I tried over a dozen non toxic dish soaps over the last five years and I’m sharing the best ones.

For those of you who want to cut to the chase, the best non-toxic dish soap is Public Goods for cutting grease, best dish soap for everyday use is Puracy, and the most affordably priced best soap is Grove Co.

Toxins in Dish Soap

Here are the ingredients found in typical dish soaps:

• 1,4 dioxane: a likely carcinogen that can contaminate ethoxylated ingredients (anything ending in “eth,” like sodium laureth sulfate). It’s never listed on labels.
• Phthalates: often hidden in fragrance and linked to hormone disruption and reproductive harm.
• Triclosan: an antibacterial agent linked to endocrine disruption and antibiotic resistance.
• Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS): a harsh surfactant that strips skin oils and can worsen eczema.
• Methylisothiazolinone (MIT): a preservative and common cause of contact dermatitis.
• Formaldehyde releasers: preservatives such as DMDM hydantoin that slowly release formaldehyde, a known carcinogen.
• Parabens: preservatives linked to hormone disruption.
• Synthetic dyes: added only for color and can irritate sensitive skin.
• Phosphates: harmful to waterways, where they fuel algae blooms.

Tips for Using Natural Dish Soap

These are the things to keep in mind if you’re swapping to nontoxic dish soap for the first time.

• Less suds doesn’t mean less clean. Conventional soaps add foam boosters because people associate bubbles with cleaning. Gentle plant-based surfactants make fewer bubbles but still lift grease.
• Soak first. For baked-on food, soak pans in hot, soapy water for 10 to 15 minutes before scrubbing.
• Rinse well. The whole point of switching is to avoid residue on your dishes, so give everything a thorough rinse.
• Try a foaming pump. It stretches thin, watery soaps further.

I tried Puracy Dish Soap

Puracy is one of the most recommended non-toxic dish soaps online, and I can understand why. It’s made with gentle coconut-based cleansers instead of SLS, has no dyes or SLS, comes in a light green tea and lime scent and the ingredients are a mix of plant-derived surfactants, salt, citric acid, and a natural scent. My one flag is benzisothiazolinone, a preservative from the same family as MIT, which EWG lists in the Green Tea and Lime formula. Most reviews skip right over it, but if you have sensitive skin or eczema, it’s worth checking the label before you buy. The formula is still far gentler than conventional soaps, so I’d still consider Puracy a great option. This is a solid affordable everyday dish wash but not heavy duty in my experience. I can hardly detect the scent while using these.

Performance rating: 4/5
Know before you buy: Some formulas contain benzisothiazolinone
Price: $9.99 for 16 oz

I tried Public Goods Dish Soap

Public Goods is my top pick for a non-toxic dish soap that actually works through grease, affordable and cleans the dirtiest pans with food stuck. I’ve used it for a year now and the performance has beat every other non toxic dish soap I’ve tried. It’s a very minimalistic dish soap, from the design to the formula, and comes in mandarin basil or fragrance-free. The ingredients are coconut-derived surfactants, citric acid, sea salt, potassium sorbate as a food-grade preservative, and an essential oil blend in the scented version. My one flag is laureth-9. However, Public Goods doesn’t immediately water down on me or stop working as fast as others. I turn to this one when I have food crusted pans, appliance parts, baking pans that need something very heavy duty.

Performance rating: 5/5
Know before you buy: Contains laureth-9, an ethoxylated ingredient
Price: $9.95 for 16 oz

I tried Koala Eco Dish Soap

For the best smelling all natural scented dish soap, Koala Eco is the winner hands down. Their Lemon Myrtle and Mandarin is hard to beat, but their new Lemon, Geranium Lemon Myrtle Rosalina scent might be my new favorite. Their dish soap is made with sodium C14-16 olefin sulfonate, decyl glucoside, coco-glucoside, cocamidopropylamine oxide, and xanthan gum, along with essential oils. Use gloves if you have sensitive hands (my favorite non-toxic ones are from Full Circle). I love the arometherapy aspect of it and that I can enjoy the scent while washing dishes, which isn’t my favorite thing to do in the first place. Koala Eco is a solid everyday dish wash but not heavy duty in my experience. Their kitchen cleaner is a standout in the natural cleaning world in my experience!

Performance rating: 4/5
Know before you buy: Limonene and citral can irritate sensitive skin
Price: $13.90 for 16.9 oz

I tried Grove Co. Dish Soap

Grove Co Dish Soap is the most affordably priced dish soap in this list and is USDA Certified Biobased with 98% plant-based ingredients. It’s not the cleanest formula in this list, but is extremely budget friendly and better the conventional. Go for the Free and Clear unscented version if you’d like to avoid fragrance. I believe in progress over perfection, so for households who want to make the healthier choice this is still a good option, especially if you use gloves while cleaning. I find that it works better than most of the other non-toxic dish soaps in this list and is actually quite concentrated, but still a notch under Public Goods to me. Note that it comes in a wide mouth aluminum bottle so you’ll need to put into a dish soap dispenser of your own or get theirs. I feel like I used this up slower than many of the other brands in this list.

Performance rating: 4/5
Know before you buy: Contains MIT, BIT, SLS
Price: $5.49 for 16 oz

Meliora Dish Soap Bar (plastic-free)

I love Meliora’s non-toxic laundry detergent and they also make a zero waste dish soap bar that’s MADE SAFE certified, preservative-free, and comes packaging fre This is a true soap made from organic coconut and sunflower oils, with organic lemon peel oil in the scented version. Dish bar soap takes a minute to get used to since you rub a wet brush across it rather than squeezing a bottle. Overall a great option if you’re trying to go zero-waste in the kitchen. Just note that it’s best for everyday dishes NOT dirty ones. I’d still pick this over Mrs Meyers dish soap, which was so terrible.

Performance rating: 3/5
Know before you buy: Better for everyday dishes than greasy pans
Price: $10.99 for a 7 oz bar, available in unscented and lemon

I tried Branch Basics Concentrate

Branch Basics doesn’t make a separate dish soap product – instead you use their all purpose concentrate, so it ‘s not a gel like most people are used to be the ingredients make it the cleanest dish soap you can buy, especially if you have sensitive skin. Their whole concept is one fragrance-free concentrate you dilute with water, so the same bottle also makes your all-purpose spray, hand soap, and laundry soap. The ingredients are water, two sugar-based surfactants (decyl glucoside and coco-glucoside), organic chamomile extract, and a few mineral-based ingredients like sodium citrate and sodium bicarbonate. It’s MADE SAFE certified and has no preservatives, fragrance, or dyes, which makes it fantastic for sensitive skin and baby dishes. For dishes, you spray the All-Purpose Concentrate directly on dirty dishes, scrub, rinse, and dry as usual. For tougher messes, soak dishes in hot water with 1 teaspoon of concentrate before washing.

Personally, this is not my go-to because I prefer one that acts closest to a typical dish soap. The 33.8 oz Concentrate is $55 upfront, but since one bottle makes so many refills, it’s one of the cheapest options per use. If you want to try it first, Target sells a smaller Concentrate for $10.99.

Performance rating: 3/5
Know before you buy: It’s not a gel, but a diluted concentrate spray.
Price: $55 for the 33.8 fl oz Concentrate, which makes many refills. A smaller Concentrate is also sold at Target for $10.99.

I tried Common Good Dish Soap

Common Good is the most under-the-radar brand on this list but they’ve built a loyal fan base over the years. Their natural dish soap is scented only with essential oils like bergamot and lavender, or unscented and is made with: water, lauryl glucoside, sodium lauryl sulfate, lauramine oxide, sodium benzoate, salt, citric acid, and essential oil. Common Good is also the most environmentally minded and offers large bulk box refills.

Performance rating: 3.5/5
now before you buy: Contains SLS, which can dry hands
Price $15 for 16 oz | $149 for 2.5 gallon

I tried Homecourt Dish Soap

Homecourt is the most luxury clean dish soap in this list and I’ve used this for five years. It’s created by Courteney Cox, has premium scents designed by perfumers and a refillable pump bottle made from recycled plastic. Homecourt is made with plant-derived surfactants and glycerin, but also cocamide DIPA, benzyl alcohol, and it’s scented, so not the one for you if you’re avoiding that. This will totally take you on a scent journey as you wash your dishes and make it more enjoyable. It’s surprisingly a heavy duty dish soap that can cut through grease and clean dirty food crusted dishes well.

Performance rating: 5/5
Know before you buy: Contains cocamide DIPA, benzyl alcohol, and fragrance
Price: $28 for 16 oz

I tried Truly Free Home Dish Soap

Truly Free’s dish soap is a refillable concentrate with coconut-derived surfactants and a sweet basil plant extract scent instead of synthetic fragrance. This is one of the most affordable options in this list and has a refill concentrate concept. The refill is a gel concentrate that you add to the bottle after you fill up with water to the marked fill line. It’s on the watery side for me, so not my favorite but it’s absolutely fine for everyday dishes without grease or food stuck on. The sweet basil scent is subtle, herbal and lovely.

Performance rating: 3/5
Know before you buy: Scented with sweet basil plant extract
Price: $16.95 for a standard 2-pack refill kit

Sources

• NYSDEC: 1,4-dioxane limits in household cleansing products
• EPA Safer Choice FAQ
• EPA Safer Choice fragrance-free fact sheet
• EWG Guide to Healthy Cleaning: Puracy Green Tea & Lime
• EWG Guide to Healthy Cleaning: ATTITUDE Unscented