The Best Home Vacuum Cleaner

The best vacuum cleaner for the home is a versatile, easy-to-use tool. The ideal model will be quiet, light and efficient.

This suction model is a great value at a bargain price, with an effective anti-hair wrap floorhead and an odor-neutralizing puck. It comes with a bin that is easy to empty.

1. Power

A powerful vacuum cleaner can effectively manage household debris and help to keep the mess under control. It should be able to clean any mess, whether it is a pile of dog hair or a kitchen drain that is clogged. It should also collect fine dust and prevent the growth of bacteria, ensuring clean and healthy air quality. Selecting the best model for your needs will depend on factors like the type of floor, household size and budget. The most popular models are uprights, portable handhelds, lightweight sticks, and convenient robots.


The Black+Decker Flex Vac is a lightweight handheld vacuum that has an impressively powerful performance. It can remove pet hair and larger particles easily, making it ideal for households with multiple pets or large homes. It also features an easy-to-empty debris container that helps avoid messy cleanups. The vacuum can also be used as a mop, allowing users to do two tasks at once.

Think about a large upright or canister-corded vacuum for homes with a lot of furniture. These models are equipped with stronger motors with a motorized floorhead, and can tackle embedded carpeting and tough dirt. They're also available with different power modes for varied suction and a longer battery life. If you or anyone in your household suffers from allergies it's a good idea for you to choose a vacuum that has a HEPA filter system.

2. Flexibility

The best vacuum cleaners can handle many chores around the home, from dusting to deep-cleaning carpets. They are typically lightweight and easy to maneuver. They should also come with several attachments to meet your needs.

If you have pets, consider a vacuum designed to handle hair from pets. These vacuums typically have an exclusive brush that takes pet hair from the main floorhead and directs it into the dust container so it does not clog the brush roll or wrap around it.

Some of the top vacuums have smart features, that can be integrated with your home systems or adjust to different floor types and dirt levels. This is especially important for people who have allergies, as these features can prevent fine debris from recirculating in the air.

Vacuums can be expensive, but the most effective ones are on sale several times per year during major events, such as Black Friday and Amazon's Prime Day. There are also sales during the spring season, when retailers schedule sales to coincide with the annual spring cleaning of customers.

The life expectancy of a vacuum can be different according to the model and the type of use it is put through. However, most of our top-rated picks last an average of eight years. If you want yours to outlast your competition, choose one with an extended guarantee.

3. Easy of Use

A vacuum cleaner should be easy to maneuver and use, even during a longer cleaning session. This means a light, compact body, convenient attachments and controls, as well as an ample bin that doesn't require frequent emptying. This ease of use is possible due to many options, including motorized power heads that clean carpets and rugs more effectively with a tall and wide floor head to reach under furniture as well as rotating nozzles for corner cleaning, and LED lights which illuminate the pathway.

For instance our top choice in this category, the Shark Stratos cordless vacuum, was a breeze to move and required the least amount of battery power during our tests. It also features an automatic adjustment of suction and it has a sleek LCD display that has a battery indicator and the ability to switch between Auto, Eco and boost modes.

The Stratos also took in kibble, ground coffee and flour effortlessly in our tests. It handled low-pile carpet well cleaning up rice and sand in just a few passes. It also comes with a soft front brushroll to capture fine particles and prevent pet hair from spitting back out, as well as a rigid rear brushroll that sinks into carpeting.

The budget-friendly Kenmore Elite sucks up wet spills and messes that can be found on hard floors thanks to the power of its dual brushroll design, yet it's still lightweight enough to carry up and down stairs, and across a house without breaking sweat. It's also less maintenance-intensive than many upright models with the HEPA filter that's easily removable, as well as a dust bag that can be replaced once it's fully stuffed.

4. Versatility

The Levoit is a very versatile model that can handle the majority of cleaning tasks. It isn't equipped with the advantages offered by more expensive models, but it does have a number of key features that ensure it is suitable for daily use. It has a variety of cleaning modes that can vary suction power and battery runtime (including Eco) as well as an 8-foot hose for reaching above floors, and a large easy-to-empty dust container.

The brush roll is designed to collect and suction up hair without wrapping the bristles around it, making it a great choice for households with hairy pets or humans who shed a lot. The results of tests conducted on it showed that it could manage a variety of debris including low-pile carpet and hard floors. It also took out sand, rice, and Cheerios.

The Miele Flex Vac is a versatile cordless vacuum that also has impressive power. It was particularly effective at sucking pet hair, and also picked larger particles, like cereal. However, it had trouble with more caked-on debris like car dust. It comes with a variety of attachments, including a motorized power-nozzle that can quickly remove pet hair and dirt from upholstery.

5. Battery Life

A quality vacuum cleaner for your home should last at least an hour before it needs to be recharged. For a cordless model that's important because it allows you to tackle cleaning sessions without stopping and restart the process.

Shark Stratos cordless vacuum is our top choice. It has an extended battery life and a powerful debris pickup. The three cleaning modes Eco, Auto and boost, allow you to control the power to allow you to clean longer without draining the battery too fast. The vacuum comes with an elegant LCD display that shows whether there's a blockage, how much time you have left and your battery status.

This model is ideal for homes with pets as the no-tangle brushroll is effective in removing pet hair. It also excels in tackling dirt and dust. However, it has a difficult time to remove small particles such as flour from floors that are hard and cannot remove coffee grounds from carpeting.

Tineco Floor One S7 Pro can also handle spills that are wet. It is a bagged model that has features like an iLoop sensor which detects dirt, spills, stains and dirt. It also has self-cleaning which dries out the brush roll. It also offers superior edge cleaning that allows you to get to corners and baseboards. The battery can last for 40 minutes, which is more than any other model we test.

6. Cleaning is easy

The top vacuum cleaners make it a breeze to clean up mess. The Levoit LVAC-200 is a light compact vacuum cleaner, but powerful. In our standard tests, it pulled everything from kibble and ground coffee to dog hair. The dual brushroll design captures pet hair as well as other debris, without spitting it out or wrapping it around the cleaner's head to keep it free of obstructions. Its motorized tool is able to pull embedded pet hair from upholstery, even in difficult-to-access places.

Another highlight is the Shark Stratos Cordless, which easily handled pet hair as well as other debris in our tests. The main floorhead comes with a soft brushroll designed to catch dust and other debris. The secondary floorhead, with its rigid bristles can reach deeper into carpeting to tackle larger messes. robot vacuum cleaner cheap is large and easy to empty.

If you have a lot of carpeting in your home, you may need to consider an upright that is full-size or a canister vacuum with a beater to get a deeper clean. Or, opt for a versatile wet-dry vacuum that can handle both floors and messes made by food or water, such as the Miele C3 Cat and Dog or the Henry Hoover. These vacuums are able to handle an array of household debris from small dust to large-scale messes. They may come with more advanced features than the handhelds listed on this list.