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Unlike their hand-operated counterparts, robot vacuums can sweep up your house or apartment all with the press of a button, even when you’re not at home — no manual pushing and sweeping necessary. Using either a robust set of motion sensors, lasers, a camera, or some combination of the three, these vacuums create maps of your household that help it complete each job without running into furniture or falling down the stairs.
Regardless of what type of robot you go with, you’ll want one that cleans your house efficiently with as little maintenance on your end as possible. Some have the ability to recognize stray objects like toys and socks, while others use more basic systems that don’t store any data about your home. You can find many robot vacuum brands offering models with similar-sounding specs, but this is a category in which it’s best to stick to reputable makers. I focused on vacuums from iRobot, Eufy, Roborock, Dyson, and Ecovacs, as they’re some of the most established brands in the space and make an array of vacuums that suit the needs of both small and large homes.
To find the best robot vacuum for every type of home and lifestyle, I tested several robot vacuums on a variety of floor types, assessing how well they clean, how effectively they navigated my home, and how much hands-on work they required. I also spoke with engineers and product managers at Dyson and iRobot to learn more about how robot vacuums work and what makes their cleaning techniques different from other types of vacuums.
Update on December 9, 2024: Updated prices and checked stock for all products.
What we’re looking for
Brushes
Although suction power is one of the primary metrics flaunted by traditional vacuum manufacturers, things like the vacuum’s brushes are just as important when it comes to picking up debris. “All the suction in the world won’t pick up things deeply ingrained in your surface,” says Mike Aldred, senior principal engineer at Dyson.
A good robot vacuum will have a powerful brush (or multiple brushes) to create enough agitation to break up particles that weaker vacuums might miss. The more powerful the brush(es), the more likely your vacuum is to clean up things like dried-up mud or anything that’s caked onto the floor. Weak brushes will simply sweep over the top of your carpets and rugs, while a more thorough brush will dig deep into the fibers and kick up anything that’s stuck below the surface. Many robot vacuum cleaners even have side brushes that can help clear up corners and other tough-to-reach spots.
Better brushes don’t just make it easier to clean the floors, either; they make your vacuum last longer on each charge. “Anything you do takes energy, which comes down to battery size,” says Brent Hild, former director of product management for iRobot, “If you have a motor that’s running at absolute maximum, you’ll have great suction and deplete your battery, so it’s not as effective in the long run.” Meanwhile, a vacuum with a slightly weaker suction power but more effective brushes will clean up more debris and require fewer trips back to the charging station.
Battery run time
If a vacuum cleaner doesn’t have enough juice to clean your entire home on a single charge, it will need to run back to its base station to replenish itself before finishing the job. Most robot vacuums have batteries capable of cleaning long enough to cover a decent-size home, but larger homes may require multiple charges. Some robot vacuum cleaners, like the Roomba j7+, have software that calculates how much juice it needs to complete the job and only charges enough to cover that and return to the base, which will help it get back to cleaning and wrap things up sooner.
Smart navigation
Aldred says robot vacuum cleaners should be viewed as vacuum cleaners first and robots second: “Once you start compromising on the cleaning portion, have you actually replaced the cleaning system or are you imitating it?” Part of effectively replacing that cleaning system is being able to trust that your robot vacuum won’t miss any spots in its cleaning cycles, and that your floors will be at least as clean as if you’d done the job yourself.
Robot vacuums accomplish this by creating a map of your home, complete with obstacle identification and no-go zones, so you can program it to only clean specific areas on a given day. More basic robot vacuums use an infrared sensor to identify obstacles and other objects to avoid, but fancier models take it a step further with a built-in camera you can use to pinpoint items that might only be there for one cleaning cycle, like a stray toy one of your kids left out.
In many cases, you can even connect your robot vacuum to your smart assistant of choice and say things like, “Hey, Google, vacuum my living room,” and watch as your little droid rolls off its docking station and heads to start its job.
Disposal method
If you’re splurging on a robot vacuum, you want one that offers more convenience than doing things yourself. Given their small design, these vacuums typically have pretty small chambers for holding dirt and debris, so you’ll have to clean them out more often than you may be used to with a more traditional vacuum cleaner.
Some companies offer models that have self-emptying bases where the robot will dispose of all of the dirt once it’s finished a cleaning job (or its chamber is full and it needs to be emptied before resuming cleaning). They’re more expensive, but you’ll also spend less time clearing things out of your vacuum, and emptying the containers inside the base is easier than cleaning the robot itself. Fair warning, though: Those bases are often louder than the vacuums themselves. You may want to run it when no one is home, or just make sure you don’t schedule a cleaning during a work call.
Filtration
Filtration is key to an effective vacuum cleaner, Aldred says. Without good filtration, you’ll end up with a lot of dust blown right back into the air and, ultimately, landing back on your floors to be cleaned up and tossed back out during your next cleaning cycle.
Most companies don’t list a ton of details about their filtration systems, but you should avoid any vacuum that doesn’t mention having filters at all. Usually, you can check by looking at the “What’s included in the box” section of the product’s page.
Repairability
Whatever robot you buy, it should be able to last more than a few years: Even the cheapest options are still costly. “These are not inexpensive purchases, so the idea that you can go in and modularly repair things is really important,” Hild says. The more parts you can replace on your own, the less likely you are to need to buy a whole new vacuum when things go wrong. In the best cases, you can replace everything from the brushes and filters to the wheels and batteries.
Mopping
Robot vacuums have been around since the mid-’90s, but robots that have built-in mopping capabilities are still fairly new. Companies like iRobot sell models that have this dual functionality, but even Hild says it’s a bit of a compromise, and having a separate mopping method (another robot or a trusty Swiffer) will yield better results.
Aldred agrees. “At the end of the day, it’s a mop and a vacuum,” he says. “Don’t lower your expectations because it’s a robot.” For those who care about having spotless floors, that may not be a compromise worth making, but if you’re fine with getting about 80 percent of the way there without having to do the job yourself, there are robot vacuums that’ll fit the bill.
If you do want to knock out both tasks with one device, Hild recommends looking for one that doesn’t require you to swap modules when switching between vacuuming and mopping. We only looked at models that could perform both functions at once without requiring you to do any additional tweaking or swapping of parts.
Best robot vacuum overall
Brushes: Dual rubber brush system | Battery run time: 85 minutes | Smart navigation: Infrared sensors and camera, in-app object identification | Disposal method: Self-emptying base station| Filtration: Yes | Repairability: Replaceable wheels, batteries, brushes, dustbins, filters, and disposal bags| Mopping: None
iRobot’s Roomba j7+ was the first robot vacuum that I trusted to clean my floors without much follow-up on my end. I tested it over the course of several weeks, running multiple map jobs of my home, using it for mopping jobs, and vacuuming every other day. In that time, it proved itself to be a capable substitute for my rigorous vacuuming schedule; my floors felt free of dirt and debris, with some small exceptions that only my Dyson V7 Motorhead vacuum could pick up.
It has two primary brushes on the bottom, both of which are made of a tough rubber, that rotate in opposite directions to create enough agitation to scrape up more than a single brush could. It also has an additional set of blades that rotate on the side of the vacuum to reach into corners and other spots the main brushes may miss.
While your robot is still in the “get to know you” stage of navigating your home, it can often look goofy as it figures out what not to bump into and how to get out of tricky spots. Of all the vacuums I tested, the Roomba j7+ made mapping look the easiest, and the additional input you can provide in the app for things like obstacle identification make it one of the smartest vacuums you can get. It uses infrared sensors and a front-facing camera to navigate around your home, and after every cleaning cycle you can go into the iRobot app and look at any obstacle the robot detected and tell it if it’s a permanent obstacle (like a new exercise bike) or if it’ll be gone by the next cleaning. For instance, whenever my dog left one of his toys in the kitchen, I’d tell the Roomba not to mind it, that way it doesn’t designate the middle of my kitchen a no-go zone.
Once the j7+ is finished with a cleaning cycle, it will find its way back to the docking station, where the base will automatically suck up whatever the Roomba picked up during its cleaning. You’ll still have to empty the station’s chamber, but not nearly as frequently as you’d have to empty the robot itself without the station (as is the case with some of our other recommendations). That part of the routine is particularly loud, though, so make sure you’re not on a call or recording anything when the robot is finishing up its job.
As with any gadget with moving parts, the j7+ is subject to wear and tear as it goes through more cleaning cycles. Thankfully, many of the parts, like the brushes and filters, are totally user-replaceable, so you won’t need to send it back to iRobot for anything other than serious damage or malfunctions. You can also replace the cleaning bin where the j7+ holds dirt and debris, as well as the wheels and battery, and you can even replace the base station without needing to buy an entirely new unit.
You can get cheaper vacuums from iRobot, but they all require some sacrifices that dampen the experience overall; the j7+ best juggles price and features, resulting in an all-around capable robot that you won’t have to spend a year saving for. Its dual-brush system and camera-based mapping make it an excellent cleaner that knows your home well enough to reach every nook and cranny.
For thorough mopping from a robot, you’ll get better results from a dedicated mopping robot, as the whole device is packed with gizmos meant strictly for wiping floors rather than being added onto an already packed machine. iRobot sells a version of this vacuum called the Combo j7+ that also mops, but it’s not quite as effective as the Roborock Qrevo Pro, which you can read more about below.
Best less-expensive robot vacuum
Brushes: Single brush | Battery run time: 100 minutes | Smart navigation: No | Disposal method: On-unit dirt chamber, requires manual emptying | Filtration: Yes | Repairability: Replaceable wheels, batteries, brushes, dustbins, filters, and disposal bags | Mopping: None
If you’re willing to get a vacuum without any cameras, the Eufy 11s has impressed me with its ability to navigate a home despite more barebones navigation (though it does get stuck more than iRobot’s models). Unlike the other robot vacuums we recommend, the 11S doesn’t have any sort of smart navigation, relying instead on what Eufy calls bump detection. Essentially, it just reorients itself if it bumps into something like your sofa, bike, or trash can. It doesn’t allow for as much granular tweaking for convenience, and it’ll require you to be more hands-on with cleaning and keeping it on track, but it’ll save you a good deal of money while still getting the job done.
Strategist senior writer Liza Corsillo loves the 11S, which she used for five years. “It’s super-quiet, so I can run it while I work or watch TV without getting distracted by noise,” she says, “It’s easy to use and slim enough to fit underneath almost every piece of furniture I own.”
Best robot vacuum for pet owners
Brushes: Dual rubber brush system | Battery run time: 85 minutes | Smart navigation: Infrared sensors and camera, in-app object identification | Disposal method: Self-emptying base station | Filtration: Yes | Repairability: Replaceable wheels, batteries, brushes, dustbins, filters, and disposal bags | Mopping: Yes
My pups and their dirty post-walk paws tend to make my floors pretty gunky if I’m not diligent about cleaning. I try to stay on top of it, but during busy weeks, the Combo j7+ (an upgraded version of our best robot vacuum overall) has helped keep my floors adequately tidy. The Combo j7+ has every feature that makes the j7+ great, plus the ability to mop your floors. After it sweeps things up on the front end, water will spray out the back, and the Combo j7+ will swing down an arm that has a mopping pad to brush over your floors and give them a nice clean. As it approaches a surface that can’t be mopped, like a rug, the mopping arm will swing and go back up until it’s back on a hard surface.
In my experience, the Combo j7+’s mopping is about 80 percent as effective as doing the job myself with my trusty Swiffer. That said, I’m picky about the cleanliness of my floors and usually mop at least once per week, so if you’re used to only doing it periodically, this gets close, and you can always run it a second time for good measure.
One caveat: unlike the Roborock Qrevo Pro, the Roomba’s mopping pads have to be manually cleaned as there isn’t a built-in cleaning function. That’ll save water compared to the liquid-heavy self-cleaning method the Roborock uses, since you can just toss the mopping pad in the washer, but it requires more maintenance.
Best robot vacuum-mop combo
Brushes: Single brush | Battery run time: 180 minutes | Smart navigation: Yes | Disposal method: Self-emptying docking station for dirt and liquid | Filtration: Yes | Repairability: Replaceable Brush, dust bin, filter, mopping pads | Mopping: Yes; hot-water cleaning
For long cleaning jobs (like vacuuming and mopping together), I like to be at home so I can make sure my robot doesn’t get caught on any cables and that my dogs aren’t alone while their least favorite object zooms around the home, so the faster the cleaning job, the better. Of all the robots I’ve tested, this Roborock mapped and cleaned my home the fastest. I watched it zip from room to room, getting an accurate map of the house within about ten minutes, and getting right to its first custom cleaning job. The results were impressive too: In just under two hours, it did two full vacuum and mop runs of my entire three-bedroom home, and my floors were spotless (other comparable models, like the Combo j9+ and Combo j7+, required at least 15 minutes more).
As the Qrevo Pro rolled through my house, sucking up dirt and sweeping its two mopping arms with their rotating pads back and forth across my floors, I never had to save it from getting tangled with the cables behind my TV or my desk, even though its lidar-only object detection is not quite as intelligent as the software on iRobot’s camera-based vacuums.
This robot vacuum has some other convenient features as well. Unlike the Combo j7+ and j9+’s pads, which need to be hand-washed, the Qrevo Pro has a self-cleaning feature built into its dock that will periodically clean the mopping pads throughout the course of its cleaning job. This uses more water than iRobot’s method, but it’s also completely hands-off. You can adjust the amount of water used during mopping, how often it washes the mops, as well as the number of times it cleans your floors (once or twice) to manage how much water each job uses.
Both iRobot and Roborock have solid apps, but Roborock’s “Do not disturb” feature is a nice addition that I’ve enjoyed tinkering with. When enabled, this setting lets you toggle things the robot shouldn’t do during a designated period of time. So if you don’t want it to empty its dustbin or top off its water tank while everyone in the house is sleeping, you can schedule the robot’s maintenance to only happen when everyone is awake.
My biggest gripe with this robot is its docking station: It’s not quite as nice as iRobot’s j9+ dock. The case itself looks good, but the glossy plastic finish makes it look a bit cheaper than the other docking stations I’ve tested. That said, it does have some added conveniences in exchange for slightly less appealing looks. First, there’s an LED on the front that will turn red when the clean-water tank needs to be refilled, so you can always check before starting a cleaning job. Second, there isn’t really a top, so you can just lift the water tanks right up and empty or refill them without having to open any doors like you do with the iRobot docking stations (but unlike the iRobot stations, you can’t use it as a plant stand).
Best robot vacuum-mop combo for navigation
Brushes: Dual brush | Battery run time: 120 minutes | Smart navigation: Yes | Disposal method: Self-emptying docking station for dirt and liquid | Filtration: Yes | Repairability: Replaceable wheels, batteries, brushes, dust bins, filters, and disposal bags | Mopping: Yes
This robot vacuum-mop combo has persuaded me that most people can get by without needing to do a manual twice-over after the robot does its thing. The Combo j9+ is basically an upgraded version of the Combo j7+ (which has the same functionality as our best overall pick, the Roomba j7+, with the addition of mopping capability), with a larger-capacity dustbin in the docking station, which also now refills the mopping portion of the Roomba for added convenience. Since it doesn’t have a cleaning mechanism to rinse the pads throughout a cleaning job, it’s not as effective at wiping floors as the Qrevo Pro, but the difference is negligible unless you’re extremely picky about the cleanliness of your floors.
The Combo j9+ is just as efficient as the j7+ for simple vacuuming, and it managed to pick up a week’s worth of dirt and debris courtesy of my dogs and my bike without much fuss or mess left behind. The initial setup was impressively quick, as I watched the little puck bounce from room to room, scoping out obstacles and mapping out the most effective cleaning route, which all took about 30 minutes for my one-bedroom home.
The Combo j9+’s docking station can hold about 60 days’ worth of debris, and up to 30 days’ worth of water, depending on how frequently you run it. Even for those who run a vacuum multiple times per week, that’s enough to keep this robot vacuum fairly low-maintenance. The Qrevo Pro used multiple tanks of water through its first mopping job in my home, so the j9+ is a much more ecofriendly option. As an added touch, the docking station now opens from the side, rather than the top, which the folks at iRobot told me makes the docking station more useful as a place to rest a plant or some magazines, and also makes it a bit more decorative than other docking stations.
As for its mopping capabilities, the Combo j9+ is almost as effective at mopping as the Qrevo Pro, which is impressive given its slightly less-powerful arm mechanism. I tested this by spilling a sugary drink on the floor and letting it dry, then running the Combo j9+ for a full mopping job. It cleaned up nearly all the residue, leaving just a bit for me to wipe up myself. That mode will use up the battery faster, but like other Roombas, this one can pause a job and go back to charge enough to finish up, all without losing its place. It’s not quite as efficient as the Qrevo Pro, but the Combo j9+ hardly makes any noise while mopping, which is a welcome change compared to the Qrevo Pro’s consistent humming as its pads rotate. It also doesn’t have a self-cleaning function for the mop pads, but you can just clean the mopping pads while you’re doing your laundry.
Best robot vacuum for dusty homes
Brushes: Single brush | Battery runtime: 65 minutes | Smart navigation: Yes | Disposal method: On-unit dirt chamber, requires manual emptying | Filtration: Yes | Repairability: Replaceable Brush, dust bin, filter | Mopping: No
Dyson has long been one of the largest names in vacuum cleaners, and it’s quite well known for its air purifiers as well. When I heard Dyson had a new robot vacuum, I had high hopes: My trusty V7 Motorhead has kept my floors spot-free for about five years. After a couple months of testing, I’m impressed. Dyson’s dust tracking makes for a unique cleaning experience that lets you monitor the dirtiest parts of your home, and the actual vacuum does a great job at picking up both large particles like pet hair and dust clumps as well as tiny specks of dirt my pups tend to drag in throughout the day.
Unlike iRobot’s vacuums, the Vis Nav only has one brush, but it’s larger than any other brush I’ve seen on a robot vacuum and feels quite similar to the brush on one of Dyson’s stick vacuums. Even with one less brush than the j9+ or j7+, the Vis Nav did just as well at cleaning my floors. Before I ran the Vis Nav for the first time, I let my home accumulate a week’s worth of dust and other debris to see how the vacuum could stack up against my V7. After a single cleaning job, the Dyson left my floors feeling just as clean as when I use my V7, which is to say I hardly found any dirt the vacuum missed.
My favorite feature on the Vis Nav is its compatibility with Dyson’s MyDyson app. Once the robot has completed a cleaning job, you can go into the app (where you can also start cleaning sessions) and see a map of your house that shows where the vacuum found the most dust and dirt. This is helpful if you have an air purifier, as it’ll help you find the best place to position it for eliminating particles more effectively. Even if you don’t have a purifier, it’s cool to look at, and you can still do some sleuthing to figure out the source of the dirt and make adjustments to the area as needed. For instance, I realized that a seemingly harmless hole in my wall might be letting some dust get in from my backyard.
While most robot vacuums feature a puck-shaped design and a sleek black finish, Dyson’s Vis Nav has a flashy blue exterior that’s easy to spot and makes the cleaning jobs look more fun than the robots I’ve tested with sleeker black finishes; it sort of looks like an RC car zooming around your home. The dock doesn’t look as good as the j9+’s, and its QR code–like stickers on the top, which the Vis Nav uses to find its way back to the station to recharge, make the Dyson’s dock far less complimentary to home décor than the ones that come with iRobot or Ecovacs’s machines.
It doesn’t have a self-emptying docking station like many of the other robot vacuums we recommend, but Dyson’s emptying method is the best of the manual ones I’ve tested. The chamber pops out from the vacuum when you press a large red button, then you can flip out a handle to carry the chamber to a trash can. On the top of the handle, there’s a switch that releases all of the collected dirt and debris when flicked, and once it’s empty, you simply close it back up and put the chamber back in the vacuum.
Our experts
- Mike Aldred, senior principal engineer at Dyson
- Liza Corsillo, Strategist senior writer
- Brent Hild, former director of product management for iRobot
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