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Our Favorite
Black+Decker Powerseries Extreme Max Cordless Vacuum
Runner-Up
Bissell IconPet Turbo Edge Cordless Stick Vacuum
For Dyson Loyalists
Dyson V15 Detect
A Solid Budget Vacuum
Dirt Devil Power Swerve Pet
A cordless vacuum might not change your life, but it can make the housework easier. Not being tethered to the wall is freedom you didn’t know you needed, letting you move from room to room without having to unplug and find a closer outlet. They’re also generally lighter and take up less space than upright vacs, and they’re great for getting under couches or coffee tables.
However, they aren’t for everyone or every situation. If you have a big house, you may need to recharge the battery just to finish the job. They’re also generally less powerful than upright vacs. Also, most of them can’t stand up on their own, and they require a base or somewhere they can lean against a wall.
We’ve tested a handful of cordless vacuums, and these are our favorites so far. We’re continuing to test more, so check back for more recommendations if none of these catch your eye. And be sure to check out our other buying guides, like the Best Dyson Vacuums, Best Robot Vacuums, Best Carpet Cleaners, and Best Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products.
Updated July 2024: We’ve added Narwal’s S10 Pro wet/dry vacuum as a pick, and the Proscenic P13 vacuum to the honorable mentions. We’ve also updated prices and links throughout.
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Photograph: Black+Decker
Our Favorite
Black+Decker Powerseries Extreme Max Cordless Vacuum
The Black+Decker Powerseries Extreme Max did the best job of picking up cat litter, especially on a deeply corrugated litter mat. It also picked up Cheerios, hair, and other debris on carpet and hardwood floors. It stands on its own, which is thankfully becoming more common among cordless vacuums, but the balance felt a little precarious sometimes.
It also turns into a hand vacuum and comes with three attachments, including a unique silicone pet brush that easily gets hair off your furniture. The battery isn’t the best I’ve ever used—at low speed you’ll get 37 minutes of cleaning or 56 while using the hand vacuum—and it has a plasticky, whiny sound sometimes, which I didn’t like.
★ A hand vac from Black+Decker: Even though the Powerseries turns into a hand vac, I also loved the brand’s Dustbuster Max hand vac. If you already have a vacuum you like, this is a good pairing. The nozzle pivots for easier cleaning and storage, and there’s a small extension on the top for reaching something particularly small, like the dryer lint trap.
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Photograph: Bissell
Runner-Up
Bissell IconPet Turbo Edge Cordless Stick Vacuum
It was a close race for the top spot. The Bissell IconPet Turbo Edge picked up hair and cat litter well, and its brush moves so quickly that it almost looks like it isn’t. It also easily turns into a capable hand-held vac for hard-to-reach areas like ceiling fans or couches. As an animal lover, I appreciate that money from every Bissell purchase goes toward the Bissell Pet Foundation.
It doesn’t stand on its own, and it needed some help picking up the Cheerios—they got stuck on the front of the vacuum and got pushed around. The battery lasts longer, around 50 minutes on low mode, but it’s not removable, so you can’t stow the vacuum away while you charge the battery.
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Photograph: Dyson
For Dyson Loyalists
Dyson V15 Detect
Before Dyson had a robust catalog of products, including ever-popular hair tools, it was known for its great vacuums. We’ve tested a bunch, cordless and otherwise, and our favorite of its lineup is the Dyson V15 Detect. If you can afford to shell out for this expensive appliance, you get a cool green laser that illuminates all the dust particles you’re about to obliterate. Plus, a sensor counts the number of dust particles, displaying it on the LCD screen while automatically adjusting the power level for proper suction.
You probably don’t need laser beams and micron calculators, but they can be helpful if you have severe allergies. It’s also just an all-around reliable vacuum that comes with an array of handy accessories, even a wall mount for a more elegant charging system. It’s easy to convert to a hand vac for cleaning up the couch. Consider the V12 Detect (8/10, WIRED Recommends) if you want something even slightly cheaper and lighter (though it’s not as powerful and has a smaller bin).
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Photograph: Amazon
A Solid Budget Vacuum
Dirt Devil Power Swerve Pet
I was shocked at how well this Dirt Devil vacuum worked, considering how cheap, small, and light it is. It stands on its own, takes up very little room, and it easily sucked up litter and Cheerios on both carpet and hardwood.
I think it’s best for a dorm or small apartment, or for in-between cleans. There’s only one setting, so some messes, and deep carpets, will need more power. The battery lasts only 14 minutes, and there’s no light on the front to illuminate dirt as you go.
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Photograph: Amazon
A Wet/Dry Vacuum
Narwal Vacuum Mop S10 Pro
Wet/dry vacuums pick up dry messes like dirt and hair as well as spills like juice and soup. They’re convenient, but from the few I’ve tried, I’ve typically found them to be just OK. However, I was impressed by Narwal’s S10 Pro. It did a great job of cleaning a variety of messes, and even cleaned cat puke that was dried up and gross by the time I got home in the evening. Once you’re done, put it on its base to charge and self-clean the roller.
The S10 Pro felt like it was pulling me through the room in a good way. It was powerful enough that it was actually cleaning the floor and not just wetting it. It won’t replace a regular mop entirely—eventually your floor will need an actual deep clean—but we can appreciate anything that makes chores a little bit quicker and easier.
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Photograph: Amazon
For Carpet Stains
Bissell Pet Stain Eraser PowerBrush
We’ve tested several carpet cleaners for both small and mighty stains, and the Bissell Pet Stain Eraser PowerBrush is a cordless option for portable spot cleaning. It’s lightweight and removes most stains without much effort. The battery seemingly lasts forever—I cannot remember the last time I charged it, and unfortunately I have to use it often.
I also appreciate that it’s easy to clean the vacuum itself, which can get gross quickly, especially when you’re cleaning up pet messes. It’s easy to rinse the parts, and there are no long hoses where nasty grime can fester. Read our Best Carpet Cleaners guide for more recommendations.
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Photograph: Shark
Honorable Mentions
More Vacuums We Tried
We haven’t tried a vacuum yet that we absolutely hate. These ones below are solid vacuums, and in some cases are much cheaper than our top picks, but we didn’t like them as much.
Levoit VortexIQ 40 Cordless Stick Vacuum for $230: This used to be a top pick. Stock became limited, but it seems to have evened out so if you can find it, it’s a solid vacuum. With a few passes, it sucked away all the hair, cat litter, and Cheerios I laid out for it. I like its auto mode, which adjusts the power as needed, like when I went over a patch of litter and it jumped to high suction and then dropped back down again. It can also turn into a capable hand vac like some pricier vacs.
Proscenic P13 Cordless Vacuum for $170: I haven’t tried the Dyson pick above with the green laser, so I was amazed how well the green light on this vacuum illuminated dust and dirt. It was almost gross to see how much goes unnoticed in regular lighting. However, it required many passes to actually clean most of that debris. For the price, it’s not bad as an untethered day-to-day vacuum, but you’ll definitely need a more powerful upright vacuum for deeper cleans.
Eureka Innova Cordless Stick Multi-Surface Vacuum for $229: This is a good stick vacuum at a reasonable price. It cleaned up a litter mat especially well, and there are specific carpet and hardwood settings. However, to suck up larger pieces like Cheerios, I had to lift the vacuum up and place it directly on top of them.
Shark Wandvac Self-Empty Cordless Vacuum for $330: I love that this turns into a little hand vac with its own small attachments. It worked well for cleaning my desk. It has a base that automatically collects the dirt from the dust bin, meaning there are fewer dust clouds you have to breathe in. I liked cleaning with it, but it’s probably best used with a powerful upright vacuum, as its suction power isn’t as strong as I’d like. It also feels like it needs to be just an inch or two taller, and the dustbin is small at just 0.13 quarts.
Hoover OnePwr Emerge Pet for $200: Our tester said that this wasn’t a bad vacuum in regular mode, but the attachments felt flimsy with weak suction power. Otherwise it got the job done.
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Photograph: Francesco Carta/Getty Images
How We Tested
Head-to-Head Comparisons
The best way to test a vacuum is to use it like you usually would. So for a few months, we lived with these cordless vacuums, rotating through them to handle day-to-day messes and weekly deep cleans on hardwood floors, area rugs, and carpets. We charged them, asked our partners to use them, and even took some to a retail store to clean up after antique furniture and heavy foot traffic.
We also performed head-to-head testing, comparing how each picked up piles of Cheerios and cat litter, seeing if they blew debris around or needed several passes. We took heaps of dust and dirt already matted up from inside the vacuum bins to see how easily they could suck them back up in their thickened state as well.
