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Best robot vacuum cleaners: expertly tested and reviewed
The best robot vacuum cleaner should take the hard work out of keeping your floors spotless.
We tested models from popular brands including Dyson, the iRobot Roomba, Eufy, Shark and more to find out if they'd be any good at cleaning your home, plus how easy they are to use.
They're a pricey purchase, ranging from around £200 to just over £1,000. Read on to find out if robot vacuum cleaners are worth it and which ones we recommend.
How our tests find you the best
Suction
We pit each robot against a replica of dust and real cat hair. The best suck up everything in their path and the worst leave dirt piles in their wake.
Obstacles
We put trailing wires, a rug, lamp base and table legs in the way of all the robot vacuum cleaners, mimicking the trickiest home layouts.
Coverage
Want a vac that can really go the distance? We sprinkle flour in our living room lab so we know how much of the space actually gets vacuumed.
We also test...
Cleaning in corners, climbing ledges, noise and more.
The best robot vacuum cleaners
Only logged-in Which? members can view the robot vacuum cleaner test results below.
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| Robot vacuum cleaner | Price | Score | Vacuuming dust* | Vacuuming pet hair* | Ease of use | Run time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sign up to reveal Get instant access to this and all our scores and recommendations Unlock tableAlready a member? Log in | 85% | |||||
| 71% | ||||||
| 71% | ||||||
| 69% | ||||||
| 68% | ||||||
| 67% | ||||||
| 65% | ||||||
| 63% | ||||||
| 61% | ||||||
| 58% |
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Date tested: October 2024. Page last checked: January 2025. We are not able to show every retailer and cheaper prices may be available.
*Average score of vacuuming dust on carpet and hard floor. Vacuuming pet hair tested on carpet.
The robot vacuum cleaners we tested
All the robot vacuum cleaners we tested are listed in alphabetical order below.
Only logged-in Which? members can view the best robot vacuum cleaners from our tests.
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Beko VRR60314VW Robot Vacuum Cleaner
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Accessories Charging station, mopping tool, mopping cloth, cleaning brush, side brush x 2, spare filter
Need to know 8 x 33cm (H x W), charging station: 9 x 15 x 15cm (H x W x L), 150 minutes run time, six hours charge time, 500ml dust tank, 300ml water tank, mop function, controlled with HomeDirect app
Dyson 360 Vis Nav Robot Vacuum
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Accessories Charging station
Need to know 9 x 33 x 32cm (H x W x L), charging station: 17 x 10 x 27cm (H x W x L), 65 minutes run time, 2 hours 45 minutes charge time, 500ml dust tank, controlled with MyDyson app
For more tried-and-tested dust-busting models, see our reviews of the best vacuum cleaners, best cordless vacuum cleaners and best handheld vacuum cleaners
Eufy Clean X8 Pro with Self-Empty Station
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Accessories Charging and self-empty station, cleaning tool, waterproof pad, side brush
Need to know 9 x 34cm (H x W), charging station: 36 x 15 x 19cm (H x W x L), 90 minutes run time, six hours charge time, self-empty station: 2.5-litre dust tank, 270ml water tank, mop function, controlled with Eufy Clean app
Eufy X10 Pro Omni Robot Vacuum
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Accessories Charging and self-empty station, mop pad x 2, side brush
Need to know 9 x 35 x 32cm (H x W x L), charging station: 46 x 44 x 37cm (H x W x L), 120 minutes run time, five hours charge time, self-empty station: 2.5-litre dust tank, 3-litre clean water tank, 2.7-litre dirty water tank, mop function, controlled with Eufy Clean app
iRobot Roomba Combo j9+ Robot Vacuum and Mop
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Accessories Charging and self-empty station, edge sweeping brush x 2, microfibre mopping pad, spare filter, spare dirt-disposal bag
Need to know 9 x 34cm (H x W), charging station: 42 x 31 x 40cm (H x W x L), 110 minutes run time, four hours charge time, 400ml dust tank, 3-litre water tank, mop function, controlled with iRobot app
iRobot Roomba j7+ Self-Emptying Robot Vacuum
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Accessories Charging and self-empty station, edge sweeping brush x 2, spare filter, spare AllergenLock bag
Need to know 9 x 33cm (H x W), charging station: 34 x 41 x 32cm (H x W x L), 80 minutes run time, three hours charge time, 400ml dust tank, controlled with iRobot app
Karcher RCV 5 Robot Vacuum Cleaner
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Accessories Charging station, cleaning brush, wiping cloth x 2, spare filter
Need to know 8 x 33cm (H x W), charging station: 10 x 14 x 15cm (H x W x L), 120 minutes run time, 3 hours 50 minutes charge time, 330ml dust tank, 240ml water tank, mop function, controlled with Karcher Home Robots app
Miele Scout RX3 Home Vision Robot Vacuum Cleaner
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Accessories Charging station, hard floor side brush x 2, carpet side brush x 2, magnetic strip, remote control, spare filter
Need to know 9 x 33cm (H x W), charging station: 10 x 12 x 19cm (H x W x L), 170 minutes run time, four hours charge time, 400ml dust tank, controlled with Miele Scout app or remote control
Samsung Jet Bot Robot Vacuum Cleaner VR30T80313W
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Accessories Charging station, side brush x 2, spare filter
Need to know 7 x 34cm (H x W), charging station: 11 x 15 x 17cm (H x W x L), 90 minutes run time, four hours charge time, 400ml dust tank, controlled with SmartThings app
Shark Matrix Plus 2-in-1 Self-Empty Robot Vacuum & Mop RV2620WAUK
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Accessories Charging and self-empty station, side brush x 2, washable mopping pad x 2
Need to know 9 x 34cm (H x W), charging station: 32 x 12 x 33cm (H x W x L), 110 minutes run time, six hours charge time, 230ml dust tank, 400ml water tank, mop function, controlled with SharkClean app
How we test robot vacuum cleaners
We buy the bestselling robot vacuum cleaners at UK retailers, which we then put through a range of cleaning and navigation tests. We don't accept freebies and we're not influenced by retailers in what we test or what we say.
We regularly revisit the robot vacuum cleaners on sale to see if there are any more popular models that need testing, and when we find them, we do so.
- Dust suction We test how effective each robot vacuum is at vacuuming a replica of fine household dust on carpet and hard floor. We lay down a set amount of dust and weigh how much is vacuumed into the dust container to assess the suction of each model.
- Pet hair The same test is carried out to see if each vacuum cleaner can suck up cat hair that's embedded into carpet.
- Obstacles We set up a small living room space with a lamp base, trailing wire, rug and side table to rate how well each robot vacuum deals with obstacles in the home.
- Floor coverage We sprinkle flour in our living room testing space to track the movement of each robot vacuum cleaner and assess how much floor space they cover.
- Wall edges and corners To see if the robot vacuums can reach these tricky spots, we put down flour 10cm away from the edge of a wall and in corners.
- Ledges If you have raised thresholds in your home, you'll want your robot vacuum to climb these so it can vacuum as much floor space as possible. We pit each robot vacuum against a 10mm step, increasing it by 2mm each time. The best can climb just over 2cm while the worst can only just make it over 1cm.
- Noise We also rate how noisy each robot vacuum is while cleaning.
- Mopping For those that can mop, we test them on a sticky jam and honey stain to see how effective this function is.
Why you can trust us: at Which? we're free from manufacturer and retailer influence. Find out more about our impartiality and how your support helps us to stay editorially independent
Are robot vacuums worth it?
Some robot vacuums cost more than £1,000, so you'll want to be sure they'll leave your home free of dust without you lifting a finger. Unfortunately, our experience with robot vacuum cleaners suggests that, unless you choose carefully, you're likely to be underwhelmed.
Do robot vacuum cleaners work on carpet?
So, what are the negatives of robot vacuums? Even the best robot vacuum cleaners can't match a standard vac for cleaning power on carpets. Only one model we tested did a decent job of vacuuming dust on carpet, while a few more were good on hard floors. Sign up to Which? to find out which impressed.
While they can keep floors looking spick-and-span during the week, you'll still need to do a full-house vacuum every so often, unless you live in the most minimalist of apartments.
Find the best carpet cleaner to leave your carpets refreshed
Corners
The round, bulky shape of most robot vacuums mean they can't tackle the annoying corners and crevices of your home. Most come with brushes, which should sift large bits of dirt and debris out from corners. With fine dirt that's really embedded into corners, you'll be far better off with the nozzle attachment on a standard vacuum cleaner.
Navigation and obstacles
Our tough tests show that some robot vacuums cope much better than others at navigating around obstacles and sucking up dust. In fact, some were just painful to watch.
If you have a small, cluttered or otherwise tricky-to-negotiate home, you may find yourself spending more time freeing your robot vacuum from under sofas or chair legs than it will actually spend cleaning.
Robot vacuum mop function
You'll sometimes find a robot vacuum and mop combo in your appliance. In practice, this sounds fantastic – hands-free cleaning so you can forgo your mop and bucket. In reality, we found ourselves doing even more cleaning.
We pitted each robot vacuum against a jam and honey stain. When we went to clean the robot vacuums and turned them over, we found the components congealed with the condiments. We then had to remove the brushes, dust containers and other components to give the appliance a thorough clean before setting it off to vacuum again.
With this in mind, we'd only recommend using your robot vacuum to mop light spills and stains. Anything really messy isn’t worth the extra faff.
Tackle hard floors and surfaces with the best steam cleaners and best hard floor cleaners
Ease of use
A robot vacuum should take the effort out of floor cleaning. However, we found them to be quite temperamental appliances. They often don’t follow a consistent route, won’t always listen to the instructions that you input into the apps and are prone to errors.
Unless you're prepared to spend some time with an instructional manual (and potentially on the phone to a customer service helpline, as we found ourselves doing), you may want to consider one of the best vacuum cleaners or best cordless vacuum cleaners instead.
Robot vacuum cleaner apps
You’ll benefit most from a robot vacuum if you use it with its app. All the models we tested let you set them to clean via their control panels. However, you can’t set schedules, map, set barriers or choose different cleaning modes without the apps.
Robot vacuum cleaner features
Sensor technology The most basic robots use infrared sensors to avoid falling off edges and will simply change direction when they bump against an obstacle, rather than actively mapping their environment. More sophisticated systems will use laser-guided scanners or a combination of cameras, sensors and 'virtual walls' to map out their cleaning environment, as well as dirt sensors to ensure a thorough clean.
Battery life Most robot vacs come with a docking station that they will automatically return to when they need charging. Make sure you check how long the robot takes to charge before you can send it off on another mission, as we've found that this can vary between models.
Brush type The brushes on your robot vacuum will determine how well it cleans and whether it can reach any tight spots. Sweeper brushes – spindly little brushes that rotate on the edge of the vacuum – may look futile, but can be handy for directing dirt into the path of the vacuum.
Cleaning modes Generally speaking, the more you spend, the more choice of cleaning modes you'll get. These include auto mode, where you can program the robot to automatically move around a space once or until it runs out of battery, or spot clean, where it will focus on a particular area of your choice.
Dust capacity Don’t be blinded by all the fancy features: you still need a vacuum cleaner that has a decent dust capacity. Robot vacuums hold much less grime than a standard vacuum, so look for a bigger capacity if you don't want to be emptying the canister too frequently, or pick one with self-emptying abilities.
Mop function Some robot vacuums also have a water tank and detachable mop pads so they can tackle stains on hard floor. These pads are often made from microfibre, so you can chuck them in the washing machine to keep them fresh.