The best reed diffusers will fill your home with beautiful fragrance – the choice is huge, which is why we've made this guide where you'll find out ultimate favorites. From subtle and clean fragrances to powerful floral ones, we've got something for everyone.
These reed diffusers have been tried and tested by the team at RealHomes – some of us like florals, some heady sandalwood, and others fruity scents – so we're confident they smell heavenly, whatever your tastes.
Need more guidance? You can read more on choosing the right reed diffuser at the bottom of this page. Can't decide whether you want a reed diffuser, candle, or oil diffuser? See all the best home fragrance in our buyer's guide.
The best reed diffusers
Take up Jo Malone’s invitation to 'decorate with scent' with the perfumer's best-selling English Pear & Freesia, a fruity-floral scent that encapsulates early autumn beautifully.
Scent
The combination of juicy King William pear with the delicate white flower scent of the freesia and a base of earthy, woody patchouli is a real winner.
Packaging
Encased in a glass bottle, the reed diffuser comes with 10 reed sticks. The bottle and sticks will come wrapped in an iconic Jo Malone box tied with a grosgrain ribbon, making it a perfect gift.
What we like about it
It's unusual, but subtle enough that it won’t give you a headache or overpower the room. A cult favorite, we think this makes a wonderful first foray to the world of home fragrance, which makes it our top pick.
Looking for an affordable reed diffuser to fill your home with fragrance? This natural essential oil blend from AromaWorks is hard to beat on value for money.
Scent
This simple, all-natural scent is pure genius: the cheerful and zingy citrus notes of lime blended with the spicy and fresh mint, and then rounded off with lavender and bergamot for extra depth. So serene and lovely.
Packaging
Simple and effective: a frosted glass jar and natural reeds.
What we like
This home fragrance is proper value for money: it's natural, it smells great, and it's easy on the bank balance.
When it comes to Tom Dixon’s decadent home fragrance, we’d all do well to take what we think we know about diffusers and disregard it completely.
Scent
Part of a series on the four elements, this Earth diffuser is our favorite, with its opaque black jar and matching charcoal reed, making it the best choice for people who don’t ordinarily like the look of traditional ones. It also comes with one big British-sourced charcoal diffuser stick.
Packaging
A colored glass vial with a single, thick charcoal reed. Stunningly modern and elegant.
What we like
The wow factor: everything about this diffuser screams 'expensive'. A perfect gift.
The Dr Vranjes Rosso Nobile Diffuser has been in our home fragrance collection for a long time, and it really deserves its place in the hall of fame of reed diffusers. This elegant and easy-going fragrance just lasts, and lasts, and lasts, without ever becoming overpowering.
Scent
Although it's described by the brand as a recreation of the smell of red wine, it's basically a very, very sophisticated take on a red fruit scent. Perfectly suited to someone who's been after a realistic, grown-up fruity fragrance without the bubblegum effect you get with some of them.
Packaging
As elegant as the scent: the faceted glass bottle, the deep red juice inside, and the black reeds are just so perfectly poised.
What we like
We say it's pretty much impossible to dislike this lovely, wholesome fragrance; it will never give you a headache.
Looking for something that reminds you of summer all year 'round? Apotheke's Sea Salt Grapefruit Reed Diffuser will do the trick. The smell is citrusy, but elevated and clean, and reminded us of a fancy hotel lobby in Miami Beach.
Scent
Grapefruit is definitely the lead note, but the diffuser has plenty of depth thanks to hints of pepper, mint, and tarragon. It's more fresh than fruity. As for the strength of the scent, it'll easily fill up a large room (but isn't overpowering), and is designed to last three-to-four months.
Packaging
The frosted glass bottle feels minimalist and modern, but it's simple enough to suit any style.
What we like
Beside the scent, which has become one of our go-tos, we love that Apotheke was founded by a woman who started out selling handmade soaps at farmer's markets, and that the products are still made at a small factory in Brooklyn,
The best way to describe this scent is warm and cozy without being heavy (you know, like when you walk into a house that's had a pumpkin spice candle burning all day? It's not like that).
Scent
This West Elm reed diffuser is tantalizing and zesty but also rich and sophisticated thanks to a combination of mandarin, rose essence, and night-blooming jasmine with notes of tonka bean, sandalwood and Madagascar vanilla.
Packaging
The glass bottle is wrapped in a gold-tone angled brass container, which gives it an on-trend look. You'll be happy to display it in full-view on a bookcase or mantle.
What we like
The scent, for one, but also that this little diffuser is like two purchases in one. When the scent is gone in a few months, the brass vessel can be repurposed as a pencil holder or catchall. It's also made in the U.S.A.
If you're looking for a reed diffuser that makes as much of a style statement as it does a scent one, this CB2 reed diffuser is the perfect pick.
Scent
A little bit woodsy, a little bit fresh, this scent is subtle and a just-right balance of masculine and feminine. While the top notes are mostly citrus, the middle notes of tobacco and lavender give it a slightly rich, but nowhere near overpowering, scent.
Packaging
Arriving in a sleek black box that mimics the minimalism of the bottle itself. the scent sits in a beautifully elegant glass cylinder. filled with plants and a single red rose. The diffuser comes with black rattan reeds.
What we like about it
Apart from the fact that this CB2 reed diffuser looks great on display, it was created in collaboration with Bright Endeavors, a Chicago-based nonprofit that provides job training for young moms. It's also value-priced at $29.99.
What we don't like about it
Nothing!
Classy packaging and natural scents make Ortigia Sicily's hottest export – and this is their finest home fragrance, in our opinion.
The scent
The true orange blossom scent – sweet and a little oily; if you've ever smelled orange blossoms, you'll instantly recognise it. There's nothing synthetic about it, and Ortigia use real neroli oil to create the stunning effect.
The packaging
Totally gift-worthy; that black engraving on the bottle over the amber-colored juice looks amazing.
What we like about it
That the company use natural ingredients in their home fragrance – you can really smell that here.
What we don't like about it
The reeds are a bit basic. We'd replace with satin black ones for a more sophisticated look.
There are so many grapefruit home scents out there – this one is by far the best.
The scent
Fresh and citrusy, this will also delight you with the addition of lily of the valley, which lends it a more sophisticated quality than just straight-up grapefruit. A clean-smelling fragrance that's in no way boring.
Packaging
Elegant if somewhat forgettable – a striped frosted glass bottle that reminds us a little of Jo Malone.
What we like
The elegance of this reed diffuser – prepare yourself for the many compliments you'll receive from guests.
What we don't like
This may not work for very large rooms, as it's on the subtle side.
How to buy the best reed diffuser
Where to buy the best reed diffuser
Refillable
With candles, once they’re gone, they’re gone. Not so with reed diffusers, which can be topped up with new fragrance oil when it's run out. Just make sure that when you buy a diffuser refill you discard your old reeds, as they’ll be saturated with all the scent they’ve soaked up from the first round of oil and won’t soak up any more.
Safety
Reed diffusers are also a better bet if you have safety concerns – candles can't be left burning unattended, or around children or pets. Fragrance diffusers are safer, but be careful choosing the fragrance, as some oils may be toxic. Also, they don’t ‘tunnel’, which is the frustrating phenomenon where candles burn in a hole down the centre, leaving loads of unused wax along the sides.
Scent
So now you know why to buy a diffuser, which one should you buy? If you don’t know what you like, choosing a fragrance can be the hardest part of shopping for a scent diffuser, but looking for individual scent families is a good place to start.
Florals are fairly self-explanatory, and while some of them might get a bad rap for being overdone, our floral picks are all combined with fruity and fresh notes to keep things modern. For a more unexpected home fragrance, consider something from the woody or spicy families, or on the other end of the spectrum, a fresher, 'greener' scent.
Are reed diffusers safe for pets?
Love a reed diffuser, but heard about the potentially toxic effects on your pet? It's not just a scare tactic: dogs and cats have a much stronger sense of smell than we do and can be overwhelmed by strong scents. Moreover, if they are exposed to strong perfume over long periods of time, it can make them ill by damaging their livers. Here are some solutions:
1. Limit the use of your reed diffuser to parts of the house your pet doesn't spend much time in, for example your home office or bathroom.
2. If you do want to keep using a reed diffuser in the main room, keep the space well ventilated and allow your pet access to the outdoors. Consider putting the diffuser away for the night.
3. Some natural fragrances are safe for pets, notably the oils of rose, jasmine, and lavender (we mean only to inhale, of course, never to ingest). Look out for natural and organic reed diffusers that use these calm florals, and avoid anything citrus or pine fragranced.
What is the best reed diffuser you can buy?
Our top pick is the Jo Malone London English Pear & Freesia. It's luxurious, fresh, comes in an elegant-looking bottle and it has notes of pear, freesia, amber and patchouli. We also love the CB2 Bergamot & Fir reed diffuser; it has a beautiful bottle, a sophisticated scent, and it's under $30.
