Which Breast Pump Is Right for You?
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By the time you read this story, my pumping journey will be over. I spent over a year nursing and pumping breast milk for my child, and that time of my life was dictated by either the demands of my hungry infant or my proximity to an electric breast pump. It made me wonder—what makes a good breast pump? Are wearables worth it? Why are some pumps $500?!
After trying nearly a dozen popular pumps, these are the best breast pumps I tested. If you’re not sure what type of pump you want, or what you should keep in mind when buying one, check out our guide to shopping for a breast pump. And don't miss our guides to baby carriers, baby monitors, and strollers.
Updated March 2024: We added the Haakaa as our manual breast pump recommendation, and details about Willow's new pump, the Willow 360. We've also added new sections on how we test pumps and whether you need a breast pump.
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Best Portable Pump
When I hear the words “portable pump,” this is the kind of pump I imagine: a motor small enough for nearly any bag, but still powerful. The Pumpables Genie Advanced (9/10, WIRED Recommends) can be used as a single or double electric pump, can perform recorded pumping sessions with your programmed preferences, and comes with a clip and lanyard so you can easily wear it while you pump.
The best part of all, though, is the shield kit, which Pumpables calls the “Liquid Kit.” It’s a flange and bottle combo that you pump breast milk into. While it has a lot of pieces—that aren’t dishwasher-friendly, boo—the soft shield cover makes this the most comfortable pump I tried. For such a comfortable pumping experience, it's worth a little more effort to clean. Pumpables will also prompt you to choose your shield size before you check out. It’s an extra step, but it’s key to being more comfortable and getting better results while you pump.
It's a closed system, and Pumpables says you can also use with other closed-system shield kits or wearable cups. We only tested it with Pumpable's own Liquid Kit, but it's a nice option to use what you might already have.
Best Wearable Pump
Willow started it all, and it’s still setting the wearable pump bar with the Willow Go (8/10, WIRED Recommends). The Willow Go is better priced than other popular wearable pumps, like the Elvie, while still packing similar features and a great pumping experience. It’s more expensive than just portable pump options, but if you want to be able to pump with most bras and tops, this is a good choice.
The reusable cups are easy to see while you pump, so you can check your progress as breast milk fills the pump, and the pieces are large and can be easily cleaned or popped into the dishwasher. You can also purchase more reusable cups. The Willow Go comes with 21-mm and 24-mm flanges; if you need a smaller size, you’ll have to purchase a shield. The included guide makes it simple to figure out if the sizes included will work for you. Each side of the pump has an opening at the top to pour breast milk out of, so don’t bend over while wearing this pump, and make sure you have milk storage (like a baby bottle or milk freezer bag) ready for when your pump session is over.
The Willow Go has its own app, aptly named Willow Go (rather than the app you'll use for the Willow 3.0) and you’ll use it to get detailed instructions for using the pump and a timer for your pump session. It's a closed system, but only works with the Willow Go pieces.
The Best Budget-Friendly Pump
If you’re looking for something affordable, my favorite cheap pump is actually a wearable option. The Imani i2 (7/10, WIRED Recommends) doesn’t have any fun features, app, or any kind of screen or timer, like other pumps do, but it does a fantastic job for its price point. The build is a little flimsy, and it isn’t dishwasher safe, but the cups and shields are lightweight and comfortable to wear, and I saw similar milk pumped as I did on more expensive pumps. You can also buy it as a single pump for even cheaper ($80) if you're on a tight budget.
The motor sits on top, which will poke out of a bra and most tops, so it's not visually discreet. Don’t bend over in this one either, since it’s so top-heavy. It just has a couple of buttons on top to turn it on, switch between stimulation and expression mode, and select one of the five levels it offers for each mode. You’ll need to bring your own timer, but it’s a great pump for a lower price than you’ll find from nearly any other reputable brand. (Remember to avoid cheap copycats that aren’t FDA-approved.)
The brand also has a new $30 charging dock to simultaneously charge the two motors at once with a single cord. We haven't tried it, but that's certainly easier than charging one at a time or setting up two charging cords.
An Upgrade-Worthy Wearable Pump
The Willow 3.0 (7/10, WIRED Recommends) packs the coolest tricks. It suctions itself onto the breast to create a latch, can track the exact number of ounces being pumped, and will switch from stimulation to expression based on when your body starts letdown (aka releasing breast milk). It was the closest thing to having my baby latch on and start drinking.
It’s much more expensive, though—it retails for $550, which is more than twice the price of popular pumps like the Spectra S1 below. You can’t see into the Willow while you pump, but I found the tracking within the app to be very accurate, down to the tenth or so of an ounce. You can use the pump with either O-shaped milk bags that the Willow will seal for you after your pump session to go straight into the fridge or freezer, or into a reusable milk container. You have to choose your flange size when you purchase it, which will help get the best pump results possible.
★ Latest model: Willow is replacing the 3.0 with the Willow 360 ($500). It's the same physical pump and hardware, but with a new app and more support-focused software, like a Mom Coach and virtual pump support. We'll test the new app's offerings soon and report back with our thoughts.
The Classic Double Electric Pump
The Spetcra S1 was my first double electric breast pump. Every guide, everywhere, recommends this pump (and we do, too!) It’s a reliable, powerful portable pump, with a long battery life and a cute light blue color. The little screen is easy to read, and it has buttons to switch between modes and power levels. It also has a night-light, and it’s quiet enough that I could discreetly pump in the same room as my sleeping newborn and not disturb him. It’s got a little night-light built into the handle to shine down on the screen and buttons for those late-night pump sessions.
My only wish is that it was more portable—the base is large, and to move around I needed a hand free to carry it from room to room. But it was small enough to balance on the arms of a lounge chair or small bookshelf opening while I pumped in the living room. It was a personal MVP for my early breastfeeding days as I built up my milk supply.
Best Portable Pump With Wearable Cups
If you want wearable cups that you can use with any bra and you don’t mind tubing or external controls, the Elvie Stride offers the best of both worlds for a solid price. It is comfortable to wear—I especially liked that the tubing had a rotating base on the cup, so I could change the angle of the tubing to fit the top and bra I was pumping with. The pump base is lightweight and comes with a clip so you can wear it on your clothes.
It was the lightest of the portable/wearable combination pumps I tested, and I found it easy to clip onto pockets and the waistband of pants. It was the most discreet in regards to fitting into my bra, but you'll need to run the cord under your clothes to fully hide it. The Stride comes with a couple shield sizes, but the company won’t prompt you to check your size before making your purchase. That’s something to keep in mind if you suspect that you might be a nonstandard size; you might discover after buying that you need to order additional shields.
Easiest Pump to Clean
When I opened the portable Medela Freestyle (7/10, WIRED Recommends) and examined the wearable cup pieces, I was thrilled to find that each cup had exactly three pieces: two halves of the cup, one rubber piece that was both the backflow protector and the duckbill flange. If you’re pumping daily that means you’re washing pump parts daily, and having fewer parts to wash and dry brought me legitimate joy while I was testing this pump.
The pump’s controls have a nice little light-up screen and make cute beeping noises, and the cups are super light and easy to wear. But you do need to place and hold these cups with care; I had the most spills with this set from not closing the cups correctly or not holding the full cups in the right way. You’ll also need somewhere to store the milk as soon as you’re done pumping. It was my favorite pump to clean, and I pumped well enough with this one that I’d have been happy to use it consistently.
A Manual Breast Pump
The Hakaa is crazy cheap compared to electric breast pumps. This manual breast pump only costs $13, but you'll have to manually squeeze it to activate letdown and collect breast milk.
I didn't love it to replace full-on pump sessions, but I found it handy to use if I wasn't using a double electric pump and needed to catch extra milk from the breast that wasn't currently attached to the pump. It was also handy to use when I was a little engorged at 4 am, when my son started weaning off his night feeds, since I didn't want to do a full pump session but wanted to relieve pressure (and avoid mastitis!)
Honorable Mentions
Photograph: ElvieMore Breast Pumps
- Elvie Pump for $550: The Elvie worked just fine, but it didn’t do anything cool enough to warrant such a high price tag. I saw the same results as I had with cheaper pumps, and it didn’t have as many cool features as the similarly priced Willow 3.0. The timer feature is nice, though, as are the fridge- and freezer-ready bottles attached to the wearable pump.
- Medela Pump In Style for $209: This famed pump has great strength and is easy to use, but it’s not portable. We are excited that a new version is coming soon with the wearable collection cups we love from the Medela Freestyle, so it will be easier to wear (but still not portable).
- Tommee Tippee Made for Me for $148: This pump has a setup similar to the Elvie, but at a cheaper price point. The app was frustrating to navigate, though, and this one has more parts than other pumps.
- Lansinoh Wearable Breast Pump for $200: Lansinoh’s pump comes with a great variety of shield sizes, ranging from 21 mm all the way to 30.5 mm, which is fantastic (most pumps come with only two or three sizes). I didn’t see good results with this one, but it’s worth noting that it was one of the last I tested, and my son had already started weaning.
Photograph: Nena FarrellHow I Tested Breast Pumps
I tested all of these pumps during the first year of my son's life while I was breastfeeding him, most of which was in the latter half of that year, after my milk supply had stabilized.
I used each pump for at least 10 days straight. Over those 10 days I judged how comfortable it was to wear and pump, how successful it was (I already knew how much breast milk I usually pumped in a session), how easy it was to move from the pump to a storage system, and how easy it was to clean and dry. Wearable pumps I tried with a few different bras to judge comfort (such as the Willow Bra, which is made for wearable pumps, and Kindred Braverly's Sublime Crossover Bra, a nursing bra), while standard pumps I tried with a basic pumping bra from Momcozy.
Photograph: WillowDo You Need a Breast Pump?
You might be uncertain whether or not you need a breast pump. It's hard to know in advance whether or not pumping, or even breastfeeding, is going to work for you and your baby. Even if you want to primarily breastfeed and don't expect to need a pump often, a breast pump can be useful to help build your milk supply in those early weeks; my lactation consultant recommended using a breast pump in the first few weeks after seeing how low my supply was after giving birth. I mainly breastfed until my son went to daycare at nine months old, but I often found myself using the pump to maintain my milk supply, relieve engorgement, or to pump a bottle for my husband to feed the baby with.
Check our our guide on how to buy a breast pump for more information on things like what type of pump you might want, what hospital-grade suction means, which kind of breast pump is best for you, and whether insurance will cover your pump.
