Honorable Mentions

There are far more electric toothbrushes than we can recommend in a single guide. If none of the above options appeal to you, one of these might do the trick.

Oclean X Ultra S Electric Toothbrush for $130: Oclean makes great electric toothbrushes that clean well without vibrating your brain around. They’re a bit pricey, but if you or your kid would benefit from a voice assistant telling you that you’re brushing too fast or applying too much pressure, this particular model might be worth the money spent. The voice frustrated one of our testers—but maybe that’s a good thing. Oclean brushes connect to the brand’s app where you can access detailed reports about your brushing habits and efficiency, but it isn’t necessary, thanks to the screen on the actual brush itself.

Be Lucent Prism Sonic Electronic Toothbrush for $99: The Prism Sonic toothbrush took one feature from manual brushing that other brands haven’t figured out: Just put it in your mouth and brush to start the vibrations automatically. No button pressing is needed. It cleans well, and the back of the head has the best tongue cleaner of any brush I’ve tried. It’s rough enough to really scrub. Don’t worry, there is a button for controlling the modes or manually turning it on and off. It took me a few times to stop the automatic gesture of pushing it that I’d developed from years without an automatic brush.

Philips One by Sonicare Toothbrush for $25: This was our original budget pick, but Bitvae’s is more powerful, rechargeable, and cheaper. Still, this one is cute, thin, and offers gentle vibrations for a step above a manual brush. It also comes with a carrying case.

AquaSonic Black Series for $50: This brush also comes with eight brush heads, like the Bitvae above, which is nice for the price. I think it cleans well, but the heads are a bit small, and the whole thing was too vibratey for me, like the body was vibrating the plastic of the brush head more than the bristles.

Laifen Wave Sonic Toothbrush for $70: From the design to the packaging, it’s obvious this was meant to look like a toothbrush that Apple designed. It’s a perfectly fine toothbrush most of the time but suffers from the same flaw as the AquaSonic above—the entire thing vibrates too much, so plastic sometimes vibrates against my teeth while trying to brush.

What About U-Shaped Toothbrushes?

There are many U-shaped toothbrushes available now that use a mouthpiece full of bristles to brush one section of teeth—or sometimes the entire mouth—all at once in around 30 seconds. We’ve tried a few and think they’re fine to use in addition to regular brushing. None of them are as effective as standard electric toothbrushes.

The dentists I spoke to, Bill Busch of North Kansas City Dental and Joseph Salim, owner of Sutton Place Dental Associates, agreed that these aren’t replacements. At the time we spoke, they and their patients had used the older, now unavailable silicone version of the AutoBrush. The current iteration uses nylon bristles, which provide a better clean. “I find the best use for it is for children and in nursing home environments, where to get quick and easy compliance to brush is critical,” Busch says.

AutoBrush Sonic Pro for $119: AutoBrush is the original in the category, and Medea has tried both the old silicone-bristle model and the new nylon version. She wasn’t wowed by either, but if you want a U-shaped brush and can get this one on sale, try it. You can read about AutoBrush’s study with Salus Research here.

SymplBrush for $149: WIRED reviewer Brenda Stolyar has been using SymplBrush, which looks like a mix of Willo and AutoBrush, and she likes it. “I can tell it hits each tooth and each side of it that might be missed with a standard toothbrush,” she says. “It’s a nice, all-around, clean-type feeling.” But she notes that it didn’t always get the buildup around her gumline, so she’d have to go in with a brush anyway. As someone who brushes too hard, she felt this offered a gentler experience for her gums.

Y-Brush DuoBrush Sonic for $78: This is a great option because it has a U-shaped attachment and a standard brush head and isn’t crazily priced. Medea was impressed by how clean her teeth felt, and having both reminded her that she still needed a deep clean in between quick sessions.