Most bathroom fans that need replacing are fan and light combos, and the replacement has to do two jobs well. It has to be quiet enough that nobody switches it off early, and its light has to suit a room that gets used at 6 a.m. and at 3 a.m. This guide covers only fans with a light built in, ranked on the sone ratings the Home Ventilating Institute (HVI) certifies, with a close look at the extras that glow, blink or switch themselves on.
For fans without a light, and a fuller explanation of test pressures and duct sizes, see our main quietest bathroom exhaust fans guide.
Our picks are listed above, with full specifications for each.
How to read a fan-light's noise rating
Bathroom fans are rated in sones, not decibels. Sones scale the way you hear: a 2-sone fan sounds twice as loud as a 1-sone fan. Decibels are logarithmic, and there is no simple conversion between the two, so we compare fans on sones only. Our explainer on sones vs decibels has the details. HVI considers 1.0 sone or less quiet, and under 0.3 sone is the lowest rating it certifies.
The second thing to check is the static pressure behind the number. The rating on the box is taken at 0.1 inch of water, which assumes a short, easy duct. Some makers also publish a rating at 0.25 inch, closer to a real attic run; Panasonic's submittals cite industry research putting typical installations between 0.20 and 0.375 inch. We ranked on the 0.25-inch figure and never compare it with a 0.1-inch figure. The duct matters just as much: every fan-light here that publishes both is rated louder at 0.25 inch on a 4-inch duct than on a 6-inch duct.
Here is how the fan-lights we verified line up at 0.25 inch, at 110 CFM:
- On a 6-inch duct: Panasonic WhisperGreen Select with light 0.3 sone; Panasonic WhisperCeiling DC 110/130/150 set to 110 CFM, 0.5 sone; Delta BreezSignature LED models 0.8 sone; Broan EVOLVE lit 0.9 sone.
- On a 4-inch duct: Panasonic WhisperGreen Select with light 0.7 sone; Panasonic WhisperCeiling DC 50/80/110 with light 0.9 sone; Broan Flex DC with light 1.4 sones at 105 CFM on Broan's sheet (1.5 in HVI's directory); Broan EVOLVE lit 1.5 sones; Delta BreezSignature LED models 2.0 sones at 106 CFM.
The Broan QT DC fan-light is left off that list because it moves only 91 CFM at 0.25 inch on its 110 setting. On its 150 setting it is certified at 1.4 sones at 144 CFM, against 0.8 sone for the big Panasonic at the same airflow and pressure.
We checked every one of those figures against HVI's certified products directory (data generated September 23, 2026). They match the makers' documents, with one exception: Broan's sheet for the Flex DC with light is lower than the directory at every speed, and we quote both.
What else disturbs you at night
A fan-light is also a light fixture, and the sone rating says nothing about the things that wake people up.
The main light. A bright ceiling light at 3 a.m. is a jolt. Panasonic's and Delta's main lights are dimmable, with the dimmer bought separately, and Broan says its QT DC light works with some dimmers but not all. Output varies: Panasonic lists 700 lumens, Broan's EVOLVE 800 and its QT DC 1179, Delta's RAD80LED 850. Delta's BreezSignature page gives two numbers for the same light, 950 and 800 lumens.
The night light. Delta's BreezSignature LED models have a 2 W night light and Panasonic's fan-lights one under 1 W. Neither maker gives its brightness, so treat those as power ratings, not a measure of glow. What matters more is wiring. Panasonic's WhisperGreen Select manual and Delta's BreezSignature manual both show the night light on its own wire, separate from the fan and main light, so it can have its own switch.
Indicator lights. Delta's BreezSignature models have small LED status lights: a green one on the SIG80-110LED to show the power is on, green and amber on the humidity model, blue and amber on the motion model. In a dark bathroom off a bedroom, a small colored light is worth knowing about before you buy.
Sensors that start the fan. Delta's motion model, the SIG80-110MHLED, runs the fan at full speed when it detects motion and keeps it there until a 20-minute delay has passed. Panasonic says its condensation sensor module will start the fan when humidity rises fast, even below the set point, and stop it after 20 minutes. Both are quiet fans, but a fan that starts on its own when someone walks in at night is a different experience from one that stays off. For an en-suite next to a bedroom, a humidity sensor alone, with a low continuous speed, is the calmer setup. Our quiet bedroom guide covers the rest of that room.
Replacing an old fan-light combo
A replacement has to fit what is already in the ceiling, and three things decide what fits.
The wires. Older combos are often wired to one or two switches. The Delta manual shows separate switch wiring for the fan, the main light and the night light, and the humidity model adds a mode switch. Panasonic's manual shows separate live wires for the fan, the light and the night light. Broan says the fan and light on its QT DC can share one switch. Count the switched wires reaching the ceiling box before you choose, and if you want more switches than you have wires, plan on an electrician.
The duct. If the old fan used a 4-inch duct, the Panasonic WhisperGreen Select with light is the quietest fan-light we found for it at 0.25 inch, at 0.7 sone. If the ceiling is open anyway, a 6-inch duct brings it down to 0.3 sone, and the Delta BreezSignature from 2.0 sones to 0.8. For the rest of Panasonic's range, including the WhisperFit DC, its fan for 4-inch ducts in a 2x6 ceiling, see our page of every Panasonic fan's sone rating.
Over the tub or shower. Panasonic and Delta list the fan-lights in our top three for tub and shower enclosures on a GFCI-protected circuit. Broan says its lit EVOLVE models are not listed for use over bathtubs and showers, even though the fan-only versions are. If the old fixture sits over the shower, that rules the EVOLVE out. Elsewhere it is worth a look: our Broan bathroom fan sones page lists the lighted EVOLVE PTEL511RK beside its fan-only twin, both under 0.3 sone at 50 and 80 CFM at 0.1 inch on a 6-inch duct.
How much airflow you need
HVI recommends 1 CFM per square foot for bathrooms up to 100 square feet, with 50 CFM as the minimum. Larger bathrooms add 50 CFM each for a toilet, a shower and a tub, and 100 CFM for a jetted tub. Buying far more than you need does not help, since most multi-speed fans here are rated louder on their top setting at 0.25 inch. For most bathrooms, 80 or 110 CFM is enough, and the big Panasonic only earns its place above 100 square feet. A powder room needs less, and our guide to the quietest bathroom fans for small bathrooms ranks fans at 50 and 80 CFM at 0.25 inch, where Delta's BreezSignature SIG80D is certified under 0.3 sone at 50 CFM on a 4-inch duct.
Heater fan-lights
A heater in the fixture is the one feature that reliably costs noise. The Delta BreezRadiance RAD80LED is rated 1.5 sones at 80 CFM at 0.1 inch, and HVI's directory lists Broan's PowerHeat at 2.0 sones at 110 CFM at the same pressure. That is well above the under 0.3 sone that our top fan-lights claim at 0.1 inch. If the room is cold only a few mornings a year, a quiet fan-light plus another heat source may be the better trade. If you do want heat from Delta, all eight of its current BreezRadiance heater fans are rated at the same 1.5 sones at 80 CFM at 0.1 inch, and our Delta Breez sones page lists them all, so the choice among them comes down to grille and light.
Other makers we checked
Air King lists its LEDAK80 at 1.2 sones at 80 CFM at 0.1 inch, with its airflow falling to 67 CFM at 0.25 inch and no sone figure there. Hunter's own store lists the Oasis at 0.6 sones at 80 CFM and says it is HVI certified; HVI lists that rating at 0.1 inch, with no sone figure at 0.25 inch, and Hunter's page does not describe the light. Continental lists its TF110L at 0.9 sones at 110 CFM at 0.1 inch, and we could not find it in HVI's directory under that model name. Homewerks blocked our requests, and we found its fan-light figures only on retailer listings, so we did not use them. None of the figures we found for these makers is at 0.25 inch, so they cannot join the ranking above.
The trade-offs
Quiet fan-lights cost more to install well: the quietest figures here need a 6-inch duct. The quietest light is not the brightest, and the brightest fan-light we found is louder than the big Panasonic at the tougher pressure. A lit grille is appealing but, on the Broan, rules out the shower zone. Sensors save you remembering the fan, but some of them start it on their own. And a heater adds warmth at a clear cost in sones. For help deciding how quiet is quiet enough in each room of a home, see how quiet is quiet enough.
How we chose
We started from the fans in our parent bathroom fan guide and added every fan-light we could find with sone ratings in maker documents from Panasonic, Delta Breez and Broan-NuTone, then checked Air King, Hunter, Homewerks and Continental. We read each product page, submittal or specification sheet and installation manual, and checked every figure against HVI's certified products directory. We ranked only on sones at 0.25 inch, within the same duct size, and kept 0.1-inch figures separate. Prices are the makers' own where they list one; elsewhere we say we could not verify a price.
We did not measure any of these fans ourselves. Every sone and CFM figure is the maker's published rating or HVI's certified one, quoted with the static pressure and duct size it describes, and we say where the two disagree.
