7 Best Hands-Free Breast Pumps of 2024

The Elvie hands-free breast pump is a small, discreet unit that sits entirely inside your bra. The pump draws your milk directly into a container from which you decant it into a milk storage bag or bottle.

When using the Elvie, you begin with a stimulation mode, then move to expressing mode when it detects your let-down has kicked in. Then the pump draws milk until you turn it off or it recognizes that the collection bottle is nearly full. In that case, it switches off automatically.

There are five dishwasher-safe parts to clean, and the breakdown, wash, and reassembly process is quick and easy.

While the Elvie is small enough to fit inside your bra, how obvious it is will depend on what clothes you’re wearing and your general build. For example, some users with a smaller physique feel the Elvie makes them look overly busty.

The pump can be used with or without the free app, which tracks pumping sessions, milk volume, and allows you to turn the pump off without having to stick your hand down the front of your shirt.

The Willow hands-free breast pump is a small, breast-shaped unit designed to be worn inside your bra. One of the most significant selling points is the claim that you can pump lying down, doing yoga, or doing other activities that may bend and twist your body.

While not entirely spill-proof, if you use Willow with the Willow milk collection bags, you can pump when almost horizontal, bending, or moving around fairly vigorously. However, this flexibility comes with a downside — cost.

Willow comes with reusable milk collection containers, but if you want to take advantage of the mobility factor, you have to buy the milk storage bags, which are more than four times the cost of standard bags and only hold a maximum of four ounces each.

The pump comes in a choice of three sizes, with a nipple measurement app to help you find the right size for you. However, if you mismeasure, you’ll have to buy additional flanges to achieve a suitable fit.

The Freestyle Flex has a pump unit, or “brain,” which connects to the pumps on your breasts via tubing. Milk doesn’t enter the tubes; the tubing provides a vacuum seal, so there’s no need to worry about dismantling and cleaning fiddly little pipes.

The pump units sit against your breasts, pumping your milk into either the collection containers with the pump or directly into a bottle via an adaptor. As a whole, this piece of the Freestyle Flex looks and feels like a standard hand pump and bottle set-up.

The big contradiction with the Medela pump is that it’s wireless, so you’re not tethered to a chair by a power outlet, but you have to hold the pumps against your breasts. This limits what you can do while pumping.

The only way around this is to buy the Medela pumping bra, which will hold the pumps against your breast. But the pump is still bulky enough to prevent you from holding a squirming baby while in use.

The Freemie Liberty has a pumping unit that you can either wear on your belt, carry, or leave on a table. The pump connects to Freemie collection cups into which your milk is expressed. Once you’ve finished pumping, you pour your milk into a storage container or bag of your choice.

You can adjust both the suction level and the pump’s speed with over 100 possible setting combinations. Three pre-programmable buttons allow you to keep your favored settings, so you don’t have to find your sweet spot at every use.

There are multiple parts to clean, all of which are dishwasher safe or can be sterilized in boiling water. This was one of my major issues. You’ll need between 15–20 minutes to clean the system after use, which is a big chunk of time out of your day.

Because the collection cups and the pump unit are separate, your milk never enters the pump, so the pump itself doesn’t need cleaning.

The collection cups sit within your bra, so you can walk about and do other things while you pump. However, unless your clothing is exceptionally loose or you’re covered in multiple layers, the flat front of the cups can be easily seen.

Like Elvie and Willow, the Momcozy hands-free breast pump is an all-in-one unit that sits directly on your breast, held in place by your bra. Unlike the others, Momcozy’s pump is a cup-shaped breast piece topped by a block-shaped pump unit.

Consequently, although you are not tethered to an electrical outlet, and you can comfortably move about, the pump can be clearly seen. So it is not the best option for anyone who wants their pumping sessions to be covert.

You also have to either wear a top with a low neck so the pump unit can sit outside your clothing or pump in a button-up shirt you can leave open for comfort.

The specifications for the Momcozy say the cups can hold up to 8 ounces. However, the same specs also say that 4 ounces is the “optimal” maximum. In reality, you can move around when pumping until you hit 4 ounces. After that, you need to sit still or the milk will spill.

The Momcozy pump is best for moms who will be pumping at home, in a private room, or for those who have the confidence to walk around while people stare or ask questions.

This hands-free breast pump has two massage modes and nine pumping levels designed to provide flexibility and comfort. A memory function is included.

Available in 27 mm and 24 mm flange breast pumps, this pump claims to be barely louder than a whisper. Our experience is that, although quiet, you can hear when it’s in use, and so too can anyone within earshot.

The pump unit is roughly half the size of a can of soda, so there’s no hiding that you’re using it. Even if you wear something loose or a large, flowy scarf, anyone around you will quite clearly see the pump.

Only suitable for use at home, the is a useful pump for occasional use, but it’s not something you’d want to use every day.

The Haakaa is unique in the hands-free breast pump market because it does not use any external power. Instead, you squeeze the air out of the flexible Haakaa, place it against your breast, and let go. The resulting vacuum draws the milk from your breast with steady suction.

For some users, the Haakaa can be attached to the breast and simply left alone. But the majority of users find it best to wear the pump with a specialized pumping bra. This pump isn’t something you can easily use while walking around in public.

There are no parts to assemble, clean, and sterilize, and the Haakaa can be sterilized in boiling water for two or three minutes. You can wash it by hand or in the dishwasher, and the large opening makes it easy to clean.

Because no power source is needed, you can use the Haakaa anywhere, and this is the only pump on the list that is entirely silent.