The Best Air Conditioners in 2024

All air conditioners make noise, this is a fact. Generally speaking, the more airflow an A/C unit has, the louder it’s going to be, and (logically) the more capable it is of cooling larger spaces (or smaller spaces more quickly.) Quieter A/C units are less disruptive and are often more attractive if you like a more peaceful home, but if your cooling needs are very high, be ready to see higher noise levels.

It’s for this reason we recommend an operating noise level of around 55 dB or less. This puts it below the noise of a typical conversation and allows the sound to fade away into background noise or even white noise. Higher volumes can be distracting, especially if you’re very sensitive to droning sounds.

The size of your A/C unit is often the biggest determining factor behind how much power it draws – bigger units with bigger motors draw more power. But units that are the same size might not be built the same, and the power draw they exhibit can vary wildly in some cases, even when they’re on roughly the same settings.

We generally recommend a power draw of less than 1 kWh but lower is better – provided it doesn’t impact your unit’s ability to cool. Some units (especially larger ones) will require more power no matter what though, especially if they have larger motors or claim to push more CFM and actually deliver on that claim.

There are multiple factors that influence how quickly an air conditioning unit is going to cool down a space. The size of the A/C, if it’s in good condition or not, the size of the room, and the actual settings chosen (for example, using a quiet mode or a performance mode.)

We recommend a cooling speed of at least 10 minutes per degree lowered, but faster cooling speeds are always welcome. It’s important to note that this is for when you use the A/C unit in a room that it’s designed for. If you stick a very small A/C in a huge room, the cooling speed is going to be abysmal, and if you put an oversized unit in a closet, you’ll be putting up some impressive numbers, but neither are realistic.

Every air conditioner is made for a different room size, and that’s represented by this spec. If you buy an air conditioner that’s sized too small for the room you’re in, you’ll run into cooling issues and can end up waiting forever for your room to cool down enough to be comfortable.

That said, we don’t have a recommended room size because the spec already does that for you. Make sure the air conditioners you pick meet your room size (or exceed it) so you don’t have to worry about spending longer than necessary in an uncomfortably warm or outright hot room.

The air flow rate on an air conditioner measures how much air is moving through your unit when it’s running and displays it as a rate over time. For example, if your unit has 300 CFM, it’s moving 300 cubic feet of air each minute.

Air flow rate is important primarily because it’s one way of determining how well a unit will do when cooling a room down. Higher air flow rates allow a unit to work more effectively and reduce its energy consumption.

This rating (also known as British Thermal Units) is a way to measure how much energy an A/C unit will use to cool a room. Too little, and you’ll have your A/C running constantly without any meaningful change in ambient temperature, but too much, and you’ll make the room humid.

We don’t recommend a BTU value for this very reason – you need exactly what suits the size of the room you plan on setting the air conditioner up in. Don’t buy a 16000 BTU A/C when you only need 10000 – it won’t translate into a better experience.

Weight is straightforward: it’s just how much the unit weighs. Higher weights aren’t necessarily bad; they’re just harder to install and might mean that a unit is larger in overall size – which could translate to not fitting in a window, for example.

Generally speaking, an A/C should weigh no more than you can comfortably carry. A weight of 40 lbs is manageable and will minimize the need to have someone help you, but this is obviously dependent on what you can physically pick up. For some, 40 lbs is a breeze, and for others, it may be a significant hurdle.