*For information on how I do reviews see Diaper Test Methodology
Summary
Once again, these rankings build on the previous year’s rankings, with many of the products from the 2023 top 10 adult rankings continuing to score highly in the current rankings. However, with 27 new diaper/protective underwear reviews published since the last annual rankings there have been some notable shifts. This gives us a total of 91 reviews to compare against vs the 64 used to produce the 2023 rankings. There is now a new index page with links to each individual review, categorized by product type to make these reviews easier to find. We also extended our review of Carer incontinence products to cover an even broader range of reusable products, including our first review of plastic pants (aka diaper covers). This previous year also included a review of another addition to our incontinence pad series, with the review of the Tena Men Absorbent Guard Maximum. Moreover, we completed our first review of an incontinence swim product, the Tranquility Swimmates Disposable Swimwear. We’ve also broadened our product perspective with the review of several youth products.
In the previous top 10 rankings post we mentioned we were looking to begin reviewing booster pads and protective underwear in the upcoming review. This year we began reviewing protective underwear with the Depend Real-Fit Maximum as well as several youth products. However, we were unable to find the time to fit any booster pad reviews in, so there’s still a lot more we’d like to cover.
This year we’ve broken our ranking table up into separate categories for plastic and cloth-backed diapers. Our top two ranked diapers overall continue to be the Seni Super Quatro and BetterDry M10, for the cloth and plastic-backed categories, respectively. This year’s overall review is not directly comparable with this previous year’s because we’ve separated reviews into categories, but had we stuck to a single ranking the Kiddo Xtreme would have jumped into the rankings at 6th overall, while the InControl BeDry Night would come in right behind it at 7th. At the request of our readers, this year’s ranking will also include a bottom five (worst diapers ever?) and my own personal preferences (take these with a grain of salt).
In the coming year we’re planning a more extensive set of reviews covering reusable products including protective underwear, diaper covers and cloth diapers. We’ve received a surprising amount of interest in our youth product reviews, so we also promise to cover a greater variety of youth products for comparison before the next annual review. That said, our primary focus will continue to be on adult disposable products and we will continue to prioritize getting at least one or two of those reviews out per month.
We’d like to give a huge thanks to Carer incontinence and the numerous other individual product donors we’ve had this past year! We’ve had some incredibly generous donors this year and we're happy to say that we’re now able to cover a good portion of our product sourcing for reviews through donations and affiliate income. We’ve also continued to receive great suggestions for future reviews and our review suggestions list has become something of a chronicle for what’s popular in the market. We will continue to prioritize reviews from this list but apologize if we can’t get to all of them as we face constraints including availability for shipping, cost and time due to the labor intensive process involved in completing a review. To keep things interesting, we will try to prioritize reviews that demonstrate a diversity of product choices.
For anyone who would like to help out, we maintain an Amazon wishlist populated by reader's review suggestions. Since some products aren’t easily available on Amazon or way overpriced, we also accept donations via PayPal (see the button below). Alternatively, if you’d like to help support our reviews at no additional cost, simply use our Adult Diapers affiliate link when you make your next purchase of incontinence or other supplies through Amazon.
We’ve also had a few companies and individuals reach out with interest in shipping products directly to us for review or to share additional info about products. We’re certainly open to this and we're happy to say there’s now a general contact form you can use to reach us.
Absorbency Ranking
The absorbency ranking for this 2024 review continues to be based on the formula described in the 2020 top 10. Once again, this formula accounts for average absorption during testing, the amount absorbed per area of padding as well as other characteristics that improve performance in this regard. It produces a score between 1-10 with higher scores indicating better absorbency performance. You might notice these scores change for the same product year-over-year. This is expected because some scoring metrics are based on a scale from best to worst performing product feature and as that scale shifts the scoring will be altered slightly. However, the shifting scale did not impact how products were ordered relative to one another in this case.
We’ve gone with the convention of only taking the top performing product from each brand here. So while the Rearz Barnyard/InControl Elite Hybrid was still a top performer, we’ve replaced it with the slightly better performing InControl BeDry Night from this past year’s reviews. The other addition to this year’s list was the Kiddo Xtreme, which came in at 6th in the ranking. Additionally, we’ve finally dropped the discontinued ConfiDry 24/7 from the list and deduped the ABU PeekABU. One trend from these past couple years has been a lot of diapers with extremely high advertised absorbencies (over 8000 ml (270 oz)). What’s interesting is that there seems to be some hard limits around 3000 ml (100 oz), at which point most of them fail due to moisture channeling issues regardless of potential.
We’ve gone with the convention of only taking the top performing product from each brand here. So while the Rearz Barnyard/InControl Elite Hybrid was still a top performer, we’ve replaced it with the slightly better performing InControl BeDry Night from this past year’s reviews. The other addition to this year’s list was the Kiddo Xtreme, which came in at 6th in the ranking. Additionally, we’ve finally dropped the discontinued ConfiDry 24/7 from the list and deduped the ABU PeekABU. One trend from these past couple years has been a lot of diapers with extremely high advertised absorbencies (over 8000 ml (270 oz)). What’s interesting is that there seems to be some hard limits around 3000 ml (100 oz), at which point most of them fail due to moisture channeling issues regardless of potential.
| Diaper | Scoring |
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Score: 9.4 Absorbency: 2158 ml (76.1 oz) Absorbency Ratio: 1.14 ml/cm2 (0.26 oz/in2) Leg Gathers: yes Inner Leak Guards: yes Stand/Sit Score: 9 Lying Down Score: 10 Used Percent: 79 |
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Score: 9.4 Absorbency: 2083 ml (73.5 oz) Absorbency Ratio: 1.14 ml/cm2 (0.26 oz/in2) Leg Gathers: yes Inner Leak Guards: yes Stand/Sit Score: 10 Lying Down Score: 10 Used Percent: 67 |
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Score: 9.34 Absorbency: 1895 ml (66.8 oz) Absorbency Ratio: 1.17 ml/cm2 (0.27 oz/in2) Leg Gathers: yes Inner Leak Guards: yes Stand/Sit Score: 10 Lying Down Score: 10 Used Percent: 86 |
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Score: 9.28 Absorbency: 2158 ml (76.1 oz) Absorbency Ratio: 1.17 ml/cm2 (0.27 oz/in2) Leg Gathers: yes Inner Leak Guards: yes Stand/Sit Score: 9 Lying Down Score: 10 Used Percent: 69 |
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Score: 9.19 Absorbency: 1891 ml (66.7 oz) Absorbency Ratio: 1.19 ml/cm2 (0.27 oz/in2) Leg Gathers: yes Inner Leak Guards: yes Stand/Sit Score: 9 Lying Down Score: 10 Used Percent: 77 |
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Score: 8.87 Absorbency: 1936 ml (68.3 oz) Absorbency Ratio: 1.27 ml/cm2 (0.29 oz/in2) Leg Gathers: yes Inner Leak Guards: yes Stand/Sit Score: 9 Lying Down Score: 10 Used Percent: 63 |
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Score: 8.57 Absorbency: 1492 ml (52.6 oz) Absorbency Ratio: 1.33 ml/cm2 (0.30 oz/in2) Leg Gathers: yes Inner Leak Guards: yes Stand/Sit Score: 8 Lying Down Score: 9 Used Percent: 81 |
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Score: 8.37 Absorbency: 1475 ml (52.0 oz) Absorbency Ratio: 1.08 ml/cm2 (0.25 oz/in2) Leg Gathers: yes Inner Leak Guards: yes Stand/Sit Score: 9 Lying Down Score: 9 Used Percent: 81 |
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Score: 8.2 Absorbency: 1449 ml (52.1 oz) Absorbency Ratio: 1.01 ml/cm2 (0.23 oz/in2) Leg Gathers: yes Inner Leak Guards: yes Stand/Sit Score: 8 Lying Down Score: 8 Used Percent: 77 |
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Score: 8.11 Absorbency: 1775 ml (62.6 oz) Absorbency Ratio: 0.89 ml/cm2 (0.20 oz/in2) Leg Gathers: yes Inner Leak Guards: yes Stand/Sit Score: 8 Lying Down Score: 9 Used Percent: 73 |
Comfort Ranking
The comfort ranking also continues to use the formula derived in the 2020 rankings. It accounts for aspects of performance like surface dampness and breathability. This score considers comfort in both wet and dry states as well as padding softness. Several new additions appear in this year’s top 10 rankings. Once again, the ConfiDry 24/7 has been dropped on account of being discontinued. In its place, the Kiddo Xtreme has climbed to 6th place in the comfort ranks while the InControl Active Air has taken 8th place. We’ve also bumped the Tena Slip Original Maxi from the list to deduplicate based on brand, allowing the Trest Elite Briefs to claim 10th spot.
Notably, we’ve left youth products outside of this list because they largely serve a different audience, but, if they were included, then the Pampers 8 diapers would also have made the top 10 ranking for comfort. we’ve also heard word that the recent version of the Attends Premier Briefs may be inferior to the version we previously reviewed, so we would advise some caution on that one.
| Diaper | Scoring |
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Score: 9.27 Padding Area: 1435 cm2 (222 in2) Absorbency Time: 42 s Dry Comfort Score: 10 Wet Comfort Score: 10 Surface Dampness Score: 9 Ease of Use Score: 10 |
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Score: 9 Padding Area: 1625 cm2 (252 in2) Absorbency Time: 58 s Dry Comfort Score: 9 Wet Comfort Score: 10 Surface Dampness Score: 10 Ease of Use Score: 10 |
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Score: 9 Padding Area: 1584 cm2 (245 in2) Absorbency Time: 77 s Dry Comfort Score: 10 Wet Comfort Score: 10 Surface Dampness Score: 9 Ease of Use Score: 10 |
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Score: 8.86 Padding Area: 1823 cm2 (282 in2) Absorbency Time: 56 s Dry Comfort Score: 9 Wet Comfort Score: 10 Surface Dampness Score: 9 Ease of Use Score: 8 |
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Score: 8.85 Padding Area: 1187 cm2 (184 in2) Absorbency Time: 76 s Dry Comfort Score: 10 Wet Comfort Score: 10 Surface Dampness Score: 8 Ease of Use Score: 6 |
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Score: 8.79 Padding Area: 1797 cm2 (279 in2) Absorbency Time: 86 s Dry Comfort Score: 10 Wet Comfort Score: 10 Surface Dampness Score: 8 Ease of Use Score: 8 |
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Score: 8.74 Padding Area: 1120 cm2 (174 in2) Absorbency Time: 48 s Dry Comfort Score: 10 Wet Comfort Score: 10 Surface Dampness Score: 8 Ease of Use Score: 7 |
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Score: 8.74 Padding Area: 1691 cm2 (262 in2) Absorbency Time: 75 s Dry Comfort Score: 10 Wet Comfort Score: 10 Surface Dampness Score: 7 Ease of Use Score: 10 |
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Score: 8.54 Padding Area: 1840 cm2 (285 in2) Absorbency Time: 41 s Dry Comfort Score: 10 Wet Comfort Score: 8 Surface Dampness Score: 7 Ease of Use Score: 7 |
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Score: 8.4 Padding Area: 1849 cm2 (287 in2) Absorbency Time: 88 s Dry Comfort Score: 8 Wet Comfort Score: 10 Surface Dampness Score: 9 Ease of Use Score: 9 |
Durability Ranking
This year's review has involved a slight adjustment to the ranking formula from the 2021 top 10 diapers review. That formula accounts for how much padding is destroyed after extended wear/tear, how well tapes hold up and whether the padding is prone to clumps or tears. Compared with last year, the diapers in this year’s durability ranking remained largely the same but there were some slight shifts. Testing a highly durable swim diaper completely skewed the wet durability shake test numbers in the original formula and the scales were shifted disproportionately toward that number, while the other relative scoring became almost irrelevant. To avoid biasing too much toward highly durable swim diapers we’ve capped the maximum value a shake test could achieve and still be weighted in the scoring to 15 shakes in the adjusted formula. For all intents and purposes, there isn’t much value considering durability beyond this value because it would require an incredible amount of force in real world usage.
Notable additions to this year’s top 10 most durable diapers included the InControl BeDry Night at 7th spot and the Kiddo Fluffy Fly in 9th. We’ve also dropped the ConfiDry 24/7 and iD Expert Slip Maxi from the list due to their being discontinued. The Tena PROskin Flex Maxi was just barely shifted out of the rankings. Once again, we're not considering the Pampers 8 youth diaper, which performed surprisingly well in this test or the top performing Tranquility Swimmates Disposable Swimwear, which was designed for wet durability but serves a different purpose than the others in this list.
| Diaper | Scoring |
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Score: 9.29 Tape Area: 45 cm2 (7.0 in2) Dry Durability Score: 10 Wet Durability Score: 10 Shake Test: 12 Topsheet Deterioration: 0.55% Backsheet Deterioration: 1.38% Waistband: rear |
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Score: 9.2 Tape Area: 60 cm2 (9.3 in2) Dry Durability Score: 10 Wet Durability Score: 10 Shake Test: 4 Topsheet Deterioration: 0.58% Backsheet Deterioration: 2.61% Waistband: front/rear |
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Score: 8.92 Tape Area: 40 cm2 (6.2 in2) Dry Durability Score: 10 Wet Durability Score: 10 Shake Test: 3 Topsheet Deterioration: 0.53% Backsheet Deterioration: 1.09% Waistband: rear |
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Score: 8.77 Tape Area: 80 cm2 (12.4 in2) Dry Durability Score: 9 Wet Durability Score: 10 Shake Test: 2 Topsheet Deterioration: 8.45% Backsheet Deterioration: 7.14% Waistband: front/rear |
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Score: 8.75 Tape Area: 69 cm2 (10.7 in2) Dry Durability Score: 9 Wet Durability Score: 9 Shake Test: 4 Topsheet Deterioration: 1.22% Backsheet Deterioration: 1.78% Waistband: front/rear |
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Score: 8.68 Tape Area: 90 cm2 (14 in2) Dry Durability Score: 9 Wet Durability Score: 9 Shake Test: 3 Topsheet Deterioration: 4.70% Backsheet Deterioration: 6.44% Waistband: front/rear |
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Score: 8.65 Tape Area: 72 cm2 (11.2 in2) Dry Durability Score: 9 Wet Durability Score: 9 Shake Test: 2 Topsheet Deterioration: 2.45% Backsheet Deterioration: 1.35% Waistband: front/rear |
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Score: 8.51 Tape Area: 40 cm2 (6.2 in2) Dry Durability Score: 9 Wet Durability Score: 9 Shake Test: 5 Topsheet Deterioration: 6.16% Backsheet Deterioration: 6.56% Waistband: front/rear |
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Score: 8.49 Tape Area: 40 cm2 (6.2 in2) Dry Durability Score: 9 Wet Durability Score: 9 Shake Test: 5 Topsheet Deterioration: 6.16% Backsheet Deterioration: 6.56% Waistband: front/rear |
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Score: 8.48 Tape Area: 80 cm2 (12.4 in2) Dry Durability Score: 9 Wet Durability Score: 9 Shake Test: 2 Topsheet Deterioration: 8.25% Backsheet Deterioration: 9.49% Waistband: front/rear |
Discretion Ranking
The calculation of discretion remains unchanged from the 2020 top adult diapers. This scoring accounts for the bulkiness of the diaper, how noisy it is and whether it’s prone to odors or not. It also accounts for how far the diaper rides above the waistline. This year we merged similar brands to take only the top performing diaper for each brand. So formerly strong performers like the Tena PROskin Flex Maxi and Tena Slip Original have been shifted out as the strongest Tena performer was the Tena Slip Active Fit Maxi. This allowed the Medline Extended Wear Briefs, Forsite Euro Max Briefs and CardinalHealth Wings Plus to join the rankings. But otherwise, none of the recently tested diapers have challenged for discretion.
There were some products tested this past year that proved very discreet, including many youth products. However, we’ve left youth products out of this ranking due to their obvious sizing advantage relative to the others and being generally impractical at adult sizes. The Goodnites XXL and Depend Real-Fit Maximum both could challenge for adult product discretion. For now we’ve decided to leave protective underwear out of these rankings and leave that to a future ranking when there are more reviews to compare.
There were some products tested this past year that proved very discreet, including many youth products. However, we’ve left youth products out of this ranking due to their obvious sizing advantage relative to the others and being generally impractical at adult sizes. The Goodnites XXL and Depend Real-Fit Maximum both could challenge for adult product discretion. For now we’ve decided to leave protective underwear out of these rankings and leave that to a future ranking when there are more reviews to compare.
| Diaper | Scoring |
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Score: 7.59 Profile Discretion Score: 9 Noise Score: 10 Odor Reduction Score: 7 Dry Weight: 112 g (4 oz) Folded Length: 21 cm (8.3") Wet Folded Thickness: 4.5 cm (1.8") Average Rise Above Waist: 0.33 cm (0.13") Dry Folded Thickness: 1.8 cm (0.7") |
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Score: 7.37 Profile Discretion Score: 9 Noise Score: 9 Odor Reduction Score: 10 Dry Weight: 125 g (4.4 oz) Folded Length: 25 cm (9.8") Wet Folded Thickness: 5 cm (2") Average Rise Above Waist: 4.4 cm (1.7") Dry Folded Thickness: 2 cm (0.8") |
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Score: 7.05 Profile Discretion Score: 9 Noise Score: 9 Odor Reduction Score: 10 Dry Weight: 108 g (3.8 oz) Folded Length: 26 cm (10.2") Wet Folded Thickness: 3 cm (1.18") Average Rise Above Waist: 5.3 cm (2.1") Dry Folded Thickness: 2 cm (0.8") |
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Score: 7.04 Profile Discretion Score: 7 Noise Score: 10 Odor Reduction Score: 10 Dry Weight: 158 g (5.6 oz) Folded Length: 25 cm (9.8") Wet Folded Thickness: 5 cm (2") Average Rise Above Waist: 3.8 cm (1.5") Dry Folded Thickness: 2.7 cm (1.06") |
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Score: 6.97 Profile Discretion Score: 8 Noise Score: 10 Odor Reduction Score: 7 Dry Weight: 100 g (3.5 oz) Folded Length: 21.5 cm (8.5") Wet Folded Thickness: 5 cm (2") Average Rise Above Waist: 3.6 cm (1.4") Dry Folded Thickness: 1.5 cm (0.6") |
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Score: 6.95 Profile Discretion Score: 8 Noise Score: 9 Odor Reduction Score: 9 Dry Weight: 100 g (3.5 oz) Folded Length: 21 cm (8.3") Wet Folded Thickness: 5 cm (2") Average Rise Above Waist: 5.8 cm (2.3") Dry Folded Thickness: 2.5 cm (1") |
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Score: 6.84 Profile Discretion Score: 8 Noise Score: 10 Odor Reduction Score: 7 Dry Weight: 100 g (3.5 oz) Folded Length: 21 cm (8.3") Wet Folded Thickness: 4 cm (1.6") Average Rise Above Waist: 4.9 cm (1.9") Dry Folded Thickness: 2.5 cm (1") |
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Score: 6.78 Profile Discretion Score: 8 Noise Score: 10 Odor Reduction Score: 7 Dry Weight: 150 g (5.3 oz) Folded Length: 24 cm (9.5") Wet Folded Thickness: 5 cm (2") Average Rise Above Waist: 5.2 cm (2") Dry Folded Thickness: 2.3 cm (0.9") |
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Score: 6.65 Profile Discretion Score: 7 Noise Score: 10 Odor Reduction Score: 7 Dry Weight: 133 g (4.7 oz) Folded Length: 22 cm (8.7") Wet Folded Thickness: 4.5 cm (1.8") Average Rise Above Waist: 4.2 cm (1.6") Dry Folded Thickness: 2 cm (0.8") |
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Score: 6.56 Profile Discretion Score: 8 Noise Score: 8 Odor Reduction Score: 7 Dry Weight: 83 g (2.9 oz) Folded Length: 19 cm (7.5") Wet Folded Thickness: 4.5 cm (1.8") Average Rise Above Waist: 4.4 cm (1.7") Dry Folded Thickness: 2 cm (0.8") |
Overall Top 10 Ranking
This year’s top 10 overall ranking again follows the original formula used to calculate the 2020 top 10. The formula combines scores for absorbency, comfort, durability and discretion to produce an overall ranking. Once again, we’ve decided to limit the top 10 ranking to only include the single best of each brand to avoid having too many similar diapers consuming the top spots. This reduces the impact of biases and gives readers a greater diversity of diapers to evaluate in case a brand isn’t available locally or has an awkward personal sizing. We’ve also finally decided to remove the ConfiDry 24/7 from our top 10 rankings as it has long been discontinued and shows no sign of coming back to life in the market.
This year, with nearly a hundred unique product reviews, we’ve decided to break our ranking into two separate categories: those with a cloth-like backsheet and plastic-backed diapers. Since diaper preferences seem to diverge strongly along these lines, both are given their own top 10 rankings and we’re allowing for the best of the same brand to exist at least once in each list. This year the Kiddo Xtreme and InControl BeDry Night found their way into the combined category top 10 rankings, while the Attends Slip Regular Plus 10M and Forma-Care X-Plus M4 were just nudged out of the top 10. The Seni Super Quatro came in at the top of the cloth-like backsheet ranking with a score of 8.44, while the BetterDry/Crinklz came in at the top of the plastic-backed ranking with a score of 8.42. The Attends Care Waistband continued to be the worst product ever reviewed, with a score of 3.92. Meanwhile, it appears that the Attends Slip Regular Plus 10M has been discontinued from production. They still offer the similar, but perhaps slightly less absorbent, Attends Slip Regular 10M so we’ve left it in the rankings for now, but maybe drop it in future rankings.
Plastic-Backed
Plastic-backed diapers refer to a category of diapers where the outer shell of the diaper is a smooth impermeable plastic material. These diapers tend to be less susceptible to perspiration leaks but are often less breathable and prone to overheating in warm weather. This year the BetterDry/Crinklz diaper has topped the list. Some readers have raised issues with this diaper and we’ve been in contact with the company to clear things up. There was previously an issue where the glue holding the leg gathers could loosen in the presence of barrier creams and BetterDry has assured us that this has been resolved by going with a better quality hotmelt glue. They’ve also made changes to cut down on their environmental impact including using 50% recycled materials in the polybags and 100% recycled materials in the boxes as well as sustainable fluff pulp. Given this diaper has persisted in our top 10 rankings since the very first ranking we plan to do a more thorough followup at some point. But I will say that I have a lot of respect for their involvement and knowledge around the manufacturing process of their products. In fact, by my observations BetterDry and NorthShore appear to be the two most engaged adult diaper companies when it comes to product development outside of the mass market medical diaper producers (e.g. Tena/Attends/etc). We're in no way affiliated with either company, but things like this give us hope we will continue to have a diversity of sourcing options in the market.
| Diaper | Scoring |
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Score: 8.42 The BetterDry/Crinklz diaper has consistently ranked at the top of our overall rankings since I tested in 2020. During testing it proved exceptionally absorbent but also comfortable and somewhat discreet for a diaper of its absorbency. We've had mixed feedback on more recent batches of this diaper, but generally its still viewed positively. This diaper comes in two versions: plain white (BetterDry) and several playful patterns (Crinklz). |
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Score: 8.21 The Tena Slip Ultima is a more absorbent version of the popular Tena Slip Maxi. It features the same smooth-comfortable plastic-backsheet and a surprisingly discreet design. As far as plastic-backed diapers, it may well be the most comfortable on the market. There are very few trade-offs in this diaper and it would be perfectly fine for a day out. |
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Score: 8.19 The Trest Elite Briefs retain their position in the top rankings. These diapers advertise a ridiculous level of absorbency. In reality you'll get far less than advertised but still enough to put them among the most absorbent diapers on the market. These diapers are very thick but quite comfortable and feature a plastic backsheet with a tape landing zone. | |
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Score: 7.94 The Kiddo Xtreme is a recent review addition that easily made the top ranking. Like the Trest diaper, this diaper advertises a extremely high level of absorbency. It also features a dedicated tape landing zone and is constructed with a thick high quality plastic shell. These diapers are plain white, lacking the designs you'll find on many other ABDL-oriented diapers. |
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Score: 7.88 The InControl BeDry Night also joins the rankings this year. This is another diaper that pushes absorbency over discretion with another absurdly high advertised absorption. Its design is similar to the Kiddo Xtreme but uses a "hybrid" fastening mechanism with a hook & loop fastener and special tab landing zone. |
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Score: 7.79 The NorthShore Supreme diaper continues to retain a top 10 spot in this year's rankings. It's similar to the Drylife SlipSuper or iD Slip Maxi (PE) but with a bit more absorbency. This diaper proved highly durable and comfortable. Some have found its padding to be a bit firm but it makes up for it in other aspects. It also runs more compact in sizing like many premium European diapers. |
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Score: 7.77 The ABU PeekABU disappeared from the last top 10 when the ABU Little Kings entered the picture, but fittingly has reappeared as the top ranked plastic-backed diaper representing its brand. This diaper makes no effort to be discreet, but packs a very high absorbency as well as ranking relatively high in terms of comfort and durability. However, it also comes at a very high unit price |
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Score: 7.64 The Drylife SlipSuper is a great all around diaper and surprisingly affordable when it's available. Its padding is a little on the stiff side, though it softens when wet. This diaper is a tank when it comes to durability and held its own in terms of absorbency. |
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Score: 7.53 The Forma-Care X-Plus has continued make the top 10 overall rankings after entering the a few years ago. This diaper has a distinctive blue backsheet with a soft, comfortable padding. Despite being plastic-backed it's quite good at heat distribution and the plastic is smooth, similar to the Tena Slip products. |
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Score: 7.52 The Attends Slip Regular Plus continues to keep its spot as the top Attends diaper on the market. It's comparable to the Tena Slip line of products. It's backed with a very smooth/comfortable plastic and provides a great combination of durability and discretion. It feels well suited to active wear and, wherever it can be found, the pricing seems reasonable. Unfortunately it looks like the "plus" version may have been discontinued but the Attends Slip Regular 10 still appears to be available. |
Cloth-like Backsheet
The cloth-like backsheet category refers to diapers with a non-woven cloth-style backsheet. This type of backsheet often has a loose fabric type texture but can vary from soft and fluffy to firm and coarse. Some of these diapers have an inner plastic foil layer to prevent leaks, but others use moisture impermeable layers of microfibers to accomplish their leak proofing. This category of diapers tends to be a bit more prone to perspiration through the backsheet but they’re typically more breathable and less prone to heat buildup than the plastic-equivalents. This category of diaper had a far greater spread between those at the top of the top 10 and those at the bottom. This is likely because the super high absorbency diapers we’ve tested have tended more toward the plastic-backed designs and the cloth-like backsheet diapers tend to fit more into the store-brand category (one of which actually made this list, the Duchesse Med Flexi Slip). The Seni-Super Quatro took the top spot as a very well-rounded and reliable diaper. The Attends Premier Briefs Overnight also made the top 10, but with a strong caveat that they made a terrible change to their product in the spring of 2024 and the product they sell now is not what we reviewed. We’ve left it in for now with the hope that they may revert to the original design after the crushing feedback they received.
| Diaper | Scoring |
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Score: 8.44 The Seni Super Quatro easily came in top spot. This diaper may not be the most absorbent, but when comfort, durability and discretion are factored in this one is hard to beat overall. It's cloth-backed, but it's well worth a try if you're willing to give it a chance. Product consistency appears to be very good in the Seni lineup, more so than many others on the market. |
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Score: 8.22 The ABU Little Kings was the top addition to this list from the 2023 reviews. This diaper is clearly geared toward the ABDL market, but is a high quality cloth-backed diaper with a wide tape landing zone, very high absorbency and detailed designs. This is really a premium diaper in every sense and impractical for regular use given its very high unit price, but if you're looking for something playful this diaper certainly fits the bill. |
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Score: 7.85 The Kiddo Fluffy Fly is a recent addition to this list. This is another ABDL-oriented diaper and the design is quite similar to the ABU Little Kings with a landing zone and hook & loop fastening mechanism. The patterns on this diaper are a little more subtle than some of the more colorful on the market. It also features a very high level of absorbency. |
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Score: 7.81 The InControl Active Air feels like a slightly lower quality version of the Kiddo Fluffy Fly. I suspect both diapers were sourced from the same factory. However, this diaper has a plain more medical-style backsheet and comes with a lower unit cost. | |
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Score: 7.79 The Molicare Premium Elastic was not the top in any particular category, but overall showed strong performance. I should note that the small and medium sizes have substantial differences and this ranking is based specifically on the small size. This diaper has a snug breathable fit and provides a great degree of discretion. |
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Score: 7.69 The Tena Flex Maxi is one of the most unique designs we've reviewed in all these years. It features a belt that you wrap around your waist first before pulling the padding up to attach to the front. This could make it a good choice for those who frequently need to change when standing or quickly remove and re-apply the front of the diaper. |
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Score: 7.52 The Attends Premier Overnight used to be a great diaper and that's what we're referring to for this review. Sadly it seems there were some very negative changes to the product in spring 2024 and it's no longer what it used to be. One can hope Attends listens to reviewer feedback and returns to the original design (or better). |
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Score: 7.26 The Nexgen Absorbent Plus is a high absorbency diaper that uses hook & loop fastening directly to the backsheet. I was one of the early testers for this product and can vouch that while it doesn't have the highest absorbency on the list, it's quite well rounded and highly breathable. |
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Score: 7.17 The Duchesse Med Flexi Slip is the only store brand diaper to make this list. For a store brand it's surprisingly high quality and very durable. However, you'll likely only find this in the Müeller drugstore chain in parts of Central Europe. |
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Score: 7.12 The Prevail Air Overnight rounds off the top 10 list for cloth-backed diapers. This one seems a bit contentious, with people seeming to either love it or hate it. It was hardly a top performer for me, however, it still performed decently all around and depending on your change frequency it could be quite good. This diaper is also highly breathable. |
Bottom 5
A few readers have expressed interest in a list of the worst performing diapers. So for interest's sake we’ve aggregated the 5 worst performing diapers according to our metrics. Again, lower scores correlate to worse performance. Many of these diapers were highly prone to padding deterioration and lacked significant absorption. Fittingly, 4 of the 5 have been discontinued and the Prevail Nu Fit, which is still available, is rated as a “daytime” diaper, or marketing speak for not very absorbent. The Attends Care Waistband was a particularly terrible diaper given it was also sold at a very high unit cost compared with the rest.
This isn’t to say these are the worst diapers ever. Far from it, there are definitely worse diapers on the market. Part of it is a reflection of the fact we tend to review the most absorbent diapers in each brand and don’t prioritize diapers that are obviously low quality unless we have a compelling reason to do so.
This isn’t to say these are the worst diapers ever. Far from it, there are definitely worse diapers on the market. Part of it is a reflection of the fact we tend to review the most absorbent diapers in each brand and don’t prioritize diapers that are obviously low quality unless we have a compelling reason to do so.
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Score: 3.92 The Attends Care Waistband easily took bottom spot in the rankings. This diaper is plastic backed but still prone to leaks and highly prone to padding deterioration. Worse yet, it was sold at a very high unit price. |
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Score: 4.28 The Attends Care Poly had many of the same construction elements as the waistband version, but surprisingly it performed slightly better overall in spite of being cheaper and having no waistband. It was still extremely prone to padding deterioration and had equally poor absorbance. |
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Score: 4.37 The Healthy Spirit diaper seems to have been a cheaper, low quality run from one of the larger mass market medical diaper producers. This diaper was cloth-backed and had notable similarities to the FitRight Ultra. |
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Score: 4.68 The Prevail Nu-Fit is a daily wear diaper and one of the lower absorbency diapers in the list. This diaper was hardly a star performer but I was a bit surprised to see it in the bottom 5. It wasn't exceptionally bad in any category but overall not strong in any category either. | |
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Score: 4.76 The concept of the First Quality Briefs (full mat) sounded interesting. A diaper that has extensive padding coverage to reduce direct skin contact with the backsheet. In reality the padding was very thin and highly prone to deterioration. This diaper was also very prone to leaking. |
My Personal Picks
I’ve also been asked about my personal preferences and what I would recommend outside of this ranking system. Generally I try to keep my own preferences out of the reviews as much as possible and try to keep the focus on the metrics. Of course it’s impossible to get away from it entirely, particularly in aspects like comfort, which inherently have some subjective bias. Moreover, my preferences have shifted over the years as I’ve tested more products and have a better sense of what works well and what doesn’t.
These days I’m finding I have more of a preference for compact but highly absorbent diapers. These often have relatively thin padding and relatively low rise/backsheet area but good waistbands, a snug fit and reliable level of absorption. I’m still a big fan of the BetterDry diaper, but it can be a bit thick for warm weather wear and hasn’t always been easy to find here at times. Personally, I’ve found I’m not as fond of the landing zone diapers as I imagined I would be, in spite of the obvious convenience they bring. I find the landing zones tend to add too much thickness or abrasiveness. My preference has generally landed at simple/compact but reliable products. Some standouts for me include: Tena Slip Active Fit Maxi, Attends Slip Regular Plus, Molicare Premium Elastic and the Seni Super Plus. That said, many of these diapers are difficult to acquire where I live so I’m constantly trying new products regardless.
These days I’m finding I have more of a preference for compact but highly absorbent diapers. These often have relatively thin padding and relatively low rise/backsheet area but good waistbands, a snug fit and reliable level of absorption. I’m still a big fan of the BetterDry diaper, but it can be a bit thick for warm weather wear and hasn’t always been easy to find here at times. Personally, I’ve found I’m not as fond of the landing zone diapers as I imagined I would be, in spite of the obvious convenience they bring. I find the landing zones tend to add too much thickness or abrasiveness. My preference has generally landed at simple/compact but reliable products. Some standouts for me include: Tena Slip Active Fit Maxi, Attends Slip Regular Plus, Molicare Premium Elastic and the Seni Super Plus. That said, many of these diapers are difficult to acquire where I live so I’m constantly trying new products regardless.
Diaper Rankings Spreadsheet
Recalculating our top 10 rankings has finally forced us to update our spreadsheet covering the full range of diapers we’ve tested. This year’s sheet contains both protective underwear and youth products since we’ve chosen to keep all products in the same sheet to make them easier to manage. We retain the original “Filter Views” so you can sort the rankings by absorbency, comfort, durability, discretion or the overall ranking. You could also create your own filters to capture other interesting aspects. This year we’ve also added two more columns to the end of the sheet to track when the diaper was reviewed and whether or not it’s been discontinued (to the best of our knowledge). I’ll again note that the “Diaper Area” metric is currently missing some data from the wings so we’ve highlighted it in red. This will be corrected when we have time to go back and capture the necessary metrics.
2024 Adult Diaper Rankings Spreadsheet
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