How To Choose The Best Dishwasher Tablets?

Your dishwasher is only as good as the cleaning tablets you use. Even if you have a high-performance machine, using low quality dishwasher tablets will leave your dishes with bits of food and grease. Dishes may also come out with streaks, residue or water stains.

Good quality dishwasher tablets leave your dishes clean, sparkling and free of streaks and water stains. They work well even in cold water and can handle the greasiest and dirtiest of utensil without requiring you to extensively pre-rinse them.

So which are the best dishwasher tablets on the UK market? In this buying guide, we recommend the five top rated products. Our top picks are based on cleaning performance, value for money and verified customer reviews.

Key Buying Considerations

A. All-in-One Formulation

Many dishwasher tablets are advertised as being 3-in-1. This means they contain the main washing detergent, rinse aid and salt.

These multipurpose tablets save you the cost of buying extra dishwasher products. However, if you live in a hard water area, you may need to use extra rinse aid and salt to get a good clean.

B. Residue and Streak-Free

Some tablets do a good job decreasing utensils and getting rid of stuck-on food, but they leave behind a residue on dishes. This can be especially noticeable on glassware.

Get high quality dishwasher tablets that don’t leave any marks on your dishes. Look through customer reviews to see if there are any complaints of residues on dishes.

C. Works in Cold Water

Make sure the tablets you get work well in cold water. Some tablets don’t dissolve well when the water is not hot enough and can leave dishes uncleaned and with marks.

Most dishwasher tablets nowadays are formulated to dissolve quickly and completely even in cold water.

D. Eco-friendly

Eco-friendly dishwasher tablets are more expensive but they are better for the environment and your health as well.

One thing to look for is natural ingredients. Other tablets come with a bio-degradable packaging that disintegrates when the tablet comes into contact with water.

Phosphate-free detergents have also become more common, as people become aware of the environmental problems caused by phosphates.

E. Price

When comparing prices among different dishwasher tablets, check the number of tablets in each pack. It’ll give you a better idea of the value you are getting for your money. Amazon typically includes the price per tablet for easier comparison.

Expensive dishwasher tablets cost about £0.20-£0.30 apiece. These are usually 3-in-1 tablets or eco-friendly tablets made with natural ingredients.

You can get cheaper dishwasher tablets that clean as well for between £0.10 and £0.20 each.

Avoid cheap dishwasher tablets. They may be a good deal but won’t clean your dishes well. Because you have to use more tablets to get your dishes clean, you’ll often notice spots and residue on utensils.

Premium dishwasher tablets will cost you more but they are actually better value since you only need to use a single tablet per load.

Best Dishwasher Tablets: Reviews

1. Fairy Platinum Plus Dishwasher Tablets

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Fairy Platinum Plus are some of the pricier dishwasher tablets in the market, but they are among the best. Each pack contains 100 tablets.

Each tablet has three chambers filled with liquid. One chamber holds the detergent, another salt and another rinse aid.

The tablets dissolve quickly even in cold water. The liquid detergent breaks down grease and loosens food on dishes while the salt and rinse function ensure your dishes come out sparkling with no spots.

Fairy Platinum Plus tablets are so good, the manufacturer says there’s no need to pre-rinse. The tablets can remove all kinds of grime from your dishes. From our experience and customer reviews, the tablets really do perform as advertised.

We’ve seen no complaints about streaks, cloudiness or water spots.

Fairy Platinum Plus dishwasher tablets have a pleasant lemon scent. It’s not too strong, so don’t worry about tasting lemon in all your foods and drinks.

What we like about them:

• Excellent cleaning performance.
• No marks or spots on dishes.
• Mild and pleasant lemon fragrance.
• 3-in-1 functionality.

2. Finish All in 1 Max Dishwasher Tablets

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If you are looking for cheaper dishwasher tablets that clean well, we recommend the Finish All in 1 Max tablets. There are four packs to choose from: a pack of 25, 80, 90 or 100 tablets.

Similar to Fairy Platinum Plus, Finish tablets have 3-in-1 functionality. If you receive soft water in your home, there’s no need to add salt or rinse aid to your dishwasher.

The detergent part of the tablets is powerful enough to remove grease and tough stains on utensils.

The Finish tablets are wrapper-free. Just pick one tablet and put it in the detergent compartment. A single tablet is adequate for one load. Remember to add extra rinse aid and salt if you live in a hard water area.

Unless your dishwasher has a problem, your utensils should come out streak-free. We’ve not seen any major complaints about watermarks and cloudiness on glassware when using the Finish All in 1 Max tablets.

The Finish tablets have a lemon fragrance that makes your dishes smell clean and fresh. The fragrance is noticeable on clean dishes but it’s not too strong to transfer to food.

What we like about them:

• Powerful cleaning – works well on greasy and stained dishes.
• Wrap-free tablets.
• Pleasant lemon scent.
• Contains salt and rinse aid.

3. Fairy Original All-in-One Dishwasher Tablets Regular

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If you love Fairy dishwasher tablets but think the Platinum Plus pack is too pricey, the Fairy Original all-in-one pack is a cheaper alternative. You can choose between a 78-pack or a 125-pack.

The tablets are 3-in-1, so you get rinse aid and salt in addition to the normal detergent.

Fairy Original have a combined powder and liquid formulation that easily dissolves grease, loosens stains and protects glassware from corrosion.

The pouch is water-soluble. It disintegrate quickly once it comes into contact with water, quickly releasing cleaning agents into the dishwasher.

Like most other dishwasher tablets, the Fairy Original tablets leave utensils with a mild and pleasant lemon scent.

What we like about them:

• All in one functionality.
• Great price.
• Lemon fragrance.
• Capsules dissolve quickly in water, even if it’s cold.

4. CLARO Classic XXL Phosphate-Free Eco-Friendly Dishwasher Tabs

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If you are looking for eco-friendly dishwasher tablets, Claro is a good choice. Their Classic XXL dishwasher tabs are phosphate-free and contain no palm oil, plastics or micro-plastics. In addition, Claro dishwasher tablets are chlorine-free, vegan and are not tested on animals.

The wrapping one each tablet is biodegradable. As soon as it touches water, it disintegrates to release the detergent inside.

Unlike most dishwasher tablets, Claro’s Classic XXL tabs are not 3-in-1. They contain only the active cleaning detergent. So you have to add salt and rinse aid, whether you have soft or hard water.

Cleaning performance is great. The Claro tablets easily get rid of grease, stains and caked-on food. They leave no streaks or marks on glasses.

Each pack contains 100 tablets, which will last you between two and three months depending on how often you wash dishes.

What we like about them:

• Kind to the environment – no phosphates, chlorine, plastics and palm oil.
• No need to unwrap – super easy to use.
• Excellent cleaning performance with no streaks.

5. Ecover All In One Dishwasher Tablets

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Ecover is another good option if you are looking for environmentally-friendly dishwasher tablets. The Ecover dishwasher tablets are made with naturally-derived ingredients.

A quick check of the ingredients list reveals substances like sodium bicarbonate, citrus fragrance and bentonite, all naturally occurring products.

There are no phosphates, chlorine and other chemicals known to harm the environment.

Ecover tablets have an all in one formulation so there’s no need to add salt and rinse aid unless you live in a hard water area.

Unfortunately, the tablets come with a removable wrapper. There’s an extra step before you add a tablet to the dishwasher. It’s not a big deal (the wrapper is easy to remove), but it’s easy to get used to the convenience of wrap-free dishwasher tablets.

Note that Ecover is significantly pricier than most other brands including Fairy. This is likely because of the natural formulation.

For the price, you get a detergent that is kind to the environment and leaves your dishes clean and sparkling.

Each pack contains 22 tablets.

What we like about them:

• Eco-friendly.
• Great cleaning performance.
• All in one.