Who wants to vacuum? No one! That’s what robot vacuums are for. Vacuuming is one of the most loathed household chores. Sure, it doesn’t carry the ick factor of cleaning the toilet or the tedium of dusting, but pushing and dragging a noisy, cumbersome vacuum is its own kind of torture.
Robot vacuums don’t have unwieldy cords or hoses to contend with, and they require little effort from you: You can run one from your couch using a physical remote or smartphone app, and the higher-end models can be programmed to wake up and start cleaning without any intervention at all. Robot vacs easily dispose of the most common household detritus—food crumbs, pet hair, dust—making them ideal for both routine maintenance and quick cleanings when you’re expecting company.
Our top pick isn’t the most expensive model on the market, though it’s price tag is up there. If you’re working with a more modest budget, we have a strong recommendation in that category as well.
Updated March 3, 2023 to add a link to our Dreametech H12 Pro review. This is a wet/dry stick vacuum/mop combo, not a robot vacuum, but we’re bringing it to your attention because it’s a great complement to those appliances when you need to clean up big messy spills on hard flooring.
Best robot vacuums for every budget
iRobot Roomba j7+ — Best robot vacuum overall
Pros
- Category-leading obstacle detection/avoidance
- Excellent mapping capabilities, with definable rooms and no-go zones
- Top-notch cleaning performance
Cons
- Precision Navigation feature depends on ambient light
- Self-emptying dock adds $200 to the Roomba j7 model (which comes with a conventional charging dock)
Price When Reviewed:
$799.99
The Roomba j7+’s excellent cleaning performance and sophisticated obstacle recognition makes it an excellent option for most households, particularly if your pet is prone to accidents. Yes, this robot vacuum is smart enough to recognize pet poop on the floor. It won’t pick it up for you, but it will navigate around it instead of making a regrettable mess an unmitigated disaster.
Read our full
iRobot Roomba j7+ review
Roborock S6 Max V — Best robot vacuum overall, runner-up
Pros
- Can recognize, identify, and avoid common obstacles
- Vacuums as well as mops
- Can create multi-floor maps
Cons
- Its onboard camera can’t detect very small objects
- Can struggle to “see” objects in low light
- Pricey
When a manufacturer builds one device that’s designed to perform more than one function, you all too often end up with a product that’s a jack of all trades, but a master of none. That wasn’t the case with Roborock’s vacuum/mop hybrid, and this update version features stereo cameras that enable the device to avoid obstacles like shoes and power strips that will trip up robots with simpler navigation systems.
Read our full
Roborock S6 MaxV review
iLife A4s Pro — Best budget-priced robot vacuum
Pros
- Simple controls
- Multiple cleaning modes
- Powerful suction
- Budget price
Cons
- No advanced navigation features
- Doesn’t create maps of your home’s interior
This robot vacuum blends powerful suction with straightforward controls, an approach that kept its price tag less than $200 when we first reviewed it. It’s current street price is now less than $150. This vac doesn’t create sophisticated maps of your home’s floorplan, so you’ll need to deploy its battery-powered ElectroWall to prevent it from going into rooms where it could get in trouble. But one person’s perks are another person’s pain points, and if you prize simplicity and competence in your technology, the iLife A4s Pro will make you very happy.
Wyze Robot Vacuum — Best budget robot vacuum, runner-up
Pros
- Includes laser mapping and room customization
- Three suction levels
- Advanced features at a budget price
Cons
- Easily gets stuck under low-slung furniture
- Can’t be controlled with voice commands (Alexa or Hey Google)
- No specialty cleaning modes
Price When Reviewed:
$249.99 when reviewed March, 2021. Price as of May 3, 2022: $274.99 (plus shipping)
Wyze delivers a raft of top-shelf features not typically available in budget robot vacuums. Its LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensor, for example, enables it to build an editable floor map of your space. That’s typically a perk of robot vacuums in the $400 to $800 range. Same goes for its ability to section that map into multiple rooms and dispatch the vacuum to any one of them. Yes, it costs more than the iLife A4s Pro, but you get a whole lot more vacuum for the money.
Read our full
Wyze Robot Vacuum review
DreameBot L10s Ultra — Most sophisticated robot vacuum
Pros
- Mops as effectively as it vacuums
- Cleans itself
- Excellent navigation and obstacle avoidance
- Lots of cleaning customization options
Cons
- Requires extensive periodic maintenance
- Expensive
Price When Reviewed:
$1,299.00
Dreametech now surpasses all other competitors with the most sophisticated robot vacuum on the market. The Dreamebot L10S Ultra not only vacuums with 5,300Pa of suction, its twin mopping pads forcefully scrub hard-surface flooring as effectively as a manual stick mop. It also eliminates the daily maintenance chores of empty a dustbin (its onboard dustbin empties into a large bag in its base station), and it scrubs clean–and then blow-dries with heated air–it own mop pads. While not maintenance free–you’ll eventually need to replace that dust bag, empty its dirty water bin, and refill its clean water bin–this vacuum frees you from two chores that must be performed much more frequently: Vacuuming and mopping.
Read our full
DreameBot L10s Ultra review
Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra — Most sophisticated robot vacuum, runner-up
Pros
- Vacuums and mops, switching between the two modes without much human intervention
- Empties its own dustbin and dirty water tank, refills its own water tank
- Creates detailed 2D and 3D maps of your home’s interior
- Its onboard camera can be used like a roaming security cam
Cons
- Oversized base station consumes a lot of floor space
- Some of the app’s advanced mapping options are available only on late-model iPhones
- Pricey
Price When Reviewed:
$1,399.99
Roborock’s S7 MaxV Ultra delivers a lot of features: It not only empties its own dustbin–an increasingly common feature on high-end robot vacs, but it also cleans itself and its mopping cloth, refills its water tank when needed, and creates 2D and 3D maps of your home’s interior. You can even use its onboard camera as roaming security camera to see and hear what’s going on inside your home while you’re away.
Read our full
Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra review
Yeedi Vac Station — Best robot vacuum for pet hair
Pros
- Mops and vacuums
- Self-emptying dustbin
- Creates customizable maps
Cons
- Navigation can be clunky
- Maps are primitive
The Yeedi Vac Station automates vacuuming and mopping for easier maintenance of carpeted and hard-surface floors.
Read our full
Yeedi Vac Station review
Frequently asked questions about robot vacuums
How much does a robot vacuum cleaner cost?
The convenience robot vacuums provide come at a cost: As much as $1,400 at the high end, with many of the best models running no less than half that. To help you determine which ones are worth the expense, we tested models from some of the most popular brands in a real-world lab: my home, where the floors are punished daily by two kids, three cats, and a dog.
I tasked each one with vacuuming a 400-plus square-foot space that includes low-pile carpet, hardwood flooring, and linoleum that was regularly littered with food crumbs, pet hair, tracked-in dirt, stray cat litter, and other debris. To maintain the real-world environment, each model also had to contend with random floor clutter during several cleanings.
Be aware even the most premium robot vacuums are a supplement, not a substitute, for your stand-up vacuum. Despite manufacturer claims, most just don’t have the same suction power of an upright. Think of them as an easy way to maintain your floors in between deeper cleanings with your current vacuum.
How do robot vacuums operate?
Fundamentally, the robot vacuums in our guide all operate the same way: They autonomously maneuver around your home on a couple of wheels suctioning debris from your floors. Two to four brushes on the bottom—both rolling-style agitators and spinning side brushes—grab dirt from the floor and wall edges respectively, and guide it into the suction area or direct it straight to a small, filtered dustbin. When cleaning is complete, or their battery is running low, they return themselves to their charging dock. But just how they get the job done can differ across manufacturers and models.
How do you control a robot vacuum?
Autonomy puts the “robot” in “robot vacuum.” Virtually all models include an “automatic” mode that requires you to do nothing more than press a button on a remote, in an app, or on the vacuum itself to clean a room. This is great for ad-hoc cleaning, but most models can also be programmed to clean on a schedule. The latter scenario is great if you want them to work when you’re not home, or to create a regular cleaning routine. Some higher-end models also integrate with smart speakers, such as the Amazon Echo and Google Home, which allows you to control them using voice commands.
Do robot vacuums have different cleaning modes?
Just as your stand-up vacuum can be adjusted to clean either carpet or hard flooring, so to can a robot vac. Most feature the ability to change suction and other cleaning functions to adapt to different floor surfaces, either automatically or with input from you. They may also have a spot mode for more concentrated cleaning on a small area (cleaning up a spill, for example), include options for single- and double-passes of a room, or offer an option to focus just on cleaning along wall edges and baseboards.
How do robot vacuums navigate rooms and avoid obstacles?
The allure of robot vacuums is their promise to complete their task with minimal management from you. In order to do that, they must be able to navigate a room’s unique layout, maneuver around furniture and other obstacles, and avoid hazards such as falling down stairs and getting tangled in electrical cords.
Robot vacuums “see” the world through a combination of sensors. Cliff sensors let it know when there is an increase in distance to the floor—e.g., stairs or a sunken living room—so it doesn’t tip over the edge. Other sensors tell it when it has bumped into an object, so it can change direction, or is near a wall, so it can follow it. Still other sensors help the robot vacuum track how far it has travelled. Depending on the manufacturer and model, a robot vac might also include sensors that determine the amount of dirt present so it can adjust its cleaning mode accordingly.
How do robot vacuums avoid cleaning the same area twice or more?
Manufacturers are increasingly including mapping capabilities in some of their robot vacuums. These models use an onboard camera or laser reflections to produce a 360-degree view of the room. This allows the robot vac to create a map of the space and locate itself within that map.
The advantage of mapping is the vacuum will know which areas it has already cleaned and which it hasn’t, to avoid going over the same spot unnecessarily. It also lets it know where to resume cleaning if it must stop and recharge midway through the task. This makes it ideal for larger rooms and—because it’s still something of a premium feature—larger budgets.
Can I prevent a robot vacuum from going into a particular room?
In an ideal world, you’d clear all your floors of clutter before using your robot vacuum. But we live in the real one and that’s not always possible or desirable. Knowing this, many robot vacuums include some way to block off areas you don’t want it venturing into, whether it’s a pet’s area, your kids’ room, or a cluster of device cords in the corner. Often it’s just a length of magnetic tape you stretch in front of or on a forbidden area that the vacuum’s sensors will detect and tell it to avoid. But some models employ virtual barriers, such as the ability to designate boundaries on a floor plan that signal the robot to steer clear.
Are all robot vacuums the same size?
The dimensions of a robot vacuum matter for a couple of reasons. First, they will determine how well it can get into tight spots, such as under your kitchen cabinets and low-clearance furniture (couches and recliners). If it’s too tall, it won’t be able reach into these spots, or worse, it will get in and get stuck until you physically free it. Second, the bigger the robot vacuum, the larger the dustbin.
Robot vacuums don’t use expandable bags like many of their stand-up brethren do, so when it comes to debris capacity, what you see is what you get. There is no sweet spot for robot vacuum dimensions that we could determine—it really depends on your particular room layout—but a diameter of 13 to 14 inches and a height of 3.5 to 4 inches are the most common measurements we encountered.
Are Wi-Fi-enabled robot vacuums inherently better than other types?
Wi-Fi-enabled robot vacuums allow you to control them with a smartphone app instead of, or in addition to, a physical remote. That convenience alone doesn’t really warrant the extra cost these models command, but some model’s apps also provide other perks, such as detailed cleaning histories and the ability to save and edit floor maps for better navigation. Those models are worth considering if you’re cleaning large, intricate spaces.
How can I avoid the chore of emptying a robot vacuum’s dustbin?
While robot vacuums take over most of the cleaning, they have historically required the user to step in and manually empty the dustbin. Given that most robot vacuums’ have a very small dustbin capacity, they might need to be emptied multiple times per cleaning job, particularly if you have children or pets or live in a large home. That’s not just annoying, it can be downright uncomfortable if you have allergies or dust sensitivity.
Auto-emptying robot vacuums bridge the last mile of the vacuuming process with a charging dock that includes a canister vacuum and a dust bag that can hold one to two months of debris. When the robot docks after a cleaning job, its bin’s contents are automatically sucked into the dust bag. Typically, the robot’s companion app alerts you when the dust bag is full, at which point you will have to manually dispose of it. Many bags, however, seal themselves when you remove them, so no dust escapes.
Are there robot vacuums that can mop hard-surface floors, too?
Some robot vacuums include a mopping capability to meet all your floor’s cleaning needs with one device. While this sounds like a great idea, in practice it often yields subpar results. The problem is the method these hybrid devices use for wet cleaning. Mopping robot vacuums include a flat, small-capacity water tank that you fill from your tap. A microfiber cloth is then attached to the bottom of the tank, and the tank is installed under the robot. As the robot rolls across the floor, it drags the dampened cloth over it. This usually removes surface grime and spills but leaves deeper dirt and stains behind.
If you have a lot of hard flooring in your home, it’s worth considering a dedicated robot mop. These appliances are better suited to wet cleaning, spraying water directly on the floor to soften gunk and stains, and applying some agitation via a scrubbing pad or brush.
If you still want a vac/mop hybrid, look for one that has spinning brushes or pads as opposed to a cloth that attaches to the bottom of the appliance. A model with a docking station that can clean those brushes or pads and reservoirs for clean and dirty water are even better. Those models will, of course, cost quite a bit more.
