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For its unbeatable strength and absorbency, Bounty paper towels are worth every penny. Read More
The Kirkland Signature Paper Towels offer strength, absorbency, and bigger sheets. They're a value-packed pick. Read More
For a more sustainable option, turn to Papaya paper towels which are more absorbent than any other paper towel we tested. Read More
The novelty of the Viva Signature paper towels is their cloth-like feel, however, they lack functionality. Read More
Sparkle paper towels have a smooth, soft surface while offering superior strength on rough surfaces. Read More
In addition to sponges and multipurpose sprays, paper towels are a necessary household product to always have on hand. But with an entire aisle of paper towels at the grocery store, which brand offers the best cleaning ability for the money?
After researching and testing the best paper towels, our favorite paper towel is the Bounty Select-A-Size (available at Amazon) because of its incredible strength and stellar absorbency.
For a great value, the Kirkland Signature Create-A-Size Paper Towels (available at Costco) are our pick. You get more sheets at an affordable price and it offers comparable performance to Bounty’s paper towels.
But we tested plenty of great paper towels, here are the best paper towels for your cleaning kits and kitchen counters.
Bounty paper towels are the best paper towels we've ever tested.
Bounty makes the best paper towels we’ve ever tested. These redesigned paper towels feature microstructures for increased absorbency. While you can’t see said microstructures just by looking at the paper towels, you can tell they’re present when you’re sopping up liquids and cleaning up messes.
Right off the bat, it impressed us with how easily it could clean up a chunky smear of tomato sauce. We just needed one pass to get it all cleaned up.
Despite feeling soft to the touch, the quilting on this paper towel won’t tear against rough surfaces. It can absorb and hold the second most amount of water of any of the other paper towels we tested.
When we let it dry out after use, it felt almost as strong as an unused sheet of Bounty.
Bounty paper towels tear off cleanly from the roll, so you always have even sheets and aren’t left with awkward strands left behind. While these are the second most expensive of the bunch, Bounty Select-A-Size paper towels are by far worth every penny.
None that we could find
Kirkland Signature paper towels are our best value pick.
The Kirkland Signature paper towels, available at Costco, are an exceptional value—especially if you have a Costco membership.
Each package contains 12 rolls of paper towels with 160, 2-ply sheets per roll, for a total of more than 1,000 feet. The size of the paper towels is also one of the largest we tested, coming in about one inch longer than others in our guide—giving you the most bang for your buck of any paper towel we tested.
The Kirkland Signature paper towels are made of quilted paper that holds about three-quarters of an ounce of water and maintain their structure when used on rough surfaces with only minor tearing.
When reused, Kirkland Signature paper towels uphold its structure very well, however, the paper towels lose a lot of strength and tear more easily after being wet and dried. For reuse, it’s best to use them for light tasks like dusting or wiping up liquids.
You don’t need a Costco membership to purchase these paper towels, but non-members do have to pay a fee on orders that Costco cardholders do not. You can also find listings for Kirkland Signature paper towels on Amazon, but be cautious as these are typically sold by third-party sellers at major markups.
For a paper towel that’s strong, absorbent, and larger than most, Kirkland Signature paper towels are a value-packed choice.
For an eco-friendly choice, check out Papaya's reusable paper towels.
The best reusable paper towels we tested are Papaya’s reusable paper towels, which are made from cellulose and cotton. When dry, the Papaya paper towels are stiff and hard to move around, but once wet, they are flexible and are ideal for cleaning.
Papaya paper towels are able to hold over ten times its weight in water—about 3.5 ounces—head and shoulders above other paper towels in our guide.
These reusable paper towels are strong and won’t tear when you tug on them or rub them against rough surfaces. Compared to the standard paper towels we tested, the Papaya paper towels can be wet and dried over and over again without losing strength. Papaya claims its reusable paper towels have a life span that’s equivalent to using 17 rolls of paper towels.
These are not ideal for dry dusting, as the dry cloth is stiff and hard to move on dry surfaces. Additionally, these paper towels stain easily. While it did an outstanding job at picking up a spill of tomato sauce in one wipe, the sauce stain lingered on the cloth even after rinsing it with dish soap.
If you’re looking to try a more sustainable option, Papaya’s reusable paper towels are a great place to start.
Viva paper towels are total dust magnets.
With a soft, rag-like feel, Viva Signature Cloth paper towels offer stellar absorbency and strength—especially for dust removal. When rubbed over a dusty surface, it picks up an immense amount of dust, more than any other towel we tested.
The paper towels don't tear or pill against a rough carpeted surface when wet, making them ideal for scrubbing. The lack of pilling makes it a superb candidate for cleaning surfaces like windows and mirrors.
Viva Signature paper towels take a couple of passes to fully clean up tomato sauce, while other brands, like our No. 1 pick, clean up faster.
Overall, Viva is a soft and durable paper towel for dusting or cleaning delicate surfaces.
Sparkle's surprising strength impressed us during testing.
Sparkle paper towels are surprisingly strong. The texture is soft and has a waxy-like feel. Despite being thin, Sparkle’s paper towels hold together well even when you give them a hard pull. On rough surfaces, it stood up well and only had one small tear on it after we ran it over carpet.
Where Sparkle is lacking is in absorbency. It struggles to pick up large, chunky spills like tomato sauce and requires going over the spill at least twice to get it fully cleaned up.
It picks up a good amount of dust when used for dry dusting. While this list has better options, Sparkle paper towels do a good job overall.
Overall during testing, we noted that Brawny paper towels lack absorbency. Where Brawny impressed us is with its strength, especially on rough surfaces. When damp, it didn’t tear on rough carpet so it’s a suitable option for those constantly cleaning up kid and pet messes on upholstery.
It took over three passes trying to wipe up a smear of tomato sauce as the paper towel as it didn’t have enough absorbency to soak up all of the liquid. But if you’re often using paper towels to scrub at stains, this is a good option.
Doesn't tear on rough surfaces
The Amazon brand Presto paper towels are highly absorbent and can hold the third most amount of water of all the paper towels we tested. These paper towels do a good job of picking up tomato sauce and only needed one pass plus a small wipe to get it cleaned up. Presto paper towels are also good for general cleaning like wiping down countertops and glass surfaces.
However, when wet, Presto paper towels start to fall apart—quickly. They rip easily once damp and totally fall apart when rubbed against a rough surface, like carpets or furniture.
Amazon papers are a convenient choice for Prime members, but we think our best overall pick is a better choice for cleaning and daily use.
Featuring nice quilting on the sheets, Great Value paper towels are decent for a generic brand. They are absorbent and can pick up a big spill of tomato sauce with ease. But they’re lacking in strength.
The Great Value paper towels have a nice softness to them, however, when they’re wet they tear easily on rough surfaces which makes cleaning upholstery difficult. After being thoroughly soaked and drying out, the paper towel lost most of its strength and ripped very easily.
For a generic option, the Great Value paper towels are a value-packed choice. These are thinner than other models, but are satisfactory when it comes to simple tasks like dusting and wiping down counters.
Scott paper towels are thin with a rough, ribbed texture that struggles to absorb spills and messes. They work fine on smooth surfaces when wiping away a small amount of liquid like a multipurpose spray. However, on spills like chunky tomato sauce, they can’t handle the mess.
These paper towels hold the least amount of water of any we tested and have a tendency to tear easily during use.
Despite the perforated line, we also found it hard to get a clean rip when trying to pull a sheet from the roll, leaving corners and even half of the sheet behind. Every time we went to pull a paper towel from the roll, we couldn’t get a clean rip.
While you can certainly use the Scott Paper Towels successfully on smooth surfaces, the fact that they can’t rip cleanly off the roll makes them frustrating to use.
Cloud Paper paper towels are made from bamboo rather than the wood of traditional paper towels. Despite having a similar quilted texture to the paper towels, the bamboo paper towels from Cloud Paper are quite slick and feel as though they have a waxy coating on the outside.
Despite the odd texture, these paper towels are still fairly absorbent and can take on about half an ounce of water per sheet. When dry, these bamboo paper towels can dust surfaces well, but it took more than a few passes to clean up larger messes like tomato sauce.
These paper towels are single-use. Once it has been wet and dry once, it loses all of its structure for use and has a tissue paper-like feel.
For an eco-friendly paper towel, we recommend our pick for best reusable paper towels.
I’m Samantha Mangino, a staff writer for the Home team at Reviewed. I write about cleaning, appliances, and home décor. I’ve tested my fair share of household goods here at Reviewed including steam irons, trash bags, and cleaning supplies.
I grew up in a household where we had our brand loyalty when it came to cleaning products; now I’m on the hunt for the best products so you’re investing in products that really get the job done.
To test each paper towel's absorbency, we measured how much water each towel could hold.
We put each towel through its paces in practical, around-the-house tests that would best reflect the average consumer’s use of the product.
Our first trial was a simple wiping test. We put a teaspoon of tomato sauce on a common kitchen countertop and tried to clean the mess with one swipe of a paper towel. We documented any smudging or smearing, while also taking into account each product’s ease of use.
Next, we swiped each dry towel over a dusty surface to find their cleaning ability without the aid of water or spray.
We also tested the strength of each paper towel in both a dry and wet state. Using just one piece of paper, we attempted to pull it in half while dry and while wet. Next, we rubbed each wet paper towel against the rough surface of a floor rug to test the durability of each towel.
Additionally, we wet each paper towel and then let it air dry to test its ability to be used more than once.
We also paid attention to the smaller, subjective details that make certain paper towels more enjoyable to use than others. This includes ease of tearing (because everyone loathes that piece at the bottom after a jagged tear), texture, softness, and overall ease of use.
We tested each paper towel to see if they can stand up to rough surfaces.
The first factor to consider is the sticker price, which incorporates the actual dollar amount but also the question of reusability. In our testing, we wet the towels, let them dry, and then used them again. This helped us determine which towels were strong and absorbent and the most durable.
Plus, most paper towels allow for the select-a-size option that can give you bigger and smaller sheets depending on the job you’re tackling. Allowing that flexibility means you’ll use only what you need to prolong the life of your paper towel roll.
Reusable paper towels may be best for your wallet. Packages usually are less than $20 for a pack of 2. Each reusable paper towel is the equivalent of 17 rolls. Meaning for the price of less than one pack of paper towels, reusable paper towels offer the value of six packages.
However, with reusable paper towels there are some downsides including lingering stains. Many turn to paper towels for their single-use nature, so the thought of reusing a paper towel might be a turn-off for sanitary purposes.
We also consider the thickness of each paper towel because that often impacts the absorbency.
To test the absorbency, we soaked each paper towel in water and measured how much water weight it could hold to get a sense of each towel’s full potential.
Prices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time. The product experts at Reviewed have all your shopping needs covered. Follow Reviewed on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, or Flipboard for the latest deals, product reviews, and more.
Prices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.
The product experts at Reviewed have all your shopping needs covered. Follow Reviewed on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, or Flipboard for the latest deals, product reviews, and more.
Samantha Mangino is a self-proclaimed homebody. Conveniently she is a home staff writer at Reviewed, covering cleaning, appliances, furniture, and home furnishings and décor. She knows her way around a house and has tested everything from furniture, sponges, steam irons, to Legos. She’s always on the hunt for the latest internet trends and wants to help make your home cleaner and cozier.
Our team is here for one purpose: to help you buy the best stuff and love what you own. Our writers, editors, and lab technicians obsess over the products we cover to make sure you're confident and satisfied. Have a different opinion about something we recommend? Email us and we'll compare notes.
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