Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner Review (2026): The

Why you should trust this review

I bought this gallon of Simple Green concentrate with my own money and used it as my main household and garage cleaner for eight months before writing this. Simple Green did not provide it, did not see this review, and has no input on it. That matters with cleaning products because the category is full of vague claims, “multi-surface,” “powerful,” “eco-friendly”, and the only honest way to test them is to actually mix the stuff at the recommended ratios and clean real grime in a real home over time, which is what I did rather than repeating label copy.

Over those eight months I ran it on everything from greasy stovetops to garage floors to the interior of a car, so my impressions cover the multi-surface claim across genuinely different jobs, not just one wipe-down. I also went in with a healthy skepticism, because “all-purpose” usually means “mediocre at everything,” and I wanted to see whether a single concentrate could actually retire the specialty bottles it claims to replace or whether I would quietly keep buying them anyway.

How we evaluated

I mixed the concentrate at both the 1:30 general-cleaning ratio and the 1:10 heavy-duty ratio and used those solutions across kitchen counters and appliances, bathroom surfaces, garage floors and tools, and vehicle interiors and wheels. I tracked how far a single gallon actually stretched, judged cleaning strength against baked-on kitchen grease and garage grime, and paid attention to the practical realities, the fragrance, whether residue was left behind, and which surfaces I had to keep it away from. I also let solutions sit mixed in spray bottles for weeks to confirm they stayed effective rather than separating or losing strength, since pre-diluting a batch is exactly how most people will actually use it.

Dilution value: where it earns its keep

The economics are the standout. At the 1:30 general ratio, one gallon of concentrate makes roughly 30 gallons of ready-to-use cleaner, which is a dramatically lower cost per usable ounce than buying pre-mixed spray bottles. In practice I mixed a single spray bottle at a time as needed and the gallon barely seemed to move over the first couple of months. For anyone who cleans regularly, this is the kind of value that quietly compounds: you stop buying multiple specialty bottles and one jug covers the house for a long time. The 1:10 heavy-duty mix obviously burns through the concentrate faster, but you only reach for that on tough jobs. One practical tip from living with it: a small kitchen scale or a marked bottle makes mixing accurate, because eyeballing a 1:30 ratio tends to drift toward too strong, which wastes concentrate and leaves more residue. Once I settled into measuring properly, a single gallon went so far that the cost per cleaning job became almost an afterthought, which is the whole appeal of buying concentrate rather than pre-mixed spray.

Multi-surface cleaning performance

The replace-five-cleaners claim mostly holds. On kitchen counters and appliances the general dilution cut everyday grease and food residue cleanly and rinsed away without a sticky film. In the bathroom it handled soap scum and general grime well. The garage is where I leaned on the heavy-duty 1:10 mix, and it pulled up oil spots and ground-in dirt that a weaker all-purpose cleaner would have just smeared. On the vehicle it cleaned interior plastics, mats, and wheels without harshness. It is not a miracle degreaser for the very worst baked-on grease, a dedicated heavy-duty product still edges it there, but for the broad middle of household and garage cleaning, one product genuinely covered jobs I used to keep separate bottles for. Across the eight months I noticed it rinses cleaner than a lot of all-purpose sprays, leaving less of the tacky film that attracts dust again within days, which matters on glossy surfaces and appliance fronts where streaking shows. On glass it did fine at the general dilution, though a dedicated glass cleaner is still slightly better for a streak-free finish on large windows.

The honest trade-offs

Three things keep this from being a no-caveat recommendation. First, it is a concentrate, so you need a water source and a spare bottle, and you have to mix it. That is trivial at home but worth knowing if you wanted true grab-and-go convenience, where a pre-mixed spray wins. Second, the fragrance is strong. I did not mind it, but it is noticeable, and anyone sensitive to scent or cleaning in a small unventilated space will feel it. Third, and most important to remember, it is not safe for natural stone like granite or marble; those surfaces need a pH-appropriate stone cleaner, so keep this off your stone countertops. The formulation being biodegradable is a genuine plus for households that care about what goes down the drain, and it is part of why I was comfortable using it so broadly, including on jobs near garden beds and storm drains where harsher chemicals would worry me. One more practical note: at the heavy-duty 1:10 strength I wore gloves and ventilated the space, because any cleaner concentrated enough to lift garage grime deserves that respect, and a quick spot test on a hidden area before tackling a new surface saved me from guessing wrong on a painted finish.

Who should buy Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner?

Buy it if you clean regularly and want to cut cost and clutter by replacing several specialty bottles with one jug, you have kitchen, bathroom, garage, and vehicle jobs to cover, and you do not mind mixing your own dilutions.

Skip it if you want pure grab-and-go convenience with no mixing, you are sensitive to fragrance, or your main surfaces are natural stone, in which case you will need a dedicated stone-safe cleaner regardless.

The verdict

After eight months, the Simple Green 1-gallon concentrate is the cleaner I keep reaching for, and the one that quietly emptied my cabinet of single-purpose bottles. The dilution value is the real headline, one jug covering the house for months at a fraction of the cost of pre-mixed sprays, and the multi-surface performance is strong enough across kitchen, bath, garage, and car to back up the do-it-all promise. The fragrance is strong, you have to mix it, and it stays off natural stone, but none of that undercuts the core case. For anyone who cleans often and wants economy, versatility, and a biodegradable formula, this is an easy product to recommend.