Toilet marketing is full of adjectives — "powerful," "commercial-grade," "clog-free." One number cuts through all of it: the MaP score. If you learn a single spec before buying a toilet, make it this one.
What MaP actually measures
MaP (Maximum Performance) testing is an independent program, run by Canadian and American water-efficiency consultants, that answers one blunt question: how many grams of solid waste can this toilet clear in a single flush? Test media (soybean paste in casings, engineered to mimic the real thing) is added in increasing amounts until the toilet fails. The published score is the highest mass it cleared reliably — from 250 g at the bottom to the test's ceiling of 1,000 grams.
How to read the numbers
- 1,000 g — clears the maximum the test can throw at it. TOTO's Tornado models, Kohler's current Cimarron revisions and American Standard's VorMax line routinely post this.
- 800–999 g — excellent; more than any household produces.
- 500–799 g — adequate, but at today's prices there's little reason to settle.
- Under 500 g — pass. This is where "flush twice" toilets live.
- MaP PREMIUM — a stricter badge: 600 g+ achieved at 1.28 GPF or less plus other efficiency criteria. It's the water-saver's shortlist filter.
The practical target for a Canadian home: 800 g or better at 1.28 GPF. Everything we recommended in our Drake vs Cimarron comparison clears it comfortably.
What MaP does NOT tell you
- Bowl-wash quality — how clean the porcelain looks after a flush. A toilet can move mass yet still streak; rimless cyclonic designs excel here.
- Drainline carry — how far waste travels down your pipes. Correlates with MaP but isn't identical.
- Noise, glaze quality, seat comfort, looks — everything else you're paying for.
Treat MaP as a disqualifier: it removes weak toilets from your list instantly, then you choose among the strong ones on features — height (chair vs standard), skirting, dual flush, WASHLET+ compatibility.
Where to find a model's score
The MaP program publishes a free searchable database (map-testing.com) covering tens of thousands of models — search by the exact model number from the spec sheet, since scores can differ between variants of the same family. Every toilet in our collection lists its model number prominently for exactly this kind of homework.
Frequently asked questions
Is a 1,000 g toilet overkill?
It's headroom, not overkill — the same engineering that posts 1,000 g is what keeps the bowl clean and the plunger retired at real-world loads.
Do dual-flush toilets get two scores?
The published score reflects the full flush. Judge the light flush on bowl-wash quality instead — see our dual-flush buying guide.
Does higher MaP mean more water?
No — the entire point of modern designs is 1,000 g at 1.28 GPF. Efficiency and power stopped being a trade-off years ago.