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There are many reasons why you might want a vacuum cleaner under $100. It could be you’re on a tight budget. It could be you’re buying for a dorm room or small apartment. The first question on your mind might be whether a low-cost vacuum cleaner could be effective.
First, consider why a vacuum can cost well over $100. (Many stretch into the $400 range.) A pricey vacuum tends to have sensors that eliminate the need for manual control, a longer cord that automatically rewinds into place, and/or extra parts. Expensive vacuums are often made with advanced materials that cost more to manufacture.
A vacuum under $100 may perform just as well at picking up dirt as its costly cousins. Many are much lighter in weight, too, because they don’t have the bells and whistles of pricier vacuums.
There are plenty of low-cost vacuums that offer great value for the money. Some are bagged; others have bagless dust cups. Some are sticks; others have canisters. Our shopping guide helps you choose the best vacuum that has both pickup power and at least a couple other features to lighten your cleaning load.
Our favorite is the Eureka PowerSpeed Lightweight Powerful Upright Vacuum Cleaner, which comes with a pet turbo tool to quickly remove hair from all surfaces.
Editors’ Favorite
Type: Corded Upright| Capacity: 2.6 L | Weight: 10 lb
The Eureka PowerSpeed Lightweight Upright Vacuum offers a perfect combination of power and maneuverability. At just 10 pounds, this extremely lightweight vacuum is easy to move around furniture and other obstacles and even carry up and down stairs. However, it’s still powerful enough to deep-clean carpeting, offering five height-adjustment settings that allow it to easily transition between hard surfaces and carpet. It also has a wide cleaning path that can make your vacuuming more efficient.
The vacuum includes several accessories that improve its versatility. Pet owners love the pet turbo tool, a motorized brush that can remove hair and fur from any surface quickly and easily. The upholstery tool lets you clean furniture, while the crevice tool is perfect for getting between sofa cushions or into other tight spaces. It also comes with a dusting brush tool that works well for hard surfaces around the house.
We also love the Eureka PowerSpeed’s bagless design, which reduces maintenance costs considerably. The dust cup can hold up to 2.6 liters of dirt and debris, too, so you won’t have to stop too often to empty it. It also features washable foam filters that help reduce replacement costs.
Great Value
Type: Corded Upright | Capacity: 1 L | Weight: 10 lb
The Bissell CleanView Compact Turbo Upright Vacuum is a full-size model, but its compact design makes it easy to use and store. An ideal option for smaller homes, including apartments and even dorm rooms, it weighs just 10 pounds, so it’s easy to maneuver. It also offers onboard storage for its accessories, which can help save space.
Its compact design doesn’t mean that the CleanView Compact Turbo lacks power, though. It offers excellent suction and three height settings that allow you to effectively clean all the flooring surfaces in your home. It also features scatter-free technology, so you don’t have to worry about it sending dirt and debris flying on hard floors. Plus, a specialized turbo tool makes removing pet hair from furniture, stairs and other areas a cinch.
Increasing this vacuum’s versatility is its quick-release extension wand. It allows you to use the included accessories for vacuuming beneath furniture, as well as above-floor cleaning. In addition to the turbo brush, it has a dusting brush and a crevice tool attachment.
Best Handheld Vacuum under $100
Type: Handheld | Capacity: 0.6 L | Weight: 2.6 lb
It’s difficult to top the convenience of the Black+Decker Dustbuster AdvancedClean. Highly portable, it weighs under 3 pounds and offers a cordless design. Its 16-volt lithium-ion battery delivers strong suction power and up to 20 minutes of cleaning time per charge. It can remove dirt, hair and other debris from hard surfaces and carpeting, and you can easily carry it to your car or other areas for on-the-go cleaning.
We also appreciate how versatile the Dustbuster AdvancedClean is. It has a rotating slim nozzle that gives you better maneuverability when cleaning tight areas. It also features a pull-out crevice tool that allows you to clean hard-to-reach spots, like between couch cushions and along baseboards. The flip-up brush even lets you dust and clean upholstered surfaces.
For a handheld model, it also has a surprisingly large dirt bowl, which can hold 0.6 liters of dirt and debris. Its translucent design means you can easily see how full it is, too. You don’t have to worry about getting your hands dirty when emptying it, either, because you can dump it right into the trash can.
With so many vacuum cleaners under $100, finding models that deliver as much value as possible can be difficult. To identify the best vacuum cleaners under $100, we analyzed customer reviews from various online retailers to determine which models best lived up to expectations.
Specifically, we evaluated several key factors: their weight, how comfortable they are to use, their suction power, whether they are bagged or bagless, how easy they are to empty, and the number of attachments offered. Ultimately, we considered more than two dozen models and chose our favorite vacuums based on their cleaning performance, maneuverability and the convenience and ease of maintenance.
Stick: Stick vacuums are a lighter, more compact version of a traditional upright vacuum, but their slim design makes them easier to store. While some are corded, many are cordless, so you don’t have to worry about changing outlets while cleaning. However, their suction power is typically weaker than that of full-size vacuums, so they aren’t as effective for carpeting. Their dustbin capacity is also limited.
Upright: Upright vacuums are what most people think of when they hear the word “vacuum.” All their components are housed in a single unit, including the motor, the hose, the brush and the dirt bag or cup. They are corded and provide powerful suction that allows for deep cleaning, especially for carpets. They can be pretty heavy and sometimes difficult to maneuver, though.
Canister: Canister vacuums are also full-size, corded models, but instead of featuring all their components in one unit, their motor and dirt container are housed in a separate canister from the hose and brushroll. They offer excellent suction and can clean both hard surfaces and carpeting. The separate hose also allows for greater cleaning versatility. Canister vacuums can be bulky and difficult to maneuver, though, particularly for homes with multiple floors.
Handheld: Handheld vacuums are small, compact models that are usually cordless. They are highly portable, making them ideal for bringing right to a mess, such as crumbs in your car interior. However, their size means they have limited suction power and battery life and a smaller dustbin, so they’re not designed for deep cleaning or cleaning larger spaces.
A bagged vacuum sucks dirt into a bag, and the bag needs to be periodically changed. These bags contain larger particles, so the motor is protected. Bagged models are best for those who suffer from allergies, as the dust is contained. However, consider the costs that you’ll incur when buying new bags. Bagless vacuums have dust cups that need emptying, which could cause problems for those sensitive to dust. Larger dust particles may also circulate outside the dust cup and potentially become trapped in the motor, resulting in damage.
Most vacuums aren’t considered featherweight, but stick vacuums are the lightest in weight. Stick vacuums under $100 tend to weigh less than 10 pounds. They’re ideal for those with mobility issues. A vacuum that weighs up to 15 pounds is generally easy enough to carry up and down the stairs.
Vacuum cleaners clog, and that means you’ll have to play detective to find the trouble. Not every vacuum cleaner, regardless of how much it costs, is easy to take apart and put back together. Though you’ll find videos online to help you troubleshoot your particular vacuum, it helps to have a model that is somewhat intuitive to fix when it loses suction.
Regardless of whether you’re using a stick, upright, or canister, vacuum cleaners are notoriously noisy. However, stick vacuums tend to be the least noisy because they’re compact with smaller motors. If you want to be able to vacuum when everyone in the house is asleep, consider a stick model first.
A corded vacuum relies on outlet power, but on the plus side, a corded vacuum never runs out of juice in the middle of a cleaning. Corded models typically provide stronger suction power, too. With a cordless vacuum, however, you don’t have to bother with a plug, and you don’t have to worry about tripping over a cord while cleaning.
A HEPA filter traps tiny allergens that can’t be captured by regular vacuum filters. However, they can be more expensive to replace than non-HEPA filters.
You might prefer a vacuum with easily accessible foam filters that can be taken out and washed in the sink. This is ideal if you want a machine that’s easy to maintain. Fortunately, you can find packs of replacement filters for many lower-priced vacuums.
The average length of a vacuum cord is 25 to 30 feet. Most vacuums under $100 have this length of cord; anything less would prevent you from moving seamlessly around a room. Notably, you might not find the automatic retractable cord feature on a vacuum that costs less than $100.
A vacuum hose is meant to extend to help you clean underneath furniture and overhead, where cobwebs lurk. The average reach of an extended hose is 6 to 7 feet, though there are some that stretch greater than 10 feet. It pays to look for a vacuum under $100 with a long-reaching hose.
A budget-friendly vacuum might still have one or two attachments. An important one is a crevice tool, which helps you nab flotsam from ridges, corners, and between the cushions of your upholstered furniture. A brush attachment is ideal for loosening pet hair from upholstered surfaces.
A vacuum’s dust cup design is critical to ease of use. Bagless dust cups that empty from the bottom generally cause less mess. A dust cup that opens with the press of a button is nice, as you don’t need to wrestle it to empty it.
Since a low-cost vacuum typically won’t have a sensor to determine what type of flooring or pile it’s on, you’ll need to manually adjust the height of the head. If you don’t want to bend down to adjust the dial, look for a vacuum with a setting switch that’s easy to reach.
Some low-cost stick vacuums have folding handles. You can shrink down the appliance for better storage, which is ideal if you live in a small space. Other models have a removable handle and nozzle. This type of appliance can convert to a handheld vacuum.
A rotating brush gives pile carpets a deeper cleaning. However, it’s best to turn off this feature when vacuuming bare floors, as the spinning brush could damage bare flooring.
For as little as $25 to $50, you can snag a name-brand handheld vacuum. You’ll even find a few name-brand stick vacuums for about $30. Between $50 and $100, you’ll see more full-size upright and canister vacuum cleaners that you could potentially use as a main vacuum. Those closer to $100 have more attachments and a few more bells and whistles, such as a scented filter option or a pet hair removal brush.
A. A stick vacuum quickly cleans bare floors and low-pile carpets that need freshening up. You wouldn’t want to lug your regular vacuum around just to zap up a few stray hairs from your bathroom’s tile floor, but a stick vac is perfect for the job. Many stick models are cordless, which means they’re convenient to take around your home for quick pick-ups.
A. There is straight suction that simply draws debris into a bag, and there is cyclonic action that sucks and separates heavy dirt into a bin and minuscule specks into a filter. Cyclonic is a relatively new technology; it requires the vacuum’s fan to spin trapped air at a high rate of speed. There are dual-cyclonic and multi-cyclonic vacuums. You can absolutely find some cyclonic technology in inexpensive models.
