The design of shunt active power filters (APFs) and hybrid active power filters (HAPFs) with desirable characteristics are the major trend in the future, such as wide compensation range, high reliability, low cost, low switching loss, good tacking performance, etc. Over the past few decades, significant researches were focused on addressing the technical challenges associated with the parameter design, operation and control of the APFs and HAPFs. However, the comprehensive review of DC-link voltage, compensation range, cost, reliability, power loss and tracking performance has been barely studied. Therefore, the intent of this paper is to provide a clear picture of the selection of APFs and HAPFs based on DC-link voltage, compensation range, cost, reliability and power loss. The supreme one will be selected among different APFs and HAPFs by considering the DC-link voltage, compensation range, cost, reliability and power loss. Finally, the simulation results of different APFs and HAPFs will be provided to verify their compensation performances.