The costs of replacement HEPA filters for air purifiers can quickly add up. A quick search on Amazon reveals some HEPA filters that cost hundreds of dollars.
Should HEPA filters cost this much? Put simply: No! Read on to learn why HEPA filters shouldn’t be expensive, but why some companies charge high prices for their replacement filters.
HEPA Filters: Incredibly Simple Tech Invented in the 1940s
Let’s clear this up: HEPA filters found in air purifiers were invented over 70 years ago. The US government invented them as part of the Manhattan project, to protect against airborne radioactive materials. The technology behind them is really simple: a simple mat of randomly aligned fibers, that create a sort of ‘net’.
That may leave many wondering: if HEPA filters are simple tech, why are they so expensive?
Why Are Replacement HEPA Filters So Expensive?
One way to answer this question is to use the analogy of home printers. A typical home printer sells for about $100. And research shows that the cost to build the printer is actually higher than the sale price:
According to IHS Markit, a global information provider, the cost to build a printer is higher than the retail price of most—if not all—consumer printers.
Consumer Reports, 2018
But for printers, the refill ink usually costs a lot. Replacing the ink cartridges in a $100 printer can often cost upwards of $50.
So why do they cost so much?
Consumer Report’s Rich Sulin explains this, saying “Think of the original price tag of a printer more like a down payment. You’re still expected to make periodic payments over the course of ownership.” Put simply, you’re paying back for the low initial price of the printer, through the ink cartridge refills.
Are HEPA Filters Expensive to Pay Back for the Low Air Purifier Price?
In that case, it may be reasonable to think that HEPA filters work the same way as ink cartridges. Perhaps HEPA filters are expensive as a way of paying back for the low cost of the purifier. But this theory doesn’t hold: air purifiers – unlike printers – are also really expensive to buy.
Psst: Air purifiers also need not be expensive. Find out why here →
The Real Reason HEPA Filters Are So Expensive
So what’s the real reason HEPA filters cost so much?
Put simply, it comes down to psychology and marketing. We buy HEPA filters and air purifiers to protect our health. And we really value our health. So much so that we’re often willing to spend a lot to protect our health. If HEPA filters can help keep us healthy, as data shows, then spending a little extra money on HEPA filters seems reasonable.
Let’s play a simple test. Considering your health may be at stake, which of these filters would you purchase?
If you chose the $34.99 filter, then you’ve fallen right into the trap most companies take advantage of. Companies market and sell their HEPA filters with a higher price tag to make their filters look superior. Surely that $34.99 filter is going to do a better job of protecting my health than a $13.99 filter, right?
Not necessarily. Because most people don’t know the science behind purifiers, companies use this marketing tactic to trick us into spending hundreds of dollars more than we need to on replacement HEPA filters.
Don't Overspend on HEPA Filters
Companies use inflated HEPA filter prices to convince you into believing their HEPA filter is superior to others. Don’t fall into this trap. HEPA filters are incredibly simple tech, and need not break the bank.
How I Protect Myself
Smart Air is a certified B Corp committed to combating the myths big companies use to artificially inflate the price of clean air.
Smart Air provides empirically backed, no-nonsense purifiers and masks, that use the same HEPA filters (that filter 95-99.5% of particles of size 0.3 microns) for a fraction of the cost of big companies.
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I appreciate the info in this article, but it seems strange in light of the $114.50 cost of the Mini-Blast HEPA filter you sell. Then there’s the $30 shipping for a final cost of $144.50. Even worse is the cost of the Blast HEPA filter, at $150 + $95 shipping for a total of $245. Can you explain why these costs are so incredibly high? Your article seems to suggest their prices should be much lower. I’m a teacher and would like to buy a Blast, but the HEPA filter replacement cost is deterring me. I considered buying Sqairs, but the short filter life and the expensive shipping costs for each filter make those extremely expensive as well.
Hi Ryan! Song here. We hate the skyrocketing shipping cost since the pandemic, too. We have been looking for for local partners to cut the costs, and you can click here to check whether your region has one.
You missed the point of Ryan’s question, even putting aside the shipping it’s still way too expensive, because like the article says it’s not complex technology to manufacturer
Appreciate the responses Ryan and not Ryan!
Other than the shipping cost to ship the filters, why is the Blast Mini filter over $100? The answer’s in the fact that the Blast Mini filter is huge- over half a meter wide by half a meter tall. This means the filter has about 11sqm of HEPA material in it, meaning it’s good for years of use even in very polluted countries.
Most of the filters in purifiers contain about 1sqm of HEPA material. In terms of cost per area of HEPA material, the Mini filter is a lot more cost-effective than other filters. At $110 for 11sqm, it works out at $10/sqm. As a comparison, the Sqair filter contains 1.55sqm of material, and costs approximately $20-30 (depending on the country). That’s about $12-$19 per square meter.
A quick search of Amazon brings up some cheap unbranded Honeywell replacement filters that cost $24+tax for 3. Based on the filter dimensions of 10.2” x 6.5” x 1.6”, that’s about 0.7sqm of material per filter, or 2.1sqm of material for all 3. That works out at about $11/sqm + tax.
Hope that clears it up! When searching for filters, be sure to check the size (total filter area) and also the estimated lifespan. Smaller/thinner filters with fewer pleates may be cheaper, but may need replacing more often and hence cost more in the long run.
Breathe safe!
Wow the owner of this website even downvoted these comments. I upvoted them again.
I’m not sure who downvoted yor comment, Ryan – but I’ve just added an upvote to it! At Smart Air, our goal is to share data-backed, reliable information that will help people breathe air. We also try our best to answer comments and help people out this way. However we’re a small social enterprise without any big investments, trying to help clear the air (pun intended!) on all the misinformation there is about breathing air.
Thanks for the feedback/updates, and it’s great to see someone studying what they read online carefully to make sure you have the best information. That’s what we’re all about!