Effective home remedies to get rid of ants naturally
Content updated: April 23, 2026
Key takeaways
- DIY ant control and natural ant repellents like essential oils, vinegar, and cinnamon may help deter ants, but they usually only provide short-term relief.
- Home remedies for ants often target visible ants rather than the colony, which is why infestations tend to return.
- Baits like borax or boric acid can be more effective, as they are carried back to the nest, but they must be used in the correct ratios and may require repeated applications.
- Sealing entry points and maintaining your yard can help prevent ants from entering your home in the first place.
- For larger infestations or long-term results, professional ant control is often the most effective solution.
Ants can be a nuisance whether they’re in your yard or inside your home. They multiply quickly, can carry bacteria, and often leave unsightly ant hills all over your lawn. While ants can be beneficial for vegetation, too many of them can become a problem, especially if they move indoors.
While DIY ant control and home remedies for ants may seem like simple solutions, they aren’t always targeted enough to eliminate infestations. Even options like natural ant repellents can only provide limited results. Learn how to get rid of ants and decide whether DIY methods are enough or if professional ant control is the better choice.
Natural ant killers and repellents
It’s not hard to find ideas for “natural” ant killers. Mixing your own DIY ant-repellent sprays with essential oils like peppermint, citrus oil, and tea tree oil and spraying areas where ants might be entering your home, like around baseboards, doors, and windows, is one popular method. While there’s no harm in trying, the problem is that DIY sprays only address the ants you can see and not the entire colony. That means their effectiveness can be short-lived, and ants are likely to return.
An ant trap is a device that contains a blend of food (the bait) and a poison that the ant will transport back to the nest. These traps can be more effective in treating the problem, but still have their limitations.
Borax for ant extermination
Borax is a salt that is toxic to ants. When they ingest it, it disrupts their digestive system, eventually causing death. Borax acts slowly, so worker ants that encounter it will carry it back to the colony, where more ants will ingest it and die. For borax to be effective, it must be mixed with the right ratios of sugar and water and placed in areas where the ants can easily access it, like around ant hills.
There is no guarantee that borax will work on your infestation, and you may have to do multiple treatments to ensure the queen is eliminated, or else the colony will simply rebuild itself.
Boric acid and sugar
Boric acid is a mixture of borax and other naturally occurring minerals, like hydrogen or another acid. Mixing boric acid with sugar is a common DIY approach to killing ants. It’s important to get the right ratio of boric acid to sugar because the sugar acts as bait, and the boric acid acts as a poison. If there is too much boric acid, the ants might die before they have a chance to carry it back to the colony. If there is too little, the ants might not ingest it all.
Not all ants will be attracted to the sugar bait either, so this approach isn’t always as effective as you might like.
Common home remedies for ants
If you’re looking for a quick ant remedy that you already have in your kitchen, there are a few options that some people swear by. These pantry items might help deter ants:
Cinnamon: A study recorded in the International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications found that cinnamon essential oil can help repel ants. The problem is the oil must be highly concentrated and placed in the right places to be effective.
Lemon: Lemon juice is highly acidic and has a strong scent that may deter ants. However, its effectiveness depends on constant re-applications, and it won’t eliminate the problem at the root.
Vinegar: Spraying vinegar in areas where ants are entering your home and in places where food is stored may help repel them. The pungent smell masks the trail of pheromones the ants leave behind, so other ants can’t find the food source. But vinegar doesn’t actually kill ants, and it might attract other pests, like fruit flies.
Coffee grounds: The acidity and strong scent of coffee grounds can interfere with ants’ sense of smell, making it more difficult for them to utilize pheromones.
While briefly effective, DIY ant control remedies shouldn’t be considered a permanent solution. In fact, if you rely on DIY methods, you’ll probably find yourself stuck in a cycle of treating the symptoms of the infestation—a few ants in your kitchen—and never really getting to the root of the problem—the colony. Instead, targeting the queen is the best way to get rid of ants in your home.
Ant barriers and exclusion
Sick of seeing ants in your home? The answer is simple: prevent them from getting inside. From sealing up any cracks in the foundation to repairing openings in window and door frames, make sure your home has no clear entry points. Ants look for dry, sandy, loose, well-drained soil to start building their underground colony, so keeping your lawn well-watered, fertilized, and mowed can help. Removing rotting vegetation like piles of wood and leaves may also help eliminate conditions ants are attracted to.
Can you get rid of ants without professional help?
Your success in getting rid of ants without professional help depends on a few things: the species of ant and the extent of the infestation. While it may be possible to get rid of your ant problem initially on your own, enlisting a professional pest control expert will be more efficient long term. Having a professional in your corner will also take the stress out of the process.