Besides revealing our Best Buys, our results show how good each dishwasher tablet is at removing certain foods and drinks, keeping your glasses shiny, and preventing cloudiness and water marks from building up. These tablets are usually made up of builders that can clean and remove water hardness, bleaches to remove bleachable stains, enzymes to break down protein-based foods and starch, as well as surfactants to clean sparkling glasses. Some tablets also come with added auxiliary ingredients like disintegrants that takes care of breaking down the tabs to ensure all actives will be dissolved faster into the wash and helps achieve sparkling results. For more ways to keep your household running smoothly, sign up for our Home newsletter – it's free monthly. Caring for your dishwasher will also boost the cleanliness of your dishes. Stop the filter clogging by scraping off food residue from your plates and bowls before you load it. We recommend cleaning the filter regularly too, ideally after every use, but once a week should suffice.

This was repeated on an economy cycle and on an intensive cycle, adding more difficult to clean items like pasta-stained Pyrex dishes to our standard stained load. Each of these tests was also carried out in a second dishwasher to ensure consistency.

From our testing, we found there’s little difference between branded and own-brand dishwasher tablets. In fact, three of our four highest-scoring dishwasher tablets are from supermarkets, showing swapping to own-brands is well worth it if you’re looking to save money in your weekly shop. Wow, cannot believe the difference. Used Lidl's tablets for years without complaint but these are another class. Everything comes out clean, shiny, and sparkling even.” – Cassie Also read:

No one else tests like Which? – our independent lab tests recreate the tough dried-on food and drink you put in your dishwasher. How to use finish dishwasher tablets and where to put them, even if your dishwasher doesn't have a 3 in 1 tabs dispenserFinally, ensuring dishwasher salt is topped up will keep the machine cleaner. How we test dishwasher tablets A good dishwasher tablet must of course clean and has the power to remove different stains, from from proteolitic stains (ex. tea stains) to bleachable stains (ex. egg stains). Aside from this, they must also have the following qualities: Which performed the best? You might be surprised – some of the best-performing dishwasher tablets are also among the cheapest. Some tablets also feature gel inserts and powerballs that do a range of extra functions such as degreasing and cleaning the dishwasher itself. Dishwasher tablet take out the hassle of loading and measuring washing detergents in your dishwashers. It comes conveniently either gel-based or powder tablets that you simply insert into your machine’s designated compartment. There are numerous reasons why you should consider using dishwasher tablets aside from their ease of use. These tablets can also deliver amazing performance when it comes to removing those stubborn stains.

As well as using reliable dishwasher tablets, there are a few steps that you can take to improve the cleanliness of your dishes if they aren’t emerging as dirt-free as you’d like. Safe and effective on different materials like plastic, porcelain and glass as well as the inner workings of your dishwashers. Help soften the water when cleaning the dishes to ensure you will achieve sparkling dishes without filming.We've tested big dishwasher tablet brands including Fairy and Smol, as well as supermarket own brands from the likes of Aldi, Tesco and Sainsbury's.