Brita vs Clearly Filtered: which is actually certified — and what does a certified gallon cost?

Last reviewed July 2026.

Same job, same shelf — but the certifications underneath are not the same. Here is Brita against Clearly Filtered on the only two axes we score: what the certification actually covers, and what a certified gallon costs.

• Brita: cheapest certified-for-lead filter is the OB06 at $0.167/certified gallon (WQA, NSF/ANSI 42, 53, 401).
• Clearly Filtered: no accredited certification at all — independent lab tests only, with no public listing behind them.

Every model, side by side

Price per filter ÷ certified capacity in gallons. Certification data from the certifiers' public listings; the listing always wins.

How often you actually replace them

Only one side of this comparison has a certified capacity to quote. The Brita OB06 is listed at 120 gallons — at roughly half a gallon of drinking water per person per day, 8 months for one person and 2 months for a family of four. That number comes from what the certifier tested to, not from the box.

Clearly Filtered has no certified capacity in any accredited listing, so there is no equivalent figure to set beside it. Whatever replacement interval the brand recommends, no accredited body has tested that the claim still holds at the end of it. That is the practical difference: on one side the expiry point is certified, on the other it is asserted.

So which one

For a certified lead claim this one is not close: Brita. The OB06 holds NSF/ANSI 53 with WQA and works out at $0.167 per certified gallon. It is the only side of this comparison where a lead claim is both listed and priceable.

Clearly Filtered holds no accredited certification at all. It may publish its own lab reports, and those reports may be accurate — but a one-off commissioned test and an ongoing certification with public listing and factory audit are different things. Nothing independent stands behind the claim, so there is no listing to price.

None of which says Clearly Filtered filters badly — we have no accredited evidence either way, which is precisely the problem when the claim you are buying on is lead. If lead is not your concern, the comparison above is the wrong one to be reading; start from the full ranking and pick on the claim you actually want.

The full stories: Is Brita NSF certified? · Is Clearly Filtered NSF certified? · what 42, 53 and 401 mean

We do not test filters — we index what accredited certifiers publish, with attribution, and make no health or treatment claims. A certification covers a specific model against a specific standard; it is not a general seal of quality. We are not affiliated with NSF International.