The paper towel is one of the greatest inventions ever and, frankly, I think too many of us take them for granted.
Think about it: They’re not only invaluable for cleaning up spills and other messes, but the best ones can also handle tough jobs like cleaning the kitchen stove.
Paper towels are the brainchild of Arthur Scott who, as the story goes, developed them in 1907 from a cartload of rejected toilet paper. I know.
Today, the United States is the biggest consumer of paper towels, consuming 50% more towels than Europe and five times more than the folks in Latin America — so it’s no wonder that American grocery stores devote such an unbelievably large portion of their paper-products aisle to paper towels.
With so many brands of varying price and quality to choose from, it’s tough to know which paper towel offers the best value. Of course, the answer depends upon which factors one considers to be the most important when it comes time to evaluate them.
Several years ago, Consumer Reports evaluated a bunch of different paper towels based upon absorbency, scrub strength and wet strength — but I’m most interested in:
- cost
- absorbency
- scrub strength
And so, with that in mind, I decided to perform my own experiment comparing a host of paper towel brands based on those three criteria.
How I Conducted the Test
The first step was to buy eight different brands of paper towels: Sparkle, Bounty, Bounty Basic, Scott, Great Value, Kirkland Signature, Viva and Brawny.
Next, I had to devise a couple of tests to measure absorbency and scrub strength.
To measure absorbency, I dipped a paper towel into a large glass full of water. Once the towel was saturated, I removed it and squeezed the water into a beaker and measured it (in milliliters). To ensure an apples-to-apples comparison, I used 11 x 12 inch samples for all brands being tested.
To measure scrub strength, I wrapped a wet paper towel around a sponge and scrubbed it back and forth over a laminated counter top. I then counted the number of scrubs before the paper towel tore.
For each paper towel sampled, I conducted three separate absorbency tests and three scrub tests. The results were then averaged.
Next, scores were assigned to each of the paper towels. The top-performing towel was given a score of one hundred and the other towels’ scores were then scaled appropriately.
The final ratings for each brand were simply derived by averaging the three scores for cost, absorbency and scrub strength.
The Results
It turns out that no single brand excelled in all three categories. That being said, Scott and Viva provided the best overall value.
When it came to absorbency, Bounty was the undisputed champion. It soaked up an average of 65 milliliters of water, far outdistancing its closest rivals.
The Viva brand was the least expensive paper towel at just a hair under two cents per square foot. Despite the low price, it performed very well in my absorbency test; at 42 milliliters, only Bounty absorbed more water.
When it came to scrub strength, the Scott brand proved to be the most durable. In fact, my test results showed Scott to be significantly stronger than the next-best brand, Brawny.
Here is a complete summary of my test results:
(click to enlarge)
Recommendations
- If you’re looking for the paper towel that offers the best combination of price and performance, then Scott and Viva offer the best price-to-performance ratios.
- If performance is your primary criteria for a paper towel, regardless of cost, then Scott, Bounty and Brawny are your best bets.
- If you buy paper towels primarily for their absorbency, then Bounty is your best bet. However, keep in mind you are going to pay for it, as Bounty was among the most expensive brands on a cost per square foot basis.
- For those who prefer durable paper towels that can stand up to the toughest cleaning jobs, then Scott paper towels are the way to go.
- The two bargain brands tested, Bounty Basic and Sparkle, ended up being nothing more than, ahem, paper tigers. In fact, they performed so poorly that unless you were using them as over-sized napkins you’d probably be better off spending a little extra on a better quality paper towel.
- Despite being one of the most expensive brands on a price per square foot basis, Great Value was anything but – to be blunt, the towels performed very poorly.
So there you have it: my great paper towel test. Hopefully you learned a few things from this little experiment. I know I did!
Photo Credit: stock photo
Len – take a closer look at Bounty towels. It absorbs more liquid because it has a lot of air in the towel. However, as soon as you lift it up, the liquid leaks out. VIVA has a lot more fiber in their towels (you can feel the difference)so the liquid stays inside the towel and does not leak all over the place.
This was an amazing experiment and it’s helped me a lot! I love how you did all the tests and thank you so much for your advice.
Len, I am very impressed by your domestication!
Have you ever thought about being a professional reviewer for Consumer reports? I’m sure they’d hire you!
We rarely use paper towels. I think I have had a roll for about a year. For big spills, I use some old towels and then just throw them in the laundry with other stuff. I use smaller towels/rags for clean-ups and smaller messes. I’m not sure if this save me money since I have to wash the rags, but I like to think that it does…less trash too.
Nice job! I’ve always used Scott, but now I think I’ll switch over to the Viva brand for a little bit and see if it is worth the savings.
Yes u should
please do daddy
I’m eagerly waiting for the toilet roll test!
Agreed. Just leave out every single detail of your testing 😄
You’re a man about the house just like me Len!
I favor Sam’s Club’s Members Mark brand.
There’s cheaper, but you end up using more of them because they fall apart. There’s more expensive, but who wants to pay top price for “premium” paper towels???
That middle ground seems to be where the best value is.
Haven’t been to Costco yet, but hearing a lot of good things about it, so I might have to move out of my comfort zone and mosey on over. They aren’t even far away.
OK that was really cool, but I need more help, which one should I use to clean the toilet? I use so many sheets because I don’t want to get near anything yucky! Thanks for another entertaining post! Best regards, Barb
i love paper towels they are a total staple in my house.
at times i have to admit that i feel guilty that i use to many of them. i am not a fan of germs and therefore use paper towels over your standard kitchen towel.
it is just so easy to use them as plates for a sandwich or snack they really are the all purpose kitchen item.
I only use rags instead of paper towels. I haven’t bought paper towels in more than 10 years. I do about one washer load of rags per month, then hang them up to dry. I doubt that the energy use of doing this is in any way comparable to creating, shipping, merchandising, and travelling to purchase paper towels; plus I don’t have to support some large or multinational pulp corporation that I’m sure is doing its share of polluting to produce paper towels.
yo bro i use that to
In my young years, I use to have old newspapers to do paper towels job))
Now it’s all more simple.
Every single tattoo artist in the USA uses Bounty, because it leaves behind almost no bits of paper when you wipe down a tattoo. My wife, or “scrubber,” as I call her when she is a little too aggressive about cleaning up my delicate skin, puts them (and her clients)through the torture test, and they win every time, holding together until the end. Only when they are a rainbow and blood soaked mess does she consider a new one.
Now that’s interesting to hear! I think your expereince definitely verifies my testing — at least in the absorbency department. I hope your wife doesn’t scrub freshly tattooed skin with the same force I used to determine scrub strength though. That would be a torture test! LOL
We’ve been using Brawny for years. Hate the pick a size ones. We don’t use them hard but they perform well. They are good at wrapping around cold glasses in the summer preventing the dripping. They hold up well when something spills on the floor and we want something we can throw away. In that case they are absorbent and handle the “foot scrub”. The regular ones are hard to find though. Have you tested Brawny?
Thanks for asking! I included Brawny in a follow-up test. The results are now included in the latest update to this article.
i think scott products are the best buy for your money
We have been testing towels in class. I question the students who use procedures similar to yours. If you have a great towel that lets go of none of its water when you ring it out, wouldn’t you end up scoring it poorly? Is this fair? How do you know you have left 0 ml of water in the towel? Your operational definition seems to show which paper towel will let go of the most water . . could this change your rankings?
That is an interesting point, however, I think your concern is not a factor. I am certain that upon squeezing a paper towel that has been fully saturated with water, the amount of water ultimately NOT released from the towel will be minimal compared to the amount of water released. In other words, the remaining water in the towel will not be enough to affect the absorbency rankings.
if your a teacher you should know it is spelled wring
Thanks for this awesome review. I have a rather different question for you. In your research, did you come across a brand that had two sides, one a soft, smooth surface and the other, a rougher, scrubbing surface? Had em once, but threw out the wrapper and don’t recall the brand. My elderly father insists upon using the towels for everything – napkins, hankies, as well as their intended use as clean-up tools. (I’m fairly certain they were the select-a-size variety, but I can’t be absolutely certain I’m remembering that correctly.)
We actually like Viva best, as it is so soft and cloth-like, but I cringe at the cost. Like the other commenter said, it actually seems to hold onto what it absorbs much better than the “absorbent” Bounty, which loses much of its water on the way from the spill to the sink/trash. (OTOH, spills that large surely are handled far better with a real cloth towel. Just my opinion, naturally.)
Thanks, keep up the good work.
Cool test! Scott is the best and it’s not even the most expensive among the tested brands. This just shows that the best product is not always the most expensive one. Thanks for the test.
you know i don’t recognise any of those brands, we have our own brands of paper towels in the UK, Charmin, plenty & thirst pockets being the main players – with a bunch of supermarket own brands.
I think this was a good test one which i will create for my own blog.
——
Gareth
i think bounty would be the best :}
Thanks for the tips. It helped me alot in my science fair project!
We buy Kirkland towels, too. The one thing I don’t like about them is the size. We use paper towels for a lot of things like drying our hands, napkins, etc, where we use one ‘towel’ and the Kirkland ones are just a little too big. If they were square, they’d be perfect.
Wonderful experiment. Greatly appreciated. I think that Bounty has sadly gone down-hill. We (the wife and I, and dog) were faithful to Bounty until just recently. For some reason, the quality of their product line has completely deteriorated. Flimsy, thin, doesn’t do much in regard to cleaning up anything now-a’days. So sad. Will check out the other brands you’ve mentioned. Thanks again! Malcolm
Sorry, folks–if you want to pinch pennies, use rags and cloth towels. I stopped using paper towels a couple of years ago, except for the rare occasions when I need to drain bacon or something greasy. Costwise, two dishtowels and about 4 rags per week do not add appreciably to laundry cost. And drying is free (clotheslines).
I couldn’t agree more. But the fact that paper towels are disposable make it a better choice.
How is disposable a better choice?
Can i clean my bun with kirkland?
Of course! I clean both my Bunns with Kirkland.
Wait …
You have a tough hide.
That’s what the Honeybee says. 😉
Scott brand Naturals are, in my frugal opinion, THE best and THE strongest paper towels on the market. Their only flaw: once people discover these amazingly strong paper towels, they can’t stop using them. p.s. Len, I love your web site. Keep up the good work- and, Thank You for all the useful information.
I’m going to have to pick up a roll of Scott Naturals, Pam. And thank you for reading! I’m glad you enjoy the blog.
For science fair, I actually did a project similar to this one.
I think the Kirkland towels should have the top rating. And I also am sold on the Kirkland toilet paper. I’ll be curious how you rate it. Glad I found your site!
paper towels are a waste of money….use dish rags or cleaning rags, toss in the laundry. This country uses way too many disposable products.
I think that Kirkland Signature paper towels provide the best value. I appreciate the Create-a-Size option, although I know that a lot of people disagree. I just use two smaller half-sheets for big messes… the fact that they are really durable, and can even be wrung and reused makes a huge difference on roll longevity.
What an experiment. Nice job Len! Been using the Scott brand for years.
Nice! We use the Kirkland brand from Costco. Maybe I should try one of the other brands.
Actually, Consumer reports is not the best product testing site. Many of the products they test no longer exist in stores. A better product testing site is thesweethome.com and their explanations are better. Additionally, you don’t have to subscribe to their site! (No, I don’t work for them.)
Why do I feel compelled to yell “Great Scott” and throw a roll of paper towels at the monitor?
(Flashback to all of those late night viewings of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” , for you young whippersnappers.)
I loved the midnight movies, David! But I was always next door watching Led Zeppelin’s “The Song Remains the Same.”
Always buy paper towels at Costco. Was disappointed in how small the roll has become. Nice to see the Kirkland brand is almost twice as large. That’s what I’ll be buying for now on. Thank you Len.
My pleasure, Mike.
Have you factored into consideration the size of the squares? I have been buying Bounty Select-a-size for the past few years under the theory that if we mostly use the smallest size available. we are using 1/2 of what we would use of another brand. For instance we always use paper towels as napkins and the half size sheet is just as good as a full square. Also if you buy them on sale with coupons etc they cost a lot less.
Yes, Samiam, the square sizes were taken into account!
Interesting experiment. I’ve been using Sparkle (mostly because I can get it pretty darn cheap between store sales and combined with a coupon). Based on it’s median/average type results I’m ok with that because of the cheapness of it too.
My rule of thumb is to simply stay away from the dollar store brands. I never had a good experience with those.
This is great! I think I’ll print out your recommendation for my next shopping trip
This was a fun article to read, I love the research! Like a couple of other readers, we use mainly rags. Keep one roll of paper towels in the house in case a guest has some burning desire for paper towels. On the whole, when bath towels become thread bare, they’re demoted to dish towels (no dishwasher except the human kind here). When they become too torn and worn for dish towels, the big towels are cut into wash cloths and rags for dish washing, and all kinds of clean up. The rags are washed with regular loads of work clothes in hot water with Oxyclean. If a rag is used for some particularly filthy or disgusting job (sick dog and result was collected in and wiped up with rags) those rags and contents are tossed into the trash. We have an all white bathroom, so I buy nice thick cotton bath towels at yard and estate sales to keep the costs down, we have a variety of colors of towels. Sometimes if you make a fragile purchase at a house sale the seller will give you bath towels if you ask, to wrap the item, reducing costs again. Nice cotton towels at a store are pretty expensive. I certainly don’t object to others using paper towels or buying all matching bath towels to dress up their bathroom! To each his own. One day it came to pass that there were so many clean rags in the cupboard that the door would not close. I put the extra rags in a carton, and listed them in the free column on Craigslist. Got a taker in less than an hour, a handyman who always needed rags. I hate to throw anything away if there’s still use left!
my husband works for georgia-pacific corp. so i haven’t had to buy a roll of paper towels for quite a few years. about twice a year they give out to their employees cases of paper towels and toilet paper. usually they give out bounty and a roll will last me quite a while, but this year they gave us sparkle and you are right – they are cheap. i am not liking these as much but, hey, they were free.
Several things to consider:
1. I would greatly having dates on all posts so that I may see what year(s) these comments apply to.
2. I would really appreciate a website that does tests on common products as you have done with paper towels.
It would be awesome to have alternatives to Consumers Union Recalling that they accept no advertising in order to
preserve objectivity and the perception thereof. I find that CU seems to test many things I would never
consider using.
3. I check price by the Meter squared. But, $per Meter squared per unit of absorbency would be an interesting
measure.
4. Would an absorbency after wringing test be worth while.
5. I am just deciding between Sams and Costco for this coming year. I was wondering if Costco had an equivalent of
POM Toilet Paper (Sold by Sam’s & made by GP Georgia Pacific) in quality at a similar price.
6. I too was not as happy with the last batch of Bounty as previous people mentioned.
7. I would love to see Sam’s Club Member’s Mark in future tests in case i decide to return to them. And perhaps
Aldi, Kroger, Walmart and other larger Chain store brands.
8. I am not sure what qualities I find desirable in Toilet Paper but POM seems to be better than most at a reasonable
cost per Square Meter. I would greatly appreciate knowing what the measurable qualities are. Perhaps:
Resistance to Soak-Thru. Strength. Softness without pilling or leave behinds.
Also, I will have to try Scott.
–Glenn
One thing you didn’t mention is sheet size. Some brands (I’m looking at you Brawny!) increase their sheet size to increase the per-sheet absorbancy to match Bounty. These are huge sheets now. But usually you don’t need a whole sheet. Bounty has a line called Select-A-Size where you can use smaller sheets if you need to. I love it, it makes reaching for a towel much easier when you know you don’t need the whole thing. And since there’s more sheets, the roll lasts longer, saving me money!
my only paper towel is scott professional white shop towels in a box.
Thank you Len, I really needed a good way to test what paper towels did the best for a science fair project and I found this last minute and wont the science fair so thank you!!!
I think absorbance is THE most important thing to consider when finding a brand to use.
Len, I’m very happy that I stumbled across this. Good work.
If you spray the cleaner on the mess, and leave it 5 to 10 minutes, it will come off with a lot less scrubbing. It makes cleaning the stove a breeze.
If you use cloths, you should not use the same drying towel or dish cloth more than one day. If you are using dish cloths, once it’s touched anything that could transmit bacteria, (raw chicken, eggs, meat, and who knows what else) you should not use it again until it’s washed. Always wash and bleach them good at least once a week. Otherwise, you are allowing bacteria to grow.
I use Kroger’s RUGGED + RELIABLE brand of paper towels. I can have a half or full sheet. Washing a load of cloths at the apartment laundry costs $3. Paper towels are far more economical for me. By using a coupon, and getting them on sale, I get them for less than a buck a roll. A roll lasts me a month or a little more. It would cost me over $13 to wash cloths for that same time period.
Great tips, Bill! Thanks for sharing those. 😄
You laugh but I once found out someone mopped out of their kitchen sink, and rinsed the mop in the toilet. I always brought bottled water, and never ate with them. They were immune to every disease out there. lol
Viva is my favorite! I’m old enough to remember when they were introduced to market. I was working as a cashier. Viva sent a sales person to give out samples. I used one to clean the conveyer belt. OMG, it was fabulous and I was hooked!!! The product has gotten cheaper feeling since then, but I still love them.
However, I now use Kirkland because my s/o hates the feel of Viva. It’s a compromise on my part for sure.