Best Electric Toothbrush of 2020

Welcome to our Top 10 best electric toothbrush ranking and reviews, updated for 2020. We review a lot of models and it’s time to bring our list of the ones we think are the best up to date.

Our Point of View

Electric toothbrushes have come a long way over the last few years, gaining more popularity as time has gone by. In our appearance-conscious age, people seem to be more willing than ever to spend money on their smiles, and manufacturers are happy to regularly release new models. But with so many different models hitting the shelves, it’s becoming harder for consumers to choose between them all. That’s why we think our honest reviews and lists like this one is so needed. We want you to be well-informed so you can buy the electric toothbrush that’s right for your needs and your budget.

Our Methodologies– How we evaluate an electric toothbrush

Our Recommendations – Top 10 electric toothbrush ranking & review

So, here’s a ranking and review based on our methodologies and other opinions gathered from various sources. Hopefully, it simplifies your buying decision and helps you make the choice that’s right for you.
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No.1 Philips Sonicare DiamondClean Smart – Best high-end electric toothbrush with the most advanced technologies and optimum design

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The Sonicare DiamondClean Smart series has now held the top spot since 2018, thanks to a premium offering that they rightfully claim to be their best ever toothbrush. And what makes it so good?

Well, for a start, it looks great, thanks to a sleek profile, 3 subdivision series (9300, 9500 and 9700) and 5 fine-looking color choices. Personally, I like the Cashmere Grey (offered with the 9300 and 9500), Black (offered with the 9300 and 9500) and Lunar Blue (only for the 9700).

The Smart series comes with a modern, integrated design concept, and any model in the series will look good sitting in your bathroom in their stylish wireless charging glass.

The Philips Sonicare DiamondClean Smart still offers 5 cleaning modes, but these have changed and are now called Clean, White+, Tongue Care, Gum Health, and Deep Clean+. The brush has 3 intensities, with the lowest one being for sensitive gums.

This explains why there is no ‘Sensitive’ cleaning mode in this Top series anymore because every one of the 5 modes can be sensitive, or medium, or intense!

The handle offers a BrushSync Mode Pairing system which helps to recognize the brush heads and select matching brush modes automatically, so it knows which one you are putting on and it selects the most appropriate mode and intensity for it. This is really handy, although it does highlight the one criticism we can level at this brush: high price. Smart brush heads don’t come cheap.

This series offers the most abundant accessories on the current market, for example – with the 9700 (HX9957/51) open the box and you’ll find 3 plaque control brush heads, 2 gum care brush heads, 2 white brush head, 1 tongue brush, 1 USB charging travel case and the glass charger.

The downloadable free smart Sonicare App works with IOS or Android and is there to give real-time feedback and individualized coaching, which is either going to be useful or it isn’t depending on your preference. Most people think they can brush their teeth properly, but I was surprised to find that 2 minutes is a lot longer than you think and that I could improve my technique by not scrubbing. The pressure sensor keeps you from brushing too hard and it was quick to tell every time I did.

Finally, the USB charging travel case is an elegant accessory. Your 2 weeks of battery life should be ample, but it’s nice to know you can plug it in wherever you are.

All in all, compared with the last generation of the flagship model – Sonicare FlexCare Platinum Connected, a qualitative leap has taken place in both the function and the design. Although Philips Sonicare DiamondClean Smart is a bit pricey, it’s still a worthy winner!

For more specifications, please see our comprehensive reviews and analysis of:

• Philips Sonicare DiamondClean Smart 9300,9500,9700,9750 Review
• Philips Sonicare FlexCare Platinum Connected VS. Sonicare DiamondClean Smart
• 5 Best Sonicare Electric Toothbrushes

No.2 Oral-B Genius X 10000

A new entry into the chart this year and storming all the way up to second place is the Oral-B Genius X 10000. ‘Genius’ means they’re aiming it squarely at the ‘clever’ end of the toothbrush market, and it’s a feature-packed offering as you might expect at this price point.

Cosmetically, it’s similar to others in the range with its slimline handle that fits your hand nicely. It isn’t bulky at all, and it comes in 6 colors, all of them pleasing to the eye.

As with every model, there’s a panel in the front with the on/off button and mode select button which lets you cycle between its 6 brushing modes. Here are their names and speeds:

• Daily Clean: 9,900 oscillations and 45,000 pulsations.
• Pro-Clean: 10,500 oscillations and 48,000 pulsations.
• Sensitive: 7,400 oscillations and 33,000 pulsations.
• Whitening: 7,000-9,900 oscillations (speed varies) and 32,000-45,000 pulsations.
• Gum Care: 5,400-9,900 oscillations and 24,000-45,000 pulsations.
• Tongue Cleaning: 8,200 oscillations and 37,000 pulsations.

All those speeds are per minute, and they’ve been chosen to be ideal for the different jobs they do, from gentle on the tongue to super vigorous for maximum cleaning. I found that the faster settings take a bit of getting used to, so you might want to start slow and work your way up to them, especially if you have sensitive gums.

The Smart Ring sits at the top of the handle and it lights up to let you know when you’re brushing too hard. It can also display one of twelve colors, a useful feature if there’s a lot of you in the household and you want to share the same handle with others.

The Oral-B Genius X 10000 knows whose brush head is connected and also which mode is best for it thanks to its Brush sync mode pairing feature.

Bluetooth connects the toothbrush to its app to deliver the so-called “AI Motion Sensor” feature, which uses position detection to track how you brush and compares it to a database of how others brush so it can give you real-time advice. This feels a little bit like overkill, especially as the Smart Ring is already there to remind you about brushing too hard and the pacer tells you when to move onto the next part of your mouth. Some people may love this much guidance, but I am fine without it.

The battery lasts a full 14 days, up from the previous 10 days, and you get dual charging too. The nice-looking USB Smart travel case can handle overseas voltages which is handy if you travel, and there’s also the standard charging base.

Overall, it’s a feature-packed brush, and if you don’t mind the price it has a lot to offer.

For more specifications, please see our comprehensive reviews and analysis of:

• Oral-B Genius X vs. Genius 9600 vs. Genius 8000 – A top series review and comparison of Oral-B electric toothbrushes
• 5 Best Oral-B Electric Toothbrushes

No.3 Oral-B Genius 9600

Another new entry is the Oral-B Genius 9600, and in truth, it only loses a place to the Oral-B Genius X 10000 because it doesn’t have the AI Motion Sensor feature.

As I mentioned with that model, this may not be something that you think is essential, and if it doesn’t matter to you then you can put the Oral-B Genius 9600 in your personal No.2 position, because all of the other features are virtually the same but the price difference is about $30, depending on where you look.

If you do like the idea of brush-tracking, then the Oral-B Genius 9600 might leave you wishing for something more. It uses your smartphone’s camera to keep an eye on your brushing; you attach the phone to a suction cup on your bathroom mirror so it can watch and guide you via the Bluetooth app. It records your brushing and tells you when to move on to the next quadrant of your mouth, which sounds great, but I found that it sometimes loses the connection, so nothing gets recorded. But even if it did work every single time, setting up the phone like this is a process I don’t want to have to do twice a day.

Aside from that minor personal point, as I said, the features are all the same as the Genius X 10000, with Quad Pacer, two-minute Smart Timer, 6 cleaning modes, BrushSync and so on. It’s all there. You may get one less color to choose from, Anthracite Black, but that’s hardly going to be a deal-breaker for this very capable brush.

For more specifications, please see our comprehensive reviews and analysis of:

• Oral-B Genius X vs. Genius 9600 vs. Genius 8000 – A top series review and comparison of Oral-B electric toothbrushes

No.4 Philips Sonicare ExpertClean 7500

New in at No.4 is the Philips Sonicare ExpertClean 7500. It’s a mid-to-upper market brush that looks good in either black, white or pink and has a lot to offer for what it costs.

It comes with 4 brushing modes. Clean is for use every day and it’s 2 minutes long. White+ mode goes on for 40 seconds more at a higher speed that you spend on polishing your front teeth (20 seconds each for the top and bottom). Deep Clean is 3 minutes long to get rid of even more stains and bacteria and the extra time left my mouth feeling super fresh. Gum health gives you 2 minutes of standard clean mode then follows that with 1 minute of low speed to massage and stimulate your gums. This is supposed to boost blood flow which encourages them to heal. It certainly feels pleasant.

As well as these 4 modes you get 3 intensity settings too, so altogether that’s 12 total settings, meaning the ExpertClean 7500 is certain to have a setting that’s right for you.

All Philips Sonicare models have larger brush heads than Oral-B brushes. They’re closer to a manual toothbrush in size, so I’d bear this in mind if your mouth is smallish like mine (or your children’s!) But if you don’t mind that, the speed they get up to is quite something.

Philips quotes either 31,000 or 62,000 movements per minute max (they’re the same speed, just different movements counted differently) and they go that fast to make ‘micro bubbles’ that get in deep between the teeth. This sounds like another way of saying it makes “foam,” and it’s certainly very frothy.

The BrushSync head replacement reminder, pressure sensor and 2-minute pacing complete the list of features. You get 2 brush heads included in the box and Philips claims they remove 10 times the plaque of a manual toothbrush, so that sounds like you get the benefits of 20 minutes of regular brushing crammed into 2 minutes! I’m not sure if the math works out that way exactly but it’s a strong claim, anyway, and my teeth certainly felt clean after using the ExpertClean 7500. It lives up to its name!

For more specifications, please see our comprehensive reviews and analysis of:

• Sonicare ExpertClean 7300/7500 vs. ProtectiveClean 6100 – A midmarket review and comparison of Philips electric toothbrushes

No.5 Sonicare ProtectiveClean 6100

The ProtectiveClean was a brand new family launched in 2018 and it’s still going strong today.

The most impressive feature of this series is its high-speed sonic motor, which offers you 62,000 brush-head movements/min and it is the highest frequency in all Philips’s toothbrushes at present so it’s no surprise that it’s found its way into other Sonicare products.

The ProtectiveClean 6100 is the top model of this family but it doesn’t have Bluetooth connectivity. However, it still gives you the latest BrushSync technology, which is where a chip in the brush-head tells the handle when it needs changing, and an LED lights up to remind you. The 6100 can also change the cleaning mode depending on which brush head it detects, so you have one less thing to think about in the morning.

The brush heads that pair with those modes automatically are the C2 Optimum Plaque Control, G2 Optimal Gum Care and W2 Optimal White, but you don’t get all of these in the package, so you’ll have to buy them separately if you want to try them. Maybe it’s not so bad that it only comes with 2 of the optimal whiteheads because the case can’t store extras (but considering the price, it would have been nice to have the option though!)

It offers low, medium, and high intensities giving you plenty of choice as to how hard you want it to work, and 3 brushing modes: Gum care, Clean and White.

As with many Sonicare brushes, you get vibrations from the handle to let you know when you’re brushing too hard, and the quad-pacer and smart timer features let you know how long to keep at it. It does a great job of cleaning and all-in-all it’s a great brush, things like Bluetooth and brush head storage would have raised it higher in the results though.

The 6100 is pricey but feature-rich and is great for getting an effective clean.

For more specifications, please see our comprehensive reviews and analysis of:

• Philips Sonicare ProtectiveClean 4100, 5100, 6100 Review and Comparison
• Sonicare ExpertClean 7300/7500 vs. ProtectiveClean 6100 – A midmarket review and comparison of Philips electric toothbrushes

No.6 Oral-B Pro 6000

The Oral-B Pro 6000 is down from No.3 last year to No.6 in 2020. It has a very similar appearance to and some of the basic functions of the Oral-B Pro 8000 and I think it will probably overtake the Oral-Pro 7000 in the short term because that brush was released 3 years ago and this offers better value for money.

The Oral-B Pro 6000 is still a reasonably well-priced and well-featured brush, offering good value, with a SmartRing that gives you feedback as you brush (you can set it to one of 12 colors). It warns you to stop pressing on too hard and makes sure you spend the right amount of time in each quadrant of your mouth. The brush is pressure-aware so it slows the head speed down if you’re being too vigorous and will even stop if you don’t listen to its nagging!

The Pro 6000 comes equipped with the Oral-B App as well. This helps you to follow your dentist’s recommendations so you achieve your brushing goals, and get fresher breath, whiter teeth, and healthier gums.

The 5 cleaning modes that help you achieve your aims are Daily Clean, Gum Care, Sensitive, Whitening, and Pro-Clean, but you will have to invest in extra heads if you want to take maximum advantage of them.

Only the CrossAction brush head comes in the box, but I found it to be a great all-rounder anyway. Its crisscrossed and angled bristles are great at getting between teeth and are claimed to remove 3 times as much plaque than a manual toothbrush.

The lithium-ion battery has 12 days life of regular use in it, and the brush is very good at reporting exactly when it needs to be recharged. If you want to keep battery life in tiptop condition, it’s best to run it down completely flat at least every 6 months. I sometimes read reviews from people who say that their battery life is getting worse, and I question whether they are treating it properly! You have to do this with these kinds of batteries, or they do lose some of their oomph.

The Oral-B Pro 6000 comes with a travel case that’s functional but not particularly attractive, and a charging stand with slots for replacement brush heads.

Since these are not too expensive, you won’t mind filling up on them! And since the brush is not that expensive and does so much, it’s a great value option for anyone.

For more specifications, please see our comprehensive reviews and analysis of:

• Oral-B Pro 6000 Review
  
• Oral-B Pro 5000 vs. 6000 vs. 7000
• Best Oral-B Electric Toothbrushes

No.7 Philips Sonicare ExpertClean 4100

Another brush takes the fourth place in Philips this year is the Sonicare ExpertClean 4100, but I’m not recommending this model because it’s got lots of features. I’m recommending it because it hasn’t! If you are just looking for an electric toothbrush that cleans your teeth well for a lower price then this may be the brush for you.

A dentist told me that no matter how many extra features you pay for, the motors that drive both Sonicare and Oral-B brushes are the same. So, that means the top model in the range has the same beating heart as the cheapest entry-level model, and sometimes that’s all you want. A cheap solution that works.

But you indeed get what you pay for and this is a plain-looking toothbrush with one button—the on-off switch. There’s no Bluetooth, it only has one brushing mode, Clean, and in the box, you get the base charger, a very basic case and one brush head included.

It’s a straightforward version of a great line of toothbrushes, offering the same high-speed brush-head movements. It has a single cleaning mode (Clean), but it doesn’t give you a choice of intensities.

There’s also no BrushSync recognition system. Despite its lack of features, it’s priced low and it does a great job of removing plaque and food debris from your teeth and gums.

You still get the pressure warning feature, to stop you from brushing to hard, so the 4100 is an effective and affordably priced alternative that just cleans teeth really well.

For more specifications, please see our comprehensive reviews and analysis of:

• Philips Sonicare ProtectiveClean 4100 vs. DailyClean 2100

No.8 Philips Sonicare DailyClean 2100

Another new entry and basic level electric toothbrush on the list is the Philips Sonicare DailyClean 2100. Although it doesn’t offer all the bells and whistles of more expensive and feature-filled models, it does its main job of cleaning teeth well at a very low price.

It’s not very inspiring to look at, with its slightly fat body and big blue button but so what? It removes up to 3x more plaque than a manual toothbrush thanks to its Sonicare technology. The dynamic fluid action is good at cleaning between teeth and along the gumline.

It sports a 2-minute timer to make sure you brush for the recommended time and it will manage 10 days between charges.

The DailyClean 2100 is still compatible with all Philips Sonicare Snap-On heads, this is a significant difference to the very low-end Essence series lunched years ago.

It hits 31,000 brush strokes per minute, and although it won’t remind you to change the brush head, you should be able to see that for yourself because the reminder bristles on the heads fade away over time to let you know they’re done.

It’s dull, but it’s cheap and it works, so it’s well worth the investment if you want clean teeth and you’re on a budget, or if this is your first electric toothbrush and you don’t want to spend too much in case you don’t like the experience.

The only thing to look out for is that toothpaste can build up at the place where the head and handle meet, so give it a rinse after each use to avoid mold build-up and you’ll be fine.

No.9 Philips Sonicare 3 Series Gum Health – Best electric toothbrush for sensitive/bleeding gums

The Oral-B Pro 1500 is at the a little higher-end of the low end if that makes sense.

It’s slim and features a ribbed area that sits under your thumb to improve grip. It’s got a 2-minute timer with a 30-second pacer, a long battery life that lets you keep brushing for 2 weeks before you’ll need to recharge.

It pulsates, oscillates, and rotates to give you a cleaning action that’s 3 times better at cleaning than a manual brush.

What makes it worth a little extra money is the fact that it’s got a pressure sensor.This light up to let you know that you should stop pressing so hard on your gums, which is a very welcome addition.

The downside is that it’s only got one brushing mode, but that didn’t bother me. I think it’s still a solid entry-level product if you’re looking for a great clean.

For more specifications, please see our comprehensive reviews and analysis of:

• Oral-B Pro 500 vs. Pro 1000 vs. Pro 1500
• Best Oral-B Electric Toothbrushes

No.10 Oral-B Pro 500

Coming in this year at the No.10 position is another entry-level newcomer to the chart, the Oral-B Pro 500. It’s another good basic brush that’s cheaper than many others but features the same high-end motor that even the priciest models use.

You get a timer to make sure you brush for the minimum duration recommended by dentists and a 30-second pacer to make sure you pay equal attention to all areas of the mouth.

It’s similar in performance to the two brushes above it in the chart but its battery struggles to hold a charge beyond 5 days, so keeping it always on charge might be your best option.

That’s what I did, and it stayed topped up just fine, but if I was doing so long term this would reduce the life of the battery. It’s a quirk of lithium-ion batteries that you need to run them flat every few months or they start to hold less and less charge.

For more specifications, please see our comprehensive reviews and analysis of:

• Oral-B Pro 500 vs. Pro 1000 vs. Pro 1500

Our Conclusion

The truth is, not all brushes are created equal. While the manual brush may very well be a longstanding staple of your bathroom routine the truth of the matter is that they are outdated and ineffective compared to the high-grade electric toothbrushes that are now on the market.

In general, you will find that there are more Oral-B than Sonicare in our Top 10 ranking (Sonicare vs. Oral-B), this is because the overall product pricing of Oral-B is lower than with Philips. Besides, Oral-B offers more popular functions (like its App and pressure sensor) than Philips in most of its product lines (except entry-level models), so we think Oral-B has earned the upper hand.

However, we also want to say that every brush on this top 10 list will clean your teeth very effectively, and each one is a smart investment in your oral health. You can’t go wrong with any of them in terms of cleaning, and beyond that, it’s up to you how much you want to spend on the extra features that you think will improve your brushing experience.

Happy brushing!