Rejuvenate vs. Bona: Which Floor Cleaner and Polish Is the Best?

Are your floors in need of a deep clean or a fresh new polish, but you can’t decide whether to use Rejuvenate or Bona products?

The good news — both brands have a reputation for offering the best floor cleaners and polishes on the market.

The bad news — understanding the differences between their products and deciding which brand to buy is difficult and confusing.

In this in-depth comparison of Rejuvenate vs. Bona, I’ll clear up any confusion by explaining the differences, similarities, pros, and cons of their most popular floor cleaners and polishes.

By the end, you’ll know exactly how they compare in terms of:

How they work
How they perform
What the experts are saying
How much they cost
And more.

Let’s dive in!

Use the links below to navigate this article:

Rejuvenate vs. Bona: Quick Summary
Hardwood Floor Cleaners
Multi-Surface Floor Cleaners
Hardwood Floor Polishes
Other Products
Bottom Line: Which Floor Cleaner and Polish Should You Buy?

Rejuvenate vs. Bona: Quick Summary

If you only have a minute and want to quickly understand how Rejuvenate and Bona compare, here’s what you need to know.

Our Pick

When it comes to cleaning and protecting my beautiful hardwood floors, I’m going with the company that’s been specializing in floor care for nearly 100 years—Bona.

Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner Review — Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner (see on Amazon)

Their products are proven to be effective, easy to use, and, most importantly, safe.

Their sole focus is floor care, and that type of dedication is why the majority of experts trust them.

Rejuvenate is an excellent option too, and, based on customer reviews, their products hold their own against Bona. So, if you want to try something new, check out Rejuvenate. But, if you want a proven solution from a company that’s earned its stripes, go with Bona.

Both are very affordable and available on Amazon at these links: Rejuvenate, Bona.

How They Work

Fortunately, you don’t need to be a home maintenance expert to use Rejuvenate and Bona floor cleaners and polishes.

Both brands are simple to use, and there is no significant difference in their instructions.

For their cleaners, all you have to do is vacuum loose dirt, spray the cleaner, and mop it up (jump to detailed instructions).

For their polishes, clean the floors, allow them to dry, then apply the polish evenly with a microfiber mop and allow it to dry for 24 hours (jump to detailed instructions).

How They Perform

Rejuvenate and Bona both get glowing reviews for their hardwood floor cleaners.

Customers say that they clean dirt, grease, and grime with ease and don’t leave behind streaks or residue. Both are water-based, non-toxic, and are Greenguard Certified, which is a prerequisite for use in any hospitals or schools.

Rejuvenate and Bona Greenguard Certified

Bona’s multi-surface floor cleaner is designed for stone, tile, and laminate, but its formula is too potent for hardwood. Rejuvenate claims that their multi-surface floor cleaner is safe on all floor types, including hardwood.

The reviews of Rejuvenate and Bona hardwood floor polishes are mixed.

With both brands, customers either love the results or claim that the product ruined their floors.

Since both brands have been successful in the floor care business for decades (for Bona, nearly a century), my assumption is most dissatisfied customers run into issues because they fail to follow the instructions properly.

What Others Are Saying

When it comes to expert recommendations, Bona dominates the competition (including Rejuvenate).

Here’s why:

They produce outstanding floor care products that work really well.
They’ve been specializing in floor care since 1919, while Rejuvenate hit the market in 1919 with a broader set of cleaning solutions.
They’ve earned trust through partnerships with floor experts, including their Certified Craftsman program.

Although Rejuvenate receives occasional praise by experts, Bona’s trophy case is much more impressive. Here’s a handful of their recent endorsements:

“Best Overall [wood floor cleaner],” “Best Wood Floor Cleaner for Allergy Sufferers,” and “Best Microfiber Mop with Cleaner” by Good Housekeeping.
“Best for Spot Cleaning” by Bustle.com.
“Best Overall” wood floor cleaner and “Best Overall” tile floor cleaner TheSpruce.com.
“Best Hardwood Floor Cleaner for Large Areas” by BobVila.com.
Official Hardwood Care Partner of the Boston Celtics (Bona.com).

How Much They Cost

There’s no significant difference in the price of Rejuvenate and Bona floor cleaners. However, you might be able to save a few dollars with Rejuvenate, depending on the sales and where you shop.

Both brands are available on Amazon, where you can compare prices and check out hundreds of reviews. Check out Rejuvenate and Bona on Amazon.

Hardwood Floor Cleaners

If you have hardwood floors throughout your home, it’s critical to keep a stash of hardwood floor cleaner handy at all times.

Quality hardwood floor cleaners remove dirt, stains, and grease. Most importantly, they maintain the beauty and integrity of your floors throughout the cleaning process and for years down the road.

Do-it-yourself solutions, such as water and vinegar or water and bleach, may work in the short term, but, over time, the acidity in the vinegar will destroy your floor’s finish, allow moisture to penetrate the wood, and cause irreversible damage.

Rejuvenate and Bona both offer several different hardwood floor cleaners, but, in this section, I’m focusing on their classic and best-selling products.

For Rejuvenate, that’s their Professional Hardwood Floor Cleaner (see on Amazon), and, for Bona, that’s their Hardwood Floor Cleaner (see on Amazon).

Rejuvenate vs. Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner

How They Work

One of the best things about both Rejuvenate and Bona hardwood cleaners is that they are simple and easy to use.

There’s practically no difference between them in terms of how they work. Just follow these steps:

Step 1: Remove loose dirt and debris with a vacuum or broom.

Step 2: Spray the solution liberally on the floor. To make it easy, Rejuvenate comes in a squirt bottle, and Bona comes in a spray bottle.

TIP: You can also apply the cleaner using the Rejuvenate Click n Clean (see on Amazon) or Bona Hardwood Floor Spray Mop (see on Amazon or read my in-depth review). These convenient mops have a microfiber cleaning head and built-in spray functionality so you can spray the cleaner as you go. I recommend figuring out which cleaner is best before spending the money on a specific spray mop.

Step 3: Mop the cleaner in the direction of the floorboards with a slightly dampened cloth, microfiber mop, or one of the spray mops I just mentioned. You might need to rinse the cloth/microfiber pad a few times to remove excess dirt, especially if you’re cleaning a large area.

That’s it!

Performance

When it comes to picking a hardwood floor cleaner, not much matters more than performance.

You want a solution that’s safe for you and the environment, one that won’t leave behind streaks or residue, and, most importantly, one that is highly effective at cleaning your floors.

Here’s how Rejuvenate and Bona’s hardwood floor cleaners stack up.

Rejuvenate boasts that their formula includes an ionic discharge agent that increases the speed of drying and leaves your floors completely residue and streak-free. In my research, I found that this claim is true.

Several customers were pleasantly surprised that Rejuvenate worked perfectly and left no streaks or residue behind—just like they claim in their marketing. Overall, customers are delighted with its ability to clean footprints, grease, grime, pet mess, etc.

On top of all that, it’s odorless and non-toxic, so you won’t have to deal with the headaches that come from inhaling harsh, pungent chemicals or worry about the long term effects of toxic exposure.

With Bona, the story is very similar. As I wrote about in great detail in my recent in-depth review of Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner, this product has everything you want in a cleaner.

Like Rejuvenate, Bona cleans perfectly without streaks, residue, or a harsh chemical odor. It dries quickly and is specially formulated to ensure your floors remain in excellent condition for years to come. It’s a pH-neutral formula, which means it won’t wear down your floor’s finish like some more acidic formulas and DIY solutions.

I’ve been using Bona in my own home for several years and, like the hundreds of reviewers on Amazon, love the way it cleans and brings out the floor’s original shine.

Bona and Rejuvenate both put a significant emphasis on the safety of their products, and both earned the GREENGUARD Gold stamp of approval.

This distinction guarantees that their products are non-toxic, contain low VOC’s and are safe for you, your floors, and the environment. To give you an idea of how important this is, most schools and hospitals won’t even use a cleaning product unless it’s GREENGUARD Certified.

Bottom line—when it comes to performance, Rejuvenate and Bona clean wonderfully. They don’t leave behind streaks or residue, and they are both safe for you and your floors.

What Others Are Saying

So far, you’ve learned that Rejuvenate and Bona are pretty much the same in terms of how they work, how they perform, and their safety.

Let’s take a look at what the experts are saying and which cleaner is topping the “best of” lists.

In tests conducted by the Good Housekeeping Institute Cleaning Lab, Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner ranked “Best Overall,” their Free & Simple cleaner ranked “Best Wood Floor Cleaner for Allergy Sufferers,” and their Spray Mop ranked “Best Microfiber Mop with Cleaner.” No Rejuvenate products made Good Housekeeping’s list.

Good Housekeeping_Best Floor Cleaner_Bona — Good Housekeeping Best Floor Cleaner: Bona

Bustle.com ranked Bona Hardwood Spray Cleaner “Best for Spot Cleaning” because it “has low emissions, is biodegradable, and safe for pets and children…[and]…it comes in a spray bottle”.

TheSpruce.com named Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner the “Best Overall” wood floor cleaner for its superior cleaning ability, streak-free finish, Greenguard Gold certification, and 100 years in business.

Bona was named the “Best Hardwood Floor Cleaner for Large Areas” on BobVila.com due to its “floor-friendly ingredients” and its ability to “handily remove dust, dirt, and grime.”

Bona is near the top of the charts on Amazon’s best-seller lists too.

Being featured on “best of” lists is a good sign, but there’s no better endorsement for a product than being the go-to brand for trusted professionals and major venues.

Bona is the Official Hardwood Care Partner of the Boston Celtics and is an allied manufacturer and proud member of MFMA (Maple Flooring Manufacturers Association). It’s also used to clean the floors in the UK’s National Portrait Gallery, Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum, Bridgewater Hall, and many other venues around the world.

Rejuvenate Hardwood Floor Cleaner doesn’t make most “best of” lists for a few reasons.

First, Rejuvenate launched in 1999, about 80 years after Bona, so they don’t have the same brand awareness, legacy, and trust.
Secondly, they are more well-known for their floor polishes; therefore, their cleaners often get overlooked by experts.
Lastly, their product offering spans several cleaning categories, not just floors, so they don’t get as much specific recognition for their floor products.

Price

Rejuvenate and Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaners are very affordable but, if you’re looking to save a few bucks, Rejuvenate tends to be slightly cheaper.

You can compare the current prices of Rejuvenate’s 32 oz spray bottle vs. Bona’s 32 oz spray bottle on Amazon.

If you have hardwood floors throughout your house, you might want to check the price of Rejuvenate and Bona’s large refill tanks too—they are also available on Amazon.

Multi-Surface Floor Cleaners

In addition to their hardwood floor cleaners, Rejuvenate and Bona both offer multi-surface floor cleaners designed for almost any type of floor—tile, laminate, vinyl, linoleum, and stone.

In this section, let’s take a close look at how Rejuvenate All-Floors Cleaner (see on Amazon) compares to Bona Stone, Tile & Laminate Cleaner (see on Amazon).

Before I dive into the details, these products have one important difference that I need to call out.

Rejuvenate All-Floors Cleaner is safe for all types of floors, including hardwood. However, Bona Stone, Tile, and Laminate Cleaner is NOT safe for hardwoods. According to Bona, it contains strong degreasers that could damage the finish on hardwoods over time.

So, if you have a mix of hardwood and other-material floors in your home, Rejuvenate has you covered with one product. But, if you decide to go with Bona, you’ll need one product for your hardwoods and another for the other materials.

Rejuvenate vs. Bona Multi-Surface Floor Cleaners