CPAP Machine Finder Quiz
This free CPAP machine quiz asks up to 7 quick questions about your prescription, travel, noise, data, and budget priorities, then suggests machines to discuss with your provider and shows how each answer counted.
What This Tool Does
It narrows the machines worth asking your provider or DME about, within the machine class your prescription already calls for. Your prescription class is a hard filter, never a score, so the quiz will never suggest a different therapy class. The result shows a side-by-side comparison, a line for every answer saying what it did, and questions to bring to your appointment.
CPAP, APAP, BiPAP, ASV: What the Classes Mean
CPAP and APAP
A CPAP delivers one fixed pressure all night. An APAP (auto-CPAP) adjusts pressure breath by breath within a prescribed range. Every full-size machine this quiz suggests can run in either mode. This is the most common prescription for obstructive sleep apnea.
Bilevel (BiPAP)
A bilevel machine delivers two pressures, higher when you breathe in and lower when you breathe out. It is a separate prescription class; if your prescription says CPAP or APAP, a bilevel machine is not interchangeable with it.
ASV
Adaptive servo-ventilation treats central and complex sleep apnea by adapting support to your breathing. ASV machine choice and settings come from a titration study and your sleep physician, so this quiz routes ASV users to their care team instead of suggesting a machine.
How the Quiz Works
First the prescription filter removes every machine outside your class. Then each remaining machine collects points from your answers. Shopping for a travel machine gives the travel machine 4 points; mostly traveling gives it 3 and a home base with travel gives it 1, while home-only use takes 3 away. Wanting full data gives SD card machines 2 points and takes 2 from the AirMini, which has no SD card. A value budget gives older models and other brands 2 points; wanting the latest generation gives current full-size models 2. Needing a humidifier gives heated humidifiers 1 point, and a first machine gives current full-size models 1.
Noise only nudges. The makers' figures sit within about 2 dBA of each other, which is their own stated measurement uncertainty, so a very noise-sensitive answer adds 1 point to the quietest machines in your class and nothing else. If your prescription is bilevel, the quiz skips the noise, data and humidifier questions entirely, because both bilevel machines here are rated 27 dBA, record full data and have a heated humidifier.
Every result lists your answers and what each one did. An answer that could not change anything says so and says why, and when you mention travel the AirMini always appears with its trade-offs.
Which Machines Are in the List
Machines sold new in the US in 2026 whose SD card data CPAP Clarity has validated. They are the ResMed AirSense 11 and AirSense 10, the React Health Luna G3, and the ResMed AirCurve 11 and AirCurve 10 VAuto bilevels. The AirSense 10 and AirCurve 10 are older models ResMed still sells, and they are labelled that way. The ResMed AirMini is included as the travel option even though CPAP Clarity can read only its usage hours, and every AirMini result says so. React Health's Luna G3 BPAP is not listed because its data has not been validated here yet. Philips Respironics is not selling new sleep therapy machines in the US under a 2024 consent decree.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a prescription to buy a CPAP machine?
Yes. In the US, CPAP, APAP and bilevel machines are prescription devices; their user guides say federal law restricts their sale to a physician's order. Online CPAP retailers collect your prescription during checkout, and your DME supplier or sleep clinic can fill it directly. Complete masks are prescription devices too, though many retailers sell replacement parts such as cushions without one.
Can this quiz tell me whether I need a CPAP, APAP, or BiPAP?
No, and that is by design. The machine class comes from your prescription, which reflects your sleep study and your physician's judgment. This quiz only narrows the choice within the class you already have. If you are not sure of your prescription, the quiz points you to that conversation with your doctor instead of suggesting a machine.
What data can CPAP Clarity analyze from these machines?
Every full-size machine this quiz suggests records therapy data to an SD card, including AHI, pressure and leak, and on ResMed machines breath-by-breath waveforms. CPAP Clarity reads it free in your browser, and your data never leaves your device. The exception is the AirMini, which has no SD card; CPAP Clarity can import its nightly usage hours from the AirMini app export, but the detailed numbers stay in ResMed's cloud.
Is a travel CPAP a full therapy machine?
The ResMed AirMini runs the same AutoSet auto-adjusting mode as the AirSense machines, weighs 300 g, and ResMed states it meets FAA requirements for all phases of air travel. The trade-offs are data (no SD card), waterless HumidX humidification instead of a heated water tub, and a slightly higher sound level, 29 dBA against 27 dBA for the AirSense 11 with its water tub, per ResMed's user guides.
Why does the quiz not include Philips machines?
Philips Respironics is not selling new CPAP or BiPAP sleep therapy machines in the US. Under a 2024 consent decree with the US government, it can resume only once the decree's requirements are met, and Philips' May 2026 update still describes sales as resuming only when they are; its masks and supplies are still sold. If you already use a DreamStation or DreamStation 2, CPAP Clarity reads its data, and our machine comparison covers the recall history.