Best Overall
Levoit VortexIQ 40 Cordless Stick Vacuum
- The suction level and performance impressed even the cordless vacuum skeptics among us and rivaled corded models we’ve tried.
The suction level and performance impressed even the cordless vacuum skeptics among us and rivaled corded models we’ve tried.
- It’s one of the heavier models on our list.
It’s one of the heavier models on our list.
This stick vacuum by Levoit received rave reviews during our tests for a variety of reasons. We found that it rivaled the best corded models we’ve tried in terms of suction power—an impressive feat for a cordless model that only weighs about 6 pounds. Even cordless vacuum skeptics will be convinced when they see how well the vacuum works.
We noticed that it picked up debris in seconds-dust, dirt, hair, coffee grounds, and cereal pieces were no problem for this model, whether we used it on hardwood or carpet (both high- and medium-pile). Though it’s not the lightest model we tried (in fact, it’s on the heavier side), maneuvering on stairs was pretty easy, and we loved how well the vacuum head got under the lip of each step and into the corners.
Though it comes with several accessories, the vacuum head was enough to get all the debris during our floor tests. It also quickly turns into a handheld model when needed—when used this way, we found that it cleaned upholstery in one swipe. We noticed no difference in suction power as its battery dwindled and the dust cup filled with hair.
The vacuum features advanced sensors that allow it to adjust the suction power depending on the amount of debris it detects, and the floor type. It also includes LED lighting to help you see into tight crevices and dark areas. Overall this is an intelligent, high-performing vacuum that comes at a very reasonable price. The battery life left a bit to be desired (it only ran for about 8 minutes on high) but we felt that was a reasonable tradeoff for such a great device.
Product Details: Weight: 6.6 Pounds | Battery Length (on High): 7 Minutes and 58 Seconds | Accessories: Telescoping Crevice Tool, 2-in1 Dust Brush, Charging Dock | Recommended Surfaces: Hard Floors and Carpets
Key Terms to Know
- HEPA Filter: High-efficiency particulate air filters are included in some (but not all) vacuums and indicate a superior ability to capture small particles such as dust and other allergens.
- BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / RACHEL MAREK
BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / RACHEL MAREK
Best Budget
Black+Decker PowerSeries Extreme Cordless Vacuum
- The battery life impressed us—it lasted for 45-55 minutes on a full charge.
The battery life impressed us—it lasted for 45-55 minutes on a full charge.
- It didn't perform as well on rugs and carpet as it did on hard surfaces, and it struggled with larger debris.
It didn't perform as well on rugs and carpet as it did on hard surfaces, and it struggled with larger debris.
The BLACK+DECKER Powerseries Extreme Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner impressed us with its battery runtime, effectiveness, and maneuverability, especially for the price. Though it struggled a bit with larger debris such as crumbs during testing, it worked well on finer debris like dust and pet hair.
While this isn't the most exciting model, it gets the job done well. It performed nicely on hardwood and tile, though it mostly pushed debris around when we tried it on our rugs. For that reason, we recommend it for homes with mostly hard surfaces. The furniture brush attachment also didn't impress us—it kept falling off.
Despite some performance struggles, we still reached for it often because it's just so lightweight and easy. We think it would make a great choice for a college dorm or small apartment because it doesn't take up much space. The battery life is also great; one charge would last for 45-55 minutes depending on settings used.
Product Details: Weight: 6.5 Pounds | Battery Length (on High): 45 minutes | Accessories: Crevice Attachment, Charging Dock | Recommended Surfaces: Hard Floors and Carpets
Best Suction
Tineco Pure One S11 Vacuum
- This stick vacuum has a long battery life of about 30 minutes on the highest setting.
This stick vacuum has a long battery life of about 30 minutes on the highest setting.
- It’s on the heavy side, making it potentially difficult to maneuver up stairs.
It’s on the heavy side, making it potentially difficult to maneuver up stairs.
This stick vacuum by Tineco received rave reviews during our tests for a variety of reasons. The battery lasted a whopping 31 minutes on high, and the vacuum was easy to slide under furniture and into corners with the appropriate attachments. The vacuum is made to work on both carpet and hardwood flooring and moves from one surface to the other smoothly.
We noticed that it picked up debris in seconds-dust, dirt, and hair were no problem for this model—but it did struggle with larger items like cereal pieces. And, at nearly 6 pounds, it’s quite heavy. Still, unless you’re prone to spills or have a home with lots of stairs, the benefits likely outweigh the cons. We found that the accessories were easy to attach, it quickly turned into a handheld model when needed, and there was no significant difference in suction power as its battery dwindled. At its loudest the vacuum’s sound was around 84 decibels (compare this to the 60-70 decibels you can expect from the average conversation, according to Yale University).
Then there are the tech features for the gadget lovers out there. An LED light at the base of one brush illuminates hard-to-see messes, and there is an option to connect your vacuum to an app that keeps track of battery life and filter replacement schedules. Bells and whistles aside, this is one of the best options simply because of how well it performs (it cleaned one of our living rooms in around a minute). Another bonus: we appreciated that it was the easiest to set up and had the battery already attached to the motor.
Product Details: Weight: 5.84 Pounds | Battery Length (on High): 31 Minutes | Accessories: LED Soft Roller Power Brush, Mini Power Brush, 2-in-1 Dusting Brush, Crevice Tool | Recommended Surfaces: Hard Floors and Carpets
- BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / HENRY WORTOCK
BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / HENRY WORTOCK
Best for Carpet
Miele Cat and Dog Vacuum
- This model is capable of removing deeply-embedded hairs in carpet, even on the lowest setting.
This model is capable of removing deeply-embedded hairs in carpet, even on the lowest setting.
- It’s harder to maneuver on high power due to the force of the suction.
It’s harder to maneuver on high power due to the force of the suction.
While this Miele vacuum is pricey, we were incredibly impressed with its ability to eliminate hair from high pile carpet, making it our pick for best cordless vacuum for carpets. As a pet vacuum, it’s especially adept at catching hidden hair from cats and dogs that other vacuums might miss—the LED light on one of the attachments was especially helpful in catching missed strands on dark carpets.
While it does work on hardwood floors, carpet, and upholstery, it didn't catch hair as well on non-carpet flooring during our lab tests, although it did easily suck up larger messes like popcorn kernels. During our long-term testing, however, we were impressed with how well the vacuum transitioned between carpet and hard flooring.
As for battery life, it lasts just under 12 minutes on high and 33 minutes on the lower settings, far less than the manufacturer's 60-minute runtime claim. We found that it actually functioned better on the lower or eco modes, as the high setting could produce such forceful suction that the vacuum became harder to maneuver. As a testament to how well this performed on carpet, it removed hair that was deeply pressed into the carpet threads on those lower settings, too.
If you haven’t deep cleaned your carpets in a long time, expect to empty the canister multiple times, and be prepared to wrestle with the hair that gets wrapped around the filter. This was the biggest downside we found, as emptying the canister was not intuitive, which became frustrating very quickly during long-term testing. Overall, we found that it cleaned a living room in 2 minutes and 40 seconds.
Product Details: Weight: 8 pounds | Battery Length (on high): 11 minutes and 57 seconds | Accessories: Crevice Nozzle, Dusting Brush, Upholstery Nozzle, Electric Brush, Multi-floor Electric Brush | Recommended Surfaces: Hard Floors, Carpet, and Upholstery
- BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / HENRY WORTOCK
BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / HENRY WORTOCK
Best for Hard Floors
Dyson Omni-Glide Cordless Vacuum
- The swivel head makes cleaning in corners and around furniture much easier than with a typical vacuum.
The swivel head makes cleaning in corners and around furniture much easier than with a typical vacuum.
- A small dust canister means you might find yourself emptying it more often than you’d like.
A small dust canister means you might find yourself emptying it more often than you’d like.
Dyson vacuums are well-known for good reason. This model stood out during testing as the best choice to use on hard floors. A lightweight option at only 2.5 pounds, it works on hardwood floors and grout tiles with similar ease, getting rid of hair, popcorn kernels, and other messes in under a minute.
Stairs were also no issue: The Dyson Omni-Glide+ worked as smoothly and quickly on the stairs as it did on flat surfaces. And after months of regular use, we've never noticed a scratch on our hardwood floors.
One of its greatest attributes is its swiveling head, which worked wonders around corners and furniture when we tested it. The Dyson has a shorter battery life of 8 minutes and 29 seconds on high and lasts around 21 minutes on lower settings. While testing the vacuum for three months, we cleaned our home's entire first floor almost every day and never ran out of battery during operation.
Its biggest challenge is its smaller dust canister and the shorter battery life, but the ease of cleaning more than makes up for it. In fact, during our long-term testing, vacuuming became part of our daily routine, so we didn't mind emptying the canister after each use. Please note that this vacuum is only for hard floors, not carpet, so you will need a separate vacuum for carpet and rugs.
Product Details: Weight: 2.52 pounds | Battery Length (on high): 8 minutes 29 seconds | Accessories: Cleaner Head, Mini Motorized Tool, Combo Crevice Tool, Light Pipe Crevice Tool | Recommended Surfaces: Hard Floors
- BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / HENRY WORTOCK
BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / HENRY WORTOCK
Best for Pet Hair
Tineco Pure One Pet Vacuum
- A clever LED display removes the guesswork by telling you exactly when an area is clean.
A clever LED display removes the guesswork by telling you exactly when an area is clean.
- Features like app connectivity bring up the price point and might not be necessary for the average user.
Features like app connectivity bring up the price point and might not be necessary for the average user.
If you have pets, there are two things you’ll need to clean up often: hair and food. The Tineco Pure One model is the best choice for both of those jobs, and has plenty of fancy upgrades that make it an impressive option.
Perhaps the most essential feature that makes it a must for pet clean-up is a lever that allows you to remove hair trapped around the filter (a common problem with most vacuums on this list) without having to touch it. A mini power brush to clean hair out of pet beds and couches makes it clear this was designed with cat and dog owners in mind.
An LED light attached to the brush head combined with the option to lay the vacuum completely flat make it possible to get everything underneath the couch for once, including those balls of hair and dust that seem to magically end up there. There are thoughtful touches that, while not must-haves, are nice additions, such as a magnetic filter removal and an app with tracking capabilities and product support. That said, these features make this a pricier option.
Finally, the LED screen lets you know when your job is done, glowing red when there’s unseen dirt and hair left in the area you’re working on, blue when it's all clear. Since pet hair can be quite hard to see with the naked eye, this feature is especially appreciated.
Product Details: Weight: 6.8 pounds | Battery Length (on high): 12 minutes | Accessories: Mini Power Brush, 2-in1-Dusting Brush, Crevice Tool | Recommended Surfaces: Carpet, Hard Floor and Upholstery
- BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / DERA BURRESON
BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / DERA BURRESON
Best Battery Life
Innova Cordless Stick Multi-Surface Vacuum
- The brush is designed to prevent hair from tangling and clogging up the vacuum.
The brush is designed to prevent hair from tangling and clogging up the vacuum.
- The handle is not the most comfortable to hold.
The handle is not the most comfortable to hold.
The battery life alone (23 minutes and 30 seconds) makes this one of the best options, but there are some additional unique features that helped this Eureka multi-surface model stand out to us. It has a motorized pet brush to remove hair from upholstery, and the main brush is specifically designed to prevent hair tangles, a convenience and a welcome perk not seen in the other models.
No hairs got stuck after completing the job on hardwood and carpet during testing, which served as a point of frustration for other vacuums. The vacuum also worked better moving forward than it did backwards, but functioned reasonably well on every surface tested.
It works faster than many of our models, cleaning a living room in 2 minutes and 8 seconds, and it performs well around corners and furniture. The biggest drawbacks are the handle, which we found uncomfortable, and the vacuum’s tendency to push larger pieces of debris into corners. It’s also heavier, around 8.14 pounds, so keep that in mind if you think you’d prefer a lighter option.
Product Details: Weight: 8.14 pounds | Battery Length (carpet/hardwood setting): 23 minutes and 30 seconds | Accessories: Motorized pet hair attachment, crevice tool, 2-in-1 dusting/upholstery brush | Recommended Surfaces: Carpet, Hard Floor and Upholstery
- BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / HENRY WORTOCK
BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / HENRY WORTOCK
Best for Cars
Black + Decker Flex Handheld Vacuum
- The 4-foot hose and crevice tool make it perfect for getting into every nook and cranny.
The 4-foot hose and crevice tool make it perfect for getting into every nook and cranny.
- It’s small and works better for upholstery than floors.
It’s small and works better for upholstery than floors.
We were incredibly impressed by this Black + Decker’s ability to suck up all the dirt, dust, debris, and hair that tends to build up in a car. The features are made for detail work; there’s a 4-foot hose that helps you reach underneath the seats, a crevice tool to get between cushions, and the lightweight build makes it easy to hold and maneuver while you clean.
We also liked how easy this was to clean out and were impressed by how much the canister held, cutting down on the need to empty it repeatedly during the process. We didn’t have any issues with decreasing suction as the battery ran out—another feature that makes this the best choice for your car, since you won’t have easy access to an outlet for charging.
While it does have a floor head, this is better suited for upholstery, and could also work for getting rid of pet hair on your couch or carpeted stairs.
Product Details: Weight: 3.2 pounds | Battery Length: 8 minutes | Accessories: Pet hair brush, floor head, 2-in-1 crevice brush | Recommended Surfaces: Carpet, Hard Floor and Upholstery
- BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / DERA BURRESON
BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / DERA BURRESON