Paper towels that are strong and absorbent

Brawny Tear-A-Square Paper Towels has the best record: 36 of 36 shoppers said the towels soaked up spills and held together when wet. Bounty Select-A-Size Paper Towels (53 of 55) and Viva Signature Cloth Paper Towels (30 of 31) are close behind, and the other three fall well short.

  • 271 store reviews counted
  • Target shoppers
  • Sep 2025 to Oct 2026

Updated . How we count

Did they soak it up and hold together? What shoppers said
  1. Brawny Tear-A-Square Paper Towels 36 said either way
  2. Bounty Select-A-Size Paper Towels 55 said either way
  3. Viva Signature Cloth Paper Towels 31 said either way
  4. Bounty Essentials Paper Towels 24 said either way
  5. Scott Paper Towels 28 said either way
  6. Reel Bamboo Paper Towels 25 said either way

Share of shoppers who stated an outcome for strength and absorbency. Ranked by the lower bound of a 90% confidence interval, so a product needs both a good share and enough reports to rank high.

Brawny Tear-A-Square Paper Towels Best record Brawny Tear-A-Square Paper Towels 36 of 36 say they soak up spills and hold together See price & reviews on Amazon
What stands out

Thin sheets are what pull down the lower half: 45% of Bounty Essentials reviews, 41% of Scott reviews and 75% of Reel reviews call them thin.

The ranking, product by product

Praise and complaints are the points shoppers repeat most, shown as a share of each product's counted store reviews.

1 Brawny Tear-A-Square Paper Towels

Brawny

Tear-A-Square Paper Towels

Best for staying strong when wet

36/36 say they soak up spills and hold together

Every shopper who weighed in said these held up (36 of 36). 69% of reviews say they stay strong when wet, and 62% call them absorbent.

What shoppers praise

  • Roll lasts 18%
  • Good value 15%
  • Soft 5%

What shoppers complain about

No repeated complaints yet.

Where shoppers said it
  • Target 36 of 36
  • Brand site 7 of 7 shown, not counted
2 Bounty Select-A-Size Paper Towels

Bounty

Select-A-Size Paper Towels

53/55 say they soak up spills and hold together

More shoppers weighed in on these than on any other towel here (55), and 53 of 55 said they soaked up spills and held together. Complaints are rare, with 3% calling them too expensive.

What shoppers praise

  • Good value 10%
  • Roll lasts 10%
  • Soft 5%

What shoppers complain about

  • Too expensive 3%
Where shoppers said it
  • Target 53 of 55
  • Brand site 10 of 11 shown, not counted
3 Viva Signature Cloth Paper Towels

Viva

Signature Cloth Paper Towels

Best for soft sheets

30/31 say they soak up spills and hold together

Softness sets these apart: 28% of reviews call them soft, and 30 of 31 said they soaked up spills and held together. 5% find them thin.

What shoppers praise

  • Soft 28%
  • Roll lasts 18%
  • Good value 5%

What shoppers complain about

  • Thin 5%
  • Too expensive 5%
Where shoppers said it
  • Target 30 of 31
  • Brand site 5 of 6 shown, not counted
4

Bounty

Essentials Paper Towels

14/24 say they soak up spills and hold together

Shoppers call them good value (22%), but 45% say the sheets are thin. 10 of 24 said they fell apart or didn't absorb.

What shoppers praise

  • Good value 23%
  • Roll lasts 5%
  • Soft 5%

What shoppers complain about

  • Thin 45%
Where shoppers said it
  • Target 14 of 24
  • Brand site 6 of 8 shown, not counted

Share of 40 store reviews that mention each point. A full bar is 50%.

5

Scott

Paper Towels

15/28 say they soak up spills and hold together

Results are close to a coin flip, with 15 of 28 saying the towels soaked up spills and held together. 41% call them thin, and 23% say they don't absorb well.

What shoppers praise

  • Good value 23%
  • Soft 5%
  • Roll lasts 5%

What shoppers complain about

  • Thin 41%
Where shoppers said it
  • Target 15 of 28
  • Brand site 3 of 4 shown, not counted

Share of 39 store reviews that mention each point. A full bar is 50%.

6

Reel

Bamboo Paper Towels

7/25 say they soak up spills and hold together

It has the weakest record here at 7 of 25, and 30% of reviews say the towels tear or fall apart. Reviews copied from Reel's site are far kinder at 7 of 8, which we show but don't count.

What shoppers praise

No repeated praise yet.

What shoppers complain about

  • Thin 75%
  • Too expensive 10%
Where shoppers said it
  • Target 7 of 25
  • Brand site 7 of 8 shown, not counted

Share of 40 store reviews that mention each point. A full bar is 50%.

Where these numbers come from

The 6 products ranked here carry 21,374 reviews at Target. We read the newest reviews of each product (up to a thousand per listing), kept the ones that talk about strength and absorbency, and counted up to 40 per product, posted between Sep 2025 and Oct 2026.

A review counts only when the reviewer used the product themselves. We drop reviews written in exchange for a free product or a sweepstakes entry (0 on this page), and products that are no longer sold.

Target also shows reviews first posted on brands' own websites. We show them on product cards but never count them, because brand-site reviews run more positive than store reviews of the same products.

Because we searched for the problem, people who had it are overrepresented. Compare products with each other rather than reading a share as your own odds.

We count what shoppers report. Nothing here is safety advice: use heaters, fans and other appliances as the maker's manual says.

Amazon buttons appear only on products that most shoppers here say fix the problem (at least 60%, with enough reviews to trust it). Everything else gets no buy link.

An AI model labels each review against a fixed list of points, and we spot-check the labels before publishing. We publish counts, never the reviews themselves.

Read the full method

Product pages we read

  1. Brawny Tear-A-Square Paper Towels Target (39 reviews counted)
  2. Bounty Select-A-Size Paper Towels Target (73 reviews counted)
  3. Viva Signature Cloth Paper Towels Target (40 reviews counted)
  4. Bounty Essentials Paper Towels Target (40 reviews counted)
  5. Scott Paper Towels Target (39 reviews counted)
  6. Reel Bamboo Paper Towels Target (40 reviews counted)

Questions buyers ask

Which paper towels are strong and absorbent?

Brawny Tear-A-Square Paper Towels has the best record (36 of 36), followed by Bounty Select-A-Size Paper Towels (53 of 55) and Viva Signature Cloth Paper Towels (30 of 31).

Is Bounty Essentials as good as regular Bounty?

Not by these reviews. Bounty Select-A-Size Paper Towels sits at 53 of 55, while Bounty Essentials Paper Towels is at 14 of 24, and 45% of its reviews call the sheets thin.

Are bamboo paper towels any good?

The bamboo towels on this page, Reel Bamboo Paper Towels, struggled with Target shoppers: 7 of 25 said they soaked up spills and held together, and 75% of reviews call them thin.

Which paper towels feel soft?

Softness comes up often for Viva Signature Cloth Paper Towels, in 28% of its reviews, and 30 of 31 said they soaked up spills and held together.

Related problems

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HiveTried earns a commission when you buy through the "See price & reviews on Amazon" buttons. It never changes the ranking: the order comes from buyer reports only, and a product gets an Amazon button only when buyers here say it works.