Previous publications regarding the design and specifications of input filters for STATCOMs usually deal with the input filter only, and seldom pay any attention to the influence of the input filters on the performance of the STATCOM systems. A detailed analysis of the influences of input filters on the stability of STATCOM systems and the corresponding design considerations are presented in this paper. Three types of input filters, L filters, LC filters, and LCL filters, are examined separately. The influences of the parameters of input filters on system stability are investigated through frequency domain methods. With direct current control taken as the major control strategy for the STATCOMs, the different situations when adopting different current detection points are covered in this analysis. A comparison between LC filters and LCL filters is also presented with optimized filter parameters. Based on the analysis, the phase margin, as one of the design considerations for the different types of input filters under different current detection schemes, is discussed. This leads to filter parameters that are different than those of the traditional design. Hardware experimental results verify the validity of the above analysis and design.