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The VUNDEL Journal
We Ranked the 5 Most Popular Ways to Make Your Home Smell Amazing. #1 Isn't a Candle.
Candles, reed sticks, plug-ins, water diffusers and the new waterless kind. Here is how each one does on the things you actually care about.
By the VUNDEL Team · October 2026 · 3 min read
Most of us want the same thing: you open the front door and the house smells good. Not faint. Not fake. Just good.
So we looked at the five ways people do it today and scored each one on what matters at home:
- A scent you can actually smell
- How much work it takes (refills, cleaning, outlets)
- No open flame to watch
- How it looks sitting out in the room
- What it costs you over a year
Full disclosure up front: we make one of them (#1). We will tell you where the others beat it.
Scented candles
6.1/10
The classic. A good candle makes a room feel cozy, and nobody is arguing with that.
The catch is everything else. It is an open flame you have to watch, so it goes out the moment you leave the room. The scent is only really there while it burns. And a nice one burns down fast, so you end up buying another every few weeks.
What we liked
- Cozy look and feel
- Easy to find anywhere
What we did not
- An open flame you have to watch
- The scent stops when you blow it out
- You keep buying new ones
Reed diffusers
6.4/10
Sticks in a bottle of oil. No flame, no power, nothing to switch on.
That is also the problem: there is no switch. It gives off the same faint scent whether you are home or not, most people stop noticing it after a few days, and the bottle tips over more easily than you would think.
What we liked
- No flame, no cord
- Nothing to turn on
What we did not
- Faint, and you cannot make it stronger
- You cannot turn it off
- Easy to knock over
Plug-in fragrance
7.0/10
Plug it in and forget about it. Cheap to start and easy to use.
But it only works next to an outlet, which is rarely where you want the scent. The refills are small, so they add up, and you get very little say in how strong it is.
What we liked
- Cheap to start
- Set it and forget it
What we did not
- Stuck next to an outlet
- Small refills add up
- Little control over how strong it is
Water diffusers
7.8/10
The most popular option right now, and for good reason. You add a few drops of oil to a tank of water and it sends it into the air.
The downside is the water. The oil gets mixed into a tank of water, so the scent is watered down, and you fill it, empty it and rinse it every time. Most of them also need a cord and a flat spot near an outlet.
What we liked
- Lots of styles to choose from
- Use any oil you like
What we did not
- The scent is watered down
- Fill, empty and rinse every time
- Most need a cord
Waterless diffusers (the AuraStone)
Our pick
9.4/10
This is the newer way to do it, and it fixed most of what bugged us about the other four.
There is no tank. You screw a bottle of pure scent oil straight into the top and press one button. It sends the oil into the air with no water mixed in, so you get the scent itself instead of a watered-down version.
It is cordless, so it goes where you want the scent, not where the outlet is: the entryway, the bathroom, the bookshelf. There is no flame to watch. And swapping scents takes about ten seconds: unscrew one bottle, screw in the next.
Where it loses: it costs more up front than a candle or a plug-in, and you will want a spare bottle of your favorite scent on hand.
What we liked
- Pure oil, nothing watered down
- No tank to fill or rinse
- Cordless, so it goes anywhere
- No flame
- Swap scents in seconds
What we did not
- Costs more up front
- You will want spare bottles of your favorite scent
The five side by side
| Candle | Reeds | Plug-in | Water | AuraStone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No open flame | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| No water to fill or rinse | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Works away from an outlet | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | Most no | ✓ |
| You choose when it is on | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pure oil, not watered down | - | - | - | ✗ | ✓ |
If you want to try #1
Here is what we would get: the AuraStone with all six Signature scents, so you can pick a different one for each room or mood. It is $79.99 with free shipping, and you get 60 days to try it at home. If you do not love it, send it back for a refund.
A lot of people get two, one for the entry and one for the bathroom or bedroom. The Duo is $149.99 with twelve scents and a free ScentVault case.
Disclosure: VUNDEL wrote this article and makes the AuraStone. The scores are our own editorial opinion of how each method works at home.