Aquasana Claryum 2-Stage Under Counter Water Filter System AQ-5200

#2 of 7 under sink water filters tested

No sponsored placements·By Renée Torres

9.3R3 Score / 10

RecommendedWe'd buy this without hesitation.

No sponsored placements· By Renée Torres

The bottom line

What the product listing won't tell you

Know before you buy

The AQ-5200 earns its Exceptional score by doing something rare: full PFAS certification (verifiable at wqa.org), 100% water recovery (no wastewater like RO systems), and no-drill installation that renters can realistically do — all for $249. The honest tradeoff is filter life. At 500 gallons, you're changing filters every 7–8 months and spending about $108 per year. If you can live with that cadence, this is the best-value certified PFAS-removal under-sink filter available for renters and condo owners. The only system that beats it in this category is Clearly Filtered, which offers a 2,000-gallon filter life but costs more upfront.

You rent or live in a condo and can't drill through your counter — the AQ-5200 uses your existing soap dispenser hole, no new hole required.
PFAS is your top concern and you want a certification you can independently verify — NSF P473 via WQA is publicly searchable.
You want the environmental benefit of no wastewater — unlike RO systems, this filter doesn't pour gallons down the drain.
You want a PFAS-certified system under $250 — the AQ-5200 is among the most affordable systems with this certification stack.

Skip if

You don't want to change filters every 7–8 months — Clearly Filtered's 2,000-gallon filter system lasts nearly 3x longer per cartridge.
You want the lowest annual filter cost — systems with longer filter life cost less per year to maintain.
You have unused counter space and are open to a countertop RO system — AquaTru's RO systems offer higher overall contaminant reduction at comparable cost.