8 Best Upholstery Cleaners of 2024, Tested & Reviewed

Oct 19, 2024

Go ahead, take a seat!

We've been independently researching and testing products for over 120 years. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Learn more about our review process.

Soft upholstery is a magnet for the stains and odors that are a natural part of every household. From food and drink spills to cooking odors to the shoes that family members forget to leave at the door, upholstered furniture gets more wear and tear than you might think. Regular vacuuming removes loose dust and dirt, and if you are a pet owner, a pet hair removing tool or a vacuum that excels at sucking up pet hair is a must. But in most homes, that's not enough. A good upholstery cleaner or appliance that refreshes and restores your couch, dining room chairs and even the seats in your car assures that these essential home furnishings stay stain and odor-free and look their best.

In the Good Housekeeping Institute Home Care & Cleaning Lab, we rigorously test all kinds of products and appliances for taking care of household and clothing fabrics, whether they can be laundered in a washing machine or need special attention with a portable carpet cleaner, full-size carpet cleaner, a carpet stain remover or even a fabric steamer or fuzz and pill remover. We test them for how well they perform their intended tasks, how easy they are to use and store, safety on surfaces, clarity and completeness of the instructions and more.

Below, you'll find the best upholstery cleaners from our testing, no matter what type of treatment is safest for your upholstered pieces. Whether you plan on deep-cleaning a fabric couch or spot-cleaning a leather chair, we have a recommendation for you. After our picks, keep reading for more about how we test these cleaners and how to find the safest cleaners for your upholstery fabrics.

Easy to store and easy to tote from room to room, Bissell's Little Green can remove just one stain or clean an entire sofa. We first tested this little social media star many years ago and have continued to recommend it in our roundups because it never fails to impress. Simply fill the clean tank with water and one of Bissell's cleaning formulas and switch it on. Then, spritz the solution onto the fabric through the nozzle at the end of the hose, gently scrub with the soft brush and vacuum it all back into the dirty water tank for easy emptying.

In our tests, this portable cleaner made quick work of stains without damaging fabrics (or carpet), and it picks up spills faster and more thoroughly than you can with a cloth. We found the tanks easy and mess-free to fill, and the wand was comfortable to hold. Even if it is somewhat loud, we like that the long, wrap-around hose and compact nozzle make it easy to get into tight and curvy spaces, like armrests. Its slim, oblong footprint fits on a stair step and slips into the tight backseat space of a car.

Read More: As a Cleaning Expert, Here's Why I Recommend Bissell's Little Green Portable Carpet Cleaner

Woolite's Instaclean stain remover contains ingredients that penetrate and dissolve stains on contact. Hydrogen peroxide in the formula acts like a fabric-safe bleach to remove the remnants of colored stains like tomato sauce, coffee, fruit juice and more without damaging or changing the color of the upholstery. Simply apply the EPA Safer Choice certified formula, let set for one minute and blot.

In our tests, Woolite's line of carpet and upholstery stain removers worked quickly and thoroughly without the need for extra rinsing or blotting. Even though the oxy bleaches in Woolite's Instaclean are color-safe, it's best to test it on a hidden spot before treating any stain just to be safe. It should never be used on silk, velvet, vinyl or leather upholstery.

We've tested many of Method's dish liquids, laundry detergents, all-purpose cleaners and more. They all use plant-based ingredients in their formulas and have all proven to be effective cleaners in our tests. But this Method Stain and Odor Treatment is the first one in the line to tackle and remove stains from un-washable household fabrics like upholstery and carpeting.

The formula is clear, not sudsy and only requires spritzing on a stain, waiting 10 minutes (a bit longer than others) and blotting. In our tests, it completely removed an old stain from a white damask dining room chair seat (pictured) that nothing else our tester tried could budge. And it removed stains from wool carpeting too. We found the formula easy to rinse and blot from fabrics even after several applications, and we liked the Spearmint Sage scent. Even though old stains needed a few attempts to be totally removed, the success impressed us so much that we named it a winner of a Best Cleaning & Organizing Award.

If you own pets that have had accidents on your upholstery, carpets or bedding, you know that it's not just the stains that are problematic, but the lingering odors too. Left untreated, they can draw your cat or dog back to the very same spot. What we especially like about this Bissell formula — besides how well it removes stains — is that it contains enzymes to attack both the stain and the odor pet messes leave behind.

After using it to erase the stain, place a moist cloth over the area and let it sit for 12 to 72 hours. This keeps the enzymes working to eradicate the smell from odor-causing bacteria. In our tests, it did a great job removing food stains too, and it works just as well on carpeting, mattresses and pet bedding. In fact, we recommend using it wherever pet stains happen. While it works quickly on visible stains, it's best to give it time to soak into the upholstery to completely erase odors.

Delicate upholstery fabrics like silk brocade, while beautiful, can be problematic to clean. Silk is usually not safe for wet cleaning and can be damaged by the majority of upholstery cleaners on the market. And some water-based cleaners also caution against using them on velvet upholstery, whether silk or synthetic. As a result, furniture covered in delicate fabric is often labeled with the cleaning codes S or X, for solvent cleaning only or no wet cleaning at all.

Regular vacuuming with an upholstery tool is essential to keep delicate fabrics looking good, but when it's not enough, a dry powder formula like Capture can freshen and brighten delicate fabrics or carpets without damage. To use it, liberally sprinkle the porous Capture granules on the cushions, back and armrests then gently work it into the fabric with a brush (pictured). Let sit 30 minutes to give the granules time to absorb embedded dirt and fresh stains, then vacuum. We like that it's easy to use and offers a dry, safe cleaning option for fussy fabrics. For very heavy soil and set-in stains on delicate upholstery, it's best to call in a professional.

Many people think leather upholstery is delicate and needs special care when in reality, it can be more forgiving and easier to care for than fabric. As long as you keep it out of direct sunlight and away from sharp objects, spills can usually be blotted from it quickly and grime is easy to remove. That's where GH Seal star, Furniture Clinic Leather Care Kit, comes in. It's a one-two punch that removes dirt and conditions as well as helps protect against future stains.

Though the system requires two steps, we think the extra effort is worth it. In our tests, the cleaner removed grime embedded in the leather's grain and even erased blue dye from jeans that had transferred to a leather car seat, eliminating the need for a specialty leather car cleaner. The protector left our leather seats, recliner and test swatches supple and shiny and helped make the ink marks we applied afterward easier to remove. The kit includes an applicator sponge and buffing pad. We also like that Furniture Clinic is not just for leather furniture: It's safe to use on bags, shoes, jackets and more.

While we all know that drinking a glass of red wine on the sofa can be a recipe for disaster, we do it anyway. Fortunately, with Wine Away on hand, disasters can be averted. In Cleaning Lab tests, Wine Away was the best red wine stain remover we tested. It completely removed fresh stains and lightened set-in ones so well they could easily be rinsed away. Plus, the product works on other red-colored stains like berries and fruit juice.

While fabrics need to be rinsed or washed after being treated with Wine Away, we found that the formula isn't sudsy, making it easy to remove without excessive blotting or rubbing. And don't just save it for upholstery stains: Wine Away works on clothing and carpet stains too. As soon as you spritz it on, the color starts to fade.

Probiotics are fairly new ingredients in cleaning products. They penetrate surfaces and continue working even when you've finished cleaning. After they've done their initial work on a stain, probiotics continue to eat away at odor-causing bacteria for up to three days after use. We were so blown away by this cleaner's ability to eliminate pet stains like cat urine that we gave it a Best Cleaning & Organizing Award.

What separates Lively from similar cleaning products that use enzymes? It works longer and on both soft and hard surfaces thanks to the inclusion of probiotics. Use it on upholstery, carpet, sealed floors, furniture, pet bedding and even your pet's crate. One of our consumer testers used it to clean up her toddler's accident and said it eradicated both the stain and the odor without excessive scrubbing. We think this pick is a must for homes with young kids, cats or dogs, though some users wish it had a scent.

The Good Housekeeping Institute has been testing upholstery cleaning sprays, creams and powder formulas along with upholstery cleaning appliances for years. And most of them are also designed to safely clean stains from carpeting. In fact, we first tested our best overall pick, Bissell, more than 20 years ago, well before it became a social media sensation. For our latest Best Cleaning & Organizing Awards alone, we tested nine products and appliances that could be used for cleaning upholstery.

When our Home Care and Cleaning Lab experts test upholstery cleaners, we evaluate how well products remove food, dirt and oily stains we've applied to a variety of typical upholstery fabrics.

We also check for any fabric damage the cleaners may cause and how easy the cleaners are to use and rinse away. We then assess how clear the directions are and check for any safety or cautionary warnings that must be on the product's label.

For upholstery cleaning machines, we evaluate them as we do any appliance by following the owner's manual and testing all the attachments and included cleaning formulas to assess performance, easy of use, run time, capacity and how easy they are to maintain and store.

Products are also sent to consumers and staffers to test on the well-loved couches and cushions in their own homes. We then gather feedback on how well they removed stains, eradicated pet messes, restored the look of fabrics and more.

Upholstery is trickier to clean than carpet because it can be made from a wide variety of fibers and fabrics. Some, like synthetic microfiber or cotton chenille, can be cleaned with most products. Silk damask, on the other hand, would be damaged when cleaned with a water-based method. So before you grab just any cleaner from your cabinet and start spraying, it's a must to know what type of cleaning formula is safest for the fabric covering your furniture.

Check the care tag on your upholstered furniture before you clean it and look for codes that tell you how to proceed safely. A quick cheat sheet:

• Code W: Water-based cleaning solutions are safe to use.• Code S: Only solvent-based cleaning solutions are safe to use.• Code WS: Both water- and solvent-based cleaning solutions are safe to use.• Code X: Neither water- nor solvent-based cleaning solutions are safe to use. Only vacuuming or professional cleaning is recommended.

Always test any cleaning solution or method on a hidden spot first for safety.

As its executive director, Carolyn Forté oversees all testing done in the Home Care and Cleaning Lab. Over the years, she has tested and reviewed hundreds of vacuum cleaners, carpet cleaners, upholstery cleaners, mops and other major (and small) home appliances. Most recently, she tested all of the stick, upright, canister and handheld vacuums that were submitted for consideration in GHI's Best Cleaning & Organizing Awards. She also spent 16 years as the director of the GH Institute's Textiles Lab, so she's very comfortable handling all kinds of fibers and fabrics and evaluating and assessing their care.

Carolyn Forté brings more than 40 years of experience as a consumer products expert to her role as executive director of the Good Housekeeping Institute's Home Care and Cleaning Lab. Using deep analytical testing and writing expertise in appliances, cleaning, textiles and organizational products, she produces cleaning and home care advice for GH, has authored numerous books and bookazines for the brand and partners with the American Cleaning Institute to co-produce the Discover Cleaning Summits. She holds a bachelor's degree in family and consumer sciences from Queens College, City University of New York.

The Best Undershirts for Men

Cookware for Glass-Top Stoves

The Best Carpet Cleaners to Zap Dirt and Stains

The Best Pressure Cookers

I Found the Best Gifts for 11-Year-Old Boys

The Best Hand Creams

Gifts for Bread Bakers

The Best Solar Christmas Lights

15 Top-Rated Sex Toys, Based on Shopper Reviews

The Best Countertop Microwaves

The Best Waterproof Boots for Women

The Best Gifts for 11-Year-Old Girls