Products · Cleaning & laundry · ECOS (Earth Friendly Products)

ECOS Dish Soap, Free & Clear

A scent-free hand dish soap at about 13 cents an ounce, listed by EPA as Safer Choice, and in CR’s 2026 dish soap test. Nine ingredients, two of them preservatives. The maker has settled three labeling cases, the latest in 2026.

Best for Anyone who wants a low-cost, scent-free dish soap whose label and EPA listing can both be checked, and who can live with preservatives and a record of labeling disputes.

Our rating: Fair (3.3 of 5)
Price range: Budget
Verified marks: EPA Safer Choice, listed as fragrance-free
Size: 25 fl oz bottle

approx. $3.28 for 25 fl oz

See it on ECOS (Earth Friendly Products)’s site → (opens in a new tab)

We are not affiliated with ECOS (Earth Friendly Products). This link goes to the maker’s own page, with no tracking code. How we're funded.

Also sold at Amazon ($3.28), Walmart ($3.28), Thrive Market ($3.29 (compare-at $4.49)) , and 1 more.

Reader ratings & reviews

– out of 5

Loading ratings…

Have this product? Please rate it.

Reviews are personal experiences, not research, and they never change our quality ratings. Every review is read by our team before it appears.

How we evaluated it

How it scores Our rating, metric by metric Fair, 3.3 of 5

Ingredients 35% of the rating 3 of 5

Nine named ingredients with no fragrance, dye or ethoxylated surfactant, but four surfactants (one a sulfate) and two preservatives, phenoxyethanol and ethylhexylglycerin, are more than a soap bar needs.
Cleans well 20% of the rating 4 of 5

Consumer Reports’ 2026 test of 12 dish soaps, ECOS among the brands, found all cleaned dishes really well, though the free text does not say which ECOS soap it tested.
Independent testing 15% of the rating 3 of 5

EPA lists this exact soap as Safer Choice, a certification the maker applies for, and CR’s test was about cleaning rather than contaminants, so we found no independent contaminant test.
Trust 10% of the rating 2 of 5

The maker settled a 2015 “natural” suit, a 2022 suit over “non-toxic” claims that named phenoxyethanol and a 2026 California case over “zero plastic” PVA sheets, and a 2024 lab spot-check found organic fluorine in one sheet.
Value 20% of the rating 4 of 5

About 13 cents an ounce ($3.28 for 25 fl oz at Amazon and Walmart, $4.99 at Grove) makes it the cheapest dish soap here by sticker price, and ECOS says to squirt a quarter-sized drop on a sponge.

The rating, 3.3 of 5, is the weighted average of these scores. See how we rank cleaning & laundry and our standard.

Where to buy Stores and the prices we saw 4 stores

Amazon (opens in a new tab) approx. $3.28. Sold and shipped by Amazon. Listed as “Dishmate”; its UPC list includes 749174097217, the one in EPA’s record for ECOS Dish Soap, Free & Clear.
Walmart (opens in a new tab) approx. $3.28. Sold by Walmart.com. Its UPC (749174097217) matches EPA’s record.
Thrive Market (opens in a new tab) approx. $3.29 (compare-at $4.49). Thrive Market is a paid membership store ($60 a year or $12 a month, as its site shows today). Its UPC (749174097217) matches EPA’s record.
Grove Collaborative (opens in a new tab) approx. $4.99. 25 fl oz. The page opens on Pear; choose Free & Clear (barcode 749174097217).

Prices as we saw them on October 23, 2026. They change often. These links carry no tracking code and earn us nothing.

What’s in it Every ingredient, in label order 9 ingredients

Water
Sodium coco-sulfate
Cocamidopropylamine oxide
Lauramine oxide
Phenoxyethanol
Coco betaine
Tetrasodium glutamate diacetate
Ethylhexylglycerin
Citric acid

Who tested it What each test found, and who paid for it 2 tests

Independent Consumer Reports February 2026

Evaluated 12 popular dish soaps, ten liquids and two bars, in its labs and at home, ECOS among the brands. Its free text says all of them cleaned dishes really well. It does not name the ECOS variant, and the full ratings are behind a paywall. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Paid certification EPA Safer Choice

Lists “ECOS Dish Soap, Free & Clear” as Safer Choice and fragrance-free; Earth Friendly Products has been a partner since 2008. The program reviews each ingredient against EPA’s criteria. It is not a lab test of this bottle. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)

Who paid, and why it matters

Independent The tester took no money from the maker for it: a consumer group, a journalist, a university or a regulator.
Paid certification An outside lab or certifier tested or listed it, and the maker paid for that.
Maker’s own test A lab report or certificate of analysis the maker commissioned and published.

A certification is a floor, not a verdict: it checks what its program checks and nothing else. We weigh tests by someone with no stake in the result most.

What people ask Worries raised online and elsewhere, and what we found 5 questions

Is the preservative phenoxyethanol a problem?: ECOS lists phenoxyethanol and ethylhexylglycerin as preservatives. In 2022 two customers sued the maker in Missouri over “non-toxic” and “safer” claims, citing phenoxyethanol, in De Santiago Lizama v. Venus Laboratories (opens in a new tab). The docket shows a notice of settlement in August 2024 and a dismissal in September 2024; we could not see the terms. If you want no preservatives, Meliora’s bar has none.
Has ECOS been accused of misleading “green” claims?: Three times. A 2015 class action over “natural” claims settled with final approval in March 2016 (TINA.org (opens in a new tab)). The 2022 Missouri case above. And in April 2026 several California district attorneys’ offices announced a $176,110 settlement (opens in a new tab) over laundry and dishwasher sheets labeled “zero plastic” that contained polyvinyl alcohol. The 2015 and 2022 cases covered ECOS products in general; the 2026 case was about sheets, not this soap. A further case, Parks v. Venus Laboratories (opens in a new tab), was removed to federal court in December 2025; the docket pages we opened do not state its claims.
Does ECOS use PFAS?: Mamavation, a consumer site that earns affiliate income, sent four laundry sheets to an EPA-certified lab in 2024. ECOS’s Magnolia & Lily sheet had 26 ppm organic fluorine (opens in a new tab), a marker for PFAS (Mamavation’s test is a spot-check, and it does not say where the fluorine came from). That is a different product from this soap, and we found no PFAS test of the soap.
Does it clean as well as Dawn?: Consumer Reports’ 2026 test found every soap it evaluated, ECOS among them, cleaned dishes really well. The free text does not say which ECOS soap it used, and the full ratings are behind a paywall.
Is “hypoallergenic” proven?: ECOS says the soap was tested to verify it is unlikely to irritate skin allergies. It publishes no data, so that is the maker’s statement.

Why we chose it What put it on our list 4 points

EPA’s Safer Choice table lists “ECOS Dish Soap, Free & Clear” from Earth Friendly Products with the fragrance-free flag set to true. The UPC in EPA’s record (749174097217) matches the UPC on Walmart’s and Thrive Market’s product pages.
ECOS prints the full ingredient list with CAS numbers and a function for each: water, four surfactants, phenoxyethanol and ethylhexylglycerin as preservatives, a water softener and citric acid.
ECOS says it is made without dyes, phthalates, parabens or 1,4-dioxane. The page does not say whether it tested for them.
It is cheap: $3.28 for 25 fl oz at Amazon and Walmart, about 13 cents an ounce. Grove charges $4.99.

Trade-offs What to weigh before you buy 4 points

The surfactants include sodium coco-sulfate, a sulfate, and the label has two synthetic preservatives. If you avoid either, choose something else.
The maker has settled three labeling cases since 2015, the latest in April 2026 and about detergent sheets rather than this soap.
It is not a concentrate and has no refill pack. You buy a new 25 fl oz bottle each time.
It has one certification. EWG’s Verified cleaning list shows no products from ECOS or Earth Friendly Products.

What to know Details worth knowing first

Dish soap sits on your hands and on every plate, so fragrance and dyes are easy to avoid and worth avoiding. Our guide to common cleaning products explains why a plain formula with a full label is a reasonable default.

ECOS’s Free & Clear dish soap fits that: nine ingredients, all listed with CAS numbers, no fragrance, and a Safer Choice listing in EPA’s own table that flags it as fragrance-free. Consumer Reports found that every dish soap it evaluated in 2026, ECOS included, cleaned well.

The costs are preservatives and trust. The label has two, and one of them was the target of a 2022 lawsuit that ended with a notice of settlement and a dismissal. The maker also settled labeling cases in 2016 and 2026, the latter about detergent sheets rather than this soap. If that matters to you, a bar or a powder has no preservative and uses less plastic.

What we checked Each claim, and how sure we are of it 9 checks

How ECOS Dish Soap, Free & Clear measures up against our cleaning & laundry criteria
What we checked	What we found
Full ingredient disclosure Maker’s claim	Nine ingredients on the product page with CAS numbers, functions and an instructions line. Fragrance is not listed because there is none.
Independent mark: EPA Safer Choice Verified	EPA’s Envirofacts table has “ECOS Dish Soap, Free & Clear”, Earth Friendly Products, sector dish soaps, company in good standing, partner since 2008. ECOS’s product page also says it is Safer Choice-certified.
Independent mark: EWG Verified Not verified	EWG’s Verified cleaning list shows no products from ECOS or Earth Friendly Products.
Fragrance-free Verified	EPA marks this product fragrance-free, and the label lists no fragrance.
Independent cleaning test Verified	Consumer Reports evaluated an ECOS dish soap among 12 in 2026 and said all cleaned dishes really well. It does not say which ECOS soap, and the ratings are behind a paywall.
Preservatives Maker’s claim	Two: phenoxyethanol and ethylhexylglycerin. Neither is an isothiazolinone.
Concentrates and refills Maker’s claim	No. A 25 fl oz ready-to-use bottle, used a quarter-sized drop at a time. There is no refill.
PFAS Maker’s claim	No fluorinated ingredient on the label. We found no independent PFAS test of this soap. A 2024 Mamavation spot-check found 26 ppm organic fluorine in a different ECOS product, a laundry sheet.
Honest germ claims Maker’s claim	No germ-killing claim on the page.

What the labels mean

Verified We opened an independent record that confirms it: a certifier’s listing, a regulator’s list or a lab report. It is linked under Sources.
Maker’s claim The maker says so on its own page or label. We read it but found no independent record.
Not verified We looked and could not confirm it, or the maker does not say. Treat it as unknown.

Sources Where our facts come from 8 sources

ECOS Dish Soap, Free & Clear product page. Maker’s page. Ingredients, claims and size as seen 2026-10-23. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
EPA Safer Choice products table (Envirofacts), rows for Earth Friendly Products. Certifier or regulator listing. EPA’s product finder entry for this product is https://www.epa.gov/saferchoice/products#search=a04i000000WuqAsAAJ (opens in a new tab). The table is large; look for the product name. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Consumer Reports: 6 Best Dish Soaps, Tested by Our Experts. Test report. Updated February 26, 2026. Twelve soaps evaluated in CR’s labs and at home; ECOS is one of the brands. CR is a nonprofit that earns affiliate fees from retailer links. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
CourtListener docket: De Santiago Lizama v. Venus Laboratories (E.D. Mo. 4:22-cv-00841). Certifier or regulator listing. Filed 2022-08-11; notice of settlement 2024-08-09; dismissed 2024-09-18. Terms not shown. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Law Street Media: class action filed against ECOS over “non-toxic” claims. Independent source. A news summary of the 2022 complaint. The allegations are the plaintiffs’, not findings. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
TINA.org: Earth Friendly Household Cleaners and Products. Independent source. Baharestan v. Venus Laboratories (N.D. Cal. 15-cv-3578): “natural” claims, settlement approved March 2016. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Bay City News via Piedmont Exedra: ‘Earth friendly’ company to pay $176K to settle alleged false ‘plastic-free’ claims. Independent source. April 21, 2026. People v. Venus Laboratories, announced by the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office; about detergent sheets, not this soap. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Mamavation: Safest Laundry Detergent Sheets Tested for Indications of PFAS. Test report. January 2, 2024. Four sheets sent to an EPA-certified lab; ECOS Magnolia & Lily had 26 ppm organic fluorine. Mamavation earns affiliate income. About sheets, not this soap. Open ↗ (opens in a new tab)

Alternatives Other options to compare 2 options

Meliora Dish Soap Bar, Unscented Six ingredients, no preservative, no plastic, MADE SAFE listed, but $11 a bar and no stated number of washes.
Seventh Generation Dish Liquid, Free & Clear (opens in a new tab) Also on EPA’s Safer Choice list, but its label lists benzisothiazolinone and methylisothiazolinone as preservatives.

Reader ratings & reviews

How we evaluated it

Weekly research digest