For most households, a filter jug is the right starting point: no installation, low running costs, and filtered water within minutes. A filter tap suits kitchens with high daily use, a filter bottle covers water on the go, and a water dispenser for the home adds chilled and/or hot water on demand.

If limescale, taste or better tea and coffee matter in your household, a water filter is worth it – that is what filtration measurably changes. It is not a safety requirement: UK tap water is already rigorously tested. The honest test is your kettle and your cup – visible scale and a chlorine note are the two problems a filter is built to solve.

Yes – within what they are designed to do. Inside the cartridge, ion exchange reduces carbonate hardness, the driver of limescale, while activated carbon reduces substances that affect taste, such as chlorine. The result is not medically ‘purer’ water; it is water with less scale potential and a cleaner taste – a difference you notice in kettles, tea and coffee.

In a hard-water area, choose a filter whose cartridge is specified for limescale reduction – in the BRITA range, that is the MAXTRA PRO LIMESCALE EXPERT. Hardness is dissolved calcium and magnesium; an ion-exchange stage sized for it reduces scale before it ever reaches the kettle.

A filter jug needs no installation and filters by the jugful – flexible, portable, easy to start with. A filter tap is fitted once and then delivers filtered water on demand, which suits kitchens where filtered water is used constantly, from cooking to refilling bottles. Volume and convenience decide it: occasional use favours the jug, constant use the tap.

For everyday use – commuting, office, gym – a compact water filter bottle with a taste-focused filter is the right choice: it reduces substances that affect taste, such as chlorine, as you drink, turning any tap into a refill point. For travel and long days outdoors, capacity and refill frequency matter more than compactness. The Water Filter Bottle Guide matches bottle type, filter and daily routine in a few questions.

A BRITA Filter Subscription is worth it for households that filter tap water every day. New cartridges arrive automatically at the interval you set, so a replacement is always to hand, and subscription pricing is lower per cartridge than buying single packs. You can pause, adjust or cancel your plan at any time in your MyBRITA account.

All current BRITA jugs take the MAXTRA PRO cartridge family – one format, chosen by need: PURE PERFORMANCE as the standard, LIMESCALE EXPERT for hard-water areas. MAXTRA PRO cartridges also fits jugs built for the earlier MAXTRA+ generation, so an older jug does not need replacing. The model name printed on your cartridge or jug base confirms the fit.