Best Portable Air Conditioner Australia [Top 10 for 2026]

When the heat gets to be too much, it just becomes so draining. Across Australia, from Perth to Melbourne, Sydney to Brisbane, there’s always some part of the year that gets unbearable. Everything becomes exhausting, even trying to sleep. While we’d all love to have professionally installed air conditioning, it’s not always an option and not in every room in your house.

So if you need a portable air conditioner, then we’ve done the hard work of finding options for you. Our top pick from the bunch is the Carson Portable Air Conditioner. It’s a good air conditioner that will work well in most small to mid-sized rooms.

Best Portable Air Conditioners Australia in 2026

Best Overall — Carson Air Conditioner Unit with Remote Control and WiFi Connectivity

The Carson Portable Air Conditioner is rated at 10,000 BTUs. That means that it will work well in most small to mid-sized rooms. So it should do well in most bedrooms.

This air conditioner can be used in two ways. It comes with an air hose so you can vent it through a window. This means you don’t have to worry about emptying it. Or you can use it in its self evaporative mode. In this setting, it recycles a good portion of the water back into the air. It is not 100% efficient, so it will still need to be emptied at intervals.

How often you will need to empty the tank will depend on the mode you use it in. For instance, if you have it set up as a dehumidifier, it will no longer recycle water into the air, so you’ll need to empty it much more often.

This is not the quietest air conditioner around. However, at 56Db, it’s also by no means the loudest either.

You can control this air conditioner with either the included remote or by using the connected app. It is also compatible with Google Home and Alexa.

This is a good air conditioner that should be the right choice for most people.

Best Air Conditioner with Heater — Vostok 4.1kW Portable Air Conditioner (Reverse Cycle)

This Vostok 4.1kW Portable Air Conditioner (Reverse Cycle) is an excellent option for anyone who wants the flexibility of both a heater and a cooler. At 14,000 BTUs, it will work for pretty much any sized room, so it is an excellent option for larger homes.

As you might expect from a larger unit, it is a little louder. It’s rated at 66 Db. If you plan to use it overnight, it might be a good idea to cool the room before you go to bed then up the temperature a little just before you go to sleep. That way, you’ll have a cool place as well as quiet while you fall asleep.

This air conditioner comes with a window kit, but it also has a tank that will need to be drained. In cooling mode, you are unlikely to need to empty it much at all, unless it’s very humid. It is more of a hassle when being used for heating. The tank fills quickly and does need to be gravity drained. So it’s better as an emergency heater rather than a regular all-day heater.

This unit offers a good level of energy efficiency and comes with a handy remote.

Budget Option — Devanti Portable Air Conditioner 2000W

The Devanti Portable Air Conditioner 2000W  is a good option if you are looking to cool a smaller sized room. At only 2000W, this unit will struggle to cool anything larger than 15m2.

The unit comes with everything you need to set it up, including a window kit.

The fan comes with 2 different speed settings so you can alter it to suit your needs.

Despite being a smaller air conditioner, this is still a reasonably loud one as well. It’s rated at 64Db, which is comparable with other larger models. This is probably the main drawback to this unit.

The unit comes with a remote controller, which is always positive with a unit like this. With the controller, you can use the 24-hour timer to time when your unit comes on. You can choose a period within each 24-hour block where the unit comes on and off without further input.

This is a good option if you are looking for a low-cost unit to cool a smaller sized room.

Suitable for Small Rooms

Best Air Conditioner with Quiet Mode — Goldair 2kW Portable Air Conditioner

The Goldair 2kW Portable Air Conditioner is actually very similar in its specifications to the Devanti Portable Air Conditioner 2000W. It will suit the same sized room and has practically all the same features.

It comes with a window kit to get you off and running straight away. It has a remote, and you can use the 24-hour timer to set it up to cool a room for you on a regular schedule.

Where this unit stands out is that it has an ultra-quiet mode. That means that if the noise is bothering you while trying to work or sleep, you can just pop it into its quiet mode. It’s not as efficient in this mode, but it will still work to keep you cool.

This is an excellent option if you have a small room to cool and are bothered by an air conditioner’s noise.

Best For for Continuous Drainage — Kogan 10,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner

The Kogan Portable Air Conditioner is a good option for small rooms, especially bedrooms. It has an automatic sleep mode, so it will shut off as soon as it reaches the set temperature. At night time, you can use the intelligent sleep mode. This raises the temperature tolerance a little for 2 hours to allow you to sleep with less noise from the unit.

You can easily fit a 13mm PVC drain hose for continuous drainage to remove the need to empty it. Obviously, this will make it a lot less portable as the hose needs to run to a drain. However, if you need an air conditioner that you set up at the start of summer and put away as soon as it cools down, this is an excellent low hassle option.

However you deal with the drainage, you will still need to use the window kit for venting. This is how the unit removes the hot air from your room.

Suitable for Mid-Sized Rooms

Best with Wifi Control — Devanti Portable Air Conditioner 3300W + Wifi 

The Devanti Portable Air Conditioner 3300W + wifi is the largest and highest specced of the Devanti air conditioners on this list. At 12,000 BTUs, it should be suitable for most rooms up to around 30m2.

This is an air conditioning unit that takes all the hassle out of cooling a room. If you select the smart mode, it will alter the fan speed and cooling setting to suit the conditions. This will mean you get the best effect throughout the day, even as things change.

This unit comes with a window kit for easy installation.

You can control this unit with either the remote control or through your phone. It has an app that allows you to fully control it from your phone. This includes the 24-hour timer, speed settings, and mode.

This is a great option if you want a fully functional air conditioning unit for a mid-sized room. It’s especially useful if you have a habit of misplacing remote controls.

Best Non-Wifi Portable Air Conditioner — Devanti Portable Air Conditioner 3300W

This Devanti Portable Air Conditioner 3300W is the base model for the previous unit. So if you want a good, mid-sized, portable air conditioner, but you don’t want to pay the extra for a wifi-enabled unit, this is the right choice.

It can be controlled with the LCD touch screen or the included remote control. It comes with 4 fan settings, a 24-hour timer, and a removable filter.

It’s easy to install and offers energy efficient operation. It has a water vaporization mode, so it does not require much emptying at all.

This is a perfect portable air conditioner. If you don’t care about it being wifi-enabled, you shouldn’t pay extra for something you won’t use. In which case, this is a great option for you.

Best Aircon with Long Warranty — Midea PFMI38 Portable Air Conditioner

The Midea PFMI38 Portable Air Conditioner is a self evaporative air conditioning unit. That means that you won’t have to worry about emptying the tank or cleaning the filter. It’s a great low hassle option.

This unit can be controlled by the remote, an app, or it can integrate with Alexa. It’s an ideal option for any home that runs on voice-controlled appliances.

Technology has been used to make this air con unit connect to your home network and make it efficient. This portable air conditioner is A-rated for energy efficiency. That means it won’t break the bank to cool your home.

If you want a unit that you know will last, then this is a good option. Coming with a 3-year warranty offers a lot of peace of mind that this unit will serve you well.

Suitable for Large Rooms

Best Quiet Air Con for Large Rooms — Levante Tango 16000BTU 4.7kW Portable Air Conditioner

The Levante Tango 16000BTU 4.7kW Portable Air Conditioner is a surprisingly stylish air-con unit. If you’re not fond of the look of most portable air con units that look white and boxy, then this is an excellent option. It looks sleek and stylish and wouldn’t be out of place in a modern home.

With an output of 16,000 BTU, this is an excellent option for anyone who lives in an open plan home. It’s also a good option if you live in an area like Queensland, where most buildings have high ceilings, making rooms harder to cool.

This unit comes with many features, including a follow-me mode, sleep mode, and a washable filter. However, while it does itself as being a self evaporative unit, you will still need to fit it to a window for venting.

If you have a large space to cool and want a quieter unit, then this is an excellent option.

Best Slimline Option — Omega Altise 4.6kW Slimline Portable Air Conditioner

The Omega Altise 4.6kW Slimline Portable Air Conditioner is a powerful enough portable air conditioner to suit most homes. At 16,000 BTUs, it’s effective in rooms up to 52m2. Despite its powerful rating, it’s still quite a small unit.

With a footprint of only 42cm x 36cm, it’s not a challenge to find space for this portable ac unit.

The fan has three-speed settings, which can be changed using the remote control. It also features an auto-swing mode to cool the whole room and a 24-hour timer.

This is a good option for anyone who needs a portable air conditioner for a large room but doesn’t want to give up a lot of space for one.

What to Consider When Buying a Portable Air Conditioner

Size

When you’re choosing a portable air conditioner, you need to think about where you will be using it and the effect that you expect it to have. If you are just looking to cool yourself down while you are sat in one place, then a small personal air cooler should be sufficient.

If your aim is to cool a whole room, then you’ll need to look for a more substantial air conditioner. You will then need to match the rating of the air conditioner to the size of the room. The rating that matters here is the BTU (British Thermal Units). It’s a measure of how much cooling power the unit has.

If you have standard height ceilings, you can use these numbers to guide the size of air conditioner you will need. For small rooms, up to about 19m2, a unit with 7,000 – 8,000 BTUs should be sufficient. For rooms of 37m2, you’ll want around 12,000 BTUs. For larger rooms of up to 47m2, you will need about 14,000 BTUs.

If you use a lower-rated unit for the space, you will still get some cooling effect, but it will not be as strong, and it may not evenly cool the room. Using a higher rated unit can, in some cases, over cool a room, especially if they don’t have an internal thermostat.

Placement

The advantage of a personal cooler is that it can be placed anywhere. The more substantial air conditioners that cool the whole room will, in most cases, need to be placed near a window. It can be necessary to vent the warm air from the room, and they will do this through a window kit or hose.

Noise Level

Any air conditioning unit is going to make noise. A portable unit is entirely inside your room, so it will always be a louder option than a fixed one. If you think that the sound will be of concern to you, then it’s worth checking the Db rating on units before making your choice. 45Db is around the lowest volume you’ll likely find. These ratings are based on the highest setting on the unit, so they will be quieter on lower settings.

Draining/Maintenance

All portable air conditioning units will collect moisture from the air. As they cool the air down, it can’t hold as much water, so this must be contained inside the air conditioner. Some air conditioners will require you to manually empty out this water. They often have a light or a beep to alert you that they need to be drained.

Some of the more expensive models will automatically evaporate the moisture they collect back into the air. These are the kinds that you can set up and then just leave to do their thing.

The other piece of maintenance that may need to be completed at times is cleaning the filter. It depends on the type of filter in the unit, but most will require a clean every now and then to allow them to keep working efficiently.

Efficiency

Even the best portable air conditioner is not going to be highly efficient. Machines make heat, so it takes a lot of work to cool a space. You can look for the efficiency rating to see which is the least bad. The EER (Energy Efficiency Ratio) tells you how many BTUs you get for each Watt of power. Basically, the higher the EER, the more efficient the unit is.

Additional Features

There are several features that you can find across portable air conditioners. Choosing one with the right collection of features may make it more useful to you. Here are some of the most common ones

Remote Control

Many portable air conditioners come with a remote. This allows you to adjust the temperature without having to get up. The best portable air conditioners now come with wifi integration. This will enable you to control the unit from your phone. So you can turn it off from anywhere if you realized you left it running. You can also start it up just before you get home, so you have a nice cool room waiting for you.

Thermostat/Timer

Many thermostats allow you to control how long they will run for each time you turn them on. There are two ways that they do this. It will either be through a timer, usually allowing you up to 24 hours. The other may, and possibly more helpful way, is with a thermostat. A thermostat will let you choose a temperature, and the portable air conditioner unit will turn on and off as needed to maintain your selected temperature. This can be a good option for improving efficiency.

Auto Drain

If a portable air conditioner has a label that says auto drain, then it means that you won’t need to worry about emptying a tank.

Multiple Speed Settings

Most air conditioners will offer a minimum of two fan speeds. Some will provide more speeds. This can increase your portable air conditioner’s usefulness as it will let you adjust it to the temperature rather than just having to keep turning it on and off. Others have some fancy settings that will vary the speed of the air. This is supposed to give a more natural feel to the airflow. It is certainly not a necessity.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are portable air conditioners any good?

A portable air conditioner is never going to be as effective as a fixed one. A window air-con unit will cool a room more effectively and do so with less noise. However, a portable aircon unit does have advantages. It can be useful when your windows are a little awkward or just too small for a fixed unit. Portable air conditioners are also a good option if you don’t need the most powerful air con unit you can find

What’s the difference between a portable air conditioner and an evaporative cooler?

Portable air conditioners work by pulling in the hot moist air in your room. They then cause it to cool down via condensation. This also removes moisture from the air. They do this using a refrigerant. Basically, they work in the same way that your fridge does.

An evaporative cooler runs the hot air from your room over water. This causes the water to evaporate, taking some of the energy from the air. The result is cooler air. Evaporative coolers are cheaper as they are much simpler to make. However, they don’t work in humid climates. So if you live in Queensland, an evaporative cooler is probably not going to do a lot.

What is the quietest portable air conditioner?

There are quite a few portable ac units that don’t make too much noise. Any units that are rated as under 50Dbs are on the quieter end of the spectrum.

Last update on 2026-06-30 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API