent pac, we found that it was almost identical with just a .02% difference. No other detergent sheet we tested came that close. These swatches are incredibly slow to dissolve, even in hot water. We noted large chunks floating in a pitcher of water more than 6 minutes after agitation. In comparison, other brands' sheets dissolved in anywhere from 19 seconds to just under 2 minutes. While we didn't find any chunks of the detergent swatch in the washing machine after the cleaning cycle ended, this may be something to watch out for in your own laundry loads at home.

Figuring out how much to use per load was a lot easier than other brands that had perforated lines on the sheets or confusing instructions on the label. EC30 simply calls for one swatch for small loads and two for bigger ones. Note that this is the most expensive brand we tested, clocking in at almost a dollar per medium load, though setting up a subscription on their site can save you up to 10 cents per load. Safety precautions are prominently featured on the packaging, as is a full list of ingredients.

Clearalif's Laundry Detergent Sheets earned the third-highest overall spot in our evaluations. It struggled in the stain removal test, especially with crayon and lipstick stains, but made up for it with the second-best reflectance improvement score and for having the fastest dissolving time of the 24 brands we tested. The stains that it performed best on were foods like chocolate, ketchup and cola. The brand also offers a 3-in-1 sheet, which we also tested, that does not dissolve and also works as a color catcher sheet.

Though this detergent sheet's packaging says each box includes 160 loads worth of product, the brand defines them as very small loads of up to just 2 pounds of clothing. We calculated the cost per load using 80 loads per box to better reflect real-world use. Even so, this detergent sheet is a great value at only 21 cents per medium load. We would have preferred a more specific ingredient list — it only lists a general description of the ingredient (like surfactant) and not what the ingredient actually is — but the packaging has clear instructions for how much to use for different-sized loads of laundry.

A new offering from a 2022 Good Housekeeping Best Cleaning and Organizing Award-winning brand, Norwex's Laundry Detergent Strips earned the second-best overall score in our Lab tests. It showed an almost 8% reflectance improvement on pre-stained gray swatches of fabric and dissolved in just under 1 minute in cold water. The fresh blossom scent is light and pleasant, though it does not last for long on washed clothing. It is a USDA Certified Biobased Product and comes in a paper envelope that is easy to tuck into luggage for traveling. It showed little improvement on tea and lipstick stains, though we found that to be the case with most laundry detergent sheets we tested. Norwex's sheets performed well on many of the less stubborn stains like ketchup, wine, mud, chocolate syrup and grape juice.

The label on these strips is the most thorough of the brands we tested with instructions in English, Spanish and French. There are clear dosage instructions for small, medium and heavily soiled loads. Note that this was the second-most expensive detergent sheet we tested.

From our testing, we learned that there were some stains in particular that most of these sheets struggled with. The average tea stain removal score for all detergent sheets was just 2.6 out of a possible 5. But Grove Co.'s sheets were one of only four that earned a 'very good' score for tea stain removal. Other stains it performed well on were ketchup and crayon, though it was no match for grass stains where it earned one of the lowest scores in our tests. It had a unique scent of lavender and thyme that we found a lot more enjoyable than the heavy powder scents of other brands. This sheet dissolved completely in less than 1 minute and improved the reflectance of a fabric swatch almost as well as other brands twice the cost.

This sheet's label is comprehensive and has easy-to-follow dosage instructions. There are three other scents to choose from, including an unscented option. Subscription through their site earns shoppers a 20% saving — more than others that offer subscription discounts.

An unscented option that doesn't lack in performance? Check! Beyond's Free and Clear Laundry Detergent Sheets earned the sixth-highest overall score in our Lab tests. It is a USDA Certified Biobased Product, comes in an easy-to-store envelope and is available in both scented and unscented formulas. The unscented formula is a great choice for those with sensitive skin and others that avoid fragrance in their home products. It worked especially well at removing gravy, coffee and egg from our test fabric, but had little to no luck on spaghetti sauce and lipstick stains. Pre-stained fabric swatches showed a 6.8% improvement in reflectance after being washed with this detergent — better than 15 of our tested laundry sheets.

This sheet's label is comprehensive and because there are clearly drawn pictures of the sheets on the package, there was little guesswork when deciding the dosage for a large load. Just half of the brands we tested included markers like a lot number, manufacturing date or expiration date on the label. Beyond is one of those that has a lot number clearly printed on the back in the event you need to reference it.

In the Good Housekeeping Institute Cleaning Lab, we've tested 156 laundry detergents, 43 laundry pretreat stain removers and 18 instant and red wine stain removers. Laundry detergent sheets were tested the same way we've tested liquid, powder and pac detergents. We stain fabric swatches with 20 of the most common stains seen at home including coffee, spaghetti sauce, grass, red wine and blood.

Each fabric swatch is carefully stained with a standard amount of dirt, food or liquid by our cleaning experts and allowed to set overnight. All of the laundry detergent sheets were washed in a standard 8-pound load of laundry on the same top-loading washing machine set for a normal, heavy soil cycle. We followed each detergent sheet's instructions for a heavy load of clothing — for some brands that meant using two or even three sheets in one load. Once the fabric swatches were dry, they were analyzed in a dark room and rated according to the AATCC Stain Release Scale.

Because there is more to laundry detergents than how well they remove common stains, we also tested each sheet's ability to restore the whiteness to a standard gray-stained fabric. We call this reflectance improvement. The reflectance of a fabric is the measure of the amount of light that is reflected off that fabric — the whiter the fabric, the better the reflectance. For each laundry detergent sheet, four pre-stained swatches were washed in a 6-pound load.

Using a DigiEye color imaging system that measures the lightness, red, green and blue qualities of an object, we calculated the average reflectance improvement achieved with each detergent sheet. One final performance test was done to record the time it took each sheet to dissolve in 2 liters of agitated water. For our ease of use tests, each detergent sheet label was evaluated to make sure it had instructions for how to use the detergent, proper safety precautions, dosage information for different-sized loads and a comprehensive ingredients list.

Laundry detergent sheets are concentrated laundry detergent that has been bound together in an easier-to-store paper-thin form. They have many of the same ingredients as traditional laundry detergents and go by different names like detergent sheets, strips or swatches. Because they have many of the same ingredients as liquid laundry detergents, they work the same way, trapping and lifting dirt and debris from fabrics that are then washed away during a laundry cycle.

Most of the brands we tested have easy-to-follow instructions on the label. Generally, it is recommended to place the sheet or sheets inside the washing machine drum, then place your dirty laundry on top and run your usual cleaning cycle. We found some brands' instructions to be quite tricky when figuring out the dosage but didn't run into any over-sudsing issues when we tested in the Lab. None of the sheets should be handled with wet hands as they begin to dissolve and will become mushy messes if stored in a wet, humid area. Like any cleaning product, always be sure to keep these out of sight from children and pets. Note that some brands print an expiration date on their labels, and using any detergents past this date will likely affect their efficacy.

Most sheets are square, white and have a perforated line in the middle to separate them into two separate strips for small loads. A few we tested were made with a second layer of paper that does not dissolve and then acts as a dryer sheet after being used in the washing machine. These non-dissolving detergents also acted as color catchers when we tried them, absorbing the red food coloring from the stained fabric that we used to test their performance.

When choosing a laundry detergent for your home, arguably the most important thing is how well it cleans your clothes. This isn't something you can learn standing in the laundry aisle of your local grocery store, but there are other things you can be on the lookout for to make sure you are buying the best laundry detergent sheet.

✔️ Ingredients: Laundry detergents clean your clothing thanks to the surfactants and stain-fighting enzyme ingredients in the formula. Some common chemical names to look out for include linear alkylate sulfonate or any other variety with sulfate or sulfonate in their name and enzymes like amylase, lipase and protease. In the Cleaning Lab, we especially appreciate a label that clearly lists all of a product's ingredients.

✔️ Price: You might be tempted to just look at the price of a pack of laundry detergent sheets when you’re shopping, but it's really the price per load that is most important when considering the cost of any laundry detergent. The laundry detergent sheets we tested ranged in price from 19 cents per regular load all the way to almost 1 dollar per load. Other forms of laundry detergents we’ve tested were significantly lower priced than the more expensive sheets. Though in this category test the priciest detergent sheet earned the top spot, price is not always a reliable indicator of the performance of a detergent.

✔️ Packaging: Laundry detergent sheets are touted as better for the environment than plastic jugs of laundry detergent. This is likely true for sheets that are packaged in recyclable, paper envelopes and boxes, but be wary of eco-friendly claims from brands that package their sheets in plastic or don't have information on their website about how they are working to minimize their company's environmental footprint. Where detergent sheets are manufactured is also something to consider, as some countries have more lax environmental protection laws. Shipping products overseas can have a bigger environmental impact than picking up a locally produced option in your grocery store.

✔️ Sweeping environmental claims: A lot of consumer products make big claims about how eco-friendly, zero-plastic and free of insert-common-cleaning-ingredient-here they are. This is something to be cautious of as even the Federal Trade Commission has taken notice of these greenwashing claims. "Eco-friendly" is an especially tricky term as it could mean almost anything, and many brands just use this term on their products to appear greener than they really are. There are two simple ways to make sure that the brand you are thinking of buying is actually working to minimize its negative impact on the environment: checking a brand's website for more information on where and how their products are made and checking the label for any federally regulated certifications like the USDA certified biobased product label.

Performance-wise, no — at least not yet. Even the best laundry detergent sheet we tested did not score as high as the leading detergent pacs and liquids in our stain removal test. While they may be enough for doing your regular weekly loads of laundry that are not heavily stained, they lack the stain removal power of detergent formulas that have been tested and improved upon for many years. All brands struggled with lipstick, ink, blood, tea and spaghetti sauce stains. Other features like odor removal, color protection and preventing the yellowing of white clothing are also things that many traditional detergents are formulated to work on. Because detergent sheets may be lacking the ingredients that these liquid and pac detergents have, they may be unable to perform as well. They are, however convenient to store as they take up less space than jugs of liquid and there are no risks for spills when dispensing.

From an environmental standpoint, there is still much to be learned about this relatively new category of detergents. Manufacturers can claim that their products are biodegradable and better for the environment than plastic containers, but these things should always be backed up by scientific data from third-party lab testing. The FTC has helpful resources to help consumers make the most informed decision when shopping for more environmentally conscious products.

We didn't perform any stain removal tests on these detergent sheets in cold water cycles, but we expect that they would still work. All of the brands we tested stated that they can be used to wash clothing at any water temperature. In our tests, all but one of the dissolvable sheets completely dissolved in both warm and cold water.

Jodhaira Rodriguez has been testing cleaning products and writing cleaning content for the Good Housekeeping Institute since 2021. She spearheaded this test of laundry detergent sheets, spending over 96 hours running washers and dryers and a dozen more hours staining, analyzing and rating the 24 laundry detergent sheets considered for this story. For the 2022 Good Housekeeping Best Cleaning and Organizing Awards, she stained, washed and graded the fabric swatches for the 21 detergents and stain removers that were submitted for consideration.

Jodhaira (she/her) is a product reviews analyst at the Good Housekeeping Institute's Home Care & Cleaning Lab, where she tests and writes about home appliances, cleaning products and cleaning tips. Prior to joining GH in 2021, she graduated from Hofstra University with a bachelor's degree in forensic science and spent two years as an analyst in an environmental lab in Queens.

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