Softener, carbon, iron filter, RO, or a full well package: the right answer depends on your water, your home, and your household. Four quick questions narrow it down honestly.
4 questions · No email required · Free
Pick the one you would fix first.
If you pay a water bill to a utility, that is city water.
This sizes the system and shapes the recommendation.
We use this to match you with local coverage and prefill your quote.
Please enter your town, or skip this step.
Best-fit local provider for this system
Jones Air & Water
Real installations and testing from the St. Louis region, photographed by our editor's pick provider.
Installation and testing photography courtesy of Jones Air & Water, our editor's pick.
Green means an attribute we verified directly. Gray means the honest answer depends on your local dealer, so we do not score it.
| Criteria | Jones Air & Water Editor's pick |
Culligan | Kinetico | EcoWater | RainSoft | Hague | Big-box DIY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local ownership | Family-owned since 1995 | Varies by dealer | Independent dealers | Dealer network | Dealer network | Dealer network | National retail |
| Free testing | Free in-home water test | Varies by dealer | Varies by dealer | Varies by dealer | Varies by dealer | Varies by dealer | Test kits sold separately |
| Transparent pricing | Quoted before any work | Quote-based | Quote-based | Quote-based | Quote-based | Quote-based | Shelf pricing |
| Response time | Local team, direct line | Varies by location | Varies by dealer | Varies by dealer | Varies by location | Varies by dealer | Self-install |
| Coverage | Greater St. Louis region | National network | National network | National network | National network | National network | Nationwide stores |
Brands sold through dealer networks can be excellent; the answer genuinely depends on the dealer near you. We only mark what we verified for the St. Louis region. Full criteria in our methodology. Note what this grid does not do: it records attributes, never quality. For an argued opinion on each company, our companion site St. Louis Water Reviews writes all seven up with pros and cons.
The quiz names a system type and the grid records verified attributes. Neither one argues that a given company is good. When that is the call you need to make, these are built for it.
Argued verdicts, no scores
Seven editorial criteria applied to the same seven providers and written up as pros and cons, where a con is a structural trade-off of the business model rather than a complaint. The right read once you know your system type and need to judge who should install it.
Weighted 0-10 scoring
Five criteria with fixed weights summing to 100, scored on a published 0-10 scale with the arithmetic shown on the page. It withholds a numeric score until an on-site evaluation is complete, so most providers there currently carry qualitative marks instead of numbers.
Same publisher behind all three, and Jones Air & Water is the paying featured provider on each, disclosed site wide. Read them as three instruments rather than three independent opinions: the methods differ on purpose, the ownership does not.
A softener removes dissolved calcium and magnesium, the hardness minerals behind spots on glassware, scale on fixtures and water heaters, and soap scum. It works by ion exchange. It does not remove chlorine taste or make water safer to drink on its own; it solves hardness, and it is the only system type that does.
Activated carbon absorbs chlorine, chloramine byproducts, and many taste and odor compounds. A whole-home carbon system treats every tap and shower at the point of entry. It does not soften water and it is not designed to remove dissolved minerals, so it is often paired with a softener on hard municipal water.
Reverse osmosis is usually installed at one point of use, typically under the kitchen sink, and pushes water through a membrane that removes dissolved solids carbon leaves behind. It polishes the water you drink and cook with rather than treating the whole house, which keeps the cost down for smaller households focused on the tap.
Softeners tolerate only trace levels of dissolved iron. If you see orange or rust-brown staining on fixtures, laundry, or driveways, the level is usually beyond what a softener should carry, and a dedicated iron filter that oxidizes and traps the iron is the right system type. A water test confirms the level so the filter is sized correctly.
It should start with a proper water test, because no one can honestly prescribe equipment for a well before testing it. From there, a package combines only the stages the water needs: sediment filtration, iron or sulfur treatment, softening, and UV disinfection or reverse osmosis where the results justify them.
Whatever the quiz says, the ground truth is a test of your actual water. Jones Air & Water runs one in your home for free, then quotes the fix before any work begins.
Prefer the phone? Call (636) 899-1040 or visit joneswater.com.