Your lease probably says you can’t drill holes, cut into pipes, or modify plumbing fixtures. That eliminates under-sink RO systems, whole-house filters, and most high-performance options that homeowners take for granted.

But it doesn’t eliminate good filtration.

Four no-install formats do real work on water quality without touching your plumbing. Here’s how they compare.

The Four No-Install Options, Ranked by Contaminant Coverage

1. Countertop RO (Best Performance)

A countertop reverse osmosis system like AquaTru sits on your counter, plugs into a standard outlet, and connects to your faucet with a rubber adapter that screws onto the aerator. No tools. No drilling. When you move, you take it with you.

What it removes: PFAS, fluoride, nitrates, arsenic, lead, heavy metals, and most dissolved contaminants. An RO membrane filters down to 0.0001 microns. It’s the most complete treatment available in a portable format.

AquaTru runs around $150-200 on sale. Replacement filters cost about $50-70 per year. For a two-year lease, that’s $300-400 total for your filtration investment.

Compare that to bottled water. If you’re buying a case a week, you’re spending over $1,500 per year. Countertop RO is considerably cheaper, and you produce less plastic waste.

2. Pitcher Filter (Zero Installation)

No power. No connection to anything. Fill from your tap, gravity does the work.

The difference in pitcher filters is enormous, and most people don’t know it.

Brita removes chlorine and improves taste. That’s genuinely useful. But it doesn’t remove PFAS, fluoride, nitrates, or arsenic. If you want health protection from a pitcher, you need Clearly Filtered.

Clearly Filtered holds NSF/ANSI 42, 53, and 401 certifications and has been independently tested for over 365 contaminants. Its PFAS reduction exceeds 99.5%. Lead reduction exceeds 99.5%. Fluoride reduction is around 98%. No other pitcher on the consumer market covers that range.

Clearly Filtered costs more than Brita. The protection difference is real.

3. Faucet-Mount Filter (Low Cost, Decent Coverage)

PUR and Brita both make faucet-mount filters that screw onto your standard aerator. They typically cover lead, chlorine, cysts, and some other contaminants, and they’re NSF/ANSI 53 certified for lead reduction.

These are convenient, low-cost, and leave no mark when you remove them. They don’t cover PFAS or fluoride, but they’re a solid step up from nothing.

One important caveat: faucet-mount filters don’t fit pull-out or pull-down faucets. The connections are different. Most also don’t fit non-standard aerator threads or certain European-style faucets. Check your faucet compatibility before buying.

4. Countertop Gravity System (No Power Required)

Berkey is the main brand here. Large capacity, no electricity, no plumbing, no installation. You pour water in the top, it filters through gravity into the lower chamber.

Berkey makes strong claims about what their filters remove. The honest note here is that Berkey has faced scrutiny over independent NSF certification. Their published testing uses their own labs. If NSF-certified removal claims are important to you, check current certification status before buying.

For anyone who wants zero dependency on electricity or plumbing, Berkey’s gravity format is worth knowing about. Just verify the certification status yourself.

Faucet Compatibility: Check Before You Buy

Pull-out and pull-down faucets are the most common failure point for renters buying faucet-mount filters. The flexible hose design doesn’t accept standard aerator-thread connections.

If you have a pull-out faucet (the kind where the head pulls out on a hose), a faucet-mount filter won’t work. Go with a pitcher or countertop RO instead.

Standard faucets with a fixed aerator at the tip work with most faucet-mount filters. If your aerator is a non-standard size or has a spray function built in, buy a filter that includes adapter fittings.

The Lead Service Line Question

If you’re renting in a city with older infrastructure, this matters.

New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Milwaukee, and many other older cities still have lead service lines connecting homes to the water main. Lead can leach into your water before it even reaches your building.

You can look up your address in your city’s lead service line map (most large cities have published one). If your building sits on a lead service line, your lead exposure may be higher than what your utility’s average water quality report suggests.

In that case, NSF 53-certified lead reduction at the point of use matters more, not less. Clearly Filtered pitcher or a countertop RO are both appropriate responses.

Cost Summary

Here’s what the math actually looks like over a two-year lease:

• AquaTru countertop RO: $150-200 upfront + $100-140 in filters = $250-340 total
• Clearly Filtered pitcher: $75 upfront + $120 in replacement filters (at 100 gal/filter) = $195 over two years, depending on how much water you filter
• PUR faucet-mount: $30-40 upfront + filter replacements every 100 gallons = $100-150 over two years
• Brita Longlast+: $35 upfront + filter replacements every 120 gallons = lowest cost, least protection

Bottled water comparison: 1 case per week at $7/case = $728/year. Over two years, that’s $1,456. Any filter option beats it.

The Bottom Line

For health protection from a no-install filter, Clearly Filtered pitcher gives you the most documented contaminant removal with zero installation and zero electricity. If PFAS or lead are your concern, it’s the strongest pitcher option you can buy.

If you want RO-level performance in a portable format and don’t mind plugging into an outlet, AquaTru handles a broader contaminant list including fluoride and nitrates at a cost that’s reasonable over a lease term.

Don’t use a standard Brita and assume your health concerns are covered. Know what you’re filtering for first.

Related: Best Pitcher Water Filters and AquaTru Countertop RO Review