Better than candles, air fresheners, or sprays, diffusers enhance the air you breathe with the power of essential oils. Diffusers are useful whether you just want a fresh scent throughout your house or plan to treat stress or illness with aromatherapy.
Types of Essential Oil Diffusers
With so many different brands and types on the market, we know it’s hard to choose the best one for your home. That’s why we created this review of the top essential oil diffusers. We did the research to save you time and money. First, let’s talk about the two main kinds of diffusers on the market.
Nebulizing diffusers
Nebulizing diffusers send micro droplets of pure essential oil into the air. Nothing is diluted by water. They don’t work well as humidifiers and they use up oil faster than an ultrasonic diffuser. On the other hand, they allow you to experience the full effect of the oil, which is essential if you’re using the diffuser for your health.
Ultrasonic diffusers
Ultrasonic diffusers blend water with essential oils to humidify your home with a cool, scented mist. It’s best to avoid citrus oils with this kind of diffuser because they can cause corrosion. An ultrasonic diffuser can help your home to smell fabulous without using up your essential oil as quickly.
Best Chart For Essential Oil Diffusers 2016
Picture | Name | Type |
---|---|---|
![]() | Raindrop by Organic Aromas | Nebulizing |
![]() | Radha Beauty | Ultrasonic |
![]() | ZAQ Allay | Ultrasonic |
![]() | Zen Breeze | Ultrasonic |
![]() | InnoGear 100ml | Ultrasonic |
Now let’s take a look at the best essential oil diffusers available for your home or office. We’ll begin with a nebulizing diffuser.
Raindrop Nebulizing Essential Oil Diffuser for Aromatherapy by Organic Aromas
Organic Aromas created this Raindrop Nebulizing Essential Oil Diffuser to be beautiful as well as easy to use. The hand-crafted body is made from sustainable plantation-grown hardwood and hand-blown glass. While it runs, the LED lighting inside slowly changes from one color to the next, making a mesmerizing rainbow for relaxation.
The Raindrop nebulizes the pure essential oil of your choice and sends it out to cover up to 800 square feet of space. You can limit the quantity of oil it uses so the aroma fills a smaller area. It’s nearly silent while it runs. The diffuser cycles on for two minutes, then off for one minute. It will run for two hours total and then shut off automatically.
Organic Aromas points out that the Raindrop is used by professionals like massage therapists and in locations like hotels. Should you have a problem with the diffuser, they offer a 1-year guarantee.
Now that you’ve seen a nebulizing diffuser, let’s take a look at an ultrasonic diffuser.
Aromatherapy Essential Oil Diffuser by Radha Beauty
The Aromatherapy Essential Oil Diffuser from Radha Beauty is a top-selling ultrasonic diffuser. The reason for its popularity isn’t just its reasonable price. It offers some important options for customized use.
One, it can run constantly or work in 30-second bursts to humidify your home’s air. Two, if you want to use it only as a nightlight, you can do that without using it to diffuse oil and water into the air. Choose one color out of seven, or let the diffuser change slowly through a rainbow pattern. Three, if you wish to use the diffuser without the light, you can also do that.
As an ultrasonic diffuser, it’s practically silent as it runs. It uses oil sparingly because you can add as much or as little as you want into the water reservoir. When the water runs out, the diffuser shuts down automatically.
ZAQ Allay Essential Oil Diffuser
The ZAQ Allay is also an ultrasonic diffuser that sends aromatic vapor into the air. Add your favorite essential oil into the reservoir with water and let it work silently in the background. When the water runs out, the diffuser shuts off. It runs up to four hours total. Four drops of essential oil and ¼-cup water cover up to 300 square feet, so it’s ideal for small rooms.
Unlike some diffusers, the Allay doesn’t put on a light show. It has a simple interior light that creates a gentle illumination while it runs. It can also run without the light. Choose one of three different colors for the body of the diffuser to best match your home or office’s design.
Zen Breeze, Essential Oil Diffuser, 2016 Model
Zen Breeze updated their product line for 2016 with this new ultrasonic diffuser. It sports a pretty wood grain body with translucent openings. The LED light inside cycles through a rainbow of fourteen colors. It creates a hypnotic relaxing atmosphere anywhere in your home. If you prefer to run it with only one color, or without light, you can do that as well.
The large 300ml reservoir holds enough water to run the diffuser up to ten hours. It will then shut down automatically. You can also set a timer to shut off after one or three hours.
With only three to five drops off essential oils, the Zen Breeze creates an aromatic cool mist vapor that penetrates throughout a large room.
InnoGear 100ml Aromatherapy Essential Oil Diffuser
This ultrasonic diffuser from InnoGear is very similar to the one from Radha Beauty that we reviewed above. It offers seven changing colors of light that adjust between bright or dim modes. You can set it to one color only, or turn the light off altogether.
Add a few drops of essential oil to the water in the 100ml reservoir and this diffuser runs up to 6 hours in intermittent mode. If you prefer a stronger concentration of mist, it works up to three hours in continuous mode.
When the water runs out, the diffuser shuts down automatically for safety. It operates below 35dB, quiet as the sound level in a calm room.
Buyers’ Guide to the Best Essential Oil Diffusers
Essential oils retain their full power if you diffuse them without heat. That’s why cool mist ultrasonic diffusers and nebulizing diffusers are better than heating an oil to spread its aroma.
When we selected the best diffusers for this review, we looked at certain criteria. Here are the features we considered:
Coverage area
When purchasing a diffuser, it’s important to consider the size of the room where you intend to use it. Will the diffuser send out enough vapor to fill the space?
Runtime
Some diffusers only run for a couple of hours, some work through an entire night of sleep. How long will you want your diffuser to operate before you need to refill it?
Ultrasonic vs. nebulizing
Nebulizing diffusers send out a very concentrated vapor because they use undiluted essential oil. Ultrasonic diffusers raise the humidity level of the air with a cool mist of water and oil. Some people use nebulizers for intensive treatments, and also run ultrasonic diffusers for a pleasant aroma in the background.
Lights and decoration
Many diffusers offer LED lights in multiple colors so they can serve as subtle lighting, decoration, or as a nightlight. If you plan to leave a diffuser out in plain view, you may want to choose one that matches your room’s décor.
The problem of plastic
With BPA and other chemicals a growing threat to our health, there’s no point in adding insult to injury by using a diffuser that adds to the problem. Check with the manufacturer to see if they use high-quality BPA-free plastic, or better yet, no plastic at all.
Warranty and customer satisfaction
Shopping online is complicated with the proliferation of fake reviews. Better manufacturers offer better warranties and satisfaction guarantees. Check reviews to see if customers have had a positive experience dealing with the company over a defective product.
Recommendation
If you have a large area you wish to fill with aromatic vapor, consider getting a diffuser with a large reservoir like the Zen Breeze.
If you have a small space like a personal office, take a look at the diffusers from Radha Beauty, InnoGear, and ZAQ.
If you want a nebulizing diffuser to send pure, undiluted essential oil into the air, we recommend the Raindrop from Organic Aromas.
The power of aromatherapy
Scents have the power to trigger memories and emotions. They trigger the hypothalamus in the brain. The hypothalamus controls your sleep, growth, and emotional responses. It communicates with another part of your brain, the hippocampus.
The hippocampus helps you remember things. That’s why most people end up associating certain smells with certain events or things. The odor of someone grilling out might remind you of a family campout. A perfume may bring back memories of a person you knew.
Aromatherapy makes use of scents to create a reaction in your body. Different smells evoke different responses. Take a look at these below.
- To reduce restlessness and anxiety, try orange, cloves, geranium, or vanilla.
- To relieve stress and anger, try mint, sandalwood, rose, jasmine, and lavender.
- To wake up your mind and find energy for the day, try rosemary, camphor, lemon, and eucalyptus.
Essential oils can be applied topically to your skin, or their scent can be inhaled to create the positive results you desire. A diffuser combines both of these techniques by putting the oil into the air as a vapor. Then the tiny particles can be breathed in and they can penetrate your skin for maximum effect.
While you wait for your new diffuser to arrive
While you wait for your new diffuser to arrive, please take a look around at our site. Learn about the best new products to care for sensitive skin. Find a relaxing hobby to take your mind off the stress in your life.
We hope you enjoyed this review of the best essential oil diffusers. Best of health to you!
I love my essential oil diffusers! I have several to keep around different rooms in my home – as well as for our weekend home. Not only are they great for health benefits – I like using mine just for freshening up the air (with added health benefits). Unbeknownst family members or even guests get to reap the benefits. It’s kind of like I’m ‘slipping a pill in their drink’ but not for bad reasons. Lol.
Thanks a lot for publishing this guide. Your tips are useful as I’m sure I’ll be purchasing another diffuser or two at some point.
Oil diffusers are a definite way of life!!! 🙂