Water Filter Pitchers are smart way of getting quality and cheap water. Quality filter pitchers decrease some major impurities, like, limescale, lead, chloride, fluoride, arsenic, copper etc. Notice that filter pitchers just decrease that purities to some extent, not %100 purification. That kinds of %100 purifications require more complex water filtration systems. On the other hand, water filter jugs usually filter most of the impurities with affordable invest. We reviewed and compared Brita, ZeroWater and Aquaphor filter jugs for you, in detail.
By Metin KARAL – Review Editor
We research, test, and if applicable, rate the products that We used. We know the importance of Trusted Reviews.
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Compare The Best Water Filter Jugs
| Brita Marella XL | ZeroWater | Aquaphor | Brita Flow | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Material | BPA Free | BPA Free | BPA Free | Polycarbonate |
| Capacity | 3.5 L | 2.8 L | 2.8 L | 8.2 L |
| Filter Life | 150 L | 91 L | 200 L | 100 L |
| Dimensions | 14.7×25.8×25.6 | 15.2×29.5×31.5 | 11.7×26.42×25.4 | 30.7×22.6×21.5 |
| Weight | 970 gr | 454 gr | 840 gr | 1.294 gr |
| Counter | Memo Display | TDS Meter | Mechanical | Memo Display |
| Cartridge | MAXTRA PRO | ZeroWater | MAXFOR+ | MAXTRA PRO |
| Refill | Easy | Easy | Easy | Hard |
| Fit to Fridge Door | No | No | YES | No |
| Dishwasher Safe | YES | YES | YES | YES |
 | | | |
Best Water Filter Jugs – Brita Marella XL (Top Pick!)
Brita is a dominant company in the water filtration area. Established in 1966 and has great knowledge about water filtration technology. Actually, they are pioneer in the market. Especially in jugs and filters.
Marella XL is one of the best water filter jugs of Brita. Its material is CE Certified Food Grade Quality. It has a 2.4L filtered and 3.5L total water capacity. As you pour 2.4L filtered water, remaining 1.1L water starts to filtrate. (2.4L/3.5L)
Marella is extremely easy to use filter jugs. You can fill the jug without removing the lid with one hand. Just fill the jug with tap water and wait 2 minutes. That’s all!
Brita Marella XL can reduce Limescale, Chlorine and other substances that change taste of water. In addition, lead and copper metals are also reduced. Marella XL do all that filtration with MAXTRA PRO filters. It is certified to NSF/ANSI Standards 42 and 53. Brita MAXTRA PRO filters are heart of Brita jugs. All the filtration is carried out by MAXTRA PRO filters. They are produced from carbon of coconut shells. Micro carbon pearls actively adsorb Chloride in the water and locks it to its pores. That produce tasty and odorless water. Environment friendly way of getting quality water!
Dimensions of Brita Marella XL is 25.6 x 25.8 x 14.7 cm (W x H x D). For this reason, does not fit fridge door. If you are planning to use it in fridge door, you must choose Fridge Fit Size model with 10.5L x 25.8W x 25.8H cm size. Notice that Fridge Fit Size model is thinner than XL model and has less capacity (1.4L/2.4L, instead of 2.4L/3.5L)
Brita Marella XL is dishwasher safe (excluding lid). On the lid, it has an LCD memo display. LCD Memo Lid is actually a very simple LCD display to show the percentage of how much your water filter is used. It does not measure how many liters of water is filtered. It is just a countdown for 4-weeks
| Material | BPA Free Plastic |
| Total Capacity | 3.5 L |
| Filtered Capacity | 2.4 L |
| Dimensions | 14.7 x 25.8 x 25.6 cm |
| Weight | 970 gr |
| Memo Display | Yes |
| Cartridge | MAXTRA PRO |
| Fit to Fridge Door | No |
| Dishwasher Safe | Yes |
|
In short, Brita Marella XL is a superb water filter jug for every kitchen. It is very easy to use. You can easily fill the jug with one hand. Just fill and wait 2 minutes for high quality water. I’m using that jugs for 1.5 years without any problem and it is still robust. Marella use Maxtra PRO filters (like most other Brita Jugs) and that German made filter really makes good filtration. On the other hand, XL model does not fit to fridge door. If you are planning to use Marella in the fridge door, you must choose Fridge Fit Size model of Marella.
Best Water Filter Jugs – Zero Water Filter Jug 12-Cup
ZeroWater is an American company, founded in 2002 and produce mainly water filtration related products. Zero Water 12-Cup Water Filter Pitcher is one of them. It has a classical clean design. Smooth surface is a plus feature while cleaning. Pitcher is made of transparent, BPA-Free high-quality material. ZeroWater12-Cup has a Comfort Grip Handle for easy usage.
Zero Water Filter Jug 12-Cup has a great 5-stage filter:
- Stage-1: Removes suspended solids such as dust and rust, which makes water blurred
- Stage-2: Removes other suspended solids
- Stage-3: Removes organic contaminants; Mercury, Chlorine, pesticides, herbicides
- Stage-4: Removes inorganic compounds, like metals, non-metals and contaminants
- Stage-5: Removes remaining suspended solids.
Instead of carbon filtration, Zero Water filters use Ion Exchange Technology to eliminate contaminants. These filters are certified to NFS/ANSI Standard 53 to remove 99% of lead and chromium from regular tap water. This is awesome!
Bad thing with NSF certified ZeroWater filters is while removing inorganic and organic contaminants, it also removes dissolved solids. After all you get “highly” purified water. Taste of this water is a bit sour. If you drank reverse-osmosis water before, you would understand what I mean.
Other bad thing with ZeroWater 12-Cup is, by design, upper reservoir capacity is only 1/4 of lower reservoir. In order to fully fill lower reservoir, you must refill upper reservoir many times. If you are in a hurry, this might be a problem.
ZeroWater 12-Cup water filter pitcher comes with a free total dissolved solids (TDS) meter. This TDS meter is used to measure water TDS before and after filtration. By that way, you see how well filtration is done. If you see higher results, you will understand that filter is getting out and time to replace it. This is much more accurate method compared to Brita Marella’s memo display.
| Material | BPA Free Plastic |
| Total Capacity | 2.8 L |
| Filter Capacity | 91 L |
| Dimensions | 15.2 x 29.5 x 31.5 cm |
| Weight | 454 gr |
| Memo Display | TDS Meter |
| Cartridge | Zerowater |
| Fit to Fridge Door | No |
| Dishwasher Safe | Yes |
|
In short, Zero Water Filter Jug 12-Cup has a great 5-stage filtration system. This filtration removes almost all contaminants, including dust, rust, mercury, chlorine, pesticides, herbicides, some metals and non-metals. Actually 12-Cup can be considered as the good filter jug, in terms of filtration. Bad thing with ZeroWater is highly purified water is a bit soar. Some people find the taste less natural, but for some people, filtration quality is more important, and taste is less important. Filtration capacity of Zero Water filters is 25 to 40 gallons, depends on TDS amount in your area.
Best Water Filter Jugs – Aquaphor Amethyst
Aquaphor Amethyst is another water filter jug to practically get clean water. Similar to others, Amethyst remove chloride, limescale, heavy metals by its filter.
Amethyst is thinner than Marella XL and fits perfectly to fridge door for cold water. Marella XL is thicker than Amethyst and doesn’t fit to fridge door for cold storage. For this reason, Amethyst is more convenient to get cold water from fridge. Just fill Amethyst and store in fridge door directly.
| Material | BPA Free Plastic |
| Total Capacity | 2.8 L |
| Filter Capacity | 200 L (with MAXFOR+) |
| Dimensions | 26.42 x 25.4 x 11.7 cm |
| Weight | 840 grams |
| Water Counter | Yes |
| Compatible | MAXFOR+ / MAXTRA PRO |
| Fit to Fridge Door | Yes |
| Dishwasher Safe | Yes (except lid) |
|
On the other hand, capacity of Amethyst is 2.8L which is 3.5L at Marella XL. That might be a problem if you have a large family. Otherwise, Amethyst is enough for daily water needs.
Other great thing with Aquaphor Amethyst is its refill design. Amethyst has a sliding grid on the lid to fill water. You don’t need to remove lid completely to fill water. Fairly practical!
Amethyst has an Automatic Mechanical Counter. This analog indicator shows you approximate life time of cartridge. When it is near to zero, you understand that it is time to change water filter cartridge. It is simple but efficient!
Aquaphor Amethyst comes with its native MAXFOR+ Filter. Like Brita filters, Maxfor+ filters have ion-exchange fiber material to remove/adsorb unwanted substances. It can remove (at least decrease) heavy metals like lead, iron, mercury from tap water (if any).
Another good thing with Maxfor+ filters is its filtration capacity of 200L. This capacity is usually 100L at similar filters. Really budget friendly!
Best Water Filter Jugs – Brita Flow Water Filter Tank
Despite the fact that Brita Marella XL is a great water filter jug, some people might need extra capacity. Brita Flow is not a jug actually; it is a water tank with filtration capability. But it filtrates regular tap water and you get huge amount of filtered water. It is ideal for large families or small companies.
| Material | Polycarbonate |
| Total Capacity | 8.2 L Total 5.2 L Filtered |
| Filter Capacity | 150 L (with MAXTRA PRO) |
| Dimensions | 30.7 x 22.6 x 21.5 cm (WxHxD) |
| Weight | 1294 grams |
| Water Counter | Yes (Memo with time countdown) |
| Compatible | MAXTRA PRO |
| Fit to Fridge Door | No (Fits to Fridge Shelf) |
| Dishwasher Safe | Yes (except lid) |
|
Brita Flow is made up of quality polycarbonate plastic. It really gives confidence. In contrast to other similar water filters, it does not have a cylindrical shape. It is rectangular. It is not designed for easy carrying but storing for high amount of water. It is actually a quality water dispenser with water filtration features.
Brita Flow has 8.2 L total water capacity, which is fairly enough for big families and small business. Due to huge size, you cannot store it at fridge door, but you can store on fridge shelf, easily. By that way, you can get high amount of cold water any time you want. If you don’t have or don’t want to consume that much of space in your fridge, Brita flow is not for you.
Brita Flow uses regular Brita Maxtra PRO filters. For this reason, filtration capabilities of Brita Flow are same as other (Brita Marella, Aluna etc.) filter jugs. If you are planning to use Brita Flow with other Maxtra PRO compatible filters (Like BWT) you might meet some problems. I’m using my BWT filters with other Brita Maxtra PRO compatible jugs with easy, but BWT filters are not compatible with Brita Flow! Very interesting!
Brita flow water tank filter is fairly different than regular water filter jugs in terms of shape and capacity. Regular water filter jugs (like Brita Marella, Aluna or Aquaphor) are more mobile. But you can take and put Brita Flow under faucet to refill, although not as easy as regular jugs.
In short, Brita Flow has a huge water capacity! You can filter and store much more water than other classical water filter jugs. This is definitely big plus for large families and small offices.
Best Water Filter Jugs – Compare Brita vs Zero Water Jugs
Although Zerowater ZP-010 and Brita Marella XL Filter jugs are designed to remove impurities from tap water, there are many important differences between them.
The most important difference between Zero water vs Brita is filtration ability. Brita successfully reduces Chloride, Limescale, Lead and Copper and you get purified tasty water. On the other hand, ZeroWater removes almost all kind of organic and inorganic impurities, like dust and rust, mercury, chlorine, pesticides, herbicides and many more inorganic compounds. At the end, you get highly purified (near distilled) water. Taste of this water is somehow soar. If taste is more important for you, go with Brita. If your aim is to get cleanest water, go with Zerowater.
Other difference between Zero water vs Brita is filter shapes. Brita use Maxtra PRO type flat filters but ZeroWater use cylindrical shaped filters, and they are not compatible with each other. Brita filters are more common, and you can find compatible Brita alternatives. But this is almost impossible with Zerowater.
Brita jugs come with a simple memo display which is a simple countdown led display for 4-weeks. On the other hand, Zerowater comes with a free total dissolved solids (TDS) meter. TDS meter is used to measure water TDS before and after filtration. By that way, you see how well filtration is done. Absolutely much better than Brita memo-display.
The last most important difference between Brita and Zero Water is filtration speed. As I said before, Zerowater filters almost all impurities from the water and works very slow. In contrast, Brita jugs filters some of the impurities from water and much faster than Zerowater.
Best Water Filter Jugs – Compare Aquaphor vs Brita Jugs
Marella XL is one of the best water filter jugs of Brita. Actually, it is very well designed and works great. On the other hand, Aquaphor Amethyst is newer and has some superior features over Brita.
Aquaphor Amethyst can fit to fridge door, but Brita Marella XL cannot. If you need a jug to fill and store at fridge for cold water, Amethyst is for you!
Brita Marella XL beats Aquaphor Amethyst in terms of capacity. Brita Marella XL has 3.5L whereas Aquaphor Amethyst has 2.8L capacity. If you need high capacity each time, Marella XL is for you. (3.5L vs 2.8L). Winner of Brita vs Aquaphor in terms of capacity, is Brita Marella XL.
But keep in mind that, Aquaphor Maxfor+ filtration speed and capacity is fantastic! You can filtrate much more water with Maxfor+ compared to Brita Maxtra PRO.
Another important difference between Brita and Aquaphor is water counters. Brita jugs come with a simple memo display which is a painless countdown led displaying 4-weeks. Whereas Aquaphor comes with a cleverly designed “Automatic Mechanical Counter“. Each time you refill your jug, the analog indicator moves down and shows you estimated life of your filter cartridge. Not a high-tech gadget but better than Brita’s memo display.
In short; I used both Brita and Aquaphor and I can conclude that Aquaphor is a bit more practical than Brita. But your choice may change according to your needs. If you need high water filtration capacity, go with 3.5 Brita XL. If you need a jug that fits to fridge door, go with Aquaphor.
The Best Affordable Water Filter Jugs – (2025)
Our Verdict
Brita Marella XL Water filter jug is our winner for The Affordable Water Filter Jug. It is extremely easy to use, successfully reduce chloride, limescale and some metals (lead and copper) from regular tap water. Refill method is also fairly easy.
Written by Metin Karal
Metin Karal is a Computer Engineer and He is interested in reviewing products that He used or liked. He also likes programming in C#. Currently, He is developing a really challenging memory game, PairMem which is available at Official Microsoft Store for free download.
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Reducing chlorine odor is no big deal. Boil tap water, or let it sit out for an hour and the chlorine (gas) in it will have evaporated.