ADVANAGE 20X Citrus vs. Zep, Krud Kutter & Purple Power: Which Degreaser Is Worth Buying

That distinction matters more than the word on the label, and more than the price on the jug. Concentrates are sold on how many gallons they "make," yet each of these products tells you to use it at a different strength for light, medium, and heavy grease. So we priced every one per mixed gallon at its own labeled dilutions, using listed prices and the manufacturers' own charts.

The result is not flattering to every product, ours included. Purple Power is the cheapest way to cut heavy shop grease. Zep is the dedicated citrus-solvent option. Krud Kutter is the only one of the four we found carrying an EPA Safer Choice label. ADVANAGE 20X Citrus costs the most per gallon of concentrate, and it earns its place only if you want one non-flammable, water-based concentrate with a published use chart that runs from glass to engines. 

Below is how we got there, so you can check the math yourself.

The 60-Second Verdict

• Cheapest for heavy shop grease: Purple Power, listed at about $12.49 per gallon and used full strength on engines per its label

• Only true citrus solvent: Zep Heavy-Duty Citrus Degreaser (d-limonene), which Zep positions for commercial kitchens

• Only Safer Choice label we found: Krud Kutter Original, a fragrance-free, water-based concentrate

• ADVANAGE 20X Citrus: $99.95 per gallon, 4.9 out of 5 across 51 reviews, non-flammable per its SDS, with a published chart from glass (32:1) to engines (1:1)

• Concentrate yield trap: "makes up to 20 gallons" assumes the lightest mix, while at heavy-soil strength a jug makes one to two gallons of solution

• Label trap: "Citrus" can mean a solvent, a fragrance, or just a color

What Is the Best Citrus Degreaser for a Kitchen and a Garage?

For baked-on food grease, a citrus-solvent product such as Zep Heavy-Duty Citrus is the closest match to what "citrus degreaser" usually promises. For the best kitchen degreaser concentrate you would use every week on stovetops, counters, and appliances, a water-based concentrate (ADVANAGE 20X or Krud Kutter) is the lower-odor choice.

 For a garage, Purple Power at full strength is the lowest-cost option for heavy oil. If one jug has to cover both rooms plus glass, laundry, and carpet, that is the case for ADVANAGE 20X.

Step-by-step methods for each of these soils are in our guide to removing grease and oil stains from kitchens, garages, and driveways.

How We Compared Them

Disclosure: Advanage publishes this blog, and ADVANAGE 20X is one of the four products. We ran no lab tests of our own, and we found no independent head-to-head test of these four products.

• Sources: each maker's product page, dilution chart or label, safety data sheets where available, retailer listings for prices, and Advanage's own product pages

• Dilution notation: written as parts water to 1 part concentrate, so 10:1 means 10 parts water and 1 part concentrate. "FS" means full strength. Competitor charts written the other way round were converted

• Mixed gallon: one gallon of ready-to-use solution. Cost per mixed gallon is the concentrate price divided by (1 + parts of water)

• Prices: listed prices found in October 2026. Competitor prices vary widely by seller, so we show ranges

ADVANAGE 20X Citrus vs. Zep, Krud Kutter and Purple Power: Specs Side by Side

Citrus Solvent or Emulsion Agent? What "Citrus" Actually Does

Two different mechanisms both get called degreasing. A solvent such as d-limonene dissolves oil. An emulsion agent, which is the job of the surfactant in a water-based concentrate, lowers the surface tension between oil and water so grease lifts away and rinses off instead of smearing. Advanage's FAQ describes its proprietary emulsion agent that way, and the Citrus product page says it emulsifies oils without leaving residual oil on the surface or the cleaning cloth. The same FAQ says every scent performs identically, so the citrus in ADVANAGE 20X Citrus is a scent choice, not a stronger formula.

Most degreasers in this group also lean on alkalinity. ADVANAGE's Citrus SDS lists sodium carbonate and a concentrate pH of 11. Zep's citrus listing includes sodium hydroxide. Krud Kutter's label lists potassium hydroxide and sodium metasilicate. That is why every one of them says to rinse, or at least wipe, on most surfaces.

Safety deserves a plain statement. The NOAA CAMEO Chemicals datasheet classifies pure d-limonene as highly flammable and a skin irritant and sensitizer. A formulated, diluted product is not pure limonene, so that is not a verdict on any one jug, but it is the reason to read the SDS and not the front label. ADVANAGE's Citrus SDS rates flammability 0 and health 1, and classifies the concentrate for serious eye irritation, so wear eye protection when you pour it. OSHA's hazard communication resources explain what each SDS section tells you.

On residue, the claims differ. Krud Kutter's label says it leaves no residue, and ADVANAGE says it leaves no residual oil. The Zep and Purple Power directions call for rinsing. We found no independent residue test for any of the four.

What Each One Costs per Mixed Gallon

Advanage publishes its mixes on its Cleaning Tips page, and the other three publish theirs on the label. The table uses each product's own heavy, mid, and light mixes. The columns line up by strength, not by task, because every brand defines "heavy" differently.

The honest reading: at the same dilution, ADVANAGE 20X Citrus costs roughly four to eight times as much per mixed gallon as the other three when you buy by the gallon. It is level with Zep only at Zep's mid-strength mix. Competitors also sell pails and drums, so the drum row is not a drum-to-drum comparison. It only shows that bulk pricing brings ADVANAGE into the same range as other brands' single jugs.

A quart ($39.95) works out to about $7.61 per mixed gallon at 20:1. The Citrus 5-Quart Special at $164.95 brings the quart price down to $32.99 and the mixed-gallon cost to about $6.28. For heavy use, the Citrus 55-gallon drum is where the per-gallon price becomes competitive, and our bulk degreaser buying guide covers how to plan one.

So where is the case for ADVANAGE? It rests on consolidation, not price per gallon. If one concentrate replaces a separate degreaser, glass cleaner, laundry pretreater, and pet-stain product, each mixed at the chart's strength, the shelf and the spend both shrink. If you only ever need to cut heavy grease, it does not pay.

What Customers Report, Including the Complaints

ADVANAGE 20X Degreaser (Citrus) Gallons holds a 4.9 out of 5 rating across 51 reviews on Advanage's own page: 47 five-star, 3 four-star, 1 three-star, and none lower. Reviewers describe carpets cleaned with a steam cleaner, ink lifted from jeans, soot-covered garage door panels, and soap scum on shower walls.

The complaints are specific. Several reviewers call it pricey but worth it. A long-term user of more than 12 years still uses other products on glass and stainless steel because the cleaner can leave odd streaks there. Another reviewer says it is "not a miracle cleaner" and that tough stains still need elbow grease. One buyer was disappointed with the scent and performance.

For comparison, Zep's own site shows its 1-gallon citrus degreaser at 81% five-star across 70 reviews, with 7% one-star. Ratings from different platforms are not directly comparable, and we did not find product-level ratings for Krud Kutter or Purple Power that we could compare fairly.

Which One Should You Buy?

• Buy ADVANAGE 20X Citrus if you want one non-flammable, water-based concentrate for degreasing plus glass, laundry, carpet, and pet stains, you are happy to buy direct, and you will buy a quart bundle or a drum rather than single gallons. If you are searching for a Zep citrus degreaser alternative with less solvent odor, this is the one to try first.

• Buy Zep Heavy-Duty Citrus if your main job is heavy kitchen grease and you specifically want a citrus solvent.

• Buy Krud Kutter Original if you want a fragrance-free concentrate with an EPA Safer Choice label for house, garage, and boat. The EPA's Safer Choice program explains what that label does and does not verify.

• Buy Purple Power if you are cutting engine or shop-floor grease at the lowest cost. If you are weighing Purple Power against Simple Green, the logic is the same: Purple Power is the heavier-duty glycol-ether option, and Simple Green is the Safer Choice-certified, water-based one.

• Skip ADVANAGE 20X if price per mixed gallon is your deciding factor, or you want a dedicated glass and stainless polish.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's better, Zep or Krud Kutter?

The practical differences are in how you use them. Zep's directions are to spray, wait about a minute, wipe and rinse, and never let it dry on the surface. It has a citrus smell and an orange color. Krud Kutter is fragrance-free; its label says it is colorfast, fabric safe, and leaves no residue, and it is sold for most indoor, automotive, and marine surfaces. Is Zep Citrus Degreaser better than Krud Kutter for baked-on kitchen grease? Zep usually is. For low-odor, general cleaning, Krud Kutter usually is. Neither publishes a head-to-head test.

What is the strongest and best degreaser available?

"Strongest" is a chemistry question, and no independent lab ranks every degreaser on one scale. In water-based concentrates, the most aggressive are alkaline products with sodium hydroxide and a glycol ether, such as industrial purple degreasers, whose SDS pH values run from about 11 to as high as 13 to 14. Solvent degreasers beat them on petroleum grease but add flammability and fumes. "Best" is the mildest product that removes your soil without harming the surface or the person using it.

Is Zep stronger than Purple Power?

They are different brands, so the fair comparison is Zep Industrial Purple against Purple Power Industrial Strength. Both are purple, glycol-ether-based concentrates. Zep's SDS lists sodium hydroxide and 2-butoxyethanol, and Zep says one gallon makes up to 25 gallons. Purple Power's label starts at full strength for engines and goes to 10:1 to 15:1 for interiors. We found no public head-to-head test, so strength comes down to dilution. Compare them at the same mix on a hidden patch, and note that Purple Power's maker advises against chrome, copper, glass, and painted surfaces.

What are the differences between Zep Citrus and Zep Purple degreasers?

Zep itself positions Citrus for commercial kitchens and Industrial Purple for machinery. Citrus is orange, uses d-limonene, and lists stainless steel, aluminum, fiberglass, and enamel as safe surfaces, with up to 20 gallons per gallon. Industrial Purple is alkaline, low-foaming, and easy to rinse, aimed at engines, shop floors, unfinished concrete, masonry, and asphalt, with up to 25 gallons per gallon. Treat the higher yield as a light-soil figure, not a promise for heavy grease.

The Company Behind ADVANAGE 20X Citrus

ADVANAGE has made this concentrate since 1980 and sells it direct, so questions about mixes, bulk orders or which scent suits your job go to the same team that makes it. You can contact Advanage directly with the surface and soil you are dealing with.

Ready to try it? Shop the Citrus Gallon ($99.95) or start with a Citrus Quart ($39.95).