4 Best Soft-Sided Coolers of 2024, According to Testing
Soft coolers are easy to tote around and keep your food and drinks chilled all day.
Reviewed by Nicole PapantoniouKitchen Appliances & Innovation Lab Director
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Soft-sided coolers offer versatile, portable options for keeping food and drinks cold in hot weather while keeping your load light. Made from flexible materials like nylon, canvas or polyester, soft coolers have less cold retention and smaller capacities than standard hard-sided coolers, but they're just right for day trips and short jaunts outside.
“I personally love the ease of soft coolers for toting around food during longer drives, picnics and beach days when I know we’ll eat the food within a few hours,” says Nicole Papantoniou, director of the Good Housekeeping Institute’s Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab. “They’re much easier to carry and transport than hard-sided coolers, especially when I’m also carrying a million other things.”
Our Good Housekeeping Institute experts have tested over 100 coolers in recent years. In our most recent side-by-side cooler test, we evaluated over 20 soft-sided models to see how long they could keep drinks cool, how many cans they could fit inside, how heavy they were when full, how the straps felt on our shoulders and more.
At the end of this guide, you can learn more about our testing process and find tips on selecting the best cooler for your needs. For more ways to keep your food and beverages chilled, explore our guides on how to pack a cooler and the best backpack coolers.
Arctic Zone Titan Deep Freeze 48-Can Zipperless HardBody Cooler
Pros
- Easy to clean, thanks to removable hard liner
- Bungee cords on top to help secure loose items
- Several outside pockets
Cons
- Doesn't come with a user manual
- Most of the ice melted in testing
This combo cooler has a soft outer and hard interior, which allows it to be lightweight yet retain its shape. We found it excels in temperature control in our tests.
After 36 hours, the soda cans inside had only dropped six degrees from their initial temperature, though most of the ice had melted. It can hold up to 48 cans without ice and weighs about 44 pounds when fully packed with just cans. The hard liner is removable for easy cleaning.
The cooler features a zipper-free design for easy access, using a Velcro-style hook-and-loop closure. It has a strap for easy carrying and two handles on either side. While there's no user manual, additional features include a perforated tray that spans the length of the cooler to keep items separated, several external pockets and bungees on top to secure loose items like napkins.
AO Coolers Original 12-Can Soft Cooler with High-Density Insulation
Pros
- Good price that's under $50
- Comes in a small size for small hauls
- Easy to open and close
Cons
- Can be hard to fill and clean
Reminiscent of a duffle bag but with cold insulation, the AO Coolers is compact and lightweight, which makes it ideal for toting around a six-pack or some food.
Amazon reviewers are satisfied with its good insulation, considering its budget-friendly price. The standard zipper closure is reportedly easy to open and close and the cooler has a convenient zippered front pocket. However, the densely packed interior — the insulation is high-density — makes the interior space and crevices harder to fill and clean.
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Pros
- Unique magnetic closure
- Great cold retention of food and drinks
- Easy to pack and clean
Cons
- Expensive
While we haven't tested the M30 in the Lab yet, we did evaluate the similar but smaller M20 backpack, which demonstrated excellent ice retention and an easy-to-use latching system.
Like the M20, the M30 features a unique leak-resistant magnetic closure that effectively seals the cooler with minimal effort. This system allows it to open up more than a typical soft-sided cooler tote, making it easy to see inside and pack. For an extra seal, two buckles secure the roll-top opening for waterproof transport.
After filling the M20 with the appropriate amount of ice and cans in our Lab, the contents stayed around 32°F. The air on top of the ice was around 55°F, so it didn't keep the interior as cold as a traditional cooler would, but it still kept drinks and food at a decent temperature.
Thanks to the wide opening, cleaning was easy. The tote is also water-resistant, so even when filled with water, no leaks were seen and it dried very quickly. Handles on the sides and top offer extra carrying options.
IceMule Pro 23-Liter Collapsible Backpack Cooler
Pros
- Keeps ice colder for longer
- Folds up for easy storage when empty
Cons
- No pockets or internal organization system
Picnickers, hikers and beach enthusiasts alike will appreciate this backpack cooler from IceMule. Unlike its larger counterpart, the IceMule Boss, this smaller version is the perfect size to hold all your food and drinks without being too cumbersome.
During Lab testing, we found it quite comfortable to wear. We also appreciated its unique insulation system, which uses an air valve to create an extra insulation layer that helps keep the ice colder for longer. Additionally, this feature makes the cooler float! When finished, turn the bag inside out to release the air and fold it up for easy storage.
At first glance, this bag may seem unusual due to its lack of zippers, but this design allows you to adjust its size to fit more or fewer items by simply rolling down the top to close it. Despite not having pockets or an organizational system, we found it easy to pack. It also had impressive ice retention, with the temperature only increasing by 1.98 degrees over 14 hours, staying under 40 degrees the entire time.
RELATED: 8 Best Backpack Coolers
How we test coolers
The Good Housekeeping Institute Kitchen Appliances & Innovation Lab tested more than 20 new soft-sided coolers in our Kitchen Appliances Lab this year.
We filled each cooler with the recommended number of cold soda cans, topped them off with ice and inserted a thermocouple (a highly accurate thermometer) into one of the cans to track and record the temperature every 15 minutes for 36 hours.
For each cooler, we also assessed the ease of loading and unloading, cleaning and portability. If the cooler came with an owner's manual, we read it for useful tips and tested how easy each soft-sided cooler was to open, fill, use and clean.
We weighed the coolers after filling them to capacity with cans and ice to determine their weight. After unpacking the coolers, we tested their cleanability and ability to resist odor by spilling soda in each cooler, tossing in half an onion and letting the mixture sit for a day before washing them.
What to look for when shopping for a soft-sided cooler
✔️ Size: While bigger might seem better, remember that coolers can get heavy quickly, especially when filled with soda cans. Choose a soft-sided cooler that you can carry comfortably both empty and full.
✔️ Capacity: Soft coolers' capacities are often listed in cans rather than liters or gallons. You might see capacities like 20-can, 30-can, 36-can, 42-can or 50-can. This designation may sometimes account for ice, but not always.
✔️ Material: Most soft-sided coolers are made from soft materials, sometimes padded or insulated for better temperature retention. A soft construction often makes the cooler lighter, more pliable and more comfortable to carry. Some brands offer hard interior shells, like in the Arctic Zone Titan Deep Freeze, to improve temperature retention and help maintain shape for easier packing. The material also dictates whether you should use ice or ice packs to keep your food cool. Follow the brand’s recommendations on the cooler's tag or owner's manual.
✔️ Insulation performance: More heavily padded soft-sided coolers generally keep drinks colder for longer but are also heavier. You might not need something so bulky if you plan to use your cooler mainly for park picnics rather than long, hot hikes or beach days.
✔️ Ease of use: A soft cooler should be easy to open, fill, empty and clean. Flip-top lids are typically the easiest to access, while duffle and tote-style bags have less structure but are less bulky. Multiple carrying options, including various handles and a padded, adjustable crossbody strap (or backpack straps), add convenience.
How to pack a soft-sided cooler
Coolers stay colder for longer when you prime them by chilling them before use. To do this, load them with ice or ice packs a few hours before using them.
When filling your soft-sided cooler, ensure your items are already cold and surround them with extra ice or ice packs. Cold items will help keep everything else cold, but without additional ice or ice packs, they won't maintain their temperature for long. Ice will melt and can get messy, while ice packs can be heavy, so choose what works best for you based on the manufacturer's recommendations.
Remember, the temperature will change whenever you open the cooler, so try to minimize opening it.
How long can a soft-sided cooler keep items cold?
Soft-sided coolers do not perform as well as hard-sided coolers, but the best soft coolers hold regular ice for at least 24 hours.
How do I clean a soft-sided cooler?
Wipe the interior and exterior with a soft cloth and mild dish soap and water. Air dry the cooler before zipping it closed to prevent mold and mildew.
Why trust Good Housekeeping?
Perry Santanachote has more than 15 years of experience as a writer and product tester, working in labs and test kitchens. She has personally tested dozens of coolers and is as passionate about ice-cold drinks as she is about her koozie collection.
Nicole Papantoniou is the Kitchen Appliances Lab Director where she oversees all testing related to kitchen gear. Noting that she uses many coolers is an understatement. She rotates through a large assortment on the daily between work and home as well as her summer house and the beach on weekends.
Perry Santanachote (she/her) has more than 15 years of experience in service journalism, specializing in food and consumer goods. She tests and reports on kitchen appliances and cooking tools. She also evaluates food products and cleaning supplies. She’s an experienced writer, product tester and recipe developer who has worked in labs, test kitchens and media organizations, including Thrillist and Consumer Reports.
Nicole (she/her) is the director of the Good Housekeeping Institute's Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab, where she has overseen content and testing related to kitchen and cooking appliances, tools and gear since 2019. She’s an experienced product tester and recipe creator, trained in classic culinary arts and culinary nutrition. She has worked in test kitchens for small kitchen appliance brands and national magazines, including Family Circle and Ladies’ Home Journal.
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