After going through an intensive research process to narrow down our short list of top products in this space, we tested most of our top five to be sure that these products are worth your time. Guided by experts, we spend hours looking into the factors that matter and test to verify manufacturer claims.
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Robot vacuums are one area in which the 21st century has somewhat aligned with "Jetsons"-style predictions. In the last few years, they have become widely available at a variety of price points, from budget models to feature-packed robots that avoid obstacles, mop your floors and empty their own dustbins.
Not only can the best robot vacuums turn this common household chore into something easy and convenient, but they also free up your time, so you can relax. You can schedule automatic cleanings or ask your smart speaker or smartphone to start your vacuum while you're on the couch or on vacation.
The BestReviews Testing Lab tested more than 30 robot vacuums. We evaluated them on performance, ease of use, smart capabilities and build quality. We ran tests on carpet and hardwood flooring, checked their ability to move from one surface to the other and examined their overall navigation. We paid special attention to how well they sucked up pet hair and cat litter. Finally, we assessed how easy they were to clean and maintain.
Many popular brands have introduced extensive robot vacuum lines that vary in price, feature set and performance. While mopping, self-washing and high-priced models with extensible arms get all the attention, we still think a practical model like the iRobot Roomba 105 Vac + Self-Empty is the best choice for most people.
Editors Favorite
Battery life: 200 min | Dimensions: 13.2” L x 13.2" W x 4.1” H | Dustbin capacity: 0.38 L | Weight: 6.24 lb | Mapping: Yes | Self-emptying: Yes | Voice commands: Yes | Mopping: No
iRobot’s Roombas were the original consumer robotic vacuums, so much so that the word “roomba” has become almost genericized. The company’s been through some turbulence over the last few years, but they still make Roombas, and the Roomba 105 Vac with Auto Empty is one of them.
A practical everyday model, the Roomba 105 with Auto Empty is a vacuum-only robot with some 7,000 Pa of suction pressure, much more than Roombas of the past. This increased suction combines with a single bristle brush roller instead of the dual rollers of Roombas past. The Roomba 105 also brings LiDAR navigation to all levels of the Roomba lineup, so say goodbye to the bump-and-turn semi-random movements of earlier models.
The Roomba 105’s self-empty dock holds about 75 days’ worth of dirt, while the robot itself has a 380-milliliter dust bin. It uses LiDAR to map and navigate and offers improved edge and corner cleaning over its predecessors. Battery life is good at 200 minutes.
Best Bang for the Buck
Battery life: 120 min | Dimensions: 13.9” L x 13.8" W x 4.1” H | Dustbin capacity: 1 L | Weight: 15.3 lb | Mapping: Yes | Self-emptying: Yes | Voice commands: Yes | Mopping: No
Shark has always had a strong presence in the robot vacuum space, and we’ve tested several of them in the past. For a low-cost option that’s still full of features, we recommend trying the Shark AI Ultra robot vacuum with voice control and a self-empty dock.
The Shark AI Ultra is a vacuum-only robot with around 2,000 to 2,500 Pa of suction. It features Shark’s PowerFin brushroll with flexible ribs between the bristles to cut down on hair tangling. It uses LiDAR navigation to map and move around your home, and can detect and avoid obstacles around 4 inches tall (the height of its LiDAR turret). It has 120 minutes of battery life per charge, but automatically tops itself off if it runs low like most robot vacuums. It responds to Alexa and Google Assistant and can be set up for Siri as well.
One innovation present in the Shark AI Ultra is Shark’s Matrix clean, which makes the robot clean a floor in a crosshatch pattern to go over each spot at least twice from perpendicular directions, enhancing the cleaning effectiveness over a single parallel pass or random navigation. The Shark AI Ultra comes with a bagless self-empty dock that can hold about 60 days’ worth of dirt.
Best Balance Between Price & Performance
Battery life: 189 min | Dimensions: 13.9” L x 13.78" W x 3.8” H | Dock capacity: 2.7 L | Weight: 25.57 lb | Mapping: Yes | Self-emptying: Yes | Voice commands: Yes | Mopping: Yes
Roborock has become the top robot vacuum brand with its feature-packed clean-and-mop models. The Roborock Qrevo Series QV 35A is one of the most value-packed Roborock models, balancing impressive high-end features with a comfortable price and ease of use.
The Roborock QV 35A is a combo vacuum-and-mopping robot with LiDAR navigation and a self-empty, self-wash dock. It packs some 8,000 Pa of suction paired to collect dust and debris agitated free by its single brushless roller. Like other Qrevo models, it boasts two circular mopping pads that spin at 200 rpm to scrub hard floors. We tested an earlier Qrevo model and can vouch that spinning mop pads remove stubborn dirt more effectively than other types of robot mops. The QV 35A’s mop pads lift 10 millimeters to keep them away from rugs or short-pile carpet.
The QV 35A’s dock has a capacity of 2.7 liters, with bags to help limit dirt coming loose during emptying. It also refills the robot’s water tank and washes and dries the mop pads in between cleanings. Battery life is around 189 minutes.
Best Autonomous Robot Vacuum
Battery life: 180 min | Dimensions: 13.9” L x 13.78" W x 3.1” H | Dock capacity: 2.7 L | Weight: 9.04 lb | Mapping: Yes | Self-emptying: Yes | Voice commands: Yes | Mopping: Yes
What if you’re looking for a sophisticated cleaning robot that needs as little guidance as possible? To go beyond the basic, consider the Roborock Saros 10R. This premium model showcases some of the cutting-edge advances in home robotics made over the last couple of years.
The Roborock Saros 10R is a combo vacuum-and-mopping robot with an all-in-one docking base. It boasts an impressive 22,000 Pa of suction force, comparable to a full-sized upright or canister vacuum, and dual mopping pads that spin at 200 rpm. Its dock is a wonder, not only holding seven weeks’ worth of dirt, but also refilling the robot’s mop tank with warm water and detergent, cleaning the mop pads, even detaching the mop pads by itself when necessary.
The autonomy of the Saros 10R extends to the robot itself. Roborock’s StarSight navigation uses dual LiDAR combined with three-dimension time of flight (ToF) sensors to actively identify and navigate around thousands of possible objects and obstacles, and does away with a top turret to allow it to slip under low-profile furniture. Its FlexiArm tech allows the side brush and mop pads to extend into corners or along walls for a deep clean, while its AdaptiLift chassis allows it to lift itself over thresholds as high as an inch and a half. It can even recognize and track down your pets for you to say hello to when you’re away.
Best Budget Autonomous Robot Vacuum
Battery life: 200 min | Dimensions: 13.9” L x 13.8" W x 3.9” H | Dock capacity: 3 L | Weight: 11.7 lb | Mapping: Yes | Self-emptying: Yes | Voice commands: Yes | Mopping: Yes
Top-end features don’t necessarily come with top-end prices. The Ecovacs Deebot T50 Max Pro Omni is a cleaning robot with a surfeit of impressive technologies that lets it operate with as little input from you as necessary.
The Deebot T50 Max Pro Omni is a mop-and-vacuum combo robot with a self-empty multipurpose docking station. It offers 18,500 Pa of suction power and, according to Ecovacs, moves 34 cfm of air, using increased air flow volume to maximize its cleaning ability per charge. Its single, tangle-resistant fin-and-bristle roller comes with a detachable comb to keep hair accumulation under control, and it uses rotating mop pads that can lift up to 18 millimeters above the surface to keep rugs dry. The pads and side brush also extend for a more thorough edge and corner clean.
The T50 Max Pro Omni uses object recognition to navigate around obstacles, minimizing the need to tidy up before cleaning, with a front-mounted sensor to give it a sleeker profile. Its dock holds 90 days of dirt and washes, dries and refills the T50 automatically.
Best Robot Vacuum for Pet Hair
Battery life: 180 min | Dimensions: 13.9” L x 13.78" W x 3.8” H | Dock capacity: 2.7 L | Weight: 25.7 lb | Mapping: Yes | Self-emptying: Yes | Voice commands: Yes | Mopping: Yes
Cleaning up pet hair is one of the most sought-after jobs for any robot vacuum. The Roborock Qrevo S5V does the job with enhancements to its roller and side brush that collects more hair while keeping it from getting tangled up in the works.
The Roborock Qrevo S5V combo mop-vac robot uses a floating rubberized roller to pick up dirt and pet hair from flooring surfaces. Its bristle-free, split-sided design helps keep pet hair looser and more accessible than bristle brushes, and channels the hair more neatly into its suction path, where 12,000 Pa of suction force takes care of the rest. The side brush’s arms are served like a spiral, also cutting down on hair wrap. With this system, the Qrevo S5V claims 100% hair removal.
The Qrevo S5V has spinning pads for mopping that also extend for edge and corner cleaning. Its dock stores seven weeks of dirt and holds enough water for over 3,500 square feet of mopping, while also washing and drying the mop heads automatically. It navigates with LiDAR and has 180 minutes of battery life.
Best for Hard Floors
Battery life: 200 min | Dimensions: 13.9” L x 13.9" W x 3.86” H | Dock capacity: 4 L | Weight: 11.7 lb | Mapping: Yes | Self-emptying: Yes | Voice commands: Yes | Mopping: Yes
Mopping is a chore that’s become a favorite to pass on to a robot vacuum. The Ecovacs Deebot X9 Pro Omni adds a special trick to its mopping repertoire by being able to clean and refresh its mop attachment in the robot itself, no re-docking needed.
The Deebot X9 Pro Omni mop-and-vacuum robot has a rotating roller mop that spins at 220 rpm at multiple times the pressure of non-roller mops. The mop roller is designed to wring itself clean and refresh with new water as it spins, minimizing the reuse and spread of absorbed dirt. The X9 Pro Omni’s AI also prioritizes hard floor mopping, detecting the dirt level of the mop roller and automatically mopping again if needed.
For vacuuming, the X9 Pro Omni uses Ecovacs’ BLAST high-volume airflow and V-shaped split roller to pick up and remove dirt from all kinds of flooring and carpeting. The X9 Pro Omni has a low-profile silhouette thanks to front-mounted navigation sensors, so it can get under furniture. Its multipurpose dock cleans, washes, dries and refills the mop while storing 4 liters of collected dirt. It has a battery life of around 200 minutes, so it’s sure to get everything cleaned in one go.
Best Robot Vacuum and Mop Combo
Battery life: 128 min | Dimensions: 13.3" L x 13.3” W x 3.4” H | Dustbin capacity: 0.4 L | Weight: 7.35 lb | Mapping: Yes | Self-emptying: Yes | Voice commands: Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri Shortcuts | Scheduling: Yes
The Roomba Combo j7+ robot mop and vacuum is as close to hands-off cleaning as we achieved in our testing. It combines a powerful robot vacuum and a robot mop into a single device and comes with a self-emptying dock to boot. With its retractable mopping pad, it can go from vacuuming carpet to mopping hardwood on the same cleaning run.
To best use both the Roomba Combo j7+’s functions, we recommend doing a full mapping run prior to cleaning. In our tests, the Combo j7+ took 54 minutes to map five rooms on the same floor, noting which areas were carpeted and which were hardwood or laminate.
During cleaning, the Combo j7+ ran for 128 minutes on a single charge, the longest of any of the models we tested. It'll tackle 350 square feet in about an hour, returning to the base to empty its bin roughly 70 minutes after cleaning. It moved from carpet to bare floor without a hitch and performed well in particle and spill testing, although it needed a few extra passes to fully clean some cat litter and cereal.
Like its non-mopping siblings in the Roomba “j” series, it did very well with pet hair, removing a visible amount without any getting tangled in its twin rollers. When it came to mopping, it removed a stuck-on stain on the hardwood with ease, and it left no residue after mopping up spills.
With keep-out areas, zone cleaning and smart-assistant compatibility, the Roomba Combo j7+ is an all-in-one cleaning machine that earns a rating of 4 out of 5 from our testing.
Read more: iRobot Roomba Combo j7+
We surveyed the market for robot vacuums and noted the best and most popular brands. We used experience and knowledge gained during a past round of robot vacuum testing in our Testing Lab to inform our selections. Factors we considered included:
Consider investing in a robotic vacuum cleaner if any of the following apply.
A robot vacuum’s suction power is often measured in Pascals or Pa. This measure is far from the complete story of cleaning efficiency for a robot vacuum, but it’s a quick shorthand that can help you choose a model for your cleaning needs. Suction power has increased since the early days of robot vacuums; an older Roomba had significantly less than 1,000 Pa of suction, while some high-end models offer more than 20,000 Pa. Look for a starting value of at least 5,000 Pa of suction for a current robot vacuum.
The other factor in a robot vacuum’s cleaning effectiveness is its roller element. Like the beater brush on a human-operated vacuum, the roller’s job is to loosen and agitate dirt from floors or carpet and lift it to where the robot’s suction can pull it into its dust cup. In our past testing, we found that dual rollers were more effective at pickup than single rollers even at low suction levels, but single rollers have become more common to go with higher levels of suction force. Rollers may have bristles, fins or both. Hair is more likely to tangle around bristles, so look for finned rollers if pet hair is a big concern. Some budget robot vacuums don’t have rollers at all and rely completely on suction and side brushes.
When they were first introduced, robot vacuums were notorious for wandering around semi-randomly and bumping into walls or furniture. While this cleaning method was more effective than it looked, more orderly cleaning patterns quickly came to market. Today’s robot vacuums mostly use LiDAR (light detection and ranging) to make their way around a room. A turret or window shoots invisible lasers that build a map of the space for the robot vacuum to remember, while object recognition allows it to find and avoid obstacles, such as socks, cords, pet messes or children' s toys, that once would have confounded earlier robot models.
Consumers have embraced robot vacuums that have self-emptying docks or docking stations. Where once you’d have to manually empty the robot vacuum’s onboard dust cup, nowadays many robots have docks equipped with vacuums themselves to suck out the collected dirt and store it for weeks before needing to be emptied. Self-empty docks may be bagged or be bagless and, if the robot features a mop, also hold water and do maintenance routines.
One of the most avoided of manual chores, mopping has become a killer feature for robot vacuums. Early combo robots had rudimentary pads that simply dragged along a surface, removing dust but unable to tackle either spills or stubborn dirt.
Today’s combo vacuum-and-mop robots have mopping elements that spin or rotate to dig into dirt and stains, and pair with multifunction docks that wash and dry the pads plus refill the robots with clean water and fresh solution. Look for the RPM (revolutions per minute) for spinning or rolling mop pads and how easy it is to refill, clean and dry the mopping elements on a robot vacuum. Look also for how much the mopping element can lift, so that the robot won’t drag a wet or dirty mop on top of carpet.
A robot vacuum needs regular cleaning to stay in peak condition.
Every week or so, check its rollers for pet hair and other tangles and clean its sensors and wheels. For most robot vacuums, this involves simply turning the robot on its back and opening an access panel to its roller brushes. Remove the roller and cut or untangle string, pet hair and other debris. Clean the compartment containing the rollers as well. Replace the rollers when you’re done.
Use a soft microfiber or lint-free cloth to clean any sensor windows on your robot vacuum, including cliff sensors, IR receivers, camera windows and laser ports. Check the wheels and axles for debris.
Every so often, unscrew the side brushes if possible and check for debris in the axle. If possible, rinse the dirt bin in warm water, and replace the dust filter when recommended.
Robot vacuums cost more compared to a standard upright vacuum. That said, the prices of vacuums can vary. Generally, the higher the price, the more features you have and the more cleaning power you’ll get.
The most affordable robots cost under $200. Less-expensive robotic vacuum cleaners feature more basic cleaning options (think low-pile carpet, minimal messes and smaller living rooms) and may lack mopping and self-empty dock features found in costlier models.
Between $200 and $800, you’ll find the best entry-level and mid-priced models of well-known and dependable robot vacuum manufacturers, including iRobot, Roborock, Eufy and Shark. Pricier robotic vacuum cleaners tend to have better navigational abilities. If you want something that responds to voice commands, offers powerful suction, includes mopping and a self-emptying dock, and stands out for its navigation system, look in this price range.
What would you get for a $2,000 vacuum cleaner? A refined cleaning experience on all fronts, mostly from better corner and edge performance, wider brushes, more powerful suction, scheduling and zone options, and fully automated multifunctional docks. Some high-end models feature advanced AI object recognition and can even function as pet cams. You may balk at spending this much on a vacuum cleaner, but the savings in time and effort are worth it.
Though highly convenient and useful, there are some potential downsides to robotic vacuums that you should be aware of before you buy one.
Robotic vacuum cleaners are generally much more expensive than upright vacuum cleaners. Even a budget robot vacuum can cost as much or more than a high-end upright vacuum cleaner.
The price difference is due, in large part, to convenience: You don’t have to run the vacuum yourself.
It also has to do with the advanced features offered, such as Wi-Fi connectivity, smart mapping and compatibility with a voice assistant.
Robotic vacuum cleaners can get stuck. Even the smartest models aren’t as smart as you are, and they can jam under couches or get confused in a cluttered room, bringing a cleaning session to a halt.
In other words, you could come home to an unvacuumed living room and a jammed robot vac that needs some “help” extricating itself from a tight situation.
Though more powerful than a cordless stick vacuum, robotic vacuum cleaners lack the powerful suction of a traditional upright. You simply can’t get a super deep clean with a robotic vacuum.
We recommend using it often in combination with a traditional vacuum for heavily soiled areas or on dense surfaces like high-pile carpet and even medium-pile carpet.
Robot dustbins require more frequent emptying than upright vacuum dustbins. This is because they simply aren’t very big. More and more robot vacuums come with self-empty docks as standard, but eventually you’ll need to empty those as well.
A. The biggest advantage is that you can set it and forget it. A robot vacuum can be set up to clean whenever and wherever it’s necessary without needing any effort from you, other than giving a voice command, tapping a button on your phone screen, or setting up a schedule.
A. It depends on whether the vacuum you choose can clear said furniture. If your couch is high enough off the ground, a robotic vacuum should have no problem getting beneath it to clean. The advent of LiDAR-based navigation made it common for robots to have little turrets jutting out of the top. These turrets could interfere with passing under furniture. Some models, however, have their sensors front-mounted, allowing them to fit under furniture. If a robot vacuum thinks it can fit under a piece of furniture, but actually can’t, it might keep trying until it’s wedged in tight and has to call for help. This can happen when low-profile furniture is on high-pile carpet.
A. Many robot vacuums offer spot cleaning. They might even have specific spot-clean modes that can be activated from the unit itself or from a remote or app. To use spot clean, it’s recommended you physically place the robot next to the mess to be cleaned. It will then run a cleaning pattern focused on the area without continuing on to a different part of the room.
