Best Air Purifiers Under ₹5,000, ₹10,000 and ₹15,000 (2026)

Delhi’s AQI crossed into “poor” on 21 October, and purifier prices are in festive-sale mode. Price tags and “covers 500 sq ft” claims won’t tell you which purifier gives the most clean air for your money. CADR per rupee does, so that’s how we’ve compared them.

How we compared: price ÷ CADR gives ₹ per m³/h: lower is better value. The room size is what each purifier can clean five times an hour with a 10 ft ceiling (our specs guide explains the maths). Prices are late-October 2026 listings from makers’ stores and retailers, and they change daily in the sales.

A caveat on CADR: makers don’t all rate it the same way. Xiaomi’s figures follow China’s GB/T 18801 test, most other listings don’t say which test or pollutant they used, and some models carry different figures on different listings (hence Qubo’s range below). So treat small gaps in ₹ per m³/h as a tie. Our specs guide explains how CADR is rated.

The comparison

Purifier	Price	CADR	₹ per m³/h	Room it suits
Coway Airmega 50	₹6,999	120 m³/h	₹58	about 85 sq ft
Mijia 4 Compact	₹7,999	230 m³/h	₹35	about 165 sq ft
Philips AC0920	₹9,495	250 m³/h	₹38	about 180 sq ft
Qubo Q500	about ₹10,900	350–380 m³/h	₹29–31	about 250 sq ft
Xiaomi 4 Lite	₹12,999	360 m³/h	₹36	about 260 sq ft
Mijia 6	₹19,999	443 m³/h	₹45	about 320 sq ft
Philips AC4221	₹24,995	600 m³/h	₹42	about 430 sq ft
Dyson HushJet Compact	₹29,900	250 m³/h	₹120	about 180 sq ft

Under ₹5,000: a stretch

The honest picture is thin:

• Levoit Core Mini (about ₹5,000): there’s no published CADR, so we can’t say how much room it cleans.
• Qubo Q200: a CADR of 150 m³/h with an H13 filter, enough for a room of about 110 sq ft. It occasionally drops to about ₹5,000 in sales; it usually sells for ₹6,800–7,000.

If ₹5,000 is a hard limit, the Q200 on sale is the one. Otherwise, stretch to about ₹8,000: you get half as much clean air again for the money.

Under ₹10,000: bedrooms

• Mijia Smart Air Purifier 4 Compact (₹7,999): 230 m³/h for about ₹35 per m³/h, the best value here. It launched in India in August 2026, so it doesn’t have a track record yet.
• Philips AC0920 (₹9,495 on Philips India): 250 m³/h, a PM2.5 sensor with an AQI display, and 20.5–49.5 dB. No Wi-Fi. The AC0950 (about ₹10,000) adds Wi-Fi and a carbon layer, with the same CADR.
• Coway Airmega 50 (₹6,999 on Coway India): very quiet (18.4 dB on sleep) and frugal (14 W), but 120 m³/h suits only a small bedroom or study.

Under ₹15,000: bigger rooms

• Qubo Q500 (about ₹10,900): 350–380 m³/h (listings differ), an H13 filter rated up to 9,000 hours, for ₹29–31 per m³/h, the best value on our list. Ignore its ₹22,990 MRP; it never sells near it.
• Xiaomi Smart Air Purifier 4 Lite (₹12,999): 360 m³/h. Xiaomi relaunched it at ₹12,999 in September; it used to sell for ₹8,999, so watch for sale prices.
• Coway’s AirMega 150 (₹14,999) and AIM (₹13,499) are in this band too, but Coway’s India site doesn’t list their CADR, so we can’t rank them.

Above ₹15,000: halls and open plans

• Philips AC4221 (₹24,995 on Philips India): 600 m³/h, enough for a 15×20 ft living room. Its filter costs about ₹5,300.
• Mijia Smart Air Purifier 6 (₹19,999): 443 m³/h, with sensors for PM1, PM2.5 and PM10. It also has UV-C and negative ions; switch the ion mode off if you’re wary of ozone.
• Dyson HushJet Compact (₹29,900): 250 m³/h for about ₹120 per m³/h. You’re paying for design and quietness, not for clean air.

Before you buy

1. Size it to your room: check the box’s sq ft claim against its CADR.
2. Ask how the CADR was rated: which test, and for which pollutant. For PM2.5, the smoke or particle figure is the one that counts.
3. Price the replacement filter. Over three years you’ll spend more on filters than you might expect.
4. Check noise at night speed. A purifier you switch off because it’s loud cleans nothing.
5. Skip ozone. Avoid anything sold as an ozone generator.

Honest verdict

For most bedrooms, the Mijia 4 Compact and Philips AC0920 give the most clean air for under ₹10,000. For a bigger room under ₹15,000, the Qubo Q500 is the value pick. Under ₹5,000 there’s little worth buying unless the Q200 is on sale. And whatever you buy, run it with the doors and windows shut: here’s why.