The best 20 and 21 gallon trash cans

Buy the Glad 20 Gallon Extra Capacity Stainless Steel Step Can if this is going in a kitchen: it is a 20-gallon body on roughly a 16-inch-square footprint, so it takes the slot a tall 13-gallon can lives in, and the lid is damped. Buy the Ninestars 21 Gallon XL Automatic if you want the lid to open without a foot, and the Rubbermaid Commercial Slim Jim 23 Gallon if the real constraint is width - 23 gallons in a body about 11 inches across. For a garage, the Rubbermaid BRUTE 20 Gallon does the job for a fraction of any of them.

#	Product	Best for	Price
01	Glad 20 Gallon Extra Capacity Stainless Steel Step Trash Can (GLD-74507)The most normal-looking way to put 20 gallons in a kitchen: a soft-close stainless step can that gets its volume from height rather than width.	Best 20 gallon overall	$99.99 · View on Amazon Price as of October 16, 2026.  #ad How we make money
02	Ninestars 21 Gallon XL Automatic Touchless Trash Can (80 L)The biggest sensor can most households will consider: 80 liters, a wide opening, and a manual mode that locks the lid open.	Best XL sensor can	$89.99 · View on Amazon $99.99 · 10% off · Price as of October 16, 2026.  #ad How we make money
03	EKO Hudson 75L / 20 Gallon Step Trash CanA 20-gallon stainless step can with a genuinely damped lid and a rear compartment that holds the bag roll — the feature cans at this size almost always drop.	Best soft-close at this size	$109.99 · View on Amazon Price as of October 16, 2026.  #ad How we make money
04	Rubbermaid Commercial Slim Jim 23 Gallon Vented ContainerThe commercial answer to a 20-gallon problem: 23 gallons in a body about 11 inches wide, with venting channels that make the bag come out.	Best for a narrow high-volume spot	$50.57 · View on Amazon Price as of October 16, 2026.  #ad How we make money
05	Rubbermaid Commercial BRUTE 20 Gallon Vented ContainerThe small BRUTE: a 20-gallon round container built to be dragged, with the venting channels that make bag day survivable.	Best cheap garage can	$47.98 · View on Amazon Price as of October 16, 2026.  #ad How we make money

One warning before the list, because it is the thing that surprises people a week after delivery: a 20-gallon can does not take 13-gallon bags. The liner is a different purchase at a higher price per bag, sold in smaller boxes, and in fewer stores. Factor that in and 20 gallons is often still the right answer. Ignore it and you will be stretching a 13-gallon bag over a 20-gallon rim, which fails exactly the way you would expect.

Going up a size solves one problem - the bag fills before the week does - and creates three. Work through all four before you buy, because the honest answer for a lot of households is a better 13-gallon can plus a second bin for recycling.

• Weight. A full 20-gallon bag of kitchen waste is heavy enough that lifting it out becomes a two-handed job, and the bag is the part that gives. This is the single most common regret at this size.
• Bag cost. You are leaving the cheapest, most competitive bag size in the store. Expect to pay more per liner and to buy it in a smaller box.
• Height. The volume has to come from somewhere, and on a kitchen-footprint can it comes from height - most 20-gallon cans are 27 to 30 inches tall, which can look wrong beside a 36-inch counter.
• It does not slow the smell down. A bigger can means trash sits longer before it leaves the house, and time is the main variable in how bad a can smells. How often should you take out the trash? is the uncomfortable companion page to this one.

Where 20 gallons genuinely wins: households of five or more, houses with a once-a-week curbside pickup, anyone whose kitchen can is also the recycling can, and party or holiday use. If you are between sizes, 13 vs 20 gallon trash cans does the comparison properly, and what size trash can for a family of 4? is the sizing math for a typical household.

No lab test here either. What we did was define the size band honestly - 20 to 23 gallons, because the useful cans at this capacity are sold as 20, 21 and 23 and ignoring the 21s and 23s would leave out the two best answers - then confirm each model against the manufacturer's own listing or a live retail listing on 2026-10-13, and compare them on footprint, whether the lid is damped, how the liner is held, and what the liner actually is. Methodology, disclosure.

The Glad leads because it is the only pick that behaves like a kitchen can - damped lid, bag rings, a bag roll holder, and a footprint close to a tall 13-gallon can. The Ninestars is second because at this capacity a sensor lid is more useful than at 13 gallons: you are carrying bigger, messier loads to it. The EKO Hudson is third as the other damped-lid option, with the bag-roll compartmeness caveat. The Slim Jim is fourth and is here for one specific constraint - width. The BRUTE 20 is last and is deliberately the cheapest thing on the page, because a garage can should be.

Nearly every complaint about a 20-gallon can is really a complaint about its bag. Three rules make it a non-issue.

Buy the bag for the can, not the gallons on the box

Bag sizes are nominal and generous - a 20-gallon liner is cut to drape over a 20-gallon rim with slack, not to hold exactly 20 gallons. What matters is the flat width and the length, not the headline number. Trash bag sizes explained has the measurements, and why your trash bag doesn't fit covers the specific failure of stretching an undersized one.

Use what the can gives you to hold it

At this size the retention mechanism earns its keep: Glad uses bag rings, the Ninestars uses a removable liner ring, the Slim Jim has four cinches on the rim. All three stop the liner sliding into the can under its own weight, which is what causes the leak that makes a can smell permanently.

Do not fill it to the top

The practical capacity of a 20-gallon can is whatever you can still lift. Most households end up treating it as a 15-gallon can they do not have to change as often, which is a perfectly good outcome and the real reason to buy one.

The two ends of this page: the one that belongs in a kitchen, and the one that belongs in a garage.

Best 20 gallon overall

Glad 20 Gallon Extra Capacity Stainless Steel Step Trash Can (GLD-74507)

The most normal-looking way to put 20 gallons in a kitchen: a soft-close stainless step can that gets its volume from height rather than width.

$99.99 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 16, 2026.  #ad How we make money

Best cheap garage can

Rubbermaid Commercial BRUTE 20 Gallon Vented Container

The small BRUTE: a 20-gallon round container built to be dragged, with the venting channels that make bag day survivable.

$47.98 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 16, 2026.  #ad How we make money

A 20-gallon can is 27 to 30 inches tall and wants a wall. The two placements that work in a kitchen are the end of a run of cabinets, where the can reads as part of the cabinetry, and a pantry or utility doorway where it is out of the sightline entirely. The placement that does not work is a peninsula or island end, because at this height the can becomes the first thing you see.

If there is no wall for it, the honest answer is that 20 gallons is the wrong shape for your kitchen and the volume has to come from somewhere else - a cabinet can plus a small countertop bin, or two smaller cans. Where to put a trash can in a small kitchen works through the options, and the best under-sink pull-out trash cans is the alternative if the floor space genuinely is not there.

One more constraint people miss: lid swing. A 20-gallon step can needs clearance above it as well as beside it, so check what is on the wall - a light switch, a towel rail, a run of upper cabinets - before the lid finds it for you.