Air filters for general ventilation have mainly been used to control the concentration of indoor particulate matter. In this study, the pressure differential, test dust capacity, quality factor and operating life of class F8 pleat–plate and multi-bag type chemical fiber filters were evaluated using an air filter performance test system. The results showed that the resistance increase rate of multi-bag filter (0.49 Pa/g·(cm/s)) was lower than that of pleat–plate filter (1.94 Pa/g·(cm/s)), the quality factor of the multi-bag filter was lower than that of pleat–plate filter, and the dust capacity of the multi-bag filter was much higher than that of the pleat–plate filter. The operating life of the multi-bag filter was 8 times as that of the pleat–plate filter with the measured PM2.5 of outdoor. The energy consumption of the pleat–plate filter was 2.2 times that of the multi-bag filter. Analyzing the electron microscope photos after dust loading, the dust depth of pleat–plate filter into filter material was thinner than that of multi-bag filter. The research results could provide data support for the design optimization and selection of ventilation filters and the treatment of the particulate matter in indoor environments.