6 Best Portable Washing Machines

Auertech Portable Washing Machine, 28lbs Twin Tub with Drain Pump

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The Auertech is the workhorse of the twin-tub category and the one we point most apartment dwellers toward first. The 28-pound combined capacity splits into an 18-pound wash tub and a 10-pound spin tub, so you can run a wash cycle and spin-dry the previous load at the same time. That parallel workflow is the whole point of buying twin-tub instead of fully automatic — you finish a real load of laundry in roughly the time it takes a single-drum machine to do one cycle.

Power comes from a 1300 RPM spin motor, which is genuinely strong for this price tier. Owners consistently report clothes coming out damp rather than dripping, which means line-drying or a quick dryer touch-up actually works in a small apartment. The build is straightforward injection-molded PP plastic with a transparent lid on each tub so you can see the water clouding up as detergent does its job.

The deal-breaker for some buyers is the drainage situation. Auertech includes a drain pump, which is a meaningful upgrade over gravity-only models in the same price range — you can drain into a tub or sink at counter height instead of needing a floor-level drain. The included faucet hose is short, however, so depending on your sink layout you may need a longer extension or an adapter.

COSTWAY Portable Washing Machine, Twin Tub 26lbs with Built-in Drain Pump

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The COSTWAY 26-pound twin tub is the most direct competitor to the Auertech and the better pick if you want a slightly smaller footprint without giving up much capacity. It splits 18 pounds of wash space against an 8-pound spin tub, so the difference shows up mostly on the spin side — you will move clothes from wash to spin in slightly smaller batches.

Mechanically, COSTWAY rates the wash motor at 280W and the spin motor at 140W. In practice that translates to a quieter cycle than louder competitors, which matters in thin-walled apartments where the neighbors can hear everything. The control panel is the standard three-knob layout: wash timer up to 15 minutes, mode selector, and a separate spin timer up to 5 minutes. There is no LED, no app, no surprises.

The built-in drain pump is the feature that pushes this above the cheapest twin tubs on Amazon. Combined with the included 51-inch drain pipe, you can route water into a bathtub, kitchen sink, or floor drain without lifting the machine. The translucent ABS-and-PP body is the usual material at this tier, lightweight enough to roll around but not the most premium feel in the category.

BLACK+DECKER Small Portable Washer 1.7 cu.Ft with Transparent Lid & LED Display

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If you want a portable washer that actually behaves like the machine you grew up with, the BLACK+DECKER is the pick. This is a fully automatic, top-load impeller washer with an LED display, six wash cycles (Normal, Heavy, Delicate, Quick, Bulky, and Spin Only), three water levels, three temperature settings, and a delay-start function up to 24 hours. You set it, walk away, and come back to clean clothes.

Capacity is 1.7 cubic feet, which translates to about 11 pounds of laundry per load. That is smaller than a full-size washer but plenty for an apartment-sized load of shirts and underwear. The stainless steel inner tub is rust-resistant and noticeably more durable than the plastic drums on cheaper portable washers, and the impeller design (no agitator pole) is gentler on delicates and lingerie.

Practical considerations: this thing weighs about 70 pounds, so while it has rollers and side handles, you are not casually carrying it between rooms. It connects to a standard sink faucet via the included quick-connect adapter, so your install spot needs reasonable access to a tap. Sound level runs around 72 dB during spin, which is normal for the category but louder than the quietest twin tubs. Auto-unbalance detection, child lock, and auto-shutoff are all included.

Garatic Portable Compact Mini Twin Tub Washing Machine, 13lbs Capacity

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For dorm rooms, RVs, and tiny studio bathrooms where a 28-pound twin tub simply will not fit, the Garatic is the right size compromise. Total capacity is 13 pounds — 8 pounds in the wash tub, 5 pounds in the spin tub — and the whole machine weighs only about 25 pounds, which means one person can lift it onto a counter, into a closet, or out to an RV without help.

The 1300 RPM spin motor matches what bigger twin tubs use, and at the smaller load size it actually performs comparably well — clothes come out wrung out enough to hang-dry. The wash timer goes up to 15 minutes, the spin timer up to 5 minutes, and that is essentially the whole control scheme. There is no drain pump here — drainage is gravity-fed through a tube — so the machine needs to sit higher than your drain point.

Build quality is solid plastic, no rust, and the translucent windows let you see when water is dirty enough to swap out. Reviews consistently praise it for camping, college dorms, and as a backup machine for delicates. The trade-off is straightforward: smaller loads, more cycles to do the same volume of laundry, but a footprint that genuinely fits in places nothing else does.

Nictemaw 20Lbs Portable Washer, 2.8 Cu.ft Washer/Dryer Combo with 10 Programs

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The Nictemaw splits the difference between BLACK+DECKER’s automation and the larger capacity of a twin tub. At 20 pounds and 2.8 cubic feet, it is the biggest fully automatic in this roundup, and the spec sheet is loaded — 10 wash programs, 8 water levels, LED digital display, automatic unbalance detection, child lock, 24-hour delay start, tub self-cleaning, and a built-in drain pump with an extended drain hose.

The motor is rated 480W, which is meaningfully stronger than what you find on smaller portable automatics, and the manufacturer claims up to 95% water extraction during spin. Real-world reports back that up — clothes come out close to dryer-ready. The honeycomb-pattern stainless steel inner tub reduces wear on fabric, and there is a built-in lint filter that pulls hair and pet fluff effectively.

Footprint is roughly 20 × 20 × 35 inches, slightly bigger than the BLACK+DECKER but still small enough to fit in an apartment laundry closet or beside a kitchen counter. The drain pump means you can drain into a sink at counter height, not just floor level, which solves a real problem in apartments without dedicated laundry plumbing. The faucet adapter handles most American kitchen taps. The catch: it is the priciest portable washer in this lineup, and the touch-panel controls take some getting used to compared to the physical knobs on cheaper models.

Portable Washing Machine, 16L Mini Foldable Washer with Spin Basket

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This is the outlier in the roundup, and worth including because it solves a problem none of the others do. The 16L foldable washer is built for delicates, baby clothes, underwear, socks, and the kind of small loads you would otherwise hand-wash on the road. It collapses from roughly 13 inches tall down to 6 inches for storage and weighs less than 4 pounds, which means it actually fits in a suitcase or under a hotel bed.

The construction is food-grade TPE and silicone, which is a meaningful detail if you are washing baby clothes or anything that touches sensitive skin. There are three preset timer modes — 3 minutes for a quick refresh, 5 minutes for normal items, and 10 minutes for deeper cleaning — and a removable spin basket for separating small items. Power is a small turbine motor that creates enough water motion to lift dirt without thrashing fabric.

Be clear-eyed about what this is and is not. It is not a replacement for a real washing machine, will not handle jeans or towels, and the drainage is manual via a hose. It is a travel and delicates tool, full stop. For a digital nomad, frequent business traveler, parent of a newborn, or anyone living somewhere a “real” washer cannot go, it is genuinely useful.