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A small apartment with a few area rugs has very different vacuum needs than a 2,000-square-foot house with wall-to-wall carpeting. vinegar water ratio for cleaning floors
The right vacuum for you also depends on your physical strength, ergonomic preferences, and cleaning standards and habits. And it matters if you have delicate hardwood floors, clean up after kids or shedding pets, or suffer from indoor allergies.
No one vacuum can do it all. So we’ve rounded up the best of the best—from powerful and long-lasting plug-in vacuums and convenient cordless sticks to cheap handhelds and even robots—for all types of homes and people.
Plug-in upright vacuums are powerful, versatile, reliable, and capable of cleaning every inch of your home—from thick rugs to hardwood floors. They suck up dust, debris, pet fur, and pollutants.
The best uprights have extra-strong suction and swappable brush heads (a motorized cleaner to agitate and lift dirt and debris from deep within carpets, and a soft parquet brush for delicate hardwood flooring). They feature useful hose attachment tools for cleaning stairs, sofas, bookshelves, and tight corners.
High-end upright vacuums have powerful filtration (HEPA or S-class) and seal debris in bags, so these cleaners are ideal for indoor allergy sufferers. Because they stand upright, they stow easily in a closet or corner. And with proper maintenance, they can last for a decade or longer. Read more about the best upright vacuums.
Consider an upright vacuum if:
Skip an upright vacuum if:
This stylish, bagged upright vacuum has formidable cleaning power and is adjustable, versatile, and agile. It should last for a decade or two.
The best affordable bagless uprights work well with just about any type of vacuumable debris (including pet hair) and floor type (including most carpets, wood, tiles, or anything else). And they should last at least five years without much maintenance (no new belts are required) and with minimal cost (the filters are washable, and these vacs don’t need bags). On the most common types of flooring (like low- or mid-pile nylon carpeting and most bare floors), great bagless uprights work almost as well as the strongest overall vacuums, often for much less than half the price. But they come with less-generous warranties than pricier models, and you may be on the hook if a part breaks. Read more about the best upright vacuums.
Consider an affordable bagless upright vacuum if:
Skip an affordable bagless upright vacuum if:
This reliable, effective, easy-to-use, and reasonably priced bagless upright vacuum cleaner will work well for most people in most homes. It’s been our pick for six years running.
If you like your rugs and floors to stay very clean, and you’re willing to pay big bucks for a vacuum that will last a decade or more, get a high-end canister vacuum. Canister vacuums come in two connected parts: a wand with a hose and a pod or canister that contains the motor and dustbin or bag. Though initially it can feel weird to use a canister vacuum, we’ve known many longtime upright-vac users who made the switch because canisters feel lighter to steer and are easier to maneuver up and down stairs. They tend to clog less often and most come with a convenient automatic cord rewind.
Like high-end upright vacuums, canister vacuums do an excellent job on all types of floors, from thick, high-pile carpet to delicate wood floors. They come with useful attachments for cleaning everything from sofas to radiators, and the best ones will last for a decade or longer. Read more about the best canister vacuums.
Consider a high-end canister vacuum if:
Skip a high-end canister vacuum if:
This bagged canister vacuum excels on bare floors and on carpets, and it has many adjustment options and useful attachments. It should last for the long haul.
This proven bagged model has great suction power and excels on bare floors and (most) area rugs. It works on low-pile carpets but balks at thicker ones.
Cordless vacs cost more, don’t last as long, and they don’t have enough run time to clean big homes in a single pass.
That said, cordless vacuums make it so easy to clean that you may be just fine with those tradeoffs. These models are especially life-changing if you live in an apartment or smaller house with a cramped floor plan, because they’re thin and light and easy to steer, and there’s no cord to get caught on any corners. And even in bigger homes, you may find that you get used to cleaning just a few rooms at a time, so that battery life isn’t such a big deal. The best cordless vacs are strong enough to clean nearly as well as plug-ins, even on most types of rugs.
Most cordless vacuums also double as handheld vacuums, so you can buy one vacuum to clean both your floors and your car. Read more about the best cordless vacuums.
Consider a cordless vacuum if:
Skip a cordless vacuum if:
This nimble, high-tech model is light, powerful, and easy to maneuver. But it doesn’t stand up on its own, and its dustbin is small.
This sturdy, versatile vacuum has several useful attachments and a large dustbin. It stands on its own and recharges quickly, but it’s heavier and less agile.
Even a basic robot vacuum can keep your floors tidy with little effort on your part, handling pet hair and dust adeptly. Top-tier models can map your home, schedule cleanings, take voice commands, and empty themselves.
But while these machines excel in routine midweek cleanups, they can’t replace traditional plug-in vacuums, especially on rugs. And even the fanciest models get tangled or trapped, and miss piles of dirt. Read more about the best robot vacuums.
Consider a robot vacuum if:
Skip a robot vacuum if:
This bot is a top-notch cleaner and great navigator that avoids (most) obstacles while keeping on top of scattered debris.
This is the Roborock Q5 packaged with a charging dock that sucks debris from its dustbin after it cleans.
This solid, affordable robot vacuum has a large bin and excellent cleaning power. It can be scheduled to clean, but it can’t be controlled with an app.
It’s handy to have a little handheld vacuum to deal with small messes. Today’s handheld vacuums can be surprisingly strong without costing too much. The best ones have enough oomph to quickly suck up crumbs, grit, and other types of obvious debris, with adjustable nozzles that can make it easier to get at hard-to-reach spots without wrenching your wrist. Read more about the best handheld vacuums.
This cordless handheld vacuum’s powerful suction, long battery life, and large bin make short work of tidying up around the home and in the car.
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Even the cheapest vacuums can pick up pet hair off a bare floor, and any vacuum that’s good at getting dust out of rugs will also be good at digging pet hair out of rugs.
You don’t even have to limit yourself to models that have the words pet or animal in their names. That just means they come with a tool for getting pet hair off of upholstery, or (occasionally) that a vacuum’s brush roll won’t tangle easily. Those are nice features! But plenty of vacuums with names that don’t include animal or pet have these features, too.
Read more about the best vacuums for pet hair.
With its motorized brush and extendable crevice tool, this handheld vac cleans up pet fur in a snap, especially on upholstery.
This bot is a top-notch cleaner and great navigator that avoids (most) obstacles while keeping on top of scattered debris.
If you have asthma or severe allergies, and indoor air quality is crucial to your health, a high-quality bagged vacuum is a safe bet. Our favorite high-end vacuums do an excellent job of sucking up allergens and irritants—and keeping them contained during disposal.
There’s a bit of controversy on this topic. Experts disagree on the traits a “clean-air” vacuum needs to have. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) says that some bagless vacuums are okay in this regard. (Note that AAFA is sponsored by Dyson, which makes only bagless vacuums. No other major vacuum brands sponsor AAFA. So that’s a potential conflict of interest, though the AAFA certification testing is pretty rigorous, and we don’t doubt that bagless models have produced good results on this tough test.) But most salespeople and technicians told us that they would not recommend bagless models for households in which air quality was a major concern, because the act of emptying a bagless vacuum re-pollutes your air. We’d recommend erring on the side of caution with a bagged, sealed-system vacuum that has a HEPA or S-class filter.
What if you don’t have asthma or severe allergies? Well, it never hurts to have a HEPA or S-class filter on a vacuum, but they’re overkill for many people. Also, a vacuum can come equipped with a HEPA filter but have mediocre overall filtration, if the transfer points throughout the vacuum don’t have rubber gaskets. So don’t be fooled into paying extra just because a vacuum has a HEPA or S-class filter.
This stylish, bagged upright vacuum has formidable cleaning power and is adjustable, versatile, and agile. It should last for a decade or two.
This bagged canister vacuum excels on bare floors and on carpets, and it has many adjustment options and useful attachments. It should last for the long haul.
This proven bagged model has great suction power and excels on bare floors and (most) area rugs. It works on low-pile carpets but balks at thicker ones.
This is the easiest task for a vacuum cleaner, and you don’t need anything special. But if you want to make the job a little easier, there are a couple features to consider.
For a mix of bare floors and rugs, the surest bet is to get a vacuum that lets you turn the brush roll on or off. An aggressive brush can scatter certain kinds of debris on bare floors, or even scratch certain types of flooring, so it’s helpful to be able to switch it off. Most plug-in vacuums (including the upright and canister models we recommend) have this option, though it’s less common among cordless vacuums.
If you don’t plan to clean rugs (or at least not very deeply), you can get a vacuum that’s purpose-built for cleaning bare floors. Most of these are “suction-only” models, without a brush roll (and some of these are dirt cheap). But a few of them use a specialty soft-fabric brush roll to help “hug” the debris toward the intake. Read more about the best vacuums for hardwood floors.
This bagged canister model is powerful, durable, and versatile. With the click of a switch, its universal cleaner head protects delicate hardwood floors.
High-pile carpets (like shag, frieze, saxony, cable, or long plush) pose a problem for some vacuums: The long fibers can tangle around the brush roller and/or block the intake, essentially choking the vacuum.
If you have any carpeting like that, and you want to clean it thoroughly, your best bet is to get a vacuum with an adjustable cleaning head—one that can rise or fall with the carpet height.
Alternatively, you can try to clean longer rugs by turning off the brush roll or turning down the suction (if your vacuum has those options). Read more about what makes a vacuum great on carpet.
This stylish, bagged upright vacuum has formidable cleaning power and is adjustable, versatile, and agile. It should last for a decade or two.
This bagged canister vacuum excels on bare floors and on carpets, and it has many adjustment options and useful attachments. It should last for the long haul.
For most people, a great handheld vacuum is the best tool for car cleanups. The powerful, quick-charging Ryobi 18V One+ Performance Hand Vacuum Kit is best for most routine car cleaning, and the Black+Decker Dustbuster Advanced Clean+ HHVK515JP07 is great if you need to clean pet fur. But if you want something lighter-weight and more comfortable to handle, opt for a handheld vacuum with an extendable hose: the Black+Decker 20V Max Lithium Flex BDH2020FL or the Worx 20V Power Share Cordless Vac WX030L. You'll sacrifice some suction and performance, though. Read more about the best car vacuums.
This model’s powerful suction, long runtime, and extra-large bin make short work of tidying up the car. Its build may make it difficult to reach under car seats, though.
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This model’s motorized brush makes cleaning up pet fur a breeze, especially on car upholstery. Its extendable crevice tool allows you to reach into most nooks and crannies.
This model’s extendable hose makes vacuuming a car’s nooks and crannies more comfortable. But it’s a weaker cleaner, has a short runtime, and takes a long time to charge.
This model has an extendable hose for easier cleaning, convenient on-board tool storage, a long warranty and replaceable battery. But its suction is weaker than our other picks, and it has a tiny bin.
Liam McCabe wrote a previous version of this article, first published in 2018. This article was edited by Ingrid Skjong and Courtney Schley.
We’re not sure, and we don’t think it matters. Suction is important, but it’s not the only thing that makes a vacuum great at cleaning. While suction lifts debris off the ground, airflow is also crucial for moving debris into the dustbin, and you need good brush-roll action to work the debris out of carpet fibers, too. Our overall favorite vacuum, the SEBO Felix Premium, had some of the best cleaning performance of all the vacuums we’ve tested.
It depends. On the one hand, bagless models have no recurring costs. On the other, bags can help a vacuum last longer by keeping debris out of hard-to-clean parts that will clog the machine and the motor over time. Air quality experts tend to advise that bags are better for people with allergies or asthma because they’re easier to throw out without spilling debris or kicking up a plume of dust. Bags will, however, need to be replaced several times a year, and if you have pets, they’ll tend to fill up faster, and the costs can add up.
Sometimes. Paying more for a vacuum can get you a much longer-lasting machine (if we’re talking Miele or SEBO vacuums) or it can get you more convenience and longer battery life (if we’re talking Dyson cordless sticks). In the cases of Miele and SEBO vacs and Dyson cordless sticks, you’re going to get excellent cleaning performance. If you pay more for a robot vacuum, you’re also more likely to be able to control its cleaning patterns, and to get a self-emptying dock. A lot of people are happy with vacuums that cost around $150, and some of them can last for many years.
Sabine Heinlein is a staff writer at Wirecutter. Her work has previously been published by The New York Times, The Guardian, Psychology Today, and many other publications. When she is not following her dream of an immaculate home and a flood-proof basement, she is taking care of her menagerie and creating magical animal quilts.
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rotating cleaning brush Wirecutter is the product recommendation service from The New York Times. Our journalists combine independent research with (occasionally) over-the-top testing so you can make quick and confident buying decisions. Whether it’s finding great products or discovering helpful advice, we’ll help you get it right (the first time).