I have bought Viva paper towels for many years now because I love how soft they are. I’ve even recommended them in the posts about DIY wipes on the blog.
But a couple of weeks ago, as I was finishing putting away Christmas stuff and wrapping my nativity figurines in the Viva paper towels from last year, I realized that those older towels were MUCH softer than the ones Amazon sent me recently through Subscribe & Save.
I compared the news ones to the old ones, and honestly, I was shocked at the difference and even felt a little betrayed! I even worried that I would have to update all the posts I had written that mentioned them because I was recommending and endorsing paper towels that were nothing like the new ones I had now held in my hand.
Have Viva Paper Towels Changed?
I did some research online, and it turns out that Viva now makes two different kinds of paper towels. For some reason, Amazon switched the listing I had purchased the old kind from through Subscribe & Save to the new Viva Multi-Surface Cloth.
In fact, I found a lot of of 1-star reviews on that listing from other people who had started receiving the new and very different style of paper towels. At least I wasn’t the only person who was confused!
According to Viva, their new Multi-Surface Cloth that I received is made for use on many surfaces. It claims to be better at cleaning stone countertops, windows and mirrors, and stainless steel, but in my opinion, it’s just a cheaper version of the good stuff!
The Viva Towels I Love Have A New Name: Viva Signature Cloth
Luckily, the good ones are still around. They’ve just been re-branded as Viva Signature Cloth. The company explains the differences on their FAQ page under “Product specific questions.”
From the Viva website: “Viva Signature Cloth paper towels are designed to be cloth-like, durable and used for deep cleaning. Viva Multi-Surface Cloth paper towels have two absorbent layers designed with a unique texture to lift and trap mess on many surfaces.”
The 2022 Paper Towel Showdown
This whole situation got me thinking… I formed my opinion on Viva paper towels years ago, but what else is out there? I decided to test the most popular paper towels in a head-to-head showdown.
The Contenders
I ended up choosing the following paper towels for my test:
- Viva Signature Cloth (4.9 cents per square foot)
- Viva Multi-Surface Cloth (4.9 cents per square foot)
- Bounty (6.0 cents per square foot)
- Brawny (6.7 cents per square foot)
- Kirkland Signature (2.0 cents per square foot)
I chose these brands because they’re generally considered among the best paper towels for quality and performance. There are cheaper and more environmentally friendly options out there, but for this test I was focused on quality and performance above other factors.
To sum it up, the question I wanted answered was “Which paper towel works the best?”
Putting Them To The Test
I did a few different tests at the studio, and the paper towels seemed quite similar. They were all very absorbent, and none of them broke down when scrubbing a mixture of ketchup, syrup, and baking soda.
The differences I noticed were fairly small—the Bounty paper towels seemed the most durable, even when saturated with water, and the Kirkland paper towels had the largest sheets.
But I couldn’t confidently declare a winner from those tests alone, so I took the paper towels home and put them to the test over a long weekend of cleaning. After using them in several “real world” tests at home, I can now confidently share my “paper towel power rankings.”
How Do The Top 5 Paper Towels Compare?
Here’s my personal ranking of the 5 contenders, from best to worst:
- Viva Signature Cloth
- Viva Multi-Surface Cloth
- Brawny
- Kirkland Signature
- Bounty
The Winner: Viva Signature Cloth
Unsurprisingly, Viva Signature Cloth remains my favorite of the bunch. I just love the cloth-like feel of them and they work as well as any other paper towel I’ve tried, so I would have been shocked if another paper towel had been able to beat them out for the top spot!
The Runner-Up: Viva Multi-Surface Cloth
Surprisingly, though, the Viva Multi-Surface Cloth was my second favorite. I had felt duped when I got them in my Subscribe & Save order, but once I figured out that the old ones still exist, I was able to evaluate these more objectively. In the end, I do like these paper towels—they’re strong and still a bit softer than some of the other options.
3rd Place: Brawny
Brawny was a close third to the Viva Multi-Surface Cloth. I like the Tear-A-Square option, but you can technically do that with any paper towel. I also had to consider that Brawny was also the most expensive option of all of them.
4th Place: Kirkland Signature
The Kirkland Signature paper towels have the largest sheets, but they’re also very thin. The cost is their most redeeming quality—these paper towels weren’t my favorite of the bunch, but they are the cheapest by far and they performed well enough in my tests.
5th Place: Bounty
The Bounty paper towels were so stiff, they almost felt like really thin cardboard. While I’m sure it’s the reason for their durability, I found that I just didn’t need that much strength or stiffness. They didn’t clean any better than the softer options, so I didn’t find it to be that beneficial.
I am always trying to use fewer paper towels, but there are a couple tasks that I keep paper towels around for. Check out these tips if you’re trying to cut down, too.
What are your favorite paper towels?