Best laundry detergents that clean up the competition

The New Daily
Sep 23, 2025, updated Sep 23, 2025

CHOICE tested Australia's laundry detergents to find the best and worst. Source: CHOICE

Consumer group CHOICE has tested 50 laundry detergents to find which are the sparklers and washouts — with Aldi proving to be a surprise loser.

Testers completed 110 loads of washing to find Australia’s best brands against all types of stains, including blood, oil, makeup, grass, mud, and baby food.

Costly brand Omo cleaned up the competition, with three of its products topping the results and four Omo detergents recommended for use in front loaders.

Historically, Omo has performed well in the past 10 years, with at least one product recommended in every test.

Omo powder was best for front loaders with a rating of 81 per cent, followed by Omo Ultimate 3-in-1 Capsules and Omo 3-in-1 Sensitive Capsules, which earned 77 per cent and 76 per cent respectively.

But CHOICE warned those kinds of results do not come cheap.

“Omo’s Ultimate capsules are the second-most expensive recommended product in our test – they cost a whopping $36 for a pack of 28, or $1.29 per wash.

“In fact, the five most expensive laundry detergents we tested were all Omo products.”

Expect to pay 83 cents per wash or more for these laundry legends.

For top loaders, Aldi came up the best and the worst.

The discount supermarket’s popular Trimat Advanced Laundry Powder Concentrate, which costs only 52 cents per wash, was the winner on 66 per cent.

But in the loser category, Aldi’s Green Action Laundry Liquid Concentrate claimed the wooden spoon (45 per cent and a massive $2.69 per wash).

There was one product type that consumers were advised to avoid — laundry sheets, which are marketed as an eco-friendly option.

“A relative newcomer to the laundry scene, laundry sheets are sheets of dissolvable paper embedded with detergent. They disintegrate in water, releasing the detergent into your wash,” CHOICE said.

It said laundry sheets “didn’t exactly knock (or wash) our socks off”. In fact, they were three of the lowest-scoring products.

“The concept of laundry detergent sheets is great, but the execution isn’t quite there yet,” CHOICE said.

“With some more development they may live up to their potential, but for now we don’t think they’re a great buy.”

Laundry capsules are another alternative to liquids and powders but CHOICE said they were “hit and miss”.

“Some capsules are among the best performers, but others sit at the bottom of the table, and they can be more expensive per wash than some powder and liquid detergents.”