8 Best Inline Water Filters of 2024 – Reviews & Top Picks

If you’ve never heard of an inline water filter, prepare for something different from the Britas and fridge units you might be used to. An inline water filter fits directly into your water pipes and automatically filters all water that passes through. You can install one under your sink, and you’ll immediately taste the difference in your tap water.

The concept of an inline water filter is pretty magical, but you’ll see that there are good ones and bad ones. Yet, with so many on the market claiming they’ll make your water cleaner, it can be hard to figure out who’s telling the truth.

Our reviews are here to help. We’ve gathered a list of inline water filters we love, some we just like, and some we recommend staying away from.

A Quick Comparison of Our Favorites in 2024

Rating	Image	Product	Details
Best Overall		Watts 43000140 Inline Water Filter	Easy to install Affordable Majorly improves taste of water	CHECK PRICE
Best Value		Omnipure K2533JJ Inline Water Filter	Cheap Doesn’t leak Cleans water quickly	CHECK PRICE
Premium Choice		PureWater Filters PWF-IFK Inline Water Filter	Extremely strong filtration system Tackles a wide range of impurities Great taste	CHECK PRICE
		Camco 40045 TastePURE Inline RV Water Filter	Very good deal Portable Able to filter all contaminants	CHECK PRICE
		Culligan RV-800 Inline Water Filter	Reduces water hardness Eliminates sulfur and metal tastes Increases water pressure	CHECK PRICE

The 8 Best Inline Water Filters

1. Watts 43000140 Inline Water Filter – Best Overall

The Watts inline water filter from Premier is our favorite filter on the market. We’re impressed by its voracious capacity (it can clean 20,000 gallons of water before needing to be replaced), its relatively low price, and its extreme versatility. You can install it in your kitchen, bathroom, fridge, RV, ice maker, or shower as long as you have 1/4-inch pipes.

Besides the price and flexibility, the simple installation is the Watts Premier’s biggest selling point. An amateur plumber can install the filter without any professional help and should only need to inspect it once every 6 months. The directions are clear and simple.

Then there’s the taste. We almost can’t believe how good this unit is at cutting down on foul smells and tastes in your water and ice. And it does it for a long time: the average homeowner takes more than five years to run 20,000 gallons through one sink.

The only downside is that it doesn’t work with pipes that aren’t 1/4-inch in diameter. You can get it to fit with some 3/8-inch pipes, but it’s a hassle. All in all, we think this is the best overall inline water filter on the market right now.

2. Omnipure K2533JJ Inline Water Filter – Best Value

If you want better-tasting water but your kitchen budget for the year is already low, Omnipure offers the best inline water filter for the money. The K2533 connects to 1/4-inch pipes and can be installed without tools.

Once installed, the Omnipure cleans chlorine and other impurities from your water, significantly improving the taste. It only takes about a minute of draining for the water to become crystal clear. Also, its construction is anything but cheap. In our tests, we couldn’t make the K2533 spring a leak, no matter how hard we tried.

The capacity is a big disappointment, however. At only 1,500 gallons, the filter will last less than a year. If you can, we suggest paying more upfront for a filter that will last longer. Ultimately, you’ll save money.

3. PureWater Filters PWF-IFK Inline Water Filter – Premium Choice

PureWater Filters is a premium-priced inline filter brand that works well enough to earn every extra penny you spend. One important thing to keep in mind; an inline water filter has to be pretty expensive before it’s less cost-effective than constantly replacing a pitcher filter.

Since it’s certified to comply with ANSI/NSF 42, the PureWater Filter fits most taps and ice makers. It ships with all the parts you’ll need and has clear instructions.

The PureWater filter is like a diligent watchdog for chlorine, metals, and microbes, flushing everything out of your water for a near-natural purity. It even filters well water and reclaimed rainwater.

Unfortunately, it only filters 1,500 gallons before needing replacement, so it’s best installed in a faucet used less frequently. Also, despite the excellent instructions, the setup takes longer than with many of its competitors.

4. Camco 40045 TastePURE Inline RV Water Filter

The Camco 40045 inline water filter is an excellent deal. You get two units for the same amount you’d pay for one of most other filters. However, they aren’t technically inline water filters. Instead, they screw onto the end of an open faucet, filtering all the water that comes through.

It might be more accurate to call them end-of-the-line filters. This design might seem odd to some users, but it works like any other filter, flushing contaminants and leaving your water clean. The filters last a long time, and each unit works for 3 to 6 months. But the best thing about the Camco 40045 is that it’s portable. You can use it in your RV, bring it to public faucets at campgrounds, or just move it between rooms in your house.

However, we’ve kept it in the rankings at number 4 because it doesn’t do much for the taste. Hose water, for example, will be clean and potable but still noticeably rubbery. They also aren’t powerful enough to handle sediment from a central water system failure.

5. Culligan RV-800 Inline Water Filter

The Culligan RV-800 is another water filter similar to the Camco 40045. Instead of fitting it inside a water pipe, you attach it to the end of a spigot or hose so that all water from that source passes through the filter before you drink it. It’s intended to be used on an RV’s water tanks but also works for hoses and public faucets.

For an extra fee, you can get a rubber hose that attaches to the output end, making it a lot easier to fill a bottle or a watering can. The hose isn’t included, and we wish Culligan were a bit more upfront about it.

In our tests, we noticed it makes water much less hard and does a great job cutting down on sulfurous and metallic smells. There’s also very little loss of water pressure. In fact, it even improves it sometimes. There’s always a downside, and the Culligan RV-800 leaks. We observed both the caps and hoses leaking often. It’s portable and filters great, but leaking is enough of an issue to bring it down to our number 5 spot.

6. AQUA CREST RV Inline Water Filter

The AQUACREST inline water filter is another external filter that attaches to an outdoor spigot to provide clean water for gardening, RVs, boats, tent camping, and other activities. It can also be used in your home sinks.

Functionally, there’s not much difference between this filter and the other RV filters in spots 4 and 5. However, AQUACREST boasts an impressive internal system. Its multi-step process starts with kinetic filtration to remove all the heavy contaminants, then uses activated carbon to kill bacteria and remove smaller particles.

Having tested the water on humans and plants, we can confirm that the multi-stage filtration works wonders. What doesn’t work is the hose. The longer you use the AQUACREST filter, the more likely the hose will pop clean off and spray everywhere.

It’s also not nearly as leak-proof as it claims. AQUACREST offers excellent filtration, but we wish its construction quality lived up to that promise.

7. EZ-FLO Inline Water Filter

EZ-FLO’s inline water filter comes in two designs. “Taste and Odor” removes contaminants that make your water smell or taste unpleasant, while “Taste, Odor, and Scale” adds extra filtration to reduce the water’s hardness.

After several portable hose filters, we’re back to inline pipe-fitted filters. The first thing you’ll notice about EZ-FLO is that it’s one of the cheapest filters on the market, even if you spring for the scale upgrade.

Sadly, there are reasons it’s so cheap. Foremost among them is that the filter often arrives without critical components. You’re likely to have to supply some essential fittings yourself. And while it removes some odors, it actually adds others; we noticed a faint sulfur taste in our test water that wasn’t there before.

It’s not all bad. This filter lasts a long time, beats other significantly more expensive models, and removes unpleasant tastes. But we can’t recommend a product that arrives too broken to use.

8. Membrane Solutions Inline Water Filter

The best thing you can say about this inline water filter from Membrane Solutions is that it’s incredibly cheap. You get two filtration units for much less than the average price of one.

If you haven’t yet figured out that you get what you pay for, Membrane Solutions will prove it to you. We couldn’t figure out which direction to install it, so we tried it both ways and saw a significant amount of leakage both times.

Once we jury-rigged a working fit, we finally tasted the water. It didn’t go well; we found it tasted worse than before we installed the filter. Then, to add insult to injury, a connector blew and leaked water all over the floor.

We don’t recommend this inline water filter unless you have no other options.

Buyer’s Guide – Choosing the Best Inline Water Filter

By now, you’ve heard a lot about our favorite inline water filters. For some of you, that might not be enough. You might want to learn more about the types of filters before making a purchase.

We’ll run down some brief but useful tips for picking the product that will get you months of pure, delicious water.

Types of Water Filters

The first step is determining what kind of water filter best suits your needs. Use this rundown of filtration designs to make the right decision.

Inline water filter:

A filter is installed directly into a pipe, filtering all the water that passes through. It usually filters a single faucet.

Faucet filter:

Often called an RV filter, these systems screw onto the end of a faucet to filter the water that comes out.

Pitcher filter:

Brita makes the most popular pitcher filter. Pitchers with built-in filters store water for later consumption.

Countertop filter:

These water filters are permanent fixtures that you can install on your kitchen or bathroom counter. Water comes from a tap on the countertop filter instead of the sink.

House-wide filter:

With professional help, you can get a water filter installed on the main holding tank for your home’s water.

How to Test an Inline Water Filter

A few important factors determine whether any water filtration system is up to snuff.

In Conclusion

We put all the inline water filters through a rigorous series of tests for our reviews. In the end, the Watts Premier earned the top spot. An amateur can install it, and it cuts foul odors down to nothing and lasts for years longer than the competition. Over time, it’s also the most cost-effective inline filter you can buy.

That’s not to say our runner-up, the Omnipure K2533, came far behind. It comes at a great price, drains exceptionally fast, and is also very forgiving to new plumbers. If it had lasted longer, we’d have had a harder time choosing our winner.

We hope we’ve been able to help you sort out the complex world of inline water filters. Remember that your best bet is to read third-party reviews, and never put too much trust in ad copy. Good luck, and enjoy your great-tasting water!

Featured Image Credit: Serhii Moiseiev, Shutterstock