The Very Best Robot Vacuums
No Device I’ve tested has advanced as quickly as the humble robot vacuum in the past few years. You can now find robot vacs at every price point with an incredible array of features, including mapping capabilities, self-emptying bins, and even cameras—all to help you keep grit from sticking to your bare feet when you walk on your floor.
Over the years, we've tested dozens of robot vacuums to find the one that's best suited for an array of needs. Whether you’re drowning in dog hair, need to lighten your chore load, or just want to spend a little more time with your family, we have a pick that might help. Looking for other handy home items? Be sure to check out our other buying guides, including the Best Air Purifiers and the Best Pots and Pans.
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Updated December 2021: We've added new picks such as the iRobot Roomba j7+, and cut a few older units.
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- Photograph: Roomba
Best Overall
iRobot Roomba i3+If you think your robot vacuum doesn't work, it's probably because you don't empty the bin often enough. Most robot vacs have a tiny bin capacity of about 0.6 liters. If that small onboard bin gets full during a run, the vacuum just drags excess dirt all over your house.
Other manufacturers have attempted to make self-emptying bins, but this iRobot bin is the only one that consistently works right out of the box. And the bin is a game changer.
The Roomba i3+ doesn't have all the navigational features that many other similarly priced vacuums have, like the ability to set virtual barriers. But it still has iRobot's easy-to-clean rubber roller and Dirt Detect systems to sniff out trouble spots on your carpet. And it is incredibly satisfying to see it trundle back to the Clean Base and empty itself with a tremendous whoooosh after a mere 10 minutes.
Because iRobot has been around since 2002, it's also pretty easy to find replacement parts. I've found its customer service line to be responsive and helpful.
Photograph: iRobotI Love Self-Emptying Bins
And Roomba Makes the BestWhen I reviewed the Roomba S9+, I predicted that within a few years most robot vacuums would have a self-emptying bin. The future has come to pass, and Ecovacs, Shark, and Yeedi all make them. (Roborock will release one soon.) While I love the concept of a self-emptying bin, iRobot is the only manufacturer whose self-emptying bin works reliably out of the box. iRobot's vacuums also have a capacity sensor that will send the robot trundling back to the self-emptying bin when it's full.
I've tried almost every self-emptying bin available. While they do work, every other self-emptying bin takes some tinkering. If you purchase the bin as an accessory, the robot sometimes has trouble settling itself properly on the base station's air ports when it docks. I also perform regular maintenance to make sure that the self-emptying chutes on both the station and the robot vacuum itself aren't clogged. They're worth it, but they do require some extra work here and there.
- Photograph: Roborock
Our Runner Up
Roborock S4 MaxWe've tested pretty much every Roborock vacuum, from the humble E20 to the higher-end S6 MaxV. Over the years, their navigation abilities have consistently improved, and the app has gotten cleaner and easier to use. If you want the most bang for your buck, a midrange Roborock like the S4 Max that we're currently testing is probably the best bet.
The Wi-Fi-enabled S4 Max has features that I've previously seen only on much pricier robot vacuums, like mapping, virtual barriers, and problem spot detection. This is one of the only robot vacuums that doesn't get tripped up on my kitchen step, and it gets up to three hours of battery life on a charge, which is insane. The dust bin is also slightly larger than average.
Upgrade pick? Roborock also recently introduced the new S7, but I don't think that it justifies the higher price. The S7 has a new multidirectional rubber roller that is just not as effective as the S4 Max's original brush at lifting dirt from our low-pile carpet. I have to follow it around afterward and pick up smallish clumps of dog hair.
- Photograph: iRobot
The Absolute Best
iRobot Roomba j7+We featured iRobot's latest Roomba j7+ in our yearly Wish List. Even as dozens of competitors have hit the market, iRobot's vacuums remain effective and easy to use. In particular, the cleaning base tubes never malfunction or get clogged. I also like that the base is smaller and includes storage for extra bags. No other cleaning bases have this, and normally I forget where I've put the extra bags.
The Roomba j7+ has powerful suction, and some of the best navigational tools on the market. If you like talking to an app, iRobot now has a new feature called Genius that lets you painstakingly teach your Roomba about your personal preferences and cleaning schedules, instead of painstakingly programming them. My one quibble is that the j7+ is supposed to smart-recharge and return to clean areas that it missed. During the (quick) initial mapping, it missed one corner of one room on my 1,000-square-foot downstairs. My husband quickly realized that just one spot wasn't getting cleaned.
- Photograph: Samsung
Amazing Navigation
Samsung Jet Bot AI+Samsung's Jet Bot AI+ was not my favorite by any means. It looks like it was designed by someone who had never seen a robot vacuum. It's enormous. The vacuum is 5 inches high, tall enough to get stuck under our sofa, and the tower is a whopping 21 inches high. You'll definitely notice it parked in the corner of your house.
However, I had to include it because it's quiet, fast, and powerful, and its navigational system is even better than iRobot's. It left about 4 inches of clearance around all obstacles, which might not work for you if you need a lot of edge cleaning. But I watched in complete shock as it navigated adroitly around my sleeping 80-pound dog, even vacuuming around her face without trembling a single whisker. It was phenomenal.
- Photograph: Yeedi
Best Cheap Robot Vac
Yeedi K650 Robot VacuumIf all you want is a budget vacuum that will use bounce navigation to ping-pong around your kitchen after dinner, there are plenty of great options. The Eufy 11S is very short, to fit under the lowest cabinets. The Dser 21T also has great battery life and doesn't get stuck.
So far, though, the Yeedi K650 is the most effective and affordable of the ones I've tried. The battery lasts a really long time for a budget vac—more than 100 minutes—and it navigates adroitly around the most common vacuum traps in my house, like my kitchen step. Unlike the Dser vacuum, it's also Wi-Fi-enabled and Alexa-compatible, and it connects to Yeedi's app.
- Photograph: Eufy
Best for Pets
Eufy RoboVac X8 HybridUnlike almost every other vacuum here, Eufy's latest and most powerful robot vacuum utilizes twin turbines. Each turbine generates up to 2,000 Pa of suction energy, meaning that it can suck up twice as much dirt in one pass. In my testing, the X8 Hybrid's maps were way too wonky for me to trust it to lug a full 250-mL tank of water around my house. However, it was the perfect vacuum to deep-clean all the dog hair and kid detritus in the basement. If you have an enclosed area that needs a regular deep-clean, this will do the trick.
- Photograph: Ecovacs
A Vac With a Mop and Camera
Ecovacs Deebot T8 AIVIMost robot vacuums compete in a crowded field to be incrementally smaller, faster, and more powerful. The Deebot Ozmo T8 AIVI, on the other hand, stuffs as many features into one package as it can. It's a vacuum and a mop, it has a microphone, and it's a Wi-Fi-enabled camera you can navigate—peering at your house from ankle height. That's in addition to other high-end navigation features, like obstacle identification and the ability to customize your map with virtual boundaries, designated areas, and multiple floors.
This powerful, sophisticated vacuum has a long battery run time and can mop and vacuum on a single pass. But a Wi-Fi-enabled mobile camera in your home is a tempting target for hackers. It also had a few hiccups in my testing. The app sometimes deleted my painstakingly crafted maps if I updated the software, and the drop sensors got stuck a few times with my kitchen step. Plus, Deebot warns me to clean the sensitive dust sensors with annoying frequency. (No duh. Yes, you get dusty! You're a vacuum!)
- Photograph: iRobot
Another Great Roomba
iRobot Roomba 694iRobot, the iconic robot vacuum manufacturer, has many robots in its midrange 600 series and E series that are all about $300 or less. There are some minor differences—for example, the 694 has a roller brush, while the slightly more expensive E5 has iRobot's signature brushless roller; different vacuums may have different button styles—but for the most part, if you can find a Roomba for $300 or less, it's a great buy.
The app is simple and easy to use, and the vacuum is quiet and powerful, and it has stellar navigation capabilities.
- Photograph: Eufy
A Crowd Pleaser
Eufy RoboVac G30 EdgeEvery time someone I know buys a Eufy, they like it. The company's latest upgrade is a vacuum series that uses laser navigation. We tested the RoboVac G30 Edge, its affordable mapping robot vac. It doesn't have sophisticated features like virtual no-go zones in the app, and it is a little inefficient. It took between 50 and 80 minutes to clean my small house; more expensive vacs finish in 30 to 45 minutes.
But it still has Eufy's small, slim form factor for squeezing under tight spots. It's quiet, the app is attractive and easy to use, and it's not finicky—it doesn't get stuck or constantly tell me to wipe off its sensors. If you've seen the older Eufy 11S, this is a good, small upgrade to that model.
Photograph: Getty ImagesA Few Tips
Yes, You Still Need a Push Vac- Stay home for your robot vacuum's first few runs. Many homes have hot spots—a weird door jamb, a lumpy rug—where you will need to rescue your vac. Do a quick run-through beforehand for robot booby traps, like ribbons and pieces of string.
- Try emptying the bin mid-run if you think your robot vacuum isn't working. I can fill up one small robot vacuum bin in less than 10 minutes in my kid- and dog-filled house.
- Check your Wi-Fi. If you have a Wi-Fi-enabled robot vacuum, the vast majority of them can only connect to the 2.4-GHz wireless band. If you're having problems connecting, make sure you're linking to the right band. (For example, many dual-band networks will have a Home1 and Home2 selection for the different bands.)
- Keep it under the couch. Charge and store the vacuum under your couch or a bedroom cabinet if you don't have enough free wall space.
- Vac during the day. If you have a mapping robot vacuum, it usually uses an optical sensor, which means it requires a little light to navigate. It's better to schedule a run at 2 pm than at midnight.
- Don't throw out your old vacuum. I hate to be a downer, but you're probably still going to need a second vacuum once in a while. I keep a Dyson around for quick spot cleaning and vacuuming bedroom corners (and my car).
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