These smart devices navigate your space, picking up dust and debris with minimal effort from you. Choosing the best automatic vacuum cleaner can save you time and keep your floors spotless. Many models offer features like powerful suction, smart mapping, and scheduling capabilities.

❌ You have an open plan home: The Narwal app won't let you demarcate open plan spaces into 'rooms'.

For around $300, the Tapo RV30 Max Plus is a very capable robot vacuum and mop with some key features usually only found on vacuums that are more than twice its price.

Pet hair can be challenging for vacuums with limited suction or brush designs prone to tangling. The Shark AI Ultra and Lefant M210 are engineered for pet-friendly cleaning, boasting advanced suction and features designed to minimize maintenance when dealing with fur and dander.

A 2024 study from Roskilde University in Denmark explored how householders’ experiences with robot vacuum cleaners compared to their experience with manual vacuum, and found that "robotic vacuum cleaners are inferior in use, yet transform vacuuming".

It can be converted into a hand vac, which makes it easier to clean stairs and reach higher areas in your home. It also pulls apart for compact storage, allowing it to stand on its own and take up minimal space. In our member surveys, Shark corded vacuums earn a top-level mark for predicted reliability and a near-top-level mark for owner satisfaction.

All AI is not created equal, however, and some are much better at this than others. The end result is that robot vacuums with AI detection are less likely to get stuck when cleaning, so you’re more likely to come home to a clean floor rather than a beached bot.

We test fine dirt pickup by sprinkling a mix of flour and cookie crumbs on the floor, and large debris pickup using oats.

IT EMPTIES ITSELF: The bagless, self-emptying base holds up to 60 days of dirt and debris. The bagless base does not require any additional purchase of disposal bags like traditional auto empty robots.

Most are equipped with smaller brushes that extend past the circumference of the vacuum, and the purpose of these is to reach dirt that's settled against Top 3 Automatic Vacuum Cleaners baseboards or in awkward places.

“For some people, it might make sense to have multiple vacuums for different situations,” says Frank Rizzi, who tests vacuums for CR. “A robotic vacuum can help with maintaining your pristine floors, and a lighter stick can help with quick messes alongside your bigger upright or canister.”

While its vacuuming is good, particularly on carpet and tile surfaces, the single rubber / bristle roller brush lets it down and is a good illustration of my point that it’s not all about suction power; it’s also about the brushes and how you use them.

If you have a mix of carpeted rooms and hardwood floors with high-pile rugs, the Dreame is the best robot vacuum for you

If you just want something that's shallow in profile for getting beneath furniture, look for a robovac without a raised central puck. This puck is generally used for robot vacuum navigation, but there are options that use different approaches – including all Roomba models, and some of Roborock's newest bots like the Qrevo Slim and Roborock Saros 10R (both of which we rate very highly).