Keeping your floors clean shouldn’t feel like a chore, but with the wrong tool, it totally can. That’s why finding the right vacuum cleaners is such a game-changer for your home. A good one makes quick work of dust, pet hair, and those crumbs that seem to appear from nowhere, turning a dreaded task into a simple few minutes.
We’ve tested a bunch of the latest models to cut through the noise. This review will break down which ones actually deliver on their promises, so you can spend less time pushing a clunky machine around and more time enjoying your spotless space. Let’s find your perfect match.
Product Comparison Table: 11 Best Vacuum Cleaners
| Image | Why We Like This Product | Editor’s Rating | |
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Shark | Upright Vacuum Cleaner | Navigator Lift-Away |…
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9.8 |
Read Review |
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Shark Upright Vacuum, Navigator Lift-Away Deluxe with Large Dust…
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9.7 |
Read Review |
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Eureka Lightweight Powerful Upright Vacuum Cleaner for Carpet and…
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9.5 |
Read Review |
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Bissell CleanView Compact Turbo Upright Vacuum with Quick Release…
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9.4 |
Read Review |
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Shark Upright Vacuum, Stratos with DuoClean PowerFins, HairPro, Powered…
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9.2 |
Read Review |
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Shark NV352 Navigator Lift Away Upright Vacuum, Hepa Filter,…
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9.1 |
Read Review |
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Dyson Ball Animal 3 Upright Vacuum, Corded, 290AW, De-tangling…
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8.9 |
Read Review |
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Eureka NEU10AE5 Powerful Bagless Upright Vacuum Cleaner Carpet and…
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8.8 |
Read Review |
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Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Allergen Lift-Off with Powerful Suction,…
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8.6 |
Read Review |
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Amazon Basics Upright Bagless Vacuum Cleaner for Carpet and…
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8.5 |
Read Review |
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Bissell CleanView Compact Upright Vacuum, Fits in Dorm Rooms…
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8.3 |
Read Review |
Quick Review For Top 11 Vacuum Cleaners
Shark | Upright Vacuum Cleaner | Navigator Lift-Away | Swivel Steering | HEPA Filter | Vacuum for Pet Hair | Crevice Tool & Dusting Brush Included | For Carpets & Hard Floors | White/Silver | NV356E
The Shark Navigator Lift-Away NV356E upright vacuum cleaner is designed to be a versatile and powerful cleaning partner for your home. Its core feature is the innovative Lift-Away functionality. With a simple release, you can detach the pod from the main body. This lets you easily carry a lightweight, powerful vacuum to clean stairs, upholstery, or even your car interior, making above-floor cleaning much less of a chore.
Maneuverability is a key strength of this model.
The swivel steering provides exceptional control, allowing you to glide smoothly around furniture legs, into tight corners, and through cluttered spaces with minimal effort. You won’t be constantly bumping into things or wrestling with the vacuum to get where you need to go. This agility is complemented by the brushroll shutoff feature. For deep carpet cleaning, the brushroll is engaged. When you move onto hard floors like wood or tile, you can instantly shut it off.
This prevents debris from being scattered and protects your delicate floors from any potential scratches.
For households with pets, this vacuum is particularly effective. It is engineered to pick up pet hair, loose debris, and embedded dander from both carpets and upholstery. The anti-allergen complete seal technology works with the included HEPA filter to trap 99.9% of dust and allergens inside the vacuum, so they aren’t released back into the air you breathe.
Shark Upright Vacuum, Navigator Lift-Away Deluxe with Large Dust Cup Capacity, HEPA Filter, Swivel Steering, Upholstery Tool & Crevice Tool, Blue, NV360
The Shark Navigator Lift-Away Deluxe NV360 is an upright vacuum designed to handle a variety of cleaning challenges in your home. Its core strength is powerful suction that effectively pulls dirt from both carpets and bare floors, making it a versatile choice for multi-surface cleaning.
A key feature of this model is its Lift-Away functionality.
The main pod detaches from the vacuum’s body, allowing you to carry a lightweight, powerful unit to clean stairs, furniture, or under low-clearance spaces like beds and sofas. You don’t have to drag the whole vacuum around. Combined with the swivel steering, this vacuum is highly maneuverable. It easily navigates tight corners and around furniture legs with minimal effort on your part.
For households with pets, this vacuum is particularly relevant.
It comes with specialized attachments like an upholstery tool that helps you lift pet hair from couches, curtains, and car interiors. The powerful suction ensures most hair is captured efficiently. The brushroll shutoff feature is another useful tool; you can deactivate the rotating brush for gentle cleaning on hard floors, preventing scattered debris.
Air quality is addressed with Anti-Allergen Complete Seal Technology.
Eureka Lightweight Powerful Upright Vacuum Cleaner for Carpet and Hard Floor, PowerSpeed, New Model,Blue,black/New Model
The Eureka PowerSpeed Lightweight Upright Vacuum Cleaner is designed to be a straightforward, effective tool for keeping your carpets and hard floors clean. This new model in blue and black combines significant cleaning power with easy maneuverability, aiming to simplify your routine.
At its core is an Upgraded Cyclone System.
This new technology is built to handle everything from larger debris to microscopic dust, working to trap 99.9% of dust, dander, and allergens inside the vacuum. For carpets, the powerful suction is meant to penetrate deep and extract embedded dirt that often gets left behind. Yet, despite this strength, the vacum remains lightweight, so pushing it around your home doesn’t become a chore.
It adapts to different surfaces with 5 height settings.
You can adjust it for plush carpets, shag rugs, or bare hard floors. The wheels are designed to run smoothly on hardwood to help prevent scratches or gouges as you clean. This makes it a versatile option for homes with mixed flooring.
For cleaning beyond the floor, the PowerSpeed includes several handy accessories. A quick-release handle connects to a stretch hose for above-floor tasks. You also get a 7-inch crevice tool, a dusting brush, and an upholstery tool.
Bissell CleanView Compact Turbo Upright Vacuum with Quick Release Wand, Full Size Power, Compact Size for Apartments & Dorms, 3437F
The Bissell CleanView Compact Turbo Upright Vacuum with Quick Release Wand, 3437F, is designed for smaller living spaces that still demand a serious clean. If you’re in an apartment, dorm, or just have limited storage, this model aims to give you the power of a full-size vacuum without the bulk. It’s a straightforward tool meant to simplify a routine chore. Weighing just ten pounds, it’s notably lightweight.
This makes it easy to carry up stairs, maneuver around tight corners, and pull out from a closet without a struggle. Despite that compact size, Bissell has engineered it for full-size power. The suction is strong, tackling embedded dirt in carpets and rugs effectively. It’s a practical balance: you don’t have to sacrifice performance because your square footage is limited. A key feature for many is the Scatter-Free Technology.
When you switch to cleaning hard floors like tile, laminate, or wood, this technology helps contain the mess. It aims to suck up crumbs and debris directly into the vacuum path instead of blowing them across the room. This means you spend less time chasing dust bunnies around and more time actually cleaning. The Quick Release Extension Wand is another thoughtfully included tool.
Shark Upright Vacuum, Stratos with DuoClean PowerFins, HairPro, Powered Lift-Away, Self-Cleaning Brushroll, & Odor Neutralizer Technology, Navy, AZ3002
The Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum, model AZ3002 in Navy, is designed to tackle the most common and frustrating cleaning challenges in modern homes. Its core promise is powerful, versatile cleaning with a specific focus on pet hair and allergens, all while trying to make the process more convenient for you.
At its heart, this vacuum features ultra-powerful suction, which Shark states is there best for picking up hair. This power is directed through the DuoClean PowerFins HairPro system.
Instead of a single brushroll, this uses two. One brushroll has soft bristles for hard floors, while the other has firm fins for carpets. They work together to dig deep and directly engage different surfaces, aiming to grab all dirt, debris, and hair in a single pass without you needing to switch modes.
Dealing with pet hair often means dealing with two big annoyances: hair wrap and odors. The Stratos adresses both.
Its self-cleaning brushroll is engineered to pick up long hair and pet fur without it tangling and jamming the mechanism. Meanwhile, the built-in Odor Neutralizer Technology works to guard against bad smells that can develop inside the dust cup over time, helping to keep your home smelling fresher not just look cleaner.
For whole-home cleaning, the Powered Lift-Away feature is key. You can lift the entire pod away from the floor nozzle while the motorized brushroll keeps running.
Shark NV352 Navigator Lift Away Upright Vacuum, Hepa Filter, Anti-Allergen Technology, Swivel Steering, Ideal for Carpet, Stairs, & Bare Floors, with Wide Upholstery & Crevice Tools, Lavender
The Shark NV352 Navigator Lift Away Upright Vacuum is designed to be a versatile and effective cleaning partner for your entire home. Its core feature is the innovative Lift-Away functionality, which lets you detach the main pod from the upright body with a simple click. This means you can easily carry a powerful, self-contained vacuum unit to tackle stairs, upholstery, and other above-floor areas without lugging the whole machine.
At the heart of its cleaning power is the Anti-Allergen Complete Seal Technology. This system works in tandem with a HEPA filter to ensure that dust, dander, and allergens it picks up are trapped inside the vacuum. It’s a key feature for maintaining better air quality in your home as you clean, which is especially helpful for households with allergy concerns. Speaking of concerns, this model is also perfect for pets.
The included wide upholstery tool is specifically great for lifting embedded pet hair from sofas, chairs, and car interiors. Maneuverability is a standout point. The swivel steering allows the vacuum to pivot smoothly around furniture legs, into corners, and through cluttered spaces with minimal effort. Combined with its lightweight design, it makes cleaning under and around things much less of a chore. You also have precise control over the cleaning surface thanks to the brushroll shutoff.
Dyson Ball Animal 3 Upright Vacuum, Corded, 290AW, De-tangling Motorbar Cleaner Head for All Floors, 3 Suction Modes
The Dyson Ball Animal 3 Upright Vacuum is designed for homes that see a lot of activity, especially those with pets. Its core promise is powerful, hassle-free cleaning, and it builds on that with several specific features aimed at making the job more effective and less of a chore.
At its heart is a 290AW motor, which Dyson states delivers the best cleaning performance of any upright de-tangling vacuum.
This power is channeled through Pioneering Radial Root Cyclone technology, a system that increases suction to pull in fine dust and larger debris. A key concern for many is hair wrapping around the brush bar. The Motorbar cleaner head adresses this with de-tangling technology that automatically clears wrapped hair as you clean, saving you from having to cut it away manually.
You have control over that power with 3 suction modes.
These let you select the right setting for different tasks: one for deep- and medium-pile carpets, another for low-pile carpets and picking up larger debris, and a mode optimized for hard floors and ground-in dirt. Maneuvering a powerful vacuum should’nt be difficult. The iconic Ball technology is central here, allowing you to navigate around furniture and obstacles with a simple turn of the wrist for precise movement.
This model is engineered for larger homes with pets.
Eureka NEU10AE5 Powerful Bagless Upright Vacuum Cleaner Carpet and Floor, AirSpeed Ultra-Lightweight Vacuum Cleaner, w/ Replacement Filter, Blue
The Eureka NEU10AE5 Powerful Bagless Upright Vacuum Cleaner is designed to make cleaning less of a chore. It’s a versatile machine that tackles both carpets and hard floors with a strong, consistent suction power. You won’t need to make multiple passes over the same area. The 10.5-inch wide cleaning head covers more ground with each sweep, helping you finish your floors faster and with less effort.
It’s particularly good at pulling up embedded dirt and stubborn pet hair from carpet fibers, leaving a clean path behind it. One of the best things about this vacuum is its incredible lightweight design. At just 7.7 pounds, it’s easy to carry up and down stairs or move from room to room without feeling like a workout. When you’re done, its compact shape tucks away neatly into a closet corner or a small storage space.
You don’t have to dedicate a special spot for it, which is a real advantage in smaller homes or apartments. Cleaning above the floor is simple, thanks to the quick-release handle. Just detach it from the main body and attach either the included crevice tool or dusting brush. This lets you clean ceiling corners, window sills, upholstery, and other tricky spots without needing a separate handheld vacuum.
Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Allergen Lift-Off with Powerful Suction, HEPA, Tangle-Free Brush Roll, 39883
The Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Allergen Lift-Off 39883 is a vacuum cleaner built specifically for homes with pets. It tackles the two biggest headaches: stubborn pet hair and the allergens that come with it. This isn’t just about cleaning your floors; it’s about creating a cleaner environment for you and your pets. At its core, this vacuum delivers POWERFUL SUCTION. That means dirt, embedded fur, and dust bunnies don’t stand a chance when you run this over your carpets.
But strong suction alone isn’t enough on hard floors, which is where the SCATTER-FREE TECHNOLOGY comes in. It helps prevent the vacuum from blowing debris around, so you clean it up in one pass instead of chasing it across the room. The specially designed TANGLE-FREE BRUSH ROLL is a game-changer for anyone who’s ever had to cut hair wrapped around a vacuum roller. It’s built to resist tangles from hair and fur, saving you time and frustration during cleanup and maintence.
For air quality, the HEPA SEALED ALLERGEN SYSTEM is crucial. It traps dust and allergens inside the vacuum, sealing them in so they aren’t released back into the air you breathe. This is a key feature for reducing irritants and keeping your home’s air feeling fresher. When the tank is full, you’ll appriciate the XL 1L TANK CAPACITY. The Easy Empty dirt tank is designed for a quick, mess-free release with just one touch, so you can get back to cleaning.
Amazon Basics Upright Bagless Vacuum Cleaner for Carpet and Hard Floors, With Crevice and Upholstery Tools, Detachable Handle, Lightweight (8.4 lbs), 1.7L Dust Cup, 720W, 25ft Cord, Black/White
The Amazon Basics Upright Bagless Vacuum Cleaner is designed to be a straightforward, effective solution for keeping your carpets and hard floors clean without complicating the process. Its core appeal lies in its simplicity and practical design, focusing on the features that actually matter during everyday cleaning. A major highlight is its EASY MANEUVERABILITY.
Weighing just 8.4 pounds, this vacuum feels noticeably light in your hand, making it easy to push around furniture and carry up stairs. The generous 25-foot power cord means you can cover a significant area from a single outlet, reducing the hassle of constantly unplugging and searching for a new one. You won’t feel like your wrestling with a heavy machine halfway through the job. For VERSATILE CLEANING, this model includes helpful attachments right out of the box.
The crevice tool is perfect for getting into tight corners along baseboards or in between couch cushions, while the upholstery tool lets you quickly refresh fabric surfaces on stairs, chairs, or your car interior. The handle detaches easily, converting the main unit into a portable spot cleaner for above-floor tasks, adding to its flexibility around the home. You’ll appreciate the LARGE CAPACITY DUST CUP.
Bissell CleanView Compact Upright Vacuum, Fits in Dorm Rooms & Apartments, Lightweight with Powerful Suction and Removable Extension Wand, 3508
The Bissell CleanView Compact Upright Vacuum, 3508 is designed for life in smaller spaces. If you live in a dorm room, apartment, or just have limited storage, this vacuum understands the assignment. Its compact size means it tucks away easily in a closet or corner without taking up your valuable floor space. But don’t let the small footprint fool you—this machine packs a serious punch when it comes to cleaning power. One of it’s standout features is the powerful suction.
It pulls dirt and debris from both carpets and hard floors efficiently, giving you a convenient all-in-one clean. The Scatter-Free Technology is a game-changer for hard surfaces. It helps contain the mess instead of blowing it around, so you spend less time chasing dust bunnies across the room. Whether it’s cereal crumbs in the kitchen or tracked-in dirt by the door, this feature helps you get it in one pass. Maneuverability is another big plus.
Weighing less than eight pounds, the CleanView Compact is lightweight and easy to carry up stairs or from room to room. It glides smoothly around furniture legs and under low-clearance spaces like beds or sofas, making the whole process less of a chore. When you need to reach a cobweb in a corner or clean under a couch, the removable extension wand is right there. It adds versatility without adding bulk to the main unit. Emptying the vacuum is straightforward, designed to keep things simple.
Vacuum Cleaners Buying Guide
Finding teh best vacuum cleaners starts with identifying your primary surface type. Do you have mostly plush carpet, sleek hardwood, or a mix of both? Your answer will point you toward the right machine, saving you time and frustration. Let’s look at the key factors to consider.
Surface Type & Suction Power
That thick carpet isn’t just a floor covering; it’s a dirt trap. It needs a vacuum with strong suction and a motorized brush roll to pull out embedded debris. For hard floors, you want excellent suction but often a setting that turns *off* the brush roll to prevent scattering dust. Canisters often excel here, while an upright might be a carpet champion.
Weight & Maneuverability
Think about your home’s layout. Are there lots of stairs or tight corners? A heavy upright can be a workout, while a lightweight stick model glides easily. But remember, lighter sometimes means less powerful or shorter battery life. It’s a trade-off between convenience and deep-cleaning muscle.
Filtration & Allergens
If you sneeze at the mere thought of dust, filtration is your top priority. A vacuum with a HEPA filter can trap 99.97% of fine particles, keeping them locked inside the bin instead of blowing them back into your air. This feature is a game-changer for allergy sufferers, making cleanup actually feel clean.
Bagged vs. Bagless Models
Here’s a classic debate. Bagless models let you see the dirt collected and save you from buying replacements. However, emptying them can be a dusty affair. Bagged vacuums tend to hold more debris and contain dust better when you dispose of the bag, but you have an ongoing cost. Which inconvience is worse for you?
Frequently Asked Questions About Vacuum Cleaners
What’s teh difference between an upright and a canister vacuum?
Upright vacuums are all-in-one units good for carpets. Canister vacuums have a separate tank and wand. They’re often more maneuverable for stairs and furniture. Think about your main floor type to choose.
Is a bagged or bagless model better?
Bagless models let you see the dirt and avoid buying bags. But, emptying them can be dusty. Bagged vacuums tend to hold more debris and seal it away better, which is great for allergies. It’s a trade-off between convenience and cleanliness.
How important is the suction power?
Very important, but it’s not the only thing. A good seal and brush roll matter just as much for deep cleaning. Look for a model with strong, consistent suction that doesn’t loose power easily on different surfaces.
Do I need a vacuum with a HEPA filter?
If you have allergies or asthma, yes. A true HEPA filter traps tiny particles like pollen and pet dander. It keeps them from blowing back into your home’s air. Not all “HEPA-type” filters are the real deal, so check the specs.
Are cordless stick vacuums powerful enough?
For daily clean-ups and hard floors, modern ones are excellent. Their power has improved alot. But for deep cleaning whole homes with lots of carpet, a corded model often still has more stamina and power.
What features are worth the extra money?
Consider a headlight for dark corners, easy-to-empty bins, and a long cord. For homes with mixed floors, a vacuum that automatically adjusts height is very handy. Don’t pay for features you won’t actually use.
How often should I maintain my vacuum?
Check the brush roll for tangled hair and strings every few weeks. Empty the dust cup or change the bag before it gets completely full. Wash or replace filters as the manual says. A clean vacuum works much better.
Conclusion
Choosing teh right vacuum is about making your daily life a bit easier. It’s a tool that should work for you, not the other way around. Think about what you really need from it. A good match means less time cleaning and more time for the things you enjoy.
We hope this guide helps you see your options clearly. Remember, the best vacuum cleaners are the ones that fit your home and your routine. Take your time, consider what matters most to you, and you’ll find a great partner for keeping your space fresh and clean.