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Is Miele AutoDos an expensive gimmick? We tested it to find out
Journalist with five years’ experience researching and writing tech and home content. No detail goes unnoticed when it comes to dishwashers, vacuums and headphones.
Fed up with rummaging around for a dishwasher tablet before running a wash? Miele's AutoDos could be the solution.
The brand's high-end G7 range of dishwashers come with AutoDos technology, and was billed as the 'world's first automatic dispensing system' when it launched around 2021.
Instead of tablets, it has a PowerDisk inside the door of the dishwasher that releases the right amount of detergent for the wash you've selected.
However, our snapshot test has showed that while AutoDos works and cleans well, it's no better than a good quality tablet brand, and costs considerably more per wash.
Key takeaways
- Miele PowerDisks are expensive at 41p per wash, which works out to 12p more per wash than dishwasher tablets from a premium brand and 28p more than a supermarket own-brand
- PowerDisks are excellent at cleaning, but dishwasher tablets from a premium brand we tested do just as good a job
- PowerDisks last around a month on average.
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How does Miele AutoDos work?
The idea of Miele's AutoDos is that the dishwasher has a large reservoir of detergent installed in the machine to dispense for each wash.
The PowerDisks are filled with powder detergent, which gets released into the machine after the pre-rinse stage of the wash (when the dishwasher measures how dirty the water is and, hence, how messy the load is).
They also include salt and rinse aid in the same way all-in-one tablets do, meaning you shouldn't have to refill these as often.
Some Bosch and Beko and Hisense dishwashers also offer automatic dosing systems (also known as 'smart dosing' or 'dosage assist') on selected machines, but they use liquid detergent, as opposed to powder with Miele's system.
You do pay a premium for AutoDos, though, with Miele G7 machines costing over £1,000 to buy.
Read all our Miele dishwasher reviews to see how well they perform in our regular testing
How much do Miele PowerDisks cost?
| Detergent | Cost per pack | Cost per wash |
| Miele PowerDisks | £57.49 (pack of six) | 41p |
| Fairy Platinum Plus Lemon Dishwasher Tablets | £15.95 (42 tablets) | 29p |
| Tesco Ultra Lemon Dishwasher Tablets | £5.10 (40 tablets) | 13p |
| Prices correct as of 10/07/2026 |
All new Miele G7 dishwashers come with six PowerDisks as part of their £1,000-plus price, so you can try out the feature.
PowerDisk's are pricey compared to standard dishwasher tablets. You can buy new ones individually for £10.99 (47p per wash), or in packs of six £57.49 (41p per wash).
Most people will probably opt for the six pack, but this still costs 12p per wash more than a Fairy Platinum Plus, and 28p per wash more than the Tesco's Ultra Lemon tablets.
How long does the Miele PowerDisk last?
Miele says the PowerDisks last for 20 washes, which is around a month on average, but we found they ran for 23 full wash cycles when we tested them in our lab.
And they cleaned just as consistently across all of 23 of those washes.
Do Miele PowerDisks clean better than Fairy dishwasher tablets?
If the Miele PowerDisks cleaned better than standard tablets, then you could justify the extra cost. But our lab test in 2026 found that a Fairy Platinum Plus tablet cleaned just as well as a PowerDisk wash, with both scoring five stars in our cleaning tests.
So, while Miele's system is certainly effective at banishing dirt and grime from your dishes, it isn't significantly better to warrant the premium cost.
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How do you refill Miele AutoDos?
Once the PowerDisk runs out, you will need to refill it. The disk has to be be lined up and slotted in perfectly, which is much more of a hassle than just plopping a tablet into the machine and shutting the door.
Our experts assessed how easy the system is to use, including fitting a new disk and removing it once it's empty. While the disks mean you don't have to load a tablet every time, we found they can be fiddly to fit.
You can recycle the PowerDisks when the detergent runs out.
Is Miele's AutoDos worth it?
The Which? verdict: Convenient, but expensive
PowerDisks don't clean any better and cost more than good quality dishwasher detergent tablets, so they're not a must-have feature.
The benefit of Miele's AutoDos is convenience. If you have a Miele G7 dishwasher you can slot the PowerDisk in at the start of the month and it should last for all your weekly washes.
Overall, though, this system is a much more expensive way to use dishwasher detergent than conventional tablets, so might not make sense in the long run.
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