Bidets save you money and reduce waste — we tested the best options out there

Finding the best bidet for your home can make a world of difference. Not only do you get a better clean, but using a bidet can also help you live a more sustainable life by cutting back on toilet paper. And that’s not even mentioning the luxuries of a heated seat and dryer that will make you wonder how you ever used a normal toilet in the first place.

Now that the taboo around washing your butt is finally leaving America, you might be looking for your first bidet. To help you along, we’ve spent more than 3 years testing 24 of the most popular bidets on the market to find the absolute best. Here are four we love.

If you’re looking for a low-cost bidet that’s simple to set up, effective and not overly complicated, the Tushy Classic 3.0 is the bidet for you. While working on this story, we actually tested the Tushy Spa, not the Classic (we’ve used the Tushy Classic in the past, but we didn’t officially test it again for this story).

Out of the attachments, the Tushy Classic 3.0 had the most comfortable stream by far, and its adjustable nozzle made it much easier than others to get a thorough clean. While it’s a bare-bones bidet, you still get a solid range of pressure and directional adjustability so you can find what feels right for you. With attachments in general, we found ourselves using low pressures, as their streams felt more aggressive than their electric counterparts.

The Tushy Classic was also relatively easy to install, and the clear instructions are simple to follow, even if you’re not particularly handy. However, when installing any bidet, the most important aspect is ensuring it’s compatible with your toilet. You should also find the water connections and try removing your toilet seat beforehand so you know how everything works. Luckily, the Tushy Classic fits all two-piece toilets and most one-piece toilets (more on this below). If you’re still not sure if the Tushy will fit your specific toilet, you can check out more about Tushy’s compatibility here and even browse through its searchable list of toilets here.

While we love the Tushy attachment, there’s one big caveat: We found that the method used to supply warm water to the Tushy Spa — and all the other bidet attachments we used — wasn’t effective.

Since a toilet only has a cold water supply, to get warm water with a simple attachment like the Tushy, you have to hook it up to your sink’s hot water supply. There’s no internal heater, so your water temperature is completely dependent on how quickly your sink’s water gets hot, and even then you still have to flush out the water that’s been sitting in the hose before you get a warm wash. For that reason, we recommend you get the Tushy Classic over the Tushy Spa and avoid attachments altogether if you want to use warm water. If you prefer a heated wash, we suggest you upgrade to a full bidet seat, like one of our picks, the Alpha JX2 or Toto Washlet C2.

The Tushy Classic 3.0 is a fantastic bidet for beginners and a great value at just under $100. No other bidet attachment was as comfortable to use as the Tushy, and it has a gentle yet effective stream, simple installation and easy-to-use controls along with adjustable pressure and direction. However, if you want more features such as warm water, a heated seat or a dryer, you’ll have to shell out some more cash — but trust us, it’s worth it.

While bidet attachments are a cheap way to see if you like bidets, we think most people will be happier with a more feature-filled seat with useful functions like warm water, a heated seat and a dryer. The best bidet seat we tested with all those features was the Toto Washlet C2.

The Toto C2 stood out among its competitors for one reason: comfort. No bidet we tested could match its comfortable yet effective wash-and-dry experience, which is why we think it should be the first bidet you invest in. After our first round of testing, we named the Alpha JX the best overall because it has more advanced technology at a better price. But after using both bidets for longer, we think the top-tier everyday comfort of the Toto C2 is more important, which is why it’s now our top pick.

The spray of the Toto C2 was a thick, aerated wash that gave us the best cleaning experience out of the bidets we tried. The oscillation function on the Toto was a great way to get a fuller, more thorough clean, and it also features a front wash and pulsating feature, although we didn’t find the pulsing function to add much to the experience.

Beyond being effective, the Toto’s stream was by far the most comfortable we tested, with a thick but gentle spray that adjusts to specific levels so you can find just the right pressure. Compared to the Alpha JX2, the Toto’s stream felt fuller and more comfortable, and the adjustability of the Toto’s stream was also better, as the differences between each level were more subtle.

Once you’re done with your wash, the dryer on the Toto C2 — just like its spray — is best in class. It felt the most comfortable, with a wide, even dry that helped us cut back on toilet paper use. Plus, you can adjust the dryer over three heat settings to find what’s most comfortable for you. It was superior to the drying experience of the Alpha JX2 (which did the job but took longer).

On top of an extremely comfortable and effective wash, the Toto also has some extra features that aren’t must-haves but make your bathroom experience all the more luxurious. One of these functions is a pre-mist feature, which turns on automatically when it senses someone sitting on the seat and sprays a mist onto your toilet bowl to lubricate the surface, which helps keep it clean. The deodorizer is also automatic, activating once you stand up to help your bathroom stay fresh. Other bidets also have features like these, so while they’re nice, you’ll probably find them on most other bidets you shop for at this price point.

All the controls for the Toto C2 are found on a mounted sidearm. They’re quite straightforward to use, but you might need to read through the manual first to understand how to get to all the different settings. If you want a remote for extra convenience, or you’re worried a bidet with an arm won’t fit in your bathroom, the Toto Washlet C5 is the same as the C2 but features a remote and added user profiles for $50 to $100 more. Our value pick, the Alpha JX2, also features a remote.

However, we like bidets with sidearms better because you don’t have to worry about where the remote is or replacing batteries, and sidearms often have buttons that are labeled, unlike remotes. Bidets with remotes are also typically more expensive, so saving money by purchasing a sidearm bidet is the better value for most.

The Toto Washlet C2 was also quite easy to put on our toilet, and while you have to replace your seat entirely, we were surprised to find that installing electric bidet seats isn’t much more complicated than installing bidet attachments like the Tushy. However, since you’re taking off your existing toilet seat, be sure to figure out if your seat is round or elongated, and buy the corresponding bidet (more on this below).

The only real con to the Toto C2 is how it heats its water. It uses a tank to store warm water for a wash, but if you use all the water in that tank, the temperature drops back down to the tap. Other bidets, like our value pick the Alpha JX2, have technology that provides endless warm water, which can be critical if you like longer washes or will have multiple people using the bidet back to back. The Alpha JX2 and the Toto Washlet K300 both have this technology, so read on to see if they’re right for you.

If you want the advantages of a full bidet seat instead of just an attachment, the Toto Washlet C2 is the bidet for you. It’s filled with the most useful features and provides a wash so comfortable and effective you’ll wonder how you ever relied solely on toilet paper. But, if the idea of infinite hot water strikes your fancy, you’ll be better served by the Alpha JX2 or our luxury pick, the Toto Washlet K300.

The Alpha JX2 bidet seat is a fantastic overall bidet. It’s so good that an older version of it (the Alpha JX) used to be our pick for the best overall bidet seat. After more long-term testing, we found the everyday stream comfort and better dryer of the Toto Washlet C2 made it a better daily driver than the Alpha JX2. However, the JX2 is still a solid bidet worth considering, especially since it features some of the most desirable technologies at the lowest price.

Similar to our favorite bidet, the Toto Washlet C2, the Alpha JX2 has a heated seat, a dryer, full control of the stream’s pressure and direction, plus warm water. However, the Alpha JX2 has one critical piece of tech the Toto doesn’t: endless hot water.

Electric bidet seats can give you a warm water wash in two ways. The simpler and cheaper way is with a tank built into the bidet. The Toto C2 uses this tank technology, which holds a set amount of water and keeps it warm; however, when the tank runs out of hot water, your wash turns cold. It varies from bidet to bidet, but typically these tanks provide about 20 to 30 seconds of warm water, which is normally enough for a standard wash. If you want a longer wash or want there to be hot water even if the bidet is used back-to-back, you’ll need a bidet that has a coil heating system, like the Alpha JX2. These bidets instantly heat the water as it passes through the bidet so you can sit there and enjoy the warm water for as long as you like.

It depends on the person, but if you like to sit on the seat for longer, there’s a huge difference between the comfort of an infinite warm water supply and a limited one (if you think your shower getting cold is bad, you don’t want to know what it feels like when your bidet tank runs out). Normally, this coil heating system is reserved for bidets costing upward of $600, but the Alpha JX2 gives it to you for around $350 — more than $200 cheaper than its competitors.

Besides infinite hot water, the Alpha JX2 features a heated seat, a dryer and a fully customizable stream, all adjustable from a remote control. With clear buttons labeled, it’s easy to go through a wash and dry cycle, even if you’ve never used a bidet before. You can adjust the position, strength and temperature of the spray and see what level your settings are at with the small screen. Plus, the Alpha JX2 has a “Wash & Dry” button that runs through a complete wash and dry cycle with just one press.

The biggest downsides to the Alpha JX2 are its stream comfort and dryer performance. While adequate, they’re not as good as the Toto Washlet C2. In our first round of testing, we thought the slight decrease in performance of these features was worth the endless warm water, but after using both bidets for over two years, we decided that the day-to-day improvement from the Toto C2 is better for most people. Plus, we rarely ran out of warm water from the Toto tank anyway. Since our first round of testing, the Alpha JX got an update and is now the Alpha JX2. This upgraded bidet now has a bowl mist and a stainless steel nozzle, which are both nice improvements. After testing this new version, we still think the Toto Washlet C2 edges it out.

There are plenty of pros and cons between the Alpha JX2 and the Toto Washlet C2. Both are fantastic bidets that you’ll love having on your toilet. The Alpha JX2 has endless warm water, but the stream and dryer performance of the Toto C2 is better. If you want that comfortable experience and don’t mind a tank heating system, go with the Toto. But if endless warm water is a must for you, the Alpha JX2 is the pick for you.

If you want the best of the best in a bidet seat, you’re going to love the Toto Washlet K300. This electric bidet seat features the same top-notch spray and dryer as the Toto C2 and C5 but instead of heating water with a tank, the K300 utilizes a coil heating system like the Alpha JX2 for instantaneous, infinite warm water.

The Toto Washlet K300 has the most features out of all the bidets we tested and, along with the Toto C2 and C5, the most effective and comfortable spray and dryer. If you have the money to spend, we can’t recommend the K300 enough.

Getting the superior spray of the Toto bidets paired with endless warm water results in a truly luxurious wash. Plus, the K300 has all the extra fancy features of the C2 and C5, including an automatic pre-mist and deodorizer, along with the same remote as the C5. In addition to more convenient control, this remote lets you set user presets. So when you find your perfect seat temperature, water temperature and dry temperature, on top of your preferred pressure and position, you can save it to one of two presets so you can quickly access the perfect wash at the press of a button.

The only real setback of the K300 is that it only comes in an elongated shape, which means if you have a round toilet, you’re out of luck. If you have a round toilet and still want a luxurious bidet, we love the Bio Bidet Bliss BB-2000, which is available in round shapes. The BB-2000 had the second-most-comfortable spray experience, and on top of the oscillation stream you’ll find on many bidet seats, it had a fantastic massage function that was our favorite spray pattern of any bidet we tested.

So if you want the best of both worlds and want extravagant features, the best stream and dryer on the market and an endless hot water supply to boot, there’s no doubt you’ll love the Toto Washlet K300.

We’ve conducted multiple rounds of testing and have formally tested 24 bidets over three years to find the best ones on the market. To do that, we installed each bidet and used it for at least two days, noting the effectiveness and adjustability of all its features.

We broke up our testing into two main categories: performance, and quality and design. Within each category, we conducted various tests and examined every aspect of each bidet from ease of installation to number of features, spray quality and so much more.

Here’s a breakdown of all the tests we ran:

Quality and design

Bidets have so many features, shapes and technologies that it’s hard to keep everything straight. So if you need a little guidance, we’re breaking down everything you need to know about bidets so you can have a better buying experience.

The simplest bidets are bidet attachments, which are installed underneath your existing toilet seat. Think of the Tushy Classic 3.0; you’re not replacing your seat, just putting a thin attachment underneath it. These attachments are the cheaper option but you sacrifice a lot of comfort. For one, we found the stream in all the attachments we tried to be much harsher than any of the electric bidet seats we tested. Plus, as we mentioned before, bidet seat attachments don’t have internal electric heaters, rely on hot water from your sink and, in all the options we tested, didn’t get noticeably warm during the time we spent washing.

If you want predictable, adjustable heating and more control over the stream, you’ll have to upgrade to an electric bidet seat. Electric bidet seats cost more, but for the investment, you get a big upgrade in experience. The streams are gentler and more effective, the water actually gets warm and you get other technologies like a heated seat and — our favorite feature — the dryer.

Electric bidet seats with a good dryer are a great purchase because not only do they give you a better experience on the toilet, but if you use the dryer after your wash, you end up using less toilet paper, which is great for the earth and your wallet. We expected to use less toilet paper with all the bidets we tested but quickly found that bidet attachments leave you needing to pat dry, which often takes just as much toilet paper as you’d normally use. For that reason, if cutting back on toilet paper is a big motivation for your bidet purchase, we’d recommend getting one with a dryer.

Now, electric bidet seats vary in price due to the wide range of features and technologies available. Typically, tankless units (that use a coil heater to provide unlimited hot water) are more expensive than those that use a reserve tank to store enough hot water for a single use. Most bidets with endless hot water will cost you somewhere around $600, though one of our top picks, the Alpha JX2, comes in a couple of hundred dollars cheaper, making it a great buy.

Once you know what sort of bidet you want, ensure it fits on your toilet. In general, the first thing you’ll want to check is if you have a one-piece toilet or a two-piece toilet. A one-piece toilet has no separation between the bowl and the tank behind it, whereas a two-piece has a gap between those two elements. All bidets will fit a two-piece toilet (you will need to check the bowl shape, but more on that in a second), but some one-piece designs don’t leave enough room to fit an attachment. So if you have a one-piece toilet you’ll want to make sure you don’t have one with a French curve (where the frame of the toilet between the bowl and the tank curves up), and you should always measure the space between the bowl and the tank to make sure it matches your desired bidet’s requirements.

If you want an electric bidet seat, you’ll have to measure your bowl to see if it’s elongated or round. Most come in varieties to fit both, so you’ll want to ensure the bidet you purchase fits correctly. To see which measurements are which, check out this compatibility guide from BidetKing.

Installing bidets, both attachments and full seats, is surprisingly simple. You don’t have to be particularly handy and only need a screwdriver and maybe a wrench. Most instruction manuals are quite clear, but it is good to note that for all bidets, you’ll have to remove your existing toilet seat. With attachments, you’ll put the seat back on, but with electric bidet seats, you’ll mount the bidet onto your toilet and remove your old seat and lid. It’s good to check out how your current seat mounts beforehand, as some lids have a quick-release function, while others screw off, so be sure you know how yours works, as it could affect your installation.

If you go into the shopping experience knowing exactly what kind of toilet you have and what kind of bidet you want, it’s much easier to find the perfect one for you. Plus, installation becomes easier when you know your bidet fits.

This bidet attachment had the second-most-comfortable stream behind the Tushy but wasn’t anywhere near as comfortable. It’s got one knob that controls both the front and rear wash, but you’re unable to adjust the position beyond that.

The Omigo Element+ has a dedicated front and rear wash instead of the general adjustability of the Tushy and isn’t anywhere near as comfortable to use.

The stream on the Brondell SimpleSpa Thinline felt thin and more aggressive than the other bidet attachments we tried. It wasn’t a comfortable experience and we’d recommend the Tushy if you’re looking for a low-cost bidet.

This bidet is a slight upgrade from our runner-up bidet seat, the Toto Washlet C2, adding a remote control and the ability to set two user presets. It’s a fantastic bidet with an ultra-comfortable stream and dryer.

The most budget-friendly of Toto’s Washlet Bidet Series, the A2 includes many of the great features as the C2 — warm water, dual action spray with oscillator, adjustable water temp and volume settings, heated seat with temperature control and that convenient arm control panel we love. It’s high on comfort and ease of use, but for less than $100 more, the C2 provides warm air drying with three temperature settings, automatic deodorizer, technology that auto-cleans the wand and it also comes in round-front bowl styles.

If you’re ready to test the bidet seat, er, waters, we highly recommend this slim-profile model. Easy to install once we traded out the toilet supply line hose for a longer, more flexible $10 piece from the hardware store, we like that it comes loaded with features including warm water, an adjustable heated seat, a seat sensor to keep any accidental sprays from happening, a warm air dryer, adjustable water pressure and even a night light.

We also appreciate that it boasts a self-cleaning feature that rinses the nozzles before each use and that it offers a variety of wash options: front, rear, turbo, pulse and standard. But the controls are located on the sides of the seat, which makes them much less intuitive to use than the Toto Washlet C2 and the Toto’s stream and dryer also prove to be more comfortable. Still, for $220, it’s a great choice.

This bidet is a solid option with a comfortable and effective stream. Its spray wasn’t quite as good as Toto’s, and its dryer didn’t cover the wide area that Toto’s did, but it was comfortable, and in general, we enjoyed using this bidet.

The LE99 Swash from Brondell is very similar to the LE89, but instead of a sidearm control panel, you can adjust all its settings with a remote control. Just like the LE89, it’s a solid bidet, but it could use some improvements on its dryer.

The spray on the Brondell Swash DS275 wasn’t as good as that on the Toto Washlets. And similar to the other Brondell bidets, we didn’t think the dryer was as effective as the Toto’s. It does come with a massage function and a deodorizer, but we think the oscillation of the Toto C2 and Alpha JX2 do the job better, and if you want a deodorizer, go with a Toto.

The new version of the Alpha Bidet iX Hybrid — which we also tested in our first round — has tankless heating, but its dryer was uncomfortable. After using the dryer for about 20 seconds, the back of the seat began to get hot, so much so that I didn’t want to lean back on it.

Like the Alpha JX2, the Alpha iX Hybrid also utilizes coil heating technology to instantly heat your water, but the iX’s wasn’t as good as its more full-featured sibling. In our testing, the temperature varied widely and got cold during our wash. The spray also felt thinner and more uncomfortable than most other seats we tested.

This bidet’s stream and dryer felt decent, but its remote was much worse than that of our winners. Its circular design wasn’t comfortable to hold, and it required two hands to use it easily. Plus, we had some pairing issues with the remote and the bidet that were quite frustrating.

The Bidetmega 150’s spray wasn’t nearly as comfortable as the Toto’s or the Alpha JX2’s, and the dryer wasn’t as effective as either of our picks. Plus, installing the Coway bidets was the hardest of all the options we tested. The T-valve you use to connect your bidet to your bathroom’s water line is divided into parts, meaning you have to find the properly sized adapters to attach the bidet. It adds an extra, confusing step and also gives the connection more points where it could leak.

The Bidetmega 200 is nearly the same as the Bidetmega 150, but it has twin stainless steel nozzles instead of a single. This leads to a better stream, but it still wasn’t as good as the Toto.

Our old pick for the best bidet seat, the Alpha JX, is now discontinued. Its updated version, the Alpha JX2, adds a bowl mist function and a stainless steel nozzle. After testing the JX2 we deemed it the best-value bidet seat.

If you want a luxury bidet but can’t find the Toto K300, we’d pick the Bio Bidet BB-2000 Bliss. It didn’t perform quite as well as the Toto K300, but it has a very comfortable spray and dryer, and its massage function was our favorite stream pattern out of all the bidets we tested. The remote is more complicated than the Toto’s, so it takes a while to learn what all the symbols mean and what they do.

The Tushy Ace was another solid luxury contender, but its stream and dryer comfort just couldn’t cut it against the Toto K300. It also doesn’t have the extra features the K300 does like user presets, pre-mist or a deodorizer. But, if you’re a Tushy loyalist, you won’t be let down.

The Coway Bidetmega 400 had a similarly frustrating installation process as the cheaper Coway bidets. The Bidetmega 400 has more features than the 150 and 200, however, its spray wasn’t as comfortable or effective as other top contenders, even though it automatically goes through a four-stage washing cycle unique to Coway bidets. It’s a nice luxury bidet, but if you’re willing to spend a little more we think you’ll be better served by a Toto or the Bio Bidet Bliss BB-2000.

The Brondell Swash 1400 and Omigo Luxury Bidet seemed to be the exact same bidet seat with different branding. The Swash 1400 didn’t have the most comfortable stream, and its dryer felt like it was only hitting half of the area it needed to. If you’re spending this much money on a bidet, we recommend the Toto K300 or the Bio Bidet Bliss BB-2000.

The Omigo Luxury Bidet felt and looked identical to the Brondell Swash 1400 and had similar problems, with a lackluster spray and ineffective dryer.