Is there such a thing as the best vacuum cleaner? Well, yes, but what you choose will depend on all sorts of factors. Do you live a large house with a pet or a small flat without one? Have you got to tackle more than one flight of stairs with your vacuum or can you keep a second vacuum cleaner upstairs? Looking for a do-it-all corded model for big cleaning jobs and a simple handheld cordless vacuum for quick clean up jobs?
Then there's brand preference: do you favour a bagless Dyson or rate Miele's technology? Whatever, it's clear that finding the very best vacuum cleaner for you is about choosing one (or more) that specifically suits your needs.
Most of them have been reviewed by our appliance expert and the rest rated based on multi-user reviews. Read on to find exactly what you need...
For a large house with a few pets, we highly recommend the . Simply the best vacuum cleaner for pets, its clever brush heads pick up all the hair our furry friends leave behind, without getting tangled up, and the motorised brush bar gets out stubborn dirt from muddy paws.
Unbeatable suction
This cylinder model from Dyson is a firm favourite with anyone who wants a quick but highly effective clean. The pneumatic cleaner head automatically adjusts to different floor types for the most efficient clean we have seen. The vacuum is preset to easy mode with a max mode for extra stubborn dirt, but our reviewer found the easy mode was more than enough – in fact, the suction was so good that it did take a little bit more of a push over carpets. However it brought carpets up looking good as new, so you can't complain too much about a bit of additional effort.
Great range of attachments
Stairs and furniture are easily cleaned with the right attachments. Rotating heads pick all manner of fluff and debris from surfaces and it has a turbine head for finer dust which is great for hard floors. The generous hose makes it easy to reach every nook and cranny.
Manouevrability
Dyson's signature ball makes this vac very easy to move. Although it is not the lightest, the compact design means it can be carried with ease – even up and down stairs which can be tough with a cylinder vacuum. If you do prefer an upright however, we also rated the highly which is the upright version of this machine.
An extremely impressive piece of kit, VAX's Blade 2 MAX has almost three times more suction power than any of their other cordless vacuums, and you can tell by the fact that it'll actually try to suck up your flooring while you're cleaning. You will love this if you are a fan of uprights but want something lighter and easier to use, without the hassle of wires holding you back.
Supreme clean
Ideal for those with pets or anyone who regularly finds their own hair scattered around the house, it has a special head designed to pick up every bit of dirt including leaves, bits of small paper and big crumbs. Our reviewer found it also tackled mud on a tiled floor with ease.
Quick and easy vacuuming
Not only does it perform well, it also has a light so you can see under your furniture while vacuuming. The head has a good range, so moving it around the home is a breeze. It does the stairs a treat and if you get the Cordless Pro kit you get all the attachments you need for furniture, crevices, blinds and upholstery.
Cordless pro
It does the job and more, and only needs three hours to charge, after which it will run for 45 minutes. In our opinion, this is the best cordless vacuum cleaner you can buy right now. It easily converts to a handheld too, which is great for cars and dust busting on the spot.
For a large, family home with a few pets, we highly recommend the . Its clever brush heads pick up all the hair our furry friends leave behind, without getting tangled up, and the motorised brush bar gets out stubborn dirt from muddy paws. Expect cleaning power comparable to the Dyson Big Ball Animal 2 above, but in an upright package instead of cylinder.
Powerful suction
This vacuum cleaner is a great all-rounder that delivers on hard flooring, carpet and stairs with ease. Our reviewer found it handled both normal and deep pile carpet, but did mention that the strength of the suction can make it an effort to push.
This vac handles mud and light debris without scattering it around, leading to a quick and thorough clean where muddy paws have been.
Tools
The Dyson Ball Animal 2 comes with a two-in-one tool for dust and cobwebs, a stair tool and a turbine tool that is tangle-free – perfect for handling all types of pet hair. The latter will help get fur (and other debris) off upholstery, too.
Ease of use
The cleaner head reaches right to the edges of the room. It is also low profile so it fits under furniture with ease. Its telltale ball means you can manoeuvre around obstacles with ease and the generous cord speeds up the process as you do not need to keep moving the plug to different sockets. The handle allows for ease of use in high corners and makes cleaning the stairs an easy job.
Expect an expert clean in bagless format from the . This vac shows that you don't have to join team Dyson to enjoy going bag-free and it is super easy to empty. It did not score quite as highly as the Miele Complete C3 in our review, but if you don't want to be tied to buying vacuum bags, it is for you.
Ease of use
As well as a great clean, this has been designed for a super easy clean, too. As with nearly all Miele vacuum cleaners the tools are stored in the body of the vac so you shouldn't lose them as you go. While it isn't the smallest of models (or the lightest), the unit is efficiently designed and won't take up too much space either.
You flip the foot control to adjust the brushes and the cable retracts at the push of a button so using the machine is quick and low-labour. It works really well on all surfaces, but like other super-suction models, you might want to turn it down to make carpet easier to clean.
Pet hair and allergies
Pet hair is no problem for the Miele Blizzard CX1 Cat&Dog. And, if you have a mucky pup you will be pleased with how it copes with dried mud, too. A lifetime HEPA AirClean filter (approved by Allergy UK) makes it a good choice for asthmatics or allergy sufferers, and while a bagless model can be a worry for these users, emptying the bin was mess-free. The model also has a self-cleaning function that can be activated when you've tackled a dust storm. The dust tank is also an impressive size for a bagless.
Manouevrability
Easy to move with a telescopic tube, people with back problems won't find this vacuum hard to use. However, it is on the weighty side, so if you have lots of stairs, you might prefer a lighter model – for a large bungalow though, it would be perfect.
If you want the freedom of a cordless vac with the power and style of your old upright, the cordless vacuum is for you.
A new breed of cordless
Most cordless vacuums come in stick format which some people find a little hard to get used to. They might be much lighter than your average vacuum, but you essentially have to carry them like a massive handheld. If you prefer an upright – something you can push – then this will really suit you. It can also be unclipped and, as the name suggests, you lift away the dust canister for use on stairs or those hard to reach places.
The style does make the unit heavier than most cordless vacuum cleaners, but it is at its heaviest when you have it in upright mode in which case you would be pushing it anyway.
Power and charging
The battery life is on the generous side for a cordless at 50 minutes. This gives you plenty of time to whizz around and you can buy a spare batter to charge while the other is in use. The power is impressive and it is surprisingly quiet.
Dust and hair busting
It also comes with a great range of tools and has a button to adapt from hard flooring to carpet. And as the name suggests, it is designed to work well on pet hair, either with the main foot, or the attachments. Our reviewer noted than longer hair did get tangled in the brush, but it can be easily removed.
Using the boost button does shorten battery time, but for keeping on top of dirt and fluff every couple of days, this won't be a problem. Just make sure you have a second battery charged for a deep clean. It has a light too that is great for illuminating pesky dust particles.
The has been a firm favourite on the cordless vac scene (it is a thing in our world, honest) for some time now. A healthy battery life and great suction, all in a neat and lightweight package make it perfect for speedy cleans.
Supreme clean
As well as high suction, the filter captures allergens with ease offering as thorough a clean as much larger vacuums. It has a good range of attachments and is well-designed for the car or spot cleaning so you could happily have it as the only vac for a small household, or a portable back-up in larger homes. That said, it holds it's own so as long as you have time to charge it (five hours a pop) it could replace your standard vac.
Lightweight
Whether you have a lot of stairs or mobility issues, this vacuum is suitably lightweight. Despite it being lightweight, the power, battery and dust capacity have not been compromised. The style also means it will clean all those high up corners and crevices with little fuss.
Max power
It is great in standard mode, but you will need to switch it to max power for tougher jobs. This gives it super suction but does result in a couple of drawbacks. Firstly, it cleans so well you find yourself emptying the bin and cleaning the filter very regularly. Secondly, max power does decrease the battery life so you can only use it in short bursts. This isn't a problem if you keep on top of grime every couple of days, but if you are more of a fortnightly/monthly deep clean kind of person, you probably shouldn't get a cordless.
While the does what it says on the tin (makes light work of multiple floor types) it reigns supreme on carpet. If you want a deep clean on all that pile, you will not be disappointed.
Conquers carpets
While this vacuum cleaner does a great job on all surfaces, if you have a lot of carpet this vacuum is a strong contender. The brush bar is on by default, perhaps showing a bias to carpet cleaning, but you can switch it off when you move to hard floors. Mud on carpet is no problem even on the preset mode, but you can whack it to max for anything really stubborn. Although it is not marketed for pet hair, it does a great job on that too.
Great range of movement
From the floor head that gets right to the skirting to the 9.4m cable, this vacuum has been designed to get everywhere with ease. It has just two extra tools (which can be fiddly to swap) but with one for the stairs and another that is a combo tool with brush and nozzle, it does everything you need without loads of extra bits of kit to mislay.
Our reviewer also described it as responsive, finding it very easy to manoeuvre. It is light and the handle on the slender body brings the machine close to your leg for carrying, but if you do have mobility issues or are shorter it might be a bit tall and unwieldy.
Tidy choice
The dust canister is amongst the most straightforward to empty – easy to detach and it's obvious what you need to do to open it. It also stores well. As mentioned before it has a small range of multipurpose tools and is a light and thin upright that tucks away well.
It might look like a standard upright vacuum cleaner, but the light weight and compactness of this is what sets it apart from the rest. It’s easy to lift up and down stairs, and has an extra-long hose and cord for those hard-to-reach places. This is the best vacuum cleaner for reach.
Ease of use
You can skip the lifting totally as the reach for this vacuum is 17m long. The attachment can be used to tackle the entire staircase, making it a perfect vacuum for those smaller or older, who don't want to lug about weight.
Say goodbye to plugging and unplugging your vacuum forever, as this one has an extra long cord, meaning you can do your house without changing sockets numerous times.
Deep clean for a lightweight vac
It also doesn’t lose suction across carpets or hard floors, so if you find a heavy cleaner hard to lift, but don’t want to compromise on cleaning power, this is an excellent choice.
While a robot vacuum cleaner might not replace your standard vacuum, if you like to do daily dust-busts or have a cleaner once a week, the is a good investment. Charging time is two and a half hours and battery life 40 to 90 minutes, but it returns to its dock when it needs more juice.
Super suction
The suction is really powerful on this robot vacuum and while it can't do stairs or clean your shelving, it will keep on top of everyday dirt a treat. The convenience of popping it on when you go out or while you are busy is matched by its cleaning power. Be it kitchen crumbs, or pet hair, you will return to a well-vacuumed space. The brush is the full width of the unit meaning it gets to the edges of floors with ease.
The drawback of this thorough cleaning power is that the dust tank will fill up frequently, so it is a good job it is easy to empty.
Mobility
Some robot vacuum cleaners can not be left to their own devices – they get stuck under things or run in to difficulties that remove the point of them being automated. However, the Dyson 360 Eye is great at mapping its space, rarely bumps into things and can even handle 2cm ledges. It is smaller than a lot of robot vacuum cleaners and have no trouble getting under furniture or between obstacles. If it does get stuck, it will call for help.
Perfect for the time-poor and single-level living
If we were to describe the person this vacuum is best suited to, they have plenty of money for a secondary vac (at over £700 it isn't an impulse buy), maybe a cleaner who comes weekly and very little time to do regular cleaning themselves. It is also a good buy if you live in a flat or bungalow where you can just set it off and know it will have your whole home cleaned in a short time. The battery life is impressive and it heads back to charge itself when needed so whether you use the app, Alexa, or a cleaning schedule to operate it the whole job is very hands off.
The deserves that plus mark with its lifesaving Clean Base to create the most hands-off robot vacuuming experience possible. It empties itself which is amazing, but it's cleaning power is pretty impressive too, handling all flooring (apart from shag rugs) and all debris (apart from feathers).
Clean Base
This robot vacuum cleaner not only cleans with little input from you, but also empties itself. When its dust tank is full, it returns to the Clean Base to unload the dirt into a bag in the base. This needs emptying by you but our reviewer found it held about 30 loads of dirt and in her six-week test, it took just two bags – even after having been used to clean every day.
Comprehensive cleaning
The criticism of most robot vacuum cleaners is that they can only really keep on top of light soiling and a bit of fur. This model handled all of the flooring types in our reviewer's home (from carpet to concrete) and also tackled the dust and dirt that has come with her ongoing renovation project. She set it to clean once a day while she was out and on the few occasions it got stuck it would message her for help. It also alerted her to a blocked tank – note to self, robot vacuum cleaners should NOT clean up bits of rubble.
While it could not get right into corners, it got all the way up to the skirting and the only hurdles (aside from ledges of course) it couldn't overcome were deep pile rugs and feathers stuck on carpets. Pet hair, dust and even lentils were no problem.
Easy to use
Setting the iRobot Roomba i7+ up is quick and simple. Plug in the base, fit the dust bag to the tank and connect the robot to your home Wi-Fi. It took our reviewer less than two minutes to get going.
The i7+ has great room mapping. After a few trips round the home it creates a virtual map of your home and allows you to select particular rooms for cleaning. It also has a Virtual Wall that can be used to create an uncrossable barrier between rooms, or for a halo effect when placed by pet bowls to keep the vacuum away.
It scores slightly less than the Dyson 360 Eye because the cleaning power and reach is not as good, but the has much longer battery life (two hours) and the dust capacity is better. As a second vac for busy homes, it is definitely worth the money.
Quick start
The vacuum is very easy to use. The first time takes minutes as you simply plug in the docking station, remove the tab from the battery and bin insert and press clean to begin. Charging will generally take three hours but it will always return to its dock before it needs more power so no returning home to find it abandoned in the middle of a room.
As well as the push-button operation, you can program it with the iOS or Android app or use smart assistants to control it by voice. Another option is to set up a cleaning schedule in the app – just be sure to pick any larger items up off the floor and tuck away cables which can get tangled in it.
Multi floor skills
The iRobot Roomba 980 can map your whole home to work out the most efficient route to take. There is a battery-operated virtual room gadget to keep it out of rooms you don't need it to clean and it will do its best to gently clean right up to walls and furniture. One thing it does really well is handle changes in surface. It automatically senses different flooring types, upping or lowering suction to clean carpet and hard flooring with ease.
A clever investment
There are quite a few robot vacuums out there ranging from less than £100 to several hundred. The iRobot sits at the higher end of the market, but of the robot vacuum cleaners we have tested so far we have definitely found you get what you pay for. This can't be your only vacuum cleaner – it won't do stairs, furniture, corners, cobwebs on ceilings (obviously) or upholstery – although it does keep on top of daily dirt with ease. You can't put a price on time better spent doing things you love with the people you love, but around £700 for a product that will free you up, with a healthy five-year guarantee, is a sound investment.
For households with different waking times, or anyone who’s sensitive to noise, this quiet-as-can-be is a fab buy.
Quiet but powerful
The insulated motor minimises noise whilst cleaning, and the cleverly designed EcoTeQ floor-head performs very admirably with just 700W of power, making it an energy-saver too. Miele's Complete C3 Silence EcoLine is without a doubt the best vacuum cleaner for quiet cleaning.
Long cleans and easy to use
The hefty 4.5 litre capacity means your worries about stopping to empty this beast are non existent. With plenty of storage space and three integrated accessories, it's ideal for vacuuming large areas.
Built to last
Like all Miele products, the C3 Silence Eco Line is tested for the equivalent of 20 years’ use, so you know you’re in safe hands.
This happy chap is a real classic, and it’s not hard to see why. The two-speed is reliable and powerful, quite unfazed by carpets or hard floors, and is easy to set up, use and store; making it the best vacuum cleaner if you're on a budget.
So user friendly
With specs like 620W or 1000W of power and a hefty 6 litre capacity, Henry is ever the under-rated wonder. Perfect for those who want a simple vacuum that just works and works well, it's a name you can trust to have your cleaning done in no time.
Expert cleaning on a budget
There is a reason Henry and his Numatic family are so widely used by professional cleaners. They can clean for hours and hours before they need emptying, and the bags are easy to fit and empty. The range or attachments is good too, so he’s an all-round brilliant buy for homeowners on a budget.
Quality
While we wouldn’t necessarily recommend him for those with mobility issues, as he can be a bit heavy to lug around, Henry is certainly built to last. This is a vac that will stand up to everything life throws at it and if you do a lot of DIY and need a heavy-duty buddy for dust busting, he's your man.
To easily suck up tiny particles of discomfort-causing allergens, look no further than this powerful .
Allergens beware
It’s on the more expensive side, but it’s certainly worth it for the effective filtration of dust, pollen and pet hair, and the HEPA filter that releases clean air back into the room. This is the best vacuum cleaner for allergies.
Perfect for anyone with allergies or for homes with small children, its 3-in-1 nozzle will take care of 99.9 per cent of dust, pet hair and pollen and ensure maximum dust pick up. What's more? With the help of its HEPA 13 filter, the vacuum releases cleaner air back into your home.
Easy to empty
The ergonomic dust bucket also allows you to dispose of debris cleanly, with its no-spill spout. For peace of mind when living with allergies, this is your best bet.
Manoeuvrability
It isn't the lightest cylinder vac on our list, but it is easy to pull around and the head has a good range of movement. It has an operating radius of 11m so you don't have to drag it around too much and it has a neat, compact cylinder which can be stored neatly.